you're my little pumpkin pie
Oh my goodness is this such a cute little book. The story is a bunch of fall theme babies: a pumpkin, ghost, black kitten, etc. One page has the little one on it with some text. But it's clear that the baby is sticking through the book from the page below. Then when you turn the page there's the mommy holding their baby talking about how much they love them. It's so adorable! And it's a great read for this time of year.
Good night little monsters
This was such an adorable little book! We read it quite a bit and I just knew it would be perfect for Halloween Book Review. This little night time story follows 8 different monster families as they tuck their little monsters in. The photos are super cute and the puns are perfect. It's sweet, family friendly, and adorable for those families like mine who love cryptids and mythological creatures.
The Summer Caterpillar
I'm cutting it close to posting in June, aren't I? Well, as I've said previously, the wedding planning has literally taken away my extra time that I would use for reading and putting together book reviews. (PLUS, I have two review-series planned for this fall: The Halloween Review Series and one I'm keeping secret for now *wink*.) In the meantime, I'm rather busy with my little sister's summer education. I posted a quick photo on Instagram of Jenna's caterpillar and I received some DM's inquiring what our caterpillar entails. So, here we go, a post for June on a fun, at home, reading program you can do for your little readers.
First of all, the big question, why do a caterpillar in the first place? Well, there are three major reasons I encourage you to give this a try. First, a good reading comprehension is key to a great education. Without reading skills they will not only struggle in English courses, but basic directions on worksheets and even word problems in math can be hard to understand. Reading helps them gain all kinds of skills they will need throughout their lives from vocabulary to memory, and even the ability to deduce what’s going to happen. The second reason, is to encourage their love of reading, or if they hate reading, to give them a reason to want to do it. For instance, last year our caterpillar, Hank, told JJ that if she read 50 books he had a big surprise planned for her. It took the majority of the summer, but she did it! And we went to the Zoo, where she had a blast and at the end got to pick a special stuffed animal from the gift shop. It encouraged her to read without us having to force her. This creates positive feelings of their accomplishments. [And this summer it took her less than three weeks to hit 50 books!] Which brings me to the third reason why I do the summer caterpillar. We are not just building a strong reading comprehension, but we are building memories. My caterpillar program involves special body segments that show up after so many books. Right now for Jenna it’s five books. So every five body parts she puts up, a special one with a little reward will show up. It helps keep her from being discouraged when trying to reach the big goals, BUT more importantly for us, it holds us accountable to the plans we make. I mean, mother’s raise your hands if you’ve ever promised your kid a trip the park, but then doctors appointments, work, bad weather, migraines, LIFE IN GENERAL hits you in the face and that park trip keeps getting put off. But it’s hard to ignore that you’ve made that promise when it’s literally on your living room wall staring at you. These are little rewards like a game night, movie night, going to Baskin Robins and getting an ice cream cone, etc. Little things, that build memories that mean more to your child than you know. Some of my strongest and fondest memories were Sunday morning trips to get the newspaper with my grandpa, something so small, but so meaningful. Your child will appreciate it and once again it builds positive feelings towards reading.
Now, how it’s done is we begin this as soon as the school year comes to an end. Your child's caterpillar will show up- just their 'head' with a little note introducing themselves and what they want accomplished. Last year we just had a round head with a smiley face, this year I printed a free coloring book page of a book worm and made it into a female caterpillar. Moving onto your child's goal: read as many books as they can so that at the end of the summer their caterpillar can turn into a big beautiful butterfly. Now, you can challenge your child to read x-number of books using your caterpillar's notes (I mentioned that last year Hank set a goal for fifty to get a big surprise). This year, since Jenna’s reading level has gone up twice her caterpillar is a more ‘school’ inclined and she will leave JJ notes every so often that she should go to the library and pick up five books on *insert topic here*. I noticed JJ is interested in animal books, so Ophelia (our current caterpillar) told her to go check out five educational animal books- we brought home 14. This also encourages library trips, which helps teach responsibility and force their inside voice *chuckle*, plus all around supporting your local library is wonderful for the community! Plus the library also has reading programs your child can join and double their efforts to make this the biggest caterpillar anyone’s ever seen!
I know, what’s the downside to this? Well, I hand cut the body parts because I haven’t found a whole punch big enough for what I want. But I’m sure there are other options out there for the guardian who’s more savvy with that kind of search. (If you find something that works, let me know!) Then there’s what I call the summer-drag, it's where your child decides nothing matters- not rewards, not punishments, nothing. They just want to sit and be bored and scream that they’re bored. During this time we definitely force her hand and make her read at least one book a day. Sighting that she’s not being fair to her poor caterpillar that’s trusting her to be a responsible child. It normally does the job. Also, your child will grow suspicious from time to time about how real their caterpillar is. Now, like Santa, I don’t want to blow this secret, so as far as JJ’s concerned the caterpillar emails me their ‘reward list’ so that I can fill out the special body parts, etc. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it! When the summer comes to an end and it’s time to say goodbye to your reading pal, I wait till she’s in bed and take down all the body parts. But I also leave a farewell note and a butterfly picture somewhere she can find it.
Finally, you do what’s best for your little reader, though I highly encourage finding some sort of a reading program you can do with them. It will make a difference, like I said JJ’s reading level has gone up twice since last summer. Bonus: if you have multiple readers assign each child a body part color and keep a wipe on wipe off chart where you can tally each child’s body parts and keep track of their rewards. OR have multiple caterpillars covering your walls. It would be a lot of work, but you’d certainly have quite the conversation piece to talk to your guests about, lol! I hope this helps answer any questions you guys have and please feel free to share your summer reading ideas!
First of all, the big question, why do a caterpillar in the first place? Well, there are three major reasons I encourage you to give this a try. First, a good reading comprehension is key to a great education. Without reading skills they will not only struggle in English courses, but basic directions on worksheets and even word problems in math can be hard to understand. Reading helps them gain all kinds of skills they will need throughout their lives from vocabulary to memory, and even the ability to deduce what’s going to happen. The second reason, is to encourage their love of reading, or if they hate reading, to give them a reason to want to do it. For instance, last year our caterpillar, Hank, told JJ that if she read 50 books he had a big surprise planned for her. It took the majority of the summer, but she did it! And we went to the Zoo, where she had a blast and at the end got to pick a special stuffed animal from the gift shop. It encouraged her to read without us having to force her. This creates positive feelings of their accomplishments. [And this summer it took her less than three weeks to hit 50 books!] Which brings me to the third reason why I do the summer caterpillar. We are not just building a strong reading comprehension, but we are building memories. My caterpillar program involves special body segments that show up after so many books. Right now for Jenna it’s five books. So every five body parts she puts up, a special one with a little reward will show up. It helps keep her from being discouraged when trying to reach the big goals, BUT more importantly for us, it holds us accountable to the plans we make. I mean, mother’s raise your hands if you’ve ever promised your kid a trip the park, but then doctors appointments, work, bad weather, migraines, LIFE IN GENERAL hits you in the face and that park trip keeps getting put off. But it’s hard to ignore that you’ve made that promise when it’s literally on your living room wall staring at you. These are little rewards like a game night, movie night, going to Baskin Robins and getting an ice cream cone, etc. Little things, that build memories that mean more to your child than you know. Some of my strongest and fondest memories were Sunday morning trips to get the newspaper with my grandpa, something so small, but so meaningful. Your child will appreciate it and once again it builds positive feelings towards reading.
Now, how it’s done is we begin this as soon as the school year comes to an end. Your child's caterpillar will show up- just their 'head' with a little note introducing themselves and what they want accomplished. Last year we just had a round head with a smiley face, this year I printed a free coloring book page of a book worm and made it into a female caterpillar. Moving onto your child's goal: read as many books as they can so that at the end of the summer their caterpillar can turn into a big beautiful butterfly. Now, you can challenge your child to read x-number of books using your caterpillar's notes (I mentioned that last year Hank set a goal for fifty to get a big surprise). This year, since Jenna’s reading level has gone up twice her caterpillar is a more ‘school’ inclined and she will leave JJ notes every so often that she should go to the library and pick up five books on *insert topic here*. I noticed JJ is interested in animal books, so Ophelia (our current caterpillar) told her to go check out five educational animal books- we brought home 14. This also encourages library trips, which helps teach responsibility and force their inside voice *chuckle*, plus all around supporting your local library is wonderful for the community! Plus the library also has reading programs your child can join and double their efforts to make this the biggest caterpillar anyone’s ever seen!
I know, what’s the downside to this? Well, I hand cut the body parts because I haven’t found a whole punch big enough for what I want. But I’m sure there are other options out there for the guardian who’s more savvy with that kind of search. (If you find something that works, let me know!) Then there’s what I call the summer-drag, it's where your child decides nothing matters- not rewards, not punishments, nothing. They just want to sit and be bored and scream that they’re bored. During this time we definitely force her hand and make her read at least one book a day. Sighting that she’s not being fair to her poor caterpillar that’s trusting her to be a responsible child. It normally does the job. Also, your child will grow suspicious from time to time about how real their caterpillar is. Now, like Santa, I don’t want to blow this secret, so as far as JJ’s concerned the caterpillar emails me their ‘reward list’ so that I can fill out the special body parts, etc. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it! When the summer comes to an end and it’s time to say goodbye to your reading pal, I wait till she’s in bed and take down all the body parts. But I also leave a farewell note and a butterfly picture somewhere she can find it.
Finally, you do what’s best for your little reader, though I highly encourage finding some sort of a reading program you can do with them. It will make a difference, like I said JJ’s reading level has gone up twice since last summer. Bonus: if you have multiple readers assign each child a body part color and keep a wipe on wipe off chart where you can tally each child’s body parts and keep track of their rewards. OR have multiple caterpillars covering your walls. It would be a lot of work, but you’d certainly have quite the conversation piece to talk to your guests about, lol! I hope this helps answer any questions you guys have and please feel free to share your summer reading ideas!
Edgar BabyLit" First Steps Books
In the past week I have found a new passion. BabyLit books, "baby's first introduction to classic literature"! What a cute idea! Our friends' little boy just turned one, and in my usual fashion I set out to find books to add to his gifts. This series immediately sparked my interest (and upon getting the mother's excited approval) I bought quite a few of these. The series of BabyLit that I found are by Jennifer Adams. She has done practically every classic novel you can think of, from Don Quixote to Pride and Prejudice. Just look at her Goodreads link below and you'll see what I mean!
However, I want to talk about the Edgar books. I am a HUGE Edgar Allen Poe fan and I love the idea of turning them into children safe books. In these stories Edgar is a little raven, he has a sister named Lenore, a friend named Roderick, and his mother who is also a prevalent character. The books are, "Edgar and the Tree House of Usher", "Edgar and the Tattle-Tale Heart", and "Edgar Gets Ready for Bed". Each one based off one of Poe's classic tales. "Edgar and the Tree House of Usher" is inspired by "The Fall of the House of Usher". In this novel Edgar goes to his friend Roderick's tree house to play, insisting his sister cannot join because, 'no girls allowed'. After his sister shows up anyways and fights with them about how unfair they were being, a storm knocks the tree house down. I suppose now it's the fall of the tree house of usher? When all is said and done Edgar learns the importance of friends, family, and forgiveness. In "Edgar and the Tattle-Tale Heart", inspired by "The Tell-Tale Heart", he knocks over his mother's prize sculpture breaking it in half. Despite his sister promising to tattle on him, he tries to hide what he did. But no hiding place works, not even under the floorboards. It's an adorable short story that teaches your child the importance of owning up to their mistakes. In "Edgar Gets Ready for Bed", which is based off "The Raven", Edgar is having a hard time minding his mother and is getting into all kinds of mischief. Everything his mother tells him to do, is met with one word- NEVERMORE! It's adorable, simple, and will surely give your kids a laugh.
On top of how adorable these little stories are, they also have great illustrations in them that really help bring the events to life. Even as an adult you will find the pictures humerus! My fiance wants to prepare in advance and buy copies for when we have children, that's how cute they are! Read on my fellow bookworms and may you continue to help a child's love of literature grow! It's never too early to start!
Below are the links to the author's Goodreads and website. I had hoped to link the Illustrator's pages as well but his website is coming up as no-longer existing. His name is Ron Stucki so feel free to look for him!
Children's Library: Perfect For Little Minds
One of the hardest things to do is write an entire review of a book that is less than one hundred pages long. In place of traditional book reviews this page is dedicated for children story suggestions and brief information about them.
The Adventure of The Bailey School Kids: Vampires Don't Wear Polka Dots. By Debbie Dadey and Marcia Thornton Jones. Illustrated by John Steven Gurney. Page count 78, Adventure/fiction genre, with a reading level expectation of grades 2-4.
Vampires Don't Wear Polka Dots is the first book in a very large collection. There are 51 consecutive books in the original series, 9 books in the Bailey School Kids 'Jr' Chapter Books, 5 Holiday Special Edition stories, and 8 books that are considered Specials and Super Specials. A complete list of book titles and where they fall in this massive collection will be in a link below.
These books are a lot of fun for active growing imaginations. "Vampires Don't Wear Polka Dots" is about a third grade class who misbehaves so badly that every teacher they get quits, that is until Mrs. Jeepers comes along. She moves into the creepy house in the neighborhood and is actually able to 'scare' them into behaving. The class becomes convinced their Transylvania teacher is a vampire and with that they gain a determination to find out the truth. After all, do vampires even wear polka dots? The series includes chaotic adventures of the monster variety from vampires to werewolves, skeletons to gargoyles, giants to dragons and so much more!
I can guarantee your little reader will be on the edge of their seats flying through this series discovering who's a monster and who's not in the world of the Bailey School Kids.
The Adventure of The Bailey School Kids: Vampires Don't Wear Polka Dots. By Debbie Dadey and Marcia Thornton Jones. Illustrated by John Steven Gurney. Page count 78, Adventure/fiction genre, with a reading level expectation of grades 2-4.
Vampires Don't Wear Polka Dots is the first book in a very large collection. There are 51 consecutive books in the original series, 9 books in the Bailey School Kids 'Jr' Chapter Books, 5 Holiday Special Edition stories, and 8 books that are considered Specials and Super Specials. A complete list of book titles and where they fall in this massive collection will be in a link below.
These books are a lot of fun for active growing imaginations. "Vampires Don't Wear Polka Dots" is about a third grade class who misbehaves so badly that every teacher they get quits, that is until Mrs. Jeepers comes along. She moves into the creepy house in the neighborhood and is actually able to 'scare' them into behaving. The class becomes convinced their Transylvania teacher is a vampire and with that they gain a determination to find out the truth. After all, do vampires even wear polka dots? The series includes chaotic adventures of the monster variety from vampires to werewolves, skeletons to gargoyles, giants to dragons and so much more!
I can guarantee your little reader will be on the edge of their seats flying through this series discovering who's a monster and who's not in the world of the Bailey School Kids.
Learning To Read? Phonics 12 Book Boxes.
I've noticed an increase of people who are following and viewing my site. It's so wonderful to see so many book lovers! With that being said I want to share with you the newest reader in my life: my little sister. There is a pretty big age difference between the two of us, but she's probably the most important person in my life and I work very hard to see her succeed. Last summer was devoted to learning her letters and this summer to actually reading real books. For this I enlisted the help of a 'hungry caterpillar' who is currently taking up the hallway in our home. With every book she reads a new body part is added with the name of the book she read written on it. So far she has over thirty on there. Monday we even went down to our local library and got her very first library card!
Now, why is this so important? Well, because if you just started following my page I want to apologize in advance because the only books I'm reading right now are all kindergarten/first grade level books. Unfortunately for me, I have no time to myself as of late, increase in work hours, family weddings/graduations/birthdays, homework with my sister every day, plus everything I have myself involved with. I haven't even had time to do my own writing in over a month. My novel is sitting on my dresser giving me dirty looks, and I'm all too aware of it.. But I choose to see the upside in all of this because I have a page on here for children's books!
With that in mind if you have a little reader you want to help with their reading, I suggest trying the Phonics 12 book box sets. We have currently gone through 'Biscuit: phonics fun' and 'Paw Patrol: phonics box set'. We started the 'Berenstain Bears: phonics fun' and she is so excited to read the rest of the books in the box. What's nice about these stories is that they have beautiful pictures that really help your little reader connect to the words in the story. Also, each book focuses on words with specific vowel sounds (such as the short i sound) and contains sight words that most kindergartners should know. The stories are only a few pages long, but they certainly hold their attention.
Finally, I've personally discovered the most ironic thing with my sister, she can read "helicopter" and "strawberry", and other large words, but she struggles on the simple ones. It's mind-boggling, but that's part of what makes these books such great starter stories, she gets a good mix of long and short words (and vowels), and they serve their purpose daily. She reads four books each day so these box sets last her 3 days. I wish everyone luck with their own reading as well as any little ones in their lives who are discovering the joy in reading. Below are links to Amazon where you can get the box sets I mentioned as well as many others in the phonics collection.
Now, why is this so important? Well, because if you just started following my page I want to apologize in advance because the only books I'm reading right now are all kindergarten/first grade level books. Unfortunately for me, I have no time to myself as of late, increase in work hours, family weddings/graduations/birthdays, homework with my sister every day, plus everything I have myself involved with. I haven't even had time to do my own writing in over a month. My novel is sitting on my dresser giving me dirty looks, and I'm all too aware of it.. But I choose to see the upside in all of this because I have a page on here for children's books!
With that in mind if you have a little reader you want to help with their reading, I suggest trying the Phonics 12 book box sets. We have currently gone through 'Biscuit: phonics fun' and 'Paw Patrol: phonics box set'. We started the 'Berenstain Bears: phonics fun' and she is so excited to read the rest of the books in the box. What's nice about these stories is that they have beautiful pictures that really help your little reader connect to the words in the story. Also, each book focuses on words with specific vowel sounds (such as the short i sound) and contains sight words that most kindergartners should know. The stories are only a few pages long, but they certainly hold their attention.
Finally, I've personally discovered the most ironic thing with my sister, she can read "helicopter" and "strawberry", and other large words, but she struggles on the simple ones. It's mind-boggling, but that's part of what makes these books such great starter stories, she gets a good mix of long and short words (and vowels), and they serve their purpose daily. She reads four books each day so these box sets last her 3 days. I wish everyone luck with their own reading as well as any little ones in their lives who are discovering the joy in reading. Below are links to Amazon where you can get the box sets I mentioned as well as many others in the phonics collection.
Purple Pickle Juice (Critters of the Night)
by: Erica Farber, Mercer Mayer, John R. Sansevere
If you've followed any of my Goodread reviews you may have already seen me talk about Purple Pickle Juice but did you realize there is a whole series of these books? They can be found by searching for the 'Critters of the Night'. This is such a fun collection to own, and the best part is they are all step-into-reading books. They vary in difficulty, but they are always fun to read and to have read to you. If you are tuning in for the Halloween-Month-Book-Review-Extravaganza I am doing, this is the first book I wish to talk about. This gives parents time to go find these novels for their little critters of the night (because let's face it when do kids sleep, lol).
As I said this is a series, and this particular one is my favorite. I have actually owned it since I was very little and it was one of my favorite books to read. It is also a step-two reader so it's perfect for a first grader! This book follows Thistle Howl, who fears she is just too small. She is tired of being so tiny compared to the rest of her family and people around her and so she sets out to make herself taller. Somehow she gets the idea that if she drinks a glass of Purple Pickle Juice at least once a day she will grow. She has the cutest little poem she chants as she tries to will herself into getting taller. When her, Auntie Bell comes to town she insists that the right spell will do the trick, but not purple pickle juice. And so begins a hilarious adventure of an addle minded, hard of hearing witch and her petite little niece as they try to find the right spell to help Thistle grow. The ending is adorable and the artwork is as perfect as always (thank you Mercer Mayer). It's a cute story that your kids will love to read over and over. And if they are on the short side, it can really be a great story for them. I mean, fully grown I'm under 5', so as a kid, I was always picked on for being so short. Books like this can really speak to a kid who is going through that.
Now, this is a series and all the books I've managed to find seem to include the Howl family in some sort of way. There's Thistle, her brother Axle, her father, Jack, and her mother Wanda. On the inside of this book there are pictures of all the characters with their names printed below them. There are all sorts of animal/'monster' creatures in this series, such as Moose Mummy, Frankengator, Uncle Mole, and Capt. Short Bob. There are books with Vampires, Zombies, Gargoyles, and so on, but not to worry all these Critters are adorable and not scary in the least! Perfect for kids. These are great all year round, but if you're looking for good Halloween-ish books, these will definitely do the trick for your young reader. Below I've included links to Goodreads where you can find lists of them, a link to the authors Goodreads, and an Amazon link to make finding these easier.
If you've followed any of my Goodread reviews you may have already seen me talk about Purple Pickle Juice but did you realize there is a whole series of these books? They can be found by searching for the 'Critters of the Night'. This is such a fun collection to own, and the best part is they are all step-into-reading books. They vary in difficulty, but they are always fun to read and to have read to you. If you are tuning in for the Halloween-Month-Book-Review-Extravaganza I am doing, this is the first book I wish to talk about. This gives parents time to go find these novels for their little critters of the night (because let's face it when do kids sleep, lol).
As I said this is a series, and this particular one is my favorite. I have actually owned it since I was very little and it was one of my favorite books to read. It is also a step-two reader so it's perfect for a first grader! This book follows Thistle Howl, who fears she is just too small. She is tired of being so tiny compared to the rest of her family and people around her and so she sets out to make herself taller. Somehow she gets the idea that if she drinks a glass of Purple Pickle Juice at least once a day she will grow. She has the cutest little poem she chants as she tries to will herself into getting taller. When her, Auntie Bell comes to town she insists that the right spell will do the trick, but not purple pickle juice. And so begins a hilarious adventure of an addle minded, hard of hearing witch and her petite little niece as they try to find the right spell to help Thistle grow. The ending is adorable and the artwork is as perfect as always (thank you Mercer Mayer). It's a cute story that your kids will love to read over and over. And if they are on the short side, it can really be a great story for them. I mean, fully grown I'm under 5', so as a kid, I was always picked on for being so short. Books like this can really speak to a kid who is going through that.
Now, this is a series and all the books I've managed to find seem to include the Howl family in some sort of way. There's Thistle, her brother Axle, her father, Jack, and her mother Wanda. On the inside of this book there are pictures of all the characters with their names printed below them. There are all sorts of animal/'monster' creatures in this series, such as Moose Mummy, Frankengator, Uncle Mole, and Capt. Short Bob. There are books with Vampires, Zombies, Gargoyles, and so on, but not to worry all these Critters are adorable and not scary in the least! Perfect for kids. These are great all year round, but if you're looking for good Halloween-ish books, these will definitely do the trick for your young reader. Below I've included links to Goodreads where you can find lists of them, a link to the authors Goodreads, and an Amazon link to make finding these easier.