C and I recently finished reading The One-Eyed Giant by Mary Pope Osborne. This is the first book of a series retelling stories from Homer's Odyssey. I think it is a great introduction to the Odyssey, and C definitely enjoyed the book, but he might be a year or two too young for this series. When I asked if he was interested in getting the second book in the series, he said, "maybe later". The book is recommended (on the Amazon website) for ages 9-12, but most of the chapter books we read together have that same age recommendation. So, we will revisit the series at a later date.
C and R both enjoyed Big Red Lollipop by Rukhsana Khan. This is a story about a young girl named Rubina, the oldest daughter of immigrants, who is invited to her first birthday party. She is so excited, but her mom doesn't know what a birthday party is, and she insists that Rubina bring her little sister along. The way Rubina's sister acts at the party isn't nearly as bad as what she does afterward! The end of the story is really sweet, and I definitely recommend this book as a must read for siblings. It's a great tale of sibling rivalry, and it even inspired some sweet sibling behavior between C and R (for a few minutes anyway).
Julius, The Baby of the World by Kevin Henkes is the story of Lily and her new baby brother, Julius. Lily was very excited for the arrival of her new sibling, but once he finally came home, she had a change of heart. She thought he was disgusting and hoped he would go away, but he didn't. C's favorite part of this book is when Lily's parents sing the alphabet to Julius to help him grow up to be clever and then Lily sneaks in and sings the letters out of order!!!! Her parents tried their best to make Lily welcome her brother and to make her feel special, but nothing changed her mind about the baby until Cousin Garland had a few things to say about the baby! This is a cute book for children expecting a new sibling, and even for children who already have younger siblings. I also love the way this book captures the normal feeling of I can say anything bad about my family (religion, race, group, etc.), but no one outside of the family can speak ill of them!! This book is a real winner in our house; I have caught R "reading" it to herself several times this week.
Our final pick of the week is How Raggedy Ann Got Her Candy Heart adapted from stories by Johnny Gruelle. R is really enjoying the Raggedy Ann books we have been reading! In this one, Raggedy Ann takes a kite ride and ends up landing in a bucket of paint. A friendly painter offers to take her home and fix her up for Marcella. In the process, Raggedy Ann returns with a special addition, the candy heart.
What are your children reading? I am linking this to What My Child is Reading at Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns. Head on over there and share your picks of the week!
4 comments:
Sounds like you had some cute books this week! The last one and big red lollipop sound like ones we would really like!
Gerrick went through a big love phase with those My First Raggedy Ann books--aren't they great?
The One-Eyed Giant looks like something he would definitely pull off the shelf and squeal over. :)
Have you read "Berenstain Bears and Baby Makes Five"? That's another cute one about a new baby, and my kids really like that one. I've been meaning to recommend it to you, but had forgotten until you mentioned this book.
I can't wait until my kids are old enough for "One-Eyed Giant" because they'd enjoy it, but I'd agree with you they're too young for it right now.
You have some great picks this week. They reminded me to look for Raggedy Ann series. Just the illustration on Giant cover was enough for me to know that it's not going to "fly" here any time soon :) We read Vera's Baby this week which is kind of similar in theme to Julius book. I think C and R might like it.
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