Books for Children

our library books are due back tomorrow so I thought I’d comment on what we took out.

non-fiction
Your body’s heroes and Villains by Norbert Landa

this book was MUCH too complicated for a five year old lad. The pictures inspired some good questions, and led to me reading and summarizing for him. But not quite what I had hoped for. 🙁

The Best book of bikes – amy pinchuk

Excellent overview of biking. Good illustrations, easily summarized or read text. worked well for the lad.

Norwegian Forest Cats – nancy furstinger

CATS! what more could a boy child want! lots of pictures, lots of “nice cat mommy, I like that one!”

Near Myths Dug Up and Dusted off – robert kraus

I have to admit.. I wasn’t sure what to think of this book. Was it fiction? Was it fact? I don’t know my mythology well enough. the lad was ambivalent was about the kindest thing I could say. It was done poetry style which would appeal to some, but didn’t strike a cord with us.

Questions and Answers about Seashore Animals – michael chinery

the lad thoroughly enjoyed this book. Looked through it quite a few times. learned lots, asked questions, pointed out what he knew and volunteered information to his dad. 🙂 nice to have that with a book.

Hummingbirds – peter murray

I liked this book, and it had some facts that intrigued the boy. Granted it didn’t really have a fair shake as we read it when the lad was unwell and very very tired.

Fiction

Winston the book wolf – marni mcgee and ian beck

this book quickly became a favourite despite not having a cat in it. I liked the play on a fairy tale, the lad just liked the story about the wolf learning to read and fooling the librarians. 🙂

Kindergarten Kids – Stephanie Calmerson

This book was fun and interactive. The lad often picked it out as a book of choice. It was just a pleasure to read and have the give and take with a boy child and book.

Gracie Goat’s Big Bike Race – Erin mirabella

Good book. Graphics worked well with the story line. just a nice book to read. the only quarrel I have with it is that in the fact section of the book it referred to something in the story line that just wasn’t there. But overall an excellent book. the lad enjoyed this book and asked tons of questions while reading it.

The Song of Francis and the Animals – Pat mora woodcuts

I did NOT like this book, but the lad did. Unusual in that. Usually we dislike the same books, but this one he liked. So not sure what to say about it. He liked it and learned abit about Francis of Assissi.

Tacky and the Winter Games – Helen lester

The lad enjoyed this book, I loved reading it. It was fun to follow the antics of Tacky. He even inspired stories by the lad in Bunny Town. It was fun to listen to what he came up with. Just a nice, solid story for a lad. Full of foolishness, and yet coming through in the end. 🙂

Oww! michael rosen and jonathan langley

A fun read. It was made more difficult for me in that the lad (who loves the game angry birds) has this thing about saying the word PIG. it has to spelled out P I G otherwise the birds set off bombs. So I often would change how the story was written a bit just to avoid spelling P I G or much worse…saying PIG. But a good story, an enjoyable story with animals working together and an unexpected help in the end of it all. This also got added into the bunny town stories of the lad.

Norma Snows – paula metcalf

this story grew on me and the boy. First time we read it we though.. eh… nothing special. But then we read it again, and then again, and then again…until “NORMA SNOWS mommy! Let’s read NORMA”! and so we read Norma.

Puddles – jonathan London

Just a fun read for a boy who TOTALLY understood this book and the fun of puddles after a rain fall. 🙂 Excellent graphics which inspired conversation.

Whatever you do, Don’t go near that Canoe! = julie lawson

for whatever reason it took us a little bit of time to figure out this book and the characters in it. but once we did so, it became a good read. It made us wonder about what would or could happen next…….

The Foxwood Regatta – cynthia and Brian paterson

and so we entered the boat building phase of our lives. Boats, boats and more boats. We built them, we sunk them (just one), we want to have a play date of boat building. This book thoroughly captured the boat building imagination of one five year old boy.

No Room for Napoleon – Adria Meserve

not a bad book at all to read. Why was he so bossy? Why wouldn’t he let them play? environmental themes, sharing, caring, learning are all themes in this book. It was a good read. …but what about that cat?

Oh Tucker! – steven kroll

Oh I hated this book. Let me rephrase that.. I DISLIKED STRONGLY the dog and the family in this book and I made a point of saying this is NOT how a dog should behave! this is a BAD dog and a family that doesn’t know how to train a dog. Dogs should NOT behave this badly. That said.. the lad certainly enjoyed reading a certain word over and over and over again in this book. So.. the reading part I liked. The rest well… I hated Tucker. he was a BAD dog.

Put me in a Book – Robert munsch

good read, good questions, good book. Just a fun robert munsch book.