When the girls get restless in the afternoons while waiting for my husband to get home, we've started grabbing a stack of picture books and gathering on the big bed to read them together. Here are some of the highlights from the books we read this week:
- Big Bug, Little Bug by Paul Stickland
This is the current favorite book of Little Bo Peep (age 2.5), solely because of the big pop-up on the last page. Bo Peep and Miss Muffet (4 years, 4 months) both like to read this aloud to Jumping Joan (6 mos.)
- Just Right by Lilian Moore, illustrated by Aldren A. Watson
This picture book is about a farmer who wants to sell the family farm, but can't find someone who appreciates it the way he does. Miss Muffet had already the book and kept calling out spoilers to the rest of us, but even so, the pleasant ending was very satisfying, at least for me.
- Here I Come - Ready or Not! by Jean Merrill, illustrated by Frances Gruse Scott
Bo Peep really latched onto this book, which describes a simple game of hide-and-seek played by a boy and a girl on a farm. Bo Peep loved looking for the hiding child on each page, and she could be heard playing with her own toys later on, calling out, "Ready or not, here I come!"
- Night Noises by Laverne Johnson, illustrated by Martha Alexander
This gentle book is about a little boy falling asleep listening to the sounds of his house, family, and neighborhood. Bo Peep and Miss Muffet both listened with rapt attention. Something about the quiet text and gentle illustrations seemed to put them in a bit of a trance.
- Our Yard is Full of Birds by Anne Rockwell
Miss Muffet, who often includes "bird expert" on her list of things she will be when she grows up, loved this book. It introduces common species of birds within the context of a story in which a child watches birds outside the window. She knew most of the birds and excitedly pointed out which ones can be seen near our house.
- Mommy, Buy Me a China Doll by Margot Zemach
The girls thought this book, in which a little girl begs her mother for a doll and makes silly suggestions about how her family could manage it, was really funny. I thought it was a sweet testament to imagination and the ending was very cozy.
- Maggie and the Pirate by Ezra Jack Keats
This is one of Keats's lesser known and more unusual books, but it went over well with Little Miss Muffet especially. The main character's beloved cricket is stolen and later dies, which I'd forgotten, but Miss Muffet isn't a particularly sensitive kid, so this didn't bother her very much.
- My Red Umbrella by Robert Bright
This is a very small book with a straightforward but fanciful story about how a little girl shares her umbrella with a menagerie of animals during a sudden rainstorm. Bo Peep liked this one a lot and asked to look at it on her own after we read it together.
- The Happy Hollisters on a River Trip by Jerry West
I found this on Open Library, and I'm reading it aloud only to Miss Muffet, and she is loving it. The cliffhanger chapter endings mean that I sometimes have to read four at a go, but the series is charming enough that I'm not really bothered by that.
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