Kids Corner: What Are Your Children Reading? 22 October

Welcome to What Are Your Children Reading?, a weekly meme started by The Well-Read Child. I have the privilege of hosting it this week. If you participate on your blog, leave a link to your post in the comments.

For those who may not know, I have a son who turned two this month. Most of our current reads are therefore not very intellectual. To keep my sanity, though, I keep getting some picture books just for me. Continue reading »

Consistency Errors in Goodnight Moon and Other Book Issues for an Obsessive One-Year-Old

My son (almost age 23 months) insists on reading the same books every night, usually three or four or five times. I’m very glad he loves to read, but I’m getting a bit weary of picture books. I do think we’ve had some winners in our Library Loot the past two weeks, though, so I thought it’s time to share what we are reading once again. Continue reading »

Baby’s Monday Salon: Dogs, Trains, and Simple Illustrations

It’s been a while since I’ve reviewed what my son (age 21 months) is reading, so I thought I’d jump in and mention some highlights. It’s so much fun to see my son loving reading. He’s also definitely developing preferences and favorite things in his life, so now his reading is becoming focused on what he wants to read!

Our reading has become an all-day affair. When he wakes up in the morning and/or when he eats his breakfast, I often read to him a few pages (literally) from a full-length book. If he’s not eating, he plays on the floor of his room as I read. Right now I’m reading him Winnie-the-Pooh, and he loves it! If I stop reading, he looks up at me and begs “more?!” (which is one of his favorite words).

Throughout the day, then, he occasionally finds his picture books, which are all through the house, and then sits down and turns the pages. He often goes back to the same books these days. At bedtime, we read at least three books. Sometimes he sits still while I read a book to him or we “discuss” the pictures in it; other times he sits apart from me and “reads” it to himself, talking and turning the pages. This is so delightful to watch. I’m so excited that he’s figured it out! Continue reading »

Author Spotlight: Margaret Wise Brown + Giveaway Winner

I’ve got a winner to my contest!

No one guessed the most popular book searched for on Rebecca Reads. The book that I get the most searches for is a children’s book. It is one that I think almost everybody has read at least once: Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown. I wrote a post about it here last August, and it has always gotten the most hits on my site. In connection with the contest, I thought I’d take this chance to read some others of Margaret Wise Brown’s picture books.

As for a winner for my giveaway, I chose a winner, then, from all those who did make a guess. (It pays to make a random guess, sometimes!). I’ll send the winner a copy of any of the books I reviewed in the past year.

Out of the twenty people who made guesses, the winner is …… Continue reading »

Caldecott Corner Author Spotlight: Simms Taback

Simms Taback has an illustration style all his own. His children’s picture book illustrations are often a blend of watercolor, gouache (an opaque watercolor painting), pencil, ink, collage, and I even observed some crayon illustrations. His colors are bright and his books have subtle jokes in the illustrations (for the parents to find). So far, he has won the Caldecott Medal once (in 2000 for Joseph Had a Little Overcoat) and he was a Caldecott Honor once (for There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly). Continue reading »

Caldecott Corner: The House in the Night by Beth Krommes, 2009 Award Winner

This year’s winner of the Caldecott Medal is The House in the Night by Susan Marie Swanson, illustrated by Beth Krommes. When I asked the librarian to help me locate it (it was misshelved), she told me she didn’t like it; its illustrations were too dark. I wasn’t sure, then, what I’d think of The House in the Night. But I enjoyed reading the story of a bedtime story, and the black, white, and gold scratchboard illustrations were appropriate for the subject. Continue reading »

Caldecott Corner: David Wiesner

David Wiesner has been awarded the Caldecott Medal three times and the Caldecott Honor twice. While his award-winning picture books are a bit out of my comfort level (for they have very words), Wiesner is able to carry stories with only illustration.

In November, The Well-Read Child did a highlight of books like this: How to Read Books without Words (Out Loud). That gave me great ideas for how to introduce my son to these books. At 15 months, he’s obviously still too young for David Wiesner’s books. But while I’m not all that comfortable with wordless books, I did find some of these to be quite interesting. Continue reading »

Caldecott Corner: Wintery Miscellany

In honor of the snow Chicago is “enjoying,” I found some Winter-related Caldecott-winning books this month at my local library. Continue reading »

Caldecott Corner: Mo Willems

While Mo Willems hasn’t been awarded the Caldecott Medal for his children’s picture books, he has been nominated a number of times. Do multiple Honors equal a Medal? I doubt he’d think so. Nevertheless, I think his simple illustrations are award-worthy and therefore worthy of my review.

Here’s a rundown of some of Willems’ books, along with my thoughts on his brilliant illustrations. Continue reading »

Baby’s Sunday Salon, November 9

In addition to the board books I usually read my son, I’ve also been reading a number of picture books with him this month. Because he’s still only a year old, he doesn’t pay much attention past the first few pages, but I’m having fun revisiting some old classics. Now I know what he should be reading in the coming years! Continue reading »