Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Mama Mondays: Reading Books

Yes, I know it's Tuesday, but this was too good to pass up! Erin has started Mama Mondays and this week was the perfect week for me to join in since I LOVE BOOKS!!! (In case you are wondering how I know Erin...I don't, at least not in real life. I found her blog by linking a couple times through a friend's blog and her pictures really caught my attention.) OK, now on to the books!

Even before Anna was born, I was certain that I wanted her to love books as much as I do (can you say bookworm?), especially since her daddy is not much of a reader. In fact, I was pretty disappointed that we only had a handful of books for her by the time she was born. Not to fear, however, since we have steadily built our collection since then.

We read throughout the day--whenever she wants to--and at bedtime. I can't remember when we started the bedtime reading, but I know she was pretty small. At bedtime we read one or two books of her choice (sometimes I squeeze in the holiday books here--Christmas, Valentine's Day, Easter, etc.) and then we read a bible story from her toddler bible.

Here are some of Anna's favorites (and mine):

Where Did the Baby Go? (As far as I know, this book is out of print. I was able to find it at an antique store. This was one of my favorite books when I was little and its one of Anna's favorites also.) Here's a picture of the cover:


Thank You Prayer (Anna wants to read this one all the time and loves to point out the ice cream.)

Elmo Loves You (I never encouraged the Elmo thing, but she loves him. We checked this one out form the library and now I have to buy it because she is so attached to it.)

Who Do You Love? (and also Good Morning, Good Night--both touch and feel books)

Time for Bed (This one has lots of different animals going to bed--cows, horses, deer, even a snake and a fish)

Wheels on the Bus (We have the Raffi version and she loves to sing it rather than read. Actually, I sing it and she does the motions.) :)

The Gigi books (Anna is still a little young for these, but I LOVE them--so cute!)

Harry the Dirty Dog books (These are GREAT! Again, my favs. But so entertaining for mom too.)

Mommy Loves Her Bunny (I always insert Anna's name in the end.)

Pat the Bunny (I think everyone has this book.)

10 Little Rubber Ducks (An Eric Carle book. Anna loves the squeak on the last page.)

I could probably come up with tons more, but I do have other things to do today! Please leave a comment with your favorite book!

5 comments:

erin said...

So glad you're joining in Christie! This is the second time someone mentioned Thank you Prayer which means I have to have it! Love your list.

Kelley said...

Hi Christie,
I found your blog from the link on Erin's page. We read the Thank You Prayer with my 10 month old too. On the page with the ice cream he gets so excited he starts panting and squeezing his fists! It is a funny site, but it made me smile to read that your daughter likes the ice cream too!

Jana Swartwood said...

I always loved Bedtime for Francis and Peter Rabbit. And The Little Engine That Could. I have no idea if these are age-appropriate or not.

But what I remember most vividly is that my dad started reading the Narnia books aloud to my brother and me when we were still very young. A little older than Anna, but maybe even as young as 3 or 4. All though my childhood, I would have these vivid imaginings of moments from those books, like when Edmund, Lucy, and Eustace get sucked through the picture into Narnia, or when Eustace and Jill are falling through the tunnel in the earth. I feel that it had a very formative impact on my imaginination and love for books, even at such a young age.

Christie said...

I will have to check out Bedtime for Francis. It sounds familiar, but I can't exactly place it. We have The Little Engine That Could, but Anna's attention span isn't quite long enough to get through it. I remember my mom reading it to me when I was little.

I'm so glad you mentioned the Narnia books! I have often thought about how wonderful it will be when I can read those to Anna before bed, but I was thinking we would have to wait until she was 5 or 6. I also remember my 5th grade teacher reading Where the Red Fern Grows aloud to us. I think half the class was crying at one point. I think there is such value in reading aloud, even after you can read to yourself.

Any other ideas about read-aloud books?

Jana Swartwood said...

I, too, remember my teacher reading Where the Red Fern Grows to the class. I remember most of the class crying, and I remember trying super hard to FAKE a tear or two so I wouldn't be the only person NOT crying! :)

I think Tolkien has a couple children's books other than The Hobbit. I bet they would be good. I'll try to do some more remembering and see if I can recall any others from childhood....

Happy Easter to you!