Take Away the A by Michael Escoffier: Taking the letter out of various words to form new words is a new concept for my just-beginning-to-work-on-reading four-year-old, and this book fascinates her.
Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney: Maybe the loveliest kids' book ever? A little girl in Victorian times tells her grandfather she is planning on getting a job and seeing the world -- and then, she does just that. But her grandfather told her to not forget to add beauty to the world in some way, so Miss Rumphius also scatters lupine seeds to brighten the landscape -- lots and lots of lupine seeds. And then she gives her little namesake niece the same reminder. Just beautiful.
Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain by Verna Aardema: Like the House that Jack Built, only an African village is waiting for the rain that will bring the drought-stricken landscape to life.
The Book with No Pictures by B.J. Novak : The joke is on the parent (or reader) in this one. The book, as the title says, has no pictures but it has a lot of words that the person reading the book absolutely has to say out loud and which makes them say all sorts of silly things (Blork!) We read this book for 28 straight nights in a row, and it took at least 10 before I wanted to bash my head against the wall. Which is actually saying a lot in the book's favor.
Is There a Dog in This Book? by Viviane Schwarz: A group of cats (Anouk will read anything with cats in it) are suspicious of the dog that follows them through the pages of this book (she will definitely read anything with dogs). It was a nice alternative to the Book With No Pictures when that one got to be too much to bear for another night in a row. The two have something of the same vibe.
Julia, Child by Kyo Maclear: The story of young Julia Child and her friend Simcha writing Mastering the Art of French Cooking...but instead of teaching cooking they're trying to teach a bunch of grownups how to be childlike again? I don't know. I think the book is a little gimmicky but Anouk loves it and the message is truly sweet so it makes the list.
Harold's Fairy Tale by Crockett Johnson: I didn't even know there were other Harold and the Purpole Crayon books besides the original until we found this one in a stack at a used book sale. We like it even better than the original, probably because Harold seems so much more creative in drawing his way out of sticky situations (and we've read the first a thousand times).
What have your kids been reading lately?
