Author Spotlight: Bonny Becker

We love to read at our house.  Library visits happen about once a week to replenish our supply of  books.  I wish I'd kept better records on our favorite stories.  Some have been forgotten, but others we've actually purchased because we loved them so much.   

Bonny Becker's books A Visitor for Bear and Bedtime for Bear are two beloved favorites at our house.

I think a good children's book needs to have: rich vocabulary, engaging pictures, and an interesting story.  If I don't like the illustrations, forget it!  I don't even bother with the book.  Kady MacDonald Denton does a fabulous job of portraying the stories.  Besides great illustrations, the vocabulary is fantastic in these books, and my kids use the words correctly in daily life.  (Recently my 3 year old used the word mournful.) The teacher in me loves that!  The stories are hilarious, which makes for an enjoyable read aloud.

Plus we've had all kinds of fun having tea parties and impromptu dramas to recreate these books.  One day we went out to eat at a restaurant that had a working fireplace.  My son flopped down in front of the "crackling fire" to warm his toes...just like Bear and Mouse did in A Visitor for Bear.  I was a bit humiliated as he made quite a fuss about the crackling fire, but he was absolutely delighted.   

(All of the photos were taken in 2012... I've been meaning to write about these books for a long time!)

I need to mention that there are two more books in the series about Bear and Mouse (small and gray and bright-eyed), but review them before you share them with your kids.  I waited for quite a while on The Sniffles for Bear as it mentions writing a will.  (Bear, over-dramatic about most things, has a cold and thinks that maybe he's going to die.)  A Birthday for Bear, was written to be an "easy reader", so the vocabulary was simplified for beginning readers to be able to read it on their own.  It lacks the charm of the other books, and honestly I think Bear is so rude that I didn't want my kids to hear the story.  They've since published a full-sized version of the birthday book, but I don't know if they've enriched the text or kept it simple.  Either way, preview it first to see whether you feel the message is appropriate for your little ones.

The kids and their cousin listening in as Gram reads AVisitor for Bear

Series for Young Readers: Trucktown

My son (age 5 1/2) is sometimes a reluctant reader.  He is always eager to have stories read to him, but he's not always keen to read books on his own.  So, I'm always looking for books that are interesting to him and easy enough that he can read them without help.  If he does engage and read an easy book, it builds his confidence and he's more apt to try it again.

One series he really enjoys is called Jon Scieszka's Trucktown.  The illustrations are funny and full of personality, and the characters are wacky and always in motion.  The text is very simple, but the stories are still interesting.  This is rare to find all of these qualities in an easy reader.  Most boys will really enjoy them.  My three year old daughter also finds them entertaining, probably because some of the vehicles are girls and the pictures are very colorful.

We just finished reading Truckery Rhymes together.  It is a hilarious re-write of common nursery rhymes.  For example, instead of "Pop Goes the Weasel", it says..."Pop! Blows the Diesel".  This book was more complicated than the other Trucktown stories, so I read it to the kids.  I think your family might find it entertaining as well.

Do you have any suggestions of fun books that are great for beginning readers?  Please share your suggestions in the comments.

Our Reading Curriculum for 2012-2013

One of the biggest tasks of homeschooling is choosing what curriculum or learning plan to use.  It is overwhelming to choose as there are so many options available.   Talking to other families who homeschool and doing a lot of research on-line has been invaluable in the decision making process.  Although I've been "homeschooling" our kids from the moment they were adopted, this school year was the first official year for us as our son is now five.  I wanted to share with you what we've done this year for reading. (Keep in mind that he's doing 1st grade reading this year.)  I apologize for how long this is, but hopefully it will be a help to you!  

There are tons of products out there for teaching a step-by-step approach to phonics.  In 2011, I purchased Hooked on Phonics (pre-K thru 2^nd grade pack) to teach my son how to read.  It was a season in my life where I was constantly tired with one child who was energetic all day and another (newly adopted) who would not sleep at night.  I had to have a reading curriculum that would require little or no prep from me, and be engaging enough to interest my high octane four year old.  H.O.P. is definitely all of that, and it doesn’t require any handwriting in the early books.  It’s pricey, but a lot cheaper than preschool!  Now that I’m not exhausted all the time, I would not choose Hooked on Phonics as my go-to reading curriculum.  Since we have it, I’m using the preschool activities with our daughter.  However, I rarely use it with our son as we’ve found other books that suit us better.  We do use H.O.P. as a supplemental to get more practice in areas (like consonant blends) that challenge him.  We skip the companion videos completely as they seemed to decrease my son’s ability to focus.

What we really love for learning phonics…Explode the Code workbooks.  Yes, there’s writing, but we modify whenever possible to keep the frustration level down.  These workbooks are simple with silly illustrations and goofy sentences.  They teach phonics in a step-by-step sequence with lots of opportunity for practice, and the kids like them because they’re funny. There is a great three workbook series for pre-readers that I just purchased called Get Ready for the Code.  My daughter (age 3) and I are really enjoying book A, and it’s perfect for her ability level.  My son (age 5 ½ ) is currently working on Explode the Code book 3. We started using Explode the Code when H.O.P. got too challenging (it moves along quickly) for my son, and he began to strongly resist learning to read.  We took a break from the hard stuff and had fun going slowly through the blends in Explode the Code book 2.  Once we got through that book, he was back on track with reading and eager to read out loud with me again.

Rather than go right back to H.O.P. where we’d left off, I decided to start something fresh so we could distance ourselves from the frustration that had caused my son to plateau before Explode the Code.  Thanks to a good friend who homeschools, we decided to try the Pathway Reading Series.  There are 13 books in the series that range from first to eighth grade.   The first book is called First Steps, and is considered a beginning of the year first grade book.  It's hard to find these books, but Exodus Books always has them in stock as so many homeschool families love them.  They are very also very reasonably priced at $6.00 for a hard-bound book, and $2.50 for the workbooks.

Pathway Reading Series begins with First Steps (1st grade) and ends with Our Heritage (8th grade).

We all love this series of books!  My son and I read the stories aloud together and my daughter eagerly listens in.  I love the books because they are similar to what I had when I learned to read back in 1981.  I also chose these books because they teach values through the stories like sharing, obedience, kindness, and being helpful.  The characters are fascinating to my kids, and the stories engage their interest.  The books have simple black and white drawings.  These books were created for the Amish, so there are no pictures of people in them.   I like this because my kids are free to invent their own images of what the characters might look like.  They do enjoy the black and white illustrations of animals and farm life.

There are also workbooks that go along with each book.  The workbooks are very basic in appearance, but that’s fine with me.  I pick and chose which pages to do, focusing on activities that test comprehension, critical thinking, and grammar.  We skip a lot of busy work, and often I will write in the answers as the lines are too tiny for my son’s level of handwriting.  There are auditory tests where he has to circle the word I say, or chose the picture that matches the scenario I read about.  I especially like to do these pages since his answers give me a better understanding of his listening and comprehension skills. 

To round out our reading curriculum, we read aloud twice daily to both of our kids.  We often visit the library to have fresh stories to enjoy together.  I try to get books to engage each of my children individually and some books that they both will like.  We also get books with a CD so they can sit together and listen to a story being read to them.  Most nights, my husband has been reading a novel to the family.  He’s read: The Hobbit, Wind in the Willows, Little House in the Big Woods, Stuart Little, and the entire series about Henry Huggins by Beverly Cleary.  Of course, there was some editing of certain things when it was inappropriate for little ears to hear.  I’ve been impressed with the kids’ ability to listen to a chapter and actually comprehend some or most of it.  They really enjoy this family time and often beg for another chapter.  Love it!

My husband reading The Gruffalo's Child to our two cuties.

A great resource to inspire reading together is a book called First Favorites by Veritas Press.  It recommends 13 different fairly well-known children’s books, some classic and some more modern.  After reading the book aloud, there are activity pages to do together.  It’s writing intensive, which we skipped for reasons already mentioned.  However, it was still fun for us to go beyond the story and do something fun together.  For example, after reading the story Blueberries for Sal, we learned about how bears hibernate.  We colored pictures of bears and then tucked the pictures away in closets so they could hibernate.  When spring arrived, we took our pictures out and celebrated that the bears woke up.  I also bought some blueberries and we made a blueberry pie! 

In a 2012 post, The Next Steps Toward Learning to Read, I mentioned some great books to check out for beginning readers.  These books are very easy so your just learning to read child can delight in reading a story to you. 

Got some great reading books or ideas to share?  Leave me a comment.  I'd love to hear from you.

Green Eggs and Ham

St. Patrick's Day is coming up on March 17th.  Here's an idea to try with your kiddos- green eggs and ham.  I've been on a health kick trying to sneak a fruit or veggie into every meal.  Recently, I was making scrambled eggs and the thought popped into my head to add some mashed avocado to the eggs.  My kids love avocados, so I thought they'd probably eat the eggs.  It turned out to be a success, although the eggs needed some spices since the avocado is sort of bland.  (Maybe pepper, salt, garlic, or onion powder?)  I'm certain that part of their willingness to try the eggs was that we'd been listening to an audio version of the Green Eggs and Ham book by Dr. Seuss not long before.  Once again, we brought a favorite book to life and had a fun time trying something new.  

Our Green Eggs and Ham experiment, with green plates too!

Will she like them?  "Try them, try them and you may!"

Another participant in the green egg experiment...

He approves!

She likes them too!

Friendship Day

Friendship Day by Nancy Parent...my kids love it, I don't know why.

My kids have a book that they love to hear over and over again.  Friendship Day is about Winnie the Pooh and all his pals.  From my perspective, it's sort of an insipid little story but my kiddos think it's awesome!  So, I've gotten a lot of mileage out of it.  We were trying a new recipe at dinner tonight.  It was called Hobo Stew, but I told the kids it was "Friendship Stew" just like Rabbit was making in the story.  They bought it, and ate the stew without complaint.  But that's not the point of this post.

The weekend before Valentine's Day, I invited my friend and her two little ones to come over for an early Valentine's party.  As the kids and I prepared for their friends' arrival, we decided to dub the party "Friendship Day" just like the above mentioned story.  Then, the day took on a whole new meaning and we had a great time copying one of our favorite books.  It went off so well, I wanted to share the idea with other moms.  Maybe this book won't resonate with your kids, but find a favorite story and make it come to life.  It's a blast!

In the book, Piglet makes his friendliest "haycorn" cookies.  We made heart shaped sugar cookies and everybody got their own cup of frosting.  We also had sprinkles in a variety of colors for them to choose from.  In the book, Owl reads stories about friendship during their celebration.  So, while we happily munched on our cookies, my friend Brittany read Friendship Day to everyone.  (She is a preschool teacher and was right at home reading to our little group.)  After the story, I had a surprise for everyone...newspaper hats, just like the ones Christopher Robin gave to his friends.  We had some fun with the hats for a while, then we turned on some music and danced.  (We had to do something to channel the hyperness brought on by all the sugar they'd just consumed.)

Here are some pictures of our very first, but definitely not the last, Friendship Day.

Little Miss M, friend Miss A and her mom, Brittany

K and Mommy having fun frosting our sugar cookies.

K's buddy, G, is fastidiously frosting his cookie.  Good work!

That's a whole lot of cookie for such a little lady!

K feels proud about frosting his own cookie for the first time. 

Moms and daughters...picture taken by Mr K.

Everybody dancing after consuming large quantities of sugar.

The Next Steps Towards Learning to Read

So, your child knows the ABCs and the sounds that they all make.  Now what?  Start putting together three letters words with a short vowel in the middle.  The curriculum I used with my son focuses on one ending sound per lesson.  I've listed them below so you can see the progression and use it if you want to.  Overall, the strategy is a simple one and it works because it's phonics based.

Lesson 1: -at (bat, cat, mat, sat, etc...)
Lesson 2: -an
Lesson 3: -ap
Lesson 4: -ad
Lesson 5: -am
Lesson 6: -ag
Lesson 7: -ab
Lesson 8: -ig
Lesson 9: -id
Lesson 10: -it
Lesson 11: -ip
Lesson 12: -im
Lesson 13: -in
Lesson 14: -ix
Lesson 15: -ill
Lesson 16: Add -s to the end of words

In my post Reading Readiness Part 2: Phonics, I shared a bunch of activities that you can do to practice the various endings I've listed above.  Also, if you want a good book that will guide you in teaching your child how to read, check out The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading at your local library.  I am not using that book, but have read through it.  It doesn't have fancy graphics, but will give practical guidance.  I chose not to use it because I wanted a workbook driven program that would have glossy pages, nice illustrations, and little to no prep work for me.  (I am definitely a visual learner!)

In our reading program, Hooked on Phonics, there are also sight words that are introduced along the way. They are simple words that show up often in daily reading, so it's a good idea to have your child memorize them.  Some of the sight words can be sounded out with the phonics rules, but others don't play by the rules and it's just easier to memorize them.  (For example, the word "THE" is impossible to sound out.)  You can introduce the sight words two at a time, or three at most.  The goal is to not overwhelm the child with things to memorize since we want them to focus on sounding out words.  I made flashcards for each word and we reviewed them during meal times.

Here are the beginning level sight words:
he
a
the
no
and
has
is
on
she
what
this
they
go
have
do
look

Now I'm Reading! Series

Finally, kids love to be able to use their new reading skills to read a real book.  It's hard to find something they can read immediately after they learn "at" words, but I have a few suggestions for you.  Check out from your local library the Bob Books.  These books are very basic, the illustrations are underwhelming, but the text is perfect for the beginning reader.  My son was not inspired by them, but maybe your child will be.  We had more success with Pig Wig, Wet Pet, Stop Pop, and Quack Shack by Yukiko Kido.  (Warning: Crab Cab has some gross words and pictures ie: snot pot-- so you might want to avoid that book in the series.) The books have eye-catching illustrations, some cut-outs, and one or two words per page.  We really like them and have checked them out several times from the library; I'm thinking of purchasing a few.  The other series that I would highly recommend is called Now I'm Reading! for Beginning Readers by Nora Gaydos, illustrated by BB Sams.  We own the 20 book set called Animal Pals, but I can not find it on Amazon.  They seem to have split it up into two 10 book sets.  Anyway, the books all contain simple short vowel words, with vivid and silly illustrations.  The books start out easy and slowly become more complex as you progress through the series.  The only drawback is that they are more wordy than the other books I've mentioned.  One tactic that works for books like these is to share the reading and you read page one, your child reads page two.  That way you can get through the whole book without your child feeling overwhelmed.

Pig Wig by Yukiko Kido: Perfect for readers who are just beginning to learn how to read.

If you have found some good beginning reader books, please share the titles in the comments.  I am always looking for books for K to read.  Also, you can have your child help you make up stories using the words he or she knows how to read.  We haven't tried that yet, but it sounds like fun.  Sometime in the future I'll share more about our reading program with the next level of word endings and sight words. Until then, let me know how your little readers are doing.  :)

My little reader.  He's pretending to read this book:
Diamond in the Snow by Jonathan Emmett

My pre-reader.  She loves to look at books
and listen while we read to her.  

Teaching the Alphabet to Miss M

Last year I shared some reading readiness tips that I used with my son when he was two.  Now my daughter is a month away from turning two, and she's also on a journey toward learning to read.  Sadly, I have less time to devote to teaching her, but she's still progressing nicely and knows more than 50% of the alphabet.  Here are some of the tools I've used with her that I didn't have when her big brother was two:

·      Our new favorite book: Learn with Humphrey ABC by Sally Hunter.  It's from the UK, but I'm hopeful that you all will be able to find it locally.  The illustrations are just adorable!

·      LeapFrog magnetic alphabet for the fridge (I like these because they are too big for kids to swallow!) I picked up two sets at garage sales last summer for about a dollar or two each.  They came with an attachment that says the name of the letter and it's sound, but it's annoying.  I put that part up and we just enjoy the letters.  

Here are a few suggestions of ways you can use the letters to help you teach your child:

•  You can display several letters at a time to introduce them rather than overwhelm with all 26.
• Or just have up the letters that they haven’t learned yet. We did this for a while and I encouraged big brother to teach his little sister the letters whenever they were hanging out in the kitchen.  Not sure how effective it was, but they had fun.
• Use the letter to attach something to the fridge that starts with that letter.  Right now we have Christmas photos with the letter that corresponds to the family’s last name holding the photo in place.   (That's more of an activity for big brother, but both kids get something out of it.)

·      Melissa & Doug train alphabet puzzle- very cool; it’s 10 feet long!  

·      Foam letters in the bathtub- they stick nicely to the tub sides, but do clutter up the bathroom.

·      LeapFrog laptop.  I'm sorry to say that my daughter learned most of her letters from this.  You can personalize it so the laptop will say the child’s name, sing a song with your child’s name in it, and include brief emails from family members.  (My son also has one, but at age 4 he gets bored with it faster than she does.)  It's perfect for teaching letter names and their sounds.  I got one for each of our kids as a way to keep them busy at the rehearsal for my sister's wedding.  It's a nice item to pull out when I need them to stay busy, but it is a noise making toy so I don't leave it out all of the time.

It also comes  in green and white for boys.

Besides the gadgets, books, etc...we are also singing the ABC song at various times through out the day, and taking the time to point out letters where we see them.  I was impressed a couple of months back when my daughter noticed the contrails of two jets in the sky.  She shouted out, "X!" and pointed up.  Sure enough, there was a perfect X.  My kids are often reminding me that kids are smarter than we think they are!

For my next post, I will share a road map of the kindergarten reading program I used with my son.  It' works!!  Forgive me if it takes a while to get it posted, but I promise to share the strategies so you can use them too.  

Author Spotlight: Nancy Tillman

For K's 2nd birthday, he received a wonderful book called On the Night You Were Born by Nancy Tillman.  It's message is simple: you are a miracle!  The author never mentions God in any of her books, but there are hints that point you to Him as you read the text.  Each of her six picture books has a similar theme: we are all loved and each person has value.

I love that this book is applicable to adopted kids too!

Not only are Ms. Tillman's books uplifting, but the illustrations that she paints are fantastic too.  I don't know how she does it, but the pictures are very realistic and yet dream like at the same time.  There are often bits of fantasy and whimsy woven into beautiful scenes of nature.  Sometimes you will notice animals, instruments, or faces hidden in roots of an old tree or in the sparkle of the stars.  Her work is truly unique and beautiful.

Written by Eric Metaxas and illustrated by Nancy Tillman.

I happened to see four Nancy Tillman's books on display at Kohl's this week.  They are selling her books: On the Night You Were Born, It's Time to Sleep My Love (by Eric Metaxas), Wherever You Are, and The Spirit of Christmas.  Each book is hardback and on sale for only five dollars, yes that's $5!!  All the profits go to help local children; our Kohl's is donating the money to our local children's hospital.  Very cool, I think.  So now might be the time to grab a few books by Nancy Tillman to give as Christmas gifts.  At least, that's what I'm thinking of doing.  :)

Get four of Ms. Tillman's best selling titles at Kohl's for only $5 each!

Illustrator spotlight: Christopher Denise

We've all heard the saying, "Don't judge a book by its cover," but honestly we all judge books by their covers.  When I'm at the library- especially if I have my kids with me- I grab whatever looks good.  When we get home, we find out whether it's a good story or not.  One book I saw on display this week was: Oliver Finds His Way.  The little bear on the front was so adorable that I quickly added the book to my growing stack to check out.  Once I sat down to read it later that day, I was enchanted.  The story was sweet and easy to read, but the pictures made the tale come to life.  So, I looked up the illustrator and checked out a bunch of books that he's illustrated.  Here are my three favorite stories he's illustrated...

Oliver Finds His Way by Phyllis Root- Illustrated by Christopher Denise

Oliver gets lost in the woods and figures out how to find his
way back to Mama & Papa.  Sweet story, adorable pictures.

Pigs Love Potatoes by Anika Denise- Illustrated by Christopher Denise

Husband & wife collaborate to create a funny story about a hungry
family.  More & more pigs show up all hoping for a tasty meal.
It's a counting book, but so much more interesting than one to ten.

If I Could: A Mother's Promise by Susan Milord- Illustrated by Christopher Denise

Pull out the Kleenex!  This book gets me every time.  The text
is actually brief, more like a poem.  The little raccoon in his
pjs clutching his blanket & bunny will melt your heart!

Do you have a favorite illustrator?  Share yours in the comments section.

Books Galore!

It's time to share some of the books we've been enjoying lately.  I go to the library often and this last visit we discovered some great reads.  Hope you will enjoy them also.  I have three more books to share with you in my next post.  :)

 Piggy Pie Po by Audrey & Don Wood

It's three short stories in one book.  They all rhyme and are ridiculous, but that's what is so fun about the stories.  Our son wants to hear it over and over, but it's a pleasure to read it and not one that I've been bored with after a few reads.  I hope they create more stories about this mischievous piggy.

Suppertime for Frieda Fuzzypaws by Cyndy Szekeres

This book was actually one we purchased at Costco.  I had to have it because it is the story of our son at dinner time.  He's not a great eater, and would rather go straight to dessert.  Frieda Fuzzypaws has the same problem.  The story is hilarious and has a good lesson.  The illustrations are so cute also.  This has become a favorite with our family.

Toot Toot Zoom! by Phyllis Root - Illustrated by Matthew Cordell

Our three year old son is a big fan of this story.  Probably because there's a car, silly sound effects, and a crash.  It's not my favorite to read, but I enjoy listening to it when my husband reads it aloud.  He's much better at creating all the right voices for the characters so they seem to come to life.  This book is very repetitive, but kids like that sort of thing.  It's a simple story of a little creature who looks for friends and finds them where he least expects them.  

Into the A, B, Sea by Deborah Lee Rose- Pictures by Steve Jenkins

I chose this book because of the pictures.   The artwork is paper collage and quite captivating.  We've also been enjoying this book because of the interesting sea life that it introduces.  There's a creature for each letter of the alphabet; some that I've never heard of before.  At the end, there is a glossary of sorts that gives more information about each animal.  I love books that teach!

If you have found a children's book that you think others would enjoy, please share it with us in the comments.  I always love to hear from my blogging friends.  Thanks!

A great read: The Hiccupotamus

Our favorite silly story for this week.  Check it out!

We made another trip to the library and found a plethora of great books.  This one topped them all: The Hiccupotamus.  It's hilarious, ridiculous, and just plain goofy fun to read aloud.  We all enjoyed the story and illustrations.  The author, Aaron Zenz, has also included a mock list of cast "bios" after the story.  K didn't get the cast bio jokes, but my husband and I found them to be very amusing.  Enjoy!

Author Spotlight: Sandra Boynton

One of the first books given to our son was Snuggle Puppy by Sandra Boynton.  That was our introduction to a wonderful and quirky author that has become a family favorite.  Young toddlers can connect with Boynton's funny characters, simple rhyming text, and colorful illustrations.  Adults will appreciate the humor.  The amazing Ms. Boynton- author, illustrator, and composer- writes songs to accompany some of her books.  The songs are incredibly goofy and fun; we love "Barnyard Dance".  You can download several of her songs for free at: http://www.workman.com/boynton/.  "Personal Penguin" is one of my favorites; give it a listen.  We own seven Sandra Boynton books including: Snuggle Puppy; Barnyard Dance; Belly Button Book; Fifteen Animals; Hey! Wake Up!;  Blue Hat, Green Hat; and Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaurs.  Plus we've checked out many others from the library.  It's hard to choose a favorite, so I won't try.  These board books are a perfect way to share the joy of reading with a young child who has a short attention span.  Besides being entertaining, Boynton's books are also educational as they introduce: counting, colors, opposites, animal sounds, and much more.  It's sad, but our son who is three now, has sort of outgrown these books.  I'm looking forward to revisiting them with our daughter once we bring her home from China in a couple of months.

A great read: Bubble Trouble

Our favorite book this week: Bubble Trouble 

Thursday we made another (desperate) trip to the library.  I was so tired of the same three books we'd found last week.   They were great, by the way: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr.,  Larabee and Flying  both by Kevin Luthardt.  Those books deserve their own post, but I'm running low on time today.  Anyway, we found a whole pile of new books to check out.  This one is our family favorite... Bubble Trouble by Margaret Mahy.  It is a crazy tongue twisting story that entertains almost all ages.  The story begins, "Little Mabel blew a bubble, and it caused a lot of trouble... Such a lot of bubble trouble in a bibble-bobble way."  There are some fantastic words in the story that college bound seniors should know for the SAT like: cavil, grovel, grapple, nefarious, and divested.  Even with all the fancy vocabulary, K loves this book and requests it morning, noon, and night.  If you have a favorite children's book please share it in the comments as we are always in need of a new book to read.  Thanks!

Our son is going to have an amazing vocabulary thanks to Ms. Mahy!

Author Spotlight: Nancy Shaw

Our son (K.) loves books, and tends to fixate on one or two stories for a while, so we are constantly-and sometimes desperately- looking for new books to read to him.  Some of the books we own I've actually sent on "vacation" for a while because we've read them over and over and over again.  So almost every week, we visit the library.  I am always thrilled to discover an author that has a series of books the whole family can enjoy.  Nancy Shaw is one such author that we found a few weeks ago.  Our favorite book by her is a silly story titled Sheep out to Eat.  At age 34 months, K. is able to comprehend the humor in most instances.  He really cracks up when the sheep go out to eat and make a huge mess at the restaurant.  The text is written in simple, sing-song rhyme which is fun to read aloud.  The illustrations, by Margot Apple, are delightful colored pencil drawings that add extra humor to the stories.  Most of the books in the series are rather hilarious because the sheep seem to get into trouble no matter what they attempt.  I think there are seven sheep books including: Sheep in a Jeep, Sheep in a Shop, Sheep on a Ship, Sheep out to Eat, Sheep Take a Hike, Sheep Trick or Treat, and Sheep Blast Off!

I'll be regularly posting about favorite books and authors on my blog.  Please feel free to comment and tell me about some of your children's favorite stories.  We're due for another library visit soon!