January Author of the Month: Mo Willems

I love it! Who wouldn't like this man??? We have been fans of the pigeon books and elephant and piggie for some time now so when I saw this picture I thought, "Yep, that seems about right." Here is Mo Willems website where you can get to know him even better. Some interesting things I learned about Mo: He was a writer and animator on Sesame Street from 1993-2002 where he won 6 Emmys for writing. He has won Caldecott Honors for Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus (one of our favorites), Knufflebunny: A Cautionary Tale & Knufflebunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identy. Also, his birthday is February 11th!!! No wonder he seems to be such a fantastic person, all of us February birthdays are (with a wink and a smile).
My girls love Mo Willem's humor. They have both been found rolling on the floor (I'm not kidding... literally rolling on the floor) as I've read them his books. Somehow we have missed out on "Knufflebunny" and his "Cat the cat" series. We'll be checking out what we can get our hands on of those this month as well as some of the "pigeon" and "elephant and piggy" books that we have not yet read and of course some that we already know and love. Please join us if you would like. I'm sure we'll be checking them out for several months since Ginny is nearing (and I'm being optimistic when I say "nearing") the end of Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. There are many easy readers that I love, partly because I grew up with them. However, I think these are more popular with my children than the tried and true because of the pictoral nature of the humor. Although, I'd have to say Mercer Mayer falls into that category as well. We'll see you soon for our end of the month update with our picks and pans.

Halloween Books

This was an absolute favorite that we will be returning to next year. Both girls LOVED this book, I think in part because Sugar Plum Fairy could read it to her sister. This book appeals to many ages because of it's humor. A little girl and her cat move into a new house that is full of ghosts. Luckily the little girl is a witch. She gathers up all of the ghosts, washes them, irons them and uses them for curtains, tablecloths, bedspreads, etc. Both the girl and the ghosts are happy in this scenario and the kids think it's pretty funny. A win for everyone!

These next two were destroyed by the boy in the house (the little one). We actually lucked out because the library GAVE them to us! Not that I'm going to leave books lying in his path in the future or anything, that would be dishonest;) Plus he managed to tear the pages cleanly out of these books and we might not be so lucky in the future.

A cute British import, this "curious little witch" sees a light left on in a house and goes to investigate. Unfortunately the attic room she peeks into is inhabited by mice and when her cat sees this he leaps causing her to tumble in and break her broom. She makes her way down through the house meeting witches with various talents on her way. In the basement she meets a tinkering witch her fixes her broom and gives it a couple of extras. Great detailed pictures and the last page gives us a view of the house from top to bottom in case you missed anything along the way. Super cute.
I love the illustrations in this book. They are reminiscent of Laura Bannon or Marjorie Flack, in style, if you're a fan, which I am. Great descriptions of what a witch needs to be, to be a witch. None of her spells or brews seem to turn out, however... and then she takes off each of her witchy accoutrements and voila! There's a little girl underneath the big nose, stringy red hair and hat.
We love Jan Brett and although these are not my favorite pictures of hers they do capture the spirit of October fairly well. This is a poetic story which is a little eerie until you realize at the end that a bunch of kittens have been hiding under the porch afraid of trick-or-treaters... the source of the mysterious almond eyes watching, watching.
A favorite author at our house who specializes in re-tellings of classic stories. If you haven't ever read "The Teeny Tiny Woman" (by anyone) you are missing out. And if you think you've read it or had it read to you but can't remember here's a little hint "Give me my bone!" This is fun to read and fun to listen to. Just scary enough that it is enjoyable for all ages.

February: Valentines books!!!

"The Ballad of Valentine" by Alison Jackson, illustrated by Tricia Tusa. My kids LOVE books that are told with a song. I don't always. This one is so cute and is sung to the tune of "Clementine". It was actually fun to sing this story. It was cleverly written and drawn (which isn't always the case. Not sure why a lot of the stories that are told to a song have mediocre pictures... they think the song can carry it??? Nope.) This particular story is fun for mom and kids, is great for Valentines AND has the cutest awkward couple EVER. My favorite from this list.
"The Valentine Bears" by Eve Bunting, illustrated by Jan Brett. This is a cute story about a bear couple who wakes up mid-winter nap to show each other how much they love each other. I like this book because it reminds me of my big bear of a husband. I also like this because it appropriately shares what a great adult relationship can look like for a child audience.
"Lilly's Chocolate Heart" by Kevin Henkes. Short and sweet (bad pun) board book. The fun thing about this book for our family is that my first grader can read board books to the little kids without getting bored and putting it down without finishing. No mom required (even though I still stand by and watch- too cute to miss.)
"The Day it Rained Hearts" by Felicia Bond. This was the kids favorite. They love a little bit of the ridiculous. Once they new the story it was fun for them to shout out who each Valentine was for before we reached that page. I didn't realize how funny the idea of raining hearts would be to a 4 and 6 year-old. Or hearts growing on trees, for that matter.
"Valentines Day Is...." by Gail Gibbons. We have a lot of Gail Gibbons books but we usually only enjoy her sciency-dinosaur-astronomy-honey bee-apple tree-etc. type books. I have never been a big fan of her holiday books. I think the reason I liked this one better is that Valentine's Day isn't as religiously based as some of the other holidays. This is a great book to learn more about the history of Valentines Day (for young children, that is) and how we celebrate the day. If you are familiar with Gail Gibbons you will know that the pictures aren't exactly spectacular- but they get the point across. These are things that I never knew as a young kid and I would have loved to have a book like this.

January Author of the Month: Jan Brett

Jan Brett, what can I say? I love her paintings- especially her books with a Scandinavian influence. Jan likes to include illustrated borders in her books which I love. I love all of the detail and the foreshadowing hints in them which is really fun for the kids. They love to show off by being able to guess which animal is going to come onto the scene next.

One thing I don't love... trolls. I don't know what my deal is with trolls but I just don't like them. Even though many of her trolls are cute. The word "troll" is so ugly and gross. Maybe I'm weird. Some of my other favorite author/illustrators have a thing with trolls and I just don't get it. It's the one thing I don't like about her version of "The Night Before Christmas". However, Abby loves "Trouble with Trolls" so I guess it's more about what the kids like.

Abby's teacher's favorite author is Jan Brett and she has been highlighting her at school this month. It was really perfect that we decided to focus on her at home this month (I was going to do November). Jan looks like such a fun person! The kind you'd like to be friends with in real life... or travel with. She is such a traveler which really gives her books a special flavor.

Our absolute favorite Jan Brett books:
The Mitten
The Hat
Daisy Comes Home
Annie and the Wild Animals
Gingerbread Baby

Books we really like:
On Noah's Ark- told by Noah's grandson, cute. Look for the big book instead of the tiny board book- it's all about REALLY being able to see the pictures.
The 3 Little Dassies- a great re-telling of the 3 little pigs set in Africa
Gingerbread Friends
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
Town Mouse Country Mouse- a little long for my kids but I love the pictures, so I put it into my own words.

Books I don't remember loving but we'll give them another shot:
The Umbrella
Honey...Honey...Lion!
(plus several that include trolls)

Books we have not read that I'm putting on hold:
Comet's Nine Lives
Fritz and the Beautiful Horses
Armadillo Rodeo
The Three Snow Bears
Beauty and the Beast
If I remember, before the February/Valentines blog post, I'll let everyone know what we thought of these.

(She has MANY Christmas books that I'm leaving off of this list since it is no longer Christmas but "The Twelve Days of Christmas" is worth a mention)

25 days of Christmas books (part 5, finale)

Dec. 21 "The First Night" by B.G. Hennessy, paintings by Steve Johnson with Lou Fischer. Once again beautiful illustrations. Sweet simple re-telling of the birth of Christ. I would really like to find more versions of Luke 2 that I really love. I've found them somewhat difficult to find (ones that I love) so if anyone out there reads this and has some suggestions PLEASE share them with me.
Dec. 22 "The Littlest Angel" by Charles Tazewell. This is another that reminds me of my childhood. More so the pictures than the story. We did more perusing on our own than being read to in our home. My mom is wonderful but she's one of those who doesn't stop moving long enough to read (for herself or others, she does best with books on tape so that her hands can keep moving). This is such a cute story about giving gifts, as well.
Dec. 23 "A Christmas Like Helen's" by Natalie Kinsey-Warnock, illustrated by Mary Azarian. This is a great story for helping kids understand what Christmas was like 100+ years ago. A lot went in to making Christmas special. It was a year-long undertaking. I also appreciate the fact that the author lives at her family's ancestral farm (I think in Vermont?). This is a great one to read before heading out to a local heritage/historic park that does a Christmas event. You could even look for someone who does sleigh rides in your area!
Dec. 24 "The Night Before Christmas" by Clement C. Moore. I don't think this one requires much of an introduction. There are over 400 editions of this classic Christmas poem. Not wanting to sort through and find one of the editions that I owned I just picked a pretty cover and called it good. What is your favorite illustrated version of "The Night before Christmas"?
Dec. 25 "The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey" by Susan Wojciechowski, illustrated by P.J. Lynch. I debated over whether or not to just do Luke 2 on Christmas day. I decided, wanting to include as many books as possible, to do both. I chose this book for Christmas day because 1. I love it and 2. It can be followed, quite poignantly, by a reading of Luke 2. In fact, I would dare to venture a guess that my children will listen more intently to the scripture after hearing this sweet story. Tomorrow I'll find out... Happy Reading!

25 days of Christmas books (part 4)

Dec. 16 "The Snowman" by Raymond Briggs. Since this book doesn't actually have words (and the version that does is shorter) we watch the movie. It's only about 15 min. long. I used to watch this on film in school as a child so it really brings back memories. The song that goes along with the movie is so pretty and peaceful. It really introduces a wonderful spirit into the home.
Dec. 17 "The Little Match Girl" by Hans Christian Anderson, adapted and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney. I am really sad that this was the biggest picture I could find for this book. The pictures are really moving and perfectly fitting to the subject matter. If you are not familiar with this story it is sad, yet hopeful. I like for my children to be dosed with a little piece of reality during this often very self-centered Holiday season.
Dec. 18 "The Story of Holly and Ivy" by Rumer Godden, illustrated by Barbara Cooney. This is an adorable little story about two souls who are lonely and find each other. This story is a bit long which is why I saved it for a Sunday afternoon. It's hard for very little ones to sit through so this would be a good time for everyone to snack on some of the treats that inevitably appear at this time of year!
Dec. 19 "The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry, illustrated by Lisbeth Zwerger. I actually have two versions of this story. O. Henry's version is a little bit wordy for small children so I like to read an adapted version which has not been attributed to anyone and I can't find it's picture on-line. Anyway- a MUST at Christmas in my opinion. We used to watch a short version of this when I was little that was black and white, it must have been made in the 40's. I planned to read this on Monday night and then deliver cookies to the neighbors, etc. It's not giving away our most prized possession, but still this book can get us in the mood to give.
Dec. 20 "Bear's First Christmas" by Robert Kinerk, illustrated by Jim LaMarche. Seriously. The. Best. Illustrated. Books. Are. Christmas. Ones. Period. I feel like a broken record gushing over each of these books and how lovely the illustrations are but it's really true! This is a fun rhyming story to read and "Bear" just couldn't be cuter. Really. You can see for yourself (why is there no arrow button??? Insert arrow pointing up here).

25 days of Christmas books (part 3)

Dec. 11 "An Orange for Frankie" by Patricia Polacco. My children always enjoy a story more when they know that it really happened once. This is a heartwarming story about a family on Christmas Eve as they wait for their father to return and the events of Christmas morning. Every year they decorate their mantle with pine boughs, apples, dried flowers but most of all oranges. When the oranges finally arrive with father Christmas morning Frankie is too excited to wait. He has to hold his orange and smell it. When his mother unexpectedly enters the room he doesn't have time to put it back on the mantle and stuffs it in his clothing. The orange becomes lost. Each member of the family donates an orange wedge so that Frankie can still enjoy an orange. Although the illustrations are not exactly realistic they are so strange and wonderful and the people in them are so full of life. The expressions and movement make me want to join in these festive family gatherings. Since oranges aren't as rare as they were in Frankie's time we shared some chocolate oranges, YUM! (and a few real ones too)
Dec. 12 "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost, illustrated by Susan Jeffers. Robert Frost is one of my absolute favorite poets. One of the reasons for this is my New England background. His poems catapult me back into my childhood days of roaming through woods, hopping over rock walls and ambling through apple orchards. This poem is no exception. I have often woken in the middle of the night to find that snow is falling. I've woken up the nearest sleeper (sister, brother, or my neighbor Audrey would meet me) to take a midnight walk in the snow. It is such a beautiful thing it's hard to go home. But I have "miles to go before I sleep..." This would be a such a good one to read on a day when you can go sledding or for a sleigh ride. Unfortunately we did neither of these... maybe next year.
Dec. 13 "A Charlie Brown Christmas" by Charles M. Schulz. Usually we watch this. It should be an interesting experience reading it. It looks a little long.... I guess we'll see how it goes. This would be a good one to read on the night you decorate your tree but I wasn't on the ball with that one. I'll remember next year unless it's really long. In that case we'll probably go back to watching it. Either way it's a Christmas classic with a marvelous message!
Dec. 14 "The Lump of Coal" by Lemony Snicket, illustrated by Brett Helquist. This is another new one for us this year. It is chock full of Mr. Snicket's usual wry humor. I don't know if the kids will find it funny, but I did. I'll let you know. A lump of coal goes out in search of a purpose. He would prefer his use to be in the making of beautiful art pieces, but we can't always choose... *spoiler alert* perhaps there will be a miracle. I'm planning to let the kids practice coloring with charcoal after reading this.
Dec. 15 "Snowmen at Christmas" by Caralyn Buehner, illustrated by Mark Buehner. Did you ever wonder how snowmen celebrate Christmas? Well, here's your answer. Fun, short and the kids can look for hidden pictures on each page. Some of these are easy and some are pretty darn hard to find. This whole series is wonderful ("Snowmen at Night" & "Snowmen All Year")- check them out. Here is yet another chance to show off your snowman building skills. After reading this (to myself, of course, it's not the 15th yet) I seriously wish we had enough snow in our front yard to fashion Santa and his sleigh- free decorations!

25 days of Christmas books (part 2)

Dec. 6 "Petunia's Christmas" by Roger Duvoisin. This funny little story has been around for quite a while but I don't remember it from my childhood (school or otherwise). This is about a pet goose named Petunia (surprisingly) who goes for a walk and meets a very handsome gander named Charles. Charles is being fattened for Christmas dinner which is doubly unfortunate now that he is in love with Petunia. Petunia, using astounding ingenuity for a goose, devises several plots to free Charles. Finally the farmer and his wife have a change of heart when they see the love shared by these geese.
Dec. 7 "Room for a Little One" by Martin Waddell, illustrated by Jason Cockcroft. This is a darling story with stunning pictures. It's short and simple. Good for nights with out much time and easy for the littlest children to understand. Animals that normally might not get along (ox,dog, cat, & mouse) all share the stable and then witness the birth of the Christ-child. Lovely.
Dec. 8 "Olive, the Other Reindeer" by J. Otto Seibold, illustrated by Vivian Walsh. This one never fails to illicit a laugh. Olive, hearing the lyrics "All of the other reindeer", deduces that although she thought she was a dog she must be a reindeer (All of=Olive, in case you're slower than the average bear). She journeys to the North Pole and has several adventures traveling with Santa and his sleigh. At the end Santa gives Olive some antlers that fit just right and Olive joins in the reindeer games. Cute cute cute.
Dec. 9 "The Polar Express" by Chris Van Allsburg. We are giant fans of the movie version of this book at our house. However, it is so nice to sit down and read the pure original story with out all of the additions. Sometimes its easier to get the true message that way. We drink hot chocolate while reading this story. A Christmas classic!
Dec. 10 "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" by Dr. Seuss. Another Christmas classic which has a clearer message in this shorter book version. Of course, this isn't exactly short, but it seems short because it's so fun to read. I love reading Dr. Seuss. We didn't do anything special with the reading of this story but there are many things we could have done (had roast beef for dinner?!?!) We did have a little discussion and sang some songs. Any ideas?

25 days of Christmas books (part 1)

We love Christmas and we love books... so, Christmas books are the best! This year I have decided to start a new tradition. A friend of mine wraps up books and then they get surprised each day by which Christmas story they are going to read. In order to save paper (and my sanity... wrapping 3 or 4 presents per child is about my limit) we are going to try something a little different. I have a little house I bought I few years ago. It's an advent house with numbered doors that open and you can tuck something inside. I took a picture but I have a new camera and I don't know how to download pictures yet, so I'll post a picture next time.

Each day a child takes a paper with the name of a book from behind a door. We read the book. Sometimes there's a treat that goes along with it, sometimes a discussion, sometimes an activity. I choose which books we do on which days- this way my control freak nature is satisfied. I'll be posting 5 books at a time. I'm going to share what I have planned and if you have any great ideas please share them with me too!
Dec. 1 "The Velveteen Rabbit" by Margery Williams. This is a favorite from my childhood that I like to share with my children. We have so many copies of this book. I thought I'd use the classic cover but the kids like the versions with less words to the page and more pictures.

When we finished reading this classic story we talked about real love. We talked about how what's on the outside doesn't matter. We age and lose our "sheen" but that can sometimes just show that we've lived and had many different experiences. We talked about how Jesus' love can make us "real". Each child shared what their favorite toy is. Then we told each other some things that we love about each other. We also enjoyed some Original Werthers, a family favorite.
Dec. 2 "Great Joy" by Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline. This beautifully illustrated story is short and sweet. Perfect for a night when you have other things going on. We happen to have a Christmas party this night which is why I chose this book for this night.

A little girl notices an organ grinder and his monkey who sleep on the street at night, even when it snows. She invites him to her Christmas play at the church but is worried he will not come. This is a beautiful story and I love how it highlights that often children are more open than adults to opening doors. On the fly-leaf there is a quote "In a dark time, doors will sometimes magically open and let us step inside to the warmth and light of a community." I read the book differently after reading this, so I thought I'd better share it.

In future years I think this would be a good book to read before doing some community service (more appropriate for teenagers) or a sub-for-santa. But for now, we can talk about what little services we can do.
Dec. 3 "Christmas Magic" by Michael Garland. This is a new book for us this year. The illustrations are absolutely stunning. We will be looking for more of Michael Garland's books. Even though this book heavily features snowmen we will go to see Christmas lights on this night. We have a few more books about snowmen and since this book is "magical" I thought Christmas lights were appropriate. (And if there happens to be snow in the yard we may also build a snowman, it is a Saturday after all.)

Emily builds a snow-woman in her front yard while a new boy moves in next door. Later she see's the boy building a snowman. She wakes up in the night and magic is in the air. As she walks around the house magical things are taking place everywhere she looks. She goes outside and the snow people have turned into real people who invite Emily to dance with them. The next morning she wakes up and runs outside. The snow-woman and snowman are standing together.
Dec. 4 "Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus" by Chris Plehal, illustrated by James Bernardin. This is a fun version of the classic publication of a letter that Virginia O'Hanlon sent to the New York Sun to ask the age old question: is Santa Claus real. This book incorporates Virginia's original question and the answer that was printed in the Sun. But it weaves a story around it that makes it more enjoyable for children to listen to. Tonight we'll write letters to Santa.
Dec. 5 We love Jan Brett! I was going to use her for author of the month last month and then got busy (speaking of... Halloween books I never got to will be coming next year. I already have the post written, which is really convenient for me.) We'll have her next month... something else to look forward to.
I like to do this book so that we have an excuse to make gingerbread men and eat them. "Gingerbread Friends" is a fun book too. She has so many that work at Christmas-time it's hard to choose. This is her take on the classic gingerbread man story. Family Night is perfect for cookie decorating!!! If I find a yummy gingerbread recipe I will share it... I've had wonderful gingerbread before just not when it's meant to build gingerbread houses. Wish me luck!

Favorite Books for October Part 1

Okay- we haven't gotten all of our library books in and I know that we are missing some that we love. The problem is that a year is quite a long time for my sad little brain and so I don't want to include a book until we have re-read it. SO when it gets a little closer to Halloween I will do a part 2 and hopefully you can put them on your list for next year OR some may still work for November AND everyone else will have turned them in (in theory).
"Bones" by Steve Jenkins. These books are in no particular order but this book has gotten the most attention at our house this year. I would say that it's a great book for little boys but my girls love it so much that apparently it has cross-gender appeal. Each page shows a human bone and some animal counterparts. It is SO fun for the kids to compare what their arm looks like next to an elephants (etc.) There is a full fold out page of a full skeleton and the kids tested my memory of bone names because they kept pointing to different bones on themselves and asking what they were called. Educational and fun (and not creepy in the slightest, if you were concerned).
"Too Many Pumpkins" written by Linda White and illustrated by Megan Lloyd. This one is probably my favorite and you could definitely save it for Thanksgiving if you wanted. The pictures really get you in the mood for the season AND give me the desire to buy a farm and grow some veggies. If only harvest-time lasted all year long.
Rebecca Estelle plants EVERYTHING in her garden except PUMPKINS. She does not like pumpkins since she was forced to eat nothing but pumpkins for a month as a child when her family had no money. One fall day a pumpkin truck drives by dropping a large pumpkin into her yard which smashes and makes a huge mess. Rebecca Estelle tries to cover the pumpkin up but unfortunately the next spring something begins to grow. She tries to get rid of the pumpkins to no avail and ends up with TOO MANY PUMPKINS. Then she makes the best of it, makes pumpkin pie and has a party with the village. She sends all of the leftovers home with the villagers except for a few pumpkin seeds for planting in the spring.
"Bats at the Library" by Brian Lies. The pictures in this book are absolutely gorgeous. If you are afraid of bats get ready for a revolution... these bats are so darn cute! This is a great book for anyone who has a serious addiction to the library (me) and who wants to instill this love in their children even further. When a librarian leaves a window to the library open the bats come and play. The best part is when the bats love the stories so much that they become a part of them. My kids had fun figuring out which favorite stories the bats had insinuated themselves into. (ex. "Winnie the Pooh", "Make Way for Ducklings", "Alice in Wonderland", etc.)
"By the Light of the Halloween Moon" written by Caroline Stutson, illustrated by Kevin Hawkes. We're venturing into slightly eerier territory. My kids are pretty hard to scare so to me this book was perfect. I LOVE the rhythm of this cumulative story akin to "I know an old lady who swallowed a fly...". A toe hangs from a dock and leads to more and more humorous events. I think the pictures are fun (award-winning) and one in particular makes me laugh out loud (a sprite bites a ghost and the ghosts face is priceless). Worth checking out to see if your kids can handle it.
"There's a Nightmare in My Closet" by Mercer Mayer. I have to admit I grew up with the "A boy, a dog and a frog" books so I love these earlier Mercer Mayer books. (nothing against little critter, some I love and some I don't) The first time we read this (years ago) my girls were a little scared of it. It's grown on them and it doesn't hurt that they now understand the plot. It is now one of our old standby's that is invariable grabbed about every 4th visit to the library.

Where Did the Baby Go? To Kindergarten.

These are my two absolute favorite Eloise Wilkin illustrated books. These were my books when I was little and they have been very well loved.
"We Like Kindergarten" goes through all of the many things a child might do at kindergarten and can also be reassuring to the child who is going to start kindergarten soon. But really, the charm of this book is in the pictures. The children fingerpaint, make clay animals, swing at the playground, play music, drink milk (Jackie doesn't finish his. It spilled), rest on their own rugs and say goodbye to Mrs Hall.
When Carol leaves for kindergarten her little sister Laurie wants to go too, so do the pets and the stuffed animals. When Carol gets home she puts on kinderegarten for everyone at home. I love this because I did lots of role playing as a child and now I watch my daughter get home from school and do the same things.
"Where Did the Baby Go?" is my absolute favorite. I love the details. I love how it reminds me of my early childhood in the late 70's early 80's when there was a revival of these styles.
I LOVE this house. If I could find the interior of this house I would buy it.
A little girl finds a picture of a baby and wonders where the baby has gone. She asks her mother who tells her she knows this baby and see's her everyday. The little girl looks all over the house.
She finds lots of things but no baby. Finally she finds the hat the baby was wearing in the picture. She tries it on and realizes that SHE is the baby, just a few years older. She runs and tells her mother that she knows where the baby went.
"You do?" says the mother, "Where is she?" "Here I am" and she jumps into her mothers arms.