What We're Reading

These pictures were taken a couple weeks ago on our last trip to the library. We kept the books we checked out on that day for about two and a half weeks and just returned them this week.

Our library has such a pretty entrance area with lots of trees that shade a sitting area in front.

Checking out.

Cracks me up. Somebody called him "Hollywood" in passing while he was wearing these shades. LOL

1. I Love Trucks by Philemon Sturges. This was definitely the favorite and I was quite proud of myself for finding it because it is right up his alley. He knows an astounding amount of names for vehicles. And this book fulfills his obsession: front end loader, back hoe, bulldozer, steamroller, street cleaner, cement mixer, box truck, semi truck (which he's now also calling a "big rig"), dump truck, logging truck, fire truck, etc. etc. And don't mess up any names, 'cause he'll correct you on the spot!

2. Bright Baby Trucks. His ritual board book - LOL. And guess what! It's about trucks! No kidding.

3. I Can Read with My Eyes Shut! by Dr. Seuss. Will doesn't seem to have all that much interest in Dr. Seuss books, so this one was just okay.

4. Puppy Mudge Wants To Play by Cynthia Rylant. As I expected, Will is really enjoying this series. And he's even sounding out more words from these books.

5. Puppy Mudge Wants A Snack by Cynthia Rylant.

6. Jog, Frog, Jog by Barbara Gregorich. A Start to Read Level 1 book. I found these by suggestion on a blog that hosts a "linky party" for what people are reading to their children. THAT is a great resource by the way! Lots of great book suggestions. Anyway, Will did VERY well reading these two books (#6&7) but because they were so simple and short, he soon had them memorized and was then "faking" sounding out the words. LOL What I mean is, he's not a pro at blending yet, so when he sounds out for real, each letter has their own sound. But when he "fakes it", he'll say the first letter sound and then just the rest of the word. For example, /n/ "ight" or /l/ "ikes", etc. LOL It's so funny and he laughs when I call him on it. Especially when he "sounds out" a word that's not the right word just because he thought that was the next word, LOL.

7. The Fox on the Box also by Barbara Gregorich. Another great early reader.

8. The Littlest Dinosaur by Michael Foreman. A cute story about two outcasts with poor self esteem that save the day. I love how protective the mommy is to her littlest dinosaur.

9. Which Shoes Would You Choose? by Betsy Rosenthal. A very cute book to help a child learn which pair of footwear are appropriate for which type of activity/weather. And Will learned that his rain boots are also called galoshes! It's cute to hear him say that.

10. It's W! The library had a whole series of letter books displayed and we selected the W. Can you guess why? Anyway, I loved this book and it was a very good teaching tool for Will while he's learning to read. It explains how "w's" can be found at the beginning, middle and end of a word and gave lots of examples for each. It also explained that "Wh" makes the /wh/ sound and gave examples there too. There was a short story and then a little "quiz". Cute book!

Here's a sample spread with words that begin with "w".

Hey, did you know that Jamie Lee Curtis writes childrens' books? Well I sure didn't! These are SO cute!

11. Today I Feel Silly & Other Moods That Make My Day. I confess I didn't actually read this one much but Craig read it to Will a couple times. Will didn't really care for this one and I didn't press it because we're already pretty understanding of the feelings topic.

12. Big Words for Little People. But this one, on the other hand, was awesome! I love teaching Will new words to enhance his vocabulary. I think it's so cute when little kids speak with big words, and I HATE when parents intentionally speak incorrectly (baby talk) to their children. Like, for example, when a parent asks their child "did her hit you?" or something like that. Why would you want to teach your child poor grammar? It's not cute and it makes the parent sound like an idiot. Ugh - pet peeve. Anyway, this book teaches some new, big words and explains them at a child's level. Very cute. Will has learned "privacy" (and has used this one a lot), "inconsiderate" (a great word to describe his behavior when he comes into our room before 7 a.m. and turns lights on and talks loudly), "consequence" and "persevere".

My only complaint with these books are that the illustrations are too busy and kind of distracting from the text.

So we had 12 books last time and kept them awhile. This week we've got less, but I may add to that as I come up with more that I'd like to borrow.