Inspiring Bookworms

Twinkle, Twinkle: An Animal Lover's Mother Goose painted and photographed by Bobbi Fabian (Ages 4-8) Here's another Mother Goose book; however, she's never looked so wobbly and interesting.  It was interesting and fun read.  The little ones giggled how Goosey, Goosey, Gander swirled around on the page. You'll find some of your favorites... Mary Had a Little Lamb Old Mother Hubbard Twinkle, Twinkle The Cat and the Fiddle Which they all loved. Unless you already have your favorite Mother Goose book, this may be a good start.  If you do have a favorite, please share as I'm always looking for a good book. Happy Reading!

Treasure by Suzanne Bloom (Ages This book is an absolute treasure!  I received many giggles and laughs all the way through. Two very unlikely friends - a goose and a polar bear hunt for treasure, only in the end to have found the perfect treasure - each other. I caution you though.  If your children have not started the, " Are we there yet? " groan from car rides.  They will.  However, here's a fun response that will be sure to toss those boredom blues out the window when you say... " Let's look! " I'm looking forward to getting her other book, A Splendid Friend, Indeed .  I'm sure this one will be a treasure too!

Tractors (By Air, Sea, and Land) by Paul Strickland (Ages4-8) "Tractors" is a colorful illustration of different types of farm tractors, then and now.  Children who love different kinds of vehicles will also enjoy this short book.  It's not a story, almost a what's what or how to book. This is what tractors looked like fifty years ago.  They were smaller and less powerful.  These tractors did not have cabs or protective coverings. This old tractor has a wagon that can carry lots of different things, like sheep or other animals. At the end it give you an opportunity to ask your little readers what they learned.  The questions are already there for you.  For those not familiar with farm equipment, tractors specifically, this is a fun way to get to know them.

Visiting the Art Museum by Laurene Brown and Marc Brown is a wonderful book to get you and your children ready to visit an art museum. It's illustrations and photos of real life art make it a fantastic starting point. Journey from Australia to Samoa to America to the Ivory Cost to Mexico. See sculptures and paintings and learn something yourself along the way. A nude Frisbee player? Really ? Pharaohs all wore false beards. Interesting . Follow a young family of five as three children and their parents navigate through the ups and downs of visiting a museum. Can you imagine? Comforting your six or seven year old afraid of a ceremonial costume while your tween is making comments about that nude Frisbee player. Oh, and don't forget the toddler sneaking out of their stroller while you gaze at a portrait too long.

Although I don't remember it very often and it is something I need to work on, but I love it when I realize how lucky I can get sometimes. A couple of weeks ago I snagged a classic at the library for my little ones. I couldn't resist. It is a classic. Or at least I think it is. Here is the lucky part. The kiddos started school last week and on Friday my son brings home his first homework assignment. He's in Pre -K. Please work with your children on the following sight words. This will help them have a head start in kindergarten. Thank you so much for your cooperation! go at here down and These same words are all throughout this short and sweet board book. Go and See . It's perfect! I hope to find more of these gems.

I do it! I do it! LET meeeeee doooooo it!!!!! Jumping up and down on the verge of tears. Wait honey, let me help you. Trying to finish helping her little sister... doing whatever. Brush teeth. Comb hair. Pour milk, juice, etc... No! I do it, myself! Ever get that? If you have little ones fighting for their independence, you get me. If not, well, then maybe you do, maybe you don't. If you do, you and your little freedom fighters will love this cute Little Critter story, All by Myself by Mercer Mayer. Mercer Mayer's Little Critter stories, which address all major issues of growing up, are perennial favorites of parents and children. Yep, I'd have to agree. The littles loved the story and ask for it again and again for story time. If you'd like more fun beyond story time or to incorporate with story time, go to Little Critter's website here .

Ever have one of these days? I love days like this. Exploring and learning where imagination ( with a little prompting ) inspires further curiosity. Ever try to recognize those white puffy clouds into something you know and just, well, can't? I can only imagine how the title of this book came to be. It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles Shaw While reading, I would say, "Sometimes it looked like a" and before I could say whatever it was, my kids would blurt it out laughing and giggling. While I finished, "But it wasn't a ...". It didn't matter. We were laughing the whole way through. Again. And again. And again. And when I hinted that I'd had enough by saying, "Ok, what's next?" They stopped laughing. LOL I've had to extend my library loan to the max and we have to take it back tomorrow. Not LOL. So, we'll be adding this one to our wish list. thankyouverymuch Anyway, even though it's recommended for children 4-8, go...

Perfect Pigs : An Introduction to Manners by Marc Brown & Stephen Krensky (Ages 4-8) I'm not sure about you, but I really feel that during my short tenure as a mom, that teaching manners to children has to be one of the toughest challenges thus far. The practice of 'please' and 'thank you' is not necessarily easy, however, it is the easiest to teach. Ensuring our children practice this specific behavior correctly is a common lesson that is able to be taught each day and eventually, it sets in with little or no "What do you say?" prompting. I must confess. This book jumped out at me while at the library. One, it had the word Pig and Manners in the title - two words you don't see together often. You see, my beloved daughter is a very messy eater and sometimes, I think she does it on purpose. Well, ok, all of the time and I try my best not to tell her what I am thinking... that she is eating like a pig and I don't approve, my frustration do...

The Honey Makers by Gail Gibbons (ages 4-8) Did you know that bees and pollinators are responsible for every third bite of food? Yeah, me either. Nor did I realize how fascinating and orderly a bee colony could be! The Honey Makers is an informative book with wonderful illustrations. Busy bees work hard to produce the honey that we and an occasional Pooh Bear love to eat. And each have their own assigned job assigned for each stage of their life. When I say informative, I mean INFORMATIVE . This book is chock full of information. For example: Are you aware of the Bee Dances? How about Beemilk or Royal Jelly? Forager bees can visit up to 10,000 flowers a day, but all of the nectar collected throughout her entire lifetime will only produce one teaspoon of honey! I look at bees in a whole new light after reading up on them more. They are not something to be feared, but respected and shown gratitude.

I Spy a Freight Train by Lucy Micklethwait (ages 4-8) While at the library my son spotted this gem and asked if we could bring home. He loves trains, so of course I said yes. We have a large freight train station in town, so it is rare that we not see a train. It's fun to see his excitement when he sees a train, but it hard to also watch him panic as the train keeps going and disappears. I called this a little gem because I didn't realize that the book about more than just freight trains. We got to spy on airplanes, row boats, horses, sleighs, a baby carriage and many more. Not to mention the other 'made up' things we spied while making a game of it. It was fun. Even more so, my children haven't heard the term baby carriage or sleigh, so that was fun to see what they thought was it. Here's another excerpt of the book. Oh, and while I am not much of an art know it all, in the back of the book are the credits for all of the pictures used. You will find the likes...

A Bargain for Frances by Russell Hoban (Ages 4-8) 1970 I loved this story, although, I have to admit I was a bit hesitant as I was reading it to my children for the first time.  I couldn't believe the conniving tactics that Frances' friend was using to swindle her out of her money that she was saving up for a tea set. I was relieved as Frances thought of her own plan to set the record straight while saving the friendship. My three are a bit young to understand the concept of the story, but they enjoyed the thought of a tea set.  :) Question for you though.   Do you pre-read/screen stories before reading them to your children?  I'm giving it thought now since this story and am curious what other parents do. Happy Reading!

With all of the hoopla going on yesterday , I totally forgot that it was Kids' Picks Day over at  5 Minutes for Books .  I'm posting late, but that's ok !  Right? Click on over to 5 Minutes for Books and 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! Augustus and His Smile by Catherine Rayner (Ages 4-8) 2006 Grateful for the suggestion, I reserved this book from the library and it must be popular cause it took weeks for it to come in! Right now we have a large stack of library books for the babes to pull their selections from and night after night, among the books I select for our story time, they make sur...

As books and movies go, I decided to read a book before watching the movie.  I don't watch many movies anyway, so, I guess I've always missed out...  on both ends. At any rate, my debut, book before the movie was Marley & Me  by John Grogan. I loved the whole thing.  Not sure what to write about since it appears that everyone is writing/talking about it.  Overall this story has gotten rave reviews; however, I have read quite a few that are less than happy about it.  I agree, some of the dog rearing tactics used were not what I would have done and yet some are... If you don't know anything about the book/movie, it's a man who loves his dog from when he was a child, who meets a woman who also loves her dog from when she was a child. They get married. Decide to get a dog of their own. Life happens. Are terrible dog owners, but do the best they can. Start a family. Make some poor decisions. Live their lives. Adore their family. Adore their dog. Move cross country. Loose...

Over the Hills and Far Away by Alan Marks (Ages 1-6) 1994 A great collection of nursery rhymes.  All your favorites and then some.  First published in Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand in 1993, North-South books published it in the USA and Canada soon after in 1994. Similar to the fingerplay book I talked about earlier , this is a wonderful book to share with your little ones and travel a bit back in time yourself. This book, with it's beautiful watercolor illustrations and large print, is sure to please. Happy Rhyming! As a side note:  This photo of the cover clearly shows the Parents' Choice Award emblem; however, I have not been able to find proof.  My copy from the library does not have the emblem...  If anyone has any insight or know where I can verify, that would be wonderful!

Madeline's Rescue by Ludwig Bemelmans (Ages 4-8) 1953 After earning an Honors spot with the original Madeline in 1940, this story in the series earns Ludwig Bemelmans the 1954 Caldecott Medal and rightfully so as Bemelmans' rich colors bring his vivid illustrations alive. Madeline is at it again, still not minding Miss Clavel.  Hopefully she will learn to heed Miss Clavel's warnings.  But alas, this time Madeline falls into the Seine and almost drowns.  A clever dog rescues here from certain death.  The girls bring her home and name her Genevieve, but all is not well, as there is just not enough hound to go around for these twelve little girls and a fight ensues. Genevieve is then kicked out after an inspection.  Much sorrow goes around, but there is yet another surprise to be found. Sure to please.  If you haven't already you should check out this and other Madeline stories. Happy Reading!

The Happy Day by Ruth Krauss (Ages 2-8) 1949 As a 1950 Caldecott Honor Book, I definitely see why. The illustrations of forest animals hibernating through the winter and waking in the spring are all done in black and white. The animals wake and emerge from their winter dens, they sniff the air and all start running.   All of the them.  The bears, the squirrels, the ground hogs and even the snails, ah yep, snails too, run in this story. All arriving at the same time, they all stop, like an arrow to a bulls-eye, to sniff the first, bright yellow flower of Spring ! Since everything is in black and white, when we got to the last page and saw the bright yellow flower, the looks and smiles on our three's faces , was...  well... priceless . Happy Reading!

Let's Do Fingerplays by Marion F. Grayson (Ages 2-6) 1962 According the Forward of the book, as written... "Books of fingerplays have been few and fart between, and teachers and mothers, particularly, have been forced to tax their memories for fingerplays where a ready guide would be most acceptable." These days we are fortunate to have vast resources available to us and I guess, back when this was written - it makes sense that a collection of this "theme" wasn't readily available. Very well laid out, the fingerplays are organized by category.  For example, fingerplays describing the child from head to toe is all together.  Here you'll find " Where is Thumbkin " or " This is the Circle that is my Head " - among others.  You'll find all or most counting fingerplays like " This Old Man " or " One, Two, Buckle My Shoe " together with others of the same. Not only that, the index is split into two sections.  One s...

The Little Red Hen by John Escott (Ages 4-8) 2003 A little red hen lives on a farm with a few friends.  One day she and her five chicks come upon some grains of wheat.  The little red hen decides it would be nice to be able to bake these into a loaf of bread.  Now, getting grains of wheat baked into a loaf of bread is lots of work. First you have to plant the seed, harvest the wheat, mill the wheat into flour and then bake the flour into the bread. Now each time a task was to be done, the little red hen asked for assistance from her friends, to each time they declined to help.  So the little red hen did everything herself. Without giving away too much more, this is a wonderful story about hard work, the pay off and what you can expect from helping or not helping. Happy Reading!

I See, You Saw by Nurit Karlin (Ages 3-5) 1997 Two friends frolic and play as they have a feisty debate over what they "see" or "saw".  The reading level of this book reminds me of Dick, Jane and Spot.  Great book for a beginning reader. Happy Reading!

Babar Goes to School by Laurent de Brunhoff (Ages 4-8) 2003 Being a King is hard work, but when children proclaim that it is difficult to be a child, Babar is baffled and decided to live a day in the life of a child, again , since he doesn't recall it being so difficult. Babar decided to go to school with the children one day and quickly learns that it can be difficult being a child.  Especially learning that he doesn't quite recall how to do a math problem correctly or getting scolded for talking to his neighbor at circle time....  even though he was just trying to help. At the end of the day, Babar was quite tired and decided that it was much easier to be a grown up. Happy Reading!