Great Books to Read Outside With Kids
Weekly Low Down on Kids Books – March 12, 2013
Title:The Lorax
Author: Dr. Seuss
You know you’ve read The Lorax a few too many times when your two year old steps outside and says, “Look Mommy, the trees,” then breathes deep and continues, “they smell like butterfly milk!”
The Lorax is an oldie but a goodie. It follows the tale of the Once-ler and how he destroyed all the trees for the sake of industrialism. Ignoring the warnings from The Lorax, the delightfully curmudgeonous beast who speaks for the trees, all that is left of a once beautiful land is a small truffula seed.
The Lorax is a fantastic way to enlighten your kiddo to the environmentalist ideals and introduce them to be mindful of their world. We love reading it on the porch swing and inhaling the sweet smell of “butterfly milk.”
Title: Wild About Books
Author: Judy Siera
Illustrations: Marc Brown
Follow the tale of bookmobile librarian Molly McGrew introduces all the animals at the zoo to the wonderful world of reading.
“By reading aloud from the good Dr. Seuss,
She quickly attracted a mink and a moose,
A wombat, an oryx, a lemur, a lynx,
Eight elephant calves, and a family of skinks.”
Kiddo likes to find all the animals mentioned in the story illustrated out on the page. To the right of this segment, you can find Molly McGrew in a chair reading from The Cat in the Hat.
Later, the animals discover that they like books so much, they even start writing them! The Insects dive in with poetry and the scorpion offers “stinging reviews.”
We read this one outside on the porch a lot, but we also read this before bed at night too. If you don’t have a copy, check out your local Half Price Books, I purchased mine off a generous stack in the kids section at the Humble store. No guarantees that you’ll find one too, but it’s worth a shot.
The Froggy Books
Weekly Low Down on Kids Books
Title: The Froggy Books
Author: Jonathan London
Illustrator: Frank Remkiewicz
If I never have to read another one of these books that would be fine by me! BUT, that’s not going to happen as the kiddo so kindly nominated these as the must read series for the last two weeks running.
I picked up ten titles in the series at the library and have not had a break from them since. She saw frogs on the cover, so frogs we had to have, and we checked out everything available in the series.
They aren’t bad, they’re very toddler friendly actually, I’m just tired. Any time Froggy goes somewhere he has to flop, flop, flop. When he puts on his clothes it’s with a lot of zips, zats, and znats. There are bonks and clangs, lots of “Froooooooogggggy!” and “Whaaaaaat!” exchanges between Froggy and his parents. Then of course, there’s that defining moment in each story when Froggy “more red in the face than green” discovers he’s doing something ridiculous.
The kiddo loves them and I cannot sit down to read a Froggy book without reading at least three Froggy books. This week, on multiple occasions, Froggy has gone to school, learned to swim, gone to bed, played T-ball, eaten out, gone to Hawaii, played in a band (kiddo’s favorite), gotten dressed (my least favorite), had the best babysitter, and had a sleepover.
They don’t have to be read in any particular order, but if you happen to find them in order you will definitely benefit. London does a good job of bouncing previous lines from previous stories into a later book. For instance, if we had not read Froggy Learns to Swim I would not have understood why in Froggy Goes to School the characters start chanting ‘bubble bubble toot toot chicken airplane soldier’ and think that it has anything to do with swimming. I guess I missed out on that swimming lesson as a child. But thankfully, I’d been to Froggy’s swimming lessons, so it wasn’t too weird.
There’s a lot of Froggy books and I’m sure we shall read more of them in the future as we come across them. As I said, great toddler titles… for the toddler. Parents: you’ll be longing for the days when you were reading Eric Carle twenty times instead.
What’s Awesome on Audio
FOR KIDS… actually, for adults too!
Title: The Bippolo Seed
Author: Dr. Seuss
Read by: Neil Patrick Harris
Until I went browsing through the audio book section of our public library I had never heard of The Bippolo Seed. I love Dr. Seuss, he’s pretty much always awesome… but the clincher for me picking up this edition to enjoy at home with the kiddo… why, Neil Patrick Harris of course!
Most child stars are annoyed by being referred to by the role that gave them their big name… I know Mark Wahlberg hates being called Marky-Mark and Maureen McCormack has made it quite clear that she is not Marcia Brady. But seeing Neil Patrick Harris’ name on that Bippolo Seed box, all I could think (and I apologize to NPH in advance!) was: Doogie Howser reads Dr. Seuss! What could be better!? Nothing, I tell you, nothing.
The fabulousness of Dr. Seuss combined with the sheer genius of Neil Patrick Harris is awesome. I love stumbling upon these kinds of wonderful things, because I’m certain my child is as tired of hearing my reading voice as I am of reading sometimes. I don’t feel so guilty passing the buck when I know someone as boisterous and Harris is taking the lead.
As for the “other lost stories,” there are a ton of talented stars featured on this audio book. Angelica Huston was surprisingly wonderful. Surprising not because she’s untalented or anything, just because I confuse her with Sarah Douglas and always imagine it was Huston, not Douglas, who played Ursa in Superman II (don’t ask me why)… and Ursa always appropriately gave me the creeps.
The point? Whether you’re a kid or a grown up, it’s never too late to hear The Bippolo Seed on audio.
Valentine’s Day News
Weekly Lo
w Down on Kids Books
Title: Slugs in Love
Author & Illustrator: Susan Pearson and Kevin O’Malley
Join Herbie and MaryLou, two slugs on a farm, in their quest to find each other and true love. They write poetry and love letters back and forth on garden hoes and barn doors, leave messages in strawberry patches and on tomato vines. It’s really cute and a household favorite of ours year round, but is especially wonderful when celebrating Valentine’s Day with small children.
Also, tonight at Half Price Books Humble…
As it is the second Thursday of the month, we’ll be journaling at the table in Metaphysics and Health from 7-9 pm. Bring your love or come alone, either way it should be fun to journal with art together.
Featured on the right is a Valentine’s piece from a journaling/art blog I found today.
If you’re not into journaling, you should still come into HPB Humble before the Valentine’s display comes down. The Store Inventory Merchandiser did a pretty rockin’ job on it:
Weekly Low Down on Kids Books – Green Eggs and Ham
The problem with toddlers, and kids in general, is the second you pin down what they like and don’t like they immediately turn into liars. Coincidentally, my kid did this with the infamous Dr. Seuss title Green Eggs and Ham.
As you probably well know, Green Eggs and Ham is about a guy discrediting something entirely without ever trying it. He insists through the whole book that he doesn’t like Green Eggs and Ham, he won’t like them here or there or anywhere, he’ll never try them because he knows he’ll never like them. Of course, as the twist of fate will have it, to get Sam-I-Am to leave him alone about the matter, he agrees to try them and discovers that low and behold they are GREAT!
That’s kind of how kiddo has been the last week or so about the book. I picked it up thinking, here’s a classic my kid needs, and read it to her (and some other kids) for the first time during Story Time at Half Price Books Humble. In a retail environment you don’t really have the freedom to take full advantage of all the exclamation points, so I bought it and read it to her at home.
Halfway through our first reading at home she said, “No, no mommy, no green eggs and ham. No, no.” She put her hand over the book, shook her head at me, and instantly replaced it with another title. The title she wanted instead was a Max Lucado picture book from the library called One Hand Two Hands
A few days later, it hit me, but not until after second breakfast. At second breakfast, I started reading Green Eggs and Ham, which she insisted I put down. So, I went to pick out a different title and when I did this she protested!
“No, mommy, I like Green Eggs and Ham.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yes, now I like Green Eggs and Ham. Read.”
Like the star of Dr. Seuss’ little book, Kiddo had to warm up to the idea of Green Eggs and Ham. For whatever reason, when first introduced she was certain she would not like the book. Maybe it seemed to long. Maybe it was too repetitive. Maybe too loud. Who knows, maybe Sam-I-Am just annoyed her with all his persistence. But at the end of second breakfast, after trying to re-read it for over a week, my kiddo decided – finally – that maybe she liked Green Eggs and Ham after all.
Little Monster Friends Part Two
Awhile back I did a Weekly Low Down on Kids Books that I titled Little Monster Friends. It was about Eleanor Taylor’s picture book My Friend the Monster. Then the other night I was recommending one of my kiddo’s favorite books to a friend who has a little girl kiddo’s age and when I went to link to my review of it, I discovered there was none. Or, I just can’t find it. So it’s about time I tell you (or remind you) of my little toddler’s new favorite monster book. It’s one I’ve enjoyed reading to her for quite sometime, but has recently become the most exciting thing in the world to her… at least a few times a day when something else isn’t more exciting. You know two year olds – maybe.
So here’s to our newest little monster friends…
Title: Jumpy Jack and Googily
Author: Meg Rosoff
Illustrator: Sophie Blackall
Jumpy Jack is a delightfully nervous little snail who is terrified of pretty much everything, completely convinced there is a monster lurking around every corner. Googily is his adorably huge friend who checks for monsters everywhere they go, just to be safe. The catch? The terrifying monsters of Jumpy Jack’s imagination are always exact descriptions of his best friend and neither one of them know it.
This is a fantastic little picture book about imagination and friendship. The illustrations are fantastic and the story and the images both give the kiddo and I the giggles before bed at night.
Now that kiddo is chattering up a storm all the time, intelligibly, she does the cutest things and it’s even clearer than before what things resonate with her. Now she jumps around the house in the day time saying, “No monsters here,” and waggles her finger at me. Sometimes she brings me a sock and waves it at me and mimics the last page “Boo! Said the sock!”
Click the front cover to hear a little girl named Sarah on youtube read the book, check out all the pages. Then come back and click the title link to amazon. Just like Sarah says herself, if you don’t already own the book you’re gonna wish you did.
Weekly Low Down on Kids Books – Baby Bear
Title: Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What Do You See?
Author: Bill Martin, Jr.
Illustrator: Eric Carle
Publisher: Puffin
The Kiddo has definitely picked her favorite for the week, and Oh-My-Lands, if I never have to read this book again it would be too soon! It’s actually not that bad, I’ve just read this book about seven times a day for a week straight, and that’s at a minimum. She’s at the age where she likes familiar, predictable, and oh so repetitive things.
She likes being able to tell me, “This Red Fox,” except fox sounds like something else entirely, something unprintable and disconcerting coming out of your two year old. The x sound is not her forte. She’ll get there, after all, she hears it enough.
Her favorite animal is the Striped Skunk. I’m not sure if it’s the stark black and white contrast of the picture or the way the phrase sounds, but that’s definitely the page we go back to over and over again.
She likes to explain to me that the Mule Deer and the Striped Skunk are like Bambi and Flower. That is important to her, knowing that I know that she recognizes that these are similar but not the same thing.
I like that book goes through one particular region. When you open the book, the first thing you see, even before the title page, is that Carle has painted a forest. It seems insignificant, but I think it’s a nice touch that sets the tone for the animals to come. It says, “this is where you are going, the animals you discover live here…” Then we start meeting them and it’s like taking a trip to Colorado without even leaving her bedroom.
One day, I’d like for us to build a Baby Bear diorama. I think she would really like reciting the book while sliding a paper doll of baby bear past all his friends and on towards his mother.
Polar Bear, Panda Bear, and every other Bear book by Bill Martin are definitely on our To Buy list. If you’re still on the fence, check out this other reviewer’s take on it: http://www.daddyfiles.com/baby-bear-baby-bear-what-do-you-see/
Weekly Low Down on Kids Books – Dinosaurs!
I read Magic Tree House #1: Dinosaurs Before Dark
We had to stop a few times to draw a rhinoceros onto our ‘R’ page, check out whales and their sizes in relation to dinosaurs in our encyclopedia, and to correct behavior as she climbed in my living room window sill that is about three and half feet off the ground. We even had a brief whistling lesson after reading how the wind was whistling around the tree house. Overall, she enjoyed it, so we moved onto the Research Guide
Mary Pope Osborne and her husband Will Osborne joined forces and started writing nonfiction companion books to the fictional Magic Tree House adventures. When I first discovered this, I started purchasing them in pairs, vowing to use them as fun assignments while home schooling. I’d like for kiddo to grow up in the habit of reading a nonfiction title that somehow relates to every fiction title that she devours, expanding both her facts and her imagination. What better way than to start with research guides to her first chapter books?
Why am I reading these to her so early? Frankly, it’s quite hilarious to watch a two year old run circles in your living room chanting, “Fossils! Minerals! Dinosaurs!” at the top of her lungs, while her dog (who happens to be the biggest one we own) lays in the center rolling his eyes.
Chapter three of the research guide Dinosaurs talks about iguanas and how Gideon Mantell though the dinosaur teeth he and his wife found were giant iguana teeth. Of course, we had to stop to re-read I Wanna Iguana
All in all, we had a good ‘school day’ this morning, something we have been working on being more diligent about now that kiddo is two and it has actually managed to get too cold to venture out as much.
Weekly Low Down on Kids Books – Math Adventures
Title: Sir Cumference and the First Round Table
Author: Cindy Neuschwander
Illustrator: Wayne Geehan
I think everyone who has talked to me for longer than a minute and a half about children’s books knows how much I adore Brian P. Cleary
So a two year old who still stumbles through her ABC song, can only manage some really intense stripes when writing, and can only identify circles and triangles isn’t really ready for a book about circumferences, diameters, the concept of a radius, parallelograms, diamonds, and all that, but that’s when it is perfect to start reading these stories. By the time she needs the information, I want the stories thoroughly engrained in her mind.
Sir Cumference is a knight, married to Lady Di of Ameter, father of a short-stack son named Radius. With their help, King Arthur is able to come up with a plan to keep his knights on their best behavior as they discuss the well-being of Camelot. Add to the cast of characters a carpenter named Geo of Metry, the books instill all the basic concepts of geometry in the disguise of some exciting fake King Arthur folklore. Start reading the books to your kid from birth through early elementary school and you’ve got one math savvy child without even trying. As a home school mom with a serious distaste for math, I want my kid to enjoy it and make her life a lot easier than mine was by the time her high school curriculum comes along.
For slightly older kids, I’d say ages 5-10, the book easily lends itself to hands on activities. Paper projects, baking projects, even wood working if you were bold and wanted to make an actual play table, the story takes you step by step through cutting a rectangle down into all the various shapes. And, of course, it’s a series. Click the Sir Cumference link to purchase from Amazon. Click the collection image to go to another blogger’s reviews.
Other Sir Cumference
Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi
Sir Cumference and All the King’s Tens
Sir Cumference and the Viking’s Map
Sir Cumference and the Isle of Immeter
Sir Cumference and the Great Knight of Angleland
Sir Cumference and the Sword in the Cone
(As an Amazon affiliate I earn from qualifying purchases.)
Anakalian Whims 