Classics, Nonfiction, and Children's Literature
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
When I first read about I Kill Giants at Nymeth’s and Amanda’s blogs, I thought it was a fantasy. Actually, fifth-grader Barbara Thorson is the only one living in a fantasy world. Barbara wears animal-ear headbands so she looks like a rabbit or a mouse in the illustrations. Playing Dungeons and Dragons is a escape
When I decided, in December, to read 1000 books with my son before he started kindergarten, I thought it was going to be difficult. I thought we’d have to force ourselves to read. I thought 1000 picture books was a lot. To my surprise, it’s going very fast. We both love this project. My son
I own an adult poetry anthology, with accompanying CDs of the poets reading their work, called Poetry Speaks. While I haven’t read it cover to cover, I have listened to some of the poets and flipped through the book. I have enjoyed it. When I saw Poetry Speaks to Children on the juvenile nonfiction shelf
Today I’ll share about a “growing up” book that I really enjoy. Little Gorilla by Ruth Bornstein shows a little gorilla and all the family and jungle animals that love him. Then, he begins to grow, and soon he is big. It ends with the simple sentence, “And everyone still loved him.” I began inserting
The Body Book by Shelley Rotner is one of my favorite nonfiction books for my toddler. We’ve checked it out a few times. It shows photos of children at all different ages, and it shows them engaging in fun outdoor activities with their feet, hands, legs, heads, eyes, noses. This is not a boring anatomy book,
I know I’ve mentioned it before, but the David books by David Shannon are funny child-friendly books with child-like illustrations. These are books my two-year-old son relates to completely. My favorite is still the original (No, David) but the baby David board books (called “Diaper David”) are also well done. Two that I have found
I’ve found that fiction can help my son relate to himself as he deals with his current awkward “am I a baby or a big boy?” stage. (It comes with a lot of tears and frustration on his part.) Baby Happy, Baby Sad by Leslie Patricelli is one fictional picture book that he enjoys. He can
My favorite nonfiction books to read are the ones that I see help my two-year-old son to better understand himself. Hands Can by Cheryl Hudson is full of pictures of real children, and it illustrates some of things he can do. Sometimes when he does something with his hands, like clapping or carrying or climbing, he notices
In The Snow Day by Komako Sakai a little bunny and his mommy are stranded at home and daddy’s airplane can’t come home because of snow. The bunny watches it snow, he plays in the snow, and finally Daddy’s plane comes home. How perfect is that parallel? The beautiful illustrations and well-spaced text perfectly captured the feeling
After reading Siesta by Ginger Guy and illustrated by Rene King Moreno (An ALA Notable Book), I decided to try this. In the book, two kids and their teddy bear, gather together a few things, such as a yellow book and a blue backpack and then a brightly multi-colored blanket and then go outside for their “siesta.”
As a devoted reader of original classics, I’m not keen on the idea of “rewriting” them or retelling them. Why wouldn’t I read the original? Nonetheless, I decided to give Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species: A Graphic Adaptation by Michael Keller and illustrated by Nicole Rager Fuller (Rodale Books, 2009) a try, and I
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