Thursday, May 7, 2009

What's in your bookbasket?

Our bookbasket is very full this week!

Our theme book for the week:
Miss Rumphius, Barbara Cooney

And to go with our theme (the ocean, more or less):
Mister Seahorse, Eric Carle - Eric Carle, what else can I say??  Big bright pictures, fun see-through pages, sweet story.
Animals and Where They Live, DK Publishers - Except for that whole 'evolution' thing, I (heart) DK! Thankfully, this book doesn't seem to have any references to the big E or the Big Bang or any of those other theories objectionable to our family.
Paddle-to-the-Sea, Holling Clancy Holling - I think this was recommended by another book-basket poster.  We are only a few chapters in, but I think Dale is going to like it.  I like it because it is different from your average story-book.  
Animals that Live in the Sea, National Geographic
The Turtle and the Island, Barbara Ker Wilson - A folk tale from New Guinea.  Imaginative story and great for explaining the beliefs of different cultures.
Pirate Pete, Kim Kennedy - Silly, simple story book.  Pure fluff, but fluff is fun and Dale liked it.  :)
One Lonely Seahorse, Saxton Freymann - One of those pictures-made-out-of-vegetables books.  Always fun to look at.
The Sea Monkey, Geraldine Kaye - Another 'beliefs of different cultures' book.  Be prepared to explain about others' belief in spirits (sea spirits in this case).  Other than that, it is a story centered around a trouble-causing monkey.
Animals of the Sea, Millicent E. Selsam
Grandma's Beach Surprise, Ilka List
Animals of the Seashore, Nature Close-ups
Octopus, Evelyn Shaw - Easy reader all about octopuses.  Dale and I took turns reading aloud, and as soon as we finished he turned right around and read it on his own, so it has his stamp of approval. 

Dale's free-reading:
Anna Help Ginger, Jan Wahl
Slip, The Story of a Little Fox, Phoebe Erickson
Come, Chucky, Come, Dorothea J. Snow

I love all 3 of the above stories, published in 1971, 1948, and 1952, respectively.  Older stories seem to follow different themes from so many of today's, and I like that.

Flat Stanley, Jeff Brown
Nate the Great and the Sticky Case, Marjorie Weinman Sharmat

Read-aloud:
Boxcar Children Book 2,
Surprise Island, Gertrude Chandler Warner

Alan's books (2 1/2):
Counting Kisses, Karen Katz
Silly Sally, Audrey Wood
The Napping House, Audrey Wood
Big Fat Hen, Keith Baker

Silly Sally and The Napping House have both been a big hit with Alan.  I know this because he says, "Do it 'gain" after the last page of each of them.  (Same thing with Counting Kisses, for that matter.)  The thing is, the stories and pictures are so fun I don't mind reading them over and over!  Yay Audrey Wood!  :)

My book:
Hands of My Father, Myron Uhlberg
"A hearing boy, his deaf parents, and the language of love"
This story had me captivated from beginning to end, but I have always had a fascination and respect for sign language.

See what others are reading this week at
The Happy Housewife.

Edited to Add:
I thought I would add our no-go's for this week.  Not every book is going to be a winner, you know?

Hermit Crab, William M. Stephens - This is an excellent book, but just goes into a little too much detail on reproduction than I want to share with my 5 year old. 

Dolphin, Robert A. Morris - Again, the reproduction bit.

The Little Mermaid, Hans Christian Anderson - It was going good until the end got way to 'spiritual'.  With Dale being at an age that he is learning and beginning to grasp the Truth, I don't want to confuse matters.  Maybe we can revisit this one in a few years.

Visit with a Mermaid, Pierre Le-Tan - Weird, weird, weird.  Only to be read if you don't mind your little ones checking out the topless mermaid (and little girl) and seeing how fun it can be to wade into the ocean and run away with strangers.
Odd little book.

I don't always do it, but this week I read/scanned all our books before Dale could read them.  I ended up pulling these four before Dale could get to them.  
Which brings me to a question... do you censor what your kids read?  
Until what age?  
I like knowing what is going into that growing brain of his!

6 comments:

The Happy Housewife said...

I love Freymann's books! Great list! As for censoring what my kids read, I still do it and I have a 14 yo. I don't read every book, but I research the ones I am not familiar with to make sure there is not inappropriate language or themes.
Toni

Jennifer said...

I love the Boxcar Children...reminds me a days gone by! Books..like many things...have to be censored - for exactly the reasons you had to remove them! I'm also amazed how scary so many children's books are. But you definitley want books that support your values, etc. Sounds like you have a lot of good ones, though....ENJOY!

Wendi said...

We just finished reading "Paddle to the Sea" ~ it was scheduled in our homeschool curric (Ambleside) and we read about 2 chapters per week. My 7yo and my 5yo LOVED it, and so did I. We are starting to read "Tree in the Trail" for this term.

As for censoring ~ I do try to censor books that my 7yo will be reading ~ if he's reading through a series like Boxcar Children, I'll try to read at least one book from the series to see what the characters are like and what kind of language they use. For the read-alouds, I sometimes replace words that we don't use around here...

Michelle said...

Oh yes. I absolutely censor what my kiddos read. I think that we need to--that's why we are here, to "lead them in the way that they should go." And not only that, but you are right. There are some just WEIRD books out there! We got one last week that even Emilee didn't like, and she just makes up her own stories most of the time right now. We love Boxcar Children, we are on #4.

Anonymous said...

That's a nice list. I sometimes censor the kid's books. Most of them I look for reviews or are recommended by friends. I do not censor books for my 15yo. He reads too many books for me to keep up with and he knows when to put a book down if it is not appropriate for him.

I am going to put a few of your books on my list. :)

Jennifer said...

Happy Mother's Day!!