5-a-day Books

Last year, I read about this fun little idea on one of my favorite crafty, creative children's blogs, The Imagination Tree.  The idea, "5-a-day-books," is simple:  pick five of your favorite stories (either from home or the library) and read them with your child every day for at least a week.  The point is to help familiarize children with the words, rhythm, meter, inflection, and all of the other wonderful literacy skills that come from reading (and being read to) aloud.  Picture books with strong rhythm or repetitive verses tend to work best, since children can memorize and recall such stories more easily than others.  As mentioned on the Imagination Tree, reading books in this way empowers children "to be able to "read" and re-tell stories from a young age, and also makes them very fluent in a range of text types and literature styles."

I loved this idea, and have come back to it with my little ones from time to time.  If you're like we are, you'll probably realize that you already do this to some extent anyway, so it won't be hard to try.  I think most children go through phases of favorite books; I know mine certainly do.  I have had some of our favorite stories memorized for ages, as has my son, and I love when I hear him quoting books while he is playing.

A friend of mine heard about this today, too, and asked if I wanted to do it with her.  Of course, I said yes!  So, I figured I'd share a post about 5-a-day books on here today, as well, in case any of you would like to join in on the fun!  Feel free to post your list of five-a-day books in the comments below, or jump over to the Imagination Tree to share your books there.  While my son has been wanting to read some of the same books every night lately, I figured I'd start with my daughter's list, especially since her favorites at the moment have all been featured on the blog somewhere along the way.  Happy reading!

Book 1:  Listen, Listen by Phillis Gershator

Book 2:  Bear On a Bike by Stella Blackstone

Book 3:  Bear's Birthday by Stella Blackstone (little E is rather obsessed with Bear these days)

Book 4:  Spot Loves His Daddy by Eric Hill (my link is for Spot Loves His Mommy, but I figure it's close enough :)

Book 5:  From Head to Toe by Eric Carle

Enjoy, and please feel free to share your list below!

Day 133: How to Make an Apple Pie and see the world

If you’ve been following this blog for a while now, you know how much I love books that teach me (and my kids) new things.  Combine that with a book that takes us around the world, includes a map, and uses some fabulous new vocabulary words, and it’s pretty much guaranteed I will love it.  My sister-in-law gave us this book for Christmas (thanks, Kate!), and it was love at first read.  Not only does it have all of the amazing qualities mentioned above, but it's also about one of my children's other favorite things: baking!  How To Make an Apple Pie and see the world is a wonderful book for preschoolers, but I will definitely read it to my seventh grade geography students some day, too.  It starts out with a girl reading a list of apple pie’s ingredients:  apples, flour, sugar, cinnamon, salt, butter, egg.  “Making an apple pie is really very easy.  First, get all the ingredients at the market.  Mix them well, bake, and serve.  Unless, of course, the market is closed.”  Then what?  Where do all of these yummy ingredients actually come from, anyway?  This fantastic story takes us on a journey to collect them all from various places around the world:  semolina wheat from Italy, a chicken and egg from France, cinnamon from the bark of Sri Lanka’s kurundu trees, milk from an English cow (“you’ll know she’s an English cow from her good manners and charming accent”), sea water and sugar cane from Jamaica, and apples from Vermont.  Once we’ve collected all the ingredients, we can easily make our pie, right?  Sure!  All we have to do now is “mill the wheat into flour, grind the kurundu bark into cinnamon, evaporate the sea water from the salt, boil the sugar cane, persuade the chicken to lay an egg, milk the cow, churn the milk into butter, slice the apples, mix the ingredients and bake the pie!”  Isn’t it wonderful?!  I love the way this story gets children thinking about where our food actually comes from, and how much we depend on other countries and people of the world every day.  We love tracing our route along the map in the book and remembering where we went to get what. Along the way, author Marjorie Price also teaches us some great new words, such as superb, acquaintance, elegant, and coax.  Be sure to check out the recipe at the end of the book, too.  Perhaps your little ones will even want to make their own pies after reading this great book!  While you may not be able to take them around the world to get the ingredients, talk about where different foods come from the next time you go to the store.  Take a look at the different items around your house that you use every day, too, while you’re at it.  Where were they made?  What countries do you depend on each day?  If your child loves baking, exploring, learning, dreaming, traveling, or even just reading a great new book, this one is bound to be a hit.

Day 132: The Curious Garden

We haven’t even had snow here yet this winter and I’m already thinking about spring!  The worst part is, it hasn’t even really been that cold here yet (though I hear it’s coming this week...)  In thinking about the chilly week that lies ahead, all I want to do is snuggle up on the couch with my little ones and a cup of tea and read some of the new (and wonderful!) books that they got for Christmas.  They got several stories we have been hoping to add to our personal collection for some time, as well as some other new titles I hadn’t heard of before.  One lovely new book my son got from his Uncle Jeff is Peter Brown’s The Curious Garden.  We’ve read it each night at bedtime for the past few days, as well as at some other times in between.  Each time we read it, I manage to love it even more, and I’m so happy that my son enjoys it as much as I do.  The book has a wonderfully soothing quality to it (hence why we love reading it at bedtime), and the subtle language Brown uses throughout is as beautiful as his illustrations.  The Curious Garden tells the story of a young boy named Liam, who stumbles upon a few plants growing in the unlikeliest of places:  a old, abandoned railway in the middle of the dreary, gray city he calls home.  Fortunately for the plants (and later, for the rest of the city), Liam is determined to help them grow.  “Most gardens stay in one place,” but as Liam soon learns, “this was no ordinary garden.  With miles of open railway ahead of it, the garden was growing restless.  It wanted to explore.  The tough little weeds and mosses were the first to move.  They popped up farther and farther down the tracks and were closely followed by the more delicate plants...”  By the end of the summer, Liam and his garden have made their way to every corner of the railway.  But then, as it does, winter arrives, and Liam can no longer spend his days exploring his garden.  Instead, he busies himself preparing for the next growing season ahead, and before he knows it, more than just new plants are popping up:  a whole community of new gardeners is popping up, too.  As the months and years pass, Liam’s garden and spirit grows, until the entire city has blossomed into one lovely arboretum.  It’s lovely to picture, isn’t it?  I just love Brown’s early juxtaposition of the beautiful, thriving plants and the city’s boarded-up windows and pollution-spewing smokestacks, and his pictures of the garden city in the final pages of the book are inspiring and wonderful.  I especially love reading the author’s note at the end.  If you ever read this book, don’t pass it by.  Turns out, Liam’s railway is based on Manhattan’s old elevated railway, the High Line, and the gardens which now grace its rails.  More importantly, though, you’ll share in Brown’s sense of wonder and curiosity about nature and our place in it.  The jacket cover describes The Curious Garden as “a magical story about a boy’s dream and how the efforts of one small person can help change the world.”  In the same vein as one of my all-time favorite stories, Miss Rumphius, The Curious Garden inspires me to make the world a more beautiful place, and give my children the tools, compassion, and desire to do the same.

Day 131: The Polar Express

Chris Van Allsburg's classic, The Polar Express, is always at the top of my Christmas reading list.  I actually just read it with my son for the first time this year, but I remember reading it with my brothers each year when they were younger.  It is a beautiful story that captures the magic and wonder of Christmas; one that is bound to bring you back to your own childhood every time you read it.  I still remember lying in bed at my grandmother's house on Christmas Eve, knowing that I should fall asleep, but determined to hear Santa's sleigh land on the roof above me.  One year, I was convinced I heard the pitter patter of hooves up there.  I still feel that same sense of wonder each Christmas Eve, even though now I have little ones of my own who can't fall asleep in that same room of my grandmother's farm house.  Van Allsburg's classic tells the story of a young boy who is magically transported to the North Pole one Christmas Eve aboard the Polar Express.  If you're at all familiar with Van Allsburg's work, you know that his illustrations are gorgeous.  In the Polar Express, I love the contrast between the cold, dark images of the winter night and the warmth within the train.  But I also love the timelessness of the story itself.  Upon arriving at the North Pole, our young narrator is chosen by Santa to be the lucky recipient of the first gift of Christmas.  His request?  A silver bell from Santa's sleigh.  Once back on the train, the other children are eager to see the bell, but our poor narrator realizes he has lost it.  All that lies in his robe pocket is a hole.  Christmas morning, however, he opens a tiny box to find the bell, along with a note from "Mr. C" himself.  Overwhelmed with joy, he shakes the bell, which makes the most beautiful sound he and his sister have ever heard.  "Oh, that's too bad," said his mother.  "Yes," said his father, "it's broken."  When he'd shaken the bell, his parents had not heard a sound.   I'll admit that I'm overly sentimental, but the last page sometimes brings a tear to my eye:  "At one time most of my friends could hear the bell, but as years passed, it fell silent for all of them.  Even Sarah found one Christmas that she could no longer hear its sweet sound.  Though I've grown old, the bell still rings for me as it does for all who truly believe."  If I were with the narrator, I know I would hear the bell.  I believe.  But I know that someday, my children will question whether Santa is real.  I hope they always believe in the magic and wonder of the season as I do, and that they, too, would hear the bell ringing.  This beautiful book makes a wonderful Christmas gift for children of all ages, and I know it is one we will read and enjoy in my family for years to come.  May your holiday be filled with all the wonder, magic, and love of the season.  

Day 130: Owl Moon

Owl Moon is one of our favorite wintertime reads.  Together, author Jane Yolen and illustrator John Schoenherr have created a beautiful masterpiece about a young girl's owling adventure with her father.  "It was late one winter night, long past my bedtime, when Pa and I went owling.  There was no wind.  The trees stood still as giant statues.  And the moon was so bright the sky seemed to shine."  Father and daughter head into the cold, wintry woods in search of a great horned owl.  Throughout the story, Yolen's descriptive verse enables us to feel the girl's growing anticipation and excitement at the prospect of finally seeing one, the way her brothers have before her.  I also love the way we can feel the cold of the night throughout the book, and I am always reminded me of how my cousins and I used to cross-country ski in the moonlight on my grandmother's farm when we were younger.  Anyone who has taken a walk on a cold winter night will appreciate such descriptions as, "I could feel the cold, as if someone's icy hand was palm-down on my back.  And my nose and the tops of my cheeks felt cold and hot at the same time."  Or, "My mouth felt furry, for the scarf over it was wet and warm."  I just love that particular line for some reason.  Schoenherr's illustrations, which earned the book the Caldecott Medal in 1988, are a stunning complement to Yolen's story, as well.  From the darkness of the woods to the blue light cast by moonlight on the snow, his watercolor illustrations are simply gorgeous.  If you haven't yet discovered this wonderful winter tale (or other books by Jane Yolen), look for it the next time you are at your library.  It is perfect for reading on a cold winter night or at any time of year.

Day 129: How the Grinch Stole Christmas

There are so many classic books to read at this time of year.  I always love story time, but for some reason, snuggling up to read bedtime stories before Christmas feels (as my son would say) "the coziest of all."  I've already featured some of the books that are on heavy rotation at our house in December, but this is one of our favorites!  We love Dr. Seuss' books and his whimsically wonderful style, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas is no exception.   Like many people, I would imagine, I grew up looking forward to watching the Grinch on television each Christmas season, but I actually never had the book until I had children.  The classic movie, of course, is essentially an animated recitation of the book, with a few songs added in for good measure.  I have always loved the message of the story, so I was thrilled to get the book as a hand-me-down from a relative a few years back.  I always make it a point to emphasize my favorite lines when I'm reading this with my son, which, in my opinion, are increasingly more relevant in this era of over-the-top Christmas commercialism.   If you've read the book or seen the movie, you must know the part.  (And if you haven't, my apologies for not giving a synopsis here -- but you must read it!)  "Every Who down in Who-ville, the tall and the small, was singing!  Without any presents at all!  He hadn't stopped Christmas from coming!  It came!  Somehow or other, it came just the same!  And the Grinch, with his grinch-feet ice-cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling:  "How could it be so?  It came without ribbons!  It came without tags!  It came without packages, boxes or bags!"  And he puzzled three hours, till his puzzler was sore.  Then the Grinch though of something he hadn't before. "Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store.  Maybe Christmas... perhaps... means a little bit more!"  I hope my children always understand the true meaning and magic of Christmas, and feel the joy, love, and wonder of the season the way the Whos do.  And while the book doesn't contain the closing lines from the movie, I think they are well worth repeating here, too:  "Welcome, Christmas, bring your cheer. Cheer to all Whos far and near.  Christmas Day is in our grasp, so long as we have hands to clasp.  Christmas Day will always be just as long as we have we.  Welcome Christmas while we stand, heart to heart, and hand in hand."

Day 128: The Night Before Christmas

We have many favorite stories here in our house, but the list of those we read most often changes throughout the year.  All of our winter and Christmas books live together on my son's bookshelf, but once December rolls around, they take their place in a big pile on his bedside table.  One my children's favorites that we read every night at this time of year is Clement Clarke Moore's classic, The Night Before Christmas.   Originally entitled "A Visit from St. Nicholas," Moore's poem was written as a Christmas gift for his wife and six children in 1822.  My son received a lift the flap hardcover board book edition of this poem for his very first Christmas when he was only nine days old, and I have loved reading it to him ever since.  I actually saw our version (shown above) on the bargain bookshelf at Barnes and Noble the other day for only $7.98, in case you're interested.  There are many different versions of this book, some of which are simply gorgeous, but with two eager young ones who love peeking under the flaps, I'm glad we have the one we do.  The board book pages are incredibly sturdy, and we love the advent-style of of the lift the flap feature.   My son particularly loves seeing what is inside some of the presents, and the snowball-making bunnies are pretty cute, as well.  We have read this story so many times that I have the whole thing memorized, and my son loves when I turn out the light and tell it to him again as he is falling asleep.  (And I'll admit, I love curling up next to him and reciting it to him, too.)  "Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.  The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there..."  I considered waiting to post this story until the actual night before Christmas, but decided to share it now since we actually read it all month long.  This poem has already created so many wonderful memories for me of reading with my children, especially at this magical time of year.  As winter draws nearer, I wish you and your children many cozy evenings spent with a great book!