The Red Chalk By: Iris van der Heide Illustrated By: Marije Tolman

Clearly if you have children you have been in that scenario where everything they own is boring and there is nothing fun to do.  This book is the parents proof that your mind has endless power to create wonderful things all around you.  But of course it is all up to them!  

Sara who is bored of playing with her red chalk, becomes envious of her friend with the "better" toy.  She cleverly attracts him to the chalk to trade for his toy.  But after playing with it for a short while she is bored again and goes to friend after friend enticing them with the toy she is now bored of to trade for their fun toy.  Eventually she runs out of friends to trade with and sees her friend using the red chalk to play hopscotch.  Sara thinks hopscotch would be fun so she decides to trade again to get her red chalk.  But this time she sees the value in the red chalk.  She draws a large hopscotch and invites all of her friends to play along too. Sara finds an important life lesson;  imagination can be endless and nothing is as pleasing than a bunch of great friends to share it with!

The Red Chalk is a book worth picking up and reading with your little one.  Your children will be astonished to see that the toys Sara thought could provide no more amusement have provided a lot of enjoyment for her friends.   I love a book that has a valuable lesson hiding in a fun read!      Enjoy!

The Lion and the Little Red Bird Story & Pictures by: Elisa Kleven

In honor of my oldest daughter Isabela's birthday this month I share with you the Lion and the Little Red Bird. I remember pushing Isabela in her stroller from our home to our library one hot summer day.  I can vividly picture Isabela at 7 months old holding onto this book tightly against her chest the whole stroll home. (The book almost half her size)  I should have seen it then that her love of books was real even at this young age.  Isabela turns five on the last day of this month and as I have seen these first five years fly past I really can't wait to see what this amazing girl will do with all the years of her life!

This story is a beautiful tale of an odd friendship forged between a lion and a little red bird.  The bird wonders why the Lion's tale changes every night after he enters his cave.  She tries to ask him but the lion can not understand her but enjoys her chirping.  The lion has busy days filled with chasing butterflies, splashing in the water, and picking red berries.  His days our filled with color and his tale changes each night.  One night a storm comes and the lion runs out to bring the Little Red Bird into his cave to protect her.  She then sees why his tale changes colors.  He paints beautiful scenes every night on the walls with his tale.   

 "The bird sang while the lion painted.  She sang a song without any questions, full of color and joy.  The lion had never heard anything so unusual and so pretty.  Just listening made him happy." 

 This book has beautiful illustrations and a great message.  Teach your children about colors and animals with this book and teach them one of the most important lessons of life; friendships without prejudices.  A lesson worth learning.

Happy Birthday Month Reading!

Bink & Gollie By: Katie DiCamillo and Alison McGhee Illustrated by: Tony Fucile

Bink & Gollie is a wonderful book that includes three chapters of the two friends adventures. 

In the first chapter: Don't You Need  a New Pair of Socks? you start to see how the two friends interact.  Bink is the little one with the blond spiky hair who gets a pair of socks at the bargain bonanza.  They are bright and multicolored long socks and Bink loves them.  Gollie does not. She is almost blinded by their brightness. Bink gets hungry and asks Gollie to make her pancakes but Gollie won't make them unless Bink removes her socks.  They come to a standstill and Bink leaves Gollies tree house and goes to make a peanut butter sandwich. The banter between the two friends is hilarious and eventually they come to a comprise. (One sock for Bink and Gollie brings her half the pancakes)

In the second Chapter P.S. I'll Be Back Soon Gollie wants to go on an adventure and after spinning the globe she decides she will trek up the Andes Mountains. Bink reads the note left on the Gollies door not to disturb her but Bink can't help but knocking anyway.  After several failed attempts to get Gollie to come out Gollie finally reaches the summit and Bink is ready with peanut butter sandwiches. 

Gollie using the absurdly bright sock as a windsock

Chapter Three Give a Fish a Home is in my opinion the most funny of the stories.  Bink gets a fish from "Mr. Fisherman" a man who talks about fish like he is talking about English Royalty.  Bink is so excited but Gollie thinks the fish is unremarkable and is very put off by it. (jealousy will do that) Gollie invites Bink for pancakes only to be annoyed she has to bring "Fred" the fish with.  Fred comes with to the movies and goes along when they roller skate.  Bink ends up falling while rollerskating and Fred's bowl goes flying!  Gollie saves the day and the fish by thinking fast and throwing him into a pond.  Bink is upset at first but then sees Gollie just needs acknowledgement that she is "the most marvelous companion of all."

Six Months Later (The sock now is a scarf)

Should I Share My Ice Cream? By: Mo Willems

Mo Willems is definitely one of my favorite children's authors!. His great sense of humor embodies all of his work. All of his children's book in my opinion are hilarious and will impress the adults just as much as the kids.

The Piggie and Elephant books are about two best friends. Piggie and Elephant are very different from each other but seem to compliment each other well. In Should I share my ice cream Elephant who has gotten an ice cream cone faces a dilemma: Should he gobble the delicious sweet treat now or share this goody with his very best friend?! Watching Elephant try to decide whether or not to share is so funny and then doesn't the ice cream go and melt before he can come to a conclusion. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" But here comes Piggie with her very own ice cream cone to share with her best friend.  She'll never realize the struggle Elephant has gone through!

This book really shows the emotions that go along with sharing and being selfless. It is a human response to want to keep something for your own. This book is a perfect time to break out the silly and really act out all of Elephants emotions. Do your kids a favor and get this gut buster of a book...if not for them, than for you!

Happy reading!

Smitten By: David Gordon

An adorable tale of friendship the kids will find witty and want to read again and again!   A mitten and a sock are missing their other halves so after finding each other they set forth on an adventure throughout the city in search of their other halves.  They find themselves in some daunting situations and have to rely on each other for help. They forge a friendship and by the end of the story they become a "perfect pair".  "The two friends hugged, and from then on they were smitten."  Get it?!  Too cute.  The book doesn't lack on humor and will become a favorite read for the whole family. 

Make it more fun by getting the kids to wear a sock and a mitten on each hand and pretend they are part of the story or if you are feeling a little silly act it out for your kids.

Make Reading a Habit!  Happy Reading!

Frog and Toad All Year By: Arnold Lobel

 

 

 While walking my daughter to preschool one morning I saw some flowers peeking up through the cold, damp ground and said "spring is just around the corner" pointing to the daffodils.  While we walked hand in hand Isabela looked up at me and said "Mom what corner is spring just around?"  This made me think of the book Frog and Toad All Year and the chapter "The Corner".

Frog and Toad are best friends.  They do almost everything together.  Frog is very outgoing and adventurous and Toad is well the complete opposite.  One of Toads favorite sayings is "Blah."  It is apparent in every story that their friendship is the most important thing to both of them. The humor in the stories brings these characters to life.

"The Corner" starts off with Frog and Toad coming out of the rain and Frog agreeing to tell Toad a story while they wait for the rain to stop.  Frog tells Toad of being little and his father telling him "'Son, this is a cold , gray day but spring is just around the corner."  Frog decides to then find the corner spring is just around.  Frog then goes on an adventure searching but becomes tired and it begins to rain. He heads home where he finds the sun shining, birds singing, his mother and father in the garden filling with flowers.  Toad cries "You found it!"  They noticed it has stopped raining and they go out "to make sure that spring had come again."

I actually found this book at the Hershey Library's Annual Book Sale for 25 cents.  I can recall reading these books as a little girl and the Frog and Toad books are what I used when Isabela was just starting to read by using her or my finger to follow each word.   Each book has five chapters and we always find ourselves not being able to stop until the book is finished. If you want to read another story fit for this time of year try Frog and Toad Are Friends chapter "Spring." Their is also A Year With Frog and Toad Broadway CD that we discovered. The song "Getta Loada Toad" based off the chapter "Swim" in the book Frog and Toad Are Friends is hilarious!  Toad doesn't want anyone to see him in his bathing suit!  Emma makes us put this song on repeat and laughs hysterically at it every time! 

Happy spring time reading!