Tea & A Good Book Brewing- Installment 3, Richard Scarry
Now that Tuesdays have become my self-proclaimed day for book reviews, I look forward to them more than ever!
I also realize more than ever how quickly a week rolls around! Have you noticed this phenomena? As soon as you commit to something on a weekly basis, that particular day comes quicker than some of the others!
Since this is the week for a children's book, I want to feature one of Gavin's favorites. As mentioned before in this post, Gavin is a huge fan of Richard Scarry. I am not exaggerating when I say that he has spent hours pouring over Cars and Trucks and Things That Go and What Do People Do All Day and Hop Aboard! Here We Go, among others!
I am amazed by how much variety one author/artist can produce, and no book showcases this as well as Richard Scarry's Best Storybook Ever! This book is currently a favorite of Gavin's and I have no idea how many times he has chosen it for storytime. The good part is that since it is so big (288 pages & 82 stories) you can read it quite often without actually reading the same story too often, so it has some of the advantages of a chapter book, even though it is just a compilation of stories & Mother Goose rhymes. And of course a lot of really great illustrations!!!
I asked Gavin why he liked this particular book and he said, "Because!"
"Because why?"
"Because it's my best story book!"
There you have it! A book review from the mouth of a 4-year-old!
The Best Storybook Ever has such a wide variety of stories and styles that it makes the book very interesting. The stories are written by different authors, including Richard's wife, Patricia Scarry, so that probably accounts for some of the variety, but the illustrations vary as well. Some of the stories & illustrations are more the Huckle & Lowly style- with their fair share of chaos and action- and other stories would be more the Golden Books style- sweet and calm.
I was trying to figure out what is so intriguing about Richard Scarry's work and I think it has a lot to do with just how preposterous some of the stories & pictures are!!! Even the more ordinary ones have interesting details within the pages that are fascinating, funny and timeless. Richard Scarry's imagination was apparently boundless, allowing children's enjoyment of his work to be that as well!
Gavin was thrilled to receive Great Big Schoolhouse from Grandpap & Grandma Wadel for his birthday this year!!! He first came to love the book when we borrowed it from the library and now that he has his own copy, he enjoys it all the more. He often takes the book to bed with him at naptime and he and Elasa also have a ritual going of reading the book a bit together after they go to bed at night! Now that Elasa is starting to read, she likes reading aloud to him and they are both quite pleased with the arrangement.
Great Big Schoolhouse is a very fun way to introduce the alphabet, months of the year, shapes & colors, etc. in a fun story form...and with the beloved Lowly and Huckle to boot!!! Here again, the illustrations and funny little stories are timeless and magnetic in nature.
As a mother, books have saved (and restored!) my sanity a thousand times over! I love reading to my children, but I also love to see them entertaining themselves with a stack of books.
Right now, the Richard Scarry books are doing a lot of sanity-saving as they manage to capture the attention of all three of my children. Elasa finds them simple enough to hone her reading skills on, Gavin loves the pictures and has portions memorized, and Parker will find and look at the same "choo-choo" over and over again!
My hat is off to any and all children's author's who manage that sort of feat for our family!
Richard Scarry, my hat is off to you.
Better yet, I am off to make a cup of tea to drink in your honor.
I also realize more than ever how quickly a week rolls around! Have you noticed this phenomena? As soon as you commit to something on a weekly basis, that particular day comes quicker than some of the others!
Since this is the week for a children's book, I want to feature one of Gavin's favorites. As mentioned before in this post, Gavin is a huge fan of Richard Scarry. I am not exaggerating when I say that he has spent hours pouring over Cars and Trucks and Things That Go and What Do People Do All Day and Hop Aboard! Here We Go, among others!
I am amazed by how much variety one author/artist can produce, and no book showcases this as well as Richard Scarry's Best Storybook Ever! This book is currently a favorite of Gavin's and I have no idea how many times he has chosen it for storytime. The good part is that since it is so big (288 pages & 82 stories) you can read it quite often without actually reading the same story too often, so it has some of the advantages of a chapter book, even though it is just a compilation of stories & Mother Goose rhymes. And of course a lot of really great illustrations!!!
"Because why?"
"Because it's my best story book!"
There you have it! A book review from the mouth of a 4-year-old!
The Best Storybook Ever has such a wide variety of stories and styles that it makes the book very interesting. The stories are written by different authors, including Richard's wife, Patricia Scarry, so that probably accounts for some of the variety, but the illustrations vary as well. Some of the stories & illustrations are more the Huckle & Lowly style- with their fair share of chaos and action- and other stories would be more the Golden Books style- sweet and calm.
I was trying to figure out what is so intriguing about Richard Scarry's work and I think it has a lot to do with just how preposterous some of the stories & pictures are!!! Even the more ordinary ones have interesting details within the pages that are fascinating, funny and timeless. Richard Scarry's imagination was apparently boundless, allowing children's enjoyment of his work to be that as well!
Gavin was thrilled to receive Great Big Schoolhouse from Grandpap & Grandma Wadel for his birthday this year!!! He first came to love the book when we borrowed it from the library and now that he has his own copy, he enjoys it all the more. He often takes the book to bed with him at naptime and he and Elasa also have a ritual going of reading the book a bit together after they go to bed at night! Now that Elasa is starting to read, she likes reading aloud to him and they are both quite pleased with the arrangement.
Great Big Schoolhouse is a very fun way to introduce the alphabet, months of the year, shapes & colors, etc. in a fun story form...and with the beloved Lowly and Huckle to boot!!! Here again, the illustrations and funny little stories are timeless and magnetic in nature.
As a mother, books have saved (and restored!) my sanity a thousand times over! I love reading to my children, but I also love to see them entertaining themselves with a stack of books.
Right now, the Richard Scarry books are doing a lot of sanity-saving as they manage to capture the attention of all three of my children. Elasa finds them simple enough to hone her reading skills on, Gavin loves the pictures and has portions memorized, and Parker will find and look at the same "choo-choo" over and over again!
My hat is off to any and all children's author's who manage that sort of feat for our family!
Richard Scarry, my hat is off to you.
Better yet, I am off to make a cup of tea to drink in your honor.
Wow! I almost forgot about this book. My first three children totally wore out the book. It was taped and retaped and in so many pieces I had to throw it away.
ReplyDeleteAnd now my youngest has never had the joys of knowing this book. I did get a second copy of Cars and Trucks and Things That Go. We just needed to keep this book in the family.
Gina