books for three year olds

The Bookshelf: A Wordless Wonder, A Leaping Peep, A Stuck Duck, and A Silly Songster

Hi!  It’s Luke (age three and a half).

Every once in awhile, Mama and I do very well at the library. We come home with several books that I end up really enjoying. Three weeks ago was one of those trips, and here are four books that I have been requesting over and over again since then.  Enjoy!

   The Farmer and the Clown by Marla Frazee: If you haven’t read any books by Marla Frazee yet, then let this one be your first and you will be hooked.  It’s a wordless picture book about a little clown boy who falls from his clown train car and ends up staying with a sour, lonely farmer.  The farmer wants to make the sad, lost little clown happy, so he does all kinds of things for the boy that seem quite out of character.  By the end of the book when the clown is reunited with his funny family, both the farmer and the boy are happy.  Not only is the message a good one, but the illustrations are beautiful.  If you like this book (Frazee’s most recent), try Boot and Shoe next–it’s one of my all-time favorite books!

   Peep!: A Little Book About Taking a Leap by Maria van Lieshout:  Recently, I’ve had to take some huge leaps out of my comfort zone, and this book helped me feel a lot better about them.  It’s about a little chick who has to screw up his courage to take a huge leap off of a curb in order to follow his mother and sisters.  Despite a few (very accurate and humorous) attempts at avoidance and with some encouragement from his mama and siblings, he finally takes the leap.  “I DID IT!” he shouts.  Since reading this book, “I DID IT!” has become my mantra.  Very simple text and spare illustrations make this book easy to read and digest.

   One Duck Stuck by Phyllis Root and Jane Chapman:  A counting book with jaunty rhythm, rhyme, and repetition that keep me engaged and tapping along with the beat!  A poor duck gets stuck in the muck, down by the deep green marsh, and he pleads for help from his fellow marsh dwellers who cheerfully answer the call.  Skunks, fish, moose, dragonflies–all work together to push an unlikely stick closer and closer to the stuck duck’s free foot.  I LOVE this book!  If you are looking for a 1-10 counting book, check out this one!

   The Baby Beebee Bird by Diane Redfield Massie and Steven Kellogg:  Bee bee bobbi bobbi!  Bee bee bobbi bobbi!  The call of the baby bee bee bird will be lodged in your head for days after reading this book.  A new arrival at the zoo, the baby beebee bird, keeps the other residents up all night long with his singing.  As day breaks and the bird decides to finally take a nap, the other animals plot their revenge.  They gang up on the baby and chorus their own “bee bee bobbis!” all day long.  The baby bee bee bird can’t sleep, of course, so when night falls, everyone finally gets some rest. Not only is this book funny for kids because we love books with animal sounds and other strange sounds in them, but adults will also enjoy the parallels with their own comical efforts to wrestle babies (and toddlers and preschoolers) into a normal sleep schedule.  A great book!

Hope you enjoy these books!  I certainly did!

Happy reading!

–Luke (blog co-author, age 3.5)

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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A Bookish Christmas Story

Once upon a time, my family used to travel up to Mt. Prospect, IL on Christmas Day to celebrate the holiday with my Great Aunt Rosie, Great Uncle Bob, and their daughters, Carmen and Kathy.  As we feasted on a Honeybaked ham, scalloped potatoes, Aunt Rosie’s famous layered Jello dessert, and her VERY merry spiked punch, she charmed everyone around her with her glorious smile, sparkling blue eyes, accepting attitude, and gift for making you feel important as she listened carefully and thoughtfully to everything you said.

Both Uncle Bob and Aunt Rosie loved books.  Uncle Bob was an English teacher and Aunt Rosie was an elementary school teacher, so they both understood the value of books.  For Christmas, Aunt Rosie always gave me a book.  But not just any book.  A children’s picture book.  I don’t know how she knew, even way back when I was in high school, that one day children’s books would be so important to me, but I’ve learned that you can’t question the wisdom of a perceptive soul.  For years, I kept those books with their personal Christmas inscriptions on my bookshelves amongst the Faulkner novels, Rand tombs, and Dickens masterpieces…until Luke was born.  Then I went back to them with a more discerning eye for quality, and I found them to be amazing. The Eleventh Hour: A Curious Mystery by Graeme Base, The Three Questions [Based on a story by Leo Tolstoy] by Jon Muth, and Stranger in the Woods: A Photographic Fantasy (Nature) by Carl Sams and Jean Stoick are just a few of the books she gave me.

Uncle Bob passed away a few years ago, and Aunt Rosie is now in the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s.  When I saw her last Christmas, she recognized us, but she couldn’t remember our names.  She’s in an assisted living home in Arizona, and I don’t know if I will ever see her again.  But I can’t forget the books and the kindness that she showered on my family and me.  So this year, I sent her books.  Children’s picture books.

The first is called Grandpa Green by Lane Smith.  A gorgeously and cleverly illustrated Caldecott Honor Book, it’s told by an old man’s great grandson, and the reader follows the boy through an elaborately shaped topiary garden where Grandpa Green has carved each bush to represent an episode from his life.  Throughout the book, the little boy collects random things that his grandpa has forgotten: glasses, a hat, gloves, a trowel.  At the end, the boy recognizes that even though Grandpa Green is old and sometimes forgets things, the garden will always remember the important things for him.  The metaphor is just too strong to ignore.  I am the garden for Aunt Rosie.  We all are–her daughters, my family, her many friends.  Even though she can no longer remember us, we are a repository for all of the wonderful parts of her that she shared with us through the years.  She shaped us, and what’s more, her influence is now going beyond just one generation, for I am reading the books she gave me with my own children.

The second book that I sent to Aunt Rosie is one that I mentioned in my last post: Journey by Aaron Becker.  It’s the exact type of book that Aunt Rosie would have given to me–beautifully illustrated with a timeless storyline that a reader will never tire of revisiting again and again.  In it, a young girl is bored and no one in her family has time to play with her.  She discovers a piece of red chalk in her room, though, and draws a door on her wall.  She steps through the door and into a magical land where she goes on a grand adventure of imagination.  It’s a wonderful book.  I hope Aunt Rosie loves it as much as Luke and I do.

So, even though Alzheimer’s has stolen away Aunt Rosie’s memory, it does not mean that nothing of her remains.  Her appreciation and instinct for great children’s picture books will live on through me and my children.

Love you, Aunt Rosie!

–Erin, Christmas 2014

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Hitting the Jackpot: Random Library Picks That Luke Loves

Some library trips we come home with twenty books and none of them are any good.  Other trips, like this last one, we come home with ten books, and they all rock.  Luke is now three years old, but even if your child is a little older or younger, check them out!  As with all children’s books, different books appeal to different kids for different reasons.

  Batty by Sarah Dyer: Batty isn’t the most popular animal at the zoo, so he decides to try being more like the other animals.  Super cute book about being yourself.  Luke loves this book because some of the pictures are from Batty’s perspective…upside down, that is.  He loves turning the book over to view the illustrations right side up.  Very well done.

  Grumpy Bird by Jeremy Tankard: One morning Bird wakes up in a foul mood.  He doesn’t want to eat, play, or even fly.  So he starts walking.  Along the way he meets a host of animals, each of which eventually joins him on his walk.  Soon, the walk turns into a game, and Bird’s bad mood is gone.  Illustrations are bold and simple.  Text is spare and repetitive (perfect for toddlers/preschoolers).  A super cute story.

  Froodle by Antoinette Portis: Four birds sing the same song day in and day out…until one day when the little brown bird decides to try something different.  Something silly.  Something like, “Froodle!” A really cute, well-done book about how much fun it can be to break from the usual every once in awhile.  Illustrations are great.  Text is simple enough for early readers.  Luke says that he likes the words “blurv” and “inkpadink” the best.

  Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein: Little chicken LOVES her bedtime stories.  She loves them so much that she can’t help but interrupt her father’s reading every time.  Papa starts stories only to have little chicken leap into the story (literally–she is actually drawn into the storybook pages) and save the characters from disaster.  This is a Caldecott honor book, so the illustrations are fun, and the text is simple enough for preschoolers.  Luke thinks little chicken is pretty funny.

  Cheese Belongs to You!: by Alexis Deacon and Viviane Schwarz: This is Rat Law: cheese belongs to you…unless a big rat wants it…unless a bigger rat wants it…unless a faster rat wants it…unless… and on and on.  Luke gets a huge kick out of the dirty rat (we do lots of nose holding and ewww-ing) and the hairy rat (gross), and he enjoys watching the story build.  What’s funny is that the ending is all about how nice it is to share, but Luke usually walks away for the last two pages.  Maybe that’s why he doesn’t know how to share very well?

  Come Back, Ben by John Hassett and Ann Hassett: Luke can read this book independently.  Simple, repetitive text is great for the newest readers.  And for such an early reader book, it’s actually really cute.  Ben goes up and up holding onto his balloon, and everything he passes says, “Come back, Ben!” including the window, a tree, some bees, a big hill, etc.  He finally reaches the moon, where he fills his pockets with moon rocks and floats gently back home.  Luke really enjoys reading this book, in part because it’s easy enough for him to read by himself,  and in part because we’ve started doing baby signs with Brynn (3 months old) and we can sign almost the entire book.  Fun!

 

Clicking on the books 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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My Mother-in-law Must Really Dislike Me

farts in the wild

My mother-in-law must really dislike me.

On her last trip to visit, she came bearing books for my almost-three-year-old son Luke.  The book that stole the show?  Farts in the Wild: A Spotter’s Guide.

Yes.  She bought my son a fart book.

And he LOVES it.

This little gem details farts from the smallest creatures (goldfish) up to the largest creatures (elephants), with eight lovely additional animals in between.  It could be slightly educational as it also provides facts and stats about each creature’s farting habits, but that’s not what Luke likes about it.

Off to the side of the text is a panel with ten little buttons on it.  Oh, yes.  Push the buttons and you will hear a sample of the corresponding creature’s fart accompanied by the creature’s distinctive call.  The goldfish blubs, the cat meows, the elephant trumpets, but they all fart.

A preschooler’s dream.

A parent’s worst nightmare.

And yet…

As I watched Luke play with this book on day eight (yes, I was definitely counting the days), I realized he was doing something interesting with it and not just pressing buttons randomly anymore.  Luke had his music player next to him, and he had This Old Man on repeat.  As the song played, he pressed the number that the singer sang.  Woah, I thought. That’s kind of cool.  And on day nine, I watched Luke unfold his fingers one by one, counting as he pressed the ten little buttons.  Woah. That’s even cooler!

In true preschooler fashion, Luke turned an otherwise annoying toy into something pretty cool.  And, as an added bonus, without any outside help, it became something educational.  Authentic, self-directed learning at its finest.

So, even though I’d rather not hear animal farts all day long, I do have to admit my own lesson learned about the amazing capacities of children and the endless possibilities of books.

I’d love to hear about how your child repurposed an old or uninspired book.  Please leave a comment!

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The Birthday Book Post: Books We Have Given

For one reason or another, many of my little friends have birthdays in May.  This slew of birthdays has inspired me to post a list of the books that I have given to others for their birthdays over the past three years.  I consider these books the “best of the best,” otherwise I wouldn’t pass them on!  Books are arranged by the ages of the children to whom I gifted the books, but that doesn’t mean that older children wouldn’t enjoy them as well….

FOR ONE YEAR OLDS:
  Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes by James Dean and Eric Litwin: I don’t know a little one who doesn’t like Pete the Cat!  Pete has a new pair of white shoes, but he keeps stepping in different colored things (strawberries, blueberries, etc.).  “Does Pete cry?  Goodness no! He keeps walking along singing his song.”  I loved that this book could be read with tons of inflection and that Mama and Dada sang (I use the word loosely) the little ditty that Pete sings.  Fantastic for kids learning their colors.

   Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! by Mo Willems:  I’m not sure how many times I can post this book before I get in trouble for copyright infringement.  This book is great for little ones because of the big text, inflection, and funny storyline.  See Mo Willems post for more info!

FOR TWO TO THREE YEAR OLDS:

  Snip Snap!: What’s That? by Mara Bergman and Nick Maland:  One of my all time favorite books just before I turned two!  Lots of fun noises for parents to make, a jaunty rhyme, nice repetition, and an alligator on the loose make this book a sure hit.  There is a great close up of the alligator that always made me laugh, too!

  If I Were a Lion by Sarah Weeks and Heather Solomon: Another huge favorite of mine!  A spunky little girl is in time out for making a huge mess and her mother dubs her “wild.”  The rest of the book is the girl protesting that if she were truly wild, she’d do all of these “wild” things like “poke and pierce and tear, not sit here nicely in my chair.”  Great rhyming text, expressive illustrations, and, of course, the little girl is the quintessential toddler: equal parts mischief and sweetness.  (She does apologize and say sorry at the end!)

  Gorilla! Gorilla! by Jeanne Willis and Tony Ross:  Definitely a fun book for toddlers who can talk (or at least yell, “STOP!”).  A mother mouse’s baby goes missing, but as mama is looking for him, a giant gorilla yells, “Stop!” at her.  She takes off running, of course, and that begins a chase across the globe.  In the end, the gorilla turns out to be a great guy who found her baby and has been trying to give him back the entire time.  Nice repetitive text, opportunities for audience involvement, and a surprise ending make this book another fun read for both parents and kids.

FOR THREE TO FOUR YEAR OLDS:
  Creepy Carrots! by Aaron Reynolds and Peter Brown:  What a fantastic book!  Jasper Rabbit is obsessed with carrots, and he picks them from a field every day.  One day, however, the carrots start following him, “tunk tunk tunk…” or do they?  Jasper sees carrots everywhere, but with Peter Brown’s clever illustrations, neither Jasper nor the reader is entirely certain whether the carrots are really there.  Finally, Jasper hatches a plan to ensure that those carrots never bother him again, but it is the carrots who get the last laugh!  Black and white illustrations with only splashes of orange for the carrots lend a Twilight Zone feel to the book.  Entertainingly suspenseful text, too!

  The Gruffalo (Picture Books) by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler:  Another great book with a clever twist at the end!  Everyone wants to eat Mouse, but he foils them all by making up an imaginary creature called a Gruffalo who loves to eat the other animals.  Mouse soon discovers that the Gruffalo DOES exist, and it’s hungry for mouse, too!  But Mouse is pretty darn clever, and he fools the Gruffalo just like he did the other animals.  Nice repetition, catchy rhyme, and Mouse’s cleverness make this book tons of fun for both parents and kids!

  Ladybug Girl by David Soman and Jacky Davis:  I liked this book for a very long time.  Lulu may dress like Ladybug Girl, but she is a spunky girl with a can-do attitude.  When her brother refuses to play with her one morning, Lulu makes her own fun and proves to the world that she is NOT too little to do big things (like save ants, count letter Ls, and rebuild rock walls).  This book encourages kids to be independent, use their imaginations to entertain themselves, and leave their own pint-sized impact on the world.  Illustrations and language are both wonderful.

Happy gifting!

–Luke (age 2.5, blog co-author)

 

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