lit*chick

starting a bookclub for the kiddos

If you are interested in starting a bookclub for the littles, Family Fun magazine has a great article with some creative ideas and book suggestions. Since I can't link to it, I'll paraphrase using my favorite method - the bullet point.

• they recommend starting in 2nd & 3rd grade, but I don't see why you couldn't have a micro in-house version..
• cooking book club, i.e. the book Everything on a Waffle - have a waffle bar with different toppings.
• crafty book club, i.e. a map for The Phantom Tollbooth, or give them Legos to build their favorite characters or scene
• make up a board game, or do it quiz-show style - to change up the discussion and answer questions about the book - we like to get our blank board games here but posterboard works fine too
• field trips - KWB's class read the book Chasing Vermeer  then went to the National Gallery and saw the real deal.

Clearly this involves some work on your part, but after a while the kids can pretty much steer the ship -picking books & activities with minimal guidance.  And if I can plan ahead, it would make for a good rainy day activity seeing as it is storm central lately. My wheels are turning...stand back.

The End.

Children's Book Week...

the week that was this week - May 12th-18th. In our house it's always children's book week.

Some of my faves are:

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown

Little Pea by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Owen by Kevin Henkes

In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak

A Chair for My Mother by Vera B. Williams

The Incredible Book Eating Boy by Oliver Jeffers

AND

anything by Kate DiCamillo

What are your favorites?  Chapter books are included :)

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our resident poet laureate

KWB has been reading ALOT of Jack Pretlutsky and you can see the influence here:

                                    A Big and Hairy Dellima

A Big and Hairy Dellima

came to the door

It squashed the house with berries,

dropped bananas on the floor.

It was only having fun

It made a grape juice geyser

His fun was done

When I shot him with a tranquilizer.

The End.

       

i can't keep up

with my 9 year old. I had vowed at some point, stupidly I might add, to read all of the books he reads. Well that quickly ended when he blew through the Chronicles of Narnia and left me stranded on number 3 The Horse and His Boy. I still haven't heard the end of it.

So, here's my list of books I REALLY need to read, since KWB has read them:

The Westing Game - Ellen Raskin

Matilda - Roald Dahl

The rest of Narnia (at least books 4-7)

The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis

I also need to return to the read aloud chapter books.  I am of the firm belief that even the squirmy 2 year olds will hear parts of chapter books, even if they end up playing on the floor or wandering the house, and some of the words and stories will stick in their hearts & minds. Plus, I'm absolutely awful at listening (not an auditory learner at all) and want to train my kids so they won't have the attention spans of gnats.

Apparently I failed to include the dudes in my 2008 reading plan, so this is me setting it right. And as a reminder to all you lit*chicks with kids - sometimes their books are better than yours. :)

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Award Season

Sorry, not the Golden Globes,dear readers.

The Caldecott and Newbery awards were given out today. For the winners and some analysis check out Janice Haryada's blog One Minute Book Reviews.

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preorder booklist

Anyone preorder books? I rarely do, but i love the idea of ordering something, forgetting about it, and retrieving a package with a surprise containing exactly what i want. Sending a gift to yourself in the future.

Since I can barely keep up with reading books that are actually published and available, i don't really want to spend more on hardcovers just for them to sit around in my stacks for a year until i get to them.

Here are a few titles i am looking forward to:

The Penderwicks on Gardham Street by Jeanne Birdsall - April 2008, sequel to the Penderwicks

The Middle Place - Kelly Corrigan ( a memoir)...shipping next week.

The Creative Family - Amanda Soule , coming in April (see her blog soulemama)

4th book in Maisie Dobbs series - An Incomplete Revenge  by Jacqueline Winspear, coming in Feb.

and this....well if you know me, you know there are no words to express my excitement. And, I don't even know what it's about. Coming the end of April.

Are you waiting for any books, sequels, favorite authors? Which one(s)?

And how am I ever going to get through my books-to-read if they won't stop writing new ones?

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a headstart

"Some trees are naked, the ones that aren't are forevergreens." - said by Caleb on the way home from school...

Here is my list for children's Xmas books - I am delighted every year by the discovery of new ones. Please suggest more favorites if you have them.

during WW I when a group of  British and German soldiers put aside their differences for one day.

This is my surprise find - about a boy who does his father's hardest chore- milking cows - as a gift to him.

looks like a sweet story.

a fun rhyming story to read aloud.

saw this at B&N - the nativity story from the camel's perspective. looks adorable.

another discovery - an illustrated reprint from 1955 of various Christmas stories, verses, etc.

I like Cynthia Rylant.

this is only available used, but it's worthwhile to track it down.

I love pop up books. Unfortunately, they have a short life in this house. For those of you with a gentle touch, this looks good.

This year I'm going to put a different book title in some of our advent calendar pockets and that will be our Christmas book before bed. Of course, I must include candy too or there will be an uproar.

The End.