Library Log #1

As we settle back into routine after the holidays (and recent snow days), I find that the children and I have also settled back into a favorite activity: enjoying books together.  I’m a reader and always have been and so I have the expectation that my children will be, too.  After all, they are great imitators of our best and worst habits.
I was discouraged recently when we went through a few months of not reading much at all.  Perhaps it was holiday and pre-holiday craziness or just a bad, bad phase but our regular story reading at bedtime wasn’t happening so regularly.  The kids and I were having challenges with bedtime and in the interest of getting them to sleep before 8:30 each night, story time was cut short.  Sad, I know.  Unfortunately this was also paired with us not reading during the day either (crazy schedules again).  Battling guilt (I was that mom who never read to her children!) and sadness (why can’t we just enjoy reading together?), I knew that in the New Year we would need to remedy the situation.  My solution?  Planned weekly trips to the library and the creation of a family reading spot.

Our family reading spot now centers around a cozy chair in our living room (complete with fuzzy pillow and blanket) and two book holders.  One holds books from our personal library that I try to rotate according to season and/or theme.  The other holds books borrowed from the library so I know where to find them.  I have also found that this makes it easier for the kids to find the books they are looking for.

Doodle enjoying a new book.

Apparently it has worked, because lo and behold, just the other day I caught my 4 year old just “lookin’ at books” in the chair.  I have high hopes for daily independent book looking.

And now to the real purpose of this post, to share some of our great library finds with you.  I hope to make this a bit of a series, posting occasionally as we find great library books (honestly, some weeks we don’t find that many “winners”).

Here are my kids favorite (and Mom approved) books this week:

Stuck by Oliver Jeffers: a very silly story by one of our favorite authors/illustrators about a boy who gets a lot of things stuck in a tree while trying to retrieve his kite.
Actual Size by Steve Jenkins:  a picture book including a variety of animals represented in their actual size, which is great because what 4 year old can grasp that a Goliath frog is 3 feet long without seeing it?
Families of the Deep Blue Sea by Kenneth Mallory:  a non-fiction book which details the life of a variety of animals that live in and around the water.  It shares some interesting facts that I haven’t seen in other books of its type.
The Night at the Museum by Milan Trenc:  the story behind the movie starring Ben Stiller.  My kids haven’t seen the movie, but continue to enjoy the tale of the night shift guard who loses the dinosaur bones and finds lots of adventure on his first night of work.

I would love to hear some of your favorite books!

Health and Happiness,
Cerissa