reanbean Tiny & Buba: Children's Book Week great children's books
by reanbean
8 comments
A Few Good Books
If you visit this blog regularly, you probably already know that I used to be an elementary teacher. Over eight years of teaching, I taught grades one, three, and four, and I am currently tutoring students in grades two, five, and six. But what you may not know is that I am also a licensed reading specialist. I love teaching kids to read, love reading children’s books, and do everything I can to pass on a love of reading to all the children I work with.
So it tickles me to no end to see how much my own kids love books. We have certain times during the day when we almost always sit down and read books together (first thing in the morning, before nap, after dinner, before bed), and it isn’t uncommon for Tiny or Buba to bring T or me a book at some other point in the day and request that we read to them. For a long time, they both have enjoyed looking at books on their own, and just recently, they’ve begun to read aloud some of their favorites to themselves or to each other. Books like Good Night, Gorilla, Baby Bear, Baby Bear What Do You See?, and Pajama Time are among the many that Buba and Tiny have heard so many times that they feel confident telling the story on their own.
We literally have hundreds of children’s books in our house (T teaches elementary students too, so we get tons of bookstore gift cards), and we try to rotate around the ones we have out in book boxes every few weeks. Current favorites include Miss Spider’s ABC, Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?, and Hey! Wake Up! But a brand new favorite that we’re all enjoying is called Little Blue Truck. For those who don’t know this one (I certainly didn’t until a couple of weeks ago), it’s about a very friendly little blue truck who beeps hello to all the animals he passes going down the road. Then along comes the big, unfriendly dump truck. He’s got “big, important things to do” and doesn’t have time to say hello to the little guys out there. Of course, when dump gets stuck in the mud, little blue truck and his friends are there to help him out, leaving dump a much friendly truck by the end of the story. Although the text is longer than a typical Sandra Boynton favorite, it’s written in rhyme and includes animal and truck sounds.
Now that Buba and Tiny have become more interested in books with longer texts, I’m looking forward to sharing some of my personal favorites with them in the near future (Blueberries for Sal, George and Martha One Fine Day, Bread and Jam for Frances, The Poky Little Puppy, etc, etc, etc…).
And in case you didn’t know, today is the kickoff to Children’s Book Week, so it’s the perfect time to discuss great books for kids. Please share with me some of the books you enjoy reading with your kids, as well as your own personal favorites from childhood. I can’t wait to share so new ones with Tiny and Buba, so don’t hold back. The more the merrier!
Our girls’ favorite books right now are picture books. We have several with just a picture and the word, or a very short rhyme, and they will sit for an hour with me – no joke – and go page by page with me naming the animal / object and signing the words where we can.
My favorite books to read to the girls are “Have You Got My Purr?”, “Guess How Much I Love You”, and any of the Curious George Adventures. I’m including the link to the “Purr” book…it’s a great one. Kitten goes to all the barnyard animals looking for her purr. She finally finds it when, exhausted, she snuggles up next to her mommy to sleep. 
I still have all my books from when I was growing up, and I love to read Little Bear and Uncle Wiggily to the girls.
When the girls were tiny, I would literally read to them for hours each day…what else do you do with two infants? These days, they’re not content to sit and listen to a story outside of bedtime, when I hold one of them and my hubby holds one of them. Did your kiddos go through this? I want to instill a love of reading, and there was a time when I would read to them in their high chairs, but they seemed pretty miserable. Do you think this is just their age and their lack of being able to follow a storyline at this point? Thanks!
Man, do my kids love stories. And I love that they love them! Among the many favorites in our house:
- If You Give A Mouse A Cookie (and others by that author)
- Curious George (ugh)
- Knuffle Bunny
- Olivia (any)
- Hooray for Fish (love this one!)
- Dr. Seuss (Cat in the Hat, Yertle the Turtle, and, oddly, the Lorax)
- the original Winnie the Pooh
- Richard Scarry (esp. love finding Goldbug on every page of Cars & Trucks & Things that Go)
A few more that I remembered that might be a little off the beaten path:
- He Came with the Couch
- Grumpy Gracie
Awww, blueberries for sal was my favorite!!
We are bookworms. Right now my girls beg me to read Amelia Bedelia. They don’t really understand the jokes, but they think Amelia Bedelia is pretty funny.
In our house, it seems the only book worth reading is one involving trains. Current favorite are The Little Red Caboose and The Little Engine That Could. Oldies but goodies!
Thanks for all the good recommendations! I can’t wait to check some of them out!
@Amy- My suggestion is just to get a ton of books (you can buy used from used book sellers or tag sales or borrow from the library if your twins won’t chew them) and have them everywhere around the house where your kids play. I usually leave new books our for a while so my two can explore them for themselves before I try to sit down and read them with them. And if Michael will sit and listen, start by adding more reading time with him throughout the day. I bet if you sit down to read with just him, Thomas and Eva Rose may swing by just to check out what you guys are doing.
@Mandy- That book sounds/looks adorable! Will definitely have to check it out. I don’t remember exactly what ages they were, but I know that both of my guys have gone through phases where they were weren’t as interested in listening to books. I know right around the time they became walkers (around 12 months) they just wanted to be moving constantly. So, I’m sure it’s a phase with your girls too. Whenever their interest is low, I try to read books with very little text and also ones that allow for some kid participation. Right around the time where their language was beginning to take off we read a lot of the Priddy word books (like this one: http://www.amazon.com/Board-First-Words-Bright-Baby/dp/0312495412/ref=pd_sim_b_2). They loved (still do) looking at the photos and naming what they see. Now we use them to play the “I Spy” game.
I need to read more with the kids. I may try your schedule. Right now michael is the only one that will sit to let me read and we do it right before bed. Right now we are reading Time to Sleep and Goodnight Moon. I really want to get more books too. I’ll have to remember to check back to see what people recommend! If you get all the recommendations into one area, would you mind sending me a copy?