Yes, Let's

With this weekend being the "unofficial" end to summer I think it is only appropriate to share a book about a favorite summertime activity... hiking!  Summer and fall are the perfect times to get out into nature and do some hiking, just like the family does in the book, Yes, Let's.

Using a rhyming text, Yes, Let's tells the story of a family who wakes up early, loads up the station wagon and heads out of town, into the forest, to spend a day hiking.  What is great about the day is that they don't just hike, the swim, build dams, make boats and relax.  They are truly spending a day together as a family.  No phones or tablets, just family and nature.  I really like the pictures in this book.  Even though the words tell the story of a "perfect" family, who has a "perfect" time together in the woods, the pictures tell otherwise.  In the pictures you can see teenage daughter and mom arguing about wearing boots, mom is getting scared by a spider and brother is covered in mud.  The pictures tell the story of what really happens when you take your kids hiking.  But in the end the family enjoyed every minute of it, they don't want to leave and can't wait to go back.  This book perfectly sums up summer, long tired days, bug bites and scratches, getting annoyed by siblings but in the end you would do it all over again!

If you like to hike, or just want to make some memories with your family, Louisville has so many great places to check out:

The Parklands: Complete with a spray ground to cool off in after hiking.

Bernheim Forest: I especially like to walk through the fairy garden and edible garden.

Jefferson Memorial Forest: Offers programs for kids of all ages to help them explore nature.

Many area parks like Cherokee, Joe Creason, EP Tom Sawyer and Iroquois also have great hiking trails to explore.

Where is your favorite place to hike?

Happy Reading!
Laura

Hot Summer Days

On these hot summer days, when the humidity is about 100% and you begin to sweat as soon as you step outside, we will try anything to cool off.  I have a "cool" book recommendation for you to help ease the heat on these hot, hot days.

Nanook & Pryce Gone Fishing by Ned Crowley is the story of two boys who set out to go ice fishing.  Their chunk of ice breaks off and they set off on a journey around the globe.  The entire book is written in two-word, rhyming lines. When Nanook and Pryce come across a giant octopus the books reads, "Something rustles.  Something squirms.  Little tussle.  Out of worms.  The pictures shows a giant octopus under Nanook and Pryce's ice block that is stealing all of their fishing worms with one tentacle and snatching the dog with another.  The style that the book is written in is enjoyable to young children because it creates a great rhythm and cadence.  Also, the use of few words really allows children to gain meaning from pictures, which is how story telling and reading begins!

After cooling off by reading Nanook & Pryce Gone Fishing try having some fun with ice.  All you have to do is fill tupperware (I also used different shaped sand toys) with water and stick them in your freezer for a night.  I added small toys to the water for added fun.  When ready pop, the ice out of the containers and let your child go to town!  They can paint the ice, hold the ice, try to get the small toys out of the ice by using hot water or different tools.  No matter what they do with it they will stay cool,  have lots of fun and learn a thing or two about science!

What are some of your favorite things to do to stay cool?

Happy Reading!
Laura

Hidden Poetry

I have talked before about how when you can read aloud a book with rhythm and rhyme children will automatically become hooked and begin to listen.  They love the ebb and flow of the text, whether the rhythm be up tempo or down tempo. Books with rhyme and rhythm are also easier for kids to "read" or memorize.  Recently, I have stumbled across a few books that have beautiful rhythm and rhyme, so much so I felt as though I found poetry hidden in the pages of children's books.  

The first hidden gem was Rain Play by Cynthia Cotten.  The text is very simple, two short lines on each page, but the story it tells speaks to every child who loves to splash in puddles and play in the rain.    The children are "at the park (as) the sky grows dark."  Then it starts to gently rain "Plip, plop. Drip, drop."  Some people leave the park because of the rain, but these children stay to play, "running, romping, puddle-stomping."  That is until, "Flash!, Boom!" the storm comes and its time to go.   The books ends with the children watching it rain from home until the sun comes out again.  

You can see from the examples above just how poetic the language is, and its not just the rhyme that makes it that way.  The author uses sound words like drip, plip and BOOM!  All these techniques bring the reader in, even your youngest readers.  My son is just two and he loved to listen to us read this book.  

So, besides reading a good book what is your favorite rainy day activity to do with your kids?  We love to run and jump in the puddles once the storm is over!

Happy Reading!

Laura 

Together Again

Sherri Duskey Rinker and Tom Lichtenheld collaborate to once again create a wonderful book.  I have blogged before about Good Night, Good Night Construction Site written and illustrated by this duo and in 2013 they did it again with Steam Train, Dream Train.  

Steam Train, Dream Train is a magical book about a train arriving in the night and animals loading the train up with its freight.  What makes this book so magical is that the train is loaded with every child's dream- TOYS!  The kangaroos load the hopper with balls, monkeys fill the box car with "things that rock and roll and spin." The tankers come next and are filled by elephants with colorful paints and then the reefer car is filled with ice cream!  Already this train is full of so much fun and we still have gondolas, autoracks, well cars and flatbeds to fill!   Once the train is loaded and the crew is tucked in tight to sleep we turn to the last page and see a small train enthusiast asleep in his bed, dreaming of what his train is carrying! Children will love turning the page to see what is loaded on the train next as well as listening to the lyrical rhyming text.  

Rinker and Lichtenheld know just how to get little boys interested in reading and listening to reading.  I look forward to another book from these two again soon!

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

Poems

One of the most fun genres to read aloud is poetry.  Poetry is so fun because anything goes!  There are no rules!  Poems have silly words, rhyming words, made up words and sometimes they even tell a story.  One must have for every children's book collection is a great poetry anthology and I have found one!

Read Aloud Rhymes for the Very Young is a collection of over 100 poems by a variety of authors.  The poems were complied by Jack Prelutsky, who is an amazing children's poet himself. The book is nicely organized with a two page spreads featuring poems on the same theme or topic. You can find a poem about almost anything in this book.  Some poems you might have heard before but there are several that are unfamiliar.

We like to read a couple of poems from the book every night before bed.  My son already has his favorites!  He really enjoys the poem "Holding Hands" which is about elephants that hold hands by holding tails and "Higglety, Pigglety, Pop!" a silly poem that is similary to "Hickory, Dickory, Dock."

I forgot to mention that each poem has an illustration paired with it that toddlers love to examine while reading!  You will spend hours snuggling with your little one reading the poems in the book!  Check it out now!

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

Pete the Cat

Still look for some back to school read alouds?  Don't worry!  I have a few more to share with you.

Pete the Cat is a must in any K-1 classroom for read alouds.  Pete is such a cool cat that the kids love to hear about his adventures.  There are many different Pete the Cat books but the best one for starting out the school year is Pete the Cat Rocking in my School Shoes  by Eric Litwin.  

In this adventure Pete the Cat is off to school.  The rhythm and rhyme starts out immediately, "Here comes Pete, strolling down the street."  Rhythm and rhyme is the first reason it is a great read aloud.  Reason 2 you must read this book aloud to your class is that it is interactive.  Each page is a new clue to  where Pete is going.  Each answer is a place in the school building.  Children love using the clues to infer where Pete is off to next and shouting out the answer.  The third and final reason you MUST read aloud Pete the Cat is because he has so much fun, "singing in his school shoes, painting in his school shoes, adding in his school shoes and writing in his school shoes."

Introduce your class to Pete the Cat at the beginning and have fun using Eric Litwin's other Pete the Cat books throughout the year!

Which Pete the Cat book is your favorite?

Happy Reading!

Laura

PS Here is a fun song about Pete the Cat rocking his school shoes.  Be sure to check it out!