1000 Books: Jez Alborough

In honor of Children’s Book Week, I thought I’d mention a favorite author my son and I have discovered through our project of reading 1000 picture books together: Jez Alborough. Alborough has fun, quality picture books. Some rhyme. Some have a precious little gorilla that reminds me of my own little monkey boy. Most are ridiculous and imaginative. Continue reading »

Kids Corner (1000 Books): Growing Pains

It’s been a long time since I’ve written about my son’s books. Since I’m reading longer novels myself this month, I’ll use this opportunity to jump in and say something about what we’ve been reading together.

I’ve been skimming over The ABCs of Literacy (reviewed here; that book inspired my 1000 Books Project) for ideas on helping use books as a tool in my sons’ stage of life and learning, and some of Ms. Dollins’ ideas have been very successful for us.  I am not using books as a “preschool” curriculum or anything of the sort: I’ve just been trying to think out of the box and applying the books to my sons’ needs more than I had in the past. And we’ve both, I believe been enjoying that approach.

Continue reading »

1000 Books: A Little Clarification + The First 80 Books or So

I created the 1000 Books Project for myself when I reviewed an inspiring book about infant and toddler literacy, and I picked that book up because I felt bored with the picture books I’d been reading and rereading and rereading with my son. There, I said it: I was getting bored reading with my son.

Besides, reading the children’s books that I wanted to read (like Newbery or Caldecott winners and historical children’s literature) wasn’t always at the right level for my young son: my son is only two. I needed a way to be motivated to read with my son.

I read a lot of books myself (as my 2009 in stats might attest) and yet, a good part of my day before, after, in between my reading is taking care of my young son. My new goal is to read 1000 books with my son in approximately four years. Not just any books: different books. (Note: Before, I intended 1000 books by his fifth birthday. I have since decided on his sixth birthday.)

A few people have questioned the reasons why there is a number: Why not just spend time reading? I think that’s a great goal for any parent. Although I am not a professional by any means (and please don’t take my comments as if I were), I think reading and rereading is what a kid needs most, and I intend to continue rereading with my son all the time.

But as I mentioned, I was getting bored. I really didn’t look forward to the ten minutes before bed when we read because I’d already read The Little Red Caboose five to ten times that day.

My goals in this project is to go beyond togetherness time and make it fun for both of us. My goal is that in seeking out new books every few weeks, we will find new favorites, my son will find new concepts that interest him, and as a result, he will develop new vocabulary and understanding of the world around him. At some point, I anticipate reading together might help him when he needs to learn to read, but for us now, when he’s two, it’s to help him learn about the world around him.

Current goals:

• Find new favorite books (books we reread five times a day)
• Learn new vocabulary and concepts
• Try to find an interest beyond trains and trucks because Mommy is getting bored

Our First 80 Books (or So)

The running list of 1000 books in progress is on the 1000 Books Project page. Below, I will mention books that have not been mentioned already elsewhere on this site.  Because this first batch of books includes books we own and already reread many times a day, it was much easier to get to 80 books than the next ones will take! I will have to seek a bit more carefully for the next group of books. Finally, a number of books we own that we’ve read did not make it on this list so I’ll make sure to count them next time.

Also, this post is incredibly long. I’ll have to post about children’s books more often, I guess, because I have so much to say! 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 »

Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne (Revisited in Poetry)

I wrote a “review” of Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne in my pre-book blogging days (reposted on Rebecca Reads here) when I first read A.A. Milne to my son at age 4 months. I reread both books to him again over the last two months, now that he’s almost 2 years old.

I should say that my son loved it. As in: he  specifically requested most days that I read to him about Pooh and pointed to the book on the shelf. As in:  he would come running over to my side to see the pictures and yell “Pooh!” when he found his bear on the page. As in: when I turned the last page of Pooh Corner and closed the book, he looked up and said “More?! Pooh?!”

Since I already have reviewed it, I thought I’d do something different this time. Chance #9 for the Take a Chance Challenge is to review something in poetry. It seems appropriate to write a “review” of Milne in poetry because Pooh likes to put a rhyme (a hum) to everything.

Please forgive my non-poetic offering. I know I’m just building stereotypes of poetry as bad, but hey, I can pretend I’m a poet, right?

It ended up pretty short for the time I spent putting this together. I could write more, but I  think I’ve spent long enough already! Continue reading »

The Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle Treasury by Betty MacDonald

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle is a magical friend to children, with her upside-down house and delicious cookies that are always waiting for you. She’s also a wonderful help to parents, who often don’t know how to solve the problems of parenthood.

When I was young I loved learning Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle’s “cures” for naughty children’s problems, such as not putting away toys, answering back, and refusing to take a bath. Her cures were ridiculous and magical, and they were funny.

However, as an adult, reading three volumes of such stories in The Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle Treasury by Betty MacDonald became tiring. In some respects, the sequels failed to live up to the original, and I was horribly disappointed. Continue reading »

Reading with Kids, Defined

As I’ve mentioned, for the Read with Kids Challenge, I’ve been tracking the time I read with my 19 months old son. Continue reading »

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

I loved reading Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, despite the fact that it was written with 1700s archaic language, with long sentences stringing thoughts together, with essentially no dialog and no characters (beyond Robinson Crusoe himself), and with basically no plot. And yet, I loved it. Putting in to words why I loved it is another matter: I’m not certain why, but I did enjoy it.

Robinson Crusoe is the account of the life of a man by the same name, and it is an adventure story. I don’t tend to enjoy adventure stories, but this was one for me, for Robinson’s adventure was one of practical survival and religious realization. I also loved the language with which it was told, archaic and unfamiliar though it was. Continue reading »

Poetry for Young People: Lewis Carroll

The Poetry for Young People series provides classic poets in a slim illustrated volume, complete with vocabulary glosses or background information as needed.

I enjoyed how the Poetry for Young People: Lewis Carroll (edited by Edward Mendelson and illustrated by Eric Copeland) volume included background information about each poem so I knew who and what Carroll was mocking (often, it was Isaac Watts, whose moralistic children’s poems scared me silly a few months ago). Because I was not familiar with some of the contemporary poets and styles that Carroll mocked, I was disappointed that the poems weren’t as ridiculous as they could have been.

And yet, the nonsense of poems like “Jabberwocky” and “Father William” are still fun for children today. I enjoyed rereading Lewis Carroll’s poetry, and the illustrations in this particular volume were bright and appropriately fantastic. Many of the poems are from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, which I also enjoy.

Lewis Carroll’s best-known poem is probably “Jabberwocky,” which is full of nonsense words. Here it is in full, thanks to Project Gutenberg. (Of course, in Through the Looking-Glass, it is written backwards, since it is a mirror reflection.) Continue reading »

Rose, Where Do You Get that Red? by Kenneth Koch + Reading with Kids Challenge

Rose, Where Do You Get that Red? by Kenneth Koch is written for educators, and yet it is accessible to others. Reading it as a mother shows me that reading classic poetry to my young child can be inspiring in not just their own understandings of poetry but also in their own writing. There is no need to limit children to “age-appropriate” poetry, which often is cliché and boring; children can handle the “real” stuff, like Shakespeare, Donne, William Carlos Williams, and Wallace Stevens. Continue reading »