Inspiring Bookworms

Madeline by Ludwig Belemans (Ages 4-8) 1939 "In an old house in Paris.  That was covered with vines.  Lived twelve little girls in two straight lines."  The littlest girl was Madeline. The first story of many in a series by Belemans, shows Madeline fearless and full of mischief.  She loves winter, snow and ice.  Is not afraid of mice and to a tiger in the zoo, will say, "Pooh pooh". No one knows how to frighten Miss Clavel better than her.  And one evening she becomes so ill Miss Clavel has to call the doctor and Madeline is rushed to the hospital! A 1940 Caldecott Honor book, the vivid illustrations are sure to please.  Our three enjoyed the story and we look forward to others in the series. Happy Reading!

Freight Train by Donald Crews (Ages 4-8) This is a delightful, short and sweet, fast moving, very colorful "freight train" in a board book!  Not to mention, it's a 1979 Caldecott Honor Book.  It exihibits all colors of the rainbow and describes many types of train cars.  We had tons of fun with this one! Happy Reading!

Curious George is a story loved by many.  Who doesn't have a memory or two... or more of stories read from their childhood and are, like me, passing them on to their children? Our current story, Curious George Visits the Zoo, has sent me on a trek to find out more since the book we are reading has a very different book cover graphic than any book that I can find. I'm sure this is normal.  Yes?  No?  I'm not much of an expert in the literature realm and literature or otherwise, when I don't understand something or things don't add up -- even something as simple as cover graphics not matching -- I dive in head first...  well, you know...  to figure out. Well, I didn't figure it out, but I did find a very interesting bit of history that I think is a bit more important. You can read more about it here .  It's an amazing story and you can bet that I'll be sharing more of Curious George with my children even as they grow older.  Not only to share with them, bu...

I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato  by Lauren Child (ages 4-8) Ahhhh... Charlie and Lola.  When it comes to food, my dear son has gotten so picky that sometimes when I tell him it's time to eat - without even looking, smelling or tasting - he'll say "I don't like it!" If I do manage to get him to the table, he'll add to it by pushing his plate away.  So, when I saw the book of fave character siblings, I had to get it.  The best part, is that it's about the little sister being a picky eater and her big brother convincing her that carrots are not carrots, but rather orange twiglets from Jupiter or Green Drops(peas) from Greenland.  He has quite an imagination! Charlie and Lola can also be found on Playhouse Disney ! Happy Reading!

"L" is for Library  by Sonya Terry and Illustrated by Nicole Wong (Ages 4-8) Wanting to be able to spend time at the library with my children, I've found my/our first library introduction book.  A wonderful, rhyming, A through Z tour of the library and best of all - "Q is for quiet, the best volume for a library voice" - helps to reinforce my shhhsh'ing.  Usually, we fly in and get the books I've reserved on line, but that is no fun.  I soon hope to be able to enjoy the library  with  my children.  Wish me luck!  ...please...seriously

Emily's Sharing and Caring Book  by Cindy Post Senning and Peggy Post and Illustrated by Leo Landry (Ages 4-8) In an effort to find better ways to tie in manners and etiquette into my children's lives,  in addition to my own , I've discovered Emily Post through  here  and will being doing more follow up through the  Institute .  I love this little book and look forward to sharing the others with my younsters. Not only can we talk about  Sharing with  and  Caring  through the book, but I can tie in examples of their behavior through the day whether straightforward kudos or needs additional positive reinforcement.  Their smiles and giggles tell me that they love it too.  "What would Emily do?" is something I can see as being our family's way to intervene with inappropriate behavior and allow an instant "in" to talk about the moment if needed.

I have three children.  One boy and two girls (twins).  Right now, til next month at least; they are all three years old.  Now, surprisingly, or maybe not, my girls are not girlie girls.  And I guess that would be my fault since I was more of a tom-boy growing up, I'm not into tiaras and lace. So, when I saw this book at the library, I thought it would be a great into for them to get into girlie things...  and it was...  for  all three of them ! Fancy Nancy  by Jane O'Connor and Illustrated by Robin Glasser (Ages 4-8) Story of a little girl who loves to be fancy.  She uses fancy words and explains what they are, for example, Posh is another word for Fancy.  Here family is not fancy, but she places an ad at Grand Central Refrigerator and her family wants to take classes.  As a treat, they go out, all while being fancy.  I loved the looks on the other patrons' faces as they walked in the door.  It is priceless.  You'll have to get the book for yourself.  It's a gem. O...

It's Kids' Picks Day over at 5 Minutes for Books .  Click on over to check it out!  There is always an open invite to join in or follow along.  Either way it's a great way to see what other parents are reading to/with their children and what they have to say about the books and stories being read.  If you don't have children, but love to read...   Click here  to view the other carnival themes that you can participate in or again, just follow along.  Avid readers must stop by! Ever since we read Tiger, Tiger , my son gets excited about any books that have Tigers, so I couldn't resist on picking this one up for him. Home for a Tiger Home for a Bear by Brenda Williams and Illustrated by Rosamund Fowler (Ages 4-8) Rhyming lyrics throughout the story of types of animals and what habitat you can find them in is quite fun.  "Leaping tiger, eyes like glass.  Likes to hide in jungle grass."  or "Shiny, slippery, slimy snail.  Has a shell for head and tail....

Having fun with Wordless Wednesday every week  here  and  here !

The 2009 Support Your Local Library Challenge  is being hosted over at J. Kaye's Book Blog and I'm so excited to join in!  Since I tend to over commit myself I am going to stick with  twenty-five  this time around.  And since we can include all books, I'll be including the ones I read with the babies.  We'll see how many we actually get to since we just signed up for our library card in September after a 10 year hiatus!  I thought it would be a good time to get  my three little ones  interested in going to the library.  We've been going almost every week since, so this challenge will be fun to keep track of what we've been reading. Click on over  for the complete run down of the guidelines.  And check back often for new books added to the list. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. Happy Reading!

It's that time for the Children's Classics carnival over at 5 Minutes for Books .  This month's theme is about Christmas or the December Holiday you celebrate with your family and the books you share with your children.  Follow along or join in, either way it's tons of fun! As a child, we didn't read many books at home.  Actually, I don't remember any until I was old enough to check them out myself at the school library.  Instead, over Christmas, we watched the much loved programs like Frosty the Snowman , Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer , Santa Claus is Coming to Town and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I still love to watch these programs and am sharing them with my children although they don't seem to be very interested. Unfortunately at the time of this posting How the Grinch Stole Christmas still hasn't been made available, so hopefully we'll get it before Christmas for me to share with the little ones .  If not, we'll get next year.  Until t...