January Reads

Here it is the end of the month and I am just now posting our reading, a little late but it will be good to have as I look back over the year...

An everyday favorite for the youngest is Jamberry, by Bruce Degen. Maybe because it is about a little boy and a bear and their adventures picking and eating berries...since Quintin loves berries I think he imagines himself eating the berries with the bear.  Sometimes he points to the boy when I ask "where is Quiny?" and he smacks his lips like he can actually taste those berries.

My daughter is loving Bears in the Night, (it was mine when I was little) by Stan and Jan Berenstain.  She loves the repetition- at the window, out the window, down the tree, over the wall.  It is basically a cute story of adventurous bears told in one long line of prepositional phrases! Then at the end is a surprise owl, maybe where I started to love owls...whooo knows...ok, that was goofy.

Lastly, Tovrea truly enjoys A Pirates Guide to First Grade by James Preller.  He can relate to the challenges of school but he loves the authentic pirate language. At the end of the book is a list of pirate words and definitions. He now says to me, he needs to brush his choppers (teeth) and read books with his goggles (eyes). It's a cute and playful story...I always read it with my best pirate accent!

So with Valentines Day right around the corner I will have to post next months Valentine book choices early in the month, so probably next week.

December Reading

For my very first post- Our December reading, the books that we have been reading over the holidays and before Christmas. Some of these are our favorites that we see once a year:
     Gingerbread Friends and Gingerbread Baby, by Jan Brett
     Why Christmas Trees Aren't Perfect, by Richard H Schneider
     and the little ones love Christmas is Coming by Claire Masurel
 The kids get very excited when they remember their holiday stories.

Two new books we are enjoying, the kids got as presents and are both by the same author, David Wiesner.  Tuesday, full of imagination and invention as you piece the story together through illustrations and Art & Max, also one to figure out as you read and study the pictures in order to get the whole story.

Lastly, I wanted to mention one that has captured the attention of my 7 year old.  I Once Was a Monkey, Stories Buddha Told, by Jeanne M Lee. This fascinating book has kept my oldest son intrigued as he believes that we get to live other lives after we die.  Being raised to explore spiritual ideas and concepts beyond the Christian ones we traditionally follow, I am excited to see his mind explore and interpret other beliefs!