Thursday, May 27, 2010

Children's Books

Two posts in one day! It's partially because I didn't really want to keep that nursing one up as the most recent for too long :). Also, it is a nice way to keep myself busy instead of fretting about the fact that Joe is somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean right now.

I may be weird, but I get really excited about children's books. I have so many favorites and I love it when I discover new favorites. Often, I am more excited about picking books out for the kids to read than about getting ones for me. I am definitely in "mommy mode" at this time in my life. (I hope that this also serves as a reasonable explanation for why I had a dream the other night about Sid the Science Kid speaking at General Conference, and that there are no underlying psychological issues at play here.) :)

Anyway. . . I recently discovered a new author that I love: William Steig. I'd never heard of him before until one day when Elizabeth picked up Shrek, written by him. I didn't even know the movies were based on that book. I actually didn't like that book all that much, although it had its moments. It was when we picked up Caleb & Kate that I first fell in love with his stories.

After that, I actually requested a bunch of his books from the library and we found a lot of other great ones:

These two are touching:

These are all just good fun:

The kids loved that last one and trying to figure out what all of the combinations of letters were saying.

Am I the only one who hadn't heard of this guy? He did win a lot of awards so you'd think I would have.

Does anyone else care this much about children's books? What are your favorites? I guess I should also ask--what are your kids' favorites?

4 comments:

Stephanie said...

I'm totally going to check these out. We love going to the library and we're always looking for new good ones. Our favorite authors are Jez Alborough, Doreen Cronin, and some others, but it's too late to think...I should be in bed!

Jessica said...

Oh I love a recommended author. It is so much fun to find books that your kids just LOVE!

Mr. and Mrs. Hillarious said...

I've read Sylvester, but not any of the others. I'll definitely have to check out the last one. Sam is stuck on anything that has trains or trucks in it...or whatever the longest book from the library is. I LOVE picking out books for Sam! I actually took a class in college called Children and Literature to get a better idea of kids books and what to read to my boy. So cool!

Jackie said...

Oh, is anyone else obsessed with children's books? Ha! We have them coming out our ears. I find them at Goodwill and Arc or yard sales for dirt cheap and I love them. I love that I don't have to pay library fines on them. ;) While I was working, I was close to a fantastically supplied Goodwill and I'd always stop on Friday afternoons and bring home books for the kids. So, Fridays are "book days" in our house now and I can't help myself, even when I'm not working. It gets worse because Dallin is into chapter book series and now I'm searching for the whole collections, you know? So, I'm working on Magic Tree House, Animal Ark, Encyclopedia Brown, etc. I love when kids devour books; it gives me a secret high, I think. You are a good example of reading to yours! I really could go on and on...

By the way, I really think your kids are adorable. Have I told you that lately? Seriously, they are so cute!

I'm glad Joe made it to Ghana safely. You are a strong woman! I bet that was a hard decision.

I wish we could hang out!