Goodnight and Sleep Tight

Last night we read, A Bedtime Kiss for Chester Raccoon By Audrey Penn.  This was a very cute book and I don't think I even realized that we owned it.  I also didn't realize that it is part of the Kissing Hand "series."  Reading this right before bed was really fun.  This book has a rhyme and rhythm pattern to it and focuses on the imagination of Chester Raccoon as he gets ready to go to bed.  The shadows play tricks on his mind, but with the eventual kiss on the hand Chester is able to sleep peacefully.  This book is in the following categories: bedtime stories and animals.  Happy Reading!

                          

Happy Valentine's Day!

This afternoon before nap, we found the perfect Valentine's Day book.  We read Whooo Loves You? By Sandra Magsamen.  This cute lift-the-flap book has many different ways that you can say "I Love You" to someone.  With a focus on animals and their sounds, this book had some great ways to express love.  Just a couple of examples are, "The birds sing, You're my little tweetheart" and "The puppies bark, We ruff you!"  So sweet and a very fun play on words.  We LOVED this book.  This book is in the category of: Love/Valentine's Day.

So Many Books.... So Little Time

The last couple of days we have been so busy reading lots of books.  Before bed the other night, we read You're My Little Star By Julia Hubery.  This was a great sleepy time book.  When I was first reading it, I thought it was from the perspective of the parent in the book.  Then as I continued to read it, I decided it could be from the perspective of the child in the book.  I didn't come to a final conclusion as far as whose perspective it was really in, but no matter which perspective this is a very sweet book.  My son really liked the rhyming and rhythm of this book.  Also, we spent a lot of time going back to the front cover because it has a textured star on the front that was very exciting to touch!  This book is under the categories of: family and bedtime stories.



                              

That same night we read The Saggy Baggy Elephant By Kathryn and Byron Jackson.  This was such a fun book to read about animals.  It was great to see the elephant traveling to the different areas of the jungle.  As Sooki tries to escape the various predators of the jungle, he is able to learn more about himself.  My son was very excited to hear the part when Sooki was dancing and went "one-two-three kick."  This book is in the categories of: animals and self-appreciation.

                                       
So, as I have said it has been a busy couple of days.  Last night we added a couple more books to the list of ones that needed to be reviewed and posted.  We read Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes By Mem Fox and Helen Oxenbury.  This is a favorite in our house and I absolutely love the illustrations.  This book definitely tries to encompass cultures and babies from all over the world.  This book is in the following categories: body parts and counting.
                            

The last book that we have recently read is Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What Do You See? By Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle.  This book, a slight variation from the original Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, is a fun read that exposes children to the not-so-familiar animals.  With a focus on forest animals, this book also uses describing words besides the colors.  This is a wonderful book that helps kids hear different language, but still keeps to the pattern of the original in the series.  This book is in the category of: animals.

                                            

Reading with Grandma

This weekend, there was an opportunity for Grandma (Memaw) to read to my son.  Together they read Grandma and Me By Karen Katz.  This is a fun lift-the-flap book, which my son had a great time opening.  The book paralleled the fact that Memaw came to visit and she had brought a suitcase just like the grandma in the book.  This was definitely an appropriate book for the weekend and provided a good reading session for both Memaw and my son.  This was the perfect book to read before Memaw left and my son went to bed, as well.  This book is in the category of: family.

                                                       

During this same reading session with Memaw, the book, Rabbit Ears by Amber Stewart was also read.  This is such a fun book about the importance of hygiene and it also focuses on growing up.  While reading this book, it was fun to see my mom and little boy learn and have fun together.  Every time the book mentioned washing the rabbit's ears, Memaw would pretend to be washing my son's ears.  As my son gets older, this will be an excellent book to help reinforce the idea of keeping clean. :)  This book is under the two categories of: hygiene and independence/growing-up.

Music In Books

                                        

Music is a huge part of my life and I try to get my hands on whatever books I can that focus on music, instruments, or rhythms.  In light of all of that my son and I have read, "Animal Orchestra" by Ilo Orleans probably 3 times in the last couple of days.  This is one of the Golden Books and is a very delightful read.  This book is a rhyming one and actually has a very natural reading rhythm to it.  As you read the words of this book, it just sounds musical.  There is also a lot of onomatopoeia in the book to describe the sounds that the different instruments make.  The pictures in this book are so fun and are very exciting for children to see silly things, such as animals playing instruments and dressed up in a suit and tie.  This is definitely a quick book, but so much can be done with this one.  You could count each of the animals that are playing the different instruments, discuss colors and animal fur/prints, or even focus on the families of instruments.  Maybe that is me taking this too far because music is such a big part of everything that I do, but this is really a fun read.  This book is in the following categories: animals, music.

I Want To Be Somebody New

 

"I Want To Be Somebody New" By Robert Lopshire is the book that was read before nap time today.  This is definitely a favorite in my house.  This book could be a counting/numbers book because each time he changes into something new he counts "1, 2, 3."  This is definitely in the category of identity and self-appreciation because the moral is that you should be happy with who you are in life.  I love that this book also reminds the character of what he would be missing out on if he were to give up being himself.  The colored spots in this book are so eye-catching, but not too distracting from the main story.  

Welcome!

   Welcome to the site that will eventually have many lists of children's books.  My mom and I have created this together so that we can hopefully organize our own thoughts about children's book categories and if this happens to help others along the way, then at least I don't feel like I am completely wasting my time and being that OCD!  I will be doing the majority, if not all of the posting, but some of the material and featured books will be the wonderful and helpful insight of my mom.  This site is designed to help parents, teachers, and anyone else who is interested in finding specific children's books by their categories.  Please keep in mind that these are not "official" categories, but only the way that my mom and I were able to divide it up when we first thought about this.  Some of the books will definitely overlap, but hopefully this will bring some ease to finding a book that may fit that specific area of curriculum that you are looking for.  Sadly, this site will never be complete due to the extremely high number of children's books that are available.  However with the ever-increasing number of children's books that are and  become available, I am hoping to feature a children's book each week.  Books will be various in category, genre, and authors but will probably begin with the books that I read to my own son, who is 10 months old.  Join us as we explore the many adventures of children's books.

Happy Reading!
~Renee and Laurie