We begin every reading session with Ella Sarah. Piper and Sadie LOVE this book (in fact, we usually have to read it at least twice before we can move on). This is probably where Piper gets the inspiration for her wild outfits. It's funny because they both chime in and scream "AND HER RED HAT!" each time Ella Sarah explains what she wants to wear to her clueless family members. They also love the blue dress the mom suggests and say, "I would wear that one!" (although I suspect Sadie says it just because Piper does it first.)
The next book in our reading routine is Guess How Much I Love You. I know this book is a classic, but I'm not that fond of it. I detest one-upmanship (is that a word?) and Big Nutbrown Hare should know better. Let poor Little Nutbrown Hare tell you he loves you and accept it graciously, you know? But Piper especially loves this one. So I keep reading it. Over and over.
In order to keep the book from being ripped to shreds, I am now in charge of opening the flaps (we learned this the hard way when Piper and Sadie attempted to free the elephant at the same time). But they love to scream out what the animals are once I reveal them. I've always liked this book a lot, so I don't mind reading it the 3-5 times required each session.
The girls love to pick their favorite animal on the page and smack their hand over it to "claim" it. I'm not fond of this practice, but I do adore this book. I definitely had a copy when I was a little girls and the drawings make me feel so happy (heck, they're why I bought the book in the first place! I wanted to own it again!). The plot is a little . . . uh, thin, but again, the drawings are gorgeous. My favorite is the Orang-utan (complete with old school spelling).
This heart-wrenching tale of Bobo and his mother and hugging has exactly three different words (hug, Bobo, Mommy). This is a great book to end on because if I have to run at the end of reading time (you know, to feed a screaming baby or throw another load of clothes in the dryer), the little girls can read it to themselves. They are exceedingly dramatic when they do so. The let out the most mournful pleas for hugs I have ever heard.
So yeah, this is what I'm reading. What books are YOU reading? (We really need to get out of this rut!)
I hate reading the hug one because there are no words. I feel weird saying "Hug! Hug. Hug? Hug...Hug! Hug." I must say I like when they bring me the Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb one. That's just fun to read, plain and simple. The rhythm. You know. "I Love You Forever" always makes me cry. Thanks Wendy.
ReplyDeleteAnything by Mo Willems tickles all our funny bones. Especially "Leonardo the Terrible Monster" this time of year.
ReplyDeleteWe love Goodnight Little Bear. It's got muted, soft drawings and an envelope at the end you can leave little notes in for the next morning. Good reading practice, ;D
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking of hiding Green Eggs and Ham.
You mean I'm responsible for some of the tears in the Durham household?
ReplyDeleteJust doing my part.
I agree with Carter. That hug one is kind of hard to read...so I explain "Oh, the monkey is sad cause everyone else is hugging" and jack will say "why doesn't he just hug the snake or the giraffe?" and I have no answers for him.
ReplyDeleteAnyway- we read all the Sandra Boynton ones. The Going to Bed Book, Oh my, Oh my, Oh Dinosaurs... those are all nice quick little books. No flaps.
Eli loves Dear Zoo! And the other books we commonly read each day are exciting renditions of Thomas the Train, like Go Train Go, Stop Train Stop, Blue Train, Green Train. Or there's I Stink! (gross but funny) and Tugga Tugga Tug Boat is a sweet one.
ReplyDeleteI realize though that those are all pretty boy-centric. We love the Boynton books too.
Um, can I recommend an adult book? World War Z was seriously awesome. I know, zombie book, blah--but it was great. Like a Studs Terkel account of the world zombie war.
ReplyDeleteBaby books--Sinjin's catching on to Dear Zoo, and is loving it. He also loves this book called Baby! Baby! by Vicky Ceelen, which is a wordless comparison of babies and animals in similar poses.