Kids’ Picks

Aug 9, 2011

Because we buy books when we go on vacation

Last week, our family enjoyed a vacation to Toronto. (See yesterday’s post for the first installment of our vacation adventures.)

We enjoyed seeing the sights, doing some classic “touristy” things, and soaking in the experience of being in a different country…somewhere new. But one of my favorite things we did was visit a local bookstore. It was located on the main street in Old Toronto, and since we are admittedly a family of book people, we couldn’t resist.

Yes, we know we can buy books at home, anytime we want. Amazon.com is always standing by, awaiting our orders, ready to ship any desired tomes directly to our front door.

But still…a bookstore. We had to at least check it out.

Nicholas Hoare Books was a charming place, narrow and cozy, with a neat little balcony area and a sizable kids’ section in the back. We spent a fair amount of time browsing books that morning. And as I’m sure you can guess, we couldn’t leave there without letting the kids pick out a book or two.

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C.(12) takes after his dad in some ways, such as the fact that they are both mildly obsessed with maps. Once C. saw the book Historical Atlas of Toronto, I don’t think he looked at anything else. It combines several of his favorite things: maps (of course), history, and a big city. Full of stories, maps, documents, and interesting facts, this book has already taught C. more about Toronto than any of us knew before. A good find and a suitable souvenir, I would say.

L.(5) had a harder time finding a book. He was instantly drawn to the newest Elephant & Piggie book, Should I Share My Ice Cream?, but he knew that book would be sitting on the shelves of our own Barnes & Noble, so he kept looking for something different. In the end, he picked a Dr. Seuss Dictionary (maps and dictionaries — our kids must take after their geeky parents), but I’m not going to tell you about that book.

The real find, as far as L. is concerned, is a little paperback that my husband, Chad, told me we “really should get.” It was a book I’d never seen before, but Chad had quickly read it while we were browsing and he knew that L. (and all of us, truth be told) would get a kick out of it.

Binky the Space Cat is a quirky book about Binky — a house cat devoted to protecting his humans — who has been given the opportunity to become an adventuring Space Cat. Along the way, he defends his home against bugs…er, alien invaders, builds a rocket ship, and prepares to leave the safety of his space station (aka, the house).

The author (Ashley Spires) clearly knows cats, and readers who know and/or love cats will appreciate Binky and all his feline idiosyncrasies.

Binky the Space Cat is a graphic novel loaded with cleverness and humor. I’m not exaggerating when I say that all four of us thoroughly enjoyed it. There were a couple little gags I could have done without (mostly because I have a 5-year-old who laughs a bit too hard when he reads the part about “aliens”/bugs who “eat poo”), but they were very minor and in my opinion, not enough to detract from the overall cuteness and enjoyability of Binky the Space Cat.

I was very glad to see on Amazon.com that there is a previous Binky book and one coming out in September. I wouldn’t be surprised if those books mysteriously find their way into our ~~space station~~ house at some point.

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Like most families, we enjoy picking up a souvenir or two while on vacation. But with our family, you can be sure that somehow, at least one book will find its way home with us at the end of a trip.

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I’m linking this post to 5 Minutes for Books’ monthly blog carnival, Kids’ Picks. Hop over there to see what books other kids have picked this month.

Filed Under: Family, Kids' Picks 13 Comments

Jul 19, 2011

Kids’ Picks: A Read-Aloud Update

written by katrina · 7 Comments

Back on June 6, I mentioned that I had just begun a lunchtime read-aloud with my two sons (ages 12 & 5). We were reading The Wind in the Willows, a book I’d heard of but never read, and I was hoping that both kids could enjoy it (and that I could, too!).

Well. Last Thursday, we finally finished The Wind in the Willows. Yes, finally! It took us almost six weeks to finish it!

We basically took the entire week of VBS off. And we had gone away for a few days, and didn’t take it with us. And then there were other days when reading just didn’t fit into our lunch routine, for one reason or another.

But honestly, six weeks? I didn’t expect it to take us that long.

Our final verdict on The Wind in the Willows?

Well, C.(12) enjoyed it. He was old enough to get the subtle humor, follow the overarching storyline, and interpret some of the more complicated language.

L.(5) says he enjoyed it too. While he didn’t absorb quite as much as his older brother, he still laughed at Mr. Toad’s silly antics and listened attentively every time I read.

As for me? I liked it, for the most part. But I have to admit, I tired of some of the wordiness. Some of the chapters could have been significantly shorter while still telling the story and engaging the reader. But keep in mind that I’m someone who loves a fast-paced mystery. I sometimes have little tolerance for flowery, descriptive language.

Also, there were about 20 instances of a word we don’t use in our house, where I substituted the word “fool.” This didn’t really bother me; I just knew that if I read the other word, my five-year-old would likely repeat it in Sunday School, an incident I didn’t particularly want to deal with.

What I loved most of all was the whole process of reading together at lunchtime. It’s easy for me to sneak away from the lunch table to check my email or read blogs, but maintaining a read-aloud routine keeps me engaged, and keeps us connecting.

So with one read-aloud down and approximately half of our summer break still stretching before us, I think it’s time to pick another book. I’m leaning heavily toward the first book in Andrew Peterson’s Wingfeather Saga: On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness.

(I listen to Andrew Peterson’s music, I follow him on Twitter, I read his blog…it seems only fitting that we finally start his kid’s series.)

I’ve heard many good reviews of On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness. And besides, with a subtitle like “Adventure Peril, Lost Jewels, and the Fearsome Toothy Cows of Skree,” how can I resist?

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I’ve included this post with 5 Minutes for Books’ monthly carnival, Kids’ Picks. Click over to see what other kids have been reading.

Filed Under: Books/Reading, Kids' Picks 7 Comments

Aug 17, 2010

Elephant & Piggie: a delightful series…mostly

written by katrina · 10 Comments

L. (4) has been captivated by the Elephant and Piggie book series by Mo Willems.

Personally, I get a kick out of the books too. Comprised entirely of dialog, each book tells a simple story about two friends — Gerald the Elephant and Piggie…the Pig.

Gerald tends to get worked up over just about anything, though Piggie certainly isn’t above a bit of melodrama. Put the two of them together, add some bold and expressive illustrations, a dramatic incident, and a touch full helping of humor, and you get a delightful series.

We’ve slowly been collecting each Elephant and Piggie book, and L. reads them often all the time.

His favorite is probably There is a Bird on Your Head, which explores the stressful day when a bird couple decides to set up house on Gerald’s head. Some close runners-up are Pigs Make Me Sneeze, Are You Ready to Play Outside? and Today I Will Fly!

L. carries the Elephant and Piggie books all around the house, lines them up, looks through them, takes them to bed… Bottom line: he loves them.

But recently, something happened.

An Elephant and Piggie book entered our house…and has been less-than-loved.

In fact, L. asked me if I could take it back to the store, or if I could find someone else to buy the book from us.

That book is I Will Surprise My Friend. It has a simple premise: Gerald and Piggie decide to surprise each other — imagining how much fun it will be — but things don’t go exactly as planned.

The storyline doesn’t bother L. at all. The problem, apparently, is a few faces that Gerald makes.

Though the book receives high praise in the reviews on Amazon.com, L. is unimpressed. There are two or three pages where Gerald’s facial expressions just bother him. At first, L. was afraid of them, and asked me to keep the book in another room. But then he gave the book another try, and simply pronounced the expressions “disturbing.”

Yesterday, he told me we can keep the book, but he’s not going to read it until he’s older. He’s done with it for now. It doesn’t live on the shelf with the others; it doesn’t get carried around or read before bedtime. It’s simply ignored.

I guess every book in a series can’t be a winner with everyone. And when it comes to kids, you never know what’s going to give them pause. We’re definitely not giving up on Elephant and Piggie books, though — we’ve enjoyed far too many of them to do that. These are books that make preschoolers laugh…and give the grown-ups a giggle too. They’re fantastic for early readers and make perfect bedtime stories — not too short, not too long.

So overall, we highly recommend the Elephant and Piggie books for preschoolers. Just watch out for some of those facial expressions…

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Visit 5 Mintues for Books to see what other kids have been reading this month.

Filed Under: Kids' Picks 10 Comments