Mama Loves Great Books

We have some new favorite books in our house these days.  Sam and Anna are straying farther and farther from the board books with no or minimal plot, and are much more interested in the plethora of picture books we have with an actual plot.  This is great, because it makes the time we read books at home much more enjoyable for me too!

Here are three big hits for our terrific toddler two year olds these days:

1.) Duck On a Bike by David Shannon
     Every year I read this book to my kindergarten class, the 5 and 6 year olds make it a fast favorite too.  The other day I caught Sam rereading the story to himself:  "Duck rode past horse.  Duck rode past cat.  Duck rode past dog..." etc.  It swelled this teacher mama's heart to see my little one do what I work so hard to get kids more than twice his age do during the school year.  It has such a cute plot and the illustrations are fantastic too!  My one complaint is that in the illustration of kids riding bikes not all are wearing helmets.  We always point out the ones that are, and say how smart they are.  Now Sam and Anna will say "Helmet, smart!" and point out those kids without prompting from me.

2.) I Know a Rhino by Charles Fuge
The rhyming lyrical text and fun animals make this a super book to read with little ones.  Sam and Anna especially love how the giraffe page gets turned vertically in the middle of the book, while I enjoy the slightly unexpected ending.  Sam requests this book by it's title, even if it has been out of sight for a little bit.  It's a great one to grab for bedtime!

3. Where's My Teddy?  by Jez Alborough
Can you believe that I had this book in my classroom library for years and never read it to my class?  One day I read it to Sam and Anna and it instantly became part of our read-often rotation because I realized what a wonderful book it was.  It has two elements paramount for a stellar picture book- excellent illustrations and rhythmic words that are fun to hear read.  Sam and Anna still have huge grins every time I change voices for the large bear and the small boy, even though I probably have read that book to them close to 50 times.  This book is one that you will memorize, but won't get annoyed that the words get stuck in your head.

Mama Loves Shutterfly

I use shutterfly a lot.  Our holiday cards always come from there.  I have a share site through them that I upload the thousands of photos I've taken for grandparents' viewing pleasure. The past two years we've used calendars filled with Sam and Anna pictures from shutterfly.  Father's Day and Mother's day cards for grandparents frequently come from shutterfly (because what grandparent would rather have a generic store bought card when they can have one with pictures of their grandchildren?)

But my favorite thing to do on shutterfly is create photo books.  I've made a bunch of photo books:  one in remembrance of our first dog, one for my husband as a gift with pictures of just the two of us B.C. (Before Children), Sam and Anna individual birth-1year old books, and a photo book or two for grandparents.   My mother-in-law likes to take photos from the share site to make her own photo books of Sam and Anna.

I don't think I've ever shared the first year photo books I made.  (Both have been edited to remove personal identifying information)

Click here to view this photo book larger

Click here to view this photo book larger

Shutterfly allows you to customize your photo book just the way you want.

Last year I made a photo book using a free code (with freebie codes on shutterfly, you still pay shipping and for additional pages, so the book wasn't 100% free) of relative names and photos to prep Sam and Anna for family visits and traveling.  Shutterfly often has codes out there for free or other good deals on their products. I put minimal time into making this book because the code was expiring that night, and  especially compared to the time and effort put into Sam and Anna's first year books.  An hour maybe?  Regardless, it was awesome.  All those cousins and aunts and uncles we see a few times a year weren't unfamiliar faces for Sam and Anna when we travelled, they knew them all by name.  That books is still an often read book in our home.

Click here to view this photo book larger

I've been waiting until this summer to make Sam and Anna's 1-2 year old photo books so I had a good chunk of time to devote to them.  I'm excited to get started, but glad I waited because I recently found out that Pampers Gifts to Grow rewards (the stuff you can get with the points from codes you collect from diapers and wipes) are 25% off right now, which meant that I had enough points to get a code for 20 free pages in a 12 by 12 hard cover book.  (There are lots of shuttefly products you can get with pampers points) I would not have had enough et without the 25% off.


I'm also planning on making a alphabet A-Z book of photos from this summer for Sam and Anna at the end of summer.  (A is for apples.- with a picture of them eating apples, B is for bubbles. - with a photo of them blowing bubbles, etc.)  I have a feeling that book will become a often read and treasured part of our library too!



*disclaimer: While shutterfly often has some pretty good incentives for free publicity on the internet, I was not compensated for this post.

Mama Loves BOOKS!

Mama Loves is a linky party where mamas can share anything that has made your life easier as a mama.

Maybe you've found:

• a toy or book that captivates your child(ren)
• gear you just can't live without
• a recipe your choosy toddler gobbles down
• a parenting book that you've found perspective changing
• an activity that wears your kid(s) out (these lead to good naps, which we all love)
• an outfit that flatters your post-baby body and makes you feel fabulous
• or anything else you're loving--creativity welcome!

To link your own Mama Loves post up, head on over to Julia's blog, Pontifications of a Twin Mom

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It's definitely time for a Mama Loves books post.  Just in time for holiday gift shopping, here are some books that would be a great addition to any child's book collection- Sam and Anna love 'em all!  

Sam and Anna are the children of a kindergarten teaching mama, so they have an abnormally large at home library.  Their bookshelf was stuffed full before they were born, and I continually bring books home from my personal school library to switch things up.  I get bored reading the same books over and over, because I'm used to reading a book once a year in my classroom, and then putting it away until 12 months later.  I admit I can be a little bit picky about children's literature too.

I did not, however, have a very large board book collection before Sam and Anna were born.  I've been working on that... mostly thanks to the monthly scholastic book order forms I send home with my students.  I'm a book junkie, and overflowing bookshelf or not, I just can't help it.

Sam and Anna have their favorite books, and they aren't necessarily my favorites.  BUT, if they love 'em, then I love them.  Whatever instills a love for reading in my young children, I will read a thousand times if they want me too.

These are some of the books that have been Sam and Anna's favorites lately:


Anna adores 5 Little Ducks by Jose Aruego.  She can identify this book from its spine and will pull it off the shelf multiple times a day.  She loves to tell us what's happening throughout the book (by saying "Mama quack!"  Then telling us when the seasons change by saying "leaves" or "snow" although telling us the "rain" part is probably her favorite.



Anna also loves Goodnight Gorilla by Peggy Rathman.  If you do not have this book, add it to your holiday wish list for your child.  It is a must-have book for any young child.  I am not embarrassed to admit that I have 3 copies of this book- one small board book, one large board book, and one regular paperback in my classroom.  It has very few words, but tells a great story through the illustrations.  Again, Anna loves to retell the story to us on each page- she'll say "good night" in all the appropriate places, and adds a dramatic gasp or "uh oh!" on some pages (wonder where she got that from...).  Anna also loves to snore on the last page, as the gorilla slumbers in the zoo keeper's bed.

Sam's been very interested in non-fiction books with real pictures of animals.  He's always been our animal lover.  While the cutesy cartoony animal stories are a hit with small children, I think it is important to expose even the youngest children to different types of books.  If you don't have any non-fiction books at home (and I'm not talking about the counting/colors/shapes kind of books here), you might be surprised to see your child connect to the images they see, even if the words are less engaging for small children!



Sam's favorite is Deer by Emily Rose Townsend.  I got this through school and brought it home because Sam and Anna's daddy's job is an editor for a nationally published deer hunting magazine, so hey- it's important to us that both our children know about this animal.  Sam (and Anna too) love to watch their daddy's hunting show on tv, and love to see the deer mounts we have in our basement.  We also cycle through several other books in the same series about other woodland animals: Raccoons, Squirrels, and Wolves.


My mother-in-lave gave us Sam and Anna's first animal non-fiction books- Egg to Chicken  and Tadpole to Frog both by Camilla de la Bedoyere a while ago. They are great for Sam and Anna because they are board books, and also have flaps that can be lifted to keep them engaged as we read.  Although we have several books that have been forgotten in the last few months, these two have stood the test of time and keep getting re-read months later.

So those are Anna and Sam's book recommendations.


A new favorite in our home has been Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle.  While we have not had it long enough to see if it will stand the test of time, my guess is that it will be a favorite for many months.  Cute illustrations and although lots of words, fun sounds to keep little ones into the story. 

Here some of the books I think belong in every young child's home:


Chicka Chicka abc by Bill Martin Jr. This is the board book version of the classic.  While we have both versions, this seems to work better for Sam and Anna right now.  I like that lowercase letters are used, because too often only uppercase letters are shown to young children.


Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown (another book we have multiple copies of)


Big Red Barn also by Margaret Wise Brown


Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney



Of course, no child should be without The Very Hungry Caterpillar or Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See? by Eric Carle

(Hmmm... I'm just now realizing that I own multiple copies of all these must-have books, whether they be paperback, board book format, hardcover, or big books.  Good thing I have two children so they each can hold a book!)

And my number one favorite book to read to my children:


Time for Bed by Mem Fox.  I adore this book.  It's not one I read to my students, and I didn't discover it until Sam and Anna joined our family.  I love the illustrations, the words, the message.  LOVE it.

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)

Books

Yesterday Sam and Anna went on their first trip to the library. We checked out a bunch of books to read together. Not that they don't have an extensive library of their own at home (I AM a kindergarten teacher, after all), but we read about 2-4 books a day together, and I've already gotten bored with the two full shelves of books on their bookcase. Being a teacher, I love reading children's books, and I don't usually reread a book until the next school year. I know once they get older, Sam and Anna will have favorites that I'll have to suck it up and reread again and again and again... but for now, I think we'll make walks to the library a biweekly event, since we are lucky to have a library branch right in our neighborhood two blocks away. I was so excited about our new selection, I read one right when we got home. To myself first; then to Sam and Anna later!

Books To Give Away

I have a few IF books that I've read cover to cover and would like to pass along to other people. If you are interested in any or all of the books, you can post a comment letting me know (with your email if possible), and then I'll give you my email to email me the address to send the books to. These are the books I am passing along:Unsung Lullabies by Jaffe, Diamond, and DiamondThe Empty Picture Frame by Jenna Currier NadeauI Am More Than My Infertility by Marina Lombardo and Linda Parker

I hope these books can be a wealth of information for someone else, like they have been for me.