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!