R's favorite book of the week is The Best Birthday Party Ever by Jennifer LaRue Huget. It begins with a young girl saying that her birthday is five months, three weeks, two days, and eight hours away and she is starting to plan her party. She has very grand ideas, including nine thousand pink balloons, a seventeen layer cake, magicians, ponies, camels, elephants, a ferris wheel, and more. R loves everything about this book, and I think it is a pretty accurate representation of the imaginative party planning of young children.
C enjoyed reading If You Were a Minute and If You Were a Plus Sign (for some reason I can't get the right cover to appear in this text, I think that is an Amazon problem) - both by Trisha Speed Shaskan. Both books are great for getting kids to think about how minutes and plus signs factor into our everyday lives.
We also enjoyed A Balloon for Isabel by Deborah Underwood. Isabel wants a balloon more than anything else in the world. The problem is that Isabel is a porcupine and balloons and porcupines just don't mix. Isabel is determined to come up with a solution to the problem so that she can get a balloon for graduation, just like everyone else.
I also want to mention Madlenka by Peter Sis. I think this book is fantastic, but C and R didn't really care for it. A girl named Madlenka lives in New York City and she is friends with everyone on the block. When she discovers that her tooth is loose, she has to tell all of her friends - the French baker, the Indian news vendor, the Italian ice cream man, the German lady who knows a lot of stories, the Latin American greengrocer, and the Asian shopkeeper. As Madlenka tells each of them about her tooth, we get a little information about what each person sells and a little information about where he or she is from. It's like a trip around the world in a book.
Check out more great reads at What My Child is Reading hosted by Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns.
9 comments:
The first book sounds like my kids. I think the day after their birthday the boys were already planning their next one.
Oops not comment, party. That's what happens when your kids are talking in the background.
Oh Madlenka! we've read Madlenka's Dog and the Peanut loved it.
The illustrations are just fantastic. I'll have to keep an eye out for this one
I'm certain that first book would be a hit with my youngest.
Madlenka sounds really neat! And I love the idea behind the minute and plus sign books!
I love madlenka!!!
I have to check out that birthday book...my daughter talks about her birthday all of the time now, she can't wait!
I have to say you always find the most interesting looking books. Most of the time Selena loves the one's I get after reading your reviews. That first one sounds right down her alley.
I always look at your list and want to get all of your books that we didn't read. Anna also didn't really care for Madlenka, but I plan to get it again soon. Sometimes it takes a few visits from a good book to be fully "digested". Interestingly, Anna has just started planning her birthday party and she is exactly 5 months away from her actual birthday :)
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