In an ideal world, we’d all have hours to sit on the couch reading books to our children. In an ideal world, we’d also have children who are always cheerful and obedient and never have problems with sleeping through the night, toilet-training, wrecking the car, or getting a full-ride scholarship to college either. But since we don’t live in an ideal world (it sounds a bit Orwellian anyway), here’s a website I just...
First, let me hasten to say that this book isn’t just for babies. However, Freight Train (HarperCollins, 1978) is a great picture book for babies. It’s also a book that can grow with your baby. Donald Crews won a Caldecott Medal for Freight Train. It’s got a sleek, graphic arts feel as page by page it moves us along the tracks from railroad car to railroad car: ”Red caboose at the back, Orange tank...
There is something magical about a child learning to read. It’s like that first smile, those first words, those first steps. A child can’t read at all and then one day . . . some of the words make sense. And then a few more. And then a few more. And next thing you know, the kid can read! Author Mo Willems is probably best known for his “Pigeon” books. Don’t Let...
Ok, just can’t resist doing a few more Christmas books. These are some unique ones I’m partial to. Winter Lights: A Season in Poems & Quilts (by Anna Grossnickle Hines. Greenwillow, 2005). Stunning contemporary quilts illustrate this book, most of them in intense, vivid colors and bold patterns that really appeal to kids and adults alike. Like the title says, each poem and quilt celebrates winter light: sun sparkling on icicles, Christmas lights, aurora...
One of our favorite Christmas traditions (and my favorite one—fun AND easy) is our basket of Christmas picture books. A giant basket loaded with Christmas picture books sits right next to the tree. The books get packed away with the ornaments and decorations and only come out at Christmas. And they only come out after the kids have decorated the tree. Otherwise, they drop everything and plop down on the couches to read (I...
Originally, this post was going to be about favorite Christmas books (I’ll get to that in a few days), but I have to write about a great book we just discovered: Adventures of Cow Too (Tricycle Press, 2007). Written by Cow (as told to Lori Korchek) and illustrated with photos by Marshall Taylor, this book is the sequel to Adventures of Cow. In Adventures of Cow Too, we follow a small plastic toy...
