Week 13: Done with our first "mini" shelf!

Our Weekly Progress: 
What a great week! We hit our first milestone when we successfully read every book on the very first library shelf. 

Weeelllll... not an entire shelf, exactly. More of a mini-shelf. But, hey! You have to start somewhere. :) 

Here's a picture of my little one at the library: 

Unfortunately, this week a few of the books were so rough, I couldn't even stand to read them myself.  I had to call in Daddy for back-up! For more on that, check out my review of The Stupids below.

  
Our Weekly Favorite:

Title: Itsy Mitsy Runs Away

Author/Illustrator: Elanna Allen 
Rating: 4 stars

Summary:

"NO ONE likes bedtime, and Itsy MItsy has had quite enough. So tonight's the night she's running away to the perfect place where there are no more bedtimes ever (not even one). But running away isn't as easy as it seems. There's a lot to pack: Mitsy's friendliest dinosaur Mister Roar; a snack for Mister Roar; her dog, Puptart, to keep the debtime beasties away from said snack; the list goes on and on. But with a helpful Dad who makes sure Mitsy doesn't leave anything behind- especially not him- Mitsy might want to run away tomorrow night, too.  

Why I Loved it: 

• The pictures are very well-done, and really add to the story
• The book is packed with clever bits that kept me laughing, such as the dog being named "Puptart."
• Parts of the story were told using speech bubbles, which I thought was fun, and really tied the text and the illustrations together. 
• The ending, although predictable, was sweet. 

Other Books We Read This Week:

Title: Every Cowgirl Needs a Horse 

Author: Rebecca Janni
Illustrator: Lynne Avril
Rating: 4 stars
I actually liked this book quite a bit. The girl in this book wants a horse for her birthday, and gets a bicycle instead. At first, she's unsure, but thanks to her active imagination, she's soon riding her new "horse" happily. It was pretty cute. 

Title: The Little Rabbit Who Liked to Say MOO

Author/Illustrator: Jonathan Allen 
Rating: 3 stars
I liked making the animal noises with my daughter.

Title: Princess Party

Author/Illustrator: Joy Allen 
Rating: 3 stars
The illustrations in this book were great, but you probably know by now how I feel about books with no plot, and text with no real substance. :) 

Title: Nat the Cat Can Sleep Like That 

Author: Victoria Allenby 
Illustrator: Tara Anderson

Rating: 2 stars

Title: I'm not cute!

Author/Illustrator: Jonathan Allen 

Rating: 2 stars

Titles: The Stupids Take Off, The Stupids Step Out, The Stupids Have a Ball, and The Stupids Die 

Author: Harry Allard
Illustrator: James Marshall 

Rating: 2 stars
I hated these books.  I thought they were ridiculous. However, I have a sneaking suspicion that a 2nd grader just might find these hilarious, and so I gave them 2 stars instead of 1. Anything to get kids reading, even if it is "stupid," right? I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I'm pretty sure I read these when I was a little girl, and I'm pretty sure I thought they were the best thing ever.  

Week 12: Heavy books, Miss Nelson, and story time with my love bug

Our Weekly Progress: 
Here's Emma with our favorite book from the week:  

We have almost finished our first shelf at the library!!! WOO HOO!!! 

By "first shelf" I don't mean an entire row across a bookshelf. I mean one section of one row of one bookshelf.  But, hey! We have to celebrate every milestone. :) 

Emma continues to love her story time, and we read a couple books every day. Honestly, I would check out more than 10 every week, except that it's hard to juggle 10 books (which are heavier than you might think!) and a baby while walking from the library out to my car. Maybe one day I will have one of those crates on wheels... hahaha!!! 

Our Weekly Favorite:

Title: Miss Nelson is Missing! 

Author: Harry Allard

Illustrator: James Marshall

Rating: 5 stars

Summary: 
"The kids in Room 207 were misbehaving again. Spitballs stuck to the ceiling. Paper planes whizzing through the air. They were the worst-behaved class in the whole school.

So begins this quirky classic, first published in 1977 and still relevant today as a lighthearted reminder to show our appreciation to those we value. The students don't proffer a shred of respect for their good-natured teacher Miss Nelson, but when the witchy substitute Miss Viola Swamp appears on the scene, they start to regret their own wicked ways. James Marshall's scritchy, cartoonish full-color ink and wash illustrations are hilarious. A back-to-school perennial! 

Why I Loved it: 

• The illustrations are very funny!
• The ending lends itself to some great questions for your little reader- Do you think Miss Nelson and Viola Swamp are the same person? How do you know? Interestingly, most of the clues lie in the illustrations.  
• It's  classic! I think we've all read this book and loved it.  It's so special to share a book with your child that you read yourself as a child. 

Other Books We Read This Week:

Title: Painted Words

Author/Illustrator: Aliki 

Rating: 4 stars

This book was actually two stories (flip the book over and turn it upside down to read the other story.)  It was very thought-provoking, taking the point of view of a girl who is starting at a school where no one speaks her language. I would love to read this again with Emma when she's old enough to understand the perspective of someone in this position.  

Title: Welcome, Little Baby

Author/Illustrator: Aliki

Rating: 4 stars

Call me crazy, but I loved this simple little book about bringing home a new baby. I thought it was really sweet.

Title: Miss Nelson is Back

Author: Harry Allard

Illustrator: James Marshall

Rating: 3 stars

The sequel is never as good as the original. Unfortunately, this is true of the "Miss Nelson" series as well.  It's worth a read, but its value comes from having the first beloved characters as Miss Nelson is Missing, not from a stunning plot. 

Title: Every-Day Dress-Up

Author/Illustrator: Selina Alko

Rating: 3 stars

I love the idea of this book. The message is positive: Little girls have so many notable women to look up to and dress up like. However, I wish that message had been presented in a more intriguing way.  I did like the pictures, though. 

Title: We Are Best Friends

Author/Illustrator: Aliki 

Rating: 3 stars

I thought this book was average. I liked the topic, and found it very relatable to something that a child might actually go through. I wasn't, however, blown away.

Title: Starlight Goes to Town

Author: Harry Allard

Illustrator: George Booth

Rating: 2 stars

This book was a little bit amusing, but I found it to be more ridiculous than anything, and not in a good way.  

Title: The Acrobat

Author/Illustrator: Alborozo

Rating: 1 star

This book wasn't interesting, funny, or meaningful in any way.

Title: One More Time, Mama

Author: Sue Alexander

Illustrator: David Soman 

Rating: 1 star

The pictures in this book were beautiful, but the storyline was a little bit too simple for me to find interesting. 

Week 11: A week of treasures!

Our Weekly Progress: 
I was delighted with some of the books we read this week! Four different books with 5 stars each! I guess it's either feast or famine. Emma is really starting to enjoy our story time. She'll sit and look at the pictures as I read three or four books in a row. That's good, because we've hardly even made a dent in the first row at our library. :)   

Our Weekly Favorite:

Title: Monster Chefs

Author: Brian & Liam Anderson 

Illustrator: Brian Anderson

Rating: 5 stars 

Summary: 
"The horribly horrible monster king summoned his four equally horrible chefs. 

'I am tired of eating only eyeballs and ketchup,' roared the king.
'Find me something new to eat or you will find yourselves on my menu!'

Trembling with fear, they each set off in a different direction to look for something truly scrumptious. But what, besides eyeballs and ketchup, could a monster king possibly want to eat? A rabbit? A fish? A snake? What one finally brings back may change dinnertime in the kingdom forever." 

Why I Loved it: 

• The book was whimsical and silly, but still had a very solid plot. 
• The story kept me guessing right up until the end. I won't give anything away, but I thought the ending was clever and very amusing.
• The illustrations of the monsters were wonderful!  The bold, full color pages really make the book feel modern, and the unique storyline is so much fun. I would love to add this one to Emma's personal library. 

Other Books We Read This Week:

Title: Mockingbird

Author: Allan Ahlberg

Illustrator: Paul Howard

Rating: 5 stars

Allan Ahlberg wrote this book, and I LOVE it!!! The story can be sung to the tune of Mockingbird, and we sang it several times while we had the book checked out. By now I've memorized it, and I still sing the song to Emma as a lullaby. She loves it! Good job, Allan Ahlberg. Thanks for surprising us with this one. :) 

Title: The Tale of the Turnip

Author: Brian Alderson

Illustrator: Fritz Wegner

Rating: 5 stars

This book was hilarious! I read it twice in a row, and laughed the whole time. 

Title: Blackboard Bear

Author/Illustrator: Martha Alexander

Rating: 5 stars

This book had me laughing out loud! It might not teach kids the best lesson- The boy in this book basically invented a bear that could eat the kids who were mean to him.  I thought it was hilarious, though!

Title: Back to Front and Upside Down!

Author/Illustrator: Claire Alexander 

Rating: 4 stars

This book tells the story of a student who has trouble learning how to write, and has ask his teacher for help. At first, I thought that this book was sharing a really important lesson about perseverance and not giving up, until I realized that the book only spans the period of 1 day.  I would have loved if it took the characters a year to learn and they still hadn't given up- it would have been much more realistic. Still a good book, though. 

Title: And My Mean, Old Mother Will be Sorry, Blackboard Bear

Author/Illustrator: Martha Alexander 

Rating: 2 stars

As a sequel, this one fell a bit flat.  I would say to stick with the original, and not bother with this one.  

Title: Maggie's Whopper

Author: Sally Hobart Alexander

Illustrator: Deborah Kogan Ray

Rating: 2 stars 

This book reminded me of a story that someone was making up as they went along. It really wasn't bad, but not something I would go out of my way to read again. 

Title: When Wishes Were Horses

Author: Sharon Harl Addy

Illustrator: Brad Sneed

Rating: 1 star

I thought this book was a little bit nonsensical, and didn't seem to have much of a point. You probably know by now how I feel about books without points! 

Title: Here a Face, There a Face

Author/Photographer: Arlene Alda

Rating: 1 star

This is kind of a fun idea for a book.  Kind of. But the pictures weren't amazing, and the captions really weren't amazing. It seemed a bit dated. 

Title: Quiet in the Garden

Author/Illustrator: Aliki

Rating: 1 star

I thought this book was repetitive and dull.