Favorite Books

I think I've mentioned before that books are a Big Deal around here. It's in my blood as a kindergarten teacher. My personal classroom library is bigger than most elementary teachers, and Sam and Anna's bookcase was packed full before they were even born. Even on daycare days, we read several books a day. Sam and Anna have found their favorite spots on Momma's lap and will easily snuggle in for 10 or more books in a row. I love it.

I 'm happy that I'm instilling a love for reading so early on. I like knowing that hearing the stories will literally make them more intelligent: better comprehension, problem solving, inferencing, larger vocabulary and so on. I was an avid reader as a child and I hope Sam and Anna will be too. (Although I hope they don't try to sneak in reading time by reading in bed with a dim flashlight after bedtime, like I did growing up!) Of course, like any 1 year old, they adore the touchy-feely books and books with flaps. Add a mirror to a touchy-feely book with flaps and you've got a winner according to Sam and Anna. In our most read books, they know exactly where to touch and where to lift the flaps.

Anna's favorite book by far is Peek-a-WHO? by Nina Laden. I got this through a Scholastic book club order at school (a catalog candy store of books for teachers and students' families). She will sit by herself for over 15 minutes in a stretch turning the pages,studying each illustration. She never tires of hearing it read to her and makes a beeline for the book if she sees it on the floor. She gets exceptionally mad if Sam tries to take it from her (and will go so far as to hide under the exersaucer to read so he doesn't see that she has it). Bonus for me: it's not a book I get sick of reading over and over. No flaps or touchy-feely parts, but there are cut-outs and a mirror at the end. This book is great!

(Anna reading Peek-a-WHO in her favorite hiding place)

Sam's favorite book is Peek-a-Boo, I love you! by Sandra Magsamen. Notice a trend? My kids like a little peek-a-boo in their day, but which kid doesn't? We got this as a gift but it was bought at Target. Sam's well-loved this book so much, that several of the flaps have already been repaired with tape. Back during our bottle refusal stage, letting him look at this book while drinking was one of the tricks up our sleeve to get him to actually drink his bottle. This is a flap book with a mirror at the end, but the only touchy feely part is on the cover. Around the mirror at the end are the words 'The sweetest baby in the world to me!" but I always add in baby girl or baby boy, or babies if they are both listening to me read.

(Sam reading Guess Who Safari Friends)

Other favorites of ours are the books we have in the Guess Who series: Guess Who Safari Friends, Guess Who Ocean Friends, and Guess Who Farm Friends. I got these through Books Are Fun, a traveling books+ more collection that comes to my school monthly. Apparently you can get them at Barnes and Noble, too. These books are awesome as well. They have flaps (one on the cover held by a magnet, too). Each page had a catchy rhyme that doesn't annoy me after the 20 billionth time. Sam and Anna tend to gravitate towards these next after the most loved book I mentioned.

Rounding out our favs are a series of books called That's Not My... by Usborne books. We have That's Not My Monkey, That's Not My Bear, and That's Not My Puppy. Stellar touchy- feely books, in my opinion. I'm sure it won't be long until Sam and Anna have more in their collection. I just wish they were more readily available, like at Target. Two were a gift, and the third I ordered from Amazon. I've tried to stick to the ones that aren't aimed at a particular gender, but there are Fairy, Princess, Monster, Tractor versions in the series as well.

Other honorable mention books (that only missed the biggest hits list because they lack any touchy-feely, flap or mirror parts) include: Goodnight Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann, Time For Bed by Mem Fox, Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown, Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr., and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom also by Bill Martin Jr.

Last in my list of Sam and Anna's Top 10 Favorite Books or Series is a new hit that was a birthday gift: Fuzzy Yellow Duckling by Matthew Van Fleet. It has flaps and touchy-feely parts. On several of the pages a textured shape opens up to turn into part of an animal. Anna really likes this one. I'm a little undecided, because the flaps to open aren't very sturdy and don't seem like they will hold up to double the toddlers very well. It also seems like Sam and Anna don't like the end of the book very much.

As you can see, reading in our home involves everyone! I can just picture Sam and Anna reading books to our dog Bella as they get older, too!

(Reading Fuzzy Yellow Duckling)