Trucks, Part 3 and a Little Bit of Culture

This last week, we finally got around to reading I'm a Monster Truck by Dennis Shealy.  This was the last book that is in the Little Golden Book "Freewheelin' Favorites."  Memaw actually was visiting and she had the chance to read with my son.  He was very excited to see the pictures of the monster trucks and he was making a lot of car noises while Memaw was reading to him.  This ends the journey for the truck books, at least until he finds something else that has trucks or any other vehicles in it.  This book is in the category of: Sports.


Here is the cover for the "Freewhelin' Favorites," which includes the three books from the last three posts.


Also, speaking of Memaw... she bought my son another book during her visit with us.  Tonight we read this book and it is called, Disney: It's a Small World - Color Our World.  This is by Elle D. Risco and the cute illustrations are done by Nancy Kubo.  We read this one exactly three times tonight before my son was convinced that it was bedtime.  Each page focuses on a single color and country.  The illustrations show a child from that country and then it proceeds to describe some of the things of the focus color that are found in each country.  An example of this is, "In the United States, Red is an autumn leaf, the barn down the street, or an apple ready to eat."  This alone would be enough for me, but each page also has a slide out panel on either side that lists some of the items of the matching color for the country.  My son can't quite pull out the panels on his own yet, but I would bargain that he could have this down with another 6 or 7 readings, which won't be hard to do.  This book is in the following categories: Lift-the-Flap, Colors, Identity/Self-Appreciation.  It is amazing to think that a book with seven pages fits so well into so many categories... and I am sure others would be able to find their own suitable categories for this book.

On the Road Again... AKA Trucks, Part 2

In our continuation of truck books, we read The Happy Man and His Dump Truck by Miryam tonight.  This book isn't quite as exciting as last night's read, but it is still a fun book.  The driver of the dump truck goes around and gives the different farm animals a ride in the back of his truck.  He is also a very friendly person and waves to all of the people he sees, well every time he waves his hand his dumper goes back and the animals go sliding down.  This is a book that introduces kids to animals and their sounds and focuses on the actions of the dump truck itself.  This book is in the following categories: animals, sports, and friendship.

Trucks, Part 1

My mom purchased a book to have at her home and when my nephew was in California this was THE ULTIMATE FAVORITE!  In fact, it was read so many times I have parts of it memorized and I can't help but here my sister's voice as she read it to her son.  Tonight we read, I'm a Truck By Dennis Shealy.  This is the first book in A Golden Book compilation that also includes two other stories about trucks, hence the name of the post... Trucks, Part 1.  This is a really fun story that is told from the perspective of a big rig who rides the highway.  The big rig, Big Blue Bill, talks about the different types of trucks that he comes across as he drives down the highway.  He also talks about the different jobs that each truck does.  Right now, my son is definitely in a "car phase" (and will probably be in this phase for quite a long time :) ) so this story is perfect for him.  He is very interested in the wheels on each of the vehicles.  Throughout this story there are a few instances where the main focus of the page is the funny words that Big Blue Bill says and my son does his best to mimic me as I read the fun sounds.  This book is in the categories of: Sound Exploration and Sports (for the purposes of this blog, cars and other moving vehicles are "sport-ish").

Building a Foundation

     I have always been under the impression that children need a strong foundation to build their education upon and I feel that that starts right at home.  One of the ways that I feel I am able to help my son build his foundation for knowledge is through the books that we read.  Now that my son is able to sit for longer periods of time, we are starting to get beyond the board books and more into the actual story books.  You could say that our latest read was inspired by this thought...
     This afternoon, right before nap we read, "Block City" by Robert Louis Stevenson.  This was originally published as a poem and was written in 1913.  Later, Daniel Kirk put illustrations with the words and that was what we read today.  The pictures are very vibrant in color, but still simple enough for a young child to thoroughly enjoy this book.  Because my son is really into blocks right now, this is the perfect book for him.  The rhythm of this poem is easy to follow and also seems to be the key factor in making this such a wonderful story.  So, here's to old classic poetry and one of my favorite authors, Robert Louis Stevenson.  This book is in the categories of: sound exploration and music/poetry books.