Great Books!

In a house with literally thousands of books (I own a book company, Sac Book Mom) people always ask me why we frequently visit the library. It's important to teach children from a young age that the library is an amazing community resource that far extends it's book collection. Plus, being surrounded in books my children sometimes think of them as disposable; learning to treat other people's possessions with care is a very important lesson! Not to mention, letting kids select their own books is a great way to fuel their interest in reading.

We have a special basket in our 'classroom' to keep our library books in, and I always put our receipt on the fridge to keep track of what we have. I prefer to take one kid at a time to the library to try to make it a special time, and so we're not 'that family' with kids running and screaming in every which direction while others sit serenely watching. Our library's website is a great tool, and I use the reserve feature every week to make sure that we will have a few good books waiting for us.

On with it, you can see above what we've been reading this week.

We discovered Karma Wilson's Bear Series at our local discovery museum. Both kids have loved each of her books that we've found so far (especially, Bear's New Friend, Bear Snores On, and Bear Feels Sick). The great illustrations and cute rhyming text make them a pleasure to read. I especially love how her bear books all have the same characters. I plan to make some felt characters for our new felt board soon.

I reserved Wow! Said the Owl several weeks ago in anticipation of owl week. I think Ella and I love this book a bit more than Ryan. I love the illustrations, the gentle introduction to what it means to be nocturnal, and it's focus on colors. I hope to elaborate on this book this week with some kind of color project.

I have read SuperHero ABC dozens of times this week! Each letter of the alphabet has a superhero that goes with it. The alliterative captions and action-packed illustrations would hold Ryan's attention for hours! This book is a great steeping stone for a lesson in alliteration.

The Bravest of the Brave is a super cute counting book about a skunk walking through the woods. It is full of  great adjectives, and lots of verbs that make it a fun story to act out.


I love the first few pages of Smash! Mash! Crash! There Goes the Trash!: "Rumbling, roaring. Dragons snoring? Bumping, thumping. Giants Jumping? Booming Banging. Cymbals clanging? Noooooo! The garbage trucks are here today!" Ryan loves the story and Ella enjoys the unique illustrations.

On my constant quest to find literature related to our math studies, I came across Scholastic's Hello Math series. Monster Math Picnic is a level one reader that focuses on number combinations that form ten. It's a very simple book with some good extension activities included at the end. This book may warrant it's own post soon :)

Skunk's Spring Surprise is an adorable book about a skunk who awakes from hibernation to find that his friends have planned a talent show for him. We'll be sure to check this book out again in the early spring.

Mrs. Wishy-Washy's Farm is my kids' first introduction to the wonderful talents of Joy Cowley. It's a lively tale about farm animals that escape because they don't like to take a bath. It's such a cute story and lends itself perfectly to retelling with a felt board. In fact- I'm going to use the rest of nap time to go make the characters!

As a little note...I surely do not love every book I read! I will only take the time to mention ones that my children and I do love :)