Day 27: Holiday Books for Children

Tonight as we sat at the dinner table, I was glancing at the flap of the book I was reading – you know, the part filled with praise and people saying great stuff about the books.

“It’s always good,” said Pumpkin.

“Well,” I responded, “you don’t sell very many books when you put bad things on their covers.”

“I wonder if they pay people to say good things about bad books,” was her reply.

Probably some do. But – I am not one of those who gets paid to talk about books. I get books in the mail and I’m happy for it because WE LOVE BOOKS – but the opinions are, of course, mine. I tend to avoid talking about the books we don’t enjoy but I don’t mind at all sharing with you the ones that we’ve loved.

This latest round of books are great for the approaching holiday season. The girls and I put up our Christmas tree tonight and I admit, I think I’m finally ready to find that Christmas spirit. Here are a few of the Christmas stories that we’ll be re-reading this season.

Twelve Days of Christmas Susan Jeffers

The Twelve Days of Christmas by Susan Jeffers

This story is a retelling of the classic “Twelve Days of Christmas” song, only it’s focused around a girl named Emma who finds a gift left for her by Santa and then imagines this great adventure where Santa saves the day. The illustrations are lovely – in fact, The Princess mentioned repeatedly how much she loved the art. I can never remember how the song goes so it’s kind of awesome to have a book as a cheat sheet.

Charlie the Ranch Dog

Charlie the Ranch Dog: Charlie’s Snow Day (I Can Read Book 1) based on the Charlie the Ranch Dog books by Ree Drummond

We’re kinda fans of The Pioneer Woman around here (well, her cookbooks and her recipes anyway… I hate to say it but the show leaves me kinda underwhelmed though I really love how she keeps her spices in mason jars), and that extends to Charlie the Ranch Dog. My youngest is a huge Charlie fan. Well, she’s a huge fan of most dogs – but when she saw this Charlie book in the mail, she may have squealed. This learning-to-read book is a bit young for my eight-year-old, but she loved the adventures of Charlie playing in the snow (and Charlie’s eventual longing for the warmth indoors).

Zoomer's Out of this world christmas

Zoomer’s Out-of-This-World Christmas Written and illustrated by Ned Young

Another dog book! When a space ship crash lands in Zoomer’s backyard, Zoomer and his brothers end up having a picnic with a family from outer space and sharing adventures before helping them mend their ship to send them on their way so they could get home in time for Santa’s arrival. A bright, funny story with lots of made-up words and creative and intriguing illustrations.

Biscuit's Christmas Storybook

Biscuit’s Christmas Storybook Collection

What? More dogs?! (Hey, we know what we like). This collection of Biscuit stories features nine stories – they’re short and easy to read so they’re ideal for your beginning reader. Both of my girls are far past the Biscuit stage of books – but your beginning reader will love them even though they’re not all Christmassy or even winter-y and some of them kind of seem like an odd selection for this Christmas storybook but odds are the only person in your home it will bother is you.

What are your favorite Christmas books for kiddos?

Our Favorite Children’s Books For Summer

One of my favorite blogging perks – since no one is clamoring to send me on lovely trips to write about them (though I’m TOTALLY open to that, FYI) – is getting brand new books in the mail to review. I get quite a lot of books, and it makes me and the little people tremendously happy. It also makes me friends happy because for some reason, I get a bit of romance novels and I really don’t care to read or review those so they immediately get passed on to friends who will dig ’em.

The kids’ books I mention on my blog have met a few criteria:

  • My daughters like them
  • I like them
  • I believe they have enough staying power to not get annoying after you’ve read it to a kid four times in a row

When I get books, Pumpkin goes through them first (most of what I’ve received has been more fitting for a 4 – 8 year old age group, so The Princess opts out of a lot of the reading). She tells me what she likes, and I read and pare the list down from there. What you’re seeing here are some of our latest faves.

Fanciest Doll in the Universe

Fancy Nancy: Fanciest Doll in the Universe

I’m forever a fan of the Fancy Nancy series – I love the illustrations, I love the concept, and I love the sneaky vocabulary lessons (“Then my mom tries consoling me. That’s fancy for making me feel better.”). In this latest book, Nancy’s little sister draws all over Nancy’s favorite doll with a permanent marker. Nancy is devastated that her doll is “ruined” and mad at her little sister. In the end, of course, the sister-drawn tattoo ends up being a good thing, and Nancy realizes her sister won’t always be little forever. I kind of dug this – I remember Pumpkin ruining her older sister’s stuff. It’s a sibling thing and it’s pretty common and I love how they covered it.

Sticky, Sticky, Stuck!

A family so wrapped up with work, cell phones, television and the like that they fail to pay attention to little Annie except to tell her she’s sticky. So when Annie makes a sticky sticky sandwich and the whole family gets stuck they realize they actually kind of like to spend time with each other and it’s good to put the phones down and connect with the people in front of us. Uh, whut? Yeah. Kind of heavy handed, but a cute way to share a good message. And yes, I put the iPhone down for awhile after reading it.

Pete the Cat: Pete at the Beach (My First I Can Read)

The Pete the Cat series (we just received Pete at the Beach, Pete’s Big Lunch, and Play Ball) are great because they are for beginning readers and are entertaining and somewhat challenging but not so challenging that you’re filling in every third word for your reader.

Tyler Makes Spaghetti!
But perhaps my favorite of the bunch is this offering from chef Tyler Florence (apparently, he’s also penned Tyler Makes Pancakes! which sounds equally fun). With the focus I’m working on instilling in my kids – eating more whole foods and less meals from packages (I’m not all the way there yet, by the way. My addiction to snack foods isn’t likely to end any time soon, but for meals, I’m doing a pretty darn good job), I love this book’s focus on the simple and natural ingredients that encompass a meal of spaghetti and meatballs. The book finishes with Tyler Florence’s recipe – and yeah, I’ll be giving that a try soon with the kids in the near future.

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So these are some of the latest pages we’ve been turning. What have you been reading with your kiddos this summer?

 

Though these books were sent to me free for review, the opinions expressed are my own. Amazon affiliate links used because why on earth not.