The Read-at-Home Kids Report: November 2019

It took me a while to get it typed up, but here finally is the girls' reading report for November!

Family Read-Alouds

Our lunchtime read-alouds in November were No Flying in the House by Betty Brock, which was a perfect book for the two big girls, with just the right blend of magic and talking animals and mystery, and The Runaway Dolls, which left both big girls begging each afternoon for just one more chapter. At dinner, my husband read aloud Hob and the Goblins by William Mayne. In preparation for Thanksgiving, we also read Over the River and Through the Wood illustrated by Christopher Manson, Cranberry Thanksgiving by Wende and Harry Devlin,  and, from Open Library, Thanksgiving on Plymouth Plantation by Diane Stanley. After Thanksgiving dinner, I also read aloud The Thanksgiving Story by Alice Dalgliesh.

Little Miss Muffet, Age 6

Independently, Miss Muffet, newly 6 read five chapter books in November:  The Voyages of Dr. Dolittle by Hugh Lofting, The Missing Tooth Fairy (The Adventures of Sophie Mouse #15) by Poppy Green, Here Comes the Bus by Carolyn Haywood, Our Strange New Land: Elizabeth's Diary, Jamestown, Virginia 1609 by Patricia Hermes, and Freddy and the Ignormus by Walter R. Brooks. Dr. Dolittle and Freddy were the favorites of the list, most likely because both involve talking animals.

We also had some picture books out of the library, and Miss Muffet gravitated especially toward these three: Just Like Beverly: A Biography of Beverly Cleary by Vicki Conrad, illustrated by David Hohn,  Home in the Woods by Eliza Wheeler, and The Darkest Dark by Chris Hadfield, illustrated by the Fan brothers. All of these had a basis in history, and that really seemed to appeal to her. She also really related to astronaut Chris Hadfield's boyhood fear of the dark.

Miss Muffet also celebrated her birthday in November and received a nice stack of books: 

• Something Queer at the Birthday Party by Elizabeth Levy and Mordecai Gerstein
• Something Queer in Outer Space by Elizabeth Levy and Mordecai Gerstein
• Katie and the Dinosaurs by James Mayhew 
• Clover's Luck by Kallie George
• The Enchanted Egg by Kallie George
• Walk This Underground World by Kate Baker

Little Bo Peep, Age 4 years, 2 months  

Learning to read and listening to audiobooks continue to be Bo Peep's biggest literary pursuits. In November, she listened to repeatedly to titles from the Mr. Putter and Tabby, Mercy Watson, and Doll People series (all of which she also previously heard as read-alouds). We also borrowed a set of Rime to Read books for her from the public library and she read those to herself repeatedly as well, along with Ann's Hat from our Hooked on Phonics set and The Tin Man, another reader we found at a book sale.

Bo Peep also got an early start on her holiday reading, insisting that I read the entire book adaptation of George Balanchine's Nutcracker in one sitting. Her picks from the library stack were I Need All Of It by Petra Postert (which I did not enjoy at all, personally) and Nine Months Before a Baby is Born by Miranda Paul and Jason Chin (which I loved.)

Little Jumping Joan, Age 2 years, 1 month

Jumping Joan is starting to get really into the Stanley series, and she asked for them at nap time on many days during November.  She doesn't know the titles, but identifies them either by color, or by something significant that occurs in the story ("Danley drive bus," "Danley have party," etc.) The other book from our shelves that she got attached to was The Three Bears by Byron Barton, only she kept referring to the bears as "naked monkeys."

From the library stack, her favorites were Nine Months Before a Baby is Born and The Moon is Going to Addy's House by Ida Pearle.