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| Not a paid endorsement. I wish. We just actually really like these books. |
I think I mentioned last week that I had finally gone through 3,000 pictures on my phone and done some organizing with the zillion screenshots I'd taken of all the things. One of the categories with the highest amount of screen shots was books.
I started a list in Evernote when I read this blog post from Haley at Carrots for Michaelmas. I took her recommendations and read through the comments. Between these suggestions and all the random Instagram screen shots I took from my favorite moms, I compiled quite a list! And it is paying off!
I know there is value in letting the kids choose their own reading material, but only one can kind of read, and so they pick the first thing they see with a superhero or sports figure on it. The sports ones I can sometimes stomach (even the one about the rules of hockey), but the superhero ones they've picked have been painful. I keep hearing about how hard it is to get a book, specifically a children's book, published, but from what I've seen, it must be easy. Because there is some real crap out there.
So now when we go to the library, they pick out movies and color, and I run around like a maniac consulting my Evernote list of recommended books. They have mostly been decent, and I think I'll kick myself eventually for not keeping track of which ones we liked or disliked. I'm just going mostly alphabetically right now, because it's easy and I'm a nerd.
Last week, we hit the jackpot. The boys had heard of "The Gruffalo" but I had not. It's a fun, rhyming story with delightful illustrations. "The Book With No Pictures" just made the list last week upon recommendation from a friend, and we picked it up the next day. I didn't love it, but the kids really did. Even the two-year-old asked for us to read it again, and he's more of a "Brown Bear Brown Bear" type of guy. Lastly, we all loved "The Seven Silly Eaters." It's another fun rhyming story, and it's about a large family. I just love that, because many of the children's books we get are one-boy-one-girl families (which is fine, but I like variety!). This one was cute and quirky and I think we'll get it again.
It's so much more fun to sit and read when the stories and/or illustrations are enjoyable not only for the kids but for adults as well.
We are big Seven Silly Eaters fans in our house. I've never read The Gruffalo, though, so I'll add it to my holds list. :)
ReplyDeleteOne thing you might want to consider is linking up with our Tuesday library haul posts. For me it's been a great way to keep myself accountable in the winner book cataloging. :)