Books Starring Moms

Since this weekend is all about moms here are some great kid books starring moms and their kiddos!

1) Just Me and My Mom by Mercer Mayer

You probably know the Little Critter series written by Mercer Mayer.  He has books about EVERYTHING in that series.  If you are looking for a book to teach your child about a certain topic, try checking out this series.  In Just Me and My Mom Little Critter and his mom take a trip into the city together- just the two of them.  They ride the train- Little Critter loses the tickets.  They go to the museum- Little Critter touches the exhibits.  They go to eat lunch at a nice restaurant- Little Critter brings his frog.  It is one problem after another for Little Critter and his mom.  Then on the way home Little Critter falls asleep in his mom's lap, making the trip with all its problems, worth it.

2) Nana in the City by Lauren Castillo

A little boy travels to the city to visit Nana.  To the little boy the city is big, scary and no place for a nana to live all by herself.  But then in true Nana fashion she knits the little boy a super hero cape and takes him out to show him all the fun they can have in the city.  With the help of Nana and his super hero cape the little boy realizes how EXTRAORDINARY the city is.  Leave it to Nana's to show their grandkids how to have a good time- no matter where they are! They are the true super heroes!

3) Llama Llama Misses Mama by Anna Dewdney

We cannot leave Llama Llama and his mama off of this list of books starring moms and their kiddos!  Llama Llama and his mama are always learning lessons and figuring things out together.  From going grocery shopping together in Llama Llama Mad at Mama (see my post here) or saying good night in Llama Llama Red Pajama.  In Llama Llama Misses Mama Little Llama is off to his first day of school. He has to say goodbye to his mama and learn how to play and have fun with his new friends, all while missing his mama.  Then Little Llama learns that his mama will always come back to him and he can love his mama and school.

4) The Cuddle Book by Guido Van Genechten

Ask any kid who the best person to cuddle with is and I am pretty sure they will say their mom. The Cuddle Book by Guido Van Genechten proves this.  The cute illustrations show different animal mommies cuddling with their babies.  We learn that elephants cuddle with their trunks and that it is hard for crabs to cuddle.  The books ends with the very best cuddle- Mommy's cuddle!

I hope all you mommies out their find time this weekend to read and cuddle with your little (or big) kiddos!

Happy Reading!
Laura

Holiday Drama

We all know that the holiday season is often filled with busy schedules, crazy to-do lists and drama, drama, drama.  Llama Llama Holiday Drama by Anna Dewdney is the perfect read aloud for realizing we need to put all that other "stuff" aside and enjoy the people in our lives this Christmas season.

Llama LLama cannot wait for the holidays in this great story for little ones.  It features the rhythm and rhyming that all the other Llama Llama books have but with a holiday twist.  The holiday drama starts right off the bat with shopping, baking, making crafts, decorating and mostly waiting, waiting, waiting for the big day to get here. Llama can hardly handle it any longer, "All this waiting for one day?  Time for presents right away!" Just like so many other young children Llama Llama just wants Christmas to get here, and it is so hard to wait.  Mama has to take little Llama in her lap and explain to him that, "Sometimes we should take a rest and hold the ones we love the best.  Wishing, waiting wanting things... we forget what this time brings.  GIfts are nice, but there's another-the true gift is we have each other."

So, if you find yourself caught up in the "wishing, waiting, wanting things" take some time out to cuddle up with your little one and read!  What better way to spend time with the ones your love!

Happy Reading!
Laura

Black Friday

Are you a Black Friday shopper?  I am not, would much rather sleep in and shop on the Internet than deal with traffic and crowds.  I did however find a book that made me think of Black Friday that you could read to your kids!

Llama Llama Mad at Mama by Anna Dewdney is all about shopping from the Llama Llama's point of view.  It's shopping day and Mama Llama makes Llama Llama stop playing with his toys and get in the car.  Then to make it worse when he falls asleep on the way to the store Mama wakes him up.  Then once in the store it is crowded and Mama keeps making Llama Llama try on clothes.  Llama Llama keeps getting grumpier and grumpier, he just wants to go home!  Eventually all the shopping gets to be too much and Llama Llama throws a fit tossing everything out of the shopping cart.  Mama calmly talks to Llama (which seems to help him stop being so grumpy) and clean up the mess.  They finish the shopping together and Llama Llama gets a treat at the end. 

So, just remember if you are heading out shopping with your little ones today be patient, they might not like shopping as much as you (but please DON'T reward them with a treat if they throw a fit like Llama Llama!).

Happy Reading!

Laura

Something for the Little Ones

I have spent all of my time on this blog so far sharing books for school aged children.  Now I want to share with you two books that my 15 month old loves.  That's right my 15 month old already has favorite books.

I began reading to my child at birth.  I guess some could argue I read to him even before birth with all the reading aloud I did in my classroom.  There is a lot of research being done right now about the benefits of reading aloud to babies, not just children.

Two of my son's favorite books are Llama, Llama Nighty Night and Llama, Llama Zippity Zoom both by Anna Dewdney.

I am not quite sure why he loves these books so much.  Perhaps it is the rhyme and rhythm or the silly words.  Maybe he just likes llamas but these are two books that we read multiple times EVERYDAY!  He will even find the books himself, sit in his rocking chair and "read" the books to himself saying, "llama, llama."

Llama, Llama Nighty Night is your basic bedtime story.  Llama is going through his bedtime routine of bath, brushing teeth and reading a story.  Llama, Llama Zippity Zoom shows Llama having fun with his friend.  It uses silly words like Screech! Clunk!  Beep! and Bop! At the end Llama and is friend take a break for popsicles!

If you have a baby at home try out these two books and let me know what you think because they get 2 big thumbs up from us!

What books are your toddler's favorite?

Happy Reading!

Laura