I volunteer in my kids' elementary school library 2x a month, and I never tire of helping those kids find their "fun" books. In fact, it is great RA training. As I tell my students, if you can get a kid to tell you about a book they liked, you can get even the most stubborn adult to work with you. I am humbled each time I work in the school library. I have to work hard to get the RA conversation even started, let alone convince them to take the book I am book talking to them. Kids will say "no" to a book after your first sentence. It really helps you to hone your book talking skills.
I will be there tomorrow morning, handing out Children's Book Week bookmarks and helping those kids find something "fun" to read.
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| Captain Hook, Max, and Fancy Nancy |
To put us all in the Children's Book Week spirit, for Today's Monday Discussion, I want to know your favorite children's books.
I'll go first. I loved Shel Silverstein as a kid. Heck, I still do. But, today I wanted to point out a few books that I read to my kids and now buy for all the new parents I know. Here is a small list of the childrens' books I have learned to love as a parent.
- The Red Lemon by Bob Staake: such a great message and the rhymes written as an homage to Dr. Seuss makes it fun to read aloud.
- Where is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox: A great book for young children. A more perfect book to read right from birth through age 3 I have had yet to find. I think I could still recite it by heart if pressed to do so.
- Any Harold and the Purple Crayon books: old I know, but I was not as in to them when I was a kid.
- Any Mo Willems book, but I am especially fond of Leonardo, the Terrible Monster because it is so fun to read out loud. A close second is Today I Will Fly! only because I am an eternal optimist like Piggie, and it is nice to see his dreams of the impossible coming true.
Now it is your turn to share your favorite childrens' book old or new.
For past Monday Discussions, click here.
10 comments:
there are so many, but ofcourse my favorite is where the wild things are by: maurice sendak, and its a book by: lane smith.
there are so many, but of course my favorite is where the wild things are by: maurice sendak, and its a book by: lane smith.
I like that Becky chose Where is the Green Sheep? because the stuffed toy manipulative only enhances the experience of reading it, but Tuesday by David Wiesner is a particular favorite of mine. The Kirkus review said "the fey events are depicted with beguiling realism." And one is free to imagine what Wednesday will be like with only the smallest amount of prompting!
Three somewhat obscure favorites from my childhood -
Mouse Tales by Arnold Lobel (not so obscure but not near as well known as Lobel's Frog and Toad books)
Twelve Bells for Santa by Crosby Bonsall about three kids trying to deliver twelve chocolate bells to Santa
Millicent the Monster by Mary Lystad about a little girl who gets tired of being good so she decides to be a monster was my all time favorite. It was hilarious and had great Edward Gorey-esque drawings.
Now, one of my all time favorite books to give as a gift for new babies is Hippos Go Berserk! by Sandra Boynton. The best counting book ever. How can you not love a book that starts "One hippo, all alone, calls two hippos on the phone" and has a refrain of "All the hippos go berserk"?
Three somewhat obscure favorites from my childhood -
Mouse Tales by Arnold Lobel (not so obscure but not near as well known as Lobel's Frog and Toad books)
Twelve Bells for Santa by Crosby Bonsall about three kids trying to deliver twelve chocolate bells to Santa
Millicent the Monster by Mary Lystad about a little girl who gets tired of being good so she decides to be a monster was my all time favorite. It was hilarious and had great Edward Gorey-esque drawings.
Now, one of my all time favorite books to give as a gift for new babies is Hippos Go Berserk! by Sandra Boynton. The best counting book ever. How can you not love a book that starts "One hippo, all alone, calls two hippos on the phone" and has a refrain of "All the hippos go berserk"?
A wonderful book for little boys is The Marvelous Mud Washing Machine by Patty Wolcott. It's a very simple little book, but it just lends itself so beautifully to repetition (because they always wanted to hear it again and again). Also, any book that says, "beautiful, marvelous boy" was a winner in my house.
I love children's books! Some of my favorite not-chapter children's books include That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown by Cressida Cowell for its imaginative relationship between a girl and her rabbit and some laugh-out-loud funny scenes.
I also love the board book Moo, Baa, La La La by Sandra Boynton. My mom always read that book to my siblings and me in the exact same voices and I can still hear them.
I think a lot of what makes a book great from childhood is the memories that go with them.
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson is in my top 3. Alice in Wonderland was always one of my favorites growing up but I have to agree that the best Children's book of all is Where The Wild Things Are.
MIKE BPL REF
I recall fondly as a kid read-
ing the books of Beverly Cleary.
Henry Huggins, Ramona and Beezus
and, of course, Henry's dog
Ribsy were a fun, good natured
way to begin a love of books.
Two of my all-time children's favorites:
The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear by Don Wood.
The illustrations are fantastic and the mouse is such an expressively drawn character!! Its a quick read with colorful pages that will keep the attention of even the youngest. My grandson must have his "hungry stuffed bear" read the book with him every time!! Very cute story!!
Next is Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree by Robert Barry
I loved this book as a child. Mr. Willowby's Christmas tree is too tall, so he cuts off the top and passes to his upstairs friend...and so on and so on. This story is so entertaining but it teaches recyclying on a young childs level. A must read!!
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