Countdown to Christmas with Books!

For the last few years, my family has done a countdown to Christmas with books. I wrap our Christmas books and every day counting down to Christmas we get to open one and read it.

Normally we start on December 1 and have 24 books to countdown to the day before Christmas. This year we're going out of town for Christmas, so I wrapped enough books to start the day after Thanksgiving and end the day before we leave for our Christmas vacation. You could easily adapt it to fewer days if you don't have that many Christmas books--it took us a few years to collect so many.

Besides the fact that it's fun to open a present every day, it demonstrates to children that books are a gift.

Do you have any Christmas traditions surrounding books? What is your favorite Christmas book?

How the Grinch Stole Christmas! by Dr. Seuss

Are we allowed to talk about Christmas now? Good. I indulge in Christmas songs, books, and movies before Thanksgiving. But we do reserve decorating for Christmas until the day after.

Last night my three-year-old chose "Mr. Grinch" for her bedtime book. It was followed by a discussion about why Mr. Grinch doesn't like Christmas and why he takes all the presents. Her takeaway? Maybe Mr. Grinch likes Halloween because he's a monster. Great works of literature inspire different thoughts in everyone.

I can't imagine that anyone out there doesn't know the story of the Grinch. It's part of our cultural tradition around Christmastime. If someone is being a Grinch we know what it means just as we know what it means to be a Scrooge. But when was the last time you read the book? I think the cartoon that came from the book is much more familiar than the book itself. Did you know or remember that the drawings are done in only black, white, and red? A green Grinch came out of the cartoon. I hope everyone gets a chance to read the book this Christmas season--and that you get to sing "He's a mean one, Mr. Grinch" in the deepest voice you can manage.

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How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

By Dr. Seuss

Publisher: Random House

Year: 1957

Info: Black, white, and red illustrations

Good Night Books

This is the time of year when it's especially hard to live far away from family. I've been known to complain about it. I've also been known to complain about the temperature still being in the 80s in November. But this is also the time of year to remember what we're grateful for. I'm grateful for books, obviously. I'm also grateful for all the experiences I've had by living in many different places. There are certainly downsides to moving a lot, but there is much to be thankful for too.

We celebrate some of the places we've lived with the Good Night Books. My sister who lives in Minnesota got us our first one so my kids could know a little bit more about where their cousins live. And we have collected more of them for some of the places we've lived: Florida, Oregon, Washington, and Utah. (We've also lived in Idaho, but they don't have that one yet.) Each book takes kids through a day around the state, eventually saying good night to the things and places that make the state unique.

Before moving to Florida I never even wanted to visit the state. But if we'd never moved to Florida, we would not know the friends we have now. We would have never picked an orange off a tree, dipped our toes in the warm water off the coast, witnessed awesome thunder and lightning storms, or cooked our Thanksgiving turkey on our charcoal grill.

What are you thankful for about where you live this Thanksgiving?

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Good Night Books
By various authors
Click here for more information
Info: board books, color illustrations
Ages: Young Children, Picture Books

The Peanuts Movie

I've been looking forward to the new Peanuts Movie for well over a year now. I finally was able to take my two girls to see it on Wednesday night.

There's always a little bit of fear that a new version of a beloved story won't live up to your expectations, but this didn't happen with The Peanuts Movie for me. The characters were just as I remember them, just a little CG-ified. My favorite scene was the school dance because the characters performed their signature moves from A Charlie Brown Christmas.

The Peanuts Movie was funny, sweet, and touching. I recommend it for kids and for parents who grew up loving Charlie Brown. It's one that we will definitely be adding to our DVD library.

Did you grow up on Charlie Brown and his pals? Who's your favorite character? (As a child I loved Snoopy, today my favorite is Linus.)

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http://www.peanutsmovie.com/

Sharing the Bread by Pat Zietlow Miller & Jill McElmurry

I feel a bit like Charlie Brown: "We have another holiday to worry about. It seems Thanksgiving Day is upon us!" I actually love Thanksgiving, but it snuck up on me this year. Christmas is at the top of my list, but Thanksgiving marks the beginning of the holiday season for me. We don't decorate for Christmas until after Thanksgiving, but I do listen to Christmas music well beforehand. If there were more good Thanksgiving songs, I'd listen to those.

There are also a lot more Christmas books than Thanksgiving books. I was looking at the library for a Thanksgiving themed books to read with my kids. The first one I got was written in the 1950s and I wasn't comfortable with the way it portrayed Native Americans. Recently I found this book, Sharing the Bread: An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving by Pat Zietlow Miller & Jill McElmurry.

There's only one brief reference to the first Thanksgiving when the young boy makes Pilgrim hats. But it focused on what I love about Thanksgiving: family, food, and gratitude. I appreciated how this old-fashioned Thanksgiving dinner had the whole family working together to make the meal. It's how I remember Thanksgiving as a child. My grandmother may have most of the side dishes, but Grandpa was always in charge of making his famous potato rolls. And on the other side of my family, Grandpa made the pies. Everyone shared in the work as well as enjoying the meal together.

Do you have any favorite Thanksgiving books?

__________

Sharing the Bread: An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving
By Pat Zietlow Miller & Jill McElmurry
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Year: 2015
Ages: Picture Books, Young Children
Themes: Thanksgiving, holidays, food, family, stories in rhyme
Info: Full color illustrations

Look! A Book! by Bob Staake

One of our regular library check outs, Look! A Book!: A Zany Seek-and-Find Adventure goes way beyond Where's Waldo. My girl's love Bob Staake's fun drawing style and silly rhymes. "Look! A cat! A bat! A gooey splat! A goose! A moose! A pool of juice!"

Besides a main prompt of what to look for on each page, the book is filled with lots of other silly things to find. Doughnuts, pizza, candy canes, ice cream-eating wiener dogs! My girls love having this book read to them, but it's also a great one for them to sit and look at on their own.

Do your kids like seek and find books? This is the best one we've found yet. Little kids have fun finding things, but this book has so many details it can challenge older kids as well. Also look for Look! Another Book! Which is pretty self-explanatory.

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Look! A Book!: A Zany Seek-and-Find Adventure
By Bob Staake
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Year: 2011
Ages: Picture Book
Themes: seek and find books
Info: full color illustrations

The Piggy in the Puddle by Charlotte Pomerantz

When I was a child, I loved Reading Rainbow. And I loved seeing LeVar Burton, my beloved RR host, on my dad's Star Trek show. My sisters and I would put banana clips over our eyes to pretend to be Geordi La Forge. My girls have been enjoying watching episodes of Reading Rainbow on Netflix (and I'm enjoying the 80s flashbacks).

One of the episodes I remember the most highlighted The Piggy in the Puddle by Charlotte Pomerantz, pictures by James Marshall. (Can you hear it in LeVar Burton's voice?) It showed how they created the story with claymation and it was the first time I realized that animation doesn't just happen, someone creates it.

The title character, the piggy, jumps in a mud puddle and her family tries to convince her to leave it. It's a fun book to read out loud because of all the rhyming and alliteration.

Did you watch Reading Rainbow growing up?

__________

The Piggy in the Puddle
Words by Charlotte Pomerantz
Pictures by James Marshall
Publisher: Aladdin Paperbacks
Year: 1974
Ages: Picture Books, Young Children
Info: full color illustrations, Reading Rainbow book
Themes: animals, mud, pigs, rhymes

The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare

As a young girl, I went through a huge historical fiction phase. I loved learning about, and imagining myself in, another time and place. One of my very favorites was The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare. My fourth grade teacher recommended it to me. At first I didn't read it because I thought it was about witches in the Halloween sense. But once I did read it, I couldn't put it down and I read it over and over again. Oh, how I wished to be Kit, and how much I loved Nathaniel Eaton.

Kit grew up with her grandfather on an island, but when she's sixteen he dies and she has to go live with her only living relative, an aunt who lives with her family in Puritan New England. You can probably guess that her free-spirited ways don't mesh well with her new community. And when she befriends an old woman who is thought by some to be a witch, things only get worse for her.

Besides romance and adventure, this book offers a glimpse into Puritan society, New England in the 1600s, and old witch hunts. It's a book about friendship, loyalty, accepting differences, and accepting yourself. I highly recommend it for girls ages 10 and up--including their mothers.

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The Witch of Blackbird Pond
By Elizabeth George Speare
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: Sandpiper
Year: 1958
Info: Newbery Award Winner
Ages: Middle Grade Books, YA Books
Themes: historical fiction, New England, Puritans

Here's How You Know It's Our House

My six-year-old daughter drew a picture of a Christmas tree. Next to it she drew a bookshelf with books for the kids below and ones for mom and dad up high. "That's how you know it's our house." That made this book-loving mom happy.

Snowflakes Fall by Patricia MacLachlan

I know, I know. Many of you don't want to think about snow yet. But for Florida kids, snow holds a special, magical place in their imaginations year round. Two of my three children have seen snow, but they remember more it through pictures than their actual memory. Today we have record breaking heat once again and all I really want is for it to be cool enough to wear pants. I'm settling for reading about snow inside my air conditioned house.

Snowflakes Fall was written by Patricia MacLachlan after illustrator Steven Kellogg told her of the sadness he felt after the Sandy Hook Elementary tragedy which was in his hometown. The writing feels like poetry; the illustrations are beautiful. Though the focus is on the snow, it covers all the seasons. It's about the uniqueness of each snowflake and every child, and about remembering them.

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Snowflakes Fall
By Patricia MacLachlan
Illustrated by Steven Kellogg
Publisher: Random House
Year: 2013
Ages: Picture Book, Young Children
Themes: snow, seasons, children, memory
Info: full color illustrations
Source: our public library
Special Note: if you purchase this book, a donation is made to a fund for Sandy Hook Schools

Chu's Day by Neil Gaiman

Chu is a little panda with a very big sneeze. Chu's Day is written by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Adam Rex. It's a short picture book that's fun to read aloud and made my kids laugh out loud. After reading it to my three year old one time, she went off and sat by herself and told herself the story.

This book also shows what amazing range Neil Gaiman has. I typically think of Neil Gaiman's work as a little bit dark with some mystical elements. This book is just more proof that Neil Gaiman is simply a very good storyteller.

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Chu's Day
By Neil Gaiman
Illustrated by Adam Rex
Publisher: Harper
Year: 2013
Ages: Picture Books, Young Children
Info: Full Color Illustrations
Source: our public library

The Story of Diva and Flea by Mo Willems

Mo Willems is one of my favorite children's authors. I wouldn't have guessed that this book was by him because he doesn't do the illustrations (they're done by Tony DiTerlizzi) and it's really nothing like his other books. Diva and Flea is the story of an unlikely friendship between a small dog and a large cat living in Paris. It's told in thirteen short chapters with color illustrations throughout.

Even though it wasn't what I expected, I enjoyed reading this book with my six-year-old. It's one she could read on her own in a year or two. It doesn't have the same humor as other Mo Willems books, but it retains his charm. I loved the illustrations and this may sound strange, but I loved the texture of the paper. This is definitely one to pick up as a printed book.

If you're looking for a easy chapter book to read together or for your child to read independently, this is a good one.

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The Story of Diva and Flea
By Mo Willems
Illustrated by Tony DiTerlizzi
Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children
Year: 2015
Ages: Early Readers, Middle Grade
Themes: friendship, dogs and cats
Source: our public library