Tea & A Good Book Brewing- Installment 26, Random Reading for Children
I was scratching my head over what children's book to post this week when the thought occurred to me that I would just give you a peek at 5 of the most popular books on our shelves these days.
Now when I say popular, you must understand that this means two things:
1. Popular is anything you read on an average of one or two times a day.
2. What's popular can change quickly. Especially if the book belongs to the library! This happens to be a benefit if they do, because then if they become too popular, there is such a thing as returning them!!!
Probably if this list was about which titles I wished would be popular for my children, it would look a little different, but even in book choices my children have a lot to teach me.
Even if the first lesson is patience over the 17th reading...
Elasa found Ripley's Fun Facts & Silly Stories 2 at the library last week and has been reading it and blessing me with little tidbits such as, some clouds weigh as much as 85 elephants, and did you know you can make a snack out of a spider, ever since!
I always feel that if I can help my children to enjoy books & reading, that it will make up for many of my inadequacies in the teaching world, so seeing Elasa enjoying books- and in this case an assortment of fun and interesting facts- is a special joy to me at the end of first grade.
And yes, while some of the tidbits are silly, or even disgusting, I would say they are usually appropriate for her age.
Knowing how Elasa loves the little house books and how she enjoys helping in the kitchen, I knew she would be interested in My Little House Cookbook, when I came across it at the library, and I was right!
Today she wanted to make something for supper, and since I had told her no yesterday as I wanted to get some laundry folded, today I said yes and we decided on the Buttermilk Cornbread. The recipes are simple, and Elasa did a good job collecting, measuring and stirring the ingredients, with some oversight from me.
We were nearly out of milk, so I mixed up some powdered milk to make up the difference, and with that we made our own buttermilk, but I don't think anyone noticed, and maybe it's the "little house way" to make do with what you have anyway! Ma certainly did!!!
I know I've talked about Gavin and his love of all things Richard Scarry before, but until that changes, you probably haven't seen the last of it!
We are currently reading and re-reading Richard Scarry's The Great Pie Robbery and Other Mysteries. Since the book has three rather long stories in one book, it feels a bit like "chapters" and I think Gavin likes that. True to form, the pictures and plots are humorous. I could take issue with how non non-resistant Sam and Dudley are, but at least the punishment for the two pie thieves in The Great Pie Robbery was pretty fair: they had to wash all the pots and pans in Ma Dog's bakery as recompense for stealing pies!
I don't feel that Arthur the Aardvark books are necessarily good literature, but somehow the boys usually manage to slip them into the library bag and I end up reading them! I don't always understand what clicks and makes a particular book popular, but Parker loves Arthur's Computer Disaster, by Marc Brown, right now! Not all of the Arthur books have a moral, but in this one, Arthur and his friend, Buster, go ahead and play computer games after Arthur's mom has told him to stay off the computer, and when Mom finds out, there are consequences (no computer games for a week!) so I feel a bit better about this book than some! As I said, I am not sure why Parker likes this book so well- we don't let the children touch the computers, much less play games on them- but perhaps the story is more about the characters and pictures to him...who knows?
Yesterday Parker wanted to read Arthur's Computer Disaster again, and when I vetoed it, he agreeably went for his second choice: The Village Garage, by G. Brian Karas.
When I came across this book at the library, I knew it would be well received, and it was! Both boys like it and it would fit perfectly in with my post on truck books for young boys. The book has colorful pictures and a charming way of telling about the workers at the Village Garage and their trusty trucks throughout the course of a year. We decided that the village garage workers are what we call borough workers around here, since they run the street sweepers and leaf pick-up truck and snow plows.
Gavin has determined that he wants to grow up to be a leaf man, so this books apparently is a portrait of his future! I guess that's what we get for living within the borough and exposing our children to the fascinating world of leaf trucks and street sweepers!
Enjoying books with my children continues to be one of the great pleasures of motherhood, but books are another example of where motherhood is not all about me! Maybe I would rather be reading poetry or some sweet and melodic book about the phases of the moon, but my children have their own ideas and tastes, and while they must fall under certain guidelines of what we deem is appropriate, I find that everything works out better if I allow them the liberty to explore and do some of the choosing!
Even if it means learning more about trucks than I ever cared to.
Or discovering that your nails would grow about 13 feet long if you never cut them.
Who knew that one of the ways my life would be expanded would be between the pages of a children's book?
Now when I say popular, you must understand that this means two things:
1. Popular is anything you read on an average of one or two times a day.
2. What's popular can change quickly. Especially if the book belongs to the library! This happens to be a benefit if they do, because then if they become too popular, there is such a thing as returning them!!!
Probably if this list was about which titles I wished would be popular for my children, it would look a little different, but even in book choices my children have a lot to teach me.
Even if the first lesson is patience over the 17th reading...
Elasa found Ripley's Fun Facts & Silly Stories 2 at the library last week and has been reading it and blessing me with little tidbits such as, some clouds weigh as much as 85 elephants, and did you know you can make a snack out of a spider, ever since!
I always feel that if I can help my children to enjoy books & reading, that it will make up for many of my inadequacies in the teaching world, so seeing Elasa enjoying books- and in this case an assortment of fun and interesting facts- is a special joy to me at the end of first grade.
And yes, while some of the tidbits are silly, or even disgusting, I would say they are usually appropriate for her age.
Knowing how Elasa loves the little house books and how she enjoys helping in the kitchen, I knew she would be interested in My Little House Cookbook, when I came across it at the library, and I was right!
Today she wanted to make something for supper, and since I had told her no yesterday as I wanted to get some laundry folded, today I said yes and we decided on the Buttermilk Cornbread. The recipes are simple, and Elasa did a good job collecting, measuring and stirring the ingredients, with some oversight from me.
We were nearly out of milk, so I mixed up some powdered milk to make up the difference, and with that we made our own buttermilk, but I don't think anyone noticed, and maybe it's the "little house way" to make do with what you have anyway! Ma certainly did!!!
I know I've talked about Gavin and his love of all things Richard Scarry before, but until that changes, you probably haven't seen the last of it!
We are currently reading and re-reading Richard Scarry's The Great Pie Robbery and Other Mysteries. Since the book has three rather long stories in one book, it feels a bit like "chapters" and I think Gavin likes that. True to form, the pictures and plots are humorous. I could take issue with how non non-resistant Sam and Dudley are, but at least the punishment for the two pie thieves in The Great Pie Robbery was pretty fair: they had to wash all the pots and pans in Ma Dog's bakery as recompense for stealing pies!
I don't feel that Arthur the Aardvark books are necessarily good literature, but somehow the boys usually manage to slip them into the library bag and I end up reading them! I don't always understand what clicks and makes a particular book popular, but Parker loves Arthur's Computer Disaster, by Marc Brown, right now! Not all of the Arthur books have a moral, but in this one, Arthur and his friend, Buster, go ahead and play computer games after Arthur's mom has told him to stay off the computer, and when Mom finds out, there are consequences (no computer games for a week!) so I feel a bit better about this book than some! As I said, I am not sure why Parker likes this book so well- we don't let the children touch the computers, much less play games on them- but perhaps the story is more about the characters and pictures to him...who knows?
Yesterday Parker wanted to read Arthur's Computer Disaster again, and when I vetoed it, he agreeably went for his second choice: The Village Garage, by G. Brian Karas.
When I came across this book at the library, I knew it would be well received, and it was! Both boys like it and it would fit perfectly in with my post on truck books for young boys. The book has colorful pictures and a charming way of telling about the workers at the Village Garage and their trusty trucks throughout the course of a year. We decided that the village garage workers are what we call borough workers around here, since they run the street sweepers and leaf pick-up truck and snow plows.
Gavin has determined that he wants to grow up to be a leaf man, so this books apparently is a portrait of his future! I guess that's what we get for living within the borough and exposing our children to the fascinating world of leaf trucks and street sweepers!
Enjoying books with my children continues to be one of the great pleasures of motherhood, but books are another example of where motherhood is not all about me! Maybe I would rather be reading poetry or some sweet and melodic book about the phases of the moon, but my children have their own ideas and tastes, and while they must fall under certain guidelines of what we deem is appropriate, I find that everything works out better if I allow them the liberty to explore and do some of the choosing!
Even if it means learning more about trucks than I ever cared to.
Or discovering that your nails would grow about 13 feet long if you never cut them.
Who knew that one of the ways my life would be expanded would be between the pages of a children's book?
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