Ok, so you know how women used to have a "hope chest" filled with things like tablecloths and sheets for starting their own household/family one day? I have one. But not exactly. What I really have is...a collection of children's books! I love children's books and I love to read and collect them :) I probably have about 20 of my own right now!
Some of my happiest memories from childhood have to do with people reading to me. I remember visiting my Nana's house and climbing up into her big brass-knobbed bed where she would read me tales from the Arabian Nights and poems about witch and fairy spells. Then we would talk and play word games until she fell asleep and I poked her to wake her up and then she fell asleep again and I poked her again and then she fell asleep AGAIN and maybe then I finally gave up and went to sleep, too :) (I know stories are supposed to help kids fall asleep but I think it usually does more for the grown-ups...for me the stories were so exciting--who would want to sleep?)I also remember my mom and papa reading to me all of the time. When I was really small my mom says that my dad would come home on his lunch breaks and read to me in our big blue chair every day while my mom fixed lunch. I can't wait to read to children of my own!
I like books that are cute, books that are silly, books with great illustrations or beautiful words/stories, and books with good lessons :) I'm pasting some pictures above from amazon.com of just a few books I really like. My mom probably read me "Jillian Jigs" a thousand times! It's about a girl with a big imagination who comes up with adventure after adventure but never quite manages to clean her room. "Max's ABC's" is a new one I found where the story is told of Max's pet ants escaping and becoming true ants-in-your-pants, eating his cake, sharing his bubble bath, and more--so fun! I love "Ping" because I love ducklings and I love China--this is the story of an adorable little yellow duck's adventures on the Yangtze River. The last one, the dragon book, was another of my favorites when I was small. A boy has a pet dragon (though his mom refuses to believe it) that grows and grows and GROWS as he eats more and more pancakes :) It's very cute! I remember I chewed up the corner of our copy at home--the pancakes in the book just look that good ;)
What are/were some of your favorite children's books? Why do you think it's important to read to/with children? Thanks for stopping by!
PS- One of my dreams is to write some children's books of my own one day :)
ps - here are some nice book reviews on children's books with dragons! http://www.readthatagain.com/by_topic/dragons_01.html
ReplyDeleteand other great reviews! http://www.readthatagain.com/by_grade/A-LIST_01.html
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what exactly might have gotten you to sleep when you were little...I remember you partying and jumping off headboards at 1 am, everyone else passed out. :) I love reading to my boys, right now the most popular themes are trains, planes, and dinosaurs.
ReplyDeleteMy sister has a blog dedicated to YA Fiction. Sometimes she does children's books.
ReplyDeletehttp://everead.blogspot.com/
Sierra! I love it! I have the same secret confession. The number of books I own is downright disturbing, really, and I keep buying them thinking "but my children will need to READ this to become functioning adults!"
ReplyDeleteI don't have as many picture books though; the ones I have are children's novels: the Indian in the Cupboard books, the Wrinkle in Time books, Narnia of course, Calico Captive, my favorite by Elizabeth George Speare, and even wacky things like The Fabulous Flight to the Mushroom Planet. I may or may not even own children's books in Japanese. You know what I just realized I don't have, though... the Ramona books. I think I need the Ramona books.
Yes!! I LOVED the Wrinkle in Time books!! Also, did you ever read any Lloyd Alexander (like the Black Couldron)? Those were the bomb.com basically :) (and yep...i totally have kids books in russian...)
ReplyDeletePS- another awesome kid's book with a nice feminine twist is..."The Paper Bag Princess"--awesome! (here's the amazon.com link http://www.amazon.com/Paper-Bag-Princess-Classic-Munsch/dp/0920236162/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1274471366&sr=1-1#noop)
Also, Stini--I'm glad to hear you're reading with the boys! You are an awesome mom! Johnny loved dinosaurs, too, and sea creatures :)
Ransom--thanks for the link--it looks really cool! I checked it out a little :)