Friday, January 21, 2011

Our Favorite Books

A house without books is like a room without windows. ~Heinrich Mann

If that's true, Mr. Mann, then my house is like a fishbowl. Most days my living room is strewn with books.

I've read to my girls since they were itty bitty. I have such an affinity for books and reading; it's a love that I hope they share too. I want my girls to pine for puffed sleeves, lose themselves in enchanted wardrobes, and get excited about seeing a papoose on the prairie.

When they were tiny, I usually read to them one at a time, or Brad would read to one, and I would read to the other. Recently, though, it's been really fun, because they are interactive, and you better believe they have their favorite books! They will actually sit and listen to me read for about 20 minutes. Most of what we read right now are board books. This is because, they have a thing for paper. "Thing", as in, they like to tear, eat and destroy paper.




What melts this mama's heart, is to see them on the floor paging through books on their own. They jabber away, pouring over the colorful pages--maybe making up their own stories.



Here are some of our favorites, in no particular order:

First Words

Little Quack Counts, by Lauren Thompson.

Usborne Touchy-Feely Books by Fiona Watt and Rachel Wells. We have several of the That's Not My... series. The girls' favorites are That's Not My Dragon and That's Not My Pirate. These books are great! They have lots of textures. My girls know where all the "feely" parts are in each of the books we own.

The Real Mother Goose Board Book. We pause and hand-clap Pat-A-Cake and Pease Porridge while reading this book--the girls love it!
Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You? Dr. Seuss's Book of Wonderful Noises, by Dr. Seuss.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle

Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle

BIG Little, by Leslie Patricelli

Itsy Bitsy Spider, by Kate Toms

The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle

The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear, by Don and Audrey Wood

1, 2, 3 to the Zoo, Eric Carle

I'd love for you to add to the list. What books do your kids love to read?

16 comments:

Colombo's said...

We read many of these books too. My kids especially love Mr Brown Can Moo Can You, and The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Also...Dr Suess' ABC book, and There's a Wocket in My Pocket. Fun books to read. My son really like The Little Golden books too....we bought several new ones before he was born, but then I started ordering them on Ebay (and saved a fortune!) and have several that are older than I am....my son LOVES the machine book.

Jessica said...

The required reading in our house at the moment is the classic "Go, Dog. Go!" by P.D. Eastman.

And "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" was such a favorite for so long that I decided to purchase the corresponding fabric and make quilts for Isaac, Kathryn and their cousins for Christmas.

Anonymous said...

Ooh, this is a favorite topic of mine because we LOVE books around here, too! I'm glad for some recommendations for new reading material. Some of my twins' current favorites include:
- Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown
- Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb by Al Perkins
- Ten Little Ladybugs by Melanie Gerth
- Goodnight Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann
- Is Your Mama A Llama? by Deborah Guarino
- any Sandra Boynton book
- the Baby Faces series by Roberta Grobel Intrater

Believe it or not, I have found Sam's Club to be a good place to find quality board books on the cheap!

-Becca

Kristin said...

My kids adore book. Some of our favorites are

~Goodnight Moon
~any Sandra Boynton books
~Guess How Much I Love You
~Jamberry
~If You Give A Mouse A Cookie
~If You Give A Moose A Muffin
~all Doctor Seuss books

ICLW #59

christine said...

I don't have any favorites (yet), but I love the recommendations! I can't wait to read to our daughter and have her fall in love with the stories!

ICLW #134

Sara said...

Stopping by from ICLW. I'm a twin mom too, my twins are now 17 months and just LOVE the That's Not My... books too. I've read That's Not My Dragon about 1000 times. :)

They also love Dr. Suess's The Thinks You Can Think and of course, Goodnight Moon.

Tiffany said...

My son *loves* Thomas the Tank Engine, so he enjoys all the Rev. W. Awdry books. He also likes anything Dr. Seuss, but that's a given since he's 4 and loves silly sounds. :-\

(visiting via ICLW)

foxy said...

Your girls are adorable! I love all of the pictures on your blog :)

Mrs. Gamgee said...

My little girl doesn't have much choice but be a bibliophile, since she has a bookseller for a mommy... Altho she's still just wee, we've been reading 'That's not my Dinosaur' and a couple of cloth story books that I can't remember the titles of at the moment. I'm thinking about starting Dr. Seuss and Shel Silverstein soon, just for the rhyme and rhythm.

Anonymous said...

Good list! My twins are now three, and my daughter loves the Madeline books so much she sleeps with one under her little arm every night.

When the kids were your twins' age, they were mesmerized every time I read The Gingerbread Man. Something about the cadence and the rhythm really stimulated their senses.

Happy ICLW.

Tonya said...

My kids have so many favorites . . . most Dr. Seuss books (my sons favorites are Green Eggs and Ham and My Many Colored Days), anything by Sandra Boynton, Tell Me Again About the Night I Was Born, Where the Wild Things Are . . . and countless others. My daughter also loves Where the Sidewalk Ends.

Maranda said...

I love the site of kids "reading" their own books, so sweet! Little brains at work.

My kids love the Sandra Boynton books - fun to read too - and the Paulette Bourgois/Brenda Clarke books like Big Sarah's Little Boots and Sadie and the Snowman. Click, Clack, Moo is another fun one too.

Anonymous said...

I loved this post. It reminds me of my nephew. He LOVED the book, "That's not my dragon" and would have us read it to him no less than 10x per day. Can't wait until your babies get a bit older and can go to the library! -Lacey

Aisha said...

Glad to "meet" another book aficianado :) I love anything Eric Carle or Martin as well! Thanks for the other book suggestions will def keep an eye out for them :)

ICLW!

Mrs. Gamgee said...

My little girl doesn't have much choice but be a bibliophile, since she has a bookseller for a mommy... Altho she's still just wee, we've been reading 'That's not my Dinosaur' and a couple of cloth story books that I can't remember the titles of at the moment. I'm thinking about starting Dr. Seuss and Shel Silverstein soon, just for the rhyme and rhythm.

foxy said...

Your girls are adorable! I love all of the pictures on your blog :)