MommaReads

This is a very cute tale about a house full of napping people and napping animals and how it all falls apart because of a flea. The illustrations in this book are ideal for a child sitting on a parent’s lap listening to the story. Each page gives the child something new to look at and it’s fun to see where the animals are in each picture and to see what they are doing. Our favorite animal to watch is the mouse.

It’s been a long time since I have read this book, but I still remember it very well…it has been seared into my brain I have read it so many times. It is a very cute book about animals and the sounds they make, or in some cases, don’t make. To top it all off it has adorable illustrations AND it rhymes.

We stumbled upon this book at one of our favorite bookstores a few summers ago. It has become a favorite at our house mostly, I think, because our oldest can completely relate to Wendell. Wendell’s mom has told him a zillion times to clean his room, but he doesn’t and it turns into a pigsty-literally. You can imagine the antics that ensue when the pigs decide to move in, play Monopoly, have pillow fights, etc.

I love, love, love Karma Wilson and I also love Mortimer. Mortimer has several books, but in the spirit of spring, planting and gardens I thought you might enjoy Mortimer’s First Garden. Mortimer is a mouse who likes to eat seeds, but when he hears his people talking about putting their seeds in the dirt he isn’t totally convinced-at first. Who would put perfectly good food in the dirt? But when he hears his people talking about how their seeds will make everything green he starts to wonder if they might be on to something. Mortimer decides to plant his one seed. He grows impatient, but eventually learns that sometimes miracles do happen.

I miss the days of getting to read sweet, sweet stories like this one with a toddler on my lap. This story is great for many ages though because it includes animals, opportunities to learn colors, repetition and simple text. The illustrations are sweet as well and definitely help a beginning reader figure out unknown words as does the repetition. So, instead of reading it with a toddler on my lap, I guess I will just listen with a kindergartner on my lap.

This book made its way into our house before our oldest was born. I started reading it to him every night before he was born and then at bedtime after he was born. It is a sweet and perfect bedtime story with illustrations that are as warm and cuddly as the story.

We were introduced to this book when it came in our box of Cheerios a few years ago and we instantly fell in love with it. Clorinda is a cow who aspires to be more than a cow…she wants to dance! She is told that she can’t dance by many, but she doesn’t give up. She leaves the farm and heads to the city, where after many no’s, she finally finds a spot in the corps de ballet. She practices, practices and practices and finally gets her chance in the spotlight where she promptly smashes her dancing partner after landing on him. Poor Clorinda realizes that her dancing career needs to find a different path. She doesn’t give up though. She does eventually find a stage where she can show off all of her moves, it’s just not where she expected to end up.

If you saw the copy of this book at our house you would know that is has been read-A LOT!  It is worn and torn, but oh, we love it so.  It is just a fun romp of a read.  It repeats enough so that the kids can start to participate fairly quickly and the illustrations are hilarious.  Every time you read the book you see something in one of the pictures that you didn’t see before.  You are sure to get a giggle or two with this gem.

I used to be a preschool teacher and one of the interview questions I had was to name my favorite children’s book.  In that split second when you have to come up with a coherent answer I came up with Margaret Wise Brown’s The Big Red Barn.  I think the reason I fell in love with this book, besides the sweet and simple story,  is the cadence of the words, the rhyme and the ease with which children can learn the story and start to “read” it themselves because of its simplicity.  Less is more with this book.  It’s not a showstopper…it is a quiet classic.