2013 Holiday Gift Guide!

Books are always among my favorite gifts to give and receive, for a whole variety of reasons.  If you're looking for gift ideas for your little one this holiday season, here are a few of our favorites:

New favorite finds of 2013:

The Day the Crayons Quit, by Drew Daywalt, illustrated by Oliver Jeffers

Journey, by Aaron Becker

Extra Yarn, by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Jon Klassen

On a Beam of Light, by Jennifer Berne, illustrated by Vladimir Radunsky

Sleep Like a Tiger, by Mary Logue, illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski

  I'm a Frog! by Mo Willems 

What we're putting under the tree for our kids this year (I can't wait!):

Andrew Henry's Meadow by Doris Burn (I am SO excited to add this to our home library!)

The Animal Book by Steve Jenkins (Daddy's pick -- our little guy will LOVE this!!)




Other classic favorites:

Silly fun!

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! by Mo Willems

We Are in a Book! by Mo Willems

The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Axel Scheffler


King Arthur's Very Great Grandson by Kenneth Kraegel


For your animal lover:

Over in the Jungle by Maryann Berkes

Over in the Ocean by Maryann Berkes

National Geographic's Animal Encyclopedia

Dinosaurs!

Flip-O-Saurus by Sara Ball

For your truck lover:

Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site by Sherri Duskey Rinker, illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld

Little Blue Truck, by Alice Schertle, illustrated by Jill McElmurry



For your little inventor:

If I Built a House, by Chris Van Dusen

If I Built a Car, by Chris Van Dusen


Our favorite chapter books:

Henry and Mudge series by Cynthia Rylant

The Magic Treehouse series by Mary Pope Osborne

Day 216: The Day the Crayons Quit

Last weekend, I had the immense pleasure of browsing in a bookstore all by myself.  I immediately went to the children's section, of course, and spent over an hour picking books off the shelf and reading them at my leisure.  It was wonderful.  I had a gift card to this fabulous little independent bookstore, and I was eager to bring home a few new books for my kids.  I was tempted to get The Circus Ship and a few other titles that are on our "must own"list, but I decided instead to bring home a few fabulous books that we had never read or seen before.  I had heard about The Day the Crayons Quit, and knew as soon as I read it that my kids would absolutely love it.  I could hear my kids giggling as I sat reading this delightful story written by Drew Daywalt and illustrated by Oliver Jeffers, and couldn't wait to get home and read it to them.  It was as big a hit as I thought it would be!

In The Day the Crayons Quit, Duncan opens his box of crayons to color one day and is greeted by a pile of letters, one from each crayon.  Each crayon has taken a moment to tell Duncan how they really feel, and their personalities and voices are fantastic. Red is tired of never having holidays off, orange and yellow aren't speaking to each other because each is convinced he is the true color of the sun, and blue has been used so much he is too stubby to see over the railing of the crayon box anymore.  Black is sick of always being an outline -- is it too much to ask for a black beach ball sometime? -- gray is exhausted from always coloring huge animals like elephants and hippos and humpback whales, and peach crayon has lost all of his paper and is embarrassed to leave the box because he's naked!  Only green seems happy about coloring all of those dinosaurs and trees, though he can't wait for yellow and orange to finally settle their dispute.  All Duncan wants to do is color, but he wants his crayons to be happy.  What can he do?  The story has an adorable ending and I just love the creativity it inspires.  My husband and I enjoy reading it just as much as our children do, and we have yet to read it just once in a sitting.

If you're looking for a great, fun new story to read with your child, this one won't disappoint.  Teachers might find reading this story is a great way to introduce voice, point of view, and persuasion in children's writing, not to mention encouraging them to think outside the box with their art and creativity.  This story is definitely going to rank among our favorite books published in 2013, and I'm thrilled it now has a place in our home library.

Buy new at Amazon for just $10.49

by clicking the image above!

Valentine's Day Gift Ideas

Say "I Love You" with a book!

If you've been following this blog for a while, you know how much I love to give books as gifts.  I've mentioned some of the many reasons why in the past, but each time a holiday comes around -- especially one like Valentine's Day or Easter that otherwise tends to be celebrated with excessive amounts of candy -- I find myself getting excited to pick out a new book to give my kids in honor of the occasion.  (And don't worry. Chocolate is still involved.)  Fortunately, I can happily report that my kids get more excited about new books than any kind of candy or edible treat.  And by "new," I simply mean "new to them."  I pick up most of our books at the used book sales at our local library for about $.25 a piece, then hang on to them for future gifting.  I did splurge this year and buy brand new ones for my kids for Valentine's Day, but Barefoot Books was having such a fabulous sale recently that I couldn't resist.  (My daughter will be getting the singalong Up, Up, Up!, and my son will be getting Up and Down the Andes.)  While their new books have nothing at all to do with Valentine's Day, here are a few of our favorites that would make perfect gifts for your little Valentine:

 Snuggle Puppy by Sandra Boynton

 Guess How Much I Love You? by Sam McBratney

 On the Night You Were Born by Nancy Tillman

 Someday by Alison McGhee

For Daddy:

 I Love My Daddy Because... by Laurel Porter-Gaylord 

For Mommy:  

 I Love My Mommy Because... by Laurel Porter-Gaylord

From a younger sibling to an older one:

I Can't Talk Yet, But When I Do... by Julie Markes