Review by Tintin, age 9 Legends of Zita the Spacegirl Author/illustrator: Ben Hatke Publisher: First Second (9/2012) Genre: Graphic Novel Legends of Zita the Spacegirl is about a girl who saves the planet Lumponia from star hearts. A robot who is pretending to be the spacegirl is messing things up. I like it because it is an adventurous story. My favorite part was when they used a giant to

Review by Tintin, age 9 Invisible Inkling Author/illustrator: Emily Jenkins/Harry Bliss Publisher: Balzer + Bray (April 2011) Hank Wolowitz lives in New York and owns an ice cream shop called The Big Round Pumpkin with his mom, dad, and his sister, Nadia. One day at the shop, Hank feels something under the sink. It feels furry. He finds out it is an animal called a bandapat, and it is

Here are our favorites from the past week: Tintin, age 9 The Courage of Sarah Noble Author: Alice Dalgliesh Genre: Fiction Explorer: The Mystery Boxes Editor: Kazu Kibuishi Genre: Graphic Novel The Giggler Treatment Author: Roddy Doyle Genre: Fiction Lunch Lady and the Mutant Mathletes Author: Jarrett J. Krosoczka Genre: Graphic Novel Johnny Boo, age 6 My Weird

Here are our favorite books this week: Tintin, age 9 James and the Giant Peach Author/illustrator: Roald Dahl/Quentin Blake Genre: Fiction After losing his parents in a rhino accident, James must live with his two evil aunts--until a giant peach with talking insects suddenly appears and takes James far, far away. Tintin said this is one of his favorite Roald Dahl books, and even though it's

Here are some of Johnny Boo's favorites from March and April: Ricky Ricotta, Captain Underpants, The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby Author: Dav Pilkey Mr. Men, including... Mr. Men: Favourite Stories and whatever other Mr. Men and Little Miss books Johnny Boo found at the library (there are about 49 in all) Author: Roger Hargreaves And there are new Mr. Men graphic novels! The

I got tired of hearing things like "Mom, what should I eat?" and "There's nothing to eat!" (after I'd listed several possibilities). So I made the boys their own snack menu, to look through whenever they're hungry. I printed it out, laminated it, punched a few holes in it, and put it all together with pipe cleaners, which allows me to add more pages whenever I want. There are more than 70

Here's what Tintin's been reading lately: Attack of the Volcano Monkeys (Ordinary Basil) Author: Wiley Miller Publisher: The Blue Sky Press (February 2008) Category: Chapter Book (2nd in series) In this second Ordinary Basil book, Basil and his friend Louise travel (via pteranodon) to a planet of intelligent monkeys and try to overthrow the king. Wonkenstein (The Creature From My Closet)

Dr. Seuss's birthday was March 2. To celebrate, we took our books to the bathtub and had a reading party. Instead of eating cake, as the cat does in The Cat in the Hat Comes Back, the boys had popcorn while I read to them. Of course, putting two growing boys in one bathtub at the same time doesn't always make for a peaceful experience. Tintin was much more relaxed the next day when he

Some of us have a small obsession with Phineas and Ferb. At the most recent Scholastic book fair, each boy got a Phineas and Ferb book, as well as a Phineas and Ferb poster to share. Tintin also recently asked for a book on platypuses because he correctly assumed Perry the Platypus was not your average platypus and he wanted to see what they were really like. A couple of reviews: The Phineas and

Last weekend we had nothing to do, so Tintin suggested we have a reading marathon. I decided to make it into a challenge. Each boy had to complete 26 tasks, one for each letter of the alphabet. We picked random letters from our Bananagrams game, but one boy wanted to do some tasks (especially P) more than once, so he peeked a little. Here's what they had to do: A. Read 1 chapter to Mom. B.

This year I've been helping some of Johnny Boo's kindergarten classmates with letters and sight words. I've also become addicted to Pinterest, much to my husband's chagrin (Chagrinterest?). Following are a couple of sight word games copied from or inspired by pins I've made: Sight Word Parking Lot (based on a bigger parking lot game at Juggling With Kids) Print Parking Lot game here. I

The Sea of Lost Books (Return to the Library of Doom) Author/illustrator: Michael Dahl/Bradford Kendall Publisher: Stone Arch Books (August 2010) Category: Chapter Book Tintin has a journal in which he writes down the names of the books he's just finished. In the same journal there's a section for him to write book reviews in the form of a letter to me. When he's done I write a letter back

It's Valentine's Day Author/illustrator: Jack Prelutsky/Yossi Abolafia Publisher: Mulberry (1996) Category: Poetry It's Valentine's Day is a collection of 14 Valentine's poems from the nation's first children's poet laureate (and the boys' favorite poet not named Shel Silverstein). Check out Prelutsky's website for a few of his other poems and for poetry-writing activities for children. We

Kelly Butcher, over at The Lemme Library Blog, generously hosts a weekly forum for sharing children's book reviews every Tuesday. A couple of weeks ago, however, Kelly's husband took a spill and fractured his ankle. To help her out, I'll be hosting Book Talk Tuesday for her this week. Here are Kelly's (and thereby my) rules: All content must be appropriate for children in grades kindergarten

It's time for our Word of the Week feature here at LitLad. Here's how it works: Every week the boys and I read a book from which they pick their favorite-sounding unfamiliar word. They each write down the word and we try to use it in conversation as much as we can throughout the week. According to The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease, "the only words children learn having heard them only once

We went to San Diego Comic-Con last weekend! While there we met James Kochalka, author and illustrator of Johnny Boo. Here he is showing us Dragon Puncher: Our own Johnny Boo picked just that moment to become shy and overwhelmed, so he hid on the floor while Tintin got the goods--autographed drawings by the Kochalka family and books made by Eli and Oliver

Check out our new page, It's a Boy-Tested Book Bonanza!, for a list of books my boys love. Come back often to see what we've added! And now, in honor of Ice Cream Sandwich Day:

Review by Johnny Boo, age 5 Valentine the Porcupine Dances Funny Author/illustrator: Derrick Brown/Jenny Lewis Publisher: Write Fuzzy Source: The publisher Valentine the Porcupine is about a radio with a porcupine who says, "Will someone dance with me?" Her momma says, "Strange is cool," and Valentine says, "I believe you, Momma." And then her momma says, "I love you because

Here are our favorites from last week: Tintin, age 8 Joey Fly, Private Eye in Big Hairy Drama Author/illustrator: Aaron Reynolds/Neil Numberman Publisher: Henry Holt & Co. (November 2010) Source: Public library In this second Joey Fly graphic novel, Joey and his assistant, Sammy, are called upon to solve the disappearance of Greta Divawing, the star of the Scarab Beetle Theater. Joey rounds

We're back to blogging after a little break! Here are Johnny Boo's favorite books this week (Tintin is in the middle of reading Vordak the Incomprehensible again). The Amazing Adventures of Bumblebee Boy Author/illustrator: Jacky Davis/David Soman Publisher: Dial (October 2011) Source: Public library Don't expect to see Ladybug Girl in this book--this time it's all about Bumblebee Boy. Oh,

Review by Tintin, age 8 The Spiderwick Chronicles Author/illustrator: Holly Black & Tony DiTerlizzi Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (September 2004) Source: Home library/public library/school library The Spiderwick Chronicles are about a boy named Jared, a girl named Mallory, and another boy named Simon. Jared found a book in which creepy, terrifying, and terrible

Johnny Boo turned six last week! And now that he's six, we're reading Now We Are Six: Now We Are Six Author/illustrator: A.A. Milne/Ernest H. Shepard First published: 1927 Category: Poetry Here are some other recent favorites: Adventures in Cartooning: How to Turn Your Doodles Into Comics Author/illustratror: James Sturm; Andrew Arnold; Alexis Frederick-Frost

Tintin is 9 today! Here are the books he received for his birthday: The Merriam-Webster and Garfield Dictionary Publisher: Merriam-Webster (January 1999) Category: Reference; Graphic Novel Scholastic Student Thesaurus Author: John K. Bollard Publisher: Scholastic (May 2007) Category: Reference Scrabble Sticker Word Puzzles Author/illustrator: Patrick Blindauer/Bob Shea

Last week Tintin and everyone else who read at least five Texas Bluebonnet books attended a special breakfast in the school library and voted on their favorite Bluebonnet book. Students all across Texas participated in the voting at their own schools. The author of the book receiving the most votes will be declared the winner of the 2011-2012 Texas Bluebonnet Award. Here's Tintin voting for Tom

Play, Louis, Play! The True Story of a Boy and His Horn Author/illustrator: Muriel Harris Weinstein/Frank Morrison Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children's (December 2011) Categories: Biography; Chapter Book This is the story of Louis Armstrong's childhood, as told by his first horn, which little Louis purchased from a New Orleans hock shop for $5. Not only did the boys enjoy the book, but they