We [Heart] Books

For a month or two last summer, Pearl seemed to hate books.  She seemed bored by them.  Then we hit on the idea of letting her turn the pages herself, and that made a huge difference.  We've continued to read to her every day, and she seems to be developing her own relationship to stories.

Now she appears to enjoy her books.  We can recite the first sentence or two of her favorite stories, and she will find the book and bring it to us.  For English major moms such as us, it's very beautiful. 

Sometimes to switch things up, we tell her stories that aren't from books.  We include words we know she recognizes, such as CAT and BANANA.  They often turn out absurd--one day a cat and a banana went to play together at the park--but they are stories we make up just for her.  The key words of that sentence are: for her. 

What stories are popular in your family lately?

Comments

[Mere]

Give Pearl time... pretty soon, you'll wish she could read to herself. LOL! I think Sydney is going to be a bookworm - she LOVES books. We read to her so much, that sometimes we catch her reading the books to herself... you'd think she could read because she knows all the words verbatum. LOL!

[Karen M]

Heh, Pearl sounds like Alena at that age. Give her a little time, and she'll be more interested in the story enough for you to actually *get through it*!

Right now her favorite books are things from the "good old days" - The Snowy Day, lots of Elmo books and her Maisy books.

[Robyn]

Harris loves loves loves books. we've read books to him every night since he was about 6 months old. it's part of our bedtime routine. currently...Harris' favorite book is: Jimmy Zangwow's Out-of-This-World Moon-Pie Adventure by Tony DiTerlizzi. he LOVES this book. it's got everything that a wee boy could love. moonpies. farting. milk. and a lovable hero in Jimmy Zangwow..who says, "aw nuts" and "holy macaroni". plus...there's a Grimble Grinder monster who turns out to be quite lovable too. and my impression of his voice bears some resemblance to either Scarlet O'Hara, when he says that he's "been sooo hungry for sooo long." it's quite hilarious..cuz if Cindy's reading the book..he demands that i at least read the Grimble Grinder part..cuz i do it so well.

[kat]

If you give a mouse a...If you give a pig a...If you give a moose a...

These are a popular series at our house. In fact kiddo#1 pretty much has them memorized. As do his parents. :)

[eliaday]

Green Eggs and Ham.

When I show Tae this book, she gets all excited, and starts flapping her little limbs around. She likes to touch the pages and try to turn them herself. That, or eat the book. =)

[Guusje]

Good Night Moon the book of choice at my house when mine were Pear's age. They liked the "hush" bit the best. To this day I can still recite it verbatium.

[Mieke]

This list is for J and G.

1. Brown Bear, Brown Bear What do you See?
2. Crictor the Boa Constrictor
3. Billy and Blaze
4. One Morning in Maine
5. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
6. Harry the Dirty Dog
7. If you Give a Pig a Pancake...
8. Dinosaur Roar
9. Toes, Ears, and Nose (a Gabo favorite)
10. Swimmy
11. I love Trucks
12. Jamberry (a favorite)
13. Goodnight Gorilla
14. Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins

Every night I sing "Hush Little Baby", by Sylvia Long (I love her version) as we flip through the pages. Both boys love it.

I could go on and on, but it's bedtime for the boys.

[campismylife]

My Many Colored Days

I love this book. My two year old nephew and I read it constantly.

[Barbara]

My kids are a little older. Our favourites are Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Geronimo Stillton books, Ramona books, Charlottes Web and much to my chagrin a series of books that use bathroom humour in their titles. I can't abide bathroom humour but my son loves these books and I love to see him reading.
I read to both my kids from the day they came home from the hospital. They both have weekly spelling tests at school and get perfect tests every time.

[Raechelle]

I felt like Maggie wasn't going to enjoy reading for a long time. It was a chore to get her to sit and listen and I was so sad. I love reading, got an English scholarship and just wanted my little girl to enjoy it as much as me. But in the last 6 months Maggie has really fallen in love with reading. Her current obsession is not a reading book, but those toddler look and find books. OMG. Completely obsessed.
But her favorite reading book right now (and ours too) is Charlie Parker played Be-Bop.
OMG. Adorable little board book that can be read in a little catchy tune. Its addictive. That was mostly how we got maggie to sit in her car seat on our trip last week. We know almost all the words by heart now so we could chant/sing them out loud and let maggie finish the sentences.

Charlie Parker played
Be Bop
Charlie Parker played
Saxophone
The Music sounded like
Be Bop
Never leave your
Cat alone.

Imagine us saying the first line and maggie saying the second.
Its adorable.
Go buy it.
Today.
Hugs,
rae

[Laura]

E loves books! She often toddles around the house reciting lines from recent favorites (with some funny variations!) She is very fickle, and almost every day there is a new favorite. (Mother Goose is SOOOO last week...)

Currently, the rotation includes:
1. The Napping House
2. The Very Hungry Catapillar
3. The Runaway Bunny
4. There's a Wocket in my Pocket
5. Philadelphia Chickens

[Suzanne]

Stories not from books were a popular diversion in the car when my son was younger. Those stories often were requested at bedtime too.

It's a wonderful way to introduce a child to the potential of imagination. Often I'd start the tale, he'd toss in a few details, and we'd both build on it. Absurdity was frequently the result.

Good times, good times. :)

[elswhere]

We've been reading "Knuffle Bunny" at our house; it's a little young for MG but frankly I love it so much I don't care.

At the other end of the spectrum, I'm reaing her "A Little Princess" aloud, which is *way* old for her. She begged for it, though, after hearing me mention the title. I'd always planned to give it to her when she was older and hope hearing it this early doesn't ruin it for her.

[kat]

Oh my goodness...I just read over the comments...I could recite Jamberry from memory! That book got read so many times!

[landismom]

My son, the SP, loves books! He insists on carrying them around everywhere he goes--every night, we have to clear the books off the table before we can eat dinner.

Some of his favorites: The Runaway Bunny, any book with Dora the Explorer (although he's never seen the TV show), Silly Sally, Little Gorilla, Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? and an Eric Carle book called I Can Do It. He loves Eric Carle books in general, but that is my favorite one to read to him, as it shows different animals doing things, and kids imitating them saying "I can do it!"

I love to watch him thump his chest like a gorilla and shrug his shoulders like a buffalo.

[susoz]

I particularly liked Lucy Cousin's Maisy books when my son was 1-2. There are some longer ones, not just board books eg 'Maisy Makes Gingerbread' and 'Maisy's Bedtime'. Something about the precision of the language, breadking down ordinary actvities into a sequence, that really appealed to me (and to him). I also really really like the Mr Gumpy books by John someone (he's English - it could be John Burningham?) There are so many wonderful books it's hard to recall them all, but the same authors tend to crop up across the age ranges (I see you have an Allan Ahlberg book listed on the side - he writes a great series for 6-8 year olds about the gaitskill family.)

[Fi]

All the kids I’ve hung out with have liked turning the pages first. I think the interaction is important. The 21-month-old I look after loves a book that has a penguin finger puppet sticking out of it, and another with a duck that squeaks. I used to love a book that had sandpaper for the beach, shiny foil for a mirror, sheepskin for the animals, smooth plastic for a milk bottle.

Rhymes are also good. The two-year-old I used to live could recite every line of My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes by Lynley Dodd. “The cat from France liked to sing and dance… The cat from Berlin played the violin… The cat from Norway got stuck in the doorway… BUT…” (and the last bit is shouted triumphantly) “MY cat likes to hide in boxes!”

Lynley Dodd is a NZ writer, but you probably have them there. I’ll keep an eye out for a second hand copy though! She does some great cat books too.