In Our Library Bag

You know I do this sometimes.  I come up with an idea for something I want to blog about in a series.  For about a year, I did "Favorite Things Friday."  For a few months I did "Memorable Monday."  I've been doing sporadic posts titled "I Don't Want to Forget...."  (It's hard to be consistent about writing these days.  Even when I try to carve out some daily time to write, I find that there are so many days that I end up giving that time to some other project; or that I simply don't feel in the mood to write at all.)  I do like series posts, though, because it gives me something to go on when I'm coming up empty on what to write.  And writing always begets more writing for me, so who knows?

I'm going to start a series called "In Our Library Bag."  I'm sure it'll be sporadic; but I'd like to share some of the books that we've been getting and what the kids and I think about them.  When I first started getting library books for Serena, she was about as old as Cody is now, and I really didn't know the first thing about children's literature.  I knew a couple names of authors, and I remembered some books that I'd loved as a kid.  I thought I could rely on the library to have booklists or something, but didn't find that to be the case where we lived.  Even when I asked the librarians, they usually took me to some popular books, but they weren't the really "good" ones, you know?  I find lots of the children's books to be just junky fluff, not something they can think about, integrate into their play, and connect to their own experiences.  So I began a personal search (mostly on the internet) that turned into a mini obsession to find the good books out there for young children.  I started finding what I really valued in children's books.  I look for captivating stories, of course, and good illustrations are great too.  The classic tales are really important to me, as I feel like it helps them to begin to understand their world and mankind in general.  As Serena, and now Bret, are getting older, I do like to find condensed versions of classic books to kind of whet their appetite for something bigger (that's how we got started on Little House on the Prairie and Heidi).  I've also found the value in books that the kids can learn to "read" by themselves.  Of course, toddlers and preschoolers are all about doing things "by themselves" and this is a huge thing to encourage them to want to unlock the mysteries of actual reading.  Books with repetition and rhyme are really good for that.  It's great to find books that teach something (history, values, character, etc.), but good ol' make-believe is really important, too!  Especially if your kids aren't growing up with a TV!  ;)  And as much as we Americans love a "Happy Ending" to everything, I'm finding that the kids like books where it doesn't all end perfectly sometimes too.  Maybe it's because they know that's life and it's kinda comforting to know that things go on even when it doesn't have a Disney ending.  Anyway, all this self-educating on children's literature has taken lots of time, but I feel like it's paid off!  Our kids love books!  So many of our memories are wrapped up in books around here (remember when Serena was Mrs. Mallard for a few months????), so this will be a really special thing for me to journal about, and maybe it'll help somebody else find some books their kids will love too!

I just looked at my library account online and saw I have 57 books checked out right now!  And that's on the low side...usually it's in the 70's!  I'm going to highlight 10 kids' books today, and then some of what I'm reading now.

1. Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett - This book makes it into our bag repeatedly because the kids like it so much!  It's great for the 2-4 year-olds because there's so much repetition that they can start "reading" it on their own pretty easily, and who doesn't love the story of the Gingerbread Man?  When Bret saw me pick it up this week, he was so excited because it's one he can "read."  ;)  I especially like Jan Brett's version of the "Gingerbread Man" because he doesn't get eaten at the end.  :D
2. The Story Tree:  Tales to Read Aloud retold by Hugh Lupton.  The Story Tree (from Barefoot Books...a very good children's book publisher!) is a collection of classic tales (ie., "Caps for Sale" and "The Three Billy Goats Gruff") that our kids have really enjoyed.  We've checked this book out several times (as well as the audio CD which our library also has), and it's been very loved!
3. Bunny's Noisy Book by Margaret Wise Brown.  I like to keep a good rotation of bedtime books in the kids' room, and this is one that we particularly love!  It's a classic Margaret Wise Brown book (also author of Goodnight, Moon), mostly featuring observations and word pictures rather than a plot.  It follows a baby bunny and all the sounds it hears and makes throughout its day, from the first moment it wakes up until it falls to sleep at night.  The kids really like making all the noises, of course!
4. If You Lived with the Sioux Indians by Ann McGovern.  Now that Serena is reading, I'm trying to get her some books that will teach her some history.  I came across these books by Scholastic that feature different time periods in US history, and I'm really excited about them!  I picked up a few of the Indian ones for now, but next there will be the Mayflower and the settlers, etc.  They all have "If You Lived..." in the title and they just answer a lot of questions that a kid might have about that time.  It seems like a really great way to get them to start wrapping their minds around the way things used to be and where our country came from.  
5. The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss.  This is a classic, and every kid should get to read this simple story!  A little boy plants a carrot seed, and even though everyone else in his family doubted that it would come up (My favorite line in the book is when the big know-it-all brother says flatly, "It won't come up."  Haha!), he weeded it and watered it.  And in the end, it did come up!  I think it has a subtle message of the value of persistence; plus it's written so simply, that (again) the kids can "read" it by themselves pretty easily.
6. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff.  Bret likes this one more than Serena does.  I think Serena's like me; she doesn't really like the more chaotic stories, haha!  Anyway, this is a great little story and it has a good sense of humor.  It encourages the child to think ahead to what the mouse will want next.  If you like it, check out If You Give a Moose a Muffin by the same author.
7. The House That Jack Built by Jeanette Winter.  Here's another one that really encourages the whole independent reading thing!  This particular version of the story has little pictures that replace the repetitive words, to help the kids "read" it with you!  It's another one that's popular with Bret (age 3) right now!
8. King Bidgood's in the Bathtub by Audrey Wood.  And while we're on the topic of books that Bret likes right now, here's another of his favorites.  It also features lots of repetition, so he can "read" it himself!  But the story is pretty hilarious too, which totally speaks to our silly little guy!
9. Just in Case You Ever Wonder by Max Lucado.  The kids really love this one, though I personally would like to rewrite a few pages.  ;)  It's a very sweet book, and we've checked it out a few times for our bedtime collection.  It's written to the child from a Christian parent's perspective, and basically seeks to tell the child how loved they are...just in case they ever wonder.  ;)
10. Where Is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox.  This book has been a big favorite around here with Serena, Bret, and now Cody.  We first discovered it when Serena was 2, and she loved it then.  It incorporates rhyme, repetition, and suspense/look & find, with a bit of humor at the end that always gets giggles from our kids!  I'd love to own this book, but instead, we just check it out from the library a lot!!  :)

I've got a little stack of (ahem, 11, ahem) books that I'm working through.  I'll just highlight a few.  :)

1. Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew.  And yes, Jordan built me a square foot garden, and we're watching tomatoes, peppers, carrots, sugar snap peas, lettuce, and spinach come up!!!  My very first garden all my own!  ;)
2. What's Eating Your Child? The Hidden Connections Between Food and Childhood Ailments:  Anxiety, Recurrent Ear Infections, Stomachaches, Picky Eating, Rashes, ADHD, and More.  And What Every Parent Can Do About It. by Kelly Dorfman, MS, LND.  I'm only 3 chapters in, but very intrigued!  Over the last 4 years, I've become more and more aware of the effects of our food on ourselves and our kids.  It's a journey and a work in progress, but I'm curious to see what all I'll learn from this book.  So far I'm convinced that food is powerful!
3. The Duggars:  20 and Counting!:  Raising One of America's Largest Families - How They Do It by Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar.  I like to have an audio book in the queue for when I'm folding wash or prepping meals or other "mindless" chores.  ;)  I checked this one out of our library's online audio collection out of curiosity.  I mean, who isn't curious about that family???  It was interesting!  I don't think I'd have made it through the whole thing if I'd been reading it myself.  It just didn't "grab" me enough, and there wasn't really much in it for me, per se.  But, it was fun to listen to Michelle Duggar read it to me!  ;)