tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102684542024-03-08T13:32:44.318-05:00500by12Chronicling the books we read to our children (and perhaps the books they read themselves). Can we read 500 before they turn 12? Only time will tell.Brycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05269470725503528415noreply@blogger.comBlogger51125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268454.post-1147282540953856982006-05-10T13:30:00.000-04:002006-05-10T13:35:40.953-04:00Still reading, but not as much......and obviously not posting very much either.<br /><br />Kristen has started reading <em>Anne of Green Gables</em> to the girls. We've been pretty busy in the evenings it seems, so she hasn't made much headway. Kristen never read it as a young girl, so she is enjoying reading it.<br /><br />I re-read <em>Howl's Moving Castle</em> by Dianna Wynne Jones last week and gave it to Jaymie, who read it in a couple of days. I haven't had a chance to talk with her about it. I'm curious to see how much of it she understood. It's a fairly complex piece of storytelling. Jaymie says it's much different than the movie (I saw the first half-hour or so of the Miyazaki film).<br /><br />Julia is finally reading on her own. We've been having her read very simple books that she can finish quickly in order to build her confidence, which she seems to lack for some reason. But she is definitely getting more excited about her newfound skill.<br /><br />Stanley loves to be read to these days. Among his favorites is <em>Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No-good, Very Bad Day</em>. We realized this week that he's been going around saying "I hate X" a lot probably because of this book. A mixed blessing, I suppose.Brycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05269470725503528415noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268454.post-1143473750274123772006-03-27T10:32:00.000-05:002006-03-27T10:37:56.093-05:00Still here...I'm still here. We're still reading to our kids.<br /><br />I've been busy setting up a new website for homeschoolers:<br /><br />http://www.ahomeforhomeschoolers.com<br /><br />Right now it's primarily a forum<br /><br /><a href="http://www.ahomeforhomeschoolers.com/forum">http://www.ahomeforhomeschoolers.com/forum</a><br /><br />I'm adding blogging functionality this week, and I will be moving this blog over there sometime in the near future.<br /><br />As for reading, Stanley is really enjoying being read to lately. He asks for the same books over and over. Last week it was <em>Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs</em>. <em>Jamberry</em> is another favorite.<br /><br />Kristen finished reading <em>The Secret Garden</em> to Jaymie and Julia which they enjoyed very much. I've started reading <em>Babe: The Gallant Pig</em> to them, which we should finish in a couple of days. Kristen is planning on reading <em>Anne of Green Gables</em> to them after that.Brycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05269470725503528415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268454.post-1138209045922033142006-01-25T12:10:00.000-05:002006-01-25T12:10:45.936-05:00I'm still hereYes, we're reading to our kids. But I'm working on a major upgrade to this blog, so I don't have too much time to talk right now....Brycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05269470725503528415noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268454.post-1135280763934629282005-12-22T14:42:00.000-05:002005-12-22T14:46:03.956-05:00Christmas booksWell, we've been reading Christmas books all month. This has been an exceptionally busy December. Jaymie turned eight and was baptized at the beginning of the month, and had a birthday party on top of that. Stanley turned three, and Julia turned five and had her birthday party as well. On top of all that, I finally finished my dissertation and defended it.<br /><br />Somehow, we managed to find time to wrap all of the Christmas books and have managed to read two or three of them most nights. In addition, Kristen finished reading <em>A Little Princess</em> by Frances Hodgson Burnett to the girls. I found a $1.00 DVD of the same starring Shirley Temple which the girls will open on Christmas.<br /><br />Kristen's sister Heidi gave her a copy of <em>Under the Chinaberry Tree</em>, which has tons of great recommendations for children's books. Just thumbing through it, I can tell I'll like it -- we own about half of the titles they recommend, it seems, so I get the sense that the authors' tastes run to ours.Brycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05269470725503528415noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268454.post-1131598571838394342005-11-09T23:55:00.001-05:002009-12-03T10:50:58.930-05:00A Christmas Book TraditionLately, Times and Seasons has been <a href="http://www.timesandseasons.org/?p=2684">on the subject</a> of <a href="http://www.timesandseasons.org/?p=2693">children's</a> <a href="http://www.timesandseasons.org/?p=2703">books</a>, which reminded me of a post I've been meaning to write for a while about one of our family Christmas traditions involving Christmas books. Actually, I'm lazy, so I'll just paste the text that my wife wrote last year on the subject:<br /><br /><blockquote>One of our very favorite family holiday traditions is reading Christmas books throughout the month of December. Here’s how it works:<br />Sometime before December, I wrap up all of our favorite Christmas books. On December 1st, I put the wrapped books in big basket under the Christmas tree. Each night the children are allowed to choose a book to open and read together. Besides being a great family activity that we all look forward to each night, we have felt that it really brings the Christmas spirit into our home. Children of all ages can enjoy this tradition. There are so many really good Christmas books that focus on the Savior and the true meaning of Christmas. There are also a lot of really fun and whimsical Christmas books that have good messages and teach the values and characteristics that we would like to impart to our children. There are also many great books about how Christmas is celebrated in other cultures and countries around the world.<br /><br />It has amazed me how excited the kids are about this time spent together every evening. They never tire of it or the stories, even though they have heard many of the stories before. I think it also relieves some of the angst of waiting for Christmas as they have something to open each night. And it is a good way to count the days until Christmas; as the number of books dwindle, so do the days until Christmas.<br /><br />If you don’t have enough Christmas books to do the entire month, you could do the week or 12 days before Christmas. The library has many great holiday books that can supplement your collection.<br /></blockquote><br /><br />We started doing this a few years ago, with about 10 books that we had. Since then, we've added many, many more, to the point where instead of buying new books, we are trying to figure out which ones to get rid of (We have enough books for each of our three oldest children to open one a night for every night in December before Christmas). Of course, there are still a few gems that we would like to add to our collection.<br /><br />I asked Kristen for a list of her favorites. She gave me a stack of about twenty books. When I told her that was too many, she cut it down to the following:<br /><br />Kristen's favorites:<br /><ul><br /><li>Christmas Day in the Morning, by Pearl S. Buck</li><br /><li>Christmas Tapestry, by Patricia Polacco</li><br /><li>Why Christmas Trees Aren't Perfect, by Richard H. Schneider</li><br /><li>Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree by Robert Barry</li><br /><li>The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey, by Susan Wojciechowski</li><br /><li>Christmas in the Manger, by Nola Buck</li><br /></ul><br /><br />My favorites:<br /><ul><br /><li>Christmas Day in the Morning, by Pearl S. Buck</li><br /><li>Christmas Tapestry, by Patricia Polacco</li><br /><li>The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey, by Susan Wojciechowski</li><br /><li>The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, by Barbara Robinson</li><br /><li>Danny and the Kings, by Susan Cooper</li><br /><li>How the Grinch Stole Christmas, by Dr. Seuss</li><br /><li>On Christmas Eve, by Margaret Wise Brown</li><br /></ul>And since you asked, here's a list of all of our Christmas books. There are about 30 of these that I haven't read yet -- we purchased them since last Christmas. (Scroll down the page -- for some reason, Blogger inserts a lot of blank lines before the table).<br /><br />Any other suggestions?<table><br /><tbody><tr><td><b>Title</b></td><td><b>Author</b> </td><td><b>Illustrator</b></td></tr><br /><tr><td>The Amazing Christmas Extravaganza </td><td>Shannon, David </td><td>Shannon, David </td></tr><br /><tr><td>Auntie Claus </td><td>Primavera, Elise </td><td>Primavera, Elise </td></tr><br /><tr><td>Auntie Claus and the Key to Christmas </td><td>Primavera, Elise </td><td>Primavera, Elise </td></tr><br /><tr><td>Bear Stays Up for Christmas </td><td>Wilson, Karma </td><td>Chapman, Jane </td></tr><br /><tr><td>The Best Christmas Pageant Ever </td><td>Robinson, Barbara </td><td><br /></td></tr><br /><tr><td>A Child Is Born </td><td>Winthrop, Elizabeth </td><td>Mikolaycak, Charles </td></tr><br /><tr><td>Christmas </td><td>Bruna, Dick </td><td>Bruna, Dick </td></tr><br /><tr><td>Christmas </td><td><br /></td><td>Pienkowski, Jan </td></tr><br /><tr><td>A Christmas Carol </td><td>Dickens, Charles </td><td><br /></td></tr><br /><tr><td>Christmas Day in the Morning </td><td>Buck, Pearl S. </td><td>Buehner, Mark </td></tr><br /><tr><td>Christmas in the Manger </td><td>Buck, Nola </td><td>Bond, Felicia </td></tr><br /><tr><td>Christmas Is A Time of Giving </td><td>Anglund, Joan Walsh </td><td>Anglund, Joan Walsh </td></tr><br /><tr><td>Christmas Magic </td><td>Garland, Michael </td><td>Garland, Michael </td></tr><br /><tr><td>Christmas Mice </td><td>Scarry, Richard </td><td>Scarry, Richard </td></tr><br /><tr><td>The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey </td><td>Wojciechowski, Susan </td><td>Lynch, P.J. </td></tr><br /><tr><td>Christmas Oranges </td><td>Bethers, Linda </td><td>Sowards, Ben </td></tr><br /><tr><td>Christmas Tapestry </td><td>Polacco, Patricia </td><td>Polacco, Patricia </td></tr><br /><tr><td>Corduroy's Christmas </td><td>Hennessy, B.G. </td><td>McCue, Lisa </td></tr><br /><tr><td>Countdown to Christmas </td><td>Peet, Bill </td><td>Peet, Bill </td></tr><br /><tr><td>Country Angel Christmas </td><td>dePaola, Tomie </td><td>dePaola, Tomie </td></tr><br /><tr><td>The Crippled Lamb </td><td>Lucado, Max </td><td>Bonham, Liz </td></tr><br /><tr><td>Danny and the Kings </td><td>Cooper, Susan </td><td>Smith, Jos. A. </td></tr><br /><tr><td>An Early American Christmas </td><td>dePaola, Tomie </td><td>dePaola, Tomie </td></tr><br /><tr><td>Eloise at Christmastime </td><td>Thompson, Kay </td><td>Knight, Hilary </td></tr><br /><tr><td>The Friendly Beasts: an old English Christmas Carol </td><td><br /></td><td>dePaola, Tomie </td></tr><br /><tr><td>A Gift From Saint Nicholas </td><td>Kismaric, Carole </td><td>Mikolaycak, Charles </td></tr><br /><tr><td>Hark! A Christmas Sampler </td><td>Yolen, Jane </td><td>dePaola, Tomie </td></tr><br /><tr><td>Here Comes Santa Claus </td><td>Autry, Gene and Haldeman, Oakley </td><td>Whatley, Bruce </td></tr><br /><tr><td>How the Grinch Stole Christmas </td><td>Seuss, Dr. </td><td>Seuss, Dr. </td></tr><br /><tr><td>It's Christmas </td><td>Prelutsky, Jack </td><td>Hafner, Marylin </td></tr><br /><tr><td>Jingle the Christmas Clown </td><td>dePaola, Tomie </td><td>dePaola, Tomie </td></tr><br /><tr><td>The Jolly Christmas Postman </td><td>Ahlberg, Janet and Ahlberg, Allan </td><td>Ahlberg, Janet and Ahlberg, Allan </td></tr><br /><tr><td>The Legend of the Poinsettia </td><td>dePaola, Tomie </td><td>dePaola, Tomie </td></tr><br /><tr><td>The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus </td><td>Baum, L. Frank </td><td><br /></td></tr><br /><tr><td>The Little Crooked Christmas Tree </td><td>Cutting, Michael </td><td>Broda, Ron </td></tr><br /><tr><td>Merry Christmas, Strega Nona </td><td>dePaola, Tomie </td><td>dePaola, Tomie </td></tr><br /><tr><td>Miracle on 34th Street </td><td>Davies, Valentine </td><td>dePaola, Tomie </td></tr><br /><tr><td>The Mouse Before Christmas </td><td>Garland, Michael </td><td>Garland, Michael </td></tr><br /><tr><td>Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree </td><td>Barry, Robert </td><td>Barry, Robert </td></tr><br /><tr><td>The Nativity from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke </td><td><br /></td><td>Sanderson, Ruth </td></tr><br /><tr><td>A Newbery Christmas </td><td>Greenberg, Martin H. and Waugh, Charles G. </td><td><br /></td></tr><br /><tr><td>The Night Before Christmas </td><td>Moore, Clement </td><td>Brett, Jan </td></tr><br /><tr><td>The Night Before Christmas </td><td>Moore, Clement Clarke </td><td>Tudor, Tasha </td></tr><br /><tr><td>Nutcracker </td><td>Hoffmann, E.T.A. </td><td>Gustafson, Scott </td></tr><br /><tr><td>On Christmas Eve </td><td>Brown, Margaret Wise </td><td>Calder, Nancy Edwards </td></tr><br /><tr><td>One Winter's Night </td><td>Herman, John </td><td>Dillon, Leo and Dillon, Diane </td></tr><br /><tr><td>Peter Spier's Christmas </td><td><br /></td><td>Spier, Peter </td></tr><br /><tr><td>The Poky Little Puppy's First Christmas </td><td>Korman, Justine </td><td>Chandler, Jean </td></tr><br /><tr><td>The Polar Express </td><td>Van Allsburg, Chris </td><td>Van Allsburg, Chris </td></tr><br /><tr><td>Pooh Christmas Songs </td><td><br /></td><td>Baker, Darrell and Moore, Sparky and Wakeman, Diana </td></tr><br /><tr><td>Rocking Horse Christmas </td><td>Osborne, Mary Pope </td><td>Bittinger, Ned </td></tr><br /><tr><td>Room for a Little One: A Christmas Tale </td><td>Waddell, Martin </td><td>Cockcroft, Jason </td></tr><br /><tr><td>Rudolph Shines Again </td><td>May, Robert L. </td><td>Papp, Lisa </td></tr><br /><tr><td>Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer </td><td>Hazen, Barbara Shook </td><td>Scarry, Richard </td></tr><br /><tr><td>Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer </td><td>May, Robert L. </td><td>Wenzel, David </td></tr><br /><tr><td>Santa Calls </td><td>Joyce, William </td><td>Joyce, William </td></tr><br /><tr><td>Santa Kid </td><td>Patterson, James </td><td>Garland, Michael </td></tr><br /><tr><td>Santa Mouse </td><td>Brown, Michael </td><td>De Witt, Elfrieda </td></tr><br /><tr><td>Santa's Favorite Story </td><td>Aoki, Hisako </td><td>Gantschev, Ivan </td></tr><br /><tr><td>Santa's New Suit </td><td>Rader, Laura </td><td>Rader, Laura </td></tr><br /><tr><td>Silent Night, Holy Night: The Story of the Christmas Truce </td><td>Cronkite, Walter </td><td>Barrett, Robert T. </td></tr><br /><tr><td>Silver Packages: An Appalachian Christmas Story </td><td>Rylant, Cynthia </td><td>Soentpiet, Chris K. </td></tr><br /><tr><td>Spirit Child: A Story of the Nativity </td><td>Bierhorst, John </td><td>Cooney, Barbara </td></tr><br /><tr><td>The Story of Holly and Ivy </td><td>Godden, Rumer </td><td>Cooney, Barbara </td></tr><br /><tr><td>The Story of the Nutcracker Ballet </td><td>Hautzig, Deborah </td><td>Goode, Diane </td></tr><br /><tr><td>The Sweet Smell of Christmas </td><td>Scarry, Patricia </td><td>Miller, J.P. </td></tr><br /><tr><td>Take Joy! </td><td>Tudor, Tasha </td><td>Tudor, Tasha </td></tr><br /><tr><td>This is the Season, Beloved of the Year </td><td><br /></td><td>Dewey, Simon </td></tr><br /><tr><td>The Trees of the Dancing Goats </td><td>Polacco, Patricia </td><td>Polacco, Patricia </td></tr><br /><tr><td>Truffle's Christmas </td><td>Currey, Anna </td><td>Currey, Anna </td></tr><br /><tr><td>'Twas the Night Before Christmas and Other Seasonal Favorites </td><td>The Metropolitan Museum of Art </td><td>The Metropolitan Museum of Art </td></tr><br /><tr><td>The Twelve Days of Christmas </td><td><br /></td><td>Duax, Anne </td></tr><br /><tr><td>The Twelve Days of Christmas </td><td><br /></td><td>Sabuda, Robert </td></tr><br /><tr><td>The Twenty-four Days Before Christmas </td><td>L'Engle, Madeline </td><td>DeVelasco, Joe </td></tr><br /><tr><td>A Very Mary Christmas </td><td>Englebreit, Mary </td><td>Englebreit, Mary </td></tr><br /><tr><td>We Wish You A Merry Christmas: Songs of the Season for Young People </td><td>Fox, Dan </td><td><br /></td></tr><br /><tr><td>Welcome Comfort </td><td>Polacco, Patricia </td><td>Polacca, Patricia </td></tr><br /><tr><td>What Could Be Keeping Santa? </td><td>Janovitz, Marilyn </td><td>Janovitz, Marilyn </td></tr><br /><tr><td>Where Is Christmas, Jesse Bear? </td><td>Carlstrom, Nancy White </td><td>Degen, Bruce </td></tr><br /><tr><td>Why Christmas Trees Aren't Perfect </td><td>Schneider, Richard H. </td><td>Miles, Elizabeth J. </td></tr><br /><tr><td>The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree </td><td>Houston, Gloria </td><td>Cooney, Barbara </td></tr><br /></tbody></table>Brycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05269470725503528415noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268454.post-1130382061089443022005-10-26T22:58:00.000-04:002005-10-26T23:01:01.110-04:00We've finished the Chronicles of NarniaI finally finished reading <em>The Last Battle</em> to Jaymie a couple of weeks ago. I was a little worried that the ending would be sad for her, but I'm not sure she understood fully what was going on. At any rate, she enjoyed all of the books a great deal. We're kind of in an in-between point in her read-alouds. Any suggestions?<br /><br />Our library book sale was a couple of weeks ago. I bought about 20 books for Jaymie and Julia. Titles in another post.Brycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05269470725503528415noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268454.post-1128310120000660922005-10-02T23:27:00.000-04:002005-10-02T23:28:40.010-04:00Catching upWell, after several weeks of travel in August and September in which we hardly read at all, we're finally back to a schedule of sorts. Reading to the kids has become much more difficult lately, as Trevor (4 months) is taking a lot of our time, and we have to juggle reading to Jaymie, Julia, and Stanley separately. I've started reading <em>The Last Battle</em> to Jaymie. I was dismayed to find that all of the books now have a "Author of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, A Major Motion Picture Holiday 2005" label on them. Blech. The story is quite a bit darker than the rest of the Chronicles of Narnia, and I'm a bit worried that Jaymie might not do so well with it (we had to abandon <em>The Wizard of Oz</em> because it was giving her nightmares).<br /><br />Kristen got a number of books from the library for Stanley, and he has been enjoying them. They include Nancy White Carlstrom's <em>Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear</em>, Marjorie Flack's <em>Ask Mr. Bear</em>, and Candice Ransom's <em>The Big Green Pocketbook</em>.<br /><br />I got some other books for Julia, including <em>Stranger in the Mirror</em> by Allen Say (kind of a weird story about a boy who comes to understand what it's like to get old when he wakes up looking like his grandfather), and <em>If I Ran The Zoo</em> and <em>Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories</em> by Dr. Seuss.<br /><br />Jaymie has been reading like crazy since school has started, in contrast to her summer when she read very little. At the beginning of the school year Kristen and I picked fifteen books out of the pile of books I bought at various library and school sales this summer, with the idea that she would read one a week until the end of the year. So far, she's plowed through<br /><br /><ol><br /><li><em>Ballet Shoes</em> by Noel Streatfield</li><br /><li><em>Follow My Leader</em> by James B. Garfield</li><br /><li><em>Rabbit Hill</em> by Robert Lawson</li><br /><li><em>Winter Camp</em> by Kirkpatrick Hill</li><br /><li><em>Ella Enchanted</em> by Gail Carson Levine</li><br /><li><em>Misty of Chincoteague</em> by Marguerite Henry</li><br /></ol><br /><br />I'll try to post at least weekly now that school has started back up.Brycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05269470725503528415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268454.post-1124350690118595612005-08-18T03:36:00.000-04:002005-08-18T03:38:10.123-04:00Vacation, and books for boysWell, we've been on the road all month, so we haven't been reading much to the kids. Allison from <a href="http://dontletsstart.blogspot.com">Don't Let's Start</a> asked over at <a href="http://www.kulturblog.com">Kulturblog</a> for some recommendations for books for boys ages 5-10. Here's my reply:<br /><br />You're in luck -- three years ago, while visiting relatives in Alaska, I made a list of books for my 11-year old nephew. I'm in Alaska now, and wondered out loud whether that list still existed -- Kristen's sister said, "Yes, it's taped to the refrigerator," and went next door and retrieved it. The list was specifically fantasy/sci-fi for 11-year old boys. Here it is (many of these titles have already been recommended)<br /><br />Susan Cooper -- The Dark is Rising series<br />CS Lewis -- The Chronicles of Narnia<br />Isaac Asimov -- Foundation Trilogy (which has more than three books now)<br /> + short stories<br />Anne McCaffrey: Harper Hall Trilogy (Dragonsong, Dragonsinger, Dragondrums)<br />Ray Bradbury: The Martian Chronicles, The Illustrated Man, Fahrenheit 451<br />Lloyd Alexander: The Prydain Chronicles (The Book of Three,The Black Cauldron,The Castle of Llyr,Taran Wanderer,The High King<br /> also The Westmark Trilogy (Westmark, The Kestrel, The Beggar Queen<br />Madeline L'Engle: A Wrinkle in Time series<br />Ursula K. LeGuin: The Earthsea Trilogy (A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore)<br />John Christopher: The White Mountains, The City of Gold and Lead, The Pool of Fire, plus the prequel When the Tripods Came<br />JRR Tolkien: The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings trilogy<br />Richard Adams: Watership Down<br />Ellen Rankin: The Westing Game<br />Norton Juster: The Phantom Tollbooth<br /><br />Since you asked for ages 5-10, here are some further recommendations for books starring boy detectives/inventors/scientists:<br /><br />the Danny Dunn series<br />the Alvin Fernald books by Clifford Hicks<br />the McGurk Detective Agency series by E. W. Hildick<br />the Matthew Looney books by Jerome Beatty Jr.<br />the Mushroom Planet books by Eleanor Cameron<br />the Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators series<br />Emil and the Detectives, by Erich Kastner<br />The Furious Flycycle by Jan WahlBrycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05269470725503528415noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268454.post-1122263852426454152005-07-24T23:57:00.000-04:002005-07-24T23:58:29.463-04:00A book-related memeAllison over at <a href="http://www.dontletsstart.blogspot.com/">Don't Lets Start</a> tagged me with <a href="http://dontletsstart.blogspot.com/2005/07/ode-to-books.html">this book meme</a> last month, and I keep putting it off, so here it is, <br /><br />1. How many books do you own?<br />Hmm.... I used to be a compulsive book buyer. I would buy at least 40 or 50 at any library book sale or bookstore clearance sale I saw, and I never had enough shelf space for them all. Then I got married. The sight of all of my books piled up all over the floor made Kristen physically ill, and I figured if I had to choose between my books and my wife, I'd pick my wife. So the books went into boxes, out of sight, but still in my possession.<br /><br />A couple of years ago I realized that I've been cured (mostly) of my book buying habit. I use the library to get my reading material, for the most part. Since that realization, I've been weeding out my personal book collection, so my total has gone down somewhat. I would guess I probably own 800-1000 books at present, and I'll probably get rid of a couple of hundred more this year (if anyone is looking for a nice hardbound copy of <em>The Hundred Secret Senses</em> by Amy Tan or <em>The Moor's Last Sigh</em> by Salman Rushdie, drop me an email).<br /><br />On the other hand, I've been buying children's books like crazy over the past year and a half. I think we're up to about 700-800 children's books, and I imagine I'll add to that total in the fall.<br /><br />Kristen has been going nuts over Christmas books. I think her collection is up to over 75 titles.<br /><br />2. Last book I bought:<br /><br />The last book I bought for myself was a copy of Benet's Reader's Guide to American Literature (only $2.00 at the library book sale). Every serious reader (and quiz bowl player) should have a copy of the Benet's Reader's Encyclopedias.<br /><br />The last non-reference book I bought for myself? I honestly can't remember.<br /><br />The last book I bought? I picked up 30 or so children's books at the same library book sale I got the Benet's at. <br /><br />3. Last book I read:<br /><br />Hmm. <em>Toilet Training in Less than a Day</em>. Before that it was <em>The Happiest Baby on the Block</em>, by Harvey Karp. Both are highly recommended if you fit the target audience.<br /><br />Actually, I've had a little reading time over the past couple of weeks. I've also made it through <em>Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince</em> by J.K. Rowling (thumbs way up), <em>Get Shorty</em> by Elmore Leonard (ok), <em>Dragonquest</em> by Anne McCaffrey (guilty pleasure), and <em>Dave Pelz's Short Game Bible</em> (highly recommended, even if I still can't get up and down from the sand).<br /><br />4. Books that have meant a lot to me:<br /><br />Well, from my high school years up until the past few years, I read the following books about once per year (not including time in Japan on a mission):<br /><br />Book of Mormon (natch)<br /><em>The Phantom Tollbooth</em> by Norton Juster<br /><em>Watership Down</em> by Richard Adams<br /><em>The Lord of the Rings</em> trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien<br /><br />5. Tag five people:<br /><br />I'll get back to you on this one. I'm not a meme kind of guy, and I'm philosophically opposed to chain letters.Brycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05269470725503528415noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268454.post-1122261610669015882005-07-24T23:19:00.000-04:002005-07-24T23:20:10.676-04:00We're back!Well, I've neglected this blog long enough. What with a new baby in the house and summer swim league, I haven't been reading to the kids on a regular basis for a while. Swimming is over now, and Trevor is sleeping more of less through the night, so we were able to read almost every night last week.<br /><br />Before Trevor was born, Kristen and I would find time to read to all of the kids individually. This is no longer an option if we want to read, so I've been trying to find books that will appeal to both Jaymie (7) and Julia (4), which is more difficult than it might seem. For all of Julia's verbal sophistication, she doesn't have a tremendously long attention span yet, so keeping her engaged is a bit of work. This week we read <em>Pippi Longstocking</em> by Astrid Lindgren, which has held up surprisingly well after all of these years. I rented the movie version for the girls to watch yesterday, and they liked it. Jaymie spent a bit of time figuring out where the movie differed from the book.<br /><br />I'm not sure what I'm going to read to them next. I'd really like to read <em>The Last Battle</em> and finish off the Narnia books with Jaymie, but that won't work for Julia. Any suggestions?Brycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05269470725503528415noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268454.post-1117069190171161752005-05-25T20:38:00.000-04:002005-05-25T21:00:01.873-04:00Summer reading at the libraryI took the kids to the library to sign up for the summer reading program and to get a book from the RIF distribution. Jaymie picked <em>Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs</em>; Julia chose <em>Froggy's Halloween</em>, Stanley grabbed <em>Arthur Babysits</em>, and I got <em>The Very Hungry Caterpillar</em> for Trevor, as our copy has been read to pieces.<br /><br />The reading program is nothing too exciting -- read (or be read to) for 15 minutes each day. After 10 days you get a sticker and a ticket to the Durham Bulls (Triple A baseball team). 20 days nets a bookmark and a Golden Corral meal coupon, and 30 days earns you a badge and a pass to the skating rink. We'll get one of the Barnes and Noble reading program flyers for Jaymie as well.<br /><br />We haven't read so much lately -- Kristen and I are dealing with sleep deprivation issues. After reading a couple of chapters of <em>The Wizard of Oz</em> to Jaymie and Julia last night, I fell asleep on the floor, using the book as a pillow. Hopefully, the library program will keep us honest.<br /><br />I got <em>The Day the Babies Crawled Away</em> at Allison's suggestion. Stanley likes it a lot. Stanley has also been enjoying <em>The Best Nest</em>.<br /><br />Jaymie is reading <em>The Secret of the Indian</em> by Lynne Reid Banks.<br /><br />Julia has been picking books at random off of the shelf lately.Brycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05269470725503528415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268454.post-1116468969630101492005-05-18T22:11:00.000-04:002005-05-18T22:16:09.633-04:00Movies from booksI'm still reading to Jaymie and Julia together. For our next book, I decided to get a couple of books that have been made into movies: L. Frank Baum's <em>The Wizard of Oz</em> and Walter Farley's <em>The Black Stallion</em>. The vote was for <em>The Wizard of Oz</em>, so that's what we are reading.<br /><br />I have never read the book before -- it's a great read-aloud, with short chapters, but a long sustained narrative. The girls have never seen the movie, so they don't have any preconceived notions of how the characters look or sound. I'm not sure if I'll let them see the movie after we're finished -- the girls are awfully sensitive to scary scenes in movies, and <em>The Wizard of Oz</em> is famously terrifying.Brycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05269470725503528415noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268454.post-1116207337511620212005-05-15T21:35:00.000-04:002005-05-15T21:36:18.440-04:00DragonsFollowing Jen's suggestion, I read Ruth Stiles Gannett's trilogy of dragon books to Jaymie and Julia this week. Jaymie had previously read them on her own and heard them on tape, but Julia was unfamiliar with the books. We own <em>My Father's Dragon</em> and <em>Elmer and the Dragon</em> and we borrowed <em>The Dragons of Blueland</em> from the library. These books are just about the right length for Julia. They are about about 80 pages each, but there are many illustrations, and the print is large, so that reading an entire book takes only about 40 minutes. We read the second book, <em>Elmer and the Dragon</em> in one night. By contrast, the edition of the Narnia books that we own (the new Harper Collins paperbacks with color illustrations by Pauline Bynes -- highly recommended) take me about a page a minute, so I generally read one or two chapters per night (15-30 pages).<br /><br />The first book is clearly the best, in my opinion. Julia lost interest tonight for the last half of <em>The Dragons of Blueland</em>, the last book in the trilogy. Jaymie enjoyed the books again.<br /><br />Kristen's mother is in town this week to help with the baby. I think I'm going to start <em>The Last Battle</em> with Jaymie and have Grandma read to Julia.<br /><br />In other family reading news, Julia read an easy reader to Kristen this morning. She's still not super excited about reading by herself, but every once in a while she gets interested. Jaymie read <em>The Celery Stalks at Midnight</em> by James Howe (a part of the <em>Bunnicula</em> series) this week. I find that I'm having a hard time keeping track of what Jaymie reads on her own these days. I should probably have her keep track herself. Stanley has been asking for various Mother Goose books lately.<br /><br />Of course, with the new baby, the kids have been doing a lot more movie watching than reading lately. <em>Mulan</em> -- not bad. <em>Mulan II</em> -- blech. <em>Spirited Away</em> -- a classic.Brycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05269470725503528415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268454.post-1115527601970827972005-05-08T00:43:00.000-04:002005-05-08T00:46:41.996-04:00A new read-aloudeeOur fourth child, Trevor was born this morning.<br /><br />Read-alouds may suffer temporarily if Kristen and I are sleep deprived. Or I may have more time than usual, since I'll take some time off. Who knows?Brycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05269470725503528415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268454.post-1115345232809821272005-05-05T21:57:00.000-04:002005-05-05T22:09:37.446-04:00Reading, May 5, 2005In honor of Cinco de Mayo, we did nothing in particular.<br /><br />I did finish reading <em>The Silver Chair</em> to Jaymie. She was very excited to read this book -- every night she would pester me to read to her. Since she's not swimming early in the morning for the next few weeks, I let her stay up a little later than usual so we could get our reading in. Jaymie has enjoyed all of the Narnia books so far.<br /><br />I read <em>The Cat in the Hat Comes Back</em> to Julia tonight at her request. She has been enjoying hearing poems from Shel Silverstein's <em>Where the Sidewalk Ends</em> as well. Last night we read <em>Officer Buckle and Gloria</em> by Peggy Rathman. It's one of my favorite picture books as well.<br /><br />Stanley continues to love <em>Bright House, Night House</em>.<br /><br />Kristen hasn't been feeling well, so I've been reading to both of the girls, meaning that they get less reading time individually than when we split up so Kristen reads to one of them and I read to the other. I'm going to try to find something they can both listen to together, since things aren't going to improve much once the baby comes. Jen at <a href="http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=12470336&postID=111471442155437644">Time for Reading</a> suggested <em>My Father's Dragon</em>. Jaymie has heard and read this several times, but I'm sure she would enjoy it again. Julia has heard this book on tape before, so maybe this might work.<br /><br />I picked up <em>Hank the Cowdog</em> on tape and in book form at a used book sale recently. The girls have both enjoyed hearing this book during their quiet time. They've started quoting from it. I've never read it, so I don't have much else to say about it. I noticed that there are many books in the series, so we may get some more of these.Brycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05269470725503528415noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268454.post-1115009290180880922005-05-02T00:39:00.000-04:002005-05-02T00:48:10.183-04:00Read-alouds vs. MoviesI'm almost done reading <em>The Silver Chair</em> to Jaymie. She is prone to bad dreams when she sees scary, violent, or intense movies, and I was worried when we started that the book would be too disturbing for her. However, we finished reading the worst parts on Friday (when Prince Rilian kills the Lady of the Green Kirtle in the form of a giant green serpent), and although she was concerned that she might have bad dreams, she slept just fine that night.<br /><br />Even though read-alouds and movies are similar in that they are both experienced somewhat passively, there is a difference between the two. Read-alouds engage the imagination more than movies. With a read-aloud, what the mind's eye sees is entirely up to the listener. Perhaps this is why Jaymie seems to handle scary read-alouds better than scary movies -- it could be that it is more difficult to imagine the action in a book subconsciously than it is to recall the images presented on a movie or TV screen.<br /><br />In other read-aloud news, we didn't have lots of reading time this weekend due to various activities. As an alternative to our usual reading, I've started reading poems to the girls at night when we don't have much time to read. We're starting with selections from Shel Silverstein's <em>Where the Sidewalk Ends</em>Brycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05269470725503528415noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268454.post-1114564365694071442005-04-26T21:09:00.000-04:002005-04-26T21:13:52.196-04:00New read-aloud blogI've linked to Jill's readaloud blog, <a href="http://jillsfavoritebooks.blogspot.com/">Jill's Favorite books</a>, in the sidebar. Check it out!<br /><br />Karen over at <a href="http://onemorechapter.blogspot.com/">Just One More Chapter?</a> is taking a break. Hopefully she'll be back posting soon.<br /><br />If you've got a readaloud blog you want linked, let me know. Part of my goal in creating this blog was to find/create a community of parents who read to their kids.Brycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05269470725503528415noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268454.post-1114488500266769022005-04-25T23:57:00.000-04:002005-04-26T00:11:42.610-04:00Newbery Award winnersI'm about halfway through <em>The Silver Chair</em> with Jaymie. She's very anxious to finish it -- she asks every day if we're going to have time to read. Unfortunately, we were very busy today, and didn't have a chance to read tonight.<br /><br />On Sunday I started a little project. The family of one of my college roommates had a big chart hanging in their kitchen listing all of the Newbery award winners, and who in the family had read which of the books. I decided to try this for myself. Unfortunately, it turns out that there aren't any convenient tabular lists of Newbery award and honor books to be found using Google, so I spent an hour and made one myself. If you're interested in a copy, let me know how to contact you in a comment or an email, and I'll send it to you. I've got it in an Access database, but I can send an Excel spreadsheet, a tab-delimited text file, a .csv file, or any other format you can imagine.<br /><br />I've read surprisingly few of the Newbery award winners. I suspect this has something to do with the fact that award-winning children's books are not necessarily the most fun books for kids to read. They may be great literature, but they may not be great reading. I think I'll try using the Newberys as a source for read-alouds. One thing I notice in looking at the list is that most of the books deal with themes and issues that are worth talking about with my children, and reading these books with them will create opportunities to have discussions about them.<br /><br />I read Robert Lawson's <em>The Great Wheel</em> (1958 Newbery Honor book) last week, and I may try it as a read-aloud. It tells the story of the first Ferris wheel, which was also the largest ever built (I believe this is still the case). The story focuses on an Irish immigrant who comes to America to pursue his dream -- along with the detailed descriptions of the building of the Ferris wheel, which was an engineering marvel, there is much discussion of immigrant life, the American dream, and class mobility. I think the subject matter is just about right for Jaymie, but the level at which the story is told is probably too difficult for her to handle on her own, so reading this book aloud seems to make sense.<br /><br />I gave Jaymie <em>The Door in the Wall</em> by Marguerite de Angeli (1950 medal winner) to read this morning. We'll see if she makes it through. I remember starting this book several times as a kid and never making it to the end.Brycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05269470725503528415noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268454.post-1113876544385987122005-04-18T22:06:00.000-04:002005-04-18T22:09:04.386-04:00My Sonlight quest, and another used book saleDurham Academy had a used book sale last week -- I stopped by three times, and bought probably close to 80 books. The last day books were going for $1.00 per grocery bag -- I got two bags full. Probably the best find was <em>Art Fraud Detective</em>. It's an interactive book -- 30+ paintings from the National Gallery in London have been replaced with forgeries, and your job is to compare the paintings with the images from the museum catalog to determine which ones have been changed and how. Jaymie has been working on it every waking moment for the past three or four days.<br /><br />I've started to keep track of how many of the books in the Sonlight catalog we can collect by going to library sales and other used book sales. We have about 115 of roughly 670 books in the catalog -- about 30 of them were bought at the Durham Academy sale.<br /><br />I started reading <em>The Silver Chair</em> by C.S. Lewis to Jaymie tonight. Stanley is surprisingly interested in <em>The Magic Schoolbus</em> books (Joanna Cole, illustrated by Bruce Degen) -- he will sit through an entire reading of one, and then ask for it again. I tried reading <em>Chocolate Fever</em> by Robert Kimmel Smith to Julia, thinking that she might be ready for some longer format books, but she wasn't really interested.Brycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05269470725503528415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268454.post-1113188258154595352005-04-10T22:43:00.000-04:002005-04-10T22:57:38.156-04:00Some booksWell, I've neglected this blog long enough. We haven't been very good about reading to the kids over the past few weeks -- lots of sickness and busyness.<br /><br />Kristen started reading <em>The Hero and the Crown</em> by Robin McKinley to Jaymie, but they decided that it was "too old" for her, so they ended up reading <em>The Cat Who Went To Heaven</em> by Elizabeth Coatsworth instead (both are Newbery Award winners, if that means anything.). Jaymie really liked it a lot. It has cats and artists -- what's not to like?<br /><br />Jaymie has been reading Dick King-Smith lately (<em>The Mouse Butcher</em> and <em>Jenius, the Amazing Guinea Pig</em>), as well as lots of Boxcar Children, and another Amber Brown book. I went to the library book fair last week and came home with a bunch of new books for her to read -- she's been plowing through them.<br /><br />Julia and I have been reading whatever she pulls off the shelves at night. The last few nights she's asked for <em>Animalogies</em>, a book of analogies about animals written by kids, <em>Blueberries for Sal</em> by Robert McCloskey, and <em>McBroom's Zoo</em> by Sid Fleischman. Other reads include Arthur books by Marc Brown.<br /><br />Stanley has grown attached to <em>Night House, Bright House</em> a picture rhyming book. It's a fun book, but can be tedious to read over and over again. He also recently discovered <em>Whose Mouse are You?</em>. He really likes Laura Numeroff's <em>If You Give a Mouse a Cookie</em> as well.<br /><br />Kristen scored big at the library book sale -- there were three boxes full of Christmas books, and I brought home about ten of them, including a couple on her wish list. I'll put up a list of our Christmas books later.<br /><br />I think I'm going to read <em>The Silver Chair</em> by C.S. Lewis with Jaymie next. I keep thinking that Julia's getting ready for longer books, but I haven't tried one yet. She enjoys listening to books on tape.<br /><br />I tried reading <em>A Visit to William Blake's Inn</em> to Jaymie and Julia tonight, but Julia lost interest -- it may be too much for her. The book is a series of poems about an inn run by William Blake. There is a very loose narrative structure that runs throughout the book, but not enough to engage Julia, apparently. I may try again in a couple of weeks, since I really like the book.Brycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05269470725503528415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268454.post-1111631073548240682005-03-23T21:17:00.000-05:002005-03-23T21:25:17.886-05:00A book sale, and my cataloging projectWe've had sick kids, so we haven't read a whole lot this week.<br /><br />Kristen started reading <em>The Wind in the Willows</em> to Jaymie tonight. Amazingly, neither Kristen nor I have read it yet.<br /><br />Last Thursday I went to a book sale at a local private school, and came away with about 40 books for $4.00. We were very excited. There were a bunch of <em>Magic Schoolbus</em> books (some from the original series by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen, some based on the TV series). All of the kids love these right now, including Stanley, surprisingly enough. Another find was <em>King Bidgood's in the Bathtub</em> by Audrey and Don Wood.<br /><br />When I got home, I became curious about the number of children's books we had in the house. I borrowed a bar code reader from work, downloaded a copy of <a href="http://www.readerware.com">Readerware</a>, and set to work cataloging our collection. We have about 500 children's books that we own, plus about 30-40 at any time from the library, which surprised me -- I would have put the number at about half of that figure.<br /><br />The long-term project is to have a searchable database of our family library available online. For now, maybe I'll highlight a few books each week from our collection that we really like, especially since Julia keeps picking dreck like <em>The Lion King</em> Little Golden Books that we have.Brycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05269470725503528415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268454.post-1110935750340350742005-03-15T20:08:00.000-05:002005-03-15T20:15:50.343-05:00read to Jaymie and Julia, March 15, 2005Wow, I haven't posted in a while. I finally finished reading <em>The Voyage of the Dawn Treader</em> to Jaymie. This was a more challenging read-aloud for her -- lots of nautical terminology and courtly language. She spaced out more than once during the reading. Still, she liked it, and was disappointed on the nights that we didn't read.<br /><br />I liked reading it to her. The episodic structure of the plot lends itself nicely to reading aloud over a number of nights. Plus I got to read the word "poop" a lot (It took Jaymie a while to realize I wasn't joking).<br /><br />Rather than try to catch up, I'll just start again with what we read tonight. Kristen wasn't feeling well, so I read to both Jaymie and Julia.<br /><br /><em>Grandpa's Teeth</em> by Rod Clement. Someone has stolen Grandpa's teeth from the glass by his bed, and the whole town is under suspicion. To avoid appearing guilty, everyone must walk around smiling all the time, with disastrous consequences. A fun read-aloud if you like to do silly voices, as Grandpa gums all of his words. From the Library<br /><br /><em>The Littlest Matryoshka</em> by Corinne Demas Bliss, illustrated by Kathryn Brown The adventures of a little matryoshka doll who is separated from her older sisters. A nice story for girls, especially. We bought this book for the girls along with matryoshkas for their very own a couple of Christmases ago.Brycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05269470725503528415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268454.post-1109819786178011452005-03-02T22:15:00.000-05:002005-03-02T22:16:26.180-05:00Reading from the past weekI haven't been very good about updating this past week, in part because I'm reading <em>The Voyage fo the Dawn Treader</em> to Jaymie now in the evenings, while Kristen reads to Julia, so I don't have much new to report on a nightly basis, and I don't know exactly what's being read to Julia. Here's a list of some of the library books she's heard over the past few days:<br /><br /><em>Heckedy Peg</em> by Don and Audrey Wood. I've listed this before, but this is a great favorite of Julia's.<br /><em>The Spooky Tail of Prewitt Peacock</em> and <em>Cock-A-Doodle-Dudley</em> by Bill Peet. Also listed before, and often requested by Julia.<br /><em>Thidwick, the Big-Hearted Moose</em> by Dr. Seuss. I loved this book as a kid, so I got it for Julia. I think she liked it.<br /><em>And to Think that I Saw It on Mulberry Street</em> by Dr. Seuss. I've been getting a lot of Dr. Seuss for Julia. I realized a while ago that our kids have never heard a lot of these stories.<br /><em>John Philip Duck</em> by Patricia Polacco. Patricia Polacco is a favorite around our house. I haven't read this one myself yet.<br /><em>Ira Says Goodbye</em> by Bernard Waber. I haven't read this one either, but it's the same Ira from <em>Ira Sleeps Over</em>, which we like around here.<br /><br />Stanley's been requesting <em>If You Give a Mouse a Cookie</em> by Laura Numeroff several times a day. He also has asked for our copy of <em>The Magic Schoolbus: Lost in the Solar System</em> by Joanna Cole, illustrated by Bruce Degen. Surprisingly, he sits through the whole book, which is quite a bit longer than his usual fare. I'm not sure what he likes about it. He is familiar with the TV program based on the books, since we have borrowed some of them from the library, so perhaps that is what is keeping his attention.Brycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05269470725503528415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268454.post-1109122477764486422005-02-22T20:34:00.000-05:002005-02-22T20:34:37.763-05:00Read on Feb. 22, 2005Kristen read to Julia tonight:
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<br /><em>Heckedy Peg</em>, <em>The Spooky Tail of Prewitt Peacock</em>, and <em>And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street</em>.
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<br />I read another chapter of <em>The Voyage of the Dawn Treader</em> to Jaymie.Brycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05269470725503528415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268454.post-1109035016074819082005-02-21T20:15:00.000-05:002005-02-21T20:16:56.076-05:00Read to Julia, February 21, 2005We went to the library today and got some new books:<br /><br /><em>Heckedy Peg</em> by Audrey Wood, illustrated by Don Wood. A mean witch turns a family of children into food, but their mother rescues them by figuring out who is who. A creepy story, well told and beautifully illustrated. This is a family favorite. Borrowed from the library.<br /><br /><em>First Tomato</em> by Rosemary Wells. I thought this was a Max and Ruby story, but it isn't. Kristen said it's kind of weird. Borrowed from the library.<br /><br /><em>Doctor DeSoto</em> by William Steig. Another favorite. Doctor DeSoto is a dentist with a fox for a client. He's worried that the fox is planning on eating him at the next visit, but Doctor DeSoto has some tricks up his sleeve. Classic William Steig. A Newbery Honor book. Borrowed from the library.<br /><br />I read another chapter of <em>The Voyage of the Dawn Treader</em> to Jaymie.<br /><br />Julia begged for <em>Horton Hatches the Egg</em> but we couldn't find it.<br /><br />I read <em>I Can Fly</em> and <em>Chicka Chicka Boom Boom</em> to Stanley.<br /><br />Jaymie read a story about a pirate lassoing the moon to some girl while we were at the library. She wants to borrow it when it is available next. The dance teacher at the library recommended it to them.Brycehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05269470725503528415noreply@blogger.com0