Hopper and Wilson by Maria Van Lieshout

Hopper and Wilson by Maria Van Lieshout

Rating: 4 stars

Ever listen in to a funny little conversation between two small children?  I love listening to Lorelei and Ben chat about something they know little about--there is something ridiculously charming their exchange, filled with questions and answers which are both innocent and curious.  This book begins with one such conversation.

Hopper: "What do you think it's like at the end of the world?"

Wilson:  "Not sure...but I bet there's lots of lemonade!  I love lemonade."

Hopper:  "And a staircase to the moon!  So I can touch it."

Wilson:  "Well, there's only one way to find out."

(I love the sense of adventure!  The confidence that little Wilson portrays.)

Hopper couldn't hear a thing except the roar of the crashing waves.

So they make a newspaper boat, wave good-bye to their cactus, hop on, and off they sail on their adventure.  They bob on the waves and dream about what they'll find.  Soon, though, a storm hits, and they cling desperately to their boat.  When the sea calms down, Hopper is gone.

For anyone who has suddenly and sadly lost someone they love, this is a sad page.  Possibly, for some sensitive kids, it's too sad.

Wilson sails on, searching.  He doesn't care about the destination anymore; he just wants to find his friend.  (Oh what a lesson!  Who cares where you're going if you don't have someone you love beside you?!)  He quizzes every animal he comes across until he finds his friend, who is funnily floating on a balloon.

A reunion!

"I missed you, Wilson."

"I missed you, Hopper."

(Sniff, sniff.)

Blog #2

In addition to be a book-lover extraordinaire, I am also an athlete.  I know, I know...you thought I was just some suburban mom of three who might put on some Lululemon gear to jog every now and then between trips to the library.

No!  I'm an actual athlete, or at least believe myself to be.  And if I act as if I am, and I believe I am, then...I definitely am.  Right?  Right.

And according to Lorelei, I'm the fastest mom in the world--or at least that's what I told her when I won my age group in a trail 10K last month.  I'm also super into Crossfit, so have incorporated that into my running, which leads me to...

A new blog: Running to Crossfit in case you want to check it out.  It's my plan and my path to the Marine Corps Marathon in late October.  I couldn't find a single marathon training plan that incorporated Crossfit and traditional running training workouts, so I've created one of my own (well, it's a bit of a work in progress as of tonight) and am tracking my own progress.  It's not much more than a workout journal and won't appeal to many, but...

Enjoy, and thanks for reading.

(Good night.)

Very Tricky, Alfie Atkins by Gunilla Bergstrom

Very Tricky, Alfie Atkins by Gunilla Bergstrom

Rating: 4 stars

I like this Alfie Atkins character.  He wants his father to play with him, but his father is busy reading the paper.  Seizing the opportunity of a distracted parent, his request to play with his father's tool box is granted. But not the saw!  That's dangerous.  So Alfie builds (with the other not-so-dangerous tools) a box around himself, and pretends he can't get out.

He tells his father: hand me the saw and I can get myself out, or come rescue me.  His father MUST now put down his paper and play with him, much to his son's delight.


I don't know how this book ended up in our library bag--the beloved Grammy was along for the pre-vacation library trip (we checked out 47 books), but it definitely strikes a chord in me.  Years ago, I added yet another very random, unhelpful in any career whatsoever, totally paid nothing job.  And had a blast.  I was the head wrangler at a summer camp in Nowheresville, Washington.  I was in charge of a dozen horses, one other person (a gal who showed up in heels from Australia) and the whole little riding program, which didn't account to much.


On the first day of camp after they jumped from their parents still-moving vehicles onto the campgrounds and had their heads checked for lice, the kids were thrown into different groups to play together before they settled in for dinner.  My job was always to play soccer with about half of the kids.  Together with a Peter Pan-like guy from Australia who is probably still immature in a super endearing way, we played with the kids.


That's it.  We just played with them.  We were in charge, sure, but...hardly.  It was such a lesson for me--put things aside, and just join in.  It was a great way to start the week, and I definitely apply that invaluable lesson everyday here at my home.  Just today Ben walked in to the kitchen while I was fixing Kiefer's lunch and asked: "Will you be a firefighter with me, Mommy?"


You betcha!

Suddenly the steam from the chicken was a fire, and we pretended that some random spatula was a hose and we were putting the fire out.  When that was no longer exciting, I asked him to teach me what to do if I was on fire, and they thought it was pretty funny watching me stop, drop, and roll.

Really I was just stop, dropping, and playing, of course.

But the book talks about fathers playing with their kids, and that's a whole other thing.  My husband is so tired and exhausted and stressed that when the kids do finally convince him to play they are beyond delighted.  It's what their faces would look like if we ever were nice enough to take them to Disneyworld.  It's sad for me to watch, because they are so fun and his intentions I think are good, but...  Pretty soon they'll be more into their friends than me and him, so, I'll be stop, dropping, and playing as much as I can in the next few years.  And forcing others around me to do the same!

All that other stuff can wait.

How you know Kate is on vacation...

Just a random post...will get to blogging about a book later on (I hope)...

Observe what's in the picture, all things that don't often happen:

1.  My feet are UP!
2.  A real-life pedicure!
3.  White jeans...you know kids are not around!
4.  I am reading an ADULT book!  A real chapter book.  And a good one (that I read for a total of 8 hours in three days...when I didn't read it much yesterday I felt like I was missing my buddy Lewis and my pal Clark)...

Happy summer, all.  Hope you are able to read a few books of your own, too.

The Grand Canyon by Marion Dane Bauer, illustrated by John Wallace

 The Grand Canyon by Marion Dane Bauer, illustrated by John Wallace

Rating: 3.5 stars

I'm an Army brat.  I grew up all over the place, and am fortunate to not only have seen a bunch of places in our country, but also to have lived there, and gotten to know the place.  There are only four states I've not visited: Alaska, Maine, Rhode Island, and New Mexico.  Any sympathy you might have for me will evaporate when I tell you that my father's overseas tour was in Hawaii.  I spent three years of my life shored up on Oahu, visiting neighbor islands for a few days here and there, hula-ing my way through my middle years.  It was rough...the sunburns and all.

My parents didn't have a ton of money for vacations, and we drove everywhere we needed or wanted to go.  We saw and did a lot, but...we never got to the Grand Canyon.  It is a place that I've always wanted to see, a place I've been curious about and dreamt about for decades.  I have dreams of running it--R2R2R they call it, rim to rim to rim.  I'm a big outdoorsy person and feel more comfortable in running shoes than heels, happier dusty than all dolled up.  And lately I've been really jonesing for a long hike.

Enter a short trip, sans kids, to Vegas.  Not exactly my style, but fun in its own way and a much-needed getaway.  During it, my husband surprised me with a short trip to the Grand Canyon.  I was so surprised and excited!  We took a short ride there and spent an even shorter but very calming 15 minutes in the Canyon.  It was more than I expected and I wanted hours to take in its hues, quiet-ness, and history.  I couldn't, so I had to be grateful for the little visit.  I'd like to go back.  Like, tomorrow.

Me, happy and awestruck, at the Grand Canyon.

Upon return to reality here in Virginia, I was very grateful that Lorelei and Ben and I had read this book together a few months ago.  They knew exactly what I was talking about when I said that we visited the Grand Canyon.  This book is part of a series of books that all kids should read.  They are not phenomenal literary works--the writing is not outstanding, the stories are not witty, the illustrations won't blow you away.  But they teach my kids about our country, and many of the great places that is packed in it.

In this series, there are books about Yellowstone, Niagra Falls, Mount Rushmore, The Statue of Liberty, the Rocky Mountains, the Mississippi.  We've read most of them--I discovered them last summer while preparing our kids to go to Colorado for a heavenly vacation within and around the Rockies.  It's important stuff, this teaching-of-America thing.  Lorelei and Ben and certainly Kiefer are too young to appreciate democracy and free choice and our relative affluence compared to the world...but they are not too young to start locating spots on the map and making lists of places we should visit together.

And they're not too young to appreciate beauty, and the awesomeness of a place like the Grand Canyon.  In fact, it's my own child-like awe of the place that makes me teach them about it.  I hope that when they are in their mid-thirties, they are awestruck by things big and small, too.

Creaky Old House by Linda Ashman, illustrated by Michael Chesworth

Creaky Old House: A Topsy-Turvy Tale of a Real Fixer-Upper by Linda Ashman, illustrated by Michael Chesworth

Rating: 5 stars

I'm a make-it-work girl married to a make-it-better guy; a little tension between those two approaches sometimes...just sometimes!...exists.  I'm happy to say that in this book, my way wins out.  Hooray!

I'd heard that Creaky Old House had a good, rollicking rhyme and it was about fixing up a home--something that happens all the time in our wonderful sorta-old home.  (It's hard to say that a house built in the '80s is old.)  There is always a project going on in our house--sometimes it's just a massive reorganizing effort, but often it's a renovation project that will take months to plan, and then months to occur.  Progress is good, I know, but when the status quo is mighty fine, it's hard to buy into progress.

But, as I type, Kiefer is walking around with a drill, "fixing things."  It's a toy drill, in case you're concerned about my wisdom in handing out real drills to a toddler.

Perhaps we have hoarders here?

In this VERY fun book, nine people live in an actual old home that has creaky stairs and quirky problems, a nook or cranny for everyone, and one problematic doorknob.  When that doorknob breaks and a new doorknob that fits can't be found, they look to replace the door.  But there is no door that fits perfectly.  So they'll have to adjust the door frame...and then move the chair...and then relocate the staircase...  As you probably guessed, the house-dwellers erupt with ideas and suggestions and pretty soon a brand-spankin'-new house is designed, complete with a roller coaster (my kids would love that!).

But just as the new house design is complete (it only took a few pages...not so realistic if you've ever been through that process!), they realize the youngest kiddo is missing.  Uh-oh!  Oh, wait.  She's just on the porch.  And looky there!  Lizzie has a triumphant look on her face.  She's gone and fixed the doorknob.  With her pacifier.

My kind of girl!  Although I'd have used duct tape.

Good Night, Good Knight by Shelley Moore Thomas, illustrated by Jennifer Plecas

Good Night, Good Knight by Shelley Moore Thomas, illustrated by Jennifer Plecas

Rating: 5 stars

I don't want to toot my own horn, but I'm a pretty good reader of children's books.  But this book is especially fun to read--it has wonderful, rhythmic prose that repeats itself in just the right way to make the book a tiny bit suspenseful.  A mini what's-going-to-happen-next tale involving a brave knight and three dragons...and a homonym to boot!  What more could you really ask for in a bedtime (or anytime) book?

Here's the story: A good knight is on watch and hears a roar, and goes to check it out.  It's a dragon, needing a glass of water.  He's confused but, since he's a good knight, he provides the refreshing sips and returns to his post.  And hears another roar.  It's another dragon, needing a bedtime story.  He's confused but, since he's a good knight, he reads a story and returns to his post.  And then he hears another roar, and goes to check it out.  It's a third dragon, needing a bedtime song.  He's confused but, you guessed it, a good knight so he sings a lullaby and returns to his post.  Only to hear a fourth and final roar and he goes to check it out.

He tries to guess what these silly little dragons need.

Another glass of water?  Nope.

Another bedtime story?  Nah.

Another song?  Not that either.

Three green, scaly, puckered dragon lips turn to him.  A good-night kiss!  He'sSo he smooches the dragons, waits until the roars turn to snores, and wearily tucks himself in for the night.

This is a great little book, an above-average fun read for both big reader and little listener.  Definitely a great book for your shelf.

Players in Pigtails by Shana Corey, illustrated by Rebecca Gibson

Players in Pigtails by Shana Corey, illustrated by Rebecca Gibson

Rating: 4.5 stars

"Crying?  There's no crying in baseball!" is one of my all-time favorite lines from any movie, delivered by Tom Hanks in A League of Their Own.

But that line is NOT in this book about Katie Casey, a girl who is not very good at being a typical girl and busying herself with piano or painting or home-ec or dancing.  Instead, she was obsessed with baseball.  She could catch a ball with her eyes closed, hit a ball with one hand behind her back.  "She preferred sliding to sewing, batting to baking, and home runs to homecoming."

I love girls like these--in real life and in books!

Because America was at war and the boys were going away to war, girls were suddenly called upon to take up the sport.  As soon as Katie Casey heard about tryouts, she was there.  Happily, she found herself surrounded by other like-minded women who wanted to talk about the quality of their curve balls instead of the hue of their lipstick.  Soon Katie was playing for the Kenosha Comets, in front of a surprisingly enthusiastic crowd.  (But only after attending finishing school and donning skirts...chuckle, chuckle...)

Who knew that the super famous--I even know some of the words--"Take Me Out to the Ball Game" was about a girl?!  I love being armed with this knowledge.  The author, Shana Corey, discovered this and couldn't shake the idea to write a children's book about Katie.  I love that she couldn't NOT write it, and I love having this book available to little girls (and boys, too).  Check this out, the lesser-known first verse and the well-known chorus, which means a lot more to me now:

Katie Casey was baseball mad.
Had the fever and had it bad;
Just to root for the hometown crew,
Every sou Katie blew.
On a Saturday her young beau
Called to see if she'd like to go
To see a show, but Miss Kate said...
"Not I'll tell you what you can do." 

"Take me out to the ball game,
Take me out to the crowd.
Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack,
I don't care if I never get back,
Let me root, root, root for the home team,
If they don't win it's a shame.
For it's one, two, three strikes you're out
At the old ball game."

Lorelei and her little contemporaries won't know the limits that Katie Casey knew and fought against, thanks to Title 9 and time.  But even when we went to the baseball game on Father's Day, she asked why girls weren't playing.  She wants to do all the things that Ben can do and hopefully want to do them better.

It's great to have a book to explain that once they did, and maybe once again...they can.

And now...a very short clip on Women's Baseball in WWII:

Good Night, Good Night, Construction Site by Sherri Duskey Rinker, illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld

 Good Night, Good Night, Construction Site by Sherri Duskey Rinker, illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld

Rating: 5 stars

This book made me realize that I must rethink my methods of discipline.  Lorelei and Ben are very good kids who sometimes need to take a few minutes or take a few deep breaths before returning to the fun. But the only thing I really take away from them if they are naughty is one of their two bedtime books.

"One more time and you lose a book!" I'll say.  It seems pretty ludicrous even to type it, but it almost always works.  They really love bedtime books, and I love to end the day this way.  I'm lucky that bedtime is a really nice time of day for us, full of giggles and stories and wrestling-into-pajamas and cozying up to read a book or two or three.

With Ben especially I love this time--he's a cute kid, but when his dragon bath towel is pulled over his head, clean for the first time since waking up...  He's SUPER cute.  And he makes my heart melt.

The other night he chose this book, and as he sat in my lap, wanting one arm around him while the other turned the pages, I realized I can't take this part of the day away.  It'll be gone way too soon.

And this book is a really, really great one, especially for boys whose special talents do not include quieting their body when their body needs to be quieted.  Know any lad like this?  This book is about construction vehicles (you knew that already) who are tough and hard-working by day.  But, when the sun starts to go down, they know it's time to wash up and tuck in.  Take Crane Truck:

Reaching, stretching, lifting high,
He swings the beam into the sky.
He'll set it down right on its mark,
Then off to bed; it's almost dark.

The words in this book are really, really wonderful--sweet and calming.

But the pictures!  Lichtenheld's talent shines.  He somehow manages to make these tough vehicles muscley and brawny by day and then...adorable by night.  Crane Truck holds a little teddy bear in his arms of steel.  Cement Mixer throws a tiny blankie over his big body.  Bulldozer keeps his neighbors awake with his snores.  I love this message to boys: You can be tough, and tender, too.

I bought this book for Ben after we checked it out from the library.  It's a book I want on his shelf for as long as possible, so at the end of each and every day we can focus on only the sweet parts of him, of us, of our day.

Farming by Gail Gibbons

Farming by Gail Gibbons

Rating: 5 stars

Gail Gibbons throws in a lot of information into her books, sometimes a bit too much, but this one is a GREAT introduction for little ones.  Here's a picture-laden book about farming: all the types of farms there are, and what happens on a farm.  Gibbons divides the books up into seasons, and draws all the different things that happen in each season on a farm, and then sketches the jobs that have got to be done in each season.

I love it!  It's a great book to carry along with you if you're heading to a farm for the day.  We frequent Frying Pan Park, though it doesn't count as a working farm.  We love Butler's Orchard for fruit and vegetables, too.  I like to have a book like this when we go to places like these so that my kids can understand the big picture at a nice, slow pace--one page at a time, they turn to the next page when they're ready.

Confession: I'm beginning to think that I might like to be a small-scale farmer in some future phase of my life.  My husband thinks I'm nuts.  He might be right, but...  I'm a girl with a lot of energy, a bunch of patience, and a passion for doing anything and everything outdoors.

So I've already started to brainwash my kids so that they can help me out with the chores and stuff.  And Lorelei can convince my husband that this venture is brilliant.  If it were up to me, we'd go to some working farm for the summer.  This appeals to me for so many reasons, including:

1. The "noise" (all that silly competition for the kids, the keepin' up with the Jones for us) from our everyday life would decrease, possibly disappear for a little while completely.
2. My kids would see--not just read about--the origin of their food.
3. They'd really know the definition of chores and learn how to work--I'm all about kids pitching in, regardless of their age.  "Everybody does their part," I say.
4. A change of scenery for any reason is a good thing.  I'm an Army brat, so I'm sorta restless by nature anyway.
5. I know they'd love it.  Me, too.

But since I can't snap my fingers and transport us to a working farm...at least not just yet...  I'll have to make do and go to farms around our area and garden as much as I can.  And dream.  And imagine myself in this book.

Chopsticks by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, illustrated by Scott Magoon

Chopsticks by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, illustrated by Scott Magoon

Rating: 5 stars

When I tell people I have a children's book blog, they ask me: "Why don't you write a book of your own?"

Here's why:  When we talked about this book at lunch, and thought of what other kitchen utensils would make good characters for books, we came up: a microwave.  I tried to get the kids past it, but they were stuck on microwave.  It'd be a mad one, according to Ben.  And the door could be its mouth, added Lorelei.  And it could be mean to all the other kitchen appliances until it needed help, and then it'd become friendly.  Well, we at least we have characters, a conflict and resolution worked out...  But a best-seller?  Um, probably not.


But you're in luck.  We didn't write this book.  Amy Krouse Rosenthal did, and this book is GREAT!  And has an Asian twist, which always makes me happy.  

Chopsticks have been best friends for forever; they do everything together.  "They are practically joined at the hip."  But suddenly...one of them breaks a leg!  He is quickly whisked away (by a whisk!  I love it!) and repaired, but needs to stay off that one leg for a while.  He encourages his partner to go out and do things for himself.

What a scary thing...but, after a few deep chopstick-breaths, off trots the friend for some solo adventures.  He plays with playdoh, serves as a pole to vault, and participates in Pick Up Sticks.

When his buddy is better, they now have more things to enjoy...together.  They realize they can now stand on their own, or stick together.

Guess what they play on the piano to celebrate?  You guessed it...Chopsticks.

Lorelei, reading Chopsticks to Ben.

The Mixed-Up Chameleon by Eric Carle

The Mixed-Up Chameleon by Eric Carle

Rating: 4 stars

Another chameleon book today...  And, like the other chameleons, this one is having an identity crisis with some pretty silly results.  This chameleon's life simply involves changing colors and eating bugs.

"That was his life.  It was not very exciting."

But one day, this chameleon happened upon a zoo and added some excitement into his life.  He wished to change not just his color but also his shape...  And his wish is granted!  After he wishes for several attributes of other animals, he looks pretty funny indeed: he has deer antlers, a fox tail, fish fins, and flamingo feet.  Lorelei and Ben howl at how crazy he looks!

And then, when he's totally mixed-up, he gets hungry.  Uh-oh.  And he realizes that he no longer has the ability to catch flies.  How's a guy to eat??  So he wishes himself back to normal again, catches a fly, and is happy to be just...himself.

Makes me think...what is that line in the Sheryl Crow song?  "It's not having what you want, it's wanting what you've got..."

Library Mouse by Daniel Kirk

Library Mouse by Daniel Kirk

Rating: 4 stars

Well here's a little slice of heaven: Sam the mouse lives in a library.  All night long, when the library is dark and quiet, Sam reads and reads and reads.  And then he reads and reads some more.  (Hmmm...now how can I do that for a year or so, and get caught up on all the books I'd like to read...??)

Finally, he realizes it is time to write his own book!  "Write what you know," he remembers reading from a book on how to write.  So he writes about being a mouse.  He gets paper from the librarian's desk and poses in a little compact mirror and draws his reflection to illustrate his pint-sized (or rodent-sized) book.

When he's finished, he tucks his book in the appropriate section in the library--the biography/autobiography section.  When the book is discovered by book-lovers by day, a hunt begins for the author.  The librarian writes a note asking the mystery author to appear and teach her and the kids the secret of writing.  Sam is much too shy to come out in front of people, so he makes dozens of pint-sized books--blank this time--and puts his mirror at the bottom of a shoebox.  To the shoebox he attaches a sign: "Look here to meet the author."  When a child peers in, he sees himself.

Aha!  Point: Everyone can be an author!

This is the best book I've found to encourage kids to write their own books.  We are trying to keep a summer journal, but Lorelei gets interested about writing her own book from time to time.  Since she can only spell about a dozen words by herself, it'd be a me-filled endeavor...  And with two other kids, well, I often don't have as much time to spare as she needs.  BUT we can do picture-only books, so we try those and then add the words when I have the time to sit down with just her.  Ben is just starting to write his own name, but he has plenty of ideas and words to share, which he normally does from morning to night!

Definitely a book worth checking out, especially if your child might just need one more tiny nudge to have the courage to write her own book.  Maybe I'll reread it and muster up some courage of my own...

And here's a video of Ben reading Library Mouse...with a cameo (or spotlight-takeover) from his little brother...  (the first time I wrote this I posted a video of my kids dancing...oops!)

Also, there are three other books in this series.  We've read Library Mouse: A Friend's Tale and Library Mouse: Adventure at the Museum.  They are both fine; we like checking out all books in a series like this so Lorelei can read one after another, I can read one after another to Ben.  I like the Museum one a lot because Sam has a friend, Sarah, who is "an explorer," and rather than write books, they write in journals...about their adventure at the museum.

Just to make you smile...

It's 6:34 AM.  Let me tell you a little about my last few hours...

3:14   Ben wakes up, my husband goes to see what's going on.
3:25   Husband returns to bed.
3:45   Ben's door opens, and then closes.  His way of saying, "Ummm...I'm awake, anyone going to see       what I'm doing?"
3:46   I go see what he's doing.
4:00   I convince him to lie down.
4:20   He is mostly asleep, I tell him I'm going back to my bed.
4:35   Ben's door opens, and then closes.
4:36   I sigh.
4:37   I get up, lie down with Ben, convince him to lie back down again.
4:55   Ben is snoring softly.  WHEW!
4:56   I begin to extricate myself.  Slooowly, very slooooooooowly.
4:58   I wake up Ben.
4:59   I swear--loudly--to myself.
5:00   I try to explain to Ben that lying back down and going back to sleep will win my eternal gratitude.
5:12   I give up.  I tell Ben not to leave his room until Kiefer wakes up.
5:13   I go back to my bed.
5:15   My husband's alarm goes off.
5:18   Ben's door opens, and then it closes.
5:20   I give up, I get up, put on my running clothes.

It goes on a little longer, but...needless to say, my morning has been, um, amusing.  But Kiefer never fails to make me smile--to make all of us smile--so I thought you might smile at the video I took of him yesterday:

Have a good day...hope you got a little more sleep than me.

And if you see me today, will you please refill my coffee cup?  Thanks.

Homer by Elisha Cooper

Homer by Elisha Cooper

Rating: 4 sweet stars


WARNING: DO NOT READ THIS BOOK IF YOU HAVE JUST LOST A PET!  I don't want to make you cry...I already teared up at the end of the book, and our dogs are still young and frisky.


Okay, I'll continue now.


This is a simple book of big, gorgeous pictures and few words.  An old dog lays on a porch, his family inviting him to go with him down to the beach.  He politely declines and just watches, observing, taking it all in.  


Before he heads in, one of his People asks: "Do you need anything?"


Looking out at the beachy sunset, clearly thinking to himself of all his kids who came to play with him while he sat, immobile, and smiling like labs and Goldens do, he thinks:

"Nope, I have everything I want.  I have you."

And then, at the end of the day, he gets up and stretches his stiff body and makes his way inside.  He painfully travels from the porch to an old, comfy chair, and then falls asleep, as his People work around him.

Our two weimaraners are still crazy, despite the fact that they are almost ten years old.  Their favorite moments of the day are clearly those right after bedtime, when I come down the stairs empty-handed and breathing out for the first time all day, looking forward to the transition from mother to wife as my husband drives home from work.  It's usually just me and them walking around the woods together for a few minutes, them romping happily, and me enjoying the quiet.  They would be happy if I was a stay-at-home-dog-mom, tending to them all day long.  Maybe then they'd get a bath more than once a month!

Dogs are so great.  A big pat to your dog if you've got one, too.

Hello, Robots! by Bob Staake

Hello, Robots! by Bob Staake

Rating: 3.5 stars

Another good one by Bob Staake.  Here's a tale of four hard-working metal robots who have four different jobs around the house.  They happily do what they're programmed to do all day long.  (I'll take Zip, the cleaning robot, please.)  Halfway through their day, they are all outside when it starts to rain.  They get drenched and go haywire.

Enter a very giggle-worthy page: The baking robot is baking a birdhouse in a tree, the fix-it robot repairs an apple pie, the gardener robot rakes the window glass, and the cleaning robot shines a mound of grass.  As you can imagine, these things are pretty funny to little ones.

Blink, he bakes an apple pie. / Zinc repairs a birdhouse high.
Blip, he rakes a mound of grass. / Zip shines up the window glass.

In order to fix each other, they switch heads!  Funny images help out the funny concept...and the frowns from the metal robots turn to smiles as they go back to their normal tasks, the right way.  They end up smiling bolt to bolt, despite the miscolored, mismatched heads.

My kids are not robot-obsessed (yet?) but we like robots.  Mostly because my husband's one and only dance is the "robot dance," which you can imagine gets rave reviews.  Normally not the goofy type, he cracks up Lorelei and Ben and Kiefer with his moves.  They of course love to join in, doing their best impersonation of Daddy but also doing their own version.  They become "Lo-bot" and "Ben-bot" and "Kief-bot."

And me?  "Mom-bot," of course!

(If you're an educator or librarian or super-over-achiever parent, click here for cute storytime idea.)

Grandfather's Journey by Allen Say

 Grandfather's Journey by Allen Say

Rating: 4.5 stars

It isn't everyday that the books I'm reading correspond with the books my children are reading.  This one might be the first.  I just finished Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand, about a World War II bombardier's incredible struggle against all odds.  It was fantastic: moving, gut-wrenching, horrifying, shocking and, in the end, uplifting and incredibly inspiring.  I loved every page.

Therefore, when I read this book to Lorelei and Ben last week, I could feel the stories behind the simple one that Say tells.  His grandfather comes to the United States from Japan and soon falls in love with the mountains, the deserts, the farm fields, and huge cities.  Everything impresses him and he stays in California to raise his family.  When his daughter is nearly grown, he misses Japan, and takes his family back to live.  His daughter meets and marries a young man, and they have a son.  The grandfather tells the boy stories of California and they plan on going there, but a war began and the old man dies before he can return.  So the boy travels alone to California...for himself, but in order to know his grandfather a little better.

The endless farm fields reminded him of the
ocean he had crossed.

It's a serious story for a children's book, especially for this house--we like the funny ones that make us giggle and smile most of the time.  But it's an important tale and I love how Say writes it.

But it's his pictures that are the best.  Huge, elegant illustrations brighten the simple prose and draw in the reader.  They really made me pause as I was reading, to appreciate each and everyone (and yes, the one of the mountains was my favorite).  They are quiet and serene pictures, serious but beautiful.  Very worthy of the Caldecott on its front.

Lorelei and Ben asked me what a war is some time ago, I can't remember when.  It was one of those shoot-I-didn't-realize-this-question-was-going-to-come-so-soon moments.  I thought about it for a minute, then asked them to go get the world map that we often look at.  It's a placemat, so it's not very intricate but they can get an idea of how much (land and people, mostly) there is in the world.

I asked how many kids they had in their classes--it was around 14.  I asked if they all got along together all of the time.  "No," was the clear answer.  "Right, I said.  Of course not.  Everyone argues about things some of the times."  Then I showed them the map and explained how many people there are in the world--billions!--and said that all of us argued about things some times, too.  Sometimes we can work it out and "meet in the middle" (what we always say for compromise) but other times they fight about it.  When countries fight, that's a war.

I give myself a B+ or so for the answer.  Not perfect, but what I came up with on the fly.  Such a big concept for little minds, but important and...I wanted to be truthful.  Books like this raise questions, of course, but, as parents, we can't be afraid of those questions.  Ready or not, they will come.

Spoon by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, illustrated by Scott Magoon

Spoon by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, illustrated by Scott Magoon

Rating: 5 stars

Many days I think about writing a children's book.  And then I read one like Spoon, and I'm floored by the author's talent.  Rosenthal's ability to find a story to tell is so impressive!  And the wit she uses on each and every page (and Magoon's equally quirky-funny pictures) humbles me back into blog-dom.  Nope, no children's book for me today.  I'll just continue to read 'em and write about 'em.  Sniff, sniff...

Another great one by Rosenthal!  We can't get enough of her books right now.

Young Spoon is frustrated.  Everyone around him seems to have it better than he does.  Knife gets to cut and spread, Fork gets to leap into cakes and twirl spaghetti around her tines, Chopsticks have each other and are so exotic.  Sigh.

This is Spoon's family.

But just as Spoon is looking at everyone else with envy, they are looking at him the same way.  Knife wishes he could loudly bang against a pot, Fork wishes he could measure stuff, and Chopsticks wish they could be useful alone.

At bedtime, Spoon's mom helps him realize how lucky he is, how unique he is, and he feels a lot better.  Still he can't sleep.  So what do his parents do?  Invite him into their bed and they all three...well, you know...spoon.

So cute!

Wild About Books by Judy Sierra, illustrated by Marc Brown

 Wild About Books by Judy Sierra, illustrated by Marc Brown

Rating: 5 wild stars

This is, hands down, one of the best books we've stumbled upon in the past year.  It.  Is.  Awesome!  Sometimes you just get lucky, and the librarians chose to display a book that looks interesting AND fits in with the week's field trip.

Librarian Molly McGrew mistakenly drives her bookmobile into the zoo.  Oops!  Instead of kids coming to look at books, the animals start to peer  from their cages at the page-filled wonders. Molly decides to crack open one and holds her first-ever (we guess) storytime for animals.  Here's the delight-filled passage that tells the reader what happens:

By reading aloud from the good Dr. Seuss,She quickly attracted a mink and a moose,A wombat, an oryx, a lemur, a lynx,Eight elephant calves, and a family of skinks. 

Giraffes wanted tall books and crickets craved small books,
While geckos could only read stick-to-the-wall books

This causes a stampede of animals, all heading towards the bookmobile to get their own books.  Sierra works wonders with her words--she matches beast to book beautifully.  She draws in readers Lorelei and Ben's age by easily by referencing classics that they've already read--The Cat in the Hat and Goodnight Moon--but also makes their parents smile by referencing soon-to-be-known classics: Nancy Drew and Harry Potter, for example.  


Marc Brown's illustrations are the perfect compliment to her words.  Each page shows a different creature clutching a book of some sort (although the alligators are eating their book, something that Ben pointed out as "not a good choice," which is ironic because our board books still have his munch-marks in them).  They are silly and cute and totally captivating.


I'm having a hard time not buying this book right this moment!  I will resist.  I will resist.  I will try to resist...!

I don't use any technology while reading to my kids.  It sorta seems like an oxymoron.  I hear of these mysterious things called "apps" and I figure they are tools for people who have much cooler phones than my not-so-smartphone (a Droid and, for the record, I have one app I don't use).  But I came across this little clip from Random House showing the app for this book (or maybe an app for more children's books?) and I might check it out.  After bedtime, in case I decide it's not worth introducing.  Here it is:

I am skeptical.  Call me a luddite, but I like the whole pages-on-my-fingertips thing.  But I'm very curious if you use an iPad with your preschoolers.  How?  When?  At what age?  Do you sit with them, or let them do it themselves?  Do they still want to read the old-timey page books, or just want the ones on your iPod?  Or (it's hard for me to type this, but...) their own iPad?

1, 2, 3 to the Zoo by Eric Carle

1, 2, 3 to the Zoo by Eric Carle

Rating: 4 stars

We didn't leave Kiefer out of the library book-fest (this time).  He, too, got a zoo book.  This one, by the wonderful Eric Carle, is  totally right for him at 13 months.  There are no words--just huge, bright pictures of elephants and giraffe and lions and seals.

Each animal rides in his own train car, packed with others of his kind.  At the bottom of each page the train cars get added, one by one, so that I can remind Kiefer of the numbers of this animal or that when we get to a new one.  Each animal also gets his own excited yell from Kiefer, who seems to like dogs the best but...jury really is still out as communication is, well, limited.

We have had the puzzle version of this book--the first four animals--for a few years, so it was a fun surprise when Ben opened the book for the first time and realized that.  The puzzles have brought us a lot of quality play (I often take them to restaurants as they are small but there are four of them).

At the zoo yesterday we did a counting game--we wondered which animal was there the most of?  (That seems so grammatically wrong...hmmm...)  The answer?  18 turtles, seen the first 10 minutes of our time there!