This edition of “What We’re Reading” should have been posted in April…but then April had to FLY BY and I’m still a little dazed that’s over. So, yeah. It’s May, and here I am with a belated book update.
I had also intended to have new things to share from my to-read or have-read list…but that has changed very little from my last “What We’re Reading” post. I’ve renewed my stack of books like three times already. It’s getting out of hand. I may need to turn off my phone, send my children to grandma camp, and just bury my face in my books for 48 straight hours.
…which I know is completely unrealistic but, man, wouldn’t that be so nice? I just did not appreciate all the free reading time I had back in the day. Sigh.
At any rate, it all works out because this week is **insert drumroll here** Children’s Book Week! It’s actually the 97th annual CBW, making it the longest-running literacy initiative in the country. I had no idea until yesterday that this was even a thing, but the more I learn about it, the more I’m a fan.
So in honor of Children’s Book Week, here is a glimpse at what we’re reading with the little ones lately.
I didn’t put anything on hold at the library before our most recent visit, so a lot of these books were pulled at random. A few were familiar authors, a few had pretty covers, and a few got snagged because Margot insisted. Lucky for us, we got some gems. For example, the illustrations in this one are fabulous–they remind me of the movie Metropolis–and Mila adores it.
Silly poetry has been a big hit, even though Jack Prelutsky’s vocabulary is well beyond the girls’ current comprehension. But isn’t that part of the point of reading with kids? To introduce them to new words and new ideas? At any rate, they’ve asked to read the poetry books as often as any of the others. I’ll call it a win.
I was amused to discover that I’d picked up three different books about waiting.
I also noticed a “spring blossoms” trend in a couple others. This one in particular has been a favorite. The concept is almost certainly a knockoff of Herve Tullet’s interactive books, but the narrative is sweet and the pictures are too. I might even prefer it to Press Here…is that awful?
And between Waiting for Wings and Ten Little Caterpillars I’ve obviously got a “springtime transformation” theme going on here.
Of course, then there’s A Story A Story, which is totally unrelated to any other book we’re reading, so maybe I’m grasping at straws. Also: I really liked this book but cannot stand when people refer to Africa as if the entire continent has one homogeneous culture. Ten points to Gryffindor for introducing white American kids to stories outside their experience, but five points deducted for not specifying where in Africa this folktale originated. (For those of you who want to know, the correct answer is “What is Ghana?” We would also have accepted “What is West Africa?”)
Jimmy Fallon’s picture book was, unfortunately, disappointing. My girls think you’re hilarious, Jimmy! Why you gotta let us down like that? Oh well. Apparently writing a children’s book isn’t as easy as people seem to think it is. Or maybe I just have high standards. Whatevs.
Margot got some new books for her birthday to cater to her love of pink and obsession with unicorns. But despite the fact that she slept with “pink delicious” in her bed last night, I think her current favorite might be Shh! We Have a Plan. And I don’t blame her. It’s pretty cute. She basically has it memorized already.
As for Ryan, he’s not picky. Mostly he wants to grab whatever we’re reading with his pudgy lil hands and try to eat it. Gotta instill that love of literature early, even if his version of devouring a book and mine are not quite the same yet.
What about you? Read anything good lately?
Love this! Grant has gotten to the age now where he is developing more of his own “taste” of books and he looks forward to our weekly library visit allll week! And he sleeps with his books at night too! Haha. We’ll have to check some of these out, literally. Oh, and I agree that Jimmy’s book was underwhelming. They made such a big deal out of it when it was being released, so I picked it up at B&N and thumbed through it while still in the store just before last Father’s Day, but I immediately put it back down and decided not to get it.
We have the board book version of “Shh! We have a plan!” and Taylor loves it.
And please tell me that you’ve read “Dragons Love Tacos”. That is probably my favorite children’s book right now.
Dragons Love Tacos is the bomb. But I think I liked it more than the kiddos did. Maybe because I appreciate a good taco and they do not. Heathens.