10 of My Favorite Books To Read Aloud

Reading to your children is just about as important as feeding them.  It's almost unbelievable to me that this gloriously simple, pleasurable act packs in so many benefits.  Can you imagine if eating an entire bag of Halloween candy was good for you?  It's like that.  (Yes, I bought Halloween candy yesterday and just ate a mini peanut butter cup and now want 20 more.  Is it that obvious?!) But, let's face it, some books are more fun to read than others.  There are a few of the Peanut's books that I have strategically placed under others, hoping that she won't choose them for me to read at story time.  Then there are those that are as fun for me to read as they are for her to hear.  Those are the gems, because if the reader is enjoying the story, the listener is going to love it that much more.  After reading at least 300 books to my past students and now to the Peanut, I have definitely discovered some gems.  Here's a random list of the first 10 of these books that popped into my head:

1. Skippyjon Jones by Judy Schachner (growing up in New Mexico was muy helpful in getting the accent right for this story!)
2. Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina (this story is one of the Peanut's all-time favorites)
3. The Three Billy Goats Gruff by Paul Galdone (I have read many versions of this story, this is the best!)
4. Little Pea by Amy Krouse Rosenthal (one of MY all-time favorite books ever written)
5. The Monster At the End of This Book by Jon Stone (A Sesame Street classic that has made me listen extra carefully to Grover's voice so I can master it while reading this book!)
6. Bark George by Jules Feiffer (this book makes kids gasp in astonishment...I love the last page)
7. Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter (now, if you really want to have fun with this one, always read it in a British accent.  The Peanut totally thinks his name is "Pee-tah"!)
8. Duck on a Bike by David Shannon (of No, David! fame)
9. Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson (this is a classic for a reason!)
10. The Jolly Postman by Janet and Allan Ahlberg (this was one of my students' favorites every year.  It's also great because it references so many classic fairy tales every kid should be familiar with)

I'd love to hear from you if you have favorite books to read aloud, too! Happy reading, EVERYONE!

List-Making: the Type-A's Secret Form of Procrastination

My fabulous husband often takes the Peanut with him to Starbucks in the morning for about thirty minutes.  It is a win-win situation.  They bond over milk and iced coffee, and I have at least a half hour to do anything I please.  Today, I knew there was a lot that needed to be crammed into this half hour.  Unfortunately, most of this involved cleaning the house, which is truly my least favorite thing to do IN THE WORLD.  So, instead I sat down to make the most beautiful to-do list ever.  Crisp, bulleted, and numbered according to priority, it was a Type-A sight to behold.  And it had only taken me ten of the precious thirty minutes to make!  I could have easily knocked off 4 or 5 items from that list before the Coffee Club returned home.  But, yuck.  What an undesirable list!  So, I stared at the list some more.  I switched a couple of numbers around.  I edited an item that was not feasibly going to happen today ("fully clean all three bathrooms" changed to "clean counter in the Peanut's bathroom").  I added two things to the list that I had already done that morning, then erased them (with a flourish!).  By the time my coffee arrived, the 23rd Edition of Shauna's To-Do List was ready for print, and I had frantically picked up a microfiber cloth in the last three minutes hoping I could cross at least one thing off my list before the day resumed its usual two year-old centered routine.

Well, as usual, the day flew by, completely oblivious to my unaccomplished list.  As nap time neared, so did new resolve to tackle the list head-on.  The Peanut naps for a good two hours, and besides the vacuuming, I could quietly go about accomplishing everything that needed to be done. After reading a couple stories, I popped my tired tot in her crib and sat down on the couch to re-examine my list.  It hadn't changed, and therefore nothing on it looked any more appealing than it had this morning.  Now what?  There was nothing left to change on it, and nothing on it I wanted to do.  So, I added a new item to the list:

• blog about list-making (1)

Ahhh, I feel so accomplished now!