Day 207: Go, Dog, Go!

My inspiration for today's post came in the strangest of places.  This past weekend, we attended my brother's college graduation.  Like other people with small children, we happily situated ourselves at the back of audience so that we could get up and let the kids run around a bit outside if need be.  At one point towards the end of the 2 1/2 hour ceremony, my daughter was sitting in my lap, snuggling up against me and talking quietly to herself.  It didn't take me long to notice that she was reciting part of a story. "Stop, dog, stop!  The light is red.  Go, dog, go!  It's green ahead."  She repeated these phrases to herself for a while, unaware that I was listening, occasionally mentioning some of the story's other lines, as well:  "You're almost there.  Stop at that tree.  Climb that ladder to a dog party!" The story?  Go, Dog, Go!, a classic early reader book by P.D. Eastman.  We've actually been reading the abridged board book version (Go, Dog, Go! P.D. Eastman's Book of Things That Go, shown below), but both are wonderfully fun.  The simple, repetitive, rhyming text, and the silly, colorful pictures make this book a great one for emerging readers and toddlers, alike.  This book was also one of the first that my son ever read aloud by himself.  I'm surprised I haven't featured it on here yet!

Books like this one are classics for a reason.  Something about them magically connects and sticks with children across generations.  I can count on one hand the number of times we have read that story in the past month, and yet there was my daughter, not yet 3, reciting parts of it from memory over and over to herself.  Don't you just love the way those little minds work? They never cease to amaze me.

If you haven't yet checked out the works of P.D. Eastman, look for them the next time you are the library.  Go, Dog, Go! and Are You My Mother? are both delightfully fun.

Day 191: Should I Share My Ice Cream?

Mo Willems might just be our household's favorite children's author.  Whether it's Gerald and Piggie, the beloved bus-obsessed Pigeon, Knuffle Bunny and Trixie, or Leonardo the Terrible Monster, we just can't get enough of Mo's characters.  I thought about saving this book until we're having more ice cream friendly weather, but we've been loving this story so much lately that I just couldn't wait!  

If you know Elephant and Piggie, you know how fabulous and funny their books are.  If you don't, you need to go to the library and get some of them immediately.  Seriously.  They are an absolute must for any preschooler's collection.  Mo Willems has the amazing ability to draw simple, yet wonderfully expressive characters while telling fabulously funny stories with easy-to-read text.  These were some of the very first books my son ever read on his own, and while we loved these books long before he could read, I appreciate their brilliance even more now.  We love all of the tales in the Elephant and Piggie series, but this is among our favorites.  It's one of my daughter's most requested stories at the moment, despite the fact that it's silliness always gets her more excited than sleepy at bedtime and naptime.  On second thought, maybe that's why she likes it so much...  

Gerald loves ice cream, and in this fantastically fun story, he is trying to decide whether to share his delicious treat with his best friend, Piggie.  It's so yummy, Piggie will be sure to love it, too... But wait!  Piggie is not there!  She'll never know he had the ice cream... But it would make her so happy to have some.  Should Gerald share his ice cream with her??  We've all been there before, haven't we?  I know my kids can certainly relate.  They know it's nice and polite to share with others, but as we all know, sometimes that's easier said than done... especially when it comes to something as delicious as ice cream!  The silly series of events throughout this story is bound to make your little ones laugh out loud, and my guess is you'll think this book is pretty hilarious, too.  And don't be afraid to get silly and carried away while you read it aloud.  It's much more fun that way!  While the ensuing giggle-fests might not be the most conducive to sleep at bedtime, this story is an all-around awesome read at any time of day.  

Day 184: See Me Run

We looked for this book at our local library after seeing it was a Theodore Seuss Geisel honoree winner for 2012.  If you've never heard of the Geisel award, it is given annually to the author and illustrator of the "most distinguished American book for beginning readers published in English" (according to the
ALA's website.)  It is no surprise that the best early reader books would be honored in the name of the great Dr. Seuss, and we have a few other previous winners on our bookshelves that we absolutely love:  Mo Willems' Are You Ready to Play Outside (2009) and There is a Bird on Your Head! (2008), and Cynthia Rylant's Henry and Mudge and the Great Grandpas (2006.)  Now, some people probably won't be impressed with this book because at a quick glance, it might not seem like anything special.  There are only a few words on each page with some silly pictures of dogs.  But let me assure you:  if you have a child who is just learning to read, this is the perfect book!

See Me Run is an "I Like to Read" book, published by Holiday House and written by Paul Meisel.  The award winning books I mentioned above are all considered "Early Readers," though I have learned that there is a great deal of variety when it comes to this genre.  For example, "I Like to Read" books are different from "I Can Read!" books, such as those in the Frog and Toad, Little Critter, and Amelia Bedelia series. I'll have to do a little research on this to find out more about specific reading levels within the broad category called "Early Readers," but from what I can tell about the "I Like to Read" books by Holiday House, they are a great starting point for beginning -- and I mean just beginning -- readers.  (To learn more about the "I Like to Read" series, visit the Holiday House brochure about them here.)

As soon as we got this book home, my son took it out and we sat down to read it together.  I started to read it to him, but he immediately stopped me and said, "No, no, I can read it myself!"  And he did.  Pretty effortlessly.  I watched his face as he read, and with each turn of the page, his smile got a little bigger. Part of this was due to the silly story itself, but a lot of it had to do with the fact that this was a story he could easily and comfortably read all by himself.  For a beginning reader, this is a powerful thing.  This is what I think makes this book so great.  We love the Frog and Toad and Henry and Mudge series, and those are considered "Early Readers," too, but they are several steps and reading levels above See Me Run.  I am extremely lucky in that reading appears to be something that has come quite easily to my son, but I would imagine that this book will provide many struggling or emerging readers with the boost of confidence they need to feel successful and good about reading.  The text is short, there are familiar sight words, and there is just the right amount of repetition to make kids' reading become more fluid as they go along.  I even caught my 2 year old daughter "reading" this book by herself this morning, which made her quite proud.  ("I can read it all by myselfs!")  Plus, the pictures of the dogs are cute and fun, and the ending is even sillier.  If your child is just starting to read or you are having trouble finding a good, true "Early Reader," we highly recommend this book.