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!

A Favorite from Alice: Tumble Bumble

Tumble Bumble is a short little rhyming tale about a pack of animals bumping into each other and eventually settling in to a nap together.  Very cute for kids who like animals and simple counting books.

Pick of the Week: Monsters Love Colors

My kids have lately been into all things monster and robot - and they always love brightly colored illustrations.  So it's no surprise that they absolutely LOVE Monsters Love Colors - a really simple story about monsters deciding what color they want to be, and then mixing and mashing the primary colors to achieve their desired hue.  The monsters are so cute and funny - the kids love saying the words along with me while I read it - and I don't mind going through it multiple times each night.

There is another book by the same author called Monsters Love School.  I just ordered it and hope it will help the kids get excited about their upcoming new school year!

Clara's Pick of the Week: Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs

Going back to the basics this week - Clara has been in love with Byron Barton's Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs.  Ben loved Barton's transportation books when he was younger - so simple, with bright illustrations.  My kids all love dinosaurs, but this book is particularly appealing because it shows dinosaur eggs hatching into little baby dinosaurs (and my girls in particular love all things baby).  We read this one at least five times a night.

And, it has sparked a love for one of my favorite childhood songs - The Triceratops Song:

Triceratops with three long horns, a beak like a parrot, and a frill where his neck is
Triceratops with four strong legs, and a tail in back!

Clara's Pick of the Week: Back to Bed, Ed!

To say my kids are not great at getting to bed is an understatement.  They would run around and play forever if I let them - we have a bedtime routine, but they always want more.  More snacks, more books, more songs, more stories.  But, I've never given up looking for books about helping different characters go to bed.  And my kids always seem to love them - even if they don't quite internalize the message.  Back to Bed, Ed! is a really cute book about a little mouse named Ed who loves getting ready for bed, but hates actually staying in bed.  His parents let him come into their room night after night, until they are so exhausted they take a stand and force him to stay in his own room.  The solution that works for Ed is a nice, safe, and simple one that we try with our girls too (spoiler alert - make sure they have enough of their little stuffed animal friends around to make them feel safe and happy).  This is a nice book to save for the last one of the night- it reminds my girls that they have their favorite animals and that they're going to be just fine.  Bedtime still isn't the easiest in our house, but Ed is helping a little bit.  For now.

Another recent favorite along these same lines is Goodnight, Daniel Tiger, which walks through Daniel's bedtime routine, until he gets to the point where he is actually happy to be going to bed.  My girls never get to that point, but they really like the Goodnight, Daniel Tiger song, and at the very least, it helps them calm down in the evening and at least get into bed (even if they want me to lie there with them for hours)!

Jumping for Joy: Frogs, Frogs, and More Frogs!!

King Snake and his prey at EBV

One of our favorite places to visit is the East Bay Vivarium - basically, a pet store that specializes in reptiles, amphibians, and arachnids.  While we don't happen to own any of these types of animals, the Vivarium is a fantastic place to visit and observe the animals - the people that work there are quirky and incredibly knowledgeable and more than willing to educate.  On a recent visit, we asked when the next snake might feed, and the guy behind the counter excitedly exclaimed "Right now!"  We then watched a King Snake attack, suffocate, and swallow his mouse prey.  But while the snake feeding was infinitely mesmerizing, since that visit, Ben has actually been more fascinated by frogs (the Vivarium also has a beautiful collection of tree frogs and dart frogs).

My favorite: Strawberry Poison-Dart Frog

To learn more about our little friends, we traveled to our local library, where we found a lot to choose from.  Ben's nightly favorite has been Frogs by Nic Bishop. This book is filled with incredible color photos of some of the worlds most amazing frogs, along with interesting factoids about them.  Other non-fiction books about frogs we've been reading are:

• Frogs - Gail Gibbons
• All About Frogs - Ling Chung
• Nat Geo: Explore My World Frogs - Marfe Delano
• From Tadpole to Frog: Gerald Legg

And, of course, we've been reading some fun fiction featuring frog characters old and new, such as:

• Frog and Toad
• The Froggy Series
• Five Green and Specked Frogs
• Green Wilma, Frog in Space - Tedd Arnold

For quiet learning about frogs, we've also explored the following resources:

• Frog Life Cycle Coloring Sheet
• Parts of the Frog:  3-part Cards

And for something a little more messy, we've been exploring local ponds and parks, hoping to come across a few with frogs and tadpoles on the loose.  The Oakland Zoo also has a wonderful amphibian exhibit with incredible frogs, large and small.  Hoppy reading and exploring!