November Library Favorites

This month's visit to the library started out on Halloween morning; okay, technically, it was still October, but we were able to load up on 15 more books for the beginning of November.

Anyway, we went trick-or-treating at our 2 favorite libraries: Hoover and Homewood. Hoover's library is quite a bit bigger and honestly, the kids like it better. After all, it does have an outside play area with huge Lego blocks, a big castle, and mom approved soft turf floor that is completely fenced into the library itself. However, the Homewood library has a certain charm that this momma can't resist. It's much smaller and usually less crowded. The kids are pretty excited about the big fish tank, the chinchilla (looks like a big bunny with a squirrel's bushy tail), tarantula, birds and chalkboard table. I think what I like most is that it's quaintness reminds me of the Spokane, Washington library that was in our backyard for the year we lived up north for Christopher's intern year. Plus, it sort of has a small town community appeal to it that the bigger Hoover library just doesn't have.

So when we went trick-or-treating at Hoover's library, I decided it will now be tradition. The kids had an absolute blast. First of all, every desk in each department was passing out candy, so the kids ended up with quite a bit of candy. Also, the story time that day passed out their own goodie bag. Lastly, who can forget the people watching, or rather cute-costume-wearing kid watching that takes place!

Of course, such a fun event drew in quite a crowd. My book selecting was a little frazzled and fast as my little candy-starved trick-or-treaters persistently were asking, "Can I eat the sucker now, Mommy?...Please Can I have the M&M's?...You said we could eat candy LATER!....Can we eat the candy now, Mommy?!?!"  We walked out with 15 books, all candy uneaten by my little ones, and some random child's sticky candy rejects stuck on Gianna's trick-or-treat basket.

Alright, I'll stop digressing and get to the November favorites from my pickings (and some of their's, too):

1.) I was looking at the spines of books for anything that might involved "dinosaurs" and lucked out with this one. Both Gabriel and Gianna LOVE this one, although it is quite a bit longer than the average book I typically grab. Basically, the little dog, Shadow, is out camping with her owner, a little 10 or so year old boy, Jesse. As they are getting ready for bed, Shadow unburies a big bone. Jesse is talking about how he thinks the bone may have belonged to some dinosaurs from the past before they both fall asleep. Soon, Shadow is awakened by the bone, which is now glowing and humming. The trees turn into big sauropods (long neck dinos) and some boulders turn into some therapods (sharp tooth dinos). There is almost a fight until Shadow buries the bone and the dinos return to the trees and boulders once again. In the morning, Jesse is asking where the bone went and Shadow, exhausted from the night's adventures is sound asleep. Gabriel found a page in the middle that depicts the dinosaurs about ready to fight each other and is just fixated on that page! He asked daddy to draw that page with him and I have to admit, it looked pretty good! The sentence structures are jam-packed with analogies, metaphors, and similes, which I personally love reading. Overall, a great book!

2.) And for Gianna, we were searching for anything "princess", and this board book was found in the baby section under the "P"'s, thank goodness! It is very fitting as Gianna is still mastering her newly acquired skill of potty training! This book is very loved and used to be a flap, tab, pull book (as it says right up there on the cover page). However, most of the flaps are gone. One of the best parts of re-reading this book was when we realized that one of the pages had "potty" in the toilet and you could turn it so it "flushed" and the potty gets hidden! This book is perfect for any princess-loving, pink-and-purple-loving little girl!

3.) This one is a win-win for both my girl and my boy! A dinosaur tooth fairy in a museum is reminiscing about "the good ol' days" of getting big dino teeth once they were lost or pulled and how those days are long gone. She sees a little girl in the museum lose a tooth and just has to have her tooth. She follows the little girl home and is desperately looking for the tooth, all the while, the real tooth fairy has been following the little girl and looking as well. It ends when the real tooth fairy grabs the little girl's tooth and the dino-tooth fairy is just about broken hearted. The two fairies solve the problem by switching a dino tooth for the little girl's tooth and the little girl gets some cash under her pillow-everyone wins! So, I like to look on the inside back cover to read little bio's about the author and illustrator when they are listed. This book had a little nugget of valuable info on the back cover that I almost missed, but totally makes the book more enjoyable: The author, Martha Brockenbrough, has decided to give 10% of her royalties on this book to a dentistry group that does pro bono work for children over seas in impoverished areas. She definitely got some brownie points and more respect from me after reading that.

4.) This one is a favorite of Gabriel's for sure. The author is a mom of (I think) 8 children and the bio on the inside back cover said that her children loved both Westerns and Dinosaurs. She wondered what would happen if she combined them both into a story and this book was born! Rocky is a dinosaur tamer and the townsfolk need his help when the roughest, toughest, rip-roarin'est dinosaur to ever kick dirt comes to town-T-Rex! I found at least one John Wayne reference in this book which made me smile; Rocky held up his hand and said, "Time's a wastin'." Christopher recently introduced me to John Wayne a couple months ago. Being the 2nd boy of a family of 9 with 8 boys, John Wayne classics were common movies for him growing up. Being the youngest of 11 with 7 girls, I didn't even know who John Wayne was growing up. Although this is a little bit of a lengthy read, it is pretty darn cute hearing daddy read it to the kids with the "western slang" that the author throws in there!

 

5.) This book was a favorite of Gianna's. You can't really tell from the picture, but this book has huge googly eyes that have cut outs on the pages, so each page has a different face that fits the googly eyes on them (if that makes sense). This was a fun read because it goes along the rhyming/rhythm of the song "Ten little monkeys jumping on the bed". Also, it goes through 10 different cat breeds and each story has something related to the specific breed. At the end of the book, it lists the 10 cat breeds mentioned and tells some facts about them. I'm am by no means a cat person (actually, I don't really like them at all. They are too snobby for me.), but I will admit, this is a really cute cat book and I learned a thing or two about cats!

6.) This one is by the same author/illustrator as the above book, has the same googly eyes, follows same rhyming/rhythm pattern, and also features 10 different dog breeds. I personally enjoy this one more because I am a dog person. The kids and I really enjoyed picking which dog was our favorite at the very end after reading all the facts about each breed. Gabriel picked the Dachshund and Gianna's varied between the Beagle and the Poodle.

 

7.) Of course, I have to have another "How Do Dinosaurs..." book in this month's collection. This one was in the board book/baby section and of course I had to check it out because of how much Gabriel and Gianna are into dinosaurs, and also because of how much we all love this series. I love the rhyming, but also, there's always a lesson to be learned and this book is all about etiquette with friends: sharing, playing fair, etc. It's a perfect book to use when trying to teach your three year old daughter how to share her toys with your 1 year old son...not that I'm having that problem or anything (*wink*).

 

8.)This one was a favorite for all of us! Christopher loved reading this one because it is a pretty fast read, and at bedtime, those are usually his favorite! I love this author's illustrations and lighthearted stories and I'm pretty sure the kids love the pictures and how it encourages their imagination. This story is about a little rabbit hoping along imagining what it would be like to be green like the green grass, tall like the fur trees, still like a rock, etc. My older sister who is a preschool teacher introduced my family to Kevin Henkes with the book, "Old Bear", by giving it to Gabriel for his 1st Birthday. The illustrations in that book are exceptional and again, we love his sweet stories.

 

9.)This book was also found in the board book/baby section. I love reading this book to the kids for the 1st time and seeing their expressions as we go through the book. The squid is comparing himself to everything in the ocean and saying on each page how he is "bigger than the shrimp," and "bigger than the jellyfish." Eventually, he gets eaten by a whale (this is the part I love looking at my kids expression as his squid legs are hanging out of the whale's mouth)! Fortunately, he notices that he's still the biggest thing in the whale's tummy so it's all good!

10.) This one was suggested by my favorite librarian, Lena, who works with kids! It was a super cute and funny read, just like she promised, and of course, we loved it! I like how after reading this, Gianna learned what rhymes were and now she's been rhyming words like nobody's business. Three of the dust bunnies are rhyming while the fourth, Bob, is trying to warn them of impending doom-the broom and eventually the vacuum!

11.) Surprise! Another Mo Willems book! (He is one of my favorite authors, you know.) This one was a big hit with my kids. Not only does it have dinosaurs, but Goldilocks looks just like Trixie from the Knuffle Bunny Series by Mo Willems. I also love how Mo sticks his little pigeon character from the Pigeon series randomly in his other books. For example, in this book, we found the pigeon in the cookie jar with some chocolate chip cookies and also in a framed picture on an end table. Basically, the dinosaurs are plotting to trick Goldilocks into eating the delicious chocolate pudding and then crashing in one of their beds so they could sneak in and eat a yummy chocolate-filled-little girl bon-bon. Goldilocks comes to her senses and runs out the back door. The moral at the end of the story is if you are in the wrong story, leave. Ironically, the moral of the story for the dinosars is to lock the back door. A really funny twist on an old favorite.

12.) I got this one from the new section in the kids area. (signal new-book-spine sniffing) Surprisingly, Gianna fell in love with this book! But then again, once we started reading the story, it made total sense. The book is about a big sister (dinosaur) learning the ropes of having a baby sibling (dinosaur). Personally, I love how I can apply the lessons to her. For example, one line is how we don't snatch toys away from the dino-baby. Teaching Gianna to share is an everyday lesson lately.

 

 13.) I might have started an addiction with my children and Rosemary Wells; they LOVE her bunny series books. I grabbed this one thinking it would pull both Gabriel and Gianna in; after all, there is a dragon (shirt) and there are bunnies! And of course I was right! Ruby has to take her little brother Max to get a new pair of pants because his favorite pair is "disgusting", but the catch is that they only have enough money, $5, for a pair of pants. Max is insisting on the shirt, no matter how many times Ruby tells him there is only enough money for pants. After Max gets lost in the store, he finds a dragon shirt and puts it on. Ruby finds him enjoying some ice cream with the police and the dragon shirt (unpaid for at this point) is covered in ice cream! It's the perfect ending as Max ends up with both the dragon shirt (she had to pay for it since he got it dirty) AND his favorite pair of pants!

14.) This one is another new book. I seriously check the dates of every book I read, just out of my own weird curiosity on how old the particular book is. This one smells divine. Gianna really loved this one I think partly because she afraid of Big Bad Wolves so this one pulls in ALL of her attention and partly because she is still learning her colors and this book is great practice for her. The gray wolf thinks gray is too dreary and wants to change his color. But every color he tries leaves him feeling unhappy once more. In the end, he decides he's happy being himself and being gray. A great plug-in for telling your little ones how they are perfect just the way they are!

15.) Yep, another Rosemary Wells favorite from my kids (I thought it would be a favorite when I picked it out). This one is a little different from her Max and Ruby series. In fact, neither Max nor Ruby are in this book. This book has 3 separate stories about 3 little bunnies who all are having terrible days. Each bunny escapes to the bunny planet where they see the day that "should have been". She uses imagery and rhymes that I have yet to see in her Ruby and Max series. I really loved the earthy feel from reading this book. It made me want to bite into a warm, juicy, ripe tomato. It made me want to lie on a mossy bank in the forest taking in the afternoon sounds and smells.  Or it made me want to play board games in a lighthouse cottage while our clothes dry next to the crackling fire. I highly recommend this one!

16.) As soon as Gabriel's eyes saw this one, it was an instant favorite! Ironically, Christopher recently did a radiology conference to Chicago where the Field Museum from this book is located! This book is about the T-Rex fossils found, uncovered, shipped, and displayed all from a mouse's perspective who lived under one of the toe bones while buried on the bluff. I like how it gives the kids a behind the scenes look at the work that goes into a dinosaur dig and displaying it at a museum.

Alright! That does it for November.  Don't be surprised if I throw in some of our favorite holiday books for the month of December! Until then, Happy Reading!

Sisterhood of the Jogging Strollers

As a lot of ya'll know (I posted about it on Facebook, so all of you are probably clued in), I am and have been training for my 1st half marathon coming up on November, 23rd-The Magic City Marathon in Birmingham downtown area. It has been good for me in multiple aspects. I have always had this on my bucket-list; well, it has been on my bucket list probably since I have been competitively running since high school. Originally, I thought that there was no way in heck that I could do this with little ones, all the moving around we've done in the last few years, and how incredibly out of shape back-to-back pregnancies has left me. No, this item on my bucket list would come to fruition after all my children (and future children) were grown and gone when I was probably in my 50's and had "time".

However, obviously things change. Now that Facebook keeps me updated on numerous friends and family who are running half and full marathons, it has motivated me even further. Every time I would see in my newsfeed another friend with the exhausted yet victorious look on their face, medal around their neck, standing close to the finish line of their half, I would feel a little twinge of motivation and jealousy combined.  I wanted this...but it seemed so distant. The final straw that did it for me and pushed me into training now was seeing a good girlfriend who at the time had 3 little ones (the youngest at the time was around 9 months old and also breastfeeding like Benjamin is for me) run this with her little sister, also a good friend, last fall. Thank you (you know who you are!)!

Training has been a little difficult at times, I'm not gonna lie. Some of the obstacles I've had to work with are:  My neighborhood doesn't have sidewalks and we live off a busier street with through traffic everyday so neighborhood runs are basically non-existent. I do have a dreadmill, oops, treadmill in the basement; however, now that my runs are mostly 4 and 5 miles and up, it gets old real fast. Christopher's busy schedule also keeps me on my toes with scheduling my runs with friends. I can only go if he's there to watch the kids. Most days, I squeeze in my runs after getting the kids all to sleep, on the treadmill, late at night, and that's assuming I haven't fallen asleep while putting Benjamin to sleep.

A new thing I've started doing recently is going on my runs after dropping Gabriel off at school. This way, I can use our double stroller with Gianna and Benjamin and I don't have to wait until late at night on the treadmill. This whole scene is challenging for me. First of all, I have to have enough distractions for them to keep from crying, whining, trying to get out, etc. My essentials for them on these trips include stickers, drinks, snacks, and a few favorite toys. Secondly, I feel pretty safe since it's pretty heavily traveled by bikers, walkers, joggers, dogs, kids, skateboarders, and even the occasional elderly person pushing their lap dog in an umbrella stroller (seriously). But still, the paranoid momma in me is always looking behind my shoulders for creepers. Thirdly, I have some big kids; Gianna and Benjamin are actually my biggest, percentage wise. When they are both in the stroller, we're talking about pushing 60+ pounds of kids, and that's not even mentioning pushing uphill or against the wind.

Now that I've done a few of these jogging stroller runs with the little ones, I can't help notice a trend with the other jogging stroller mommas and myself. I call it "the Sisterhood of the Jogging Strollers". It is an understanding between the jogging mommas that is unique to any other person on the trail.  Most people I pass on the opposite lane have a pretty focused look on their face, eyes fixed on the path ahead, and with no trace of acknowledging my existence next to them. I get it; I've been there. They're in "the zone". It's a different story when I pass another momma pushing a stroller. First, it's the empathetic smile and look on their face. The "I know what you're dealing with" and the "keep it up, momma" and the "I know you're tired pushing the weight of your kids plus trying to finish your run" look. Then, it's the "Hi" we both muster up in passing. Or a wave to the little ones in the stroller. Or both. And then after we pass, I smile to myself because they've just given me some more motivation to keep going. And we've also shared in the sisterhood of the jogging strollers.

October's Library Favorites

1. First of all, I personally love Eric Carle. His name on a book catches my eye and I just HAVE to bring the book home. I love his artwork and his stories and usually I learn something or there is a tangible lesson I can teach the kids after reading his stories. This one was a board book I found in the little baby area of the library. The kids kept asking for this one over and over again. Mister Seahorse helps Mrs. Seahorse by carrying and protecting their eggs before they hatch in a special pouch in his belly. He keeps swimming along, randomly meeting some of his other "guy" friends who are also carrying the eggs for their wives. The last page was all of our favorite with about 10 little seahorses swimming out of his pouch. It was cool to explain to the kids how all those mommy fishes did NOT have the babies-the daddies did!

2. Okay, I'll admit it: I love pop up books. Like, I seriously love seeing the origami-like, 3-D, folded surprises literally "pop" out of the page. David A. Carter is one of my personal favorites for the 8 year old pop-up-book lover inside of me. I first knew of him from the "Bugs in Boxes" books and have a few in our home book collection. So, when I saw this board book in the baby section, I snatched it up! No surprise, the kids also fell in love with it immediately! This book is, like the title says, about opposites. The first page has a few other colors, but mostly it's in black, white and yellow, which the little ones love.

3. In honor of my sweet Gianna's 3rd birthday in October, on our first October trip to the library earlier this month, I purposely picked some birthday themed books for her. This one happens to be from another series the kids and I love...and the bonus is that it is also dinosaur themed (a win-win since it is about Birthdays for Gianna, and about dinosaurs, which Gabriel loves).  So this author and illustrator have made quite a few in the "How Do Dinosaurs..." series. My first introduction to them was the book, "How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight?" which is in our home library. One thing I love about these books is how the illustrator picks really cool and unique dinosaurs for the pictures and then - like a boss- very discretely inscribes the name of the obscurely named dinosaurs alongside their bodies. So, when you read it to your little ones, over and over, you can -like a boss- point out the strange, unique and weird names to your kids. I'd like to think that they then think I am the smartest person on the planet. Anyway, these books in the series start by asking questions about the theme and answering with crazy, wrong answers. Then, the second half of the book tells how dinosaurs answer the question of the book the appropriate ways. Gabriel just loved the dinosaur illustrations and it was fun talking about birthday etiquette with them throughout the story.

4.  This one I picked up from the animal section in the preschool area of the library. We have a bear puzzle that the kids love so I thought that they'd enjoy learning about some bears. This book was asked for a lot and I think it's because it was sing-songy, which my kids love, and most pictures had a baby bear and a mommy bear. Gianna is my baby-doll lover, so I knew that would just hit the spot for her. At the end, it shows a map the world with the locations of the 10 or so bears it talks about, which Gabriel really marveled at since he's been into the planets and solar system lately.

5.  This one I found in the Caldecotte Medal winner section of the preschool section of the library. (The Caldecotte Medal is awarded to illustrators and is very prestigious. Check this Wikipedia link for more info on Caldecotte Medals http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caldecott_Medal.) I wanted to grab a few from that section to see if the kids were drawn to the award winning books...and they were definitely drawn to this one! This is an oldie, but a goodie. It was illustrated and written by Lynd Ward and published first in 1952.  Just a little warning, if you are uncomfortable with the idea of guns, you may not like this one or reading it to your little ones. I read it to my kids and told them it happened a long time ago, in a different era. It is also a good time to bring up gun safety since the main character is probably 8 and owns and shoots a big old gun during the story. Anyway, the story is about a little boy who is jealous of all his country neighbors who have hunted, found or otherwise ran into and shot big bears; he was especially embarrassed that their barn had no bear skin hanging on it like all the other barns in the valley did. He is determined to go hunting and find the "biggest bear". He gets in the woods, hears a noise, and finds a little baby bear. He falls in love with it, brings it home and keeps it until it's a big bear that gets into trouble with the neighbors crops, meats, maple syrup, etc. The neighbors want the bear gone, so Johnny tries to take him back but he keeps coming home. Finally, at a loss of what to do, Johnny and his daddy (mostly his daddy) decide it's time to put the bear down and Johnny wanted to be the one to do it. When he takes the bear to the woods to put him down, the bear takes off after a scent of something which leads them to a trap (see the cover page for that illustration). When the men come to the trap, they tell Johnny that they are collecting animals for the zoo. This is the perfect ending to the story and Johnny is happily visiting him at the zoo on the last page. I really did love the illustrations in the book and my kids did, too. They each had their favorite pages and although it was a rather long story, and it sort of revolved around hunting/guns/shooting, I liked it!

6. Speaking of Caldecott Medal winners, here is another one. I was surprised my kids liked this one so much mostly because I think the story line may be a little advanced for them; it is not the typical Three Little Pigs story. In this book, the pigs jump out of the story before the wolf gobbles them up (after huffing and puffing and blowing the houses in). They sort of wonder in and out of a couple other stories, including "Hey Diddle Diddle" and some story with a dragon and a rose. By the end, the jump back in their story and the dragon scares the wolf away when they are in the last pig's brick house. I enjoyed reading it because it was different. I like to be surprised when I pick up a book and this one definitely surprised me!

7.  Gianna picked this one from the baby section and it was a board book. This one quickly became a favorite.  Before we even left the library, I had already read it probably half a dozen times to Gianna and Benjamin (Gabriel was in school that day). First thing I noticed was how new it was; it was copyright 2013, so the pages still had that new book smell that I just love. The second thing we noticed was that the pages all had shapes cut out that led into the next page. It starts out with his yellow eyes, then adds his blue-ish green-ish nose and ears, then adds his little red smile and white tooth, etc. Midway, through it shows a star and says it's time for bed so then the pieces of the face disappear again and ends with stars and a moon shining on the last page. I loved how I could also work on colors with Gianna when I read this one.

8. This one is probably the most unique book I've read to them yet-from this past summer or ever, really- and we all love it...even daddy! This book has no words, except the title, "Chalk". The illustrations are pristine; I stare at them in awe that someone actually created them and that they are not in fact photographs. The detail is insane...like seeing stray hairs on someone's head on one of the pictures. The story is basically about 3 friends walking through a park on a rainy day and they find this bag of magic chalk hanging on the spring rider dinosaur. It's magic because whatever they draw comes to life! The first girl picks yellow and draws a sun and sure enough, the sun comes out and it stops raining! The next girl draws a butterfly and butterflies come out of the pavement and start flying around. Lastly, the boy grabs a green chalk and draws a t-rex (this is the part that Gabriel says the little boy isn't very smart) and of course, the t-rex crawls out of the pavement and the kids are absolutely terrified (the illustrations are so good that you can see the kids' artery in their necks flexing while they are screaming!). The same little boy saves the day by drawing a cloud with raindrops with some blue chalk. Then, miraculously, the dinosaur melts away and it ends with the three kids walking away with the magic chalk bag hanging where they found it. I like letting the kids tell the story with each page. I like hearing what they see on each page.

9.  This is a really sweet bedtime story about this little guy, Sam, who thinks his mommy and daddy are having wild and crazy adventures in his house while he's sleeping. He's bound and determined to find out what's really going on and he's taking his little bear, Petey, along for the ride. The kids and I all love it. I love the rhythmic rhymes and I think we all love the adorable illustrations. There's also some adult humor when he discovers that his parents are doing nothing fun at all: mom's reading a magazine and dad's doing a crossword, with the words "boring" and "bedtime" on the crossword.

10.  I picked this one out of the "new books" section and it's a really cute book about adult eating metaphors in correlation to how adorable a new baby is. Big Brother Tom thinks his family is planning on eating his new little brother (who he calls "the Blob" since he can't do "one single interesting thing") since he keeps hearing them say things like, "I could eat those cheeks," and "Look at those juicy thighs". This makes my kids giggle, and it's also a good way to explain some silly expressions adults say. I'm also impressed that she is the author AND illustrator-brownie points.

11.  Another "new baby" book I grabbed about a big brother who is tired and annoyed with his little sister, the "no-good baby who is good for nothing". He's fed up and telling his mommy all the reasons why she should leave. In doing this, he discovers a few things she is good for, like being louder than him in the library and throwing cheerios on the floor to crunch on and step on. The kids also like this one, but I can't help but wonder if it's because they feel like this about each other sometimes. The books ends with the baby going to grandma's house for a day and big brother spends the day with just mommy. A good reminder to squeeze in that quality time with each little one we have.

12.  Gianna picked this one from the baby board book section. Fascinated by it, she had me read it a few times in the library before we even made it home, and then multiple times a day for days on end after that. This book only has a word on each page (like "huntsman" when showing the huntsman). I liked how I could read the story once, pointing out random things that caught my eye, and then ask her to read it to me the next time. It's always amazing what they notice on the pages compared to what I notice.

13.  Aw, a good old classic. I also love the Berenstain books. After checking out this link, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berenstain_Bears, I learned that not only were Stan and Jan married, but they also met in 1941on their first day at the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art. After being separated during WWII, they were wed in 1946. Have I mentioned that I really like older authors for some reason? They also worked with Theodor Geisel, a.k.a. Dr. Seuss. This is a quick read (sometimes those are daddy's favorites on a busy night of doing dictations), with a few words on each page. I think it's a favorite because the kids can easily guess the words as the pages go on and it's a little silly. The bear wants to trade in his old hat for a new hat except every hat has something wrong with it. Happily, he finally settles for his old hat in the end.

14.  This is one surprised me when the kids fell in love with it. This little pig (I think it's a girl?) is sledding alone, even though her mommy and daddy don't allow her to sled alone. She keeps almost crashing into other animals on the hill but escapes by using some preposition like "over", "around", "under" or "between" and then keeps on sledding until she meets the next obstacle to overcome. She ends by crashing into her mommy and daddy!

15.  Another birthday book in honor of Gianna and Benjamin's fast approaching November birthday. I just love when my babies start actually paying attention to the stories inside the books instead of trying to savagely rip and eat the pages of every book in sight. This is a board book from the baby section of the library and Benjamin especially loves this book. It is a flap book and like pop-up books, I am a HUGE fan. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree because my kids are addicted to flap books as well. I love how Benjamin has enough fine motor skills now to actually open up the flaps on each page and my kids all love singing the "Happy Birthday" song at the very end when the baby finally finds his birthday cake!

16. This one I also grabbed from the new book section. I generally like to read my kids really silly, happy, sing-songy, rhythmic, moral-of-the-tory, rhyming books. But every once and a while, I'll accidently grab a book that just about leaves me a crying hot mess in middle of story time with my kids. And this one is one of those books. I seriously just randomly grab books most of the time at the library because I'm also keeping track of my three little ones in the process. I read this one at home for the first time with them and was choking back tears the entire time. It's about the little bear's grandpa, who has Alzheimer's (though they never call it that). Sometimes, Grandpa gets lost, acts like a kid, etc. But, this little bear loves him just the way he is. I think this book made me teary-eyed because it reminded me of my sweet grandma who passed away 3 years ago this December. She fought Alzheimer's for years (at least 6 years) in the nursing home and watching her relationships with her children and us grandchildren deteriorate, evolve, and change into something new, different, and simple was an experience that is sometimes difficult to describe. I don't think people truly understand how it affects a family unless it hits your family personally. Surprisingly, I was not prepared for the emotional trigger this book hit for me, but I really did love the story. The simple illustrations captivated both my children and me and again, the author is also illustrator, which wins more admiration from me every time.  



That will probably do it for the month of October. I'll be hitting the library end of October with a backpack full of more books for us to discover! Until next month's favorites appear...happy reading!!

September Library Favorites

 We have discovered the Hoover Library...Finally!

I'm not much of a reader when it comes to me and my free time. But when it comes to children's books, I think I may be addicted. I love everything about them from the illustrations, the stories, the rhymes, alliteration, and even the smells of the pages.

For the past couple months, the little ones and I have been checking out anywhere from 10-25 children's books each month. I haven't found a good system for checking books out yet. I'm usually only half focused on picking books and more focused on making sure my little ones are in eye sight. (They usually bolt in all different directions as soon as we step in the kids' area of the library.) I've found that if I choose titles that have multiple copies available, they are probably more popular and thus we would probably enjoy them.  This theory has been working so far.  I've also noticed our library has markings on some more popular titles that say "favorite," which help them stand out.  I've also taken some recommendations from some of my more literary versed friends (like my librarian friends, preschool teaching sisters, friends, etc). Discovering books by myself and then seeing how the little ones like them has been really fun so far. They pick them out as they can, but for now, I like seeing how they react to the ones I pick.

Just for fun, I've decided to document which ones my little ones like the most based on how often they ask me to read them. As my little ones love reading and are getting interested in different themes, I think this will be fun to look back on some day.



For the end of August and September, here are their favorites and why.

1.  Both Gianna and Gabriel loved this one I think because of the pictures and metaphores.  For example, a line from the book goes something like, "If waffles were like boys, then breakfast would be a battlefield," and the picture showed the breakfast food and condiments fighting.
2. I got this one in August and ironically, Gianna started getting the hang of potty training around that time. I think it may be a coincidence, but nevertheless, this book was really fun for the kids. I have to admit, when I first read it to them, I had to do a double take at one of the pictures when it talked about "duck missing the potty chair" and then shows a picture of duck's turd by the potty chair. The kids (and we parents) found it pretty hilarious.
3. Gianna especially liked this one I think because she's been afraid of a "big bad wolf" lately (blame the pbs show SUPER WHY). I actually enjoyed reading it and I think most adults would find it more humorous than the kids. It's a twist on the ol' "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" stories. This boy wolf hates everything his mommy wolf makes for dinner and really wants to eat a boy. His parents tell him that if he sees a boy in the woods, they would capture and cook it for him. He lies and in turn ruins dinner since the parents run out looking for the said boy. When he actually sees a troop of boy scouts, his parents don't believe him and he learns his lesson.
4. This one was another favorite for both children. It is sing-songy and easy to read. The kids laughed almost every time we read it. And I love the illustrations and the colors.
5. Hands down, my children love the llama llama series. We check out whichever one might be available at any given library trip. This one was coincidentally perfect since Gabriel started school a couple weeks after we checked this out. I actually referenced this book when preparing him for school and telling him about how it's okay to be shy at first, to miss your mommy, to not know anyone, etc. The rhyming, sing-songy rhythm of these books makes them a family favorite for us all.
6. Another favorite for both of them and also by Anna Dewdney (like the llama llama series). This one inspired me to do a Youtube search for what a pangolin actually looks like in real life. They are pretty cool mammals.
7. Of course, we stumbled upon this one and Gabriel couldn't pass it up. I learned about some cool dinosaurs in here, though. Apparently, there is a carnivorous dinosaur bigger than T-Rex found in Germany that is very rare and it's remains were nearly destroyed during WWII bombings. Luckily, they found another set of fossils later on, but the book said that it was almost extinct twice.
8. This one has been Gianna's favorite since we found it in the library I think because it has buttons that make noise! It has also been good for her to learn her colors with.
9. Gabriel is into dinosaurs lately. He's REALLY interested in them and seems to be retaining random facts about them and remembering them like nobody's business. He really likes this book I think because it shows a dinosaur dig, skeletons/fossils, and then the bears playing with toy dinosaurs at their home at the end.
10. Gabriel and I really like this one (for differing reasons). Gabriel likes the part where the trio of triceratops are teasing the tyrannosaurus. If you didn't catch that alliteration, that's why I enjoy reading it so much!
11. This was another fun story for the kids and for us to read to them. I think Gianna liked this one in particular. Besides the adorable illustrations, the story is about how the animals see a "pond monster" which really turns out to be their shadows. It has been a great way for us to emphasize to Gianna how monsters are not real and to make it light and funny.
12. This one was a favorite for Gianna, obviously, but Gabriel enjoyed it too. Baby is getting all her animals ready for bed and falls asleep in the process. It's a perfect bedtime story book.
13. This one is a favorite for Gabriel and Gianna, too. The dinosaur tries to eat Hal and his family, but after Hal defends them, he goes after Hal's little dog, Billy. Hal's mom makes him a huge spaghetti meal and Hal makes him promise never to eat dogs or people ever again. The author and illustrator are from Europe and the kids really enjoy the pictures. Gabriel even had to draw a huge recreation of his favorite page.
14. This one has been really fun for both children. It's the first time-telling book or time-telling exposure in general that they have had and we love Eric Carle (at least I do, and the kids have enjoyed every book I read to them of his). Each page has a time with each animal talking to the spider, who is too busy to talk because she's building her web. After explaining a simplified basic way to tell 1:00, 2:00, 3:00, etc., Gabriel was able to set the clock to each page's time-I was impressed! I had to have each child take a turn with each page because they were both loving it so much. I had to help Gianna a little more, but even she could find the same number on the page and on the clock and move the hand to the right number. It's also fun for Gianna to make the appropriate animal noises with each farm animal.
15. This has been our first Rosemary Wells series book and the kids both ask for it over and over. I have a person respect for authors who both author AND illustrate their books. Sort of how I have more respect for a singer when I find out they wrote their own music. I guess it's the old writing lover and band player/music lover inside me! Ruby is trying to bake a cake for their grandma and her little brother Max is making a mess and she keeps having to send him to the store to replace the items he is ruining. Every time he goes to the store, he is trying to add some candy to the grocery list his sister made, but he can't write, so the grocer cannot read his scribbles. He finally figures out how to get his candy in the end by drawing a picture of what he wanted.
16. One of my personal favorites this past month. I just love Margaret Wise Brown and I was surprised to discover the illustrator, Felicia Bond, was the same illustrator for the "If You Give a Pig a Pancake" and other "If You Give..." series, which my children ADORE! I love the sing song-y rhythm of her stories and I also love the pictures with the mommas and their babies. It's a great bed time story as it ends with them all snuggled up sleeping together in the barn with their mommies.
17. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Mo Willems...and subsequently, so do my children since I keep exposing them to his stuff! This guy was a writer and animator for Sesame Street, winning 6 Emmy Awards for writing during his almost 10 year gig with them. He also produced some cartoons for Nickelodeon and won a Caldecott Honor medal for his book, "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus". Check out this quick wikipedia search on him for more...I could go on and on. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Willems  We were introduced to Mo Willems when we lived in Spokane, WA for one year during Christopher's intern year of residency a couple years ago. We literally had the cutest little library right behind our apartment complex. It being the first year I was able to be a stay at home mom, we frequently visited the library (bi-weekly) and got acquainted with their children's programs, where one librarian (a guitar playing, long hair-ed, single guy who loved getting the kids excited with his songs and silly stories) always had at least one Mo Willems book during his story telling time. This is one of a series of "Elephant and Piggie" books.  Elephant is torn between sharing his ice cream with his best friend Piggie or eating it all for himself. He deliberates so intensely that his ice cream melts, but his best friend saves the day by sharing her ice cream with him!
18. This is another Mo Willems book from earlier this summer. He didn't illustrate it like he usually does his other books. But this is also a different type of Mo Willems book. Usually his books are silly with quirky characters and cartoon-y characters. I think the watercolor pictures are beautiful and the story is also very sweet. These two friends, each from very different worlds, meet each season in the country to play together.
19. Okay, now I've got Mo on the mind...I own the first two books shown, but not the last one, "Knuffle Bunny Free," which is currently a library favorite this month. Definitely check out these books! My children love them-I love them-Chris loves them. As a side note, I like how Mo incorporates the pigeon from his pigeon series ("Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus", and other pigeon books) in the background like on some random person's shirt, a drawing hanging on the wall, etc. I like to search for them in his books. I've also found random pigeons in the Elephant and Piggie series (see above). Anyway, I also like how these series follow this girl, Trixie, and her beloved lovey, Knuffle Bunny, through her childhood with loving, sweet, and silly stories. The first book, her bunny gets left at the laundry mat and the entire family has to frantically find him and when they do, Trixie says her first words "Knuffle Bunny"! In the second story, Trixie is going to Pre-K and brings her bunny for show and tell, but is surprised to find another girl has the almost exact same bunny that day! The teacher mixes up the bunnies and the girls both demand a switch in the middle of the night, which bonds them and makes Trixie's first best friend. In the last story, Trixie takes her first plane ride and accidently leaves bunny on the plane. She's lonely at first, but on her vacation, she realizes she is growing up and is eventually okay. On the flight back home, they ironically find the bunny in her seat but instead of keeping it, she gives it to a fussy baby sitting behind her. The ending makes me tear up where there's a "letter from Trixie's daddy" telling/illustrating how he hopes one day when she grows up, meets/marries and haves a family of her own, she will receive a package in the mail from an old penpal (shows a grown up Trixie opening a package with her old bunny inside with her new baby on the floor.). It was a perfect way to end the series.
20. One last Mo Willems book will finish the list for this month. We checked this one out in August, but it was ready multiple times a day for days on end, so it deserves a spot on here. Gianna found it last week and we almost checked it out again! In this story, Leonardo stinks at his job; he just isn't scary, no matter how hard he tries. He researches and finds the saddest, loneliest little boy to scare and tries to scare him until the little boy cries. But it turns out the little boy is crying because a HUGE laundry list of things. Then, Leonardo makes a huge decision; instead of being a terrible monster, he can be a great friend, so he gives the boy a huge hug and they become friends! It is an adorable story that entertains the parents and kids alike!

So, here it is... the top 20 books we've read through September.  I hope you have a chance to check out some of these and enjoy them as much as my littles and I do. I think the best part of checking these out is hearing Christopher read them to the kids. He has a silly way of reading them that cracks everyone in the room up.