the kids are picking away

It's my favorite Tuesday of the month- time to showcase some books that my own kids are enjoying these days, as well as to catch up with others' Kids' Picks via 5 Minutes for Books!

JAM is a check-out-fiend at the library. Seriously, he blows through books every week, and it makes me so thrilled! He recently read Mike Lupica's Million-Dollar Throw, and after finishing the book, he checked out the audio version to hear it all over again. I've listened to a bit of it with him, and I can definitely understand what appealed to him about it- fast-paced narrative and a main character who is immersed in his love of football, especially of the New England Patriots. Woo! This past weekend, we all watched one of our favorite family movies- Homeward Bound. Well, for all the times that we have popped that DVD in, how is it that we never realized it was originally a book? Thanks to the wonders of the Internet, we saw that there were two copies of The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford at our local library, so it was on the Saturday morning check out list. He hasn't started it yet, but I'm pretty sure he's going to love it!

Onto Red and Pudge's choices. With only an 18-month age difference, and now that they're (almost) 4 and (almost) 2.5, they both enjoy the same picture books usually, which makes for some really cozy story times! A couple that we have from the library right now have been read many, many times lately. John Segal's Far Far Away! has been referenced more than once in the past few days, when Red has announced that she's leaving because she's ticked about being told "no" about something (thankfully she doesn't yet know the term "running away," I believe!). Referencing the piggie that declares he is going "far far away" usually makes her laugh and diffuses the tantrumy moment, for which I owe John Segal many thanks! Amy Krouse Rosenthal is a favorite author of mine, because honestly, she has such a unique storytelling voice and her books never fail to make me smile. We all have absolutely loved Yes Day!, which is a blast to read and makes the kids giggle from beginning to end. What would happen if there was a day in which every request a child made was answered with a resounding "yes"? Oh my. The best part just may be the illustrations on the end pages-- too funny!

For Pudge, the call of the potty is growing stronger, so of course, we've pulled a certain classic book off the shelf and it's been read and read and read and read and read and read and read... (do you get it??) Alona Frankel's Once Upon a Potty presents Joshua and Joshua's mother and the new potty that enters their lives. Hopefully we'll soon be on the same page! Pudge also has a certain affinity for owls, although I'm not at all sure why. Jennifer Ericsson's Whoo Goes There? has an amazing owl illustration on the cover, and it is one of his favorite books to pull off the shelf and look at on his own. The illustrations throughout the book are just as captivating, and I like that there is a cool mix of common and lesser known animals highlighted in the story.

How about you and your little ones- what books are getting the most attention in your kids' lives these days? Link on up with us at Kids' Picks on 5M4B!


Forever grateful for our public library system,