I’ve been a fan of Karen Katz ever since we got Where Is Baby’s Pumpkin?
as a freebie with Emma’s Halloween costume last year. We recently borrowed Ten Tiny Babies
from our library, and both I and the kids enjoy reading it. The babies are very cute, and one baby gets added on each page – making it a fun counting book as well as a bedtime routine story. Now, if only my kids went to bed as peacefully as these ten adorable tots…
Both Make Way for Ducklings
and Blueberries for Sal
are books I remember loving as a child, but I only recently realized they are both written by Robert McCloskey
. Living near Boston, it’s fun to picture a family of ducklings bringing daily traffic to a halt, and the story of Sal and a baby bear switching mothers comes with wonderfully expressive illustrations.
Newbery Honor book Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt
starts right before the American Civil War. The protagonist is a perceptive, intelligent nine-year-old boy named Jethro, and through his eyes Hunt reveals the complexity of war with incredible compassion and sensitivity. I like to listen to recorded books while cleaning the house and playing on the floor or making art projects with the kids, but I find it hard to find interesting stories that don’t have language or scenes that are problematic for a two-year-old to hear. This one was perfect – complex characters and a completely engaging plot involving a difficult subject told in such a way that it might instruct, but would not lead to nightmares even if Emma chose to listen. This is definitely a book I’ll be reading aloud to my kids when they get a little older, probably more than once.
MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.
We love Blueberries for Sal. We got it from the library, but it’s a book I would like to add to our home collection. And I love listening to audiobooks. I can clean for hours if I’m listening to something fun. I’ll have to try sticking something on when I’m doing things with the kids. I think that would help my endurance for those activities as well.
I haven’t seen Karen Katz’s books, but we discovered Robert McCloskey’s books this year and we love them. I’ve also been a huge fan of Across Five Aprils since I first discovered it in my dad’s bookshelf when I was a kid. Great reviews.>>We’ve started listening to books on CD, too, and we find them a great way to enjoy a book when we’re too busy to sit down and read. So far we’ve listened to most of the Harry Potter series that way and Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry. I find it helps to listen to books that are written in a dialect, since I have a hard time reading those out loud.