reading – Page 4 – On the Children's Shelf

Reading children’s books

The designation “children’s book” means a book is appropriate for a child reader. It does not mean the book is only meant for children. A good children’s book is both appropriate for a child reader and enjoyable for readers of all ages.

I feel like this is an important topic because there are so many great books that are written for young readers but should not be limited just to that age group. A great children’s book covers important topics ranging from friendship, family issues, loss, and more. Readers of all ages can relate to these topics.

A few weeks ago, my mom and I visited the library book sale. As we searched through the stacks, I picked up a copy of Holly Goldberg Sloan’s “Counting by 7’s.” I handed it to my mom and said, “I loved this book. You should read it.” She added it to her pile to buy.

My mom read it, immediately understood why I thought it was so good and recommended it to someone she knows. You can visit my review of the book here: https://news.hamlethub.com/coscob/life/4099-on-the-children-s-shelf-counting-by-7s-by-holly-goldberg-sloan?tmpl=component. My mom and I are both older than the target audience for this children’s book, but as readers (and humans) we can appreciate this incredible story. If we focused on it simply being a children’s book, we would have missed out on a great read.

As an adult, I never let a book’s category deter me from reading. Some of the books that have had the biggest impact on me have been children’s and young adult books. What children and young adult books have had the biggest impact on you?

Holiday books, holiday decorations

Every December when I was small, my mom would pull out the holiday bins to decorate. Ah, I loved holiday bin day. She would begin decorating and I would look through all the boxes finding my favorite holiday things. We had this little toy bus with Santa riding on it…his head would move back and forth as the bus moved. I don’t know why I thought this was fabulous, but I did.

In between the decorations and ornaments were books…a few favorite holiday books that we packed away the previous January. Books I had forgotten about all year until I found them buried boxes. Books that suddenly pulled me in as I flipped through all the pages.

I’ve continued this tradition in my family. I pack a few favorite holiday books in the bins with the decorations to pull out the next year. When my children were small, they loved when I would pull the books out of the bins. They would flip through the pages. As they got older, they didn’t pick up the books to look through but occasionally would see one in the bin and say, “remember how much I loved that book!”

It’s just a few favorites (not hoarder level of books). The ones you don’t want to give away. The ones your children loved that you hope they read to their children someday and say, “this was my favorite book when I was your age.” While there will be years that you simply move the books to the side and don’t unpack them, just seeing those couple favorites in the bin will make you smile.

It might be many years before my children flip through the pages of the books in our holiday bins again, but I will save those favorite children’s books for that day. Maybe they will read it to a younger cousin or a niece or nephew or someday their own children. I just hope someday, in their holiday decorations box, they keep a couple favorite books from their childhood that will remind them of Christmas years ago when we read those stories.

Thanksgiving Parade books

My birthday is at Thanksgiving which is a weird holiday to sometimes share a birthday with, simply because I share the day “sometimes.” My family always made a big deal of my birthday on Thanksgiving whether it was that specific day or not.

One year when I was small and my birthday was really on Thanksgiving, my mom took me to see the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. As we walked to the parade route, I saw the first balloon go by from afar. Down the street, between the buildings, I saw a giant balloon and it was more amazing that I ever imagined. TV didn’t do it justice. They are huge and that first balloon will always be one of my favorite Thanksgiving birthday memories. The parade was amazing, but that first balloon sighting was the best.

The Thanksgiving parade is still one of my favorite parts of the day (along with pie, obviously). I’ve been to many Thanksgiving parades since and even lived my dream of being a giant balloon handler in the Stamford parade a few years ago. Yes, I walked a giant dragon through the streets of Stamford!

As we get closer to Thanksgiving, here are a couple amazing Thanksgiving parade books. My first pick is Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy’s Parade by Melissa Sweet. I love this book (and the illustrations). Sweet introduces readers to the true story of Tony Sarg, who invented the giant balloons we see in the Thanksgiving Parade.

Another favorite Thanksgiving parade book is Milly and the Macy’s Parade by Shana Corey. While the characters and Mr. Macy’s involvement in starting the parade are fictious, it is based on the creation of the parade. Prior to reading this book, I didn’t know that Macy’s employees from other countries who were feeling homesick as the holidays approached brought traditions from their countries to the parade.

Both of these beautiful picture books based on the history of the parade are wonderful additions to your Thanksgiving traditions. Read the books then watch the parade (on tv or in person). Both stories bring even more magic to the Thanksgiving Parade.

Reading should be fun!

Every parent has experienced the battle between “do this, it’s good for you” and the child’s “but I don’t want to!” So how do we encourage reading without pushing too much and facing resistance? Here are a few suggestions:

Avoid commenting on the level of the book.

Yes, there are times when your child will need to push themselves to read something harder or at their appropriate level for school reading, but if you child is choosing to a read a book on their own….let them! They chose to read. Maybe the book is too young for them, but maybe they find comfort in revisiting a favorite character. One of my children read the same book many times. I tried suggesting something else, but if she was going to read for her own enjoyment, she liked visiting those characters again.

Do a family read aloud.

Take turns reading the book out loud. See who can come up with the best voices for each character. Have your child sit next to you so they hear the story while looking at the words on the page. This is a great way to start a book a child might be hesitant to read because there are more words on the page or bigger words than they are used to seeing in books. If you don’t know how to pronounce a word, mispronounce it. Let them know it’s ok to not know how to pronounce the word. The first time I read Harry Potter, I struggled with Hermione. I had never seen that name before and had not yet seen the movies.

Check out library programs.

The library is an incredible resource. They have so many classes and programs that revolve around books. Tell a librarian your favorite book and they will have several suggestions of other books you will likely enjoy. Libraries have family reads, crafts revolving around books, prizes for summer reading, and it’s free!

Ask your child for a book recommendation.

Whenever one of my children would see me reading a book they recommended, it made them so happy. It reinforces that you value the books they enjoy, that you enjoy those books as well. It makes them feel pride in their book selection.

Read the book…watch the movie.

I love this one because a good movie night is always fun. Make popcorn (a special treat in our house is to put some m&m’s in with the popcorn) and watch the movie after you finish the book. Depending on the movie, you can take the theme as big or as small as you would like. Make a meal from the book if there is a lot of food mentioned throughout the story. Take advantage of pinterest…so many great ideas there to make the book come alive through some simple (and some complicated for those who like a challenge) decorations.

Model reading.

Read. Children notice what we do. They notice a lot of things we don’t think they see. Let them see you reading. Tell them about your book. Maybe the story line is not small child appropriate but tell them something about your book. Simply “my book is so good; I can’t wait to see how it ends!” Let them know you are excited to read your book. Children remember the things you dread and the things you enjoy. Showing them your love for reading helps foster their love of reading.

If you have other suggestion on how you make reading fun, please share them!

Book inspired Halloween costumes

This week, several friends sent me a photo of a little girl dressed up as a book fairy. Her wings were made from an open hard cover book. Her skirt was made from lose book pages. The costume was brilliant, and I wish I was going to a Halloween party just to be a book fairy. The fact that multiple friends sent me the same image made me happy…they know me well.

This got me thinking about other bookish Halloween costumes. I know I originally said I would write about ways to bring books alive, and I will cover that more soon, although I think Halloween costumes are a perfect way to make a book come alive for a child (or teen, adult, pet, anyone). Dress up as your favorite character whether they are from a movie, cartoon, book, or comic book.

If a child likes a book series, what better way to get them even more excited about reading more in the series then for them to dress up as that character. We often see Harry Potter and Hermione, and I love that children love the characters so much that they choose to dress up like them. In our house, costumes have been some very popular book characters and some more obscure. Some of my favorite book character costumes from our Halloweens past include Gerald from the Mo Willems “Elephant & Piggie” books, a borrowed Sophie Foster costume from Shannon Messenger’s “Keeper of the Lost Cities” series (and yes, we had a friend who happened to have that costume), Katniss Everdeen from Suzanne Collins’ “The Hunger Games,” and a group costume consisting of Hermione, Harry’s Owl (carrying a copy of the Daily Prophet), and Doby.

Some characters are challenging because their costumes look like regular clothes, so how do you identify it as a costume? Fear not, it is still possible. For many of our book costumes, I made a trick or treat bag. I picked up a package of plain white cloth bags and printer transfer paper. Print a full sheet book cover onto your transfer paper and iron it onto the bag. It’s simple (although read the instructions to see if you need to flip the image before printing so you don’t have a backwards book cover). Easiest way to immediately identify that the child is dressed up as their favorite book character, and that bag will likely become a favorite little book tote bag.

I can’t wait to see all the costumes, especially the book inspired ones this Halloween. If you dressed up as a book character, be sure to share a picture. I’d love to see it!

The power of words

Words are powerful. They are a way to communicate, to share, to express, to request. When toddlers point at a desired item, they often hear “use your words.” They learn from an early age that words give them power to express what they want and need.

I read something recently that suggested that children who are read to may associate books and words with feelings of love. They hear loved ones read to them. They see the books that are being read. Words and books are tied to feelings of connection to others which may be why our favorite children’s books hold such strong feelings.

Growing up, I don’t remember anyone telling me words were powerful, but it was something I just understood. Perhaps from so much reading and listening to books being read to me, I knew words could make a difference because I got so much out of the books I read. I turned to words to visit beloved characters, but I also turned to my own words.

I wrote stories. I kept journals. I wrote letters. I wrote notes. I wrote down powerful words from books so I would remember them. I liked big words. I liked words that sounded funny. I became interested in all ways of communicating. I remember desperately wanting to learn braille and my mom finding a place in California where she was able to get me instructions to learn.

So when I was unhappy about something, I realized I could write and express my thoughts. I wrote to Lego as a child. I wanted to see more playsets in addition to the space ones that were popular at the time. I offered them ideas in exchange for legos. They didn’t take me up on the offer, but it didn’t deter me. When I used my own money to buy a bag of chips to share with a friend and found they didn’t have the seasoning on them they were supposed to, I wasn’t going to settle. So at 11, I wrote to the company and expressed my disappointment and they listened. They actually wrote back and apologized and gave me a coupon for a new bag of chips (and that one was properly seasoned).

While unseasoned chips aren’t exactly the end of the world, it was a big deal to me, and being heard and receiving a response showed me that my words had power. I love words. I love that the words that I use in ordinary conversation are the same ones Is find inside incredible books strung together telling magical stories. They are powerful. The same words I use every day can be used to impact others, to express feelings, to make change….words are powerful.

So now I invite you to share great words with me. What books changed your life? What books took words and made a difference?

The one and only bob

Last week, Katherine Applegate released “The One and Only Bob” which follows Bob, the dog, from “The One and Only Ivan.” Ivan became one of my favorite characters and I wasn’t sure what to expect as we journeyed into Bob’s story.

If you haven’t read “The One and Only Ivan,” it is based on the true story of a gorilla named Ivan who spent over 20 years living in a cage in a shopping mall. The story is told from Ivan’s perspective. When I first read it, it was my first encounter with a story in “first person gorilla” but Applegate managed to capture this trapped gorilla’s voice in a way that was both authentic and believable.

In “The One and Only Ivan,” Bob, a stray dog, finds his way into the mall searching for food and squeezes himself into the gorilla cage to steal a piece of banana. He succeeds but also finds a friend in Ivan. He remains at the mall with Ivan and Ruby, an elephant also held in a cage in the mall, until rescuers save the gorilla and elephant.

One of the employees, whose daughter Julia often visited Ivan, Ruby, and Bob, takes Bob home and he becomes a part of their family. We begin “The One and Only Bob” with Bob living with Julia and her family. Julia’s dad has a job at the animal sanctuary where Ivan and Ruby now live and Julia and Bob are able to visit them often.

Bob is a tough little dog who had a rough life prior to living with Julia’s family. The entire story is told from his perspective. While Applegate captured the voice of Ivan so brilliantly, she managed to capture the very different, but equally entertaining, voice of Bob perfectly. Bob shares his view of the world as only a dog could see it.

While I read and found myself laughing out loud at times, it was this passage that made me realize Bob’s view of the world was more than just sharing his story, it was words of wisdom from a smart little dog.

Dogs ain’t perfect. But I’ll tell you one thing where we rule: tolerance.
For us, a dog is a dog is a dog. I see a Great Dane, I say howdy. I run into a puggle, it”s Glad to meet ya, how’s it goin’, smelled any good pee lately?
Go to a dog park and you’ll see. We are equal opportunity playful. You sniff my rear, I sniff yours.
You don’t see that with humans, obvious.y Constantly seeing differences where none exist. All those things like skin color? Dogs could care less. You think I won’t hang with a dalmatia ’cause he’s spotted? Or a sharpei ’cause she’s wrinkled?
I’m not saying I love every dog I meet. (Snickers comes to mind.)
But I’ll always give a dog the benefit of the doubt. Life is short. Play is good. And there are plenty of tennis balls to go around.

While it is challenging for many second books to live up to the first, “The One and Only Bob” is a great second book. Applegate’s talent for bringing animal voices to life is incredible and believable. Pick up a copy of “The One and Only Bob” to see what happens with all the incredible characters in “The One and Only Ivan.” You will laugh, you may shed a tear, you will be reminded of the importance of true friendship and perseverance.