book of the day: chu's day at the beach by neil gaiman & adam rex

Our family just got back from a little beach vacation time.  Breathing in the salty air and swimming all day are definitely things we are missing now that we are home in our beloved but land-locked city.  It's the kiddie pool for us until school starts!  Luckily, with Chu the panda around, even the plastic pool from Target looks cool.  

Chu is a panda with a good heart but a crazy sneeze.  His sneezes seem to wreak havoc with every achoo!  (one word for Chu's parents - antihistamines)  On a summer trip to the beach with his mom and dad, Chu is having a blast - eating ice cream, watching the people on the sand, looking out at the ocean.  Until . . . his sneeze causes quite the commotion actually splitting the sea apart.  His sneeze broke the ocean!  Only another sneeze can make everything right again.  

My two year old just loves it when books have funny noises, and the way Chu's sneezing is written on the page was sending him into belly laughs.  The pictures are very detailed with a lot of action and intricate characters.  We spent a lot of time just looking at each page and finding interesting little details.  

This is a great addition to our collection of beach-themed picure books.  It might even replace our all-time favorite beach book, Bats at the Beach.  Do you have any favorite beachy picture books?  Any recommendations for me?  I love hearing about a book I haven't read yet, so let me know!  

overlooked books by classic authors: the color kittens by margaret wise brown

A while back, we talked about The Fur Family, a great book by Margaret Wise Brown often passed up for her more popular classic, Goodnight Moon.  Well, here is another good read by Ms. Brown that doesn't get much attention - The Color Kittens.

This story follows two curious kittens who love to mix paint and make all the colors of the rainbow.  The subject matter and simple language are perfect for preschoolers learning their colors!  

book of the day: food trucks! by mark todd (HMH 2014)

Food trucks have become an ingrained part of our culture that it seems only natural that we celebrate them in children's books the way we have celebrated fire trucks or construction vehicles in children's literature for years.  

This story playfully imagines food trucks with fun themes like a salad truck called "Mr. Cobb"  or a falafel truck named "The Pharaoh's Tummy"  and pairs them with short poem descriptions of each truck's menu as well as trivia fun facts about the food each serves.  For example, did you know that a group of chefs in Jordan created the largest falafel ever weighing in at 155 pounds.  It's true!  My two year old enjoyed looking at the pictures and talking about the food they serve, and my eight year old really got interested in the food facts.  By the end of it, we were getting out the crayons and paper to design our own takes on the food truck!

the book we read today: the sweetest fig, chris van allsburg (houghton mifflin 1993)

IF you love some of Chris Van Allsburg's classics like The Polar Express and Jumanji, this book, The Sweetest Fig, needs to be the next on your list.  My second grader and I read it today, and it was too good not to share!  

It has everything you would expect from this wonderful author - inspiring illustrations, unique story line, and an ending with a twist.  What I love about this story was the way that we couldn't judge this book by its cover.  The cover illustration didn't reveal what this clever little story is about, and I won't either!  By the end, the kiddo and I both had smiles on our faces.  

the real avengers: d'aulaires' book of norse myths

If you read a previous post of mine back in April concerning me tricking my eight-year-old into reading poetry and (gasp!) enjoying it, you know that there is no shame in my game.  I will use whatever mind manipulating necessary to get my kids reading.  This amazingly illustrated collection of norse mythology is another one of those books that when presented point blank, kids are not too thrilled about. HOWEVER, with a little salesmanship on my part, I got my eight year old reading and loving these tales. Kind of like when you bake homemade, healthy brownies with spinach puree and carob hidden inside but leave the empty box of Betty Crocker double fudge brownies on the counter top for the kids to see,  this isn't a collection of stories passed down for a thousand years indicative of the culture and concerns of an ancient people.  This is a book about Thor from the Avenger movie!  

Everyone at our house along with everyone living in the world right now for that matter has Avengers fever.  We saw the movie.  We have the comic books. We bought piles of the merchandise.  When my toddler gets angry, (and I'm not one hundred percent proud of this) he growls, pounds his fists, and yells "HULK SMASH!"  Why not capitalize on this mania and get your kids reading stories of intrigue, adventure, and family drama all packaged up in myths that are the basis for a lot of what we consider to be the classics of the literary world?  Plus this edition contains lively pictures and an introduction by the legendary Michael Chabon - two more for the win column.

overlooked books by classic authors: little fur family, by margaret wise brown

Margaret Wise Brown is best known for her wildly popular and ever-present classic, Good Night Moon.  Who hasn't read this calming tale to little ones at bedtime?  Brown is also known for the wonderfully illustrated The Runaway Bunny, but one of her less celebrated works deserves to be talked about.  Little Fur Family follows a family of wild creatures living in the forest.  It is just as simple as Good Night Moon and just as beautifully illustrated as The Runaway Bunny but seems to be forgotten.  The copy I have is so adorable because if you look closely at the photo above, you can see that my book is covered in fur (faux naturally) just like the fur family! So if you've reached your limit of reading about that great green room with a telephone and a red balloon and that yucky uneaten bowl of mush, pick up a nice alternative with Little Fur Family.

my swedish summer dreams

This is where I want to spend my summer - a little red and white cottage in the Swedish countryside with my kids running around without shoes, picking blueberries, taking a dip in an ice cold lake, drinking lots of coffee.  Unfortunately, this little imaginary house is thousands of miles away and is situated in one of the most expensive countries in the world.  We will have to just be okay with grocery store berries and sticking our feet in a kiddy pool for now.  If your summer dreams take you to the idyllic farms, lakes, and forests of Scandinavia, grab a pint of farmer's market blueberries and strong cup of joe, and read these selections to the kids at bedtime.

This post is all about the collective stories written about the Bullerby children by the famous Swedish children's author, Astrid Lindgren (If she doesn't sound familiar,  Pippi Longstocking is her creation.)  I have found these stories in separate volumes with titles like Happy Times in Noisy Village and The Children of Noisy Village.  I also have found older and possibly out of print versions still available through online book sellers that put all of the Bullerby stories together in one book.  My copy is called All About the Bullerby Children.  

The Bullerby kids are two brothers and a sister living on a farm in a Swedish village.  They run around with the other children in their village doing everyday kid stuff like climbing trees and learning to share new toys.  These stories would make a great choice for an introduction into chapter books for maybe kindergartners or first graders.  The stories are very sweet and innocent.  The words and plot lines are very simple, and young children will love reading about kids who are just like them.  Thanks for reading today!  Tack sa mycket (thank you very much in Swedish)!