The Weekly Low Down on Kids Books 1/28/12
Hippos Go Berserk
Excellent kid’s book, whether you get the board book or the picture book edition, as we read from both this week, the kids love this! It’s a great counting book, as it counts both up to nine and down from nine, and it introduces the concept of addition with its final page, referencing the fact that all the hippos mentioned on each previous page put together would make forty-four hippos. Originally copyrighted in 1977, this should be considered a classic.
Little Dog Poems
This is a great introduction piece to different kinds of poems and how often times poetry can get away with putting words all over the page. What is unique about this poetry, is that its all over the page with purpose as its mimicking the dog featured in the over arching story. We have dogs, and Ayla is around them a lot even at other peoples’ houses, so you could tell she really related to this book.
Toot & Puddle
This one made me sad, in that I adore Holly Hobbie, but Ayla wasn’t really feeling it. Which tells me to try again when she’s older. Toot goes on a wild adventure, while Puddle stays at home, so in the course of the book the story happens with what Puddle is doing and then the alternate page has a postcard from Toot. I found these kinds of things really cool at about 5 and up, whereas the postcards were kind of lost on my 15 month old.
Molly Who Flew Away
We read this over and over again this week! Ayla loves the illustrations, and is completely captivating by any story involving mice. I’m not exactly sure what it is she loves about them, but she was in love with this book.
Pip & Squeak
Another mouse story, Ayla would get super excited on each page and point to the mice. You could see the recognition on face, “I found it!” her eyebrows seemed to say every time as she jabbed the little mouse illustration with her pointer finger. This was also my personal favorite for the week as well, its got an adorably clever twist ending, which is fun when you’re a parent reading baby books all week.
The Adventures of Odysseus
This is obviously way to old of a book for my kid right now, but I checked it out as research for the classical education I’m planning for my daughter. In the classical education style you present topics to them every four years on age appropriate levels. This book will be the perfect first introduction to The Odyssey, and Ayla already loves the illustrations even if she can’t sit still for the story yet. Its also done by Barefoot Books: Celebrating Art and Story, for which I have a personal soft spot.
The Weekly Low Down on Kids Books 1/18/12
Come Back, Cat
How to love a cat: Hold him gently in your lap. But don’t panic if he bites – he’s only playing. Be careful not scare him away. Listen for his ‘motor.’ He’s telling you he loves you, too.
Nodset writes a simple and easy to understand story of trial and error as a little girl chases the cat she wants to play with and how he react. She presents a very basic and child-like dilemma: “I like you cat. Why don’t you come? Don’t you like me?” with answers the child can derive from the next step and the illustrations “Then I’ll come to you, cat.” Throughout the book, you learn to pet softly, don’t squeeze too hard and a number of useful lessons for a soon to be young pet owner. Ayla loved pointing out where the cat was on the page, and of course, my meow sounds.
The Night Pirates
I love this one! And Ayla thought it was pretty great too, which is always a plus. Reminiscent of Where the Wild Things Are, Tom goes to sleep only to be bombarded by girl pirates and taken away to a treasure island via his floating house. Its pretty awesome and the illustrations are fun and colorful.
Pooh Loves
Ayla is a sucker for all things Pooh, even though I didn’t really introduce her to him. She picked out a Winnie the Pooh book on the first shopping trip to a bookstore we had together after she was walking and I allowed her to pick stuff up off the shelf. She handed it to me and was very excited to get to take it out of the store with her. Then, this Pooh book she picked out at the library all by herself as well. There’s something about Pooh, forever and always, and this one is exceptionally sweet.
The Lion and The Mouse
This is one we’re going to have try another time. It’s all pictures and no words, but it’s a picture book and not a board book. Ayla kept demanding that I read to her, but I had to kind of just tell her a story. The illustrations are based off of Aesop’s Fables and it’s been too long since I’ve read them to recite the tale. If you pick this up, be familiar with the tale so that you’re prepared to help walk your kid/baby through the book. Your kid makes you feel like a pretty crappy parent when they open a book and all you can say is “Uhhh, that’s a lion…”
The Weekly Low Down on Kid’s Books
Where to, Little Wombat?
This title was actually added to the previous Low Down on Kid’s Books post in an edit before I decided to make this a weekly ritual, but it belongs in this grouping.
Ayla wasn’t sure about sitting through the first page, but by the second she was hooked. The first time we read this she made me read it three times in a row and carried it around the house for an hour after that. The illustrations are fun and she loved being introduced to new animals she hadn’t seen before: wombat, emu, and koala. Plus, the story is super cute too.
Busy Penguins
So I totally thought this rocked, despite the page dedicated to penguins pooping. But I love penguins. Ayla, on the other hand was not so interested. It didn’t matter how cool or cute the penguins were being, she was 100% focused on Where to, Little Wombat by Charles Fuge. Therefore, no matter how cool I thought it was, I can’t give it higher than a 3 out of 5 stars because kids books really should *mostly* be for the kids.
Jon’s Moon
Oddly spiritual in a creepy way for a kid’s book. Didn’t care for it. We had originally picked it up thinking the title would be fun for her because its got her daddy’s name in it, but you can’t judge a book solely on its title. The illustrations are beautiful though. Could be useful for teaching personification to a small child.
The Tickle Tree
“A phantasmagorical flight of fantasy at your fingertips…” is no misconception! We adore this one at our house. The writing is reminiscent of Dr. Seuss, if Seuss were more soothing and less rambunctious. The illustrations are worthy of being compared to Bryan Collins (of bacstudio.com) and if you follow me on anything, you know how much I love his work. The Tickle Tree should be part of every child’s bookcase, and maybe a few adults’ as well if you are a collector of poetry and art.
Click on the titles to see the books on Amazon.com.
The Low Down on Kid’s Books
How do Dinosaurs Clean Their Rooms – Yolen
This is Ayla’s first dinosaur book and the first thing we’ve read by Jane Yolen. Cute, clever, and rhyming this is great board book for a 14 month old learning to put her toys away before she leaves a room and goes to another. Its quickly becoming an afternoon favorite.
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs – Barrett
Ayla and I read this recently for the first time. She seemed to enjoy it when I made the action loud enough, but its definitely going to be more exciting when she’s a little older. All in all, though, it does not live up to its hype.
Punctuation Station – Bryan P. Cleary
Ayla and I love Bryan P. Cleary books and are trying to collect them all. We checked this one out of the library this week, and as usual she found the rhymes exciting, even if she doesn’t quite know what they mean yet!
The Sea of Bath – Bob Logan
Ayla loves this one. She’s really into the illustrations and there’s the perfect amount of story per page, so she is able to sit still for just the right amount of time before she turns the page for you. We checked this copy out of the library, but I think I’ll have to go buy a copy soon.
Where to, Little Wombat – Charles Fuge
Ayla wasn’t sure about sitting through the first page, but by the second she was hooked. The first time we read this she made me read it three times in a row and carried it around the house for an hour after that. The illustrations are fun and she loved being introduced to new animals she hadn’t seen before: wombat, emu, and koala. Plus, the story is super cute too.
Shop Kid’s Books
Exposure is Everything
My whole life I have been enthralled by the world of books. As a child, I was an avid reader the school librarian could not keep appeased. I lived in the worlds of Laura Ingalls, L.M. Montgomery, Louisa May Alcott, Charles Dickens, C.S. Lewis, Tolkien, and more. Although I went to college to study business, as soon as I was out I sought a position in a bookstore; my dream was to run the literature section, and I did. I worked there for some years, fully stocked up my home collection, became the inventory manager, but then had a baby and so left the company.
We have 17 overflowing bookshelves in our house and books stacked on every available end table in between. I have been gathering up children’s titles throughout my pregnancy until now for my daughter, preparing for a lust of the written word comparable to mine.
People keep warning me that she may not want to read, she may not like it like I do. They keep telling me I cannot force my child to enjoy my hobbies.
I am not forcing her. I am making the written word available. She sees books everywhere, she sees people enjoying books everywhere. In addition to our own collection that we read from every day, we visit the public library for group readings and she sees people outside her family unit gathering to enjoy a book.
My daughter is one year old, and already she often chooses Eric Carle over a stuffed animal. She brings me Rainbow Fish and expects me to read it aloud while she sorts her blocks. It seems sometimes as though she is not actually listening, just sorting her belongings, until I stop reading and she looks up and points at the book. My daughter sorts through her picture books and flips through the pages, she even has her own little cushioned rocking chair she climbs into to do it. She rocks and pretends to read while I lounge and read in our library in our house.
My daughter loves books, and I am both amazed and proud. I implore the world to make books available to their children from a young age. Read aloud to them, they cannot help but be interested and thirsty for stories and knowledge.
Anakalian Whims 