The Halloween Fairy

We are big into fairies around here.  My son even likes fairies although I think he envisions them a little different than my daughter.  Some of the trees around here drop small, sharp sticks that are perfectly shaped like fairy swords and my son finds them and leaves them for the fairies.  His fairies are slightly more violent than fancy like my daughters.

A few days after Halloween a fairy visits our house - Hallie.  Our kids eat candy for a few days and then leave their bags out for Hallie and she takes their candy and leaves them books in return.  And she usually leaves a couple of their pieces of candy as well - she's nice like that.

This year Hallie brought my son an Elephant and Piggie Book - Happy Pig Day by Mo Willems.

Both of my kids love the Elephant and Piggie series - but my son especially thinks they are hilarious.  Pig and Elephant have such a funny friendship and the illustrations really play off of that.  These are great early readers for kids and just as fun for read-alouds.  After I put my kids down at night I often hear them chatting and my daughter reading a story to her younger brother - and I think this is going to be a new go-to for her to read to him.

It is nice to be nearly candy free today and excited about new books!!

Mercy Watson

I don't know if I have mentioned it yet on this blog, but I love Kate DiCamillo.  Or rather, I should say, I love Kate DiCamillo's writing.  She is able to capture people and situations in a way that is very real and that makes her writing very engaging.  She has a great section on her website that talks about her take on writing - and how writing is all about seeing the people and world around you and then transferring that to paper.   

So you can imagine my excitement when, awhile back, I saw that Kate DiCamillo had a series for early readers - the Mercy Watson series.  These books are great for "newly confident" early readers (they have some bigger words, so they are not for the newest beginners) or are also fun as short read-alouds for younger children.  My son (3) loves to listen to these and my daughter (5) has just begun reading the books and could not be more proud that she is reading a chapter book.  Not to mention one that she thinks is so funny.  

Mercy Watson is about a "porcine wonder" who lives with humans - Mr. and Mrs. Watson.  Mercy is a pig who loves tall mounds of buttered toast and sleeps in a bed inside the house.  Each story follows Mercy on an adventure - whether fighting crime, or driving a car Mercy is always getting into some kind of trouble.  The characters are funny and engaging and the stories will keep children laughing.  The books are illustrated by Chris Van Dusen and are colorful, fun and add to the humor of the text.  

There is a website for Mercy Watson that has word searches, games and information on the author and illustrator.  It is a fun website and a great companion to the text.  My daughter has been reading to me Mercy Watson Fights Crime and we only have two chapters left.  We can't wait to find out what happens  next.  

If you are on the search for good early readers - check out the Mercy Watson series.  We love them.