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.

Bouncing rhythms

Tonight before bedtime we read, Old Blue Buggy by Frances Swift.  This is a book that we borrowed from the library this last week.  It is a longer one, at least for my son's current age, but he really likes this one.  We read this one in the library before checking it out and he just sat on my lap and listened to the WHOLE story.  Tonight he did the same thing... something about this book really grabs his attention.  There is a sweet little rhythmic "song" that is repeated throughout the book and is really fun to say and listen to.  There is a lot of alliteration with the "B" sound and is a very bouncy rhythm.  This cute little story is about a mother and child who get attached to their old buggy that they found at a yard sale and by the end they have outgrown the buggy and find that it has another use by a different person.  This book is in the categories of: Independence/Growing-Up, Sound Exploration, and Family.

Just for reference this is the rhyme that is stuck in my head from this book:
Blue buggy blue, blue buggy blue
Be-bop, a-boo-bop, a buggy bop-a-blue,
Bumpety Bump, Clunkety, Clunk
Blue buggy, blue buggy, blue buggy blue.

A New Read

Today right before nap time we read, The Tickle Tree by Chae Strathie.  The pictures in this book are beautiful and the words of the book flow right along with the pictures.  There is a lot of onomatopoeia and also quite a few nonsense words.  I have never read or even heard of this book and I was very impressed by it. These wonderful words and illustrations all lead to them ending in "...your dreams."  This book falls in the category of: bedtime stories.

One of my favorites

Yesterday afternoon before nap we read one of my all-time favorite books.  We read, Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister, which was one of the books that my son picked for Memaw to buy him at the book store.  I have always loved this book, including the pictures and of course the message.  My son loved being able to see and touch the special scales on each page.  Currently he is more interested in the page where Rainbow Fish has all of the scales and wasn't too keen on the page where each fish has one scale.  Hopefully that opinion will change over time, or at least the desire to share like Rainbow Fish.  This book is in many categories: animals, friendship, identity/self-appreciation, and Lift-the-Flap and Touch-and-Feel.

Summer Reading Program and Cousin reading time!

It has been a busy couple of months!  Between the end of the school year and the beginning of the summer, I haven't even had a chance to post about what we have been reading. 
During the summer we have started the Rubber Ducky Summer Reading program at our local library.  It is a great program for toddlers and their parents.  Today we turned in his paper with six activities done for the month of June and my son received his prize Rubber Duckie, which happens to be reading a mystery book.  Some of the activities that we did to earn that were not limited to, but included: read a book with a parent and point to pictures in the book, make up a song with your child's name in it, sing the alphabet song, help your child turn pages in a book, and do finger plays and nursery rhymes.  So far, the program has been really fun.  If we do another six activities for July then my son will get a free book from the library.  Technically, we have already done all 12 activities, but you can only turn in for one month at a time.  Today at the library they gave us a new sheet and chances are we will fill in another 12 before the end of July.
This summer has been busy so far and also feels like it has just barely started.  My son was able to spend some time with his two cousins at our house for a couple of days.  While they were here we read many books together, but there was definitely a favorite!  We had gone to the library before they got here and checked out some books that would fit all of their ages.  We found a book called, "Bedtime for Monsters" by Ed Vere and it was the best bedtime book of all.  My nephew especially liked it since monsters are kind of amazing to him right now.  This is such a cute book and it focuses on how the monster is going to try and eat you.  He finds you by riding his bicycle and asking for ketchup.  In the end it appears that you are safe from monsters because they also have to sleep, but it might be a wise decision to put out a plate of cookies for the monster... just in case.  Every night at bedtime my nephew asked for the monster book and I think by the end of the week all of the adults in the house had it memorized. :) This book is in the category of: bedtime stories.