Wednesday, January 26, 2011

"What do you think?" Wednesday- Books

I know that I am not alone when it comes to reading bedtime stories with my kids! 

Here are some of our favorites:
Goodnight Gorilla- My son loves to find the balloon and the banana through the whole book.  His favorite page is the one the is completely black and it has just the eyes... he looks forward to it the whole time we are reading it.  I love that the wife is the one who really puts all the animals to bed... much like Mommy's do with their little ones!



The Red Thread- My kids are both adopted from Korea, so we have a lot of adopting books.  This one is my FAVORITE!   There is a Chinese proverb that says that you are connected to your loved ones with a red thread that attaches your hearts.  This is a story of a King and Queen who find themselves with a pain in their hearts and the only way to cure it is to find out what is pulling on their red threads.  

As a mom who had her kids grow up the first 8-9 months thousands of miles away from me, I do believe that we are attached at the heart... my heart ached until my kids came home!  I cry every time I read this book (but for good reasons)!     

Through Moon and Stars and Night Skies- This is my son's favorite adoption book. It is about a little boys journey to meet his adoptive parents.  It starts with him having pictures of his new mama and papa, follows him on the plane ride, and on to his new home and getting to know his mom and dad. My son's favorite part is when the dad rocks with the boy "back and forth, back and forth" in the rocking chair.  We copy this in our rocking chair.   I cry at this one too (especially when I catch my hubby reading it to our son!)!

I also like this one because it helps me talk about my son's journey home, although it was very different then this book, he can understand what I am talking about. 

The Runaway Bunny- I love this book because of the underlying message of - You cannot get away from your mama, even when you don't like her, she loves you {or is it... You can run, but you can't hide ;) }!  I like to have my son find the Mama bunny and the Baby bunny on each page.   I also like it because it is a Mom-Son book... most books are Mom-Daughter or Dad-Son books.

What are you reading to your kids right now?
I am always looking for a good book to read at bedtime!

10 comments:

Unknown said...

we got some Toot and Puddle books for Christmas, that the kids love. Also my 5 year old loves Junie B. Jones books - I've been reading them to her since she was about 4.

Bryssy said...

Great books, Fawnda!

Each of my kids has their own "special" book that we gave them when they were babies. They are, Love Song for a Baby, You Are My I Love You, and On The Night You Were Born. These are always favorites before bed!

Other books we like right now are: The Story of Ping, The Cow Who Fell In The Canal, all of the Strega Nona books, and the How Do Dinosaurs series.

We have read Swiss Family Robinson aloud and my kids loved it! I am now reading The Burgess Bird Book for Children (Peter Rabbit author) and daddy is reading Flight of Passage.

Our next read-aloud is The Count of Monte Cristo and after that, The Yearling.

Sherrie said...

I love sharing book suggestions! I love the ones you shared Fawnda!

We read a lot of Dr. Seuss books. The kids also love the book Put Me in the Zoo. I think we are going to start the Fancy Nancy series for my almost 4 year old. We have been thinking about starting to read the Chronicles of Narnia aloud. We figured by the time we get through the series, they might actually be old enough to see the movies. :)

I am excited to go book shopping after all of the great book suggestions!

Hope said...

Fancy Nancy is a hit in our house. Also, "G is for one Gzonk", "I always, always, get my way", and "The one, the only Magnificent ME!" We have too many to name them all.

Oh yeah, just one more... the "your baby can read" series.

Reading is a HUGE part of our everyday schedule. Nap time just wouldn't be the same without it.

Beth said...

My son loves to read Good Night Gorilla at his Grandma's house, but at our house, his favorite hands down is: Go Away Bug Green Monster. He's loved that book since he was about 6 months old. Sometimes I hide the book, I know it by heart and don't even have to look at the pages to know what I need to say, so sometimes I just need a break, and a new book.

Savannah said...

My boy LOVES Goodnight Gorilla!!!! Its our favorite around here for sure!!!!!

Fawnda@Fireflies and Jellybeans said...

Such great suggestions! I now know what to put on hold at my library!

Karly said...

We love Chicka-Chicka-Boom-Boom, Giraffes Can't Dance, Olivia, and all the P.D. Eastman books. My two year old loves all the Sandra Boynton books like Barnyard Dance and Green Hat, Yellow Hat (She loves when it says "oops").

My boys love the Shel Silverstein books like Light in the Attic and Where the Sidewalk Ends. They also love the Magic Tree House books. And my first grade son loves to read all the Nate the Great books to himself. And my middle child (four years old) loves to read the BOB books all by himself.

I also cannot wait to start reading the Narnia series with our kids.

And my personal favorite is "You're All my Favorites" by Sam McBratney.

Nicole said...

My head was nodding in agreement reading all these comments! My boy loves Dr Seuss readers. especially PD Eastman and Put Me in the Zoo series. He's lately been enamored with the Curious George series and the Bernstein Bears.
I have the Bill Peet books on my library list as a number of moms have told me lately they are Must Reads!

Auntie Bee said...

We are into chapter books nowadays...we love Magic Tree House books and anything by Beverly Cleary. I was looking at the title page and was SHOCKED to learn that Beverly Cleary was publishing her books in 1950!!! They have certainly aged well.