Oh, Krisann!

It's Still Quarantine? More Books For Survival

2020-07-16T22:52:00.002-07:00

My husband and I were talking about Anne Frank's quarantine situation the other evening. Cramped quarters, the constant fear of discovery, and no Facetime, Zoom, trips to the grocery store––it was a good perspective shift for me.

I keep reminding myself of all the tenacious people throughout history who rose above difficult circumstances. I want to read about the '"overcomers" and achievers more than ever. So, here's a list of books with historical fiction and biographies included for every age group.

PICTURE BOOKS

The Meet the Artist series (books on Henri Mattise, Pablo Picasso, Leondard Da Vinci, Vincent Van Gogh, to name a few). These are some of the COOLEST non-fiction books I've ever read to my kids.

Each page is unique, featuring flaps, cutouts, and pulls tabs to engage kids of all ages as they read about each artist's life and career. I glean so many good tidbits from each artist's story. Truly, this series is reinventing art history!

Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen, the dynamic duo. This book has such a sweet message at the end. It's a feel good story that is poetically told. I'm always a big fan of when this author/illustrator come together.

Song of the River by Joy Cowley. I found this one browsing the online library database and could just tell it was going to be a good one. A beautiful story about how rivers connect to the sea, and how we are all connected to nature.

A Good Night Walk by Elisha Cooper. This one speaks to me right now as we return to the simple things of life, like greeting the neighbors on the porch, walking the dog (or in our case, saying hi to them. Shout out to Deputy and Jasmine, our local favorites), and the ritual of seeing the same things day in and day out... A sweet bedtime read.

SPANISH/BILINGUAL BOOKS

El cocodrilo al que no le gustaba el agua by Gemma Merino. I love the surprise ending. My daughter wants to read it over and over and over... that's always a good sign.

Mi Papá ¡Antes era Genial! by Keith Negley. The colorful illustrations help keep littles engaged, even if Spanish isn't their first language. I love the page where the dad is vacuuming. Talk about the great achievers of life.

CHAPTER BOOKS/ GRAPHIC NOVELS

Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales series. Graphic novels about history? Yes, please!! These books tell the thrilling stories of America's past, while keeping young readers engaged.

I read every Dear America, American Girls, and Ann Rinaldi book I could get my hand on as a kid, so it makes me excited to see my son take an interest in historical fiction, too.

True Tales of Childhood series (Series includes: Kid Authors, Activists, Artists, Scientists, Superstars, etc.). We LOVE this series!! Every great adult starts as a kid, right? These books tell the most entertaining, interesting, and inspiring of legends from their earliest days. I learn as much as my son when we sit down to read it. Now that he's reading more independently, he keeps trying to read ahead. But I'm into these too, kid!

The I Survived series (including the sinking of the Titanic, September 11th, and other scary moments in history). We haven't started this series yet but it came recommended to us and I'm ordering a few as I type this.

BOOKS FOR US

My husband didn't want to share what he's reading because it was too nerdy and he wants to keep his street cred. But he did tell me to recommend Mike Tyson's Undisputed Truth to you.

And I'm enjoying Kristin Hannah's The Great Alone , which I picked up because The Nightingale is one of my all-time favorite books ever. They are both great reads about survival in difficult times.

What about you, what are you digging into these days?

Five Books We Are Reading During Quarantine

2020-05-15T22:45:00.002-07:00

I suppose the bright side of quarantining is tackling that ambitious reading list we made for ourselves, right?

Where are you getting books from these days since the libraries closed? My friend and I have been doing book swaps to keep the kids with a fresh rotation. Another friend of mine with older kids dropped off a huge crate of children's books for us that she was clearing out. I bought a few titles online that I'd been eying. And, we've also been consistently raiding the Free Little Libraries in our neighborhoods (including our own).

My son is also really into the Green Ember series on Hoopla. He's almost done with the fourth book in a matter of two weeks since it's an audiobook collection (hallelujah for audio books!)

Here are a few favorites I added to our children’s library collection during this season:

1). Knee Knock Rise by Natalie Babbit- This wasn't even on my reading list but I'm so glad we found it. This is the first mystery Ezra and I ever read together and I found it to be the perfect introduction to the genre. I couldn’t wait to read it to him at night & felt it really made him think outside the box about humanity.

2). A Stage Full of Shakespeare Stories (retold for kids)- Where has this book been all of my life? No, really. It impeccably summarizes twelve Shakespeare plays, each with beautiful illustrations. I love the cast of characters included before each story— it really helps when we get lost or need a refresher.

My son eats it up, especially the little tidbits of the original language. We’ve read many kids' versions of Shakespeare, including Bruce Colville’s, but I enjoy this more modern version and the fresh, vibrant illustrations.

3). The Witches by Roald Dahl–– I hesitated on this one because it looked cynical to me. And admittedly, if you’re the gentler kind you may not be able to stomach the plot (witches out to turn all of the English children into mice), but my son thinks it’s hilarious. And I do find myself excited to read it to him every night.

I read a Roal Dahl biography a few years ago and it’s fun to see he included a version of his own grandmama and her Norwegian stories in this novel.

4). Stories of Early America by Through Golden Windows Publishing— This sweet vintage book was gifted to us. We are reading an excerpt each day, and I really enjoy how much we are learning about the kinship and resourcefulness of the Native Americans.

We even had to do further research on certain topics because my son’s interest was piqued. We learned what every part of a buffalo was intended for in Native American culture and that the heart was the only part not utilized. Instead, it was cut out and left on the ground as respect for the animal. I love that.

Since it's a vintage book, I found it can be purchased here.

5). The River Road: A Story of Abraham Lincoln by Meridel Le Sueur— Admittedly, my son ended up being too young to hang with this one. It’s a better Middle-Grade novel. But I’m now obsessed with the author and her incredible gift for prose. I learned so much about Abe and his home life as a child in just a few short chapters we read. I kept rereading sentences just to enjoy them again because Le Sueur is a gifted author. And always. Abe inspires me.

I look forward to returning to this book when my son is a little older.

For myself, I grabbed The Women and Wild Child (both by T.C. Boyle) from our Free Little Library for some juicy reading. My neighbor gave me Women of the Silk to read and I also picked up Life of Pi and figured it was high time I read it.

What about you? What are you reading these days?

Barnum & Bailey Visit the Valdez House

2013-10-27T23:49:00.001-07:00

it's almost midnight but i weighed the pro's and con's of getting less sleep and decided blogging E's first birthday this instant outweighed the negatives. the circus theme seemed a perfect way to celebrate this past year of E's life & so, with the help of Pinterest, my talented family and friends, especially my mom, sister, mother-in-law, father-in-law and a few sweet friends, we were able to pull it off circus style. here's a look at how we celebrated today.

100 + Picture Books To Add To Your Children's Library

2013-02-26T08:04:00.001-08:00

I remember sitting on the floor with my mom when I was five as she read Laura Ingall's prairie adventures to me. Reading moved me in a way that I returned to over and over again. And I'm far from alone in this feeling.

I asked some of you to tell me your favorite children's stories & I enjoyed the responses I got because some of these titles I'd forgotten about, or never even heard of. I shared my own extensive list, too.

Thank you for sharing!

100+ Books For Your Library

Picture Books I Love

For Littler Ones...

Madeline
Miss Rumphius
The Happy Lion
The Lyle Crocodile Series
Toot & Puddle Series
A Visitor for Bear (the whole series)
Zagazoo (Quentin Blake is England's Doctor Seuss)
Olivia Series
Oh No, Gotta Go!
The Library Lion
Otto the Book Bear
Dragons Love Tacos
RoboSauce
This Moose Belongs to Me
Velveteen Rabbit
Ferdinand the Bull
How to be Famous
Ike's Incredible Ink
Don't Let the Pigeon... Series
Amanda and Her Alligator
Beatrix Potter books
Ace Dragon Ltd.
Rosie's Magic Horse
Bark, George
Extra Yarn
A Ball for Daisy
Meet Wild Boars & Wild Boars Cook
My Dad is so Big and Strong but..
Julia, Child
This is not my Hat
Little Red
That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown
Tell Me My Story, Mama
Marshall Armstrong is New to Our School
Iggy Peck, Architect
Rosie Revere, Engineer

Elephant and Piggie Series
The Adventure of Beekle: An Unimaginary Friend
The Queen's Hat
Barnacle is Bored
A Bear and His Boy
Alfie's Lost Sharkie
Everyone Loves Bacon
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Doctor De Soto
The Book with No Pictures
The First Slodge
Bog Baby
Mr. Peek's Zoo (series)
And the Cars Go..
Spoon
Mr. Gumpy's Outing
We're Going on a Bear Hunt
Roxaboxen

Corduroy

Curious George

Go Dog, Go!

Green Eggs N' Ham
The Giving Tree

Are You My Mother?

Angelina Ballerina

The Hug Machine

And for those a little older...

Betsy-Tacy series- my absolute favorite.

Island of The Blue Dolphins
The BFG
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch!
James & the Giant Peach

Little House on the Prairie series

The Giver

The Hobbit

Boxcar Children series

Ballet Shoes

James & The Giant Peach

The Indian & the Cupboard

Pippy Longstocking

Little Women

Anne of Green Gables series

Favorite Authors:
Bernard Waber
Ludwig Bemelmans
Holly Hobbie
Bonny Becker
Quentin Blake
Mo Willems

Books you recommended.

For Littler Ones...

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Mrs. Piggle Wiggle
Make Way for Ducklings
Town Mouse
Country Mouse

The Little Engine That Could

Giraffes Can't Dance

My Monster Mama Loves me So

My Heart is Like a Zoo

Dr. Seuss's ABCs

You Are My Miracle

Stellaluna

The Rainbow Fish

You Are Special

Llama Llama Red Pajama

Love You Forever
Everyone Poops
The Monster at the End of this Book

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Oh, the Places You'll Go!

The Giving Tree

The Very Quiet Cricket

From Head to Toe

Goodnight Moon

Brown Bear, Brown Bear

Clifton

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Lorax

The Berenstein Bears

The Jolly Postman and Other People's Letters

And For Older Ones...

Charlotte's Web

The Narnia series

The Hardy Brothers series
Skippy Jon Jones

Authors You Love

Sandra Boynton

Eric Carle

Michael Waite
Shel Siverstein