What my children are reading...

" I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves." 

~Anna Quindlen, "Enough Bookshelves," New York Times, 7 August 1991

Here are the books that Marcus and Sophia picked out this week...

Winnie the Pooh:
Sophia has always been a big Winnie the Pooh fan, and this week she wanted me to read these two pooh stories.   

Pooh Goes Visiting by A.A Milne

Eeyore Has a Birthday by A.A. Milne

Bunnicula:  The Vampire Bunny by James Howe

 We have just recently began to read books that take several days to finish.  I was surprised that even Sophia (27 months) was able to remember what we had read from a few days ago and follow along with the story.  The chapter book that we read this week was chosen by Marcus.  It is the story of Bunicula.  Bunicula is a vampire bunny.  He has all the standard vampire traits:  he is nocturnal, he has a strong aversion to sunlight, he has fangs, etc. etc.  However, instead of sucking blood like a human vampire, he sucks the juice out of vegetables.  Marcus (who is facinated by scary things) LOVED this story. 



Little Chick's Big Day by Mary Deball Kwitz
This is a very cute little story about a little chick who thinks he is too big to take a nap.  So he runs away when it is nap time.  However, after being gone for a bit, he decides that he misses his mommy (Broody Hen) and comes back to take his nap.  This book has special meaning to me because it used to be mine when I was a little girl.  I always look at building a home library like building a bank of memories.  I hope that someday Marcus and Sophia can read some of their picture books to their children.  For that reason, I plan to keep many of the picture books in our home library even after the kids grow out of them.






Three Little Pigs by Paul Galdone

This was a story that the kids love for me to read.  I do a voice for each of the pigs and the big bad wolf.  :)  The kids really enjoy Paul Galdone books.  He has illustrated many fairy tales and classic tales.  Fair warning, however, Paul Galdone does not sugar coat these traditional tales.  For example, in this version of the three little pigs, the wolf eats the pigs who live in the house of straw and sticks!
Counting, Number, and Letter Books:
Sophia and Marcus choose three titles that delt with counting, numbers, and letters.

Three Billy Goats Gruff retold by Ellen Rudin 

This is a repeat from last week, but the kids request this book so often that I had to include it!  

Books about Letters and Numbers:
The kids also happenend to pick out several books about letters, numbers, and counting.


The first was Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom* by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault.
This title is a must read for every child.    For those that don't own a copy of this book, please immediately stop reading my blog and go and order one online.  ;)  You will be glad that you did!   The book is the story of some lower case letters who leave their upper case parent letters to climb a coconut tree.  Soon the letters crash to the ground when their is not enough room.  The story is written in a sing-song rhyming verse.  It is a very fun read and many children I know have learned letter identification just from reading this book

The second book was Ten, Nine, Eight* by Molly Bang.   I really love the illustrations in Molly Bang books.  They are full of detail and bright colors and really draw the eye in.  This is a delightful book to read to your child before bed.  It is the story of a father tucking his little girl into bed.   As she is getting tucked in, everything in the room is counted.  I like that every day object were counted.  My children have fun counting along and trying to find everyday objects.  I love that the book portrays a father in the caregiver's role.  I think that too often father are left out of picture books.

The next book was my personal favorite from the week.  It was Looking at Art 123:  How Many Do You See?  (National Gallery of Australia)  This was a library book that we checked out, however, I am adding it to our list of books to buy because I will be very sad to return it.   I will be combing the internet and garage sales for used copies.   (I often fall in love with books that I check out of the library.  Does that happen to anyone else?)   This book shows an extreme close up of very famous painting.  On that page it gives you a hint about the painting and asks how many of a certain object are in the painting.

Examples:

A Bed of Yellow

And Walls of blue

This bedroom is tidy

But not very new

How many chairs can you see?

(Turn the page and you see this painting)

2

two 

*  A Sonlight P3/P4 Title

To see what other kids are reading, please check out Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns and Feed Me Books Friday, and Read-Aloud Thursdays.