Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

 We flew out West for a wedding and it was a wonderful week with family and fun.  Now that we are back on the East coast and trying to adjust to our time zone, school and work - the book, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day has been on my mind.  I love this book. Author Judith Viorst and illustrator Ray Cruz created this book back in 1987.  If you have this on your shelf pull it out and read it again - if not run to the library or the store - you will LOVE this book.

This is a story about Alexander and his "terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day."  He wakes up with gum in his hair and that is just the beginning to his day.  He slips on a skate left on the floor, his brother gets the toy out of the cereal box, and at the shoe store they don't have his favorite shoe in his size.  It is just one of those days.  The illustrations are pencil drawings and perfectly capture Alexander's expressions.

This books is humorous and gives words to the kind of days that everyone has sometimes - the "terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days".  This book helps kids (and adults) remember that some days are like that.  Even in Australia.

Birds

Since it is spring (almost) I am sticking to a birds theme this week.  A book we love is Birds by Kevin Henkes and illustrated by Laura Dronzek. The illustrations are very simple and uncomplicated putting the focus on the birds.  Her use of bright colors make the illustrations very fun.   The text captures the relationship of a young girl with the birds from the viewpoint of her window.  The reader sees birds as she does: small, big, red, and yellow.  My favorite part of the books are the pages about birds on the telephone wire - they sit and sit and then as soon as she turns away - they are gone.  Isn't that how it usually goes?

Check out Birds from your local library and get ready for spring!

Stokes Field Guide to Birds

Nothing says "springtime" like birds chirping outside the window.  Our birds are beginning to chirp: the prelude to spring in our area.  At our house, we love to press our noses up to the window and watch the birds come and eat our birdseed.  But watching them is simply not enough.  My children want to know what kind of bird each one is.  So we have purchased Stokes Field Guide to Birds as our personal bird guide for deciphering which birds are which.

Although this is not a children's book, it is very child friendly.  It breaks birds up into groupings and once I flip to the grouping my children are able to look through the pictures to try and figure out which bird is at our feeder.  We LOVE this book.  It is so fun to learn more about the birds in our area.  We have the Eastern Region because we live on the East Coast but you can find one for wherever you live!

Happy Springtime Birdwatching!

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DR. SEUSS!!!

Is there anything more iconic in children's literature then Dr. Seuss?  His books gave new meaning to early readers.  The pictures are fun and the play on words is even better.  We love Dr. Seuss at our house.  Here are a few of our favorites:

My son loves "the beezlenut juice."  So much, that when my dad comes to visit he buys grapefruit juice and calls it "beezlenut juice."  They are the only two who will drink it. 

This is a favorite from my childhood.

I don't ever remember reading this one as a child but my children love it.  A book about the environment well before its time.

They have printed some of them as smaller board books as well.  I love them. The rhythm is so great you can almost dance while reading them.  My kids seem to love these from a very young age.

So what is your favorite Dr. Seuss book?  

Read one today to celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday!

You Can Count on Monsters

This weekend my friend showed me a fun new book she bought - You Can Count on Monsters - by Richard Evan Schwartz.  It is a book about numbers.  It goes from 1 to 100 and each number is represented by a monster.  For each number there is a factor tree that goes down to the lowest factor for the given number.

This is such a fun book to learn about numbers and factoring.  The author, Richard Evan Schwartz, is a math professor at Brown University and put this book together to help his two daughters understand prime numbers.  This book is very creative and a visual way to learn math.
The publisher's put the age range for this book as 4-8.  I know that my friend has a 4-year-old daughter and they have really enjoyed looking at this book together.  Flip through this book at a bookstore and you will find a fun way for children to visually grasp prime numbers.

There's Going to Be a Baby

A good friend of mine is pregnant with her second child.  When she and her husband told their 4-year-old daughter that she was pregnant they gave her some books - one of which was There's Going to Be a Baby by John Burningham and Helen Oxenbury.  This book is one of the best books for a big-sibling-to-be I have seen.  I wish it was around last April when we told our kids there was going to be a baby.

The illustrations are beautiful.  They are very simple but colorful and done in a fun vintage style.  In an interview Helen Oxenbury said that she was tired of doing "tired, haggard mothers" and this was her first "smart mom."  The mother does have a very smart, stylish look to her that is very endearing.

The text fits the illustrations perfectly.  It is a conversation between the mother and her young son that spans the course of the pregnancy and goes through the seasons of the year.  The little boy asks all of the questions that a young child might - will it be a boy or a girl, do we really want a baby?  And the mother wonders aloud with her son about who this baby might be - a chef, an artist, a zookeeper - a boy or girl.  The relationship between mother and son is very charming and real.  Here is an example of the text:
"Maybe when the baby grows up, it will be a chef and work in a restaurant."
"I don't think I'd eat anything that was made by the baby."

As would be expected from any book by John Burningham and Helen Oxenbury - this book is exceptional.  It is a must have for any family expecting a new baby.

Look! A Book!

The Love Bug brought us another fun book:

Look! A Book! A Zany Seek-and-Find Adventure by Bob Staake.  This book was published at the start of February of this year and is very fun.  The layout of the book alternates from a two page spread with colored backgrounds and some text, such as: "Look!  A book! A hook! A cowboy cook!"  Next to all of the descriptions (book, hook, cowboy cook) is a circle die cut that shows the picture of the item on the following two page spread.  When you turn the page it is a two page spread filled with illustrations.  You can try and find the things listed on the previous page, the items listed on that page or you can just explore on your own.  At the end of the book there are more lists of items to find throughout the book.  

This is a very fun seek-and-find book.  The illustrations are humorous, varied and colorful.   It is well suited for a younger audience to practice finding items as well because of the varied illustrations.  My kids looked at Where's Waldo before but because everything is in red and white it was difficult for them to find anything.  Because the illustrations are so fun there is something for all ages to enjoy here.