MamaPie

Laughing Books

It is so much fun to read funny books with Ezra and Reuben. Is there really anything better than hearing your kids' laugh? I don't think so. I'm not a big fan of children's books that are funny in ironic or sarcastic ways - they seem more geared toward (jaded) adult senses of humor than the delight-fueled humor of children.

Some of our favorite funny books are:

• A Visitor for Bear by Bonny Becker
• Night Noises and Other Mole and Troll Stories (especially hilarious is "The Loose Tooth" story) by Tony Johnston
• Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
• Tops and Bottoms by Janet Stevens

What books make you and your kids laugh together?

Also,

a Fall Book List from Book Scout! Yay! I love seaonal books and there are lots on here that we haven't read. I've just requested a whole pile from the library.

Animal Worlds

Ezra and I have read two great books recently. The first, Old Mother West Wind, is a chapter book, but each chapter can be read as it's own separate story. The characters - Jimmy Skunk, Reddy Fox, Peter Rabbit, Spotty Turtle and Grandfather Frog, are all neighbors in a community whose landscape includes a forest, a meadow and a pond. The animals go through their days and nights having fun, working out problems and causing mischief. It was a fun book for both of us.

Tops and Bottoms is a medium-length picture book that is a clever and funny book about a lazy bear and an enterprising Hare. It teaches about gardening, vegetables and small business along the way. To say more would give away the fun, but take my word for it and read this book.

What are you reading these days? Any great Fall book recommendations?

Summer Reading

At least a few times every month, I stop and think about how grateful I am for our public library system. I almost can't believe our good luck. We have a library branch a few blocks away from our house, where, a few times a week, we go and pick up books I have requested online and, while we're there, we find some other treasures off the shelves. And we have hours of fun and joy and pleasure reading the books we get there. And it's free. It almost boggles my mind with the good fortune of it all.

Ezra and Reuben are excitedly checking off the boxes on their summer reading charts as we read our way through July. Some of our (and I really mean "our", because it usually turns out that we all have the same favorites) recent favorites have been: CIty Dog, Country Frog by Mo Willems (this book is kind of a heartbreaker, actually), The Great Texas Hamster Drive by Eric Kimmel (whose Anansi books we also enjoy) and Monkey and Me by Emily Gravett (who also wrote the very good, Orange Pear Apple Bear).

One of my all-time favorite summer books is Jamberry by Bruce Degen. I love it - the rhymes, the pictures, all the berry-ness. It's perfect for Portland/Berryland, Oregon.

What are your favorites this summer?

Reading about Sand & Shells

Skipping Spring entirely, we're moving from our books about snow and winter holidays to books about sea creatures, shells and the beach. Inspired by our Hawaiian vacation, Ezra's imagination is completely captivated by the sea. Yesterday, until I finally told him I didn't want to answer any more questions, he asked me question after question like this," Mama? Which would you be more scared of? A lobster, a crab or an eel?" (eel). "What about a shark, a jellyfish or a stingray?" (shark). And so on.

So, when I found Elisha Cooper's Beach at the library, it seemed like the perfect book for right now. And it was. Ezra (and I) totally loved it and wanted to read it again immediately after I finished the first reading.

Do you have any favorite beach books?

Lots Going On

It's been a busy few weeks around here. Our Ruby turned two:  

I finished up a set of felt food for Ezra's school auction: 

We've been doing lots of art projects: 

We've been reading some good books, too: The Gruffalo is my new favorite funny kids book, Night Cars is pretty great and Toad Cottages and Shooting Stars has given me some great gardening and craft project ideas.

On top of the busyness, we've all been fighting colds (with varying degrees of success) and I've been baking more bread, soaking more beans and cooking more meals than ever, as we continue with Operation Reduce Food Spending. The first month was a big success - we cut our food budget by one-third.

Presents and Chocolate on the Brain

I remembered a few more of the neat presents received around here. These balls are lots of fun and these stars are pretty, can be used in all sorts of ways (one of the keys, I'm realizing of a "successful toy").Thanks to Uncle Neal and Aunt Sheila for both of these. This memory game is also great: very portable, visually pleasing and you can play a round in 5 minutes or so. What have been the favorite gifts at your house (for you Chanukah people) and what are you excited to see opened (for the xmas folks)?

The only books I buy are cookbooks. All the other things I read are from the library. I'm glad I just wrote that because it reminded me that I want to make a donation to the Multnomah County Library in thanks for giving our family so much pleasure in the form of books (and a few CDs) this past year. We must check out over 300 items a year. I sometimes can't believe the good luck of having such a wonderful library system and of having a branch two blocks away from our house. In New York, I bought myself a new cookbook : The Craft of Baking. It's visually beautiful and full of delicious sounding baked goods and candies. I've never made candy before, but am inspired. I will be making milk chocolate truffles with cocoa nibs and honeycomb brittle tonight. I'll report back.

Fall Books

I'm really into the seasonal books thing right now (thank you, Waldorf School!). So I had an idea that I'd make a list of our favorite fall books and you could add your favorites in the comments and I'll put them on the list. Then, every fall, I'll pull up the list and we can add to it. I'll do this each season and, together, we'll create an ever-growing seasonal book guide. I'm thinking we'll just make it for all ages and maybe at some point, I'll organize it by age.

So, we're liking these right now:

• Emily and the Golden Acorn
• Knock! Knock!
• Where is Baby's Pumpkin?
• Miss Suzy's Birthday
• Go Away Big Green Monster
• Happy Birthday World!

especially when we read them while eating our favorite cozy time snack: freshly popped popcorn with butter, salt and some chocolate chips mixed in.
What are you reading? (and what are you eating while you read?)

Summer Reading

When we went to the library a few days ago for Ezra to redeem his prize for having completed the "Bonus Path" on his summer reading game, we saw that the summer reading table was gone. I guess it really is Fall - time for back-to-school, not summer reading. Ezra was mildly disappointed, but liked my idea that we save his paper for next summer and redeem it then. And then, because we were the library, we, of course, left with armfuls (mine, Ezra's) of books. Ezra has been a booklover since he was really young. I remember him loving Peek-A-Who and Grow Up! when he was six-months-old and the book love has just continued since then.This summer, we started our first long chapter books. Ezra and Andrew read The Wind in the Willows and Paddle to the Sea as their bedtime books for a few weeks. Currently, they are working their way through the Raggedy Ann books that I remember loving as a girl. When Reuben naps, Ezra and I read a bit of the treasury of Paddington stories that Ezra and Reuben's babysitter, Allison, gave to Ezra.The Paddington stories bother me a little, and therefore receive some editing, in their gender stereotypes, as reflected in the Brown family, and their very British emphasis on social class and formal manners. Does anyone else remember this about the Paddington stories?
It's fun to be venturing further and further into the world of books with our little bibliophile. I brought home The Bobbsey Twins books from L.A. and I look forward to reading those with Ezra. I remember loving those books, too, as a girl, but don't really remember much about the stories themselves.On the adult summer reading front, I read a few books this summer (and alot of magazines and cookbooks). My favorite was A Reliable Wife: what a great story and a fun to read book. Crazy for God was interesting - I love reading about religious extremism in any form - but not particularly well-written. I am looking forward to getting into a new book, when the library gets some of my hold requests in.

So now... onto Fall Reading - I can't wait! What have you, or your kids, read this summer that you've loved?

(more) Library Love

I visit this blog frequently to read about what's new in children's literature and often find books that I end up putting on reserve at the library. I liked this little snapshot of an afternoon in the library - it captures some of the reasons I love our library. And I like the idea that literacy is, at root, about connections.