http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/books/review/four-picture-books-starring-real-life-heroines.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&ref=review&adxnnlx=1331391905-PH7VRXz2HKaX3LiTa/WBEA

Yesterday, March 2nd, was Dr. Suess’ 108 birthday!  My son’s kindergarten class did something special to celebrate. My daughter’s 3rd class did not – as they are preparing for testing next week (always about the test!).  I wonder if there is another author that will always have a day to celebrate.  Was there another author like Dr. Suess – whose work has touched so many children’s and adult’s lives? Last night, my children chose to read Dr. Suess books, The Lorax and Daisy Head Mayzie.  They are both long books.  We couldn’t decide on just one; so I read The Lorax to my son, and my daughter went upstairs to…

After not hearing of Ann Patchett before, and then three times in one week hearing her name, and watching her on The Colbert Report; I decided to dig a little further.  First, I will be getting some grown-up Ann Patchett books out of the library on our library visit tomorrow.  Second, I love what she has to say, and what she is doing in her new bookstore, Parnassus Books in Nashville, TN  (http://www.parnassusbooks.net).  Third, I am going to read as many of the books she recommends on her blog as possible.  (http://www.parnassusbooks.net/blog) – ahh, to dream! I read her blog and realized that, I,  too, am one of the many…

So, since my last post we have had quite the roller coaster.  Finished building a house, moved out of apartment, moved into new house the week before Christmas (everyone warned me not to!), Thanksgiving, Christmas, 12 people for Christmas dinner, 18 family for day after Christmas fun, unpacking, crashed car into stone wall(only thing hurt was the car and wallet), unpacking, broken dining room table, broken heirloom chandelier, got all our stuff out of storage, still unpacking.  Probably not in the right order, but you get the picture.  So, I have not had much time to read books, the end of my day is pretty much head falling on the…

I have been very lax in my entries since September.  So much has happened in our crazy life.  And, fall always seems to be such a crazy time for our family!  And, throw in a major storm that shuts down the entire state and it doesn’t make it easy to keep on schedule.  However, it does make it easy to go to the library. I found http://www.guysread.com/ a few months ago.  Jon Scieszka is a former teacher and a wonderful author (one of my favorites is The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by A. Wolf).  He began his website “to encourage a passion for reading among young boys, with the…

http://www.carlemuseum.org/blog/?p=5383

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick  (A Novel in Words and Pictures) http://www.theinventionofhugocabret.com/index.htm WOW!  This book is truly amazing!  They say a picture is worth a thousand words – but this is worth so much more. Hugo is an orphan who lives in the walls of a commuter train station in Paris.  His life depends on secrets and keeping the time of all the clocks in the station.  When he meets a young girl and her godfather (from whom he steals ) his life unwinds.   It is truly a novel of words and pictures – both are absolutely necessary for the plot of this wonderful story.  The illustrations depict…

The American Girl Kirsten Series    The Happy Readers has a guest writer/reader today.  This is written by my daughter: 9 year old Kirsten Larson is an immigrant from Sweden.  She faces big changes, like losing her best friend, and living life differently in Minnesota.  Her Uncle Olav and Aunt Inger help the Larsons feel at home in Minnesota.  Uncle Olav and his family moved to Minnesota 6 years before Kirsten.  Uncle Olav and Aunt Inger have  children of their own; Lisbeth is 11 years old, and Anna,  is  7 years old.  Kirsten has a family of her own, there is Papa, Mama, and her brothers Lars and Peter.   All of them have…

Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin, Pictures by Harry Bliss We’ve had a lot of rain this past month, so the worms are being tossed around.  My son has become fascinated with them.  But, I seem to be the one to have to pick them up and bring them back to the dirt.   Ahhh, motherhood. We found Diary of a Spider when my daughter was a toddler and we loved it.  Naturally, when Diary of a Worm was published, we had to get it.  Doreen Cronin has a knack for making her books enjoyable for children, and at the same time making it humorous for adults.  Worms doing…

My Lucky Day by Keiko Kasza My son told us about this book.  His teacher read it to the class on day.  I had never heard of it, so I asked  him to tell me about it.  He told me the whole story, perfectly!  And, he asked me to go get it out of the library the next day.  My son sits and listens so well in circle time that he could re-tell the story, and he asks for books out of the library.  There are definite advantages to giving your children a love of books at an early age. We all loved this book.  It was funny and cute.  The illustrations are…