Unfortunate Pick of the Week: Bad Kitty

My girls love animals, so often when I'm at the library, I judge books by their covers and choose ones that feature animals - particularly dogs and cats.  So, I recently picked up Bad Kitty.  I often don't read the books before I bring them home because I don't want to judge the stories for my kids (especially since I am often surprised by what they find interesting/amusing)...but this was definitely a mistake in this instance.  Bad Kitty is an ABC book - about a kitty who becomes angry or happy depending on what A-Z foods are being brought home.  All in all, it's a fine book - and there are actually a ton of fun picturs that the kids love to talk about which is nice.  But the book is LONG - and it doesn't have much of a story - it's just going through the alphabet over and over again.

I read it once and thought, "I should return this..."  Then the next day I caught my husband in the middle of reading it to Alice.  He looked at me and said, "This is a LONG book" and later informed me of a way he found to just skip a lot of it and still get the basic story.  I tried that method at bedtime, but the kids kept interrupting me to "remind" me of the things I was "forgetting" to read.

I am torn.  I find this book tedious.  But my kids  LOVE it. I think they like the idea of a cat doing things it isn't supposed to do - and laughing at the messes that the cat makes.  And it's not as if the book is negative or has anything "bad" in it that is really objectionable.  I just find it boring.  And so the dilemma - return it and just tell the kids it was due...or suck it up and provide my kids with the silly laughter and enjoyment of it for reasons I can't understand.  I know I'll keep it around for a few days, but I'm not entirely happy about it.

And I'm really not happy about the fact that apparently this is an entire series of books!!  Please don't tell my kids!!

Pick of the Week: Rainstorm

Rainstorm by Barbara Lehman: This wordless picture book tells the story of a lonely little boy in a great big house.  On a rainy day, he discovers a key that unlocks a whole new world for him.  I've written about wordless books before, and how great I think they are in terms of engaging kids - letting them tell the story, making sure they're observing what characters are doing, thinking ahead, and considering what might happen next.  This book is no different - but has the added benefit of getting the kids to talk about their feelings, and the difference that having people in our lives can make.  All three of my kids love this one.  Sometimes, I try to avoid the wordless books - frankly because they require so much more work to tell the story and ask questions - but they are a great reminder that I should be interacting with our books more in general.  A great read for a rainy day!