The RAHK Report for 12/15/17

Family Read-Alouds

• A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond
  Miss Muffet really enjoyed this book, so I was happy to read it for her (and for Bo Peep, who only listened sporadically), but I was also glad to see it end. Paddington just causes mess after mess in each chapter and after about three such episodes the gimmick got old for me. I will not be in a hurry to read this again to the little girls.
• Once in Royal David's City by Kathleen Lines and Harold Jones
  We're planning to go to a Living Nativity at a local shrine this weekend, and last year, the text they used was nearly identical  to what is in this book. I read the story aloud and the girls acted it out using the punch-outs from Make & Play: Nativity. (Lines and Jones also collaborated on Lavender's Blue, my all-time favorite nursery rhyme collection.)
• The Sweet Smell of Christmas by Patricia Scarry
  My husband I had vastly different tastes in books as kids, but we have this book in common. We bought a new copy for the girls when Miss Muffet was a baby and we read it every year. Bo Peep has a cold and kept insisting she couldn't smell anything during our two readings of the story, but she did seem to enjoy scratching and sniffing anyway. 
• Hanna's Christmas by Melissa Peterson, illustrated by Melissa Iwai
  Wednesday was the feast of St. Lucy (aka Santa Lucia) so we made crowns and read this sweet story about a girl who moves from Sweden to the US and worries that her family won't celebrate St. Lucia day anymore. We also discovered that the author, better known to most as Melissa Wiley, made a YouTube video of herself reading the book. Since copies of the book are rare and expensive, this is a great way to enjoy the book if you can't own it yourself.
• "Mr. Edwards Meets Santa Claus" from A Classic Christmas
  My husband read this aloud to the big girls after dinner one night, and it was a big hit. They both love Laura and Mary. I'm excited for them to enjoy all the books of the Little House series as they get older.

Little Miss Muffet (age 4)

• The Story of Holly and Ivy by Rumer Godden, illustrated by Barbara Cooney
  I'm slowly reading this aloud to Miss Muffet on her own, since Bo Peep isn't ready for such a long story yet. There are actually quite a few characters, and I find that we need to recap them each time we return to the book so she can keep track of who is who. We're not even a quarter of the way through the story yet, but we have until the end of the Christmas season so there is no rush. 
• Christmas in Noisy Village by Astrid Lindgren and Ilon Wikland
  Of the dozen or so Christmas picture books I took out for the girls this week, this is the one Miss Muffet keeps asking me to read. She also loved it last year, though I don't think she remembers that. I really enjoy it as well, and I'm hoping to read The Children of Noisy Village in the coming year.

In addition to these read-alouds with me, Miss Muffet is reading tons of books on her own. I frequently see her reading picture books and easy readers to her little sisters as well. Jumping Joan is a slightly better audience than busy Bo Peep, but they both enjoying having a big sister who can share stories with them.

Another fun thing I observed this week was Miss Muffet using the words of a picture book character to describe her own feelings. She was upset with Bo Peep for not being scolded for something and she said, "When she does something wrong it was always last year." She was paraphrasing what Frances says about Gloria in A Birthday for Frances when Frances is upset that Gloria stole her shovel and pail and her mother points out that this happened a long time ago. I loved that in her anger she used a literary reference to make her feelings known.

Little Bo Peep (age 2 years, 2 months)

• Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella by Adrienne Adams
  Little Bo Peep loves this book both because it can be sung and because it contains two illustrations of Baby Jesus. I've had to limit her access to the book a little bit because she gets very upset when she can't find the pages that have Baby Jesus, and there have been several tantrums. But she loves the book and I've probably read it once a day this week. 
• Deck the Halls by Veronica Vasylenko
  This is another singable book, which Bo Peep has requested several times. She's slowly learning to sing along with it. 
• My First Prayers for Christmas by Maite Roche
  We have all four of the board books in this series, and we only bring this one out during Advent and Christmas. Bo Peep has taken a real liking to it. One night, I read it as her bedtime "story" and another day she took it to bed with her for her nap. 
• We're Going on a Bear Hunt: Snow Globe Edition by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury
  After a short break from this book, Bo Peep has a renewed interest in it. I think it helped that we had a little snowstorm this week. 

Jumping Joan (age 8 weeks)

Jumping Joan has started smiling more regularly so now we can tell when she's enjoying a story. Here are the books she heard this week: 

• 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
• Mrs. Wishy Washy by Joy Cowley