We finished both books in the Canadian Flyer Adventures series from last week, and read or started the following. As usual, hover over the image for full title and author.
The Gruffalo is an engaging tale in which a mouse describes a (supposedly imaginary) ‘gruffalo’ to outwit various enemies that want to eat him. But then the mouse meets a real gruffalo, with surprising results. Daegan (age 6 1/2) got the humour, but the book served only to scare Gareth (age 4). The Three Little Javelinas is a southwest adaptation of the Three Little Pigs story, with a coyote as the wolf, and building materials such as tumbleweed and adobe. The twist at the end—the explanation of the coyotes’ howl on desert nights—tickled Daegan’s imagination.
Both boys giggled and guffawed their way through The Day Jimmy’s Boa Ate the Wash, a tall tale told by a child about her class field trip to the farm. Sylvester and the Magic Pebble is the 1970 winner of the Caldecott award. Sylvester the donkey finds a magic red pebble, but on his way home encounters a lion. Flustered, he wishes himself to become a rock (hence safe from the lion) but in turning to stone Sylvester is no longer holding/touching the pebble, so he cannot wish himself back to a donkey. His parents search for him, and are very distraught when he cannot be found. A year later they go to have a picnic on the rock that is Sylvester, with heart-warming results. Quirky and held both boys’ attention—I love finding older books like this that have fallen out of favour.
Math-terpieces is a very unusual hybrid of art and math. We did the first two puzzles. The first showed a ballet picture by Degas, with a little poem that both conveyed art history info and posed a math puzzle: can you arrange the groups of ballet shoes on the next page to make 7 shoes? There are three solutions. The following puzzle had you arranging groups of water lilies to make 8, with four solutions and Monet’s famous ‘bridge over water lilies’ picture on the other side. I quite like it, and the puzzles were at just the right level for Daegan who is mastering his addition facts. Usborne Greek Myths for Young Children was recommended to me (by several sources), and we read the stories of Arachne and Icarus. The stories are simplified, but not dumbed down or substantially altered—Icarus still flies to close to the sun and crashes and drowns; Arachne is destined to spend the rest of her days as a spider. A good first introduction for Daegan, who is developing an interest in myth. He keeps asking to play Professor Noggin’s trivia game about Creatures of Myth and legend, among the many other titles (like Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Mammals). :-)
Snack Time, Tyrannosaurs Rex is one of a series of beginning readers from the Smithsonian Institute—a good choice for early readers who prefer non-fiction. Lady Lollipop is a delightful book from the author of Babe, about a spoiled princess who demands a pig for her 8th birthday. We’re about half-way through and Daegan is loving it; he asked for “just one more chapter” which almost never happens in a book that involves no dinosaurs! Five Minutes Peace is about a Mom trying to get “just 5 minutes peace from you lot” (talking to her 3 kids) and retiring to the bath with a cup of tea…not that she really gets the break she wants. A book my children giggled to as the scenario was one they are quite familiar with. :-)
Maiasaura is one in a series from Virginia Schomp—we have yet to find a poor title in the series. Daegan loves them. Baby Science is a surprisingly engaging book about babies—how they look, eat, learn, sense, etc. Both boys were fully engaged. Granny’s Dragon is a cute idea that didn’t quite work for us. A young girl tells her grandma she can’t sleep due to monsters in her room, and Granny listens sympathetically and eventually describes a protective dragon for her. It was a book about a common young child fear, but Granny’s solution and humour went over Gareth’s head—it served only to scare him.
Bug in a Rug is a wonderful find full of games and activities for emergent and beginning readers. Gareth found all kinds of things to play with me; his favourite were some rebus rhymes we read together. Here’s a photo of one of Gareth’s favourite pages—he wanted to read it over and over until he could read the whole thing by himself. Highly recommended!
Happy reading!