Weekly Low Down on Kids Books 3/20/12
Unfortunately there’s nothing to report. We’ve read and read and read this week, but each time I picked up a title from the library it was quickly tossed aside by Miss Ayla. Nothing resonated with us. Day after day, she kept bringing me Librarian on the Roof! Its become the household favorite over night. Ayla is very young, so even when she is interested in something it doesn’t guarantee we will make it all the way through the story, but she will sit and flip through the pages of Stephen Gilpin’s illustrations over and over again, and come back to it hour after hour. She loves it.
Even now, as I type this, I had the book in my lap and she had Curious George (which she picked out all on her own, mind you) on the floor, and she just instituted a trade.
Although, she does have a bit of a love/hate relationship with the dust jacket. She is fascinated by it, but doesn’t want it attached to her book. Its a slow painful process teaching a toddler to treat dust jackets with care, but she’s getting the hang of it.
M.G. King and Stephen Gilpin… Well Done! Ayla and I look forward to owning any books you may write and illustrate in the future!
Read My Official Review of Librarian on the Roof
Weekly Low Down on Kids Books 3/13/12
This week’s kids books have been greatly divided for me. Into two categories: the Librarian on the Roof, and NOT the Librarian on the Roof.
Librarian on the Roof is a non-fiction picture book about RoseAleta and the public library she revamped by sitting on its roof for a week during wind, rain, and everything in between. As a home school mom, this genre of picture book is both my favorite and the hardest to find. Most non-fiction kids books are factoid books, dinosaurs, bugs, ancient people, counting, abcs, numbers, shapes, and so on. And those books are great! We have a ton of them. But finding a picture book that tells a story and then discovering that the story is true is even better.
M.G. King has taken a fascinating tale of courage and determination set right here in modern day Texas and turned it into something amazing. It also helps that she is one of the sweetest people you could ever meet. She is kind, friendly, loves talking to people about her book and anything else, and my favorite part – looks right into your eyes while she’s speaking with you. It’s no wonder that a story about a librarian trying to get the funds to encourage kids to get back to her library would move her.
Librarian on the Roof is hands down a must have for your child. I was lucky enough to get a signed copy for Ayla at the Deerbrook Mall Barnes & Noble the other day, where King had set up shop for the afternoon. (Yes, I know, I work for Half Price Books, but the NEW books have to come from somewhere to make it to a USED store. I even have a membership card there. Yes, I know, I’m a hopeless addict, please forgive me. I will make amends with anyone my book addiction has harmed… when I’m older.)
If you’re a book lover, lover of libraries, lover of heartwarming stories, but have no children, you should still go buy the book. The first time I read it all the way through, kiddo was actually napping and I just couldn’t wait to pop the book open. I didn’t full on cry, but there were definitely happy tears welling up in the back of my eye balls when RoseAleta finally got to come down off the roof. The line about being able to buy chairs just the right size for the kiddos actually choked me up for a moment. Books and people who love books make me absurdly happy.
2010 was a awhile back and this article I’m about to share is old, but if my post about this book has piqued your interest just a little bit, I think this will seal the deal: https://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ld/librarydevelopments/?p=4337
Now, for the NOT the Librarian on the Roof books we read this week:
Shout! Shout It Out!
Probably great for boys, but Ayla just wasn’t interested in yelling with me.
Little Tad Grows Up
Loved! The art is amazing, and it goes through the lifecycle of a frog. Pretty cool, and educational.
Hattie Hippo
This was easily Ayla’s pick of the week. Great for girls. I’m not really into gender discrimination (my little girl’s nursery is baby blue, green, and orange), but Ayla loves twirling hippo ballerinas and could care less about the shouting toddlers and rodents, go figure.
Gobble, Gobble
Beautiful illustrations. Its nice to read about turkeys that we aren’t planning to eat.
Anakalian Whims 