Sunday, August 26, 2012

Once Upon an Ordinary School Day by Colin McNaughton

 Once Upon an Ordinary School Day by Colin McNaughton, illustrated by Satoshi Kitamura

Rating: 5 extraordinary stars

After the first page, I really didn't like this book.  Here's the first page (bear with me):
Once upon an ordinary school day, an ordinary boy woke up from his ordinary dreams, got out of his ordinary bed, had an ordinary pee and an ordinary bath, put on his ordinary clothes, and ate his ordinary breakfast.   
The ordinary boy brushed his ordinary teeth, kissed his ordinary mom goodbye, and set off for his ordinary school.
There are two more pages like that.  When you read that out loud, that's a whole lot of "ordinarys."  I was thinking: This is going to be a long book.

But from the get-go, the illustrations are beautiful and quirky and fun.  Those on the first three pages are all in black and white.

And then, on page three, an extraordinary figure bounds into the classroom.  It's Mr. Gee, a new teacher, and he's got an idea for a lesson that will help him get to know the students, and help the students get to know him.  He puts some music on and wants the kids to let the music make pictures in their heads.

Oh, and the illustrations are so great!  The extraordinary Mr. Gee is in color, but all the ordinary stuff is still in black and white.

And as the music swooped and danced and dived
once more,the ordinary boy began to write.
So he puts on the music, and everyone draws and writes what they hear.  They interpret the music so differently and wonderfully!  The main ordinary boy draws of elephants stampeding and a whole safari of animals and then a deep sea adventure and then of flying over gorgeous lands.  All in color, of course.

At the end of the day the little boy compliments the teacher on the lesson: "That was the best lesson ever!" (I love this kudos giving from little to big.)  Mr. Gee wonderfully replies: "I can't wait to read your story tonight."  I love the genuine interest the teacher has in the boy.

In a different chapter of my life, I was student body president of my college (feel free to chuckle!).  I gave a speech to all the faculty and staff once before the academic year began challenging them to be memorable to at least one student.  Isn't that what it's all about?  Taking the time and energy and risk to make an impression and helping somebody grow.  I hope that my kids are lucky enough to have a handful of teachers who care enough to have lessons like these, to help them grow and stretch and learn.

This is like a pint-sized, less-sad, book version of Dead Poets Society, which is one of my favorite movies.  And honestly, it's made me think a little more about teaching in my next chapter of life.  What fun it'd be to make a difference in other kids' lives.  Hmm.  Something to consider...

Anyway, a FANTASTIC book.  Lucky us to have found it on display at our library.  Thank you, librarians!

A Fine, Fine School by Sharon Creech

 A Fine, Fine School by Sharon Creech, illustrated by Harry Bliss

Rating: 5 fine, fine stars

Here's a book with a lesson for kids and parents: a story about balancing work and play.

Mr. Keene is a principal who thinks that his school is so "fine, fine" that kids should attend it even more than usual.  Why go just Monday through Friday?  Let's go on Saturdays and Sundays, too!  Why take days off for holidays?  Come to school on Christmas and President's Day!  Summer?  Bah!  Who needs to play?  Come to school instead!

Young Tillie, one of his fine, fine students fights her way through the under-played and over-worked students, staff, and teachers to go see him.

"Somebody's not learning, Mr. Keene," she informs him.

He gasps!  Oh, no!  What an emergency!  He's about to find a way to get the kids to go to school even more when she stops and explains who is not learning.

"My dog is not learning new tricks.  My little brother is not learning how to swing by himself.  I am not learning how to sit still in a tree for a whole hour.  Because I am at school all the time, I am not there to teach my dog and my little brother, and learn to be and do things by myself."

I love this!  Go, Tillie!

Was he going to make their dogs come to school, too?
The pictures in this book are great, and full of humorous little tidbits for us grown-up kids.  My favorite is the kid toting The Meaning of Life...  And the dog in the story is a fun character in himself.  (Another cheer for dog-lovers!)

What more important lesson is there for today's kids?  (Okay, I can think of one other that gets me fired up: health and food...)  But the lesson in this book is more for the reader than the listener.  We parents are the ones scheduling our kids for so many things.  I know it's tempting--it sure seems like all of Lorelei's classmates have been taking a language for at least a year, if not two.  And sports start as soon as they can run, so...shouldn't I be signing up Kiefer in a few months?  But playing in an unstructured way with your siblings, teaching your pets new tricks, and sitting silently with nature...  These are priceless, priceless things.

And some of us readers need to learn the lesson, too.  Work and play.  Play and work.  It's a hard balance, but I'm on the side for playing more.  These kids of ours are going to be working soon enough, so let's play with them and and stop working ourselves.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Whoever You Are by Mem Fox

Whoever You Are by Mem Fox, illustrated by Leslie Staub

Rating: 5 stars

This book should be given to any former Peace Corps Volunteer when they have a child.  If you are a former Peace Corps Volunteer, just go ahead and buy it.  You'll love it.  My good friend and fellow booklover Beth gave me the board book version when Ben was a baby--and I've read it at least a few times a week since then.

Here's a little snippet from the well-worn pages:
Little one, whoever you are, there are little ones just like you all over the world.
Their smiles are like yours, and they laugh just like you.
Their hurts are like yours, and they cry like you, too.
Whoever they are, wherever they are,
All over the world.
The illustrations are, on the one hand, great--most pages features bright, happy international faces with different landscapes in the background that'd make a Peace Corps Volunteer's heart ache a little for their days spent abroad.  You might have to pull out the ol' scrapbooks.  On the other hand, there is this really strange rastafarian dude who shows up with a gaggle of kids on each spread of pages.  Check him out on the cover.  He's usually flying, with the kids attached to his blue suit.  I totally don't get it.

The poem is soothing and quiet and calming, making it a great bedtime/naptime book.  It's just the right length--a little long if you've got an impatient tyke on your lap that thinks flipping the pages really fast is really fun--but nice once a bit of patience kicks in.

And the message?  That love is the same, and joy is the same for everyone, whoever we are, wherever we are, all over the world.

Friday, August 17, 2012

Big Truck and Little Truck by Jan Carr

Big Truck and Little Truck by Jan Carr, illustrated by Ivan Bates

Rating: 5 stars

Big Truck and Little Truck are two hard-working trucks on Farley's Farm.  Everything Little Truck knows is thanks to Big Truck; Big Truck has taught him how to cart equipment, stake scarecrows, take vegetables into the city, and do all sorts of chores that sound a lot more fun than the chores I do most days.  If Little Truck is nervous about something, Big Truck is there to offer encouragement.

One day Big Fred Farley needed Big Truck to do a big job--to help with a tree down.  Little Truck was left by himself, and realizes how alone he is without his truck-chum.  He waits anxiously for Big Truck's return...and then is pretty dismayed to find Big Truck limp up, clearly beaten down and broken down from that big job.  To the shop he must go.

Once again, Little Truck is left alone.

He's in familiar territory, but without his friend and booster and teacher, everything is different.  As the days turn to weeks, Little Truck slowly, slowly, slowly gains confidence in doing the old jobs that he once did with Big Truck.  He's proud of himself and, of course, when Big Truck returns (smiley and shiny thanks to Ivan Bates' great illustrations), he's proud of Little Truck, too.

This is the perfect book for Ben right now, because Lorelei is off to kindergarten.  She'll be gone from us from (gasp!) 7 AM until 4 PM.  I am still in shock from this and know that it'll take a few weeks or months to get used to.

But Ben will be the one who will suffer--and then benefit--the most.

He's a smiley, happy kid but still shy.  Lorelei happily introduces him to anyone and everyone, and encourages him to do the things she does.  She loves him, and he loves her fiercely right back.  It'll be hard for him to spend so many hours on his own at school and with me--I expect he'll be the most excited when she steps off that school bus in the afternoon.

Kiefer and I will be tied for second, just a heartbeat behind.

This is a wonderful book, especially for those little brothers or little sisters who need a little nudge to do more things for themselves and by themselves.  Hopefully Ben and all those other little siblings will discover some inner strength and creativity and happiness, just like Little Truck.

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Press Here by Herve Tullet

Press Here by Herve Tullet

Rating: 5 stars

Please stop reading this.  Order this book--either from the library or your favorite bookstore.

Okay?  Done with that?  I'll continue.

A book has got to be fun to read.  Seriously, who wants to read through a snore-fest of a book that has so-so illustrations and a mediocre storyline just because it has a good morale?  Not me.  To get kids excited about books, you (the reader) must have fun reading them.

I can't think of another book that is more fun to read.  It makes me feel sorry for those folks out there whose kids are past picture books, into chapter books, never to look back on the big square books with huge illustrations.  I want to apologize, because you really missed out on Press Here.  

I saw Lorelei reading this book at home last week, and noticed that she was pressing the book and clapping and doing all sorts of things with the book, rather than just sitting and reading it.  My curiosity was piqued, but my to-do list was too long to drop what I was doing to check it out (yeah, I know...bad choice for me.  Pass a Mommy demerit my way).  I didn't return it with most of the books from last week, choosing instead to pack it with us on vacation.  Last night I finally got the chance to read it.  Ben sat in my lap, the lucky duck, and had the full experience.



The book is really just a list of instructions, telling the reader (or the reader's budding bookworms) to do this or that.  It starts innocently--press this dot.  Then tap it five times, and turn the page to see that the one dot has magically turned into five in a row.  Rub something gently and POOF! on the next page it's a different color.  Tilt it to the left, and turn the page to see all the dots gathered on the left-hand side (enter unchecked giggles here).  Tilt it to the right, and turn the page to see all the dots gathered on the right-hand side (enter an eruption of laughter here).

The best, though, is the "shake the book" pages.  The lucky duck kid on your lap gets shaken right along with the book.  (I should confess that I am VERY good at riling up any and all children, especially at bedtime.  I was born to make kids laugh and take that role very, very seriously.)  I think Lorelei nearly peed in her pajamas tonight when I nearly shook her out of my lap (she chose it again tonight, perhaps jealous of the experience Ben got last night).

I just ordered this book for my sister's brood of children.  I can just picture all four of them pressing and rubbing and turning and giggling.  I am patting myself on the back while chuckling for riling them up from afar.  At bedtime, of course.  Hee, hee, hee...

Rocket Writes a Story by Tad Hills

Rocket Writes a Story by Tad Hills

Rating: 4.5 stars

I apologize for my loquaciousness in advance.  This is, officially, too long a blog post.

We're at the beach--in the Outer Banks.  We come here at least once a year, rent the same house a lucky smattering of yards from the beach, and do the same things every year.  We gobble down pizza at Duck Pizza, we buy a few Life is Good items for Christmas gifts, we take turns running for a few hours in the humid mornings, we say good morning and good night to the beach.  We also go to the Island Bookstore to choose a new book or two.  I love, love, love this place!

Part of the children's section...can you spot Rocket up top?
Any true booklover has a favorite bookstore.  And while Barnes and Noble has served us well over the years, there's no way that it could ever be as cool and unique and quirky as a good independent bookstore.  My favorite is, by far, Elliott Bay Books in Seattle.  My Dad introduced me to the place when he and I looked at Seattle University, where I ended up.  I spent many hours in the cafe in the basement drinking coffee and studying, taking study breaks along the familiar and barely organized aisles upstairs.  If I close my eyes and think really hard, I am confident I would be able to recall where the creaky floor boards are located.  Without any trouble at all, I can remember the smell of it--a mix of new books and coffee and old-musty-place.  I could easily spend an entire day in that bookstore.  Easily.

Anyway, Island Bookstore is a neat place.  There are shelves everywhere, and books are shoved in every which way.  I would love to see someone attempt to navigate a stroller through the nonexistent aisles.  There's a neat old staircase leading to the upstairs mecca, but we never make it past the children's section.  I have never even bought a book for myself here, but I dream of one year when my kids are able to sit and read for a while by themselves and I can get lost in the stacks.  I'd have to leave a trail of bookmarks so they can find me.

I should stop talking about bookstores right now.  Okay, okay...

"Magnificent!" chirped the little yellow bird.
In this bookstore on this warm afternoon, Lorelei and Ben and I ventured out to walk around the shops and choose a new book, and get some ice cream.  Lorelei was super excited to see the new Magic Treehouse book, and grabbed it on the display outside, before we even walked in.  She was sure of her purchase in half a second.  And then she sat and started it, completely unaware of anyone else around her.  That's my girl!

Ben, on the other hand, couldn't decide.  While he hemmed and hawed, I found the sequel to How Rocket Learned to Read, a book I really loved and gifted many times a few years ago.  I was excited to read this one, where he wonderfully builds on his reading ability and starts to write his own story.  I distracted Lorelei from her book and Ben from his search for a few minutes to read this to them.  Their parent's genuine excitement over a book always makes them curious.

(This was my favorite illustration in the book.
Rocket looking for inspiration)
Sweet Rocket trots around his woods gathering words, which he and his yellow bird teacher spell out and then pin onto a "word tree."  Once he has a bunch of words on it, he's to write a story.  As soon as the blank piece of paper is in front of him, he's stumped.  His wise little teacher tells him: "Write what you know.  Look for inspiration."  Since Rocket has a good sniffer, he walks around sniffing for inspiration.  He eventually finds it in a tree, where he finds and slowly befriends a little owl.

As he writes and rewrites and rewrites once more his story, the owl is more and more interested, and Rocket is more and more encouraged by this interest.  He finishes the story about finding a new friend, and both are happy.  And each has a new friend.

A great book, read in a great place (with great kids!).

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Looking for some car books?

A new friend of mine (thanks, Felicity!) pointed out a blog post on No Time For Flashcards, a really great blog if you're looking for one to follow.  25 books about cars and trucks!

Check it out (click HERE) if you're curious...  I am ordering some from the library right now.






Polka Dot Fixes Kindergarten by Catherine Urdahl

 Polka Dot Fixes Kindergarten by Catherine Urdahl, illustrated by Mai S Kemble

Rating: 4 stars

As Lorelei and I walked to the pool last week, she sang out: "I see London, I see France, I see Mommy's underpants!"

I stopped in my tracks.  Hmm.  Was this my first bout with "potty mouth?"  Was this "potty mouth?"  I wanted to freeze time for a second to ponder it.  Since I couldn't find the remote control on Life, I (kindly but firmly) told Lorelei it wasn't a nice thing to say, and not to say it again.

"Sorry, Mommy," she mumbled.  "That's okay," I replied.  "You didn't know...but now you do."

Flash forward a few days, to bedtime.  We're reading Polka Dot Fixes Kindergarten. 

Polka Dot tries to clean up a mess with her runny soap.
It doesn't work.
Polka Dot is a quirky little girl who lives (or at least hangs out a lot with) with her equally quirky grandfather.  He fixes things for her, and puts together a little fix-it kit for her first day at kindergarten.  It includes duct tape (I love him!), runny soap, and dotted bandages.  Polka Dot is nervous but not scared, until she meets a not-so-nice girl.  (I'd like to think there are no Mean Girls in kindergarten.  As Lorelei is about to start, I'd like to keep this fallacy up for a few more months so I sleep better at night.)  The girl taunts Polka Dot in typical little kid ways, and Polka Dot, throughout the day, shrinks more and more into herself.  It's definitely sad to witness.

Then, on the playground, the not-so-nice little girl's dress tears in back.  And then the table is turned, and another kid taunts this girl: "I see London, I see France, I see..."  Aha!  That's where Lorelei got it from!  Lorelei confirmed this with a nod.  I pointed out the expression on the little girl's face, as she reacted to this poem being recited at her.

"How do you think she feels?" I asked.  "Bad.  Sad," was her reply.  "Right.  If you say that to someone, that is how you are going to make them feel.  That's why I didn't want you to say it again."

"Oh.  Got it."

It was a good closure to the potty mouth mystery, a happy ending there in Lorelei's bedroom.  She learned a valuable lesson I hope she remembers and applies.  And in the book, Polka Dot fixes the little girl's dress with duct tape.  And, of course, they end up friends.

(Slightly related aside: I went to Catholic school growing up, and my mom would staple our school badges to our shirts and hems when they fell.  I smile at the memory.  Just like her, sewing is not in my DNA.)


Monday, August 13, 2012

It's Not Fair! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

It's Not Fair! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld

Rating: 5 stars

I was worried about checking out this book.  I really didn't want to hear, "IT'S NOT FAIR!" ten times a day for the next, um, 18 years.  Because with three kids, there will be a whole lot of unfairness every hour of every day of every month of every year.  It's practically the only thing I can guarantee my kids!

But I'm such a fan of Amy Krouse Rosenthal and I do so love Tom Lichtenheld (and the other book on which they teamed up, Yes Day, is so great...), I had to give this book a chance.

I'm so glad I did.

Literally, this book is full of simple examples through grand illustrations of what's not fair in a child's world.  My cookie half is smaller.  The crowd clapped louder for someone else.  I'm sick for my own birthday party.  Surely your kids can think of a million other examples of times when it's just not fair--and the solution is not to fix it to make it fair, but to live with that unfairness.  To accept it and move on.

I was reminded of this book on our drive down to the beach yesterday.  I finished Caddie Woodlawn (okay, the fact that I could read while also supervising/entertaining/handing out snacks to three kids five and under makes me pat myself on the back a few times) and teared up towards the end.  Caddie's wise father, who has already had the foresight to "let her run wild with the boys," gives her some very sage words.  Caddie's mother has just punished Caddie and only Caddie for a crime her two brothers also committed.  But her mother singled out Caddie, and she was still stinging from the whip of the switch and of her mother's choice.  Here's what he says:
It's a strange thing, but somehow we expect more of girls than of boys.  It is the sisters and wives and mothers, you know, Caddie, who keep the world sweet and beautiful.  What a rough world it would be if there were only men and boys in it, doing things their rough way!  A woman's task is to teach them gentleness and courtesy and love and kindness.  I'ts a big task, too, Caddie--harder than cutting trees or building mills or damming rivers.  It takes nerve and courage and patience, but good women have those things.  They have them just as much as the men who build bridges and carve roads through wilderness.  A woman's work is something fine and noble to grow up to, just as important as a man's.  But no man could ever do it so well.  I don't want you to be the silly, affected person with fine clothes and manners whom folks sometimes call a lady.  No, that is not what I want for you, my little girl.  I want you to be a woman with a wise and understanding heart, healthy in body and honest in mind.
Even as I read this, at 36, I squirm a little at the unfairness of it.  But I wouldn't want it any other way.  I sure don't feel the need to clue in Lorelei on some of the future "unfairnesses" of being a girl, but it's good for me to be aware of our expectations of her.  I will still let her run as wild as she wants to for a long, long time.  Maybe because I'd like to run wild for a bit longer, too!

It's Not Fair is a good book--a little dangerous one because of that "It's not fair!" catchphrase!--but a good introduction to a big concept that'll surround us and our kids every day.

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Fly Guy vs the Flyswatter by Tedd Arnold

Fly Guy vs the Flyswatter by Tedd Arnold

Rating: 3.5 stars

Please learn from my mistake: Don't read this book before you take a vacation at the beach, where there are flies aplenty.

In it, Fly Guy takes a field trip to a flyswatter company, where he hides in his buddy Buzz's shirt pocket, afraid for his life.  He cowers even lower when each kid gets their very own flyswatter and happily zips them through the air.  And when a robotic flyswatter comes out with its swatter arms a-blazin'...Fly Guy almost loses it completely.  His big bug eyes are even bigger, which I didn't think was possible!

Of course he ends up okay, but in the reading of the book I had to explain--or remind--Lorelei and Ben what a flyswatter is, and what it does.  This was all fine and dandy in our fly-free home in Virginia, but...

Flash forward six not-so-bad, the-traffic-gods-were-smiling-on-us hours in the car and we are at the beach, where two annoying flies met us in the kitchen.  I started looking for the flyswatter.  When I found it, Lorelei and Ben looked at me.

"Don't kill Fly Guy!" they said.

Shoot.  Man these kids have good memories.  Too good, really...

So it's Kate vs the Flies after bedtime.

When I read the first book in this series (review here), I was on the fence.  Maybe I'm not ready for the boy humor that will certainly be coming my way with two boys cracking each other up too quickly.  I still think they are a little better than just okay, but I am beginning to see their mass appeal.  The stories are funny; the characters quirky and likable.  There are little "chapters" in the book, so Ben sort of thinks that he's reading a chapter book but since there's an explosion of Magic Treehouse in our house, he understands it's not the real deal.  Still, for a 3 or 4 year old boy (or girl) who has yet to latch onto books, this is worth a try.

Just wait until after the beach for this one!

Friday, August 10, 2012

Charlotte Jane Battles Bedtime by Myra Wolfe

Charlotte Jane Battles Bedtime by Myra Wolfe, illustrated by Maria Monescillo

Rating: 5 stars

Charotte Jane and I have a lot in common, I think.  Both of us were born with "oomph," as Myra Wolfe wittily puts it.  She relishes swashbuckling sessions, treasure hunts, and Fantastic Feats of Daring.  I relish Crossfit workouts, dance parties with my trio, and Fantastic Foods I Prepare.  We both "get all the juice" from our days.

Unlike me, Charlotte Jane doesn't like bedtime.  She stays up later and later and later until finally--victory!--she stays up.  All.  Night.  Long.  (I do have occasional bouts of insomnia, but I do not whisper "victory" like she does.  Instead I work on this blog or other writing projects.)

The next day, Charlotte Jane can't find her "oomph."  She was too tired to do all the stuff that she normally likes to do, too sleepy to participate with her usual chutzpah.  Her parents are alarmed and hunt for her "oomph" as if it is something to be picked up, dusted off, and replaced.  This is where Charlotte Jane and I are one again--I sorta feel like I've lost my "oomph."  I'd very much like to have it picked up, dusted off, and replaced.  Has anyone seen it?  I know my parents would gladly search in the neighbor's recycling bin or up in the old oak tree for my "oomph," just as Charlotte Jane's pirate parents do.

Finally, Charlotte Jane herself finds it.  In the form of her soft feather bed.  She decides that sleep is for landlubbers, but dreams...her "hearty dreams"...were worth sleeping for.

This is a great book.  I love how the main character is a headstrong little girl (I'm rereading Caddie Woodlawn, which makes me even more aware of great female roles in books), I love how she's a swashbuckling pirate, and I love how she solves her own problem.  I'm trying to solve my own missing-"oomph" problem.  Perhaps a week at the beach with my family will help.  I'll keep my eyes on the horizon for some pirates such as these.

The only downside to this gem of a book: how to explain what "oomph" means to your 3 and 5 year old...

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Plant A Kiss by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Plant A Kiss by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, illustrated by Peter Reynolds

Rating: 4.5 stars

Lately I've been thinking a lot about love, and one day I looked up and saw it.  Lorelei and her great friend Owen were greeting each other in the parking lot one morning before camp last week.

We had arrived and hopped out of our Suburban first; Owen's family was parking across the lot.  Owen bounded out of the car in his uber-enthusiastic way, sure to alarm his mother but delight Lorelei, who looked across the lot and screamed in her uber-enthusiastic way: "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN!"  It was as if they hadn't seen each other in years, not a matter of hours.  The hugged and went off together to play and giggle, enjoying each other's company in the few minutes before the bus picked them up.

Lorelei and Owen, on their first day of camp!
They are pretty inseparable at school, though they do spend time apart.  They make up silly games at lunchtime, do art together, and have funny little conversations that trickle their way back to their moms.  Owen's hand is often around Lorelei's shoulder or waist in an oddly grown up way, guiding her this way or that, making sure she's comfortable and happy.

I think of them when I read Plant A Kiss because this is something that Lorelei and Owen would do: Plant a garden and help the flowers bloom.  Once they do, they'd go against the advice of the majority, which is what the little girl in the story does as well.  They wouldn't shelter it and keep it to themselves.  They'd share them--pluck them up and, magically, help more flowers bloom.  This book is simple, focusing on the basics.  Hmmm...sorta like the good sort of love.

These two little cuties exemplify love in such a pure, uncomplicated way--I only wish that people will pay attention as they continue to love each other help love bloom.

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Shoe-la-la! by Karen Beaumont

Shoe-la-la! by Karen Beaumont, illustrated by LeUyen Pham

Rating: 3.5 stars

I officially want to dislike this book.  Its cover is a sparkly image of four young girls dressed up far too maturely for their own good.  Let them be kids!  Keep them from wanting to wear high heels and pearls!

Sigh.

I'm sure there is a huge fan base for this book and others like it--books about dressing up and wearing the fanciest shoes in town with your closest girlfriends.  I guess the problem I have with that is that's what I would like to do on some weekends!  I don't want my five year old daughter doing that for, um, three decades!  Okay, maybe two.
These show off my pretty feet. / These look good enough to eat.
Fuzzy boots for when it snows. / Ballerina on my toes!

BUT I am a huge fan of Karen Beaumont and I'm glad I gave the book a chance.  Like all her books, there is a great rhyme that makes the book fun to read.  The very tomboyish girls decide to go find new party shoes, and head to the nearest shop to try on every pair imaginable.  They try on about three dozen each but still can't find a pair they like, so they head back home, empty-handed.

And then, as Ben would say, they used "their own imaginations" and grabbed their old shoes and made them fancy.  Okay, I can deal with an ending like that.  I can easily supply Lorelei with some glue and every art supply I've got in the house and let her go to town decorating those shoes until she is satisfied with the results.  And yup, I'd let her wear them in public.  And yup, if Ben wanted to do it, I'd let him decorate and wear his shoes "of his own imagination" in public, too.  Because why should girls get to have all the fun?

Wiggle and Waggle by Caroline Arnold

Wiggle and Waggle by Caroline Arnold, illustrated by Mary Peterson

Rating: 5 stars

Ben is into chapter books.  Don't tell him that he actually can't read these, and he'll argue with you with more words than you know what to do with.  The other day he sat reading a Magic Treehouse book while I finished checking out the 513 other books he/we chose at the library when the librarian saw him.  "How old is he?  Is he actually reading that?"  Ben looked up and realized she was asking about him.

"I'm 3 years old."  She looked at me, and I quietly shook my head.  "But he thinks he can!"

So Ben is into any books with chapters, because "chapter" is one of the words that he actually can read.  This book is great for more reasons, but because it has five chapters, it gets two thumbs up from Ben.

I'm not sure how we happened upon it in the beginner reader section of our library, but I'm glad we did.  Wiggle and Waggle are two hard working worms who--you guessed it--wiggle and waggle their way under a garden in order to help it grow.  They make up a (catchy, you-can't-forget-it) song, they spell out their own names in the dirt, they take muddy picnic breaks, they splash in puddles.  All together, like two peas in a pod.  Two worms in the mud!

The illustrations push the book over the edge into the Super Cute category--I know the worms in our yard aren't really this cute.  Including the dead one that was stuck to Kiefer's foot yesterday!  Ew.  Kinda gross...sure hope it wasn't a cousin of one of these guys in the book.  Anyway, Ben and Lorelei had a good time figuring out which one was Wiggle and which one was Waggle, which makes me wonder: Do other kid-readers do this, too?  I love the little logic games that go into it so I totally encourage it.

"Ben, Wiggle is talking here, and the pink worm has its mouth open.  The pink one must be Wiggle!" Lorelei says with the excitement usually reserved for winning the lottery or sleeping in until 7 AM (if you're me).

We've had this book from the library for about two weeks and I think I've read it about five times--plus the time IN the library with Ben, when I happily sang the digging song in the Children's section while other patrons smirked or smiled around me.  I don't care.  I was reading with my kids!  Sometimes that requires a little goofitude.  And I'm fine with that.


P.S.  If you like worm books, check out Diary of A Worm by Doreen Cronin!

Grandchildren's Library Suggestions

Here are your suggestions for Grammy (and GrandBill)'s grand-children's library.  The ones I've reviewed have a link.  Happy reading to us, and to you, too!


How Do Bears Sleep?  by E.J. Bird
Puff the Magic Dragon  by Peter Yarrow and Lenny Lipton
What Do People Do All Day?  by Richard Scarry
Birds  by Kevin Henkes
Love You Forever  by Robert Munsch
The Giving Tree  by Shel Silverstein
Owl Moon by Jane Yolen
The Quiet Book  by Deborah Underwood
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham
Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev
Little Rabbit Lost by Harry Horse
The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton
Mommy's Best Kisses by Margaret Anastas
Enormous Crocodile by Roald Dahl
The Magic Finger by Roald Dahl
Blueberries for Sal  by Robert McCloskey
Make Way for Ducklings  by Robert McCloskey
Good Night Gorilla
A Cricket in Times Square
The Seven Silly Eaters
All Oliva books
All Eloise books
The Diary of A Wombat
Click, Clack, Moo Cows that Type by Doreen Cronin
Edwina the Dinosaur by Mo Willems
Hugless Douglass by David Melling
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
Cupcake by Charise Mericle Harper
And of course the Elephant and Piggie series by: Mo Willems

Noodle by Munro Leaf

Chapter Books
Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing
Ramona Quimby, Age 8


Activity Books
Super Simple Paper Airplanes by Robinson
Ed Emberly's Big Green Drawing book
Oregami by Henry and Cook
Good Earth Art
Scribble Art
Preschool Art
DK's One Million Things: A Visual Encyclopedia
The Story of Flight (Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum)

These are such great suggestions...thanks to all, and congratulations again to Sophia!

Q is For Duck by Mary Elting

Q is For Duck by Mary Elting, illustrated by Marcia McClintock Folsom

Rating: 4 stars

This afternoon I taught Ben how to use a shoulder--mine--as a pillow.  It's a necessary skill in the world, I think, especially when I wish for him that snuggling is always on the forefront.  In what seems to be becoming a quiet, sweet little habit, I lay on his bed and read my book ("Mommy, are you going to read Wild?  The one with the red cover and no pictures?"  "Good memory, Ben!  Yes.") and he reads his chapter books.

I say read, but I mean "read."  He flips through as I flip through, impatiently waiting for me to turn the page in my book so he can turn a page in his book.  He flat refuses to turn the page without a turn from me, so I end up faking a turn or two so that his impatience doesn't grow to frustration.

Quiet time is a strict routine in our house--the kids choose something and head up to their rooms to take a break from each other and "quiet their body," usually on their beds.  It usually lasts about 30 minutes, unless my husband is around and then somehow they remain in their rooms for an hour or more.

Today I put my book down when he so sweetly asked me to read him a book.  It did not take much arm-twisting...  My friends would fall over laughing if you asked them if I was a push-over, but we all have our buttons, and I'd drop everything and anything (well, except Kiefer) if they asked me to read to them.

He chose this book, Q is For Duck.  It's an alphabet guessing game--you've got to think about why the chosen letter goes with the chosen thing.  Clearly you realize that Q is for duck because ducks quack, but the answer requires some serious thinking from a 3 or 4 year old.  I like books and games like this, and this game is easily adapted to car rides (as long as you don't have one of those pesky DVD players that spoil conversation and reading and stuff...!).  It is very similar to White is for Blueberry, another logic-building book that twists the norm and makes you change your perspective.

Ben and I lay in his bed, reading this book on our backs with the book up in the air over us, thinking and wondering and laughing at the silly connections.  It was a lazy summer afternoon with just one of my three kids.  One of those hours you just want to freeze.

M is for Afternoon...because a little Memory was made.
S is for Ben...because he too can be sweet, like his big sister.
N is for Kiefer...because Kiefer was napping during this little interlude.
L is for me...because I'm lucky to have these kids, this life.