Books, glorious books :: by mama

Last summer, I read The Read-Aloud Handbook, by Jim Trelease. I found it to be informative and inspiring, although much of it was confirmation of things I already knew or suspected to be true. Still, it was good to have all of the evidence for reading aloud laid out in one place, and it was even better to have some concrete ideas and suggestions to incorporate in our reading routine.

One of the ideas that I latched on to was a mother's practice of giving her children a new book every week. Of course, in the States, we would go to the library and regularly check out 15 children's books at a time, so one book a week is pretty paltry in comparison. However, given that our reading selection is fairly limited here, I thought this would be a good practice to institute in our home. So, after a great deal of research and stocking up, we have been able to maintain a pretty regular weekly routine of a new book every Saturday evening. Kaya knows the routine and looks forward to his new books -- his Saturday Stories, he calls them -- and will remind us if we forget.

In case other families are interested in starting a routine like this one, I have put together the full list of all the books we gave Kaya this school year. These are all available in paperback, which means they are more affordable and easier to transport. I hope this list can be of use to other families who are looking for great reading material for their kids!

Picture Books (in alphabetical order, because I am crazy):

A Bad Case of Stripes, by David Shannon

Caps for Sale, by Esphyr Slobodkina

Carmine: A Little More Red, by Melissa Sweet

A Day with Wilbur Robinson, by William Joyce

George Shrinks, by William Joyce

The Gruffalo's Child, by Julia Donaldson

Harry and the Dinosaurs and the Bucketful of Stories, by Ian Whybrow

Harvey Potter's Balloon Farm, by Jerdine Nolen

How Are You Peeling, by Saxton Freymann

How I Spent My Summer Vacation, by Mark Teague

Inch by Inch, by Leo Lionni

If I Built a Car, by Chris van Dusen

Jack's Garden, by Henry Cole

Koala Lou, by Mem Fox

Library Lion, by Michelle Knudsen

Possum Magic, by Mem Fox

Me and My Dad, by Alison Ritchie

Miss Smith's Incredible Storybook, by Michael Garland

The Paper Crane, by Molly Bang

The Raft, by Jim Lamarche

Roger, the Jolly Pirate, by Brett Helquist

The Runaway Dinner, by Allan Ahlberg

Scranimals, by Jack Prelutsky

Snow, by Uri Shulevitz

Souperchicken, by Mary Jane Auch 

Strega Nona, by Tomie dePaola 

Thunder Cake, by Patricia Polacco

Tyrannosaurus Drip, by Julia Donaldson  

What Pete Ate from A to Z, by Maira Kalman

When Sophie Gets Angry -- Really, Really Angry, by Molly Bang

Nonfiction
First Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs

Chapter Books

Magic Tree House Nos.1-26

Pippi Longstocking, by Astrid Lindgren

Stuart Little, by E.B. White

Special thanks go out to both sets of grandparents, who provided quite a few of these books.  We hope to be able to continue this tradition for the next school year as well.  Kaya still has about 80 books on his Amazon wish list, so we have plenty of choices... and we are always open to new suggestions of other great books for our kiddo!