What I'm Reading

Baby Animals by DK: very simple with big pictures; the animals are shown doing 3 activities; I add their sound for Hannah although my tiger and bear sound just alike and I am still not sure how to do an elephant trumpet :)

Bunny and Me by Adele Aron Greenspun and Joanie Schwarz: shows all the actvities that a baby and bunny can do together and is beautifully illustrated; our friend Jennie Smith bought this for us 2 years ago with a hope and promise that we would have a baby someday- thank you.  It is a great book but it means so much more to us than the words and pictures.

Mr. Brown can Moo! Can you? by Dr. Seuss: so fun!  Hannah loves all the sounds and usually ends up watching my mouth to see how I am making all those noises :)

Rise and Shine! illustrated by Tim Warnes: beautifully illustrates the children's song about Noah's ark; Hannah has really enjoyed the singing of this book- I happen to love the extra attention to detail by the illustrator.   Fun fact: he has another book illustrating Jesus loves Me that will be on Hannah's Christmas list :)

It has been forever since I have shared what I have been reading. . . mostly because I am not reading anything.   I barely have time to get through World Magazine before the new one arrives!  But Hannah and I are enjoying lots of books and these are her favorites right now. 

Monday feature: What I'm Reading

It has been way too long since I posted anything about books! While I have read lots of books this summer, I wanted to share a book I just rediscovered in my quest to find the rest of my children's books to read to the little boy that I am teaching/babysitting.

Introducing Cookies: Bite-Size Life Lessons by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and illustrated by Jane Dyer. I love LOVE this book. It makes me smile just thinking about it. The illustrations are simply beautiful. And as an added bonus- there are bunnies! Well, there are lots of children and animals but you know that my favorites are the bunnies.

Here is a summary from a review at School Library Journal:

Using the activity of making and eating cookies, the author defines some important concepts for young children, such as respect, trustworthiness, patience, politeness, loyalty, etc. The book begins: COOPERATE means, How about you add the chips while I stir? and continues with one definition per page. For example, FAIR means, You get a bite, I get a bite….; REGRET means, I really wish I didn't eat so many cookies; and CONTENT means sitting on the steps just you, me, and a couple of cookies. Lovely pastel watercolor illustrations show appealing children and anthropomorphic animals interacting with one another and the treats.

I must tell you that my favorite illustrations are three bunnies (shocking, I know): pessimistic (the grumpy bunny face is right on!), optimistic, and regret. My other favorite is honest- the sweet little lamb is so adorable!

Here is a link if you want to see some inside pages of the book: http://browseinside.harpercollins.com/index.aspx?isbn13=9780060580810

I am also excited to tell you that there are two more books by the author that I can't wait to own: Christmas Cookies: Bite-Size Holiday Lessons and the soon to be published Sugar Cookies: Sweet Little Lessons on Love. Happy reading!

What I'm Reading

It has been a while since I have updated my "reading" posts. I have read a few books, but the most interesting has been The Boy in the Alamo by Margaret Cousins. I had intended to read it before I visited the Alamo, but didn't get around to it. I did read it right after we got home and enjoyed it even more than I thought I would. It was great to have a picture in my head of all the structures and history that they talked about in the book. While this book is classified as fiction, it is heavy on actual history and great learning tool. I know all you Texans out there are familiar with this time period, but for a Mississippi girl like me, this was a great chance to learn some wonderful history about the Republic of Texas!
*copyright amazon.com

Monday feature: What I'm Reading

images courtesy of amazon.com

I received three of the most beautiful books yesterday! Stranger in the Woods: A Photographic Fantasy by Carl R. Sams II and Jean Stoick was published in 2000. It won 27 different awards- it is that awesome. I found out about Lost in the Woods just last year, though it has been out since 2004. I love the sweet little fawn in this book. And when I stumbled upon First Snow in the Woods at Christmas, I promptly declared that this is what I wanted for my birthday! The photography is breathtaking. The deer are so friendly you want to hug them. And I love the fact that there is a rabbit or hare in each book. Thanks Evette! Thanks Mimi! Happy reading!

Monday feature: What I'm Reading

I am finally getting it together on this Monday. I have decided what color to paint the kitchen, taken out all the nails in the wall, spackled the holes and even did some cleaning. I am even ready to share about the most precious book I have read in a long time.

Tell Me Again About the Night I Was Born by Jamie Lee Curtis is a wonderful children's book about, well, the title explains it all. It is almost a picture book- there is only one line on each page. Here is the summary from the author:

When a young girl asks her parents about the first night of her life, she wants to know every detail. Was she tiny and perfect? How did her parents feel during their first night together? Why had her mommy and daddy decided to adopt her? Funny, tender, and altogether exuberant, here is one family’s celebration of their first cherished moments together.

I have so many favorite lines: Tell me again how you held hands all the way to the hospital and when you got there you both got very quiet and felt very small. . . Tell me again about the first time you held me in your arms and called me your baby sweet. Tell me again how you cried happy tears. . . Tell me again how you carried me like a china doll all the way home and how you glared at anyone who sneezed [they were in an airport]. . .Tell me again about the first night you were my mommy and you sang the lullaby your mommy sang to you.

With our first home study visit over and our second one on the way, I have been reading lots of adoption books. Kids books, adult books, fiction, nonfiction. This is my favorite so far. And Kirst- I know you will love this book!

What I'm Reading

I just finished a great book: The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. It was the 2008 Caldecott Medal winner. It is so hard to describe or summarize. Amazing and wonderful, it goes by so fast you don't even notice that it is 533 pages.