Books, books, books: we love books

As I was reading to my girl tonight, I realized I'd love to share some wonderful titles of the books that K seems to really enjoy (or mama, for that matter). Being that I teach 3-5 year olds, I've come across some FANTASTIC stories, and I honestly have an addiction to children's books. It is unstoppable and you can't break me of hitting TJ Maxx or Marshalls at least once a month to stock up. My classroom does book orders through Scholastic books, which in turn has enabled me to collect quite the mountain of stories (all K's someday, with *hopefully* a future sibling, as well).

Here are some awesome books, with my guarantee that you'll love them no matter what! These are in no particular order.

Mouse Mess by Linnea Riley

Hand Hand, Fingers Thumb by Al Perkins (an oldie, but goodie, K literally Laughs OUT LOUD at this book - she should, it has monkey's in it *wink wink*)

Go, Dog, Go by P.D. Eastman

Chocolate Chippo Hippo - you can't go wrong with this story of a hippo obsessed with all things chocolate chip

I Love You Through and Through

The Thank You Prayer - we read this every night before bed

Give Me Grace

Mama Loves Me (K loves this pop - out trunk)

Llama LLama Red Pajama ~many a friend has told me how much they, along with their child, LOVE this book and it's fun lyrical rhyme ~~

and a new one by the same author:

Llama Llama Mad at Mama ~~

Speaking of llama's, you can't go wrong with Is Your Mama a Llama?, either......

Good Night, Gorilla

Where is Green Sheep?

Hug

All Aboard the Dino Train

Engine Engine Number Nine

Sheep in a Jeep by Nancy Shaw

Fire Truck (if you can get this on CD, DO! It is the BEST; my kids at school love it, as I do - it has a great bass, thumping sound to it)

The Little Mouse, the Red, Ripe Strawberry, and the Big , Hungry Bear by Don & Audrey Wood

The Napping House by Don & Audrey Wood

Silly Sally by Don & Audrey Wood

King Bidgood's in the Bathtub by Don & Audrey Wood (the art in this is spectacular)

Any of the Five Little Monkey books by Eileen Christelow ( I prefer the plain old Jumping on the Bed, and the Sitting in the Tree myself)

Brown Bear, Brown Bear is a classic - but my tip is to SING the book to the tune of Twinkle Little Star

Polar Bear, Polar Bear

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown

Any of the Maisy books by Lucy Cousins - her colors are bright, bold, and simple, and her stories are great for language building.

I also loved Hooray for Fish by Lucy as well

Snowmen at Night is wonderful for the snowy weather approaching, and there are secret pictures hidden in the snow!

Heck if you're going to do snowy books, you must do The Mitten by Jan Brett, and break out the mittens and animal figurines. We act this out at school, and its a riot!

The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats is a classic, and it's a must for any collection.

I stumbled across this fabulous book of 13 tales by different dogs at the bookstore last week-

Once I Ate a Pie - hilarious!

I also was lucky enough to find this wonderful, heartwarming tale about the birth of baby Jesus from the animal's perspective, called Room For a Little One. If you celebrate Christmas, this is a great one to add to your child's collection. (and no , I'm not paid to endorse that! LOL. I just have such a passion for books............and this helps me with my goal of incorporating Christian stories into Keif's library)

This past summer, at the library, I wrote down some titles of books that look so fun, and I can't wait to get my hands on them soon:

Chicky Chicky Chook Chook by Cathy MacLennan

The Baby Goes Beep by Rebecca O'Connell

Reading Makes You Feel Good by Todd Parr

and speaking of Todd Parr, any of his books are wonderful with their bright, bold colors. K is always captivated by them.

The best thing about the book Caps for Sale is also, again, monkeys!! I love the way the "tsk tsk tsk" at the peddler selling his hats, and I'm excited for K to enjoy this someday. It is a great repetitive, predictable story with a great ending.

By far, the first book that seemed to really capture Keif's attention this summer was Rainbow Rob, a Roger Priddy book. Roger Priddy books are available at most places, but I've had the best luck at Babies R Us. We own Rob, Millie Moo, Charlie Monkey, B is for Bear (and Keif loves the W is for wet in this one!) and assorted touch and feel books about animals. These are awesome books - big, and bold, hardcover, and touchy-feely books, with great rhythm and text.

One of the most popular author's for children's books is Sandra Boynton, who has a way with words and pictures that can make all ages giggle out loud. We have quite a few of the "standard" books by her, but my faves include Snuggle Puppy, and laugh out loud funny the Belly Button Book.

Of course, if you are a fan of hers, you'd also love the musical collections she's put together in the past few years, including Philadelphia Chickens (who knew Eric Stolz of "Mask" and "Pulp Fiction" could sing on Snuggle Puppy so well?), and Rhinoceros Tap. We own both, and I know K will love to sing along with these silly tunes someday. I just discovered she has a new one out, called "Blue Moo", along the lines of 1950's music; you can guarantee I'll be getting that one as well (as I love my 50's tunes).

Keifer really enjoys any of the Baby Einstein books that we own - I honestly think it's because they all include real life pictures of animals and objects, which seem to really captivate her.

I can say the same thing about the DK Baby Fun books - I enjoy the pictures in these as well. The nice thing about the DK books - a lot of them are the nursery rhymes written out in pictures with the text, and studies have shown that there is great importance in exposing your children to nursery rhymes. We also own Nursery Rhymes, yet another Roger Priddy book, and this one came with a CD of fun songs.

Pig Picnic is adorable, so is Hot Dog.

Old Bear by Jane Hissey is a sweet, heart warming story about an old bear stuck up in the attic, and his stuffed animal friends do some clever problem solving to rescue him. I like to use the adapted board book version with my young kids at school, and I invite them to figure out with me just how we're going to rescue the old stuffed bear from the top of my supply cabinet!

Eric Carle has awesome books, and I know you probably know about The Very Hungry Caterpillar, but my favorite is the Very Busy Spider. I don't know why, it just is.

Iza Trapani has taken many of the favorite children's songs and turned them into fun, colorful books to sing along to. I especially love Twinkle Little Star, and The Itsy Bitsy Spider by her.

Last weekend, I found a new lift the flap and feel the texture book called I See a Monster, and Keifer is really digging it. She immediately reaches out when she sees the different textures to be touched, and I love the way they incorporate spatial concepts "inside, under, behind, on top" into the text in a very simple way (that's the teacher in me liking the subtle slip-in of the concepts!). It is simple and cute.

WHEW. Honestly, I could go on and on and on. I won't right now, but just know, if you ever want ideas for books, I'm here! LOL