Kid Lit Spotlight - Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree

Just in case you need that really last, last minute gift here's a great Christmas book recommendation from my friend, Emily. Thanks, Em!

This year is the first year my son has really "gotten" Christmas -- and I can start sharing my mountain of children's Christmas books with him!

 I am happy to say that the one he likes best so far is Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree. I was introduced to this book by the children's librarian at MPHPL. It is a title with an older copyright that has been updated with a little more color in the illustrations. It is a repetitive story about Mr. Willowby, who has a huge house and a huge Christmas tree to go with it, but it's a little too tall, so the top is chopped off and then the top becomes a tree (which also happens to be a little too tall for its space) for someone else, and someone else, and another animal, etc etc, right down to the mouse family living in Mr. Willowby's house. It has some neat details in the illustrations if you look closely. Upon our many readings, I've also noticed that it's always the Mom who cuts off the top... want to write a paper about that? :)

Kid Lit Spotlight - Repetition in Children's Books

Hey Friends - Here's another post for you from my friend Emily. Isn't she awesome?!?! Thanks again Emily for sharing your favorites with us, and letting us know that we're not alone when our eyes glaze over with the repetition! - Jennifer





If I have to read Grover's Bad, Awful Day one more time, I'm going to scream!!! 

The same goes for The Little Engine That Could, Curious George, and a certain nonfiction firefighting book we have that is, in my opinion, just too darn long! Have you ever felt like this? I bet you have! Kids love to have the same book read to them over and over, and we go through periods of a week or two where all we do is read the same two books. And I've discovered that if I stop in the middle of a sentence, my son can fill in the missing words! He's got it memorized. It's amazing. But then, I could probably read it in my sleep myself.

What books have your kids had you read over and over and over? Do you find that they are books you liked when you read them the first time but not the 100th time? Do you protest reading the same book, or just grin and bear it?

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On another note, I'd like to share a book with you that we really like called Please, Baby, Please by Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis Lee, illustrated by Kadir Nelson. It's available in both picture book and board book form. Usually I've found that I don't really care for children's books by celebrity authors, but this one I love! 

We were introduced to this book by our children's librarian who read it at a toddler storytime, and then we checked it out. After many readings, it became a favorite and we got ourselves a board book copy. It goes through different times of the day showing what "baby" (a girl who seems to be about 18 months old) does in a funny and familiar way. One thing we do is keep the refrain the same on every page by saying "please baby please" like the title of the book instead of changing it a little each time (which is how it's written: "baby baby, please baby" on one page and "please, baby baby baby" on another). We like the repetition because then our son got to where he would say "please baby please" along with us. The illustrations are lifelike and have just enough details to be able to point out other things going on in the background while staying simple and uncluttered. The perspectives of the pictures make you feel like you're right there in the book. This is a gentle and fun book for both parents and kids.

Kid Lit Spotlight - Anne Rockwell

Hey Friends - what are you all up to this week? I'm guessing it involves pumpkins and costumes, just like at our house. Thankfully, Sarah agreed to paint hers instead of doing any cutting. While there were no injuries, it was a two bath kind of a day.

As part of our Monday series on children's books, my friend Emily has been nice enough to share a guest post with us! Without further ado - take it away Emily!

First of all I’d like to say that I feel a bit torn when thinking about suggesting picture books that I like. Should I write about books I like myself? Books my three year old son enjoys? Or books I knew about when I studied children’s literature and used them during storytimes while I worked as a children’s librarian? It doesn’t seem like there should be a difference between these categories, but there is!

I have found myself a mom with a son who has not wanted me to read any book that is new to him -- what a challenge when I feel like I know a lot of great children’s books that he might enjoy! We went through a stretch of at least a year where he wanted to read the same books over and over, and if I wanted to introduce a new one into the rotation, I could only sometimes manage it by sneakily picking it up while he was playing with toys and quickly show him the most interesting page in the book from across the room. Even then he was on to me! He’d usually run over and forcefully close the book. So after many weeks of taking home 20+ books from the public library, I finally learned to only take a couple because he just wasn’t looking at them! How frustrating for a mom who’s been a children’s librarian!

Now that he’s three and a half, he’s just starting to really explore books in a more open-minded way. It’s still hard to introduce a new one to him if he doesn’t show initial interest, but we’ve found if we leave the books in his room and let him look at them by himself during rest times, eventually he’ll ask us to read them to him. Hooray! I still have to control my impulses at the library to take home everything I can lay my hands on, but hopefully that will change as he gets older, and he’ll feel lucky to have a parent who lets him take home tons and tons of books!

The books I want to share with you today are kind of a mix of books I like, books my son likes, and books I used as a librarian -- picture books by Anne Rockwell. She has written a lot of simple books on all kinds of topics, seasons, and holidays. They are great for the very young (three and under) because they have a narrow focus and the illustrations are clear and usually not busy. 

Some favorites we've read here are In Our House (an older one, but really good - it was our son's favorite book for a month), At the Beach, Cars, and Bear Child's Book of Hours. There is also Fire Engines and At the Firehouse. We used the book Pots and Pans a lot at the library -- a personal favorite of mine!

Some good ones for this time of year are Apples and Pumpkins, Pumpkin Day Pumpkin Night, and Halloween Day.

{Many thanks to Emily for sharing her favorites with us today! Happy Halloween everyone! Oh, and BOO!}