What we found at the library

My friend Sarah host this great book idea exchange! I haven't done it in a while, but I am back!! 

1. Nick's picks these days are Dora books. I don't have pictures because we have more than one. They are the board books and one is a book that goes with his Tag Jr. (which he loves). He opens the pages commenting on all the characters he can name, Dora, Boots, Map, Backpack. The illustrations are great for learning simple objects like flower, sun, animals, and colors. 

2. Isaac and I have been reading the Boxcar Children. I read this series as a child, and loved it. The characters are simple but have just enough depth to keep interest yet not to much to confuse you. There is a lot of dialogue which is great for my Isaac. I can always catch his attention when it wanders with some good dialogue. This one is a mystery, and it starts right from the start with the guessing. It has some historical aspects that are great to expose him to, but not enough to call it fact. The setting is the early 1900's and the kids lived in a boxcar until their grandfather (who happens to be very wealthy) discovers they are his and takes them in. They have naive candor, so it allows for some discovery which Isaac really likes. 

3. Tyler and I are reading the second Harry Potter. We had the chance to show him the first movie before we finished the book when the little ones were gone, so we skipped ahead to this book. He says he likes it better because it has more action so far. He likes to hear about Harry at Hogwarts and gets bored with the Dursley's (Harry's Aunt and Uncle he previously lived with). It's been a lot of fun reading this to him because I can practice my accent!! It's terrible, really, but there is just something really fun about reading a book out loud. 

Side Note: When we watched the first Harry Potter, Tyler told me that he didn't expect Hagrid to sound like he did in the movie! My accent must have been really bad!

We also read some shorter books, but the boys are really into these so I thought I would share them this week! Visit Sarah and join in!!!

What We Found At the Library

Sarah @ This Heavenly Life hosts this great book finding get together every other week. Check her out and join in the fun!!

We didn't make it to the library this past week, due in part to the amount of snow we received and my laziness. But! Thanks to Daddy, we ordered books from a book order, man I loved those as a kid. It was like Christmas every month!

This was Mommy's favorite. It's an adorable short book about dust bunnies who rhyme. Bob, the blue dust bunny seems to be the only one paying attention and keeps trying to warn the others of brooms and vaccumm cleaners. The other dust bunnies think he just doesn't know how to rhyme and continue with their game. The pictures are bright, very few words on each page so it keeps you moving.

 

This is Isaac's favorite pick. It holds very little literary value, but for a star wars enthuist, it's the be all end all. The pictures are very detailed and every one is made of legos! This book is super cute and our second Star Wars dictionary to grace it's presence in our home. Long live Yoda!!

Tyler and I have begun reading this book each night. I was struggling to find a book that would capture his imagination and be a good read aloud book. This does it. He is already really into it and we haven't even made it out of Diagon Alley!! I realize there is lots of controversy surrounding the wizard/witches, but feel that we put enough realism behind our faith and are able to teach him that this is not real, he will be just fine. He is excited to finish the book in hopes we will let him watch the movie (jury is still out on that).

I am lost the text book dungeon these days and have very little time for enjoyment reading. Not that I don't like the things I am  being forced to read, but would like my free will back to choose!! 

Dan is reading this Michael Crichton book. I bet it's really good!!

Thanks again, Sarah, for hosting!!

What We Found At the Library

It's time for another trip to the library (or bookshelf)! Visit  

Sarah @ This Heavenly Life for more great book finds!

Tyler is now reading this series called Geranimo Stilton. It's about this little detective/journalist mouse that solves mysteries. I haven't actually read through and entire one yet, I am finding that as he gets older it's so much harder to pre read the books before he does. Thankfully, Dan is "in the know " on elementary level books so I think we got it covered until he goes to middle school. (shudder) 

Isaac begged to check this book out again. He just loves reading all the heroic endings by all the different animals and people. He's a sucker for a happy ending. (a child after my own heart!) This book provides just that in every story. It has almost every story, up to Lion King (I think that's the most recent in here), with pictures. It's a big book and he loves to carry it around, saying he has read the whole thing.

Nick is apparently on a book hiatus right now. He refuses to sit for even three seconds for a picture book. Even his favorite about Tractors. He jumps up, giggling, and runs (ok, duck waddles quickly) away. sigh, maybe next time......

Thanks, Sarah, for hosting!! 

disclaimer: the two books pictured here were found on amazon.com

What We Found At The Library

I love this button Lenae made! Isn't it cute?!

We have had an extended Christmas Vacation due to all the snow we have received. And since we live in the  Ozark Mountains, there are tons of small country gravel roads that are still snow covered (or so I hear, I haven't actually driven to them!). I will quickly admit that the snow is much prettier on the mountains here in our new town than it was when we lived in a larger city. I have yet to see hardly any "black snow" from trucks. There is some I am sure, but there is just so much more not reachable by truck it out weighs the other. Back to the task at hand...What We Found At The Library.

We have made two trips to our library during our extended vacation (see above) so this could get a little lengthy. We also recieved books as gifts this year! So with no more talk of the weather, here are our finds......

Christmas Morning, he got 7 books. He loves to read!

These are the books he got, He has finished two of them!

Tyler's Picks- Tyler loves Junie B. and all that she does. She is a kindergarten/first grader (depending on the series you choose) who is unafraid to speak her mind. You follow her through her life with her friends and enemies. It is absoulutly written just like a first grader would speak and think. She takes things literally and still sticks out her tongue at people she doesn't like. The series is super cute and Tyler loves it. I have even found myself reading them a time or two!! Stink is the little brother to Judy Moody. He gets into all kinds of mischief and makes all sorts of trouble for his big sister. The series, again, is very well written for the level of reader it's made for. I think it rates in the upper second grade. I think. Tyler is by far our advanced reader. I love that he loves books and enjoy reading to him and with him, although these days he would much rather read to himself!!

Isaac's picks- Isaac did not get any books for Christmas. He is our "do" kid. But, he does love the library and therefore we found some good stuff for him. He is fascinated with weather, storms in particular. This book is in 3 D and even though we didn't have 3 D glasses the pictures were still good. This is one of two weather books he checked out this past time. There is not a whole lot of value in the words, which is fine since his attraction to it was the pictures. Him and I are currently reading The Bailey School Kids series. Simply written, it gives us some of what we lack in our picture books.

Nick's picks- Nick recieved a Tag Junior for Christmas. The books are printed with a special ink that is readable by this small device the toddlers hold. It talks to them (you program it to say their name) and any where that they push on the page it tells them something. It might make the sound of the animal pictured or sing a little song about the illustrations. When they push it over the words, it reads the words to them. He seems to like it. He has gone to get it a few times and played on his own with it. There are only two buttons on the device-on/off switch and the volume( it only has two levels so they are not blasting their ears). You can connect it to your computer and download the codes for the books and the plug is inside the device-which I like, he is unable to stick anything in it! His favorite is the one pictured here- ABC. It's a book of animals going through the alphabet.

Momma's picks- I checked out Maya Angelou I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings. I read this book in high school and had a sudden desire to re read it. I enjoy her descriptions of her childhood and the history she was able to see.

Daddy's picks- Dan is currently pre-reading The Shadow Children series for his classroom. This series is about a country where a family can only have two children. If a third child is born, they must be hidden or killed.  The main character is a thrid child and the series is about how he comes out of hiding and the trials he faces. I have only read the first one and part of the second one, so I am not sure how else to describe them!!

Visit Sarah at This Heavenly Life  for more, and most likely shorter, posts!!

What we found at the library #2

We took our trip to the Library last week. I love going with my boys, our library is small the children's section is very small with only 10 or 11 shelves of actual picture books for kids. I like to find the odd books, ones that you don't usually find at a larger library. Our library is also donation only, so most of the books are slightly used, which is great, because we REALLY read our library books!! We look at them over and over again and sometimes we even fall asleep with them in our bed! (There is a larger library just 30 minutes away and hopefully in the spring we will get a library card to it.)

So here are our holiday finds......

 Sometimes our library will sell books in order to have money to purchase new books. This was one they were selling and I bought it for Nick. It was worth all 50 cents I paid for it!! He loves pulling the tabs open and "peek a booing" what's on the inside! We don't read the words very much, but we point and talk about the pictures quite often. The Arthur books have been a family favorite for years and it was great to get to introduce him to Nick with his own book!

 I picked out this great classic for Isaac. I read it to all three boys one night for our Advent Activity. I had wanted them to get lost in the magic and romance of this great classic and I thought this very colorfully illustrated edition would do the trick. I had forgotten I am living in a boy's world!! They were more enchanted with the idea of the overgrown mouse than the moral of the story!! I enjoyed reading it and we had fun talking all about the big mouse and the ugly man!

 Tyler fell in love with Jan Brett last year in kindergarten when his teacher did a whole unit on the author. She read a few of her books and did some activites with the kids. Tyler has since put Jan Brett in his top ten. The pictures in this book are magical. There is so much to look at on each page. I love the colors she uses in the book. Not to bright and not to may different ones. Grandma even borrowed this find to read to Dan's class!! Highly reccomend!

 As for me, I have jumped into another Jodi Picoult novel. I admit this book will not raise my IQ, but it is fun. It's a great novel to simply get lost in. She writes simply, with lots of great illustrations with words. I find it's hard to put down. I must say, it is a little racier than the last book of her's that I read. If you are really sensitive to certain material, I mitght not reccomend it to you. I just love finding a good, easy, read to just get lost in for a while. ( I read all the Twilight novels and loved them!! I know, right!!)

If your looking for some more great finds, visit my friend Sarah!! Have a great week!

I wonder what you think??

I am currently searching for some new children's books. I have my heart set on something different, that maybe I didn't already know about. Please tell me what your kids' favorite book is, and encourage everyone you know to do the same. If you don't have kids, what was your favorite book as a kid???

I am excited to hear all of your ideas!! And even more excited to read the books with my own kids!

Wait, I want in on this magic too!!

Sarah at This Heavenly Life is hosting her first ever What We Found at the Library. I was so excited when she decided to this and even though we haven't been to the library this week, I pulled out our books from last week to add to the fun!! I couldn't miss out on this!!
Tyler is reading Junie B. Jones The Boss Of Lunch. He absolutely loves Junie B. and I can hear him laughing out loud when he reads it.

Isaac (who is currently lost in space-see here) checked out Geo Whiz by Susan Mondshein Tejada. It is a book from National Geographic Society that shows great pictures of the Earth and it's inhabitants. He also picked Lighting by Seymour Simon. He thouht this book was really cool with all the pictures of actual lightning striking (he also learned alot about lightning as I read the pages to him)

We picked up a few picture books for Nick, but mostly he likes the Dora board books we have here at home. He also likes the board books about colors. It feels like he is constantly bringing me a book to read with him!! (although, I am sure he isn't doing it as much as I think!)

Dan is reading Prayer by Phillip Yancey on his own and he is reading Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix to his students. He is also reading The Summer of 1787 By David O. Stewart.

 

I am reading an old favorite author ( I like to read his when I want to just enjoy a good story with a thought out story line) John Grisham. The book is called The Summons. I enjoy his books because I like reading about law and small town lawyers. His writing style is easy to get into and I can pick it up no matter where I left off or for how long and not feel lost!

Thanks Sarah for hosting this fun event and hopefully we will get to go to the library next week!!

You should all head on over and link up with her!!!

By the way I got all of my images from Amazon!