The Bookshelf–Books for Babies by Baby Brynn

Another short list of a few of my favorite books!

I Love You, Stinky Face by Lisa McCourt and Cyd Moore: The classic question: “Mama, what if I were a super smelly skunk and I smelled so bad that my name was Stinky Face. Would you still love me then?” Answer? Resounding yes! Reminiscent of Margaret Wise Brown’s The Runaway Bunny, this book is written and illustrated with a modern reader in mind. Green aliens from Mars, giant scary apes, slimy swamp monsters, all there to test a mother’s love. I love this book in part because Mama makes up all kinds of goofy sound effects for each creature–her alien voice and smelly skunk “pee-u!” are my favorites!

From Head to Toe Board Book by Eric Carle: A book about body parts and how they move, all mimicking different animals. I’m not quite old enough to do the actions in this book (kick my legs like a donkey, shrug my shoulders like a buffalo), but I love watching Mama do them! She’s crazy. She helps me do some of the actions, and I love it! Great fun!

Doggies (Boynton on Board) by Sandra Boynton: Woof! Yap yap! Ar-roof! Counting, dogs, and barking. What could be better? I love this book because of all of the great sound effects. Watch out for that cat at the end though–he’s feisty!

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (Chicka Chicka Book, A) by John Archambault and Bill Martin, Jr. and Lois Ehlert: “Chicka chicka boom boom! Will there be enough room?” Without a doubt, the best alphabet book on the planet! Rhyme and rhythm meet the alphabet in a coconut tree. My favorite part is when all of the letters fall out of the tree and end up in a big jumbled pile. I like trying to find the “b” for my name! Mama likes to trace the letters as she reads and she loves bouncing me on her legs to the rhythm. No other alphabet book even comes close!

Where’s Peter? (Peter Rabbit) by Beatrix Potter: Yes, it’s a touchy-feely book, and yes, it has flaps to lift, but this book also has the golden trifecta: rhythm, rhyme, and repetition. This book is my favorite of my touch and feel books because the pieces to touch are so big. It’s hard for my tiny, uncoordinated hands to touch small pieces of textured fabrics, and it’s even harder to touch textures that are set into the page like velvet, so this book is a huge hit with me. Best page? Squirrel Nutkin–his bushy tail is huge!

Hope you found something new to read with your little one!

Happy reading!

–Brynn (blog co-author, age 9 months)

Clicking on the book will take you to Amazon.com, and if you decide to buy the book, a portion of your purchase comes back to me. I, in turn, will use the profits to purchase books for our local library or for a children’s literacy project.

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The Bookshelf: Brynn’s Debut Post

Hello, blog world! I’m Brynn, I’m eight months old, and this is my first book blog. Woo!

In the past few weeks, I’ve really begun to understand why books are better read than chewed. I’ll actually read several books in a row now, and I definitely have favorites. You know, the ones that I nearly fall off of Mama’s lap lunging for? The ones that I refuse to release after reading? The ones that I know lines from already and look intently at the person reciting them? These are my current favorites:

Barnyard Dance! (Boynton on Board) by Sandra Boynton: “Stomp your feet! Clap your hands! Everybody ready for a barnyard dance!” I LOVE this here book! Mama gets her legs movin’ up and down, her feet swingin’ in circles, and her mouth makin’ the funniest darn animal noises, all while I’m balanced precariously on her lap. It’s just a tad bit alarmin’, but I’ve learned to enjoy it. A lot. Catchy rhyme and rhythm are the best things about this book.

Peekaboo Dress Up (Touch-And-Feel Action Flap Book): Mama is usually not a huge fan of gimmicky books, but I certainly am. This books has things to touch, too, but my favorite part of the book is the peekaboo flaps. Mama reads, “Where has the baby gone? Is she behind the jungle cushion?” and then she sloooooowly lifts the flap, building anticipation to a fever pitch as I lean forward…and forward…and forward until she grabs me to keep me from toppling over. Every page is like that. And the babies in their costumes are SO cute! Well, maybe not quite as cute as me…

My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss: Mama thinks that this book is really well done, but I think this book is just plain fun! It’s all about moods and colors and how everyone has good and bad days. The art is both beautiful and beautifully wedded to the text. My favorite color is yellow: “Then comes a yellow day and weeeeeeeeee I’m a busy, buzzy bee!” I also have a lot of fun wacking the page when it says, “Then comes a mixed up day and WHAM! I don’t know who or what I am!” It’s great!

Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes by Eric Litwin and James Dean: This book is probably too old for me, but I don’t care. I love that CAT! He’s blue, for goodness sake! That’s crazy! I especially love trying to pet his curly tail and trying to grab the yellow bird that appears on most pages. For a book about colors, it’s pretty fantastic. Plus, it has a nice life lesson at the end: “No matter what you step in, keep walking along and singing your song…because it’s all good!”

Pajama Time! (Boynton on Board) by Sandra Boynton: “Pajammy to the left. Pajammy to the right. Jamma jamma jamma jamma P! J!” The alpha and omega of this post: the forever amazing Sandra Boynton. There are some colors and qualities (fuzzy vs. not) thrown into this book to lend it some substance, but really, it’s mostly about the rhyme and rhythm. Catchy, catchy! Mama and I dance our way through this book every other night. Definitely makes going to sleep a lot of fun!

Writing this post was pretty cool! I hope you enjoyed reading my debut, and I can’t wait to get going on the next one!

Happy Reading!

–Brynn (blog co-author, age 8 months)

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Love Lessons for My Daughter

Brynn is only seven weeks old, but she has already had a lifetime’s worth of lessons via the books she’s been read. Here is a list of the books and what I hope they convey to her brand new brain:

The Red Wolf by Margaret Shannon: BE CLEVER. In this book, Roselupin is a princess who has been imprisoned in a tall, stony tower by her well-intentioned but misguided father, the king. He wants to protect her from the wild and dangerous world, but in doing so, he also removes her from the joys of life as well. On her seventh birthday, however, Roselupin receives a surprise present: a chest full of balls of wool with a note that says, “Knit what you want.” That night, she knits herself a red wolf suit, speaks some magic words, and is transformed into a giant wolf that bursts from the tower into freedom.

There is more to the story, and a surprise ending to boot, but the central idea I hope you take from it, Brynn, is to be resourceful and clever and to use the tools available to find solutions to knotty problems.

Goodnight Songs: Illustrated by Twelve Award-Winning Picture Book Artists by Margaret Wise Brown: BE MUSICAL. Your father gave me this book for Mother’s Day this year in anticipation of your birth. It is a collection of poems written by the author of Goodnight Moon and is illustrated by several different authors. A CD comes with the book, but I’ve never listened to it. I like to read the poems and make up my own melodies for you. Music has played a huge role in my life, and I hope that you pick up on how important it is to have some form of beauty in your life.

Oh, the Thinks You Can Think! (Big Bright & Early Board Book) by Dr. Seuss: BE CONFIDENT. “Think left and think right, think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try.” Most people would say that this is a book about thinking and creativity, but I really like the part of the message about trying. I’d like you, Brynn, to grow up knowing that you can do almost anything if you only put your mind to it. Effort reaps rewards, and it’s not just about how smart you are.

Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You : Dr. Seuss’s Book of Wonderful Noises (Bright and Early Board Books) by Dr. Seuss: BE SILLY. Moo, buzz, boom boom boom, dibble dibble dop your way through life, Brynn, and don’t worry a fig about what other people think. It took having kids of my own before I finally learned this lesson, but I hope you learn to have a silly, wonderful time dancing through life.

The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams: BE REAL. “‘It doesn’t happen all at once,’ said the Skin Horse. ‘You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.’”

Oh, Brynn. This will be one of the biggest challenges of your life. To be Real. People will make fun of you because they are jealous and call you names because they are insecure, but they are little people in the end and can never change who you are as long as you remain committed to this idea of being Real.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle: BE ENGAGED. I’d love for your life’s mantra to be “What do I see?” I used to have my Seniors do a ten minute writing on a quote that says, “Being bored is an insult to oneself,” and I can’t help but agree. Everything in life has the potential to teach you something, even if it’s what not to do, so keeping your eyes open and taking time to think about what you see is one of the most valuable lessons I could teach you.

I Love You Through And Through by Bernadette Rossetti Shustak and Caroline Jayne Church: BE LOVED. Find a few really good friends and a best friend for a partner and you won’t go wrong, Brynn. They make life worth living. And always know how loved you are.

Your first month and a half in books, Brynn. Be happy, girlfriend…

Love,

Mama

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Weekly Bookshelf–Books for Birth to One Year Olds–Installment 1

Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You : Dr. Seuss’s Book of Wonderful Noises (Bright and Early Board Books): One of my favorite books when I was little! A fantastic book for engaging the littlest of us because of the sounds. Really get into the sounds and your child will avidly follow along. My two favorite parts were knocking on the book (for “hand on a door, knock knock!”) and the “boom, boom boom!” of the thunder (Dada really got into this one, and Mama liked to bounce me a little on her lap with each boom).

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle: Clearly a classic, but I loved it because my Mama used signs and sounds throughout the book. Moon sign, sun sign, eating sounds, and caterpillar sounds (ee, er, ee, er) and finger inching like a caterpillar. My favorite part of the book was always the beautiful butterfly at the very end. My Mama loved talking about all of the colors on its wings.

The Foot Book: Dr. Seuss’s Wacky Book of Opposites: Another good book for baby signs and sounds. Going up and down stairs (Mama’s voice would pitch up and down and she’d walk her fingers up and down the stairs, too), sun sign, moon sign, sick sounds (stuffy nose) and well sounds (happy voice).

Pajama Time! (Boynton on Board)by Sandra Boynton: I loved this book for two years! The rhyme and rhythm are both so catchy, and there are so many things to do and talk about with this little gem. My favorite part was “Pajammy to the left, pajammy to the right! Jamma, jamma, jamma, jamma, P! J!” Mama would dance me to the left, to the right, and then bounce me a little on the P! J! Sandra Boynton is a genius.

For more information about why my Mama and Dada used baby signs and lots of other hand motions while reading with me, see the Mama’s Corner post from March 25, 2014: Baby Signs and Nurture Shock: Why Baby Signs Work.

Happy Reading!

–Luke (blog co-author, age two and a half)

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