What we liked this week

   Usually trips to the library are just a random book finding adventure, but since Bud Bud started part-time preschool (which has weekly themes) I am trying to be more deliberate and organized in choosing books. Though of course there is always room for extra books that don't meet the theme requirements, and I am finding that the problem with putting books on hold is that they aren't necessarily ready on the week that you need them. So some weeks the themes end up running together for us.  This week is a good example.

Our favorites this week were: The Odd Egg,  Excuse Me!, The Great Nursery Rhyme Disaster, and  No T. Rex in the Library.

The Odd Egg is a short tale of hatching eggs and a duck who finds an unusual egg and cares for it until, "CRACK!"  out comes a surprise.  It has muted pencil illustrations and staggered pages (like in the Very Hungry Caterpillar.)   H wasn't sure about this one because he thought that Bud Bud might be frightened by the last page, but he doesn't seem to think it is scary at all.

Excuse Me! is a book that I picked up for manners week.  It is the story of a frog who burps so much that he is banished from his town, until he learns some manners that is.  Bud Bud thinks that all the burping in the story is pretty funny.  I think it has a good lesson that is accessible even to someone as young as Bud Bud.  Bonus: he has been saying excuse me all week.

The Great Nursery Rhyme Disaster is a novel tale of Little Miss Muffet who is bored with her rhyme and decides to go on an adventure through other nursery rhymes to find something more interesting, and causes havoc in the process.  Bud Bud just asked me if she was a crazy girl for running away with the spoon, and is currently sitting on the floor with the book singing nursery rhymes.  I love the authors approach to old subject matter and thought the illustrations were lots of fun with bright colors and endearing characters.

Lastly, No T. Rex in the Library is not really one of my favs, but Bud Bud loved it.  He loves all things dinosaurs.  Though I can say that it does teach a good lesson about how to behave in the library, how to respect the books etc.  I am not sure that a young audience would get the subtext about controlling yourself and projecting your feelings, but it could be a good discussion point.

Now, we are off to the library for a new stack!

Zoo Books

  Tweets over the last few weeks (from the likes of @MillonBookRead and @littleonebooks to name a few) have me thinking of zoo books and reading techniques.  I know, not really related topics, but both got me thinking, and both are easy to discuss using two of our current favorites, My Heart Is Like a Zoo and Dear Zoo: A Lift-The-Flap Book .

First, let me say that Dear Zoo has been one of our favs since Bud Bud was about 7 months old and cousin of mine gave it to him as a present, and at 2 1/2 he still loves it.  It is a fun little lift the flap board book about writing to the zoo for a pet and all the different types of pets that they send before finding the perfect one.

Zoos are fun and the surprise element of lifting a flap is fun, as are the illustrations.  However, over time I realized that we were using this book as a teaching tool for a number of different things.  Firstly, it is a board book and the fat pages are easier for little hands to turn, so we would always say, "turn the page Bud"  before turning each page, even when he was too young to do it himself, not only did he learn to turn pages, but he stayed focused because it made the reading process that bit more interactive for him (which of course the lifting flaps did too.)  We also used each new animal to illustrate animal sounds and repeated the names of the animals over multiple times combined with the sound.  As Bud Bud got older, we waited for him to name the animal and make the sound etc. I think of this type of reading as building up the layers of understanding and knowledge.  You can just read a book through over and over again because you like the pictures or the story, or you can build on what you find in the book over time and therefore get the most out of it.

Another good example of a book to do this with is My Heart is Like a Zoo.  At face value, this seems like a nice easy animal book with a novel approach to illustration, but I think it can be a lot more.  For example:

Yesterday Bud Bud, Little Flower and I read the book and it took us over 20 min, even though there are very few words and only about 30 pages.  We read and enjoyed the simple story, but we also counted the hearts on each animal (they are layered to create the shapes of difference animals, which I find really interesting) tracing them with our fingers to understand where each one was and how they were combined.  We identified the different colors, made animal sounds, talked about new words like portly, and even practiced the ASL signs that we are working on for animals.  Bud Bud had a great time and all the commotion of noises and signs and the bright colors of the illustrations even kept Little Flower entertained.

I am not a teacher and I am sure that there must be lots of studies and techniques on how to get the most out of reading, this is just what works for us.  Soon after Bud Bud was born, when I still had no idea of what to do as a mother, my Mom told me of how she would sit us in the kitchen with her while she was doing things like cooking dinner, and talk us through chopping, mixing etc.  Of course we were way too young to understand it all, but the repetition and exposure that she gave us was the building blocks for later learning.  I feel that the same is true for what we cover while reading these types of books, Little Flower might not be able to keep up with Bud Bud at this point, but she is hearing all of these things over and over and it will help her to learn, and Bud Bud can use the knowledge that he already has and add too it with multiple concepts coming from one source.

We Planted a Tree

We Planted a Tree, written by Diane Muldrow and illustrated by Bob Staake, is at face value, the story of the planting and growth of a tree, but is it really so much more than that.

The story begins with a family in Brooklyn and a family somewhere in Africa planting a tree.  Throughout the book we watch not only the trees grow but also the  families.  We learn about what a tree can do for a family, for wildlife and for the greater good of the earth.

That may seem like a lot for a children's book, but the clear and simple repetitive language, such as, (We planted a tree. We planted a tree and it grew up, While it reached for the sky and the sun.  The sunshine went into the leaves and brought food to the tree, and the tree grew up) along with the quirky illustrations of trees growing, fruit growing, children growing and so much more, all works together to teach a clear lesson to your little one.

The colors are bright and the caricature like illustrations depict not only types of trees, but different countries, difference settings, seasons, people, etc. - so there is a lot to talk about with each page.

Also, Bob Staake's illustrations are just fun to look at and if you have as much fun looking at them as I do, check out this awesome poster on his website (Note: that was not an ad, I just found it when I was googling him and it made me laugh)

This one will definitely go on my list of good books about nature to read to the little ones, but I did notice that one eco-thoughtful reviewer on Amazon pointed out in the reviews that this book does not seem to have been printed on recycled paper or with soy based inks.  Bummer, that would have been in good keeping with the theme.  Hmmm, in that case, why not try and get a used copy, or get it from the local library, like us.

Rabbit books by Nathalie Russell

 Brown Rabbit in the City and Moon Rabbit are two beautifully illustrated books which each incorporate important life lessons about friendship and independence.

Moon Rabbit is actually the first book in the series and is about Little Rabbit who is happy living an independent life in the city, yet still wonders if there is someone else out there for her.  She finds just that someone in the form of Brown Rabbit, who is from outside the city and plays the guitar and makes Little Rabbit laugh and dance.  Yet, Little Rabbit finds that she still longs for the city, and ultimately returns to the life that she loves, feeling happier and at peace knowing that she has Brown Rabbit in her life.

I thought is was a lovely story, which doesn't merely end with finding the person of your dreams and living happily ever after together, but rather illustrates that you can find people to share parts of your life with and still carry on as an individual too. There is also a second lesson that Brown Rabbit learns in this book, which is that if you really want someone else to be happy, sometimes you have to let them go. This was probably all lost on Bud Bud, who is after all only 2 1/2  (though a sage 2 1/2, I think) - but it gave us some good talking points to discuss friendship and I think that he could understand the concepts of loneliness and happiness, and he loves looking at the pictures of the rabbits dancing and playing the guitar.

However, really truly, I LOVE the illustrations.  Nathalie Russell creates whimsical prints which not only make for a sweet and yet dynamic picture book, but which I would be proud to display on my wall.  They really are just lovely with repetitive patterns, elements and colors showing up page after page.  My favorite in this book is definitely the scene where Little Rabbit is sitting under the tree in the park listening to Brown Rabbit play his guitar while blossoms and musical notes blow all around her.

If you loved Moon Rabbit as much as we did, be sure to check out the next in the series, Brown Rabbit in the City, which tells the tale of Brown Rabbit coming to the city to visit Little Rabbit.  One of the major threads running through these two books is the grass is greener theme from Town Mouse, Country Mouse, but Brown Rabbit in the City also incorporates a second narrative of good friendship.  Little Rabbit learns that to be a good friend she needs to think of her friends desires too rather than simply her own.

Brown Rabbit in the City is full of the same wonderful illustrations as in Moon Rabbit, and I would love to see more books in this series.

Brontorina

I really couldn't choose the "best" book to start with, so I decided to start with the latest book read in our house, in fact H just read this fun book to Bud Bud before today's nap.

Brontorina, written by James Howe and illustrated by James Cecil, is an endearing tale of Brontorina the dinosaur, who dreams of becoming a ballerina.

I have to admit, I am partial to the fresh, clean and simple look that Cecil creates with a modern pared down color palette and slightly fuzzy illustrations which make this story have a dream like quality. Also, what is not to love about a goofy looking orange brontosaurus with a massive under bite and one protruding eye.

However, I also appreciate that it is a lovely story showing the merits of sticking to your dreams, no matter how outlandish they may seem. The Greek chorus of child dancers is a nice touch and the way in which this one dinosaur helps the whole group of children and adults change their attitude about how something "should" be done is a great lesson for the little ones. Bud Bud simply loves that it is a book about a cheerful looking dinosaur.

We do all enjoy a good dinosaur tale in this house, and Brontorina hits the spot.  Stay tuned for reviews on others, such as How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? and  Danny and the Dinosaur Go to Camp.

 

Welcome

Welcome to Read It Mama.  My hope for this blog is to share all the wonderful books we are discovering on our family's reading adventures, and to create a place to remember what we have read.  We are a silly sort of family who love impromptu living room dance parties, singing and making up silly songs, getting messy with paints, playing in the sand and above all - reading.

Husband and I both come from families who love the written word.  H is from Ireland and grew up with a teacher/principle Father (Grandad -for future reference), a man who devours books of all kinds and has a talent for remembering and quoting all manner of writing. Grandad is also a writer in his own rite who is currently working on a number of manuscripts.

H grew up loving; The Complete Tales of Winnie-the-Pooh, Now We are Six, and everything Roald Dahl, but since moving to the US and raising kids here, he has found a passion for the likes of Dr Suess, Shel Silvertein and Sandra Boynton.  He loves reading Dr. Seuss's ABC: An Amazing Alphabet Book!, A Light in the Attic and Hippos Go Berserk, among many others to our little ones,  Bud Bud and Little Flower.

I grew up here in the US.  My Grandfather, Bernard Evslin and Grandmother, Dorothy Evslin were both well published authors.  My Father (Papa Bear), Tom Evslin, also a voracious reader,  is a blogger and author of the book Hackoff.com, and short story The Interpreter's Tale.

If you enjoy renditions, an amusing night could be spent with these two patriarchs of our family and a bottle of spirits.

I grew up longing to be Eloise and live at the Plaza, and loving traditions such as always reading Happy Birthday to You! on my birthday, The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes  at Easter and Winter Story (Brambly Hedge) at Christmas.

Currently our lives are filled to the brim with Bud Bud and Little Flower - keeping them happy and teaching them to love life, love to learn and love to read.  Not so bad really.  Little Flower is only 10 months old yesterday, so she doesn't have many favs yet, but keep your eyes peeled as her tastes in the book department develop.  Bud Bud is our ferocious lover of books (at a mere 2 1/2 years), the utterer of the title of this blog and the reason why we are tearing though so many books and keeping the local librarians on their toes.  His current favs, which change weekly, are: A Pie Went by, Little Pea, and Over at the Castle.

I will attempt to review as many books as possible here and would love it if you would add suggestions, as we are always ready for a new book.

I hope you come along with us on this adventure and that you have as much fun reading as we do.
'til later-
*Read It Mama