MommaReads

I love this book! (I know, I always say that, but if I didn’t love them they wouldn’t be on here. ) 🙂 Why do I love this book? It rhymes and it has repetition which are awesome qualities to have in a book for getting kids ready to read and rhyming and repetition can make a book super fun to read, too. I also love it because the story gives kids a sense of where they are in the world…from the universe, to their country, to their street to their own bedroom. They are their “own little piece of the universe”.

I really like the illustrations in this book, too. I don’t know how to explain them, but the only word I can come up with is “retro”. I know, not very descriptive, but they definitely add a certain special something to the book.

We love, love, love Karma Wilson books in our house. Bear is a little nervous about losing his first tooth, but his friends are beside him every step of the way. The tooth fairy even comes to visit and leaves Bear a tasty treat for the next morning.

This book is just as cute as all of Wilson’s other adorable Bear books and your kids will love it. This would be an especially great book for the child in your life who hasn’t lost any teeth yet, but is at about that age or any child who has lost a tooth or two, but still has several more to go.

I first met Martin McGregor in this funny tale when Martin wants it to snow so badly he is willing to try just about anything to make it happen. Martin has more troubles now. His favorite teacher broke his arm mountain climbing and has been replaced by a substitute that LOVES homework and will not accept any excuses if you don’t have it. Poor Martin…his dog eats his homework one day (REALLY!), then his spelling homework accidentally gets washed the next day and then another day Martin grabs his little sister’s backpack instead of his own. Martin is VERY relieved when his teacher finally comes back and, of course, that is the ONE day Martin has his homework.

I’ve reviewed several books this week that cover the topic of bullying. I would say of all of the books I have reviewed this week, this book covers the topic most seriously. This book addresses students who wear glasses, who have braces on their, who have learning disabilities, who are in wheelchairs, who get chosen last on the playground, even the homeless and how name calling and pointing and staring are hurtful. I love the ending message that we are all the same in God’s eyes and that’s all that matters. This book also comes with a CD of a song that goes along with the book. If you listen to the song, you will cry. I’m just warning you.

I like a review of the book that was from a 5th grade class: “What Don’t Laugh at Me means…Make a friend. Share. Plant a tree. Tell someone in your family that you love them. Play fair. Be a good listener.”

A 1st and 2nd grade class wrote: “We liked your song because it told us to treat others the way we want to be treated.”

Elephant’s bullying starts a chain of events that leads to Hippo being unkind to Lion and Lion snarling at Leopard and Leopard not being nice to Monkey. With the help of his mom, Monkey stands up for himself and talks to Leopard about his unkind words. Then Leopard think about what Monkey said and goes and talks to Lion and on and on until everyone’s wrongs have been righted.

This book would be a great talking tool to use with kids about being kind to others and how to handle situations on the playground or in their neighborhood when others are unkind to them.

Roberta is starting a new school and soon finds a group of kids she seems to fit in with in her classroom. At recess, she has to find another group of kids to play with because the first group doesn’t like to play on the monkey bars like she does. At lunch she has to find yet another group to sit with who have the same kind of lunch she has. Slowly, all of the kids start to realize that they can’t all be alike in every way and that’s the best part…their differences.

This would be a great book for a child who is moving to a new school. It would also be a good book for any child in school to talk about how to make new students feel welcome. Lastly, this might be a good addition to a discussion about bullying since people’s differences can be one of the causes of name calling.

Many children go though a stage in their lives where someone is bullying them. It might be at school, in their neighborhood, at their place of worship or at childcare. This is a book that as a parent, you might want to read to yourself first and then share it with your child. It is a great example of how a child who was being bullied talked to others and was able to come up with a plan to not only help herself, but help others too. If nothing else, this book could be a great tool for discussion.

I LOVE this book! LOVE. IT. Little Rabbit is turning the big 5 and now that he is old and doesn’t cry anymore, he decides he is only going to invite friends to his party that also don’t cry anymore. Unfortunately, as he goes around and invites each of his friends and explains to them why they are being invited, he finds that all of them still cry and for different reasons. Even his mom, he finds out, cries sometimes. Super cute and a great message…it’s okay to cry.

CHOO CHOO is a little engine who is very busy pulling people, mail and baggage all over the countryside. CHOO CHOO also has an engineer named Jim who loves CHOO CHOO and takes very good care of her. Well, one day CHOO CHOO decides she is tired of all the pulling people and such all over the place and she takes off. As you can imagine, things don’t turn out quite as well as CHOO CHOO had expected and after a lot of panic and worry from Jim and a rescue, CHOO CHOO happily returns home. If your little one loves trains or Thomas the Train the will LOVE this book!!

Two little girls who come from two different backgrounds. They love to play together and to draw together and to eat lunch together. One thing that is different about them though is that their lunches are different. One of them always has a hummus sandwich and the other always has a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Neither one of them tells the other that they think the other girl’s sandwich looks gross, until one day, they do and things just aren’t quite the same anymore. Luckily, after some time eating separate from each other and a very unfortunate food fight, the girls have an idea to bring the whole school together.

This is a super cute story inspired by an event that happened in the author’s life. There’s a blurb at the end of the story explaining what happened and what she learned from her experience.