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Picked up some old favorites and found a few new ones at the library last week.

The Library Dragon; Carmen Agra Deedy & Michael P. White; Peachtree Publishers, Ltd:
Have read this before with M and the book is just as entertaining the second time around. Also, M is a little older now and can understand it in newer ways. What do you think happens when the new librarian at a school is a real dragon…a fire-breathing, spiky-clawed creature who takes her job of guarding books way too seariously? Meet Ms. Lotta Scales, The Library Dragon. We don’t come across hilariously silly dark humor like this in children’s picture books too often, so don’t miss it.

Tidy Titch; Pat Hutchins: Titch’s tidy room inspires his older siblings to clean up their messy spaces. All seems to be going well until Titch takes a fancy to their hand-me-down toys and books. He ends up with not just their stuff, but also their mess. A simple, light-hearted tale sure to make you and your tot smile as you watch the mess shift from one room to another as you turn the pages. A situation M is very familiar with, which made the book all the more enjoyable.

The Trouble with Elephants; Chris Riddel: Elephants and huge and heavy and when you have one for a pet, you face all sorts of troubles. From bathtub water spilling over to all your covers being pulled away. But the real trouble is how easily they find their way into your heart. Like the Elephant and Piggie series, this book is a super choice for young babies and tots with its contrasting images, simple illustrations and minimal text.  That doesn’t mean 4-year olds won’t enjoy it just as much though. Older kids who get the pictorial humor are sure to love this book even though it doesn’t have a plot or even a storyline. The pages sprinkled with rofl illustrations more than make up for it.

Five Little Ducks; Mary Gruetzke, Ivan Bates:  Another long-time favorite that M picked out for yet another read. Everyone knows how great this book is for introducing numbers and counting concepts with repetition to little ones. But, it’s also a sweet tale of baby ducks reuniting with Mommy duck at the end of the day – a wonderful bedtime choice to relieve separation anxiety in your pre-schooler or to read to kids before you leave on a business trip. Also? Don’t miss the little details in the illustrations…look closely at  what each distratced duck who doesn’t return home on time is doing and you’re ensured some bonus chuckles.

The Chicken of the Family; Mary Amato and Delphine Durand; Penguin Young Readers: Henrietta is the youngest of 3 girls and undoubtedly the chicken of the family, always bullied and teased by her older sisters. She isn’t too happy about it until she discovers that being a chicken isn’t so bad after all..and in fact, even better than being a little sister. M gives this book 3 clucks of approval.

My Preschool; Anne Rockwell; Henry Holt and Company: A warm and reassuring way to explore the experience of pre-school by walking in a little boy’s shoes for a day. We love the view from a child’s eyes complete with splodgy illustrations. Good to read with a child who is about to start pre-school or who’s feeling overwhelmed by the new experience. Also nice for sharing with an older child who remembers feeling that way and can relate to it now with new-found confidence.

Karadi Tales: Last but not the least, we went on a longish road trip over Thanksgiving weekend and part of it was made possible by Karadi Tales’ audio CDs and accompanying books. Very thankful for little mercies that keep the imp occupied in ways other than destroying upholstery or auditory experiments that put our drums to the ultimate test – not my favorite experience on the road. But give her a bunch of books and pop in the CDs and we’ve bought ourselves a bit of time to catch our breath before we begin answering her Qs again.

What picture books and children’s books have you been reading this week?

Do you make a note of what you’re reading to kids?

I like to.

I’ve been meaning to start this catergory for ages and finally, here it is.  I like keeping track of all the books we read to M anyway and noting down the titles and authors in a diary as I’ve been doing doesn’t seem to be working too well, because a) I keep misplacing the diary b) I can never find it when I’m trying to recollect the name of a book we read a few months ago or its author – which totally defies the purpose c) since I want to share the names of the children’s books we read on this blog anyway, why make a double entry? I know I haven’t been updating babylovesbooks as often as I’d like to and I thank you for bearing with me. At the very least, I hope to update the weekly reading section every week – kind of keeps me accountable ( did I spend time reading to M this week) and also helps me feel less guilty about temporarily abandoning the blog  when I don’t get around to posting much else.

Hope you find something on our list interesting and inspiring. And I would love to know what you and your little ones are reading.

Amar Chitra Katha comics- Dasha Avathar, Tales of Hanuman
Indian mythological tales are BIG entertainers and M could spend up to an hour looking at one of these comics. No other book or toy can hold this 4 year-old’s attention for that long a duration and so, you can imagine how valuable these comics are for all of us on various levels. (They’re great for buying time when I’m working or fixing dinner, also great for ‘time out’ or ‘ calm down’ time when M needs to spend some time alone and of course when we just have the luxury of free time to read and relax, while also learning about these fascinating characters and stories from India.) If you grew up in India, you probably owned and read at least a half a dozen ACK comics and I’m so glad that these have now become staples in my daughter’s reading routine.

Grow a Pumpkin Pie
Ah! the thrill of figuring out letters, words and sounds for the very first time…and the exhilaration of watching your kid do it! You’ve got to admire how much thought has gone into planning these Scholastic Reader books – and it’s such a pleasure observing and helping M as she tries to sound out groups of letters to make words. She struggles with some, figures out others and gets frustrated quite a bit, but, I can see that if we can somehow manage to be a little patient and give her the little nudge she needs, she is on the right track to one of the biggest milestones in an individual’s life – reading independently. I recognize that it’s not going to happen overnight and that she’s still got a lot of figuring out and remembering to do before she starts reading fluently – which’ll probably happen when it happens. In the meantime, we’ve got a pumpkin pie to grow and it’s just so wonderful that books like this one makes the learning-to-read journey so enjoyable.

Piano Explorer
We had a lot of fun enriching our musical vocabulary together with this month’s issue of the magazine.

Disney Classic Storybook
OK, for all those who consider these mere brand extensions and not real books – I hear you. But, I don’t see how we’re going to escape reading about princesses or Dora unless we move to a cave with no connection to the outside world. So, I figure, we might as well embrace and enjoy them, just making sure that it’s not the only literature we expose our kids to. We have at least 4 different versions of Disney Princess Stories and Fairytales in our home and may stumble upon a few more if we looked under beds and other furniture. Somehow, Disney collections make their way into our home in the form of gifts from family and friends and oddly enough, we don’t seem to get tired of them. M received the Disney’s Classic Storybook – a Treasury of Tales this week yet again as a present and do I even need to tell you which book we read over and over again the past couple of days? Oh well, as long as we’re reading something…Although I must admit I feel like I may be approaching the very edge of my tolerance level for the Disney Princesses with this one.

Karadi Tales – The Talking Cave, Fish Friends Three

Ok, I didn’t really ‘read’ these to M, I let Karadi take over. So, I can’t take full credit, but, I did pop in the CD and get M to sit down with the respective books on the couch while I supervised(err…did chores) – all said and done, M got about an hour’s worth of reading/story time in on a couple of occasions this week thanks to these audio CD/book sets. So, that deserves a place in our weekly reading round-up.

That’s it from me for this week. What have you been reading with your little ones recently?