Children's Books

[TripletDaddy]

lol. How many minutes does she have on the other two?

45 seconds, sassy. Hey, I need to distinguish them somehow!

[kccougar]

Mysterious Benedict Society - Four lonely but very intelligent/talented children are brought together to help foil a plan for world domination. Lots of story quirks, puzzles, and a few very clever plot twists. Also some fun and sometimes cheesy wording (HQ of the evil mastermind is on "Nomansan Island"). Strong vocabulary with good context so kids understand and learn new words.

[wuapinmon]

I absolutely love Loren Long's Otis. It's about a tractor and his pal "Calf" who work and play together on a farm. When Otis gets old, and replaced by a newer bigger tractor, he gets sad, even depressed. One day, Calf gets stuck in a mud pond, and no one can get him free because the big tractor scares him. Otis comes running with his soothing "putt puff puttedy-chuff" engine noises, and the little Calf relaxes and gets rescued, even winning a prize at the county fair.

The illustrations are stellar, and my 5 y/o boy absolutely loves saying "putt puff puttedy-chuff" when it appears throughout the story. There's even a sequel that Santa's bringing for Christmas, but I haven't read it yet.



I also really like Mo Willem's Leonardo, the Terrible Monster . Here's a description from Amazon:

Leonardo is truly a terrible monster-terrible at being a monster that is. No matter how hard he tries, he can't seem to frighten anyone. Determined to succeed, Leonardo sets himself to training and research. Finally, he finds a nervous little boy, and scares the tuna salad out of him! But scaring people isn't quite as satisfying as he thought it would be. Leonardo realizes that he might be a terrible, awful monster-but he could be a really good friend.

It's been fun for my 5 y/o. The 3 y/o gets bored. The illustrations are wonderful, and the books large size makes the book seem that much cooler.


Those are my two favorites to read, but Otis is the best because of the illustrations and because my son screams "OTIS" every time we see a tractor, and we see tractors every day. For example, the town hospital, Walmart, and high school are all across the street from cotton fields. Think I'm kidding?

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=hartsv...h&z=16&vpsrc=0

[kccougar]

Is Encyclopedia Brown still popular with the youngsters? What about Danny Dunn? Ms. Pigglewiggle?

I just grabbed a handful of my old Encyclopedia Brown books from my parent's house to have my 8-year old daughter read. She likes the challenge of figuring out the clues and the short segments.

For those who aren't familiar, Encylopedia Brown is the son of a police chief in a small town in Florida. He has his own detective agency he runs out of the garage and he helps other neighborhood kids and sometimes adults solve crimes/mysteries. Each book contains about 10 short stories that you read and then have to turn to the back of the book to see how he solved each one from the clues given in the story.



Kids as young as 5 or 6 would enjoy the stories, but you likely will have to explain each of the solutions to them. 8 years old is probably better.

[kccougar]

So does anyone have a hard time reading to all of their multiple-aged children? My youngest two are pretty happy to be read the same book, but I haven't read anything to my 10-year-old in forever. I feel like I should still read to him, even though he's a great reader himself, but I can't find the time to read to him AND to my two little non-readers.

What do y'all do? Do you still read to your readers? Have you found books that capture the attention of a wider age range?

Sadly, my oldest is no longer interested in being read to (he's 15). My kids are 8, 13, and 15 now so most of my out-load reading is done with only my daughter these days, but until about 3 years ago they would all listen. For a while my oldest, who is an astounding reader, would sit with us all to listen to me read while reading his own book at the same time. The crazy thing is that he could follow both at the same time.

Fortunately, my kids always enjoyed being read to when they were very young so that I could read books aimed at my oldest and the younger two would still enjoy it. My middle son is very quick and actually catches more of the nuance of a story than my older son. My daughter didn't always understand everything that was going on, but still liked to sit with everyone. I've found that I'm going back and re-reading some of the books for her since she doesn't really remember them well from the first time around.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

I don't know how I forgot this earlier, Goose (4) is infatuated with Junie B. Jones. We read and reread them, we listen to them, we talk about them, we act as characters from them. It is an all encompassing obsession.

sup, I try to read to Jr (9) at least once a week,he is a very good reader himself, but I know he still likes my reading to him. When I don't for a while he asks me too.

We also do 25 minutes of reading when I get home from work, sometimes that is individual, sometimes as a group. I'd love to hear others thoughts or ideas.

[marsupial]

I don't know how I forgot this earlier, Goose (4) is infatuated with Junie B. Jones. We read and reread them, we listen to them, we talk about them, we act as characters from them. It is an all encompassing obsession.sup, I try to read to Jr (9) at least once a week,he is a very good reader himself, but I know he still likes my reading to him. When I don't for a while he asks me too.

We also do 25 minutes of reading when I get home from work, sometimes that is individual, sometimes as a group. I'd love to hear others thoughts or ideas.

When my 10-year-old was 3, I read him Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He had favorite chapters that we'd read and re-read. And he loved reenacting the Augustus Gloop part where he falls into the chocolate river. He'd fall into the kiddie pool in our backyard over and over again and I would have to pretend to be Willy Wonka.

You're good to read to your 9-year-old. I need to make time.

[Surfah]

I loved the Indian in the Cupboard books. There are five total in the series I believe. As a kid, Matt Christopher was my favorite author. The first book of his I ever read was The Kid Who Only Hit Homers and after that I was hooked. He writes books about sports and they are all fantastic. I also remember loving Judy Blume and Beverly Clearly books as a kid.

The Lemony Snicket series is great. They're filled with allusions that are really fun.

We read to our girls every night and we have since they were born. Our oldest (5) reads really well. She's into lots of different books but Dr. Seuss is probably her favorite. She's also into the Pinkalicious books.

I am excited for her to progress onto some chapter books soon. Every time I am at Costco I love looking at the books and waiting to be able to read with my girls some more

[HauteCoug]

This thread makes me so happy.

I highly recommend the Shoe books by Noel Streatfeild. Ballet Shoes is definitely the best. What's so great is that they're perfect for the 7-10 year old, but adults enjoy them, too. Ballet Shoes is about these three girls who are brought up by a wealthy man who is always off on safari. They're extremely talented and smart, and the housekeepers get them involved in dance and theater. My favorite, however, is that while the man who 'adopted' them is away, they begin running out of money, so these talented girls learn to support themselves with the various things that they do. It's pretty forward thinking for a book written in the late thirties.

I also couldn't get enough of the Nancy Drew series. I started reading them when I was eight, and would devour them.

[wuapinmon]

It's pretty forward thinking for a book written in the late thirties.

It sounds like a nod to the genteel poverty that struck the upper middle class during the Depression.

[DrumNFeather]

I started telling my daughter the story of Tiki Tiki Tembo, as I remember it fondly from my childhood. I didn't remember how it ended, so I had to look it up. In the version I found, the kid died because his name was too long, which is why all kids in China now have short names, like Tiki's brother Ling.

[Flystripper]

My boys enjoyed this at about age 7 or 8. You can't go wrong with any Roald Dahl book but this one is their favorite.

[HauteCoug]

It sounds like a nod to the genteel poverty that struck the upper middle class during the Depression.

It's set in the UK, but it does have that feeling to it.

[falafel]

I started telling my daughter the story of Tiki Tiki Tembo, as I remember it fondly from my childhood. I didn't remember how it ended, so I had to look it up. In the version I found, the kid died because his name was too long, which is why all kids in China now have short names, like Tiki's brother Ling.

I thought Tiki Tiki Tembo was a mongoose who ate snakes. I.e. the church, i.e. the government; i.e. schools. But when I got a little bit older, I learn I have ta killa myself.

[Green Lantern]

I thought Tiki Tiki Tembo was a mongoose who ate snakes. I.e. the church, i.e. the government; i.e. schools. But when I got a little bit older, I learn I have ta killa myself.

FWIW, it is easy to confuse Tiki Tiki Tembo with Rikki Tikki Tavi.