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Today I will be sending out a new issue of the Growing Bookworms email newsletter. (If you would like to subscribe, you can find a sign-up form here.) The Growing Bookworms newsletter contains content from my blog focused on children's and young adult books and raising readers. I currenty send the newsletter out every two weeks.

Newsletter Update: In this issue I have four book reviews (picture book and young adult), two posts with links that I shared on Twitter recently, and an announcement about a post that I did at The Nerdy Book Club about the 8th Annual Kidlitosphere Conference (which I am co-organizing). Not included in the newsletter, I shared announcements about the KidLitCon Call for Proposals and Registration Form. 

Reading Update: In the last three weeks I read four middle grade books, two young adult titles, and one adult book. I read:

• Sharon M. Draper: Out of My Mind. Atheneum Books. Middle Grade/Middle School. Completed July 5, 2014, on Kindle. Review to come.
• J. K. Rowling: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Scholastic. Middle Grade. Completed July 8, 2014, on MP3 (library copy). This is my first time listening to the Harry Potter books, and I am quite enjoyig the experience.
• J. K. Rowling: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Scholastic. Middle Grade. Completed July 12, on MP3 (library copy).
• Betsy Byars: The Pinballs. Apple. Middle Grade. Completed July 14, 2014, on MP3. This was a re-read of a childhood favorite, and I was delighted to find that The Pinballs completely held up. 
• Michele Weber Hurwitz: The Summer I Saved the World ... in 65 Days. Wendy Lamb Books. Middle School. Completed July 2, 2014. Review to come. 
• Naomi Paul: Code Name Komiko. Scarlet Voyage. Young Adult. Completed July 13, 2014, on Kindle. I'm not planning to review this one. I finished it, but it didn't quite work for me overall. 
• Anthony Doerr: All the Light We Cannot See. Scribner. Adult Fiction. Completed July 3, 2014, on MP3. I enjoyed this novel, though it's a bit slower-paced than my usual reading diet of mysteries and children's books. It's about the lives of two teens (a radio-obsessed German boy and a blind French girl) leading up to events during World War II. 

Incidentally, I did not finish The Silkworm (A Cormoran Strike novel) by Robert Galbraith (aka J.K. Rowling) on Kindle. I had enjoyed the first book in this series, and continued to appreciate the relationship between Strike and his secretary, Robin. However, there were some aspects of the book that were just too dark for me. I put it aside about 1/3 of the way through, not wishing to subject myself to more. Other people report more appreciation for the book. 

I'm currently reading Rose by Holly Webb on Kindle, and Sinner by Maggie Stiefvater in print. I'm listening to Gone-Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright, while I await the third Harry Potter book (on request from my library). 

As always, you can see the list of books that we've been reading to Baby Bookworm here. We're closing in on 1000 books read so far this year, though this is a lower bound. I'm not good about listing books that we read on vacation, nor about listing books that anyone else reads to her besides my husband and me.

One thing that I've particularly noticed about reading with my daughter lately is that she notices things in the pictures that I wouldn't necessarily notice myself. For example, she always points out the "L" knitted into "Little Louis'" sweater in Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett & Jon Klassen. She is not good enough yet at observation to recognize the bear and other animals from Klassen's I Want My Hat Back making a cameo in Extra Yarn. But I'm working on her. 

I also love, love, love when a book makes her peal with laughter. The most recent standout in this arena was A Promise Is A Promise, by Florence Parry Heide & Tony Auth. This is the book that taught my daughter the word "Nincompoop", a new favorite. 

What are you and your family reading these days? Thanks for reading the newsletter, and for growing bookworms. 

© 2014 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved. You can also follow me @JensBookPage or at my Growing Bookworms page on Facebook. 

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My daughter just turned four in April. She loves to be read to, and we are in no rush whatsoever for her to learn to read on her own. But I've noticed lately that she's sometimes resistant to even flipping through the pages of a book on her own (say, in the car). She'll say: "I can't read yet, Mommy." And it struck me that there was something defensive about this.

So this morning something came up about books (as is not uncommon in our house), and she remarked that if she was going to read a book it would have to be easy. I was inspired to say: "You know, even if you learn to read, we will still read to you. Whenever you like, for as long as you like." Huge smile, big hug, and, perhaps, a look of relief. 

I may be projecting here. It's not that she came out and said: "I'm afraid that if I learn to read you guys won't read to me anymore. And I like it when you read to me." Rather, I've put together fleeing impressions based on her responses to things (including a diminishing interest when I point out individual words when we are reading together). But it's certainly possible that I'm right, and that she's been cautious about the idea of learning more words because she doesn't want us to stop reading to her. This is a fear that I am more than happy to take away.  

So, that is my tip for other parents of developing young readers:

Take a moment to assure your child that even if he learns to read on his own, you will still read to him. 

Then, of course, stay true to your word. There are so many benefits to continuing to read aloud to your children after they can read on their own. You can read them more advanced titles, thus enhancing their vocabularies and giving them exposure to ideas. You can use the books as a springboard to discussions about all sorts of things. And you can experience parent-child closeness, snuggled up together over the pages of a book. 

© 2014 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved. You can also follow me @JensBookPage or at my Growing Bookworms page on Facebook. 

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Today I will be sending out a new issue of the Growing Bookworms email newsletter. (If you would like to subscribe, you can find a sign-up form here.) The Growing Bookworms newsletter contains content from my blog focused on children's and young adult books and raising readers. I currently send out the newsletter once every two weeks. (I'm sending one day early right now because TypePad has been a bit unreliable of late, and I want to get it out while I can.)

Newsletter Update: In this issue I have four book reviews (picture book through young adult) and two posts with links that I shared on Twitter recently. I also have a post documenting my Baby Bookworm's plan to turn her bedroom into a library. 

Reading Update: In the last two weeks I read four young adult and three adult titles. I skewed towards the older age range because most of this reading took place during a cross-country trip that I took (to attend my college reunion at Duke). A high point of the trip for me was a friend telling me that reading my blog had encouraged her to continue reading aloud to her kids. So nice to have the chance to make a difference (and to hear about it)! Anyway, I read:

• Jennifer Brown: Hate List. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. Young Adult. Completed April 10, 2014, on Kindle (library copy).
• Meg Rosoff: Picture Me Gone. Putnam Juvenile. Young Adult. Completed April 11, 2014, on Kindle (library copy). 
• Ashley Elston: The Rules for Breaking. Disney-Hyperion. Young Adult. Completed April 13, 2014, digital ARC on Kindle. I must admit that I didn't enjoy this one as much as I did the first book: The Rules for Disappearing. But for fans of YA thrillers (including a teen in the witness protection program), this 2-book series is worth a look. 
• Stephen Chbosky: The Perks of Being a Wallflower. MTV Books. Young Adult. Completed April 22, 2014, on MP3. I enjoyed this book, but my appreciation was diminished a bit by the fact that I had already seen the movie, and knew how it would end. Both book and movie are well done, though. 
• Sue Grafton: S is for Silence (Kinsey Millhone series). Berkley. Adult Mystery. Completed April 13, on Kindle (library copy).
• Harlan Coben: Missing You. Dutton. Adult Mystery. Completed April 18, on MP3.
• Sue Grafton: T is for Trespass (Kinsey Millhone series). Berkley. Adult Mystery. Completed April 21, 2014, on Kindle (library copy).

I'm currently reading Dreams of Gods and Monsters, the conclusion to Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone series on Kindle, and Pieces of Me by Amber Kizer in print. Baby Bookworm's policy these days is to immediately ask to be read aloud any new book that comes into the house, from board books through early readers. You can check out the complete list of books we've read to her this year if you are interested to see more. 

What are you and your family reading these days? Thanks for reading the newsletter, and for growing bookworms. 

© 2014 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved. You can also follow me @JensBookPage or at my Growing Bookworms page on Facebook. 

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On Sunday the Easter Bunny brought my daughter a book (among other things). When asked how the Easter Bunny could have known that she liked books, she said: "He would just have to look in my room. There's about a million books in there." When her father responded that, yes, she practically had a mini library in their, she got a little gleam in her eye. Without missing a beat she told us: "When I am 10 or 8 I'm going to have a real library in my room."

Over dinner, we fleshed out the whole plan. The requirement to wait until she is 10 or 8 quickly fell by the wayside. Here are some highlights:

• Kids will be able to borrow books Anyone checking out books now will be able to check out four books (because she is four), but by the time she is 25 they will be able to check out 25 books.
• She will hold separate storytimes for boys and for girls (though she plans to read them the same books). 
• We discussed sending out invitations to all of her friends to visit the library, and even made a list of which friends would receive invites. (Though we did not actually get to the point of making the invitations.)

When she proposed that we move to the middle of the country, so that it would be easier for her cousins to also visit the library, we decided that things had gotten out of hand, and we moved onto something else. But not before she declared her new "what I'm going to be when I grow up" plan. She's going to be a doctor and a librarian. When she's not busy taking care of patients, she can read books to people. 

I thought that those of you who've been following this blog might appreciate this little window into the evolving life of a Baby Bookworm. If you give a kid "about a million" books, and make time to read them, you might end up having to let her open a library one day. 

© 2014 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved. You can also follow me @JensBookPage or at my Growing Bookworms page on Facebook. This site is an Amazon Affiliate. 

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Today I will be sending out a new issue of the Growing Bookworms email newsletter. (If you would like to subscribe, you can find a sign-up form here.) The Growing Bookworms newsletter contains content from my blog focused on children's and young adult books and raising readers. I currently send out the newsletter once every two weeks.

Newsletter Update: In this relatively brief issue I have four book reviews (picture book through middle grade) and two posts with links that I shared on Twitter recently. I also have a post documenting some recent literacy moments with Baby Bookworm. 

Reading Update: In the last two weeks I read two middle grade, three young adult, and five adult titles (one a short story). You'll notice that most of these were read on Kindle or MP3. This is because I've been on a bit of an exercise kick, and the only time I've had for reading has been while on the exercise bike (reading my Kindle) or while walking (listening to my MP3 player). 

• Marcia Wells (ill. Marcos Calo): Eddie Red Undercover: Mystery on Museum Mile. HMH Books for Young Readers. Middle Grade. Completed March 29, 2014. Review to come.
• Richard Capwell: Witches Bureau of Investigation, Book 1. Amazon Digital Services. Middle Grade. Completed April 6, 2014, on Kindle. I just downloaded the second book in this series, and will talk more about both books after I read that one. 
• Shannon Hale: Dangerous. Bloomsbury. Young Adult. Completed March 28, 2014, on Kindle.
• E. Lockhart: We Were Liars. Delacorte. Young Adult. Completed March 30, 2014, digital ARC on Kindle. Review to come. 
• Jennifer Brown: Torn Away. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. Young Adult. Completed April 4, 2014, digital ARC on Kindle. Review to come. 
• Maeve Binchy: Whitethorn Woods. Anchor. Adult Fiction. Completed March 30, 2014, on MP3.
• Maeve Binchy: A Week in Summer. Random House. Adult Fiction (short story). Completed March 30, 2014, on MP3.
• Ben Winters: The Last Policeman. Quirk Books. Adult Mystery. Completed April 2, 2014, on Kindle.
• Richard A. Thompson: Lowertown. Forty Press. Adult Mystery. Completed April 8, 2014, on Kindle.
• Laura Lippman: After I'm Gone. William Morrow. Adult Mystery. Completed April 9, 2014, on MP3.

I'm currently reading Hate List by Jennifer Brown on Kindle and Missing You by Harlan Coben on MP3. Baby Bookworm is still enjoying all things Mo Willems. At lunch today, out of nowhere, she suggested a new Willems book: Don't Let the Pigeon Climb a Tree. She was acting it out and everything ("No, Pigeon, you'll fall."). She also still loves Little Critter, Fancy Nancy, and Curious George books. You can check out the complete list of books we've read to her this year if you are interested to see more. 

What are you and your family reading these days? Thanks for reading the newsletter, and for growing bookworms. 

© 2014 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved. You can also follow me @JensBookPage or at my Growing Bookworms page on Facebook. 

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My Baby Bookworm is not such a baby anymore. She turned four this weekend (with much celebration, and many cupcakes). So far, our efforts to ensure that she loves books seem to be paying off. Here are a few recent tidbits. 

We were very nearly late for her birthday party (which we held out at her gymnastics place), because she wanted me to read her "just one more" Little Critter book. We incidentally let each child select a book as a party favor. The Fancy Nancy books were the most popular.

She had to stop in the middle of opening presents to ask Daddy to read her the newly unwrapped Mo Willems book (The Pigeon Needs a Bath). Yes, I did get that on video. When things do not go her way, she says: "Hmmpf." She does not seem to realize that she picked this up from the Pigeon. But we do. 

She has started using words like "mischievous" when describing the behavior of her dolls . She doesn't always use big words correctly, but she is clearly trying. 

As for me, I find it rewarding (if occasionally inconvenient) that she requests to have books read aloud at all hours of the day. We've also learned that when she becomes particularly insistent about us reading to her around dinnertime, it means that she is extra-tired. She wants to get her books in before she falls asleep. Because that's what bookworms, whether babies or not, do. 

© 2014 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved. You can also follow me @JensBookPage or at my Growing Bookworms page on Facebook. This site is an Amazon affiliate.

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Today I will be sending out a new issue of the Growing Bookworms email newsletter. (If you would like to subscribe, you can find a sign-up form here.) The Growing Bookworms newsletter contains content from my blog focused on children's and young adult books and raising readers. I currently send out the newsletter once every two weeks.

Newsletter Update: In this issue I have four book reviews (picture book through young adult), as well as post about my daughter's latest literacy milestone, and one about why I think she loves Mo Willems' books so much. I have two posts with links that I shared on Twitter recently. 

Reading Update: In the last two weeks I read one middle grade book, three young adult books, and one adult title:

• Jaleigh Johnson: The Mark of the Dragonfly. Random House Books for Young Readers. Middle Grade/Middle School. Completed March 11, 2014, on Kindle. Review to come.
• Mark Frost: Alliance (The Paladin Prophecy, Book 2). Random House Books for Young Readers. Young Adult. Completed March 3, 2014. My review.
• Jennifer E. Smith: The Geography of You and Me. Poppy (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers). Young Adult. Completed March 4, 2014, e-ARC on Kindle. Review to come.
• Lauren Henderson: Kissing in Italian. Random House Books for Young Readers. Young Adult. Completed March 9, 2014. Review to come. 
• Robin Sloan: Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore. Picador. Adult Fiction. Completed February 26, 2014, on Kindle. I quite enjoyed this book about everything from musty old books and secret societies to data visualization and Google. It's a fast read, sure to please most adult book lovers.

I'm currently reading Insignia by S. J. Kincaid on my Kindle and The Spy Catchers of Maple Hill by Megan Frazer in print. I am very much enjoying my current audiobook, A Week in Winter by Maeve Binchy. It is the perfect antidote to stress, and I wish it would never end. 

We're also still reading to Baby Bookworm these days, of course. You can check out the complete list of books we've read to her this year if you are interested. We also read the first two chapters of Winnie-the-Pooh last night. 

She turns four in a few weeks, and I can tell you that we're really seeing the impact of all the books that we've read. She can spell a few words now (her name, Mom, Dad, no, moo, Mo, so), and she'll notice those words if she sees them ("Why does that sign say 'No'?). She's asking how to spell things like "I love you" when she makes us cards. She enjoys the Reading Raven app. I can't remember who recommended that one, but thank you! We are careful not to push her, but she's like a little sponge these days, soaking up new words all around her. My goal is just to keep it fun!

What are you and your family reading these days? Thanks for reading the newsletter, and for growing bookworms. 

© 2014 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved. You can also follow me @JensBookPage or at my Growing Bookworms page on Facebook. 

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My daughter decided last night that before falling asleep, she wanted to read "all the Mo Willems books." She headed over to the bookshelf (well, one of many bookshelves, but this is the one where most of Mo's books live in our house), and started pulling them down. It took her a couple of trips, fully laden, to get them over to the bed. And then she commanded: "Read!"

We ended up reading three Elephant & Piggie books and two Pigeon books. We didn't get to the three Knuffle Bunny books last night, but they were in the stack, and are much-loved, too. We also have a couple of stand alone titles (That is NOT a Good Idea and Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs), but these don't register for her so much as having been written by Mo. What she LOVES is looking for the Pigeon on the inside back cover of the Elephant & Piggie books. She has a stuffed Pigeon, too. She sees these books as a whole universe of fun.  

The other night she was getting cranky around bedtime, as she is wont to do. She protested: "I'm NOT tired." Then, before I could anything she added "And I am NOT the Pigeon." This is because usually when she claims to not be tired we say: "OK, Pigeon." Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late hits the nail on the head better than any other book I can think of.  

I guess all of this is a long-winded way for me to say that if you have a preschooler or early elementary schooler in your house, and you have somehow not discovered the works of Mo Willems, you simply MUST remedy this. Your local library should have plenty of Mo's books, and that's a great place to start. Scholastic also has packages sometimes in the Reading Club, giving you access to less expensive paperback versions. But whatever you do, get your hands on some of these fabulous books.

I think the key to the success of all of Willems' various series and standalones lies in his keen understanding of universal child (and parent) behaviors. My daughter nods her head when Elephant and Piggie are crying over Piggie's broken toy, and says: "She's crying because of her toy. He's crying because of her." She just gets the interactions and expressions of the characters instinctively. She clutches her own beloved blanket a little when Trixie loses Knuffle Bunny. She giggles when the Pigeon says "I never get to do ANYTHING" because she knows that she has said something similar mere moments before. 

Of course it helps that the books are fun, too! What say you, readers? Do your kids ask for "all of the Mo Willems books", too? 

____

This site is an Amazon affiliate, and purchases made through Amazon links (including linked book covers) may result in my receiving a small commission (at no additional cost to you).

© 2014 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved. You can also follow me @JensBookPage or at my Growing Bookworms page on Facebook. 

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Last night, as we were trying to get her calmed down for bed, my daughter was playing with various dolls and stuffed animals. She picked up a baby doll, propped it up on top of the headboard, and said:

"'I'm at the top of the tree', cried Baby'."

Yes, the "cried Baby" was part of the sentence. She is now using dialog attribution in her pretend play. Stephen King's advice in favor of using "said" instead of "cried" notwithstanding, my husband and I thought it was pretty cool. 

Clearly, she has listened to a lot of books. 

© 2014 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved. You can also follow me @JensBookPage or at my Growing Bookworms page on Facebook. 

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A post at the Nerdy Book Club this week really made me think. Priscilla Thomas, an 11th grade teacher, wrote about the repercussions of what she called "bookshaming". Thomas says:

"To be clear, opinion and disagreement are important elements of literary discourse. Bookshaming, however, is the dismissive response to another’s opinion. Although it is sometimes justified as expressing an opinion that differs from the norm, or challenging a popular interpretation, bookshaming occurs when “opinions” take the form of demeaning comments meant to shut down discourse and declare opposing viewpoints invalid."

She goes on to enumerate five ways that bookshaming (particularly by teachers) can thwart the process of nurturing "lifelong readers." I wish that all teachers could read this post. 

But of course I personally read this as a parent. Thomas forced me to consider an incident that had taken place in my household a couple of weeks ago. We were rushing around to get out of the house to go somewhere, but my daughter asked me to read her a book first. The book she wanted was Barbie: My Fabulous Friends! (which she had picked out from the Scholastic Book Fair last fall). 

I did read this book about Barbie and her beautiful, multicultural friends. But at the end I made some remark about it being a terrible book. And even as I said it, I KNEW that it was the wrong thing to say. Certainly, it is not to my taste. It's just little profiles of Barbie's friends - no story to speak of. But my daughter had picked out this book from the Book Fair, and she had liked it enough to ask me to read it to her. She seemed to be enjoying it. And I squashed all of that by criticizing her taste.

Two weeks later, I am still annoyed with myself. Priscilla Thomas' article helped me to better understand why. She said: "When we make reading about satisfying others instead of our own enjoyment and education, we replace the joy of reading with anxiety." What I WANT is for my daughter to love books. And if I have to grit my teeth occasionally over a book that irritates me, so what? 

Rather than continue to beat myself up over this, I have resolved to be better. The other night I read without a murmur The Berenstain Bears Come Clean for School by Jan and Mike Berenstain, which is basically a lesson on how and why to avoid spreading germs at school. As I discussed here, that same book has helped my daughter to hone her skills in recommending books. It is not a book I would have ever selected on my own. But I'm going to hold on to the image of my daughter flipping to the last page of the book, face shining, to tell me how funny the ending was. 

Growing bookworms is about teaching our children to love reading (see a nice post by Carrie Gelson about this at Kirby Larson's blog). They're not going to love reading if we criticize their tastes, and make them feel anxious or defensive. I'm sorry that I did that to my daughter over the Barbie book, and I intend to do my best not to do that again. If this means reading 100 more Barbie books over the next couple of years, so be it. Of course I can and will introduce her to other authors that are more to my own taste, to see which ones she likes. But I will respect her taste, too. 

© 2014 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved. You can also follow me @JensBookPage or at my Growing Bookworms page on Facebook. This site is an Amazon affiliate.

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Today I will be sending out a new issue of the Growing Bookworms email newsletter. (If you would like to subscribe, you can find a sign-up form here.) The Growing Bookworms newsletter contains content from my blog focused on children's and young adult books and raising readers. I currently send out the newsletter once every two weeks.

Newsletter Update: In this issue I have four book reviews (picture book through middle school), as well as thoughts on some recent Valentine's Day-themed picture books. I also have a post about my daughter's latest literacy milestone (reading a book aloud with me). I have two posts with links that I shared on Twitter recently, both chock full of book lists and growing bookworms links. 

Reading Update: In the last two weeks I read 5 middle grade books and 1 adult title. I read:

• Karen Foxlee: Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy. Knopf Books for Young Readers. Middle Grade. Completed January 31, 2014. Review to come.
• Sara Pennypacker (ill. Marla Frazee): Clementine and the Spring Trip. Disney/Hyperion. Early Middle Grade. Completed February 1, 2014. Review to come.
• Maryrose Wood: The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: Book IV: The Interrupted Tale. Balzer + Bray. Middle Grade. Completed February 7, 2014, on MP3. This series is sheer genius. I can't wait for the next book. I LOVE the audio versions.
• Shannon Messenger: Keeper of the Lost Cities. Aladdin. Middle Grade. Completed February 9, 2014, on Kindle. Review to come.
• Jennifer A. Nielsen: The Shadow Throne (Ascendance Trilogy, Book 3). Scholastic. Middle Grade/Middle School. Completed February 9, 2014. Review to come.
• Sue Grafton: Q is for Quarry. Berkley. Adult Mystery. Completed February 2, 2014, on Kindle (library copy). I enjoyed this re-immerson into the world of Kinsey Milhone, my first visit in several years. 

I'm currently reading Exile (Keeper of the Lost Cities, Book 2) by Shannon Messenger on my Kindle and The Year of Billy Miller by Kevin Henkes in print. I'm listening to Lockwood & Co. The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud. Reading on my Kindle while I exercise has helped me to increase my reading time lately, as has extra audiobook time in the car. 

We're also reading a ton of books to Baby Bookworm these days. You can check out the complete list of books we've read to her this year on my blog. I have a post due up tomorrow with some recent highlights from her reading journey. Her latest set of library books included many of the usual suspects: The Berenstain Bears, Splat the Cat, Arthur, Carl (from Good Dog, Carl), Little Critter, Max and Ruby, and Elephant & Piggie. But she picked out a few new picture books, too. 

What are you and your family reading these days? Thanks for reading the newsletter, and for growing bookworms. 

© 2014 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved. You can also follow me @JensBookPage or at my Growing Bookworms page on Facebook. 

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My three year old is getting excited for Valentine's Day. It is, after all, the next holiday coming up. And there will be chocolate involved. But in truth, much of her excitement was sparked by a box of Valentine's Day-themed picture books and early readers that Harper Collins sent us last week. They're not all my personal cup of hot chocolate, but my child is thrilled. 

Far and away the most exciting of the books for her is Pete the Cat: Valentine's Day is Cool, by Kimberly and James Dean. In this story, Pete initially thinks that Valentine's Day isn't "cool." However, encouraged by his friend Callie, he gets on board with using valentines to tell people how special they are. By the end of the book he's making valentines for the school bus driver and other people he encounters throughout his day. Pretty classic Pete the Cat storyline, all in all. But there is a pull-out poster, as well as stickers, and a set of tear-out valentine cards. This turned out to not be a great bedtime book, because my daughter was so excited by all of this. She just came in to my office needing help finding the cards, which I imagine she wants to give to her friends. I do like the "show people you appreciate them" message, delivered in a light-hearted fashion. 

My daughter also enjoyed Foxy in Love by Emma Dodd. We have not read Foxy, for which this book is a sequel. But the premise comes across fairly quickly. Foxy is a fox who can conjure things with a wave of his magical tail, though he doesn't always quite understand what his friend, a girl named Emily, wants from him. In Foxy in Love, Foxy comes across Emily as she is working on a valentine. He suggests that she draw what she loves in the card, hoping that she'll draw him. But instead, she focuses on things like balloons and rainbows. Not until the end of the book does Foxy finally tell Emily that "Valentine's Day is not about what you love... It's about who you love." Of course it all ends happily. Foxy's longing to be loved actually comes across in relatively subtle fashion throughout the book, and there is plenty of humor as he tries, with mixed results, to conjure the things that Emily wants (not tarts, hearts!). I think we'll keep this one in our arsenal. 

The first book that my daughter actually picked up from this box was Little Critter: Just A Little Love, an I Can Read book by Mercer Mayer. She adores Little Critter, and I've come to appreciate the humor in the differences between what he says is happening and what the pictures show. The expressions on the faces of the characters, particularly Mom and Dad, are often priceless (as when Dad looks rueful after Little Critter causes a flood in a gas station restroom). Just A Little Love is not actually a Valentine's Day book at all, though it certainly works for the season. Rather, the family members (pets included) have a series of mishaps as they set out to visit Grandma, who isn't feeling well. Each time someone ends up unhappy, someone else "gives him (or her) a little love." There's not enough of a storyline for this one to end up a favorite for us, I don't think, but one can't really argue with a book that makes us laugh, and in which family members console one another. 

It's Valentine's Day by Jack Prelutsky & Marylin Hafner is a level 3 I Can Read! book, full of love-themed poems. It's fairly text-dense, with a small illustration or two on each page. My daughter lost interest after the second poem. It's more a book for elementary school kids than preschoolers, it seems. But I thought that the poems, on subjects like how pets respond to receiving valentines, and how a child might be tempted to eat all of the chocolates that he bought for his mother, were clever and funny. This is a nice introduction to poetry for new readers, with colorful illustrations to make the book more accessible.

Love Is Real by Janet Lawler & Anna Brown is a picture book for the youngest listeners about all of the little things that people (well, animals doing human-type things) do that show their love for one another. Like this: "Love awakes... and helps you dress. Love will clean up any mess." These sentences are accompanied by three different images, each showing a different kind of animal parent helping his or her child (bunny, bear, fox). The same three families are followed throughout the book. The children sometimes are the ones who do things that express love. For us, this book skewed a bit young / sentimental. But the digital collage illustrations are fun. 

Finally, we read Tulip Loves Rex by Alyssa Satin Capucilli & Sarah Massini. Tulip Loves Rex is a picture book about a little girl who loves dancing, and dances everywhere, but has one unfulfilled wish. One day in the park she encounters a dog who, miraculously, loves to dance, too. And it turns out that this perfect-for-Tulip dog needs a home. I quite liked Massini's breezy illustrations, and I liked Tulip as a character, but the convenience of the ending felt a little flat for me. The parents "didn't mind a bit" bringing home a large stray dog from the park? Really? Perhaps I just don't want my daughter to get any ideas... 

All in all, though, these books are a welcome addition to our February reading.  Wishing you a happy run-up to Valentine's Day (or Balentine's Day, as it's called around here). 

© 2014 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved. You can also follow me @JensBookPage or at my Growing Bookworms page on Facebook. This site is an Amazon affiliate. 

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Today I will be sending out a new issue of the Growing Bookworms email newsletter. (If you would like to subscribe, you can find a sign-up form here.) The Growing Bookworms newsletter contains content from my blog focused on children's and young adult books and raising readers. I currently send out the newsletter once every two weeks.

Awards Update: In case you missed it, the ALA Youth Media Awards were announced on Monday morning. You can find the complete list of 2014 winners here. A few highlights:

• Newbery: Flora & Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo & K. G. Campbell
• Caldecott: Locomotive by Brian Floca
• Printz: Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgewick
• ... and lots more. Congratulations to all of the authors and publishers honored this year. There seems to be fairly widespread satisfaction with this year's selections. 

Newsletter Update: In this issue I have four book reviews (picture book through middle grade / middle school). I also have a post about a recent experience that I had that validates the importance of keeping books nearby, and one with a few recent highlights from my daughter's read-aloud journey. I have two posts with links that I shared on Twitter recently, both chock full of book lists and literacy links. 

Reading Update: In the last two weeks I read 3 middle grade, 3 YA, and 2 adult titles. I read:

• Matthew Kirby: The Quantum League #1: Spell Robbers. Scholastic Press. Middle Grade/Middle School. Completed January 17, 2014. My review.
• Laurel Snyder: Bigger than a Bread Box. Yearling. Middle Grade. Completed January 18, 2014. My review.
• Ari Goelman: The Path of Names. Arthur A. Levine Books (Scholastic). Middle Grade/Middle School. Completed January 23, 2014. Review to come.
• Marie Lu: Champion (A Legend Novel). Putnam Juvenile. Young Adult Fiction. Completed January 15, 2014, on Kindle. I found this a satisfying conclusion to the series, but I don't feel compelled to review it. 
• Hollis Gillespie: Unaccompanied Minor. Merit Press. Young Adult Fiction. Completed January 22, 2014, on Kindle. I read this after reading a recommendation from Leila at Bookshelves of Doom. She said that she was too sick to read, but this book held her interest. I read it while exercising, and it kept my interest, too. The writing style took a bit of getting used to (the story is told in the form of a debrief between the main character and the authorities after an incident involving a plane hijacking and a bomb), and there's a bit more detail about the things that can go wrong on board airplanes than I personally needed. It's also relatively violent, with several deaths. Despite all that, it worked for me as escapist fare.
• Rohan Gavin: Knightley & Son. Bloomsbury USA. Middle School. Completed January 27, 2014. Review to come.
• Michael Connelly: The Gods of Guilt. Little, Brown and Company. Adult Mystery. Completed January 19, 2014, on MP3. Like all of Connelley's books, this one was well-done. But I've concluded that I really don't enjoy courtroom dramas, and this one has more court time than I personally prefer (especially in an audio, where one can't skim). 
• Salman Kahn: The One World Schoolhouse. Twelve. Adult Nonfiction. Completed January 20, 2014. I found this book about "the flipped classroom" by the founder of the Kahn Academy fascinating (though I have no plans for changing my daughter's educational experience.) Have any of you read this one?

I'm currently reading Q is for Quarry by Sue Grafton (a Kindle library book for while I'm exercising), and Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy by Karen Foxlee. I'm listening to the fourth book in Maryrose Wood's Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place series, The Interrupted Tale. I think that the Incorrigible Children books are pure genius. 

Baby Bookworm has been snagging reading time whenever she can lately. While she's eating, while she's brushing her teeth, etc. You can check out the complete list of books we've read to her so far this year on my blog. Her taste doesn't always agree with mine, but it is a lot of fun to watch her developing her own personal preferences. 

What are you and your family reading these days? Thanks for reading the newsletter, and for growing bookworms. 

© 2014 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved. You can also follow me @JensBookPage or at my Growing Bookworms page on Facebook. 

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We haven't had anything that I would quite call a milestone of late in my three-year-old daughter's journey towards literacy. But we have had some fun moments:

Last night my daughter asked me why she doesn't have a bubble over her head when she thinks. I must attribute this to seeing bubbles over people's heads in picture books. She's also still working to understand why she can see the people in books and movies, but they can't see her. 

This weekend my husband was reading to her in bed. I was down in the kitchen. I could just hear the murmur of his voice. Every couple of minutes I would hear my daughter, much louder, chime in with "there was the mouse!". Yes, they were reading A Visitor for Bear by Bonny Becker & Kady MacDonald Denton. When I reviewed this book back in 2008, I enthused about it's read-aloud potential, and the fact that "I (couldn't) read the book without saying that phrase out loud." To have my initial reaction validated six years later by my own delighted three-year-old is ... satisfying, to say the least. This book remains one of my favorite read-alouds.

She was admittedly in a silly mood last night, but she was positively hysterical with laughter over The Chicken Problem by Jennifer Oxley and Billy Aronson (review here). Also, to a slightly lesser extent, Jeff Mack's Ah Ha! While these may not, in retrospect, have been good choices for bedtime books, I love it when she gets the humor in books. 

We also read Extra Yarn, by Mac Barnett & Jon Klassen last night (and this morning). I've always respected what Barnett was trying to do with this book, and I do love Klassen's illustrations. But I never loved Extra Yarn for some reason (though many people, including last year's Caldecott committee, do). But I have to say that my daughter was rapt, and asked again for "the yarn book" first thing this morning. She loved the magic of the yarn box that never emptied, and she liked predicting what would qualify for a new sweater next. She noticed things in the illustrations that I had missed (or not remembered, anyway). I still don't adore this book myself, but I love that my three-year-old has her own opinions. 

That's all for now. What moments have you been enjoying on your family's read-aloud journey?

© 2014 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved. You can also follow me @JensBookPage or at my Growing Bookworms page on Facebook. 

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We are usually in a bit of a rush on the mornings that my daughter goes to preschool. While she is eating breakfast, I am running around getting her schoolbag ready, putting things in the dishwasher, etc. But this morning, I happened to have a stack of picture books on the kitchen table. I've been logging the books that we read aloud since the beginning of the year, and I hadn't had a chance to enter last night's stack yet (I enter them into a sidebar list using my phone, and then copy them over periodically into a regular page).

Thus, a stack of five books was sitting on the table. My eagle-eyed daughter spotted them, and asked me to read to her while she was eating breakfast. I said: "Just one. I have to get dressed." She picked the most text-dense one (A Baby Elephant in the Wild by Caitlin O'Connell & Timothy Rodwell, upcoming from @HMHBooks). 

After we finished that one, she managed to finagle two more books out of me: Where's Walrus by Stephen Savage and A Home for Bird by Philip C. Stead. We ended up being about 15 minutes later for school than I might have hoped.

But, being the aspiring mother of a young bookworm, I thought to myself, "Hmmm, guess I should keep a bigger stack on the table for days when we don't have to rush off to school." It's not like I haven't seen this recommendation in lots of places ("keep books in the kitchen"). It's not like I've never read to my daughter during meals. We just haven't made it a habit. (Truth: I am addicted to reading the paper.)

But this morning's performance really drove this point home for me. Breakfast is an opportunity for squeezing in some extra reading time. It's a chance to listen again to the book that she fell asleep to last night. It feels like a special treat.

As a side benefit, my daughter ate a better breakfast than she usually does, because she was trying to show me that she wasn't finished eating, so I would keep reading. 

All in all, further evidence that if you keep books handy, everywhere, you are bound to end up reading more. 

© 2014 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved. You can also follow me @JensBookPage or at my Growing Bookworms page on Facebook. This site is an Amazon affiliate. 

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Today I will be sending out a new issue of the Growing Bookworms email newsletter. (If you would like to subscribe, you can find a sign-up form here.) The Growing Bookworms newsletter contains content from my blog focused on children's and young adult books and raising readers. I currently send out the newsletter once every two weeks.

Newsletter Update: In this issue I have three middle grade and young adult book reviews. I also have a list of the books my family received for Christmas, another little literacy milestone from my daughter, and a post about the upcoming International Book Giving Day. I have two posts with links that I shared on Twitter recently. Not included in the newsletter this time around I published:

• A news release from Scholastic about January being Book Fit Month. 
  
• A post about WordGirl's Word of the Month for January: Resolution.
• An Infographic that Sarah Stevenson created based on our KidLitCon session this fall about fighting blog burnout. 

Reading Update: In the last two weeks I read seven early reader to middle grade titles and two young adult titles. (I'm including early readers here that I read by myself for potential review, but not every early reader that I read to my daughter.) I was on a bit of a middle grade graphic novel binge. I read:

• Cynthia Lord: Half A Chance. Scholastic. Middle Grade. Completed January 4, 2013. Review to come. 
• Charise Mericle Harper: Bean Dog and Nugget: The Ball and Bean Dog and Nugget: The Cookie. Early Reader Graphic Novels. Knopf Books for Young Readers. Completed January 10, 2014. I found these vaguely reminiscent of the Elephant and Piggie books (two friends interacting, sparse backgrounds, aimed at new readers), but I just didn't warm to the characters in the same way. My daughter seems rather luke-warm on these, too. 
• Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm: Babymouse #1: Queen of the World. Middle Grade Graphic Novel. Knopf Books for Young Readers. Completed January 10, 2014. This was a re-read of the first title in the Babymouse series. Though I enjoyed it (I love Babymouse), it also struck me how much the series has improved over 17 books. The newer titles are just ... sharper. More witty. But I will still look forward to sharing this title with my daughter in a few years. 
• Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm: Squish #5: Game On! Middle Grade Graphic Novel. Knopf Books for Young Readers. Completed January 10, 2014. This installment of the very fun Squish! series deals with video game addiction. I liked the Squish! figured out his problem on his own, and faced consequences. And I loved that he and his dad went to a comics show at the end, where they were able to meet the Babymouse creators. I love inside jokes like that. 
• Jarrett J. Krosoczka: Lunch Lady and the Schoolwide Scuffle (#10). Middle Grade Graphic Novel. Knopf Books for Young Readers. Completed January 12, 2014. It makes me so sad that this is the final installment of the Lunch Lady series. But I thought that Krosoczka did a great job of wrapping things up, bringing back in several former foes of the Breakfast Bunch, giving the kids a chance to emerge as leaders, and even giving Lunch Lady a potential love interest (with one of my favorite series characters). This one will be released on January 28th. 
• Kurtis Scaletta: Winter of the Robots. Middle Grade Fiction. Knopf Books for Young Readers. Completed January 13, 2014. Review to come.
• A. S. King: Reality Boy. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. Young Adult. Completed January 7, 2014. My review.
• Rainbow Rowell: Eleanor and Park. St. Martin's Griffin (Macmillan). Young Adult Fiction. Completed January 8, 2014. Not reviewed, because this book has already received so very much positive attention. But I did enjoy it, and highly recommend it to fans of YA romance, especially those who were in high school in the 80s. 

I'm currently reading Champion, the final book in Marie Lu's Legend series, and Spell Robbers, the first book in Matthew J. Kirby's Quantum League series. I'm listening to The Gods of Guilt by Michael Connelly.

Baby Bookworm was in a bit of a reading slump until I took her to the library last Saturday. We brought home 33 books (all for her, most picked out by her), and read nearly all of them that day. This seems to have rekindled her general interest in reading, too, because we read quite a number of non-library books the next day. You can check out the complete list of books we've read to her so far this year on my blog.

Babt Bookworm's favorite standalone title right now is Arlene Mosel's Tikki Tikki Tembo. I'm proud to report that she can recite Tikki Tikki Tembo's full name, and delights in shouting it out. She still loves series books about Mercer Mayer's Little Critter, Marc Brown's Arthur, and Rosemary Wells' Max and Ruby. I'm also introducing her to Frog and Toad and Little Bear. I will report back. 

What are you and your family reading these days? Thanks for reading the newsletter, and for growing bookworms. 

© 2014 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved. You can also follow me @JensBookPage or at my Growing Bookworms page on Facebook. 

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My daughter received quite a number of books for Christmas. I must confess to having purchased quite a few of them myself. Here is the full stack:

And here they are listed, with comments (and links):

Jules Feiffer: Bark, George. A friend on Facebook recommended this one back in October, when I was looking for books to read aloud to a mixed age group of preschoolers. I didn't end up using it for that, but I ordered it, and saved it to be a Christmas present. Baby Bookworm think it is hilarious. 

Mo Willems: That Is Not a Good Idea! OK, the truth of the matter is that I coveted this book for months, and used Christmas as an excuse to buy it for my daughter. I'm happy to report that she enjoys it, though I don't think she 100% understands the trick that the author pulls on the reader. But she will!

Beverly Cleary: The Complete Ramona Collection. This was a gift from Baby Bookworm's godparents. It was on our Amazon wish list because I look forward to reading it to my daughter when she's just a little bit older. And I wanted to have the books here, ready, when we are. Thanks, G&G!

Charles M. Schulz: Peanuts: A Charlie Brown Christmas. My husband picked this one up. The television special is one of his favorites. He also got the Record a Story: 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, but that book is just annoying (it makes noise every time you touch it, and we couldn't figure out how to actually record). 

Eileen Rosenthal & Marc Rosenthal: Bobo the Sailor Man! We loved the first two Bobo books (my reviews of I MUST Have Bobo! and I'll Save You Bobo!). I happened to learn right before Christmas that there was a third book out, and couldn't resist. 

Deborah Hautzig & Diane Goode: The Story of the Nutcracker Ballet. My husband and I spent some time in a bookstore between a Nutcracker show and dinner reservations. I decided to bring this back for our daughter (who isn't quite old enough to sit through the show - maybe next year). 

On the same bookstore visit, I picked up Rosie Revere, Engineer, by Andrea Beaty & David Roberts (reviewed here), and Toys Go Out by Emily Jenkins & Paul Zelinsky. This is what happens to me when I go to bookstores. I had a copy of Toys Come Home, and it seemed like we would eventually want to start reading this series from the beginning. I gave Toys Go Out a try with my daughter the other night, but the lack of pictures on the first two pages put her off. "Maybe later."

Cynthia Rylant: Mr. Putter and Tabby Bake the Cake. My dear friend's daughter loved this series when she was younger, so they picked out this one for Baby Bookworm. I suspect it will be the start of an appreciation of this series in our house, too. They also sent Caroline Repchuk's My Little Supermarket, which is very fun, and The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt & Oliver Jeffers, which was on our wish list. Thanks, my friends! 

I also gave my daughter several books that I had ordered from Scholastic Reading Club. In truth, I probably would have given them to her anyway, so they were a bit of a cheat as Christmas presents. But that's how I roll this time of year. And actually, one of them, a set of three Elephant & Piggie books by Mo Willems in paperback editions, was the (book) hit of Christmas day. We had to stop opening presents and read all three immediately (I Love My New Toy, There Is A Bird on Your Head, and My Friend Is Sad). The other, Dav Pilkey's A Friend for Dragon, we haven't read yet, for some reason.

I think that's it for her pile, not including sticker books and workbooks and the like. I also received Rainbow Rowell's Eleanor and Park (from the same friend who I sent a copy to, in a delightful coincidence) and The Essential Scratch and Sniff Guide to Becoming a Wine Expert: Take a Whiff of That by Richard Betts. A copy of Cynthia Lord's Half a Chance arrived on my doorstop from Scholastic on Christmas Eve, and that felt like a Christmas present, too. My husband received a Boston Red Sox Stocking Stumpers book.

We naturally gave away quite a few books as gifts, too. But I'll have to share those another day. Did the holiday season bring new books to your house, too? Wishing you plenty of time for reading in the New Year. 

© 2013 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved. You can also follow me @JensBookPage or at my Growing Bookworms page on Facebook. This site is an Amazon affiliate. 

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My daughter slept late this morning (the last day of vacation). Before she got up, I heard her talking quietly to herself in her room. I peeked in, and found her lying in bed, "reading" Rob Scotton's Secret Agent Splat! to herself.

I was glad to have seen this, but I regretted having interrupted, because as soon as she saw me she put the book aside. It was like I had caught her doing something that she wasn't ready to reveal.

There was no time for me to even snap a photo. But in my mind, I have a lovely picture of my Baby Bookworm, lying in bed on a lazy Sunday morning, entertaining herself with a picture book. The beginning of wonderful days to come, I hope.

© 2013 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved. You can also follow me @JensBookPage or at my Growing Bookworms page on Facebook. This site is an Amazon affiliate.  

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My husband and I watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas (original Boris Karloff animated version) with our three year old daughter last week. She was utterly enchanted. Of course I made sure to tell her that the story was originally from a book by Dr. Seuss. But for some reason, we didn't have a copy of the book. I made a mental note to rectify the situation, but then it slipped through the cracks.

Imagine my pleasure, then, when a copy of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, the book, showed up on my doorstep yesterday, sent by the folks at Random House. As soon as my daughter saw it, she insisted that I put aside my work to read it to her (despite a babysitter also being present). I was, naturally, unable to resist.

This was my first read-aloud of the book ... perhaps ever. But the lines trip off the tongue, familiar after more years than I care to admit of watching the TV/video/DVD version. And in truth, they would trip off the tongue anyway, because How the Grinch Stole Christmas is Dr. Seuss at his best. The movie isn't 100% true to book, but close enough. Sitting, reading this book to my daughter for the first time is destined to be one of my favorite memories from the 2013 holiday season. 

I can't imagine that Random House is looking for reviews of a 56 year old classic. But they are trying to spread the word about a new campaign to "extend the Grinch's heartwarming message into an annual tradition of good-deed-doing and giving back to the community with 25 Days of Grinch-mas." Here's a bit from the website:

"Grinch-mas is a new holiday tradition inspired by Dr. Seuss’s classic How the Grinch Stole Christmas! that encourages readers to “grow your heart three sizes” through the celebration of family reading, giving from the heart and community spirit. National Grinch Day, on December 1, will kick start the 25 Days of Grinch-mas. During this time, bookstores and local retailers all over the country will be hosting Grinch-mas events that will incorporate holiday story times for families and opportunities for kids to win special prizes for giving back to their communities by doing good deeds throughout the month of December."

The website features kid-accessible Daily Good Deed suggestions, like: "Make someone laugh." There are also printables and activities and the like, If you have kids who are fans of the book or the movie, it certainly couldn't hurt to use 25 Days of Grinch-mas as a springboard for fun and the spreading of good cheer. 

I think it's safe to say that I'll be reading How the Grinch Stole Christmas quite a lot in the coming days. 

© 2013 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved. You can also follow me @JensBookPage or at my Growing Bookworms page on Facebook. This site is an Amazon affiliate. 

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I wouldn't call this one a milestone, but my daughter and I came up with a little literacy-themed game earlier this week. I was working on the computer in my office. My daughter came in, climbed up into my lap, and asked if she could "use the letters" on the computer. So I opened up a notepad application, and she started typing words.

She would suggest a word (generally the name of someone important in her life), I would tell her how to spell it, and she would find and press each letter on the keyboard. She was able to type "Mom" (see previous post) and her own name without any spelling help, though she required a bit of help in finding the letters. Where possible, I would sound out the word, and let her figure out what the corresponding letter. Had it not been bath time, I think that this game could have continued for quite some time.

So we have:

1. Practice at spelling;
2. Practice at recognizing which letters go with certain sounds; 
3. Practive at memorization, as she worked to remember where each letter was located on the keyboard (something that is hardly intuitive); and
4. Fun with Mom.

Item #3 is extra-challenging on my computer, because some of the letters have been worn off due to repeated use (the "n" is completely gone, presumably because I have several in my name). 

It's not that I'm eager to have my child spending more time on electronic devices. But it does please me that she enjoys making words, whatever the format. And the seek/find/remember aspects of doing this on the keyboard are a learning bonus. I won't be pushing this activity, but I will be receptive to it when she asks for it. Because really, work can usually wait a few more minutes... 

© 2013 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved. You can also follow me @JensBookPage or at my Growing Bookworms page on Facebook. This site is an Amazon affiliate. 

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My daughter had what I thought was a tiny literacy milestone last night. She picked up the Berenstains' B Book, a "Bright & Early Book" that came to us as a hand-me-down. She flipped through it herself, and then asked me to read it. It's basicially a bunch of words and cumulative rhymes in which all of the words start with "B". In truth, it's the sort of book over which a sleep-deprived parent will find herself nodding.  

Anyway, we got to the end of the book and Baby Bookworm said: "Let's read another book. That one didn't have much story" (or something to that effect). This is the first time I've seen her consciously aware of whether a book contained a story, or just other things (vocabulary, pictures, etc.). 

And so we picked up another book. Because I am one to reward the search for story. Not to say that we won't seek out nonfiction in the future (there's a certain Pinkalicious Cupcake Book that my daughter is fascinated by). And of course much nonfiction does have story, in spades. The point is that I think it's important to be able recognize what is and isn't a story. Seeking out more personally satisfying stories is certainly a development along the path to becoming a reader. 

We also watched the movie Wall-E this weekend, my daughter's first viewing. I was pleased to note that she had no problem staying engaged during that first part of the movie, when essentially no dialog takes place. She needed us to explain what was happening, but she didn't need the movie itself to have words. I doubt she would have stayed still if there hadn't been a good story, though. 

© 2013 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved. You can also follow me @JensBookPage or at my Growing Bookworms page on Facebook. This site is an Amazon affiliate. 

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• My First Group Read-Aloud
• Also Known As: Robin Benway

I shared a while back the fact that my daughter and I were dabbling with chapter books, as an adjunct to a read-aloud diet consisting mainly of picture books. I'm pleased to report that this week we finished our very first early chapter book. I had read a few middle grade titles to her when she was a baby (The Secret Garden, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, The Penderwicks, the complete Winnie the Pooh), but it's not like my daughter was following the plots or anything at that point. We'd also read (and re-read) quite a few easy readers (mostly series titles featuring characters she is already familiar with). But this is the first longer book that she listened to, cover to cover.  

On the recommendation of Jim Trelease in The Read-Aloud Handbook, I ordered a copy of Two Times the Fun by Beverly Cleary. Two Times the Fun is a 96 page book, aimed at a reading audience of 6 to 9 years old (probably more on the earlier end of that). I found it perfect for my 3 1/2 year old listener. Two Times the Fun is about preschool-age twins, Jimmy and Janet and the ordinary events of early childhood. Jimmy digs a big hole, Jimmy and Janet go to the shoe store, that sort of thing.  

I think the key to this book was that my daughter could relate to the twins' experiences. This enabled her to listen, even though we would sometimes go a couple of page spreads without seeing a single illustration. In fact, she ended up not paying particularly close attention to the illustrations at all. She moved around her room instead. But she kept listening. 

Two Times the Fun consists of four independent chapters (basically short stories). We read the first two chapters in one sitting, and the next two chapters in two separate sittings, over about a four day total time period. She remembered details between readings, like who Mr. Lemon was (the highly affable mailman). And she loved it when I would point out similarities between the characters in the book and herself ("Do you know anyone who likes to pretend like Janet does?" "Me!"). 

I liked that Two Times the Fun wasn't message-y. It's classic Beverly Cleary, albeit for the youngest of readers, with regular kids doing regular things. There wasn't much vocabulary that I had to define for my daughter. A few times I started to explain what an expression meant, but found that "Mother" was explaining that to the twins on the next page, anyway. All in all, Two Times the Fun was a just-right fit for us. I only wish that there were more books about Jimmy and Janet. 

Incidentally, I've started a page, as well as a sidebar list, to keep track of chapter books that we finish. Right now the list numbers 1. But we're off to a great start! I'll keep you posted. 

© 2013 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved. You can also follow me @JensBookPage or at my Growing Bookworms page on Facebook. This site is an Amazon affiliate. 

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Today I will be sending out the new issue of the Growing Bookworms email newsletter. (If you would like to subscribe, you can find a sign-up form here.) The Growing Bookworms newsletter contains content from my blog focused on children's and young adult books and raising readers. There are 1756 subscribers. I send out the newsletter once every two weeks. 

Newsletter Update: In this issue I have five book reviews (three picture books, one young adult title, and one adult nonfiction title). I also have a list of Halloween-themed picture books (with mini-reviews), a list of recent literacy moments shared with my daughter, and a post outlining actions I'm going to take after reading the new edition of The Read-Aloud Handbook. I also have two posts with literacy-themed links that I shared on Twitter recently. 

Other recent posts not included in the newsletter this time around are:

• A post about the deadline for Cybils nominations and hotel discounts at KidLitCon (with some updated information about the Nov. 8-9 conference).  
• The announcement of the keynote speaker for KidLitCon (Cynthia Leitich Smith). 
• A news release about McDonald's planning to distribute books in Happy Meals next month (with some reservations about the books selected). 
• A few quotes from a fabulous article by Neil Gaiman in The Guardian about the importance of reading for pleasure, libraries, and daydreaming. I highly recommend that you all read it. 

Reading Update: In the last 2 weeks I read one young adult fiction and two adult nonfiction titles. I read:

• Maggie Stiefvater: The Dream Thieves (The Raven Boys, Book 2). Scholastic. Young Adult Fiction. Completed October 15, 2013. I love Stiefvater's writing and characters. And yet ... it took me a long time to get through this one. Savoring it, or is there a bit of a second-book-in-a-trilogy plot slump? I'm not sure. Perhaps a bit of both. But I'll still read anything that Stiefvater writes, any day. 
• Madeline Levine: The Price of Privilege: How Parental Pressure and Material Advantage Are Creating a Generation of Disconnected and Unhappy Kids. Harper Perennial. Adult Nonfiction. Completed October 7, 2013. This is an interesting cautionary tale about how some of of the most privileged kids (defined in the book as those in the top 25% of family income) are being damaged by lack of accountability, pressure to achieve particular goals (rather than focus on level of effort), and relentless praise aimed at increasing self-esteem. Not upbeat, but I'm glad that I read it. 
• Jim Trelease: The Read-Aloud Handbook: 7th Edition. Penguin. Adult Nonfiction. Completed October 9, 2013. Reviewed here (though admittedly more of a recommendation and extended series of quotes than a formal review). 

I'm currently listening to The House of Hades by Rick Riordan. For what it's worth, I abandoned my listen of The Planet Thieves by Dan Krokos. I had hopes for this middle grade science fiction title (set on a spaceship), and I think I would have gotten through the print edition, but with the slower pace of audio I found this story too predictable. I'm currently reading Hero Worship by Christopher E. Long.   

Baby Bookworm is still requesting many read-alouds each day. The other night she fell asleep immediately after some friends left. In the morning, the first thing I heard was her calling out to me, urgently:

"Mom! We didn't read any books last night!"

We had to read 5 books before breakfast. Crisis averted. Her current favorite is The Really, Really, Really Big Dinosaur by Richard Byrne from Tiger Tales. We also spent some time yesterday picking baby books to set aside to give to a lovely cousin of my husband's who is expecting. It must be admitted that my child will choose to keep books under the slightest pretext ("they play hide and seek in that one. I like hide and seek"), even if she hasn't looked at them in years. Still, we did come up with a box of titles that we undeniably "baby books" to pass along. 

How about you? What have you and your kids been reading and enjoying? Thanks for reading the newsletter, and for growing bookworms. 

© 2013 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved. You can also follow me @JensBookPage or at my Growing Bookworms page on Facebook. 

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I've been sharing occasional milestones on my three-year-old daughter's path to literacy. Today I have a few tidbits - not quite full-fledged milestones, but recent moments that have brought me joy. I thought that some of you might appreciate them. 

• Pretending to play in the attic, when we have no attic, because that's what the Berenstain Bears do in the The Berenstain Bears and the Nutcracker. 
• Suggesting that we read the "really funny" new book that we got from Scholastic Book Club (I'm Not Ready by Jonathan Allen), because a friend of ours had read it to her, and she knew that I hadn't read it yet. 
• Initiating a spontaneous acting out of I'm Bored by Michael Ian Black and Debbie Ridpath Ohi. I was the bored potato, while Baby Bookworm acted out many of the neat things kids can do. What was surprising to me was that we returned this book to the library at least a month ago. 
• Interrupting my work day with a book in hand and asking, softly, "Would you please read this book to me?" (Who can resist that, I ask you?)
• Making me recite "Peter Piper" over and over and over again, thanks to Hey, Diddle, Diddle, a nursery rhyme book from Tiger Tales, and planning to teach it to her friends. 
• Requesting "a longer book" when we were reading picture books together the other night. (Fortunately I just ordered The Big Alfie and Annie Rose Storybook, at the recommendation of The Read-Aloud Handbook.)
• Recognizing Trixie on the cover of Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs by Mo Willems, and insisting that I refer to her as Trixie instead of Goldilocks throughout reading the book aloud. She is loyal to characters she loves. 
• And in general, seizing new books as soon as they arrive, if they appear to be remotely in her age range, and demanding "Read it now!". This is particularly true of her best-loved series titles. Currently these are The Berenstain Bears, the Little Critter books, Fancy Nancy, and Curious George. Today she also had to sit down immediately, before eating lunch, to read the new books that we picked up at her school's Scholastic Book Fair (and which I had let her choose, with only a tiny bit of guidance). 

Less joyful for me was when she interrupted my watching of the Red Sox in a pivotal playoff game the other night and said "Baseball is just boring. Read this book to me." Just kidding - in the big picture, that one is ok, too. For the record, I set the game to record, and turned off the TV. (But it was difficult.)

These moments make me happy because they make me feel like I'm having success in my quest to raise her as a child who loves books. I know that there's a long path ahead of us, with the demands of electronic devices, the pressure of assigned school reading, and other obstacles along the way. And I am aware that sometimes she's using my own love of books as a way to get my attention (clever little manipulator that she is). Still, right now, at 3 1/2, it's safe to say that she loves books. And that's something to celebrate. Do you have moments like these that you'd like to share, too?

© 2013 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved. You can also follow me @JensBookPage or at my Growing Bookworms page on Facebook. This site is an Amazon affiliate. 

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The Guardian recently reported, in an article by Liz Bury, on a study that found that "only 13% of parents read to their kids at night every day of the week." The title of the article is:

"Children's bedtime stories on the wane, according to survey"

It's a brief article, but says:

"A poll of 2,000 mothers with children aged 0-7 years, carried out by the clothing and homeware retailer Littlewoods, highlighted the extent of the change. Only 64% of respondents said they read their children bedtime stories, even though 91% were themselves read bedtime stories when young."

Participants said things like that they were too stressed, or didn't have time to read to their kids before bed, even though they think it's important. This part is sad: "Only 13% of respondents read a story to their children every night, but 75% recall being read to every night when they were kids."

I shared this link on my Facebook page with a sigh, and my friend Jennifer remarked that she would have to answer no to the question, because she tends to read to her kids at other times, rather than at bedtime. Which got me thinking that perhaps this survey wasn't really asking the right question. (To be fair, the survey was focused on whether bedtime reading was on the decline, more so than bigger picture questions. So it was the right question for them, but not for me.)

I've been helping the organization Read Aloud to spread their message, which is: Read Aloud for 15 Minutes. Every Child. Every Parent. Every Day. This is delightfully concrete, and I've been happy to share it. But I still see people saying: "But I want to read for more than 15 minutes." Or, "I can't read every day." 

To me, the right message is something like:

Read aloud to your child whenever you can, as often as you can, for as long as you can.

For many families, bedtime is the easiest time for reading aloud, because you have a routine in place, and it's relatively straightforward to make reading aloud part of that. This is great when it works. But if you can’t read at night without falling asleep after 5 minutes, or you have different kids of different ages, and you're working on the older kids' homework, and you just can’t fit the reading in then, ok. Find another time.

It doesn’t matter if you read in the morning before breakfast, or after lunch during quiet time, or before bed. It matters that you:

• Always have books around that you can read to your child, whether they are your family’s own books or library books.
• Try to say yes when your child asks you to read aloud.
• Make reading part of your daily routine, no matter how busy that routine is, by fitting it in somewhere.
• Keep reading together fun!
• Keep reading aloud to your child even after your child can read to herself, for as long as she will let you.

These are the important things. These are things that you can do as a parent that will make a difference in your child’s happiness now, and future success later.

In my house, I tend to let read aloud time be dictated by what my daughter requests. Sometimes she wants to read a couple of books before even heading down for breakfast. Often she asks her babysitter to read to her after lunch, in the time period that she used to nap. If a new picture book arrives in the mail, she’ll usually want to read it right then. Same for times when she arrives home from the library with new books. I can't always say yes to reading at any particular minute, but I try to say yes as frequently as possible. 

We do usually read to her at bedtime. Mostly my husband does the nighttime reading these days, because my daughter in a major “daddy phase.” I’ll often sit nearby and read my own books, so we’re still together. But sometimes she falls asleep on her own before we get to the bedtime reading, and, well, there isn’t any. Especially if we’re out somewhere, and she falls asleep on the way home (sound familiar, anyone?). But most of the time, she’s been read to at some other point during the day. Some days she’s probably been read to at 5 or 6 points during the day. So I figure that what we’re doing is working for us, and I don’t get too hung up about the occasional missed night.

I know that I'm lucky because I work from home, and can sneak in extra reading time during the day. I'm lucky because I have other people who read to my daughter, too, and because I only have to worry about one child's schedule. I realize that it's going to get harder as my daughter gets older, and has homework and activities. But I'm going to try to keep this mantra in my head:

Read aloud to your child whenever you can, as often as you can, for as long as you can.

I'm going to try to seize, and appreciate, those moments, regardless of what time of day they occur. 

How about you? Does your family read before bed, or at other times, or both? 

 © 2013 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved. You can also follow me @JensBookPage or at my Growing Bookworms page on Facebook. 

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