(Of course in the above photo, NONE of my children are reading the following recommended books. In the photo, F tries to read about Banksy because Dan finds his antics/art so funny (despite the effort obvious in her expression I don't think she quite understands "street art" humor) as P thumbs through a Barbie coloring book. Only T peruses an actual children's book. So go our days.)
I haven't posted on kids' books in a while. Now that F goes to school all day, we no longer spend our afternoons reading books on the couch. And at night we've been reading Harry Potter as a family (until now neither Dan nor I have ever read any of the books in the series). All that being said, in the last few months we've found a few children's books that we all really enjoy. Here goes (clicking on the book's icon takes you to Amazon):
I really like this book, the prose is simple and short, with details that bring to life the author's memories, such as "[w]hen I was young in the mountains Grandfather came home in the evening covered with the black dust of a coal mine. Only his lips were clean, and he used them to kiss the top of my head." A great bedtime read and a great conversation-starter about your own childhood.
P's sort of obsessed with Madeline lately (and a little TOO excited about the possibility of appendix removal). Anyways, it's nice to have six of the different stories in one volume. Plus the book includes "Madeline's Christmas", which is seasonal (despite a magician and magic carpets instead of Santa).
We recently discovered children's author Allen Say and I really like his writing style, very crisp with the perfect amount of detail. This book tells the story of a boy and his workaholic father taking a backpacking trip through the mountains. The illustrations are gorgeous, so hopefully, if we read the story enough, my own children will soon want to go backpacking with me. Hopefully.
This is probably the Dr. Seuss book that I remember the most from my own childhood, especially the terrifyingly big house with "your bedroom up here and your bathroom up THERE" (perhaps this alone explains why I've always been okay with living in a small house). Though as a former attorney, I now sympathize the most with Mr. Potter the "T-crosser, I-dotter" because he "has to cross t's and he has to dot i's in an I-and-T factory out in Van Nuys!" Anyways, it's a great book to read pre-holiday shopping, as sometimes we all need to remember exactly how lucky we are.
This story about a pet snake makes my kids laugh out loud. I don't totally get why it's so funny, but I don't get a lot of their humor lately. And at least it's short.
This is a great take on an oft-told tale. A group of monks comes to a poor depressed town and make "stone soup" in the market square, using only rocks and water. As the townspeople see the monks' efforts, one by one they each bring out ingredients they have been hoarding, and ultimately the huge feast bonds the whole town.
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