Staggering Statistics on Reading Aloud to Your Child

According to the U.S. Department of Education, if you read to your child from infancy until age five for:

• 30 Minutes Daily=You will have read to your child for 900 hours!
• 30 Minutes Weekly=You will have read to your child for 130 hours!
• Less than 30 Minutes Weekly=You will have read your child for 60 hours!

It is no wonder that children who are read to consistently during their early childhood years are more successful students in school.

On Mother's Lap

I first read about On Mother's Lap in a parenting book, specifically as a good literature selection for preparing a child for the birth of a sibling. This book is simple, often repeating the refrain "back and forth", which young children love to chime in on as they read. On Mother's Lap is the story of an Inuit family by Ann Herbert Scott and illustrated by Glo Coalson. The story begins with Michael sitting on his mother's lap in a rocking chair. Michael decides his Eskimo dolly should join him on his mother's lap. After "dolly", a succession of other special items, such as a boat and a reindeer blanket, join Michael in his mother's loving arms. Then, his baby sister wakes up. At first, Michael says, "There isn't room, " for his baby sister on his mother's lap.

Mother calmly replies, "Let's see." In the end, Michael, all his special toys, and his baby sister all fit on Mother's lap.

Michael admits, "It feels good."

His mother whispers, "You know, it's a funny thing, but there is always room on Mother's lap."

After reading this book, be prepared for your children to want to test out this theory! This beautiful story helps older children realize they will not be replaced by a new baby in the family, and that parents have enough love for all. On Mother's Lap also provides parents with modeling on how to encourage sibling love and prevent rivalry from the beginning.

Ish

Editor's Note: This review was posted by a 6.5-year-old "Lillifeat".

Ish is the story of a boy who loves to draw. One day when he was drawing, his big brother leaned over his shoulder and said, "What in the world is that?" The little boy got upset, and he kept trying to make his drawings look right. They never did.

So finally, he put down his pencil. Then, his little sister came, and he snapped at her, "What do you want?"

She said, "I was watching you draw."

And he said, "But I am not drawing." Then she picked up a piece of crumpled paper and ran to her room. Her brother ran after her and said, "Come back with that!" Then, he saw the walls of her room. They were covered with crumpled pieces of paper that he had drawn pictures on.

One of them was suppose to be a vase, and his sister said, "It looks vase-ish." He felt better and let his imagination float. He kept drawing and drawing.

I like the part when he saw the walls on his sister's room, because he felt better. I don't like part when his brother made him feel bad by saying, "What in the world is that?" I think he is a good artist.

The Polar Express

I have always enjoyed the children's books by Chris Van Allsburg, so it is surprising that I have only discovered The Polar Express this year. Written from the perspective of a little boy who is questioning the Christmas legend, adult readers are reminded of their own experiences discovering that Santa Claus was not real. Yet, in this story, the boy is taught to believe.

The Polar Express begins with a little boy laying awake on Christmas Eve pondering what a friend told him about Santa, when a train pulls up in front of his house. He boards the train headed for the North Pole. Through cold, dark forests, over "mountains so high it seemed as if we would scrape the moon, and across the Great Polar Ice Cap", the train arrives for Santa to give out the first gift of Christmas. The little boy is chosen for this honor and

I knew that I could have any gift I could imagine. But the thing I wanted most for Christmas was not inside Santa's giant bag. What I wanted more than anything was one silver bell from Santa's sleigh.

I admire the little boy's restraint in chosing a gift. Unfortunately, he loses the bell to a hole in his robe's pocket. All is not lost though when on Christmas morning, he opens a gift from "C". It is the bell, but only those who truly believe in Christmas can hear it ring.

At one time most of my friends could hear the bell, but as years passed, it fell silent for all of them...Though I've grown old, the bell still rings for me as it does for all who truly believe.

A Hot Planet Needs Cool Kids

Just like The Down-to-Earth Guide to Global Warming, A Hot Planet Needs Cool Kids is a book explaining climate change and what children can do about it. It is exciting to see children's authors addressing the topic in an accessible, age-appropriate manner. It is also encouraging to see the information about climate change presented along with inspiration for change, hopefully preventing children from experiencing the environmental depression I sometimes feel.

One difference between these books is the publishers. The Down-to-Earth Guide to Global Warming is published by Scholastic, a major publisher of children's books whom I have criticized in the past. In contrast, A Hot Planet Needs Cool Kids is the first publication of the independent company Green Goat Books. According to Green Goat Books,

We strive through planet friendly, progressive, and challenging books to support the development of progressive kids, so that the next generation will be prepared and motivated to care for our planet and the many forms of life that live on it.

Green Goat Books' parent company is Progressive Kid, which defines a "progressive kid" as having these seven values:

1. Love and protect living things


2. Act on principle


3. Strive to be self-aware


4. Live healthfully


5. Honor difference


6. Challenge gender roles


7. Think creatively

These values also reflect my goals as a parent for my children. All of the products sold at Progressive Kid support these principles, including their very first publication of Green Goat Books, A Hot Planet Needs Cool Kids

There are many ideas in A Hot Planet Needs Cool Kids for school teachers and home school parents. For example, one action item is called, "Replace Fear with Solutions." I find this a refreshing perspective, given the fear mongering of our politicians and media. For this activity, the children are asked to write down five things that scare them about climate change and then brainstorm solutions. Children are also encouraged to share their thoughts with friends and families, as well as find out how that person feels about it. This is good advice for adults too! So here are five things (there are more!) that scare me about climate change:

1. It will become inhospitable where I live, where summertime temperatures can reach 100 degrees already.


2. We will run out of fresh water to drink and our creek will dry up, causing us to lose our off-the-grid power source.


3. We will be unable to grow enough food to support the global population.


4. The poor will suffer the most, creating a widening of the socioeconomic gap.


5. There will be mass extinctions of animal and plant life.

A Hot Planet Needs Cool Kids has been endorsed by one of my heroes Bill McKibben. He writes,

What's so dangerous about global warming is that it leaves many people feeling hopeless, as if nothing they could do would matter. This fine book makes it clear that that's not the case, and from changing light bulbs to changing laws it shows young people how they are able to help.

This book is recommended for children ages nine and up. I highly recommend it, as I feel it is important to support independent publishers that represent your values. Informing and empowering children is key to solving our current climate crisis.

Olivia...and the Missing Toy

I have to admit, I am an Olivia fan. There is something about this pugnacious pig full of personality that I enjoy, as well as the illustrations by Ian Falconer. In Olivia...and the Missing Toy, Olivia dares to be different by asking her mom to make her soccer uniform in a different color than her teammates...then she discovers, her best toy is missing! After searching everywhere and accusing her baby brother, who responds, "Wooshee gaga", she discovers her toy on a "dark and stormy night". At this point, the book introduces the right amount of scariness and suspense for young children, as well as Olivia's bravery. Olivia discovers her dog Perry chewed her beloved toy.

The only part of this book that I dislike is her father's response to the toy tragedy. Looking up from his newspaper, he responds, "Don't worry...Tomorrow we'll go get you the very best toy in the whole world."

Olivia replies, "Oh, thank you, Daddy. I love you more than anyone."

Every parent has been in the situation where they have just wanted to buy their way out of their children's sorrow, but I feel this teaches children the wrong way to solve problems. I also would be upset if my children expressed their love for someone over other family members just because they offered to buy them a toy. In the end, Olivia solves the problem in the best manner possible: She fixes her toy and forgives her dog (after reading only cat stories at bedtime).

I just love the photograph of Martha Graham hanging on the wall of Olivia's house!

Stellaluna

Stellaluna is the story of a fruit bat, who gets separated from her mother one night. She lands in a birds' nest, where she is adopted family and fed grasshoppers by Mama Bird.

Stellaluna learned to be like the birds. She stayed awake all day and slept all night. She ate bugs even though they tasted awful. Her bat ways were quickly disappearing. Except for one thing: Stellaluna still liked to sleep hanging by her feet.

When Stellaluna tries to teach the other baby birds to hang upside down, Mama Bird gets mad, so Stellaluna promises to act like a good bird. Stellaluna tries to learn to fly like the birds, but she is different, and she feels embarrassed by her clumsiness.

One night, Stellaluna gets lost from the birds and meets another bat. She learns that she is a bat, not a bird, and finds her mother. Her mother helps her learn to fly at night and eat fruit. She returns to the birds and brings them home with her to see how bats live. In the end, they recognize their differences. One of the birds asks, "How can we be so different and feel so much alike?" Stellaluna concludes, "But we're friends. And that's a fact."

This is a great book for teaching children about tolerance. Stellaluna and the birds serve as role models about how friendships can occur between different sorts of people, and that it is ok to have differences. I do not like Mama Bird's initial attitude towards Stellaluna's differences, but it serves as good reference for discussion with children about trying to change other people.

You Can Name 100 Trucks

That's right, You Can Name 100 Trucks if you read this book! My son was given this book by his Great Aunt Cheryl, who has raised three boys and knows what they like. She thought it would be good for our cross-country airplane ride, and boy, was she right. My three-year-old son adores this book, and we read it almost daily. In fact, he just chose it as his bedtime story tonight, which inspired me to write this post.

You Can Name 100 Trucks is filled with illustrations and a small amount of text. Young children love to point to all of the different trucks, and thankfully, there are labels by each truck for challenged adults. From a backhoe to an ice cream truck, You Can Name 100 Trucks leaves no truck behind. My son will look at this book alone for long periods of time, and he likes to match up his toy trucks to the illustrations. This sturdy board book is sure to be a favorite of any little boy or girl interested in trucks and heavy equipment.

Where the Wild Things Are

Maurice Sendak wrote and illustrated Where the Wild Things Are in 1963. This book is a classic and a Caldecott Medal winner. I remember this book from my youth and now enjoy sharing it with my children.

Max is like any child, in which he is mischievous. When sent to his room without supper, a forest grows in his room and he sails away in a private boat, "...in and out of weeks and almost over a year to where the wild things are." Max manages to tame the wild things and become their king, until hunger and loneliness gets the best of him. He returns home to find his supper waiting for him in his room, and it is still hot.

There are several pages in this book of illustrations without text. Wordless books (or sections of books) are great for children to fill in the details and tell their own story within the author's story. If you have children, you've probably experienced the wild things in your home, and helping children connect the literature to their prior experiences and knowledge facilitates comprehension and learning.

The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear

The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear is another great story by Don and Audrey Wood, a great author and illustrator team. This is one of those books young children fall in love with and request to be read over and over and over again. It has been fun watching my two children evolve from the oldest one loving this book as a toddler, to now being able reading it to her young brother.

The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear is written from a unique perspective, in that the reader is the one questioning and telling the mouse about the big, hungry Bear. The little Mouse has found a delicious strawberry, but he worries about the Big, Hungry Bear who "loves red, ripe strawberries." The Mouse's expressions in the illustrations are easily accessible to children. They can recognize the Mouse's feelings on each page of the book and connect it to their own experiences. Both of my children have obsessed over talking about the illustration in which the Mouse and strawberry are sitting at a table, drinking tea, and wearing fake glasses with a nose and mustache attached. My friends' child loved the picture of the Mouse guarding the strawberry wrapped in chains and padlocked. In the end, the Mouse ends up cutting the strawberry in two and sharing it with the reader.

The big, hungry Bear never makes an appearance in The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear , which makes one wonder....is there really a big, hungry Bear? Or, how likely it is the Bear would find this particular strawberry? Older children can contemplate such questions and relate it to their own fears and anxieties.

We like to play big, hungry Bear in our strawberry patch. We've read this book so many times, that we can recite the entire text while picking berries. My children laugh hysterically when we play this game, while enjoying our strawberry harvest.

My Many Colored Days

My Many Colored Days is a book by Dr. Seuss published posthumously by his wife. This beautiful poem about colors and feelings is accompanied by the incredible paintings of married couple Lou Fancher and Steve Johnson.

Some days, of course, feel sort of Brown.
Then I feel slow
and low,
low,
down.

Then comes a Yellow Day.
And,
Wheeeeeeeeeeee
I am a busy, buzzy bee.

The text and illustrations of this book inspire great conversations with children about their moods and feelings, as well as those of others. I have used this book in art education to teach about mood in color, such as in Picasso's blue period. My Many Colored Days also serves as an inspiration for children to create their our own color and mood poems and paintings, which can be assembled into a book.

My Many Colored Days is dedicated to its author. Audrey Geisel writes, "To Ted, who colored my days...and my life."

Itty-Bitty Bookworm Literature-Based Preschool Curriculum

Obviously, I love books. As a teacher, I have always used literature as a basis for my curricular activities. Now, parents and preschool teachers have the opportunity to buy a literature-based program for their young children. Itty-Bitty Bookworm is:

A quality, literature-based education in a box. Our curriculum is based on quality children's literature, as well as the NAEYC recommendations. It sets clear goals for teaching language development and critical thinking skills – while encouraging creativity, socialization and physical activity.

Designed for children ages 18-months to 5-years-old, Itty-Bitty Bookworm provides parents and teachers with monthly thematic literature selections with activities and daily plans. The literature selections represent some of the best children's books for this age group, such as The Little Engine That Could and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, as well as some new titles I have not encountered before reviewing this curriculum.

The Itty-Bitty Bookworm curriculum is perfect for parents and teachers who are beginning their careers in early childhood education. The curriculum is well-organized and simple to lay out. For more experienced or educated teachers, the curriculum may not be as satisfying as the one you've created over the years; however, you will be able to find treasures within Itty-Bitty Bookworm.

My only criticism of the curriculum lies in the art activities, which I would classify more as crafts or activities in replicating teacher examples. As an artist and educator, I find this a common problem in early childhood education, as young children are not given an opportunity to truly express their artistic ideas individually. In fact, the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised Edition states that art activities should allow for individual expression. "Individual expression means that each child may select the subject matter and/or art medium, and carry out the work in his or her own way."

You can read Bo's, the Itty-Bitty Bookworm, story by clicking here. An incredible amount of work went into creating the Itty-Bitty Bookworm curriculum, and I think this is a very useful tool for beginning teachers and parents. Great books are the key to any great early childhood program, whether at home, daycare, or preschool.

The Giving Tree

The Giving Tree, like The Lorax, is another classic tale from my childhood, that some may interpret as a message of conservation, whereas others may find a different moral to the story. The story begins, "Once there was a tree…and she loved a little boy." The tree proceeds to try and fulfill the boy's happiness by giving her apples, branches, and trunk until the tree is nothing more than a stump. When the boy returns as an old man and contentedly rests on the stump, the tree is happy again. The anthropomorphism of the tree endears readers to feel compassion for her self-sacrifice and for all the trees that have been felled for human use. The book has been criticized for its message of self-sacrifice on the part of the tree and the selfishness of the boy; however, the end result demonstrates that the boy did not need all the material items he got from the tree's resources to find true happiness. This message is important for children to hear in our culture of overconsumerism. The Giving Tree is open to multiple interpretations which may change with every reading.

Rapunzel by Paul O. Zelinsky

I found this treasure in a used bookstore, and it immediately became a family favorite. Beautifully illustrated in Renaissance style, Rapunzel by Paul O. Zelinsky retells this classic fairy tale based upon research the author conducted into the historical roots of this tale. Just like any pregnant woman will do, Rapunzel's mother craves the herb and her husband sneaks into the sorceress' garden to steal some for his beloved wife. When caught, the couple must give the baby to the sorceress upon birth, who keeps her hidden in a tower while her locks grow long. You are probably familiar with the rest of the story, but Zelinsky's illustrations create art appreciation in any reader. This is a Caledecott winner, and Rapunzelis sure to please any child. Although Rapunzelis not one of my favorite fairy tales, Zelinsky has made me fall in love with his version.

The Down-to-Earth Guide to Global Warming

Laurie David, the producer of An Inconvenient Truth, and Cambria Gordon have written an extensive resource for parents and children, "to know the truth about this problem and what they can do to help solve it." The Down-to-Earth Guide to Global Warming helps readers understand the causes of our climate crisis and offers suggestions for change in a very kid-friendly format. The book is also constructed from 100% post-consumer waste recycled paper and printed with soy inks.

The way The Down-to-Earth Guide to Global Warming is written appeals to the short attention span of children. The book is divided into four chapters:

1. It's Getting Hot in Here


2. Weird, Wacky Weather


3. Extinction Stinks


4. What You Can Do to Stop Global Warming

The Great Kapok Tree

The Great Kapok Tree is set in a rain forest about to be logged. An ax man enters the jungle, then falls asleep and dreams about the extraordinary and diverse inhabitants of the jungle. Snakes, butterflies, jaguars, a child, etc. whisper into his ear the consequences of deforestation. The anteater says to the man," Senhor, you are chopping down this tree with no thought for the future. And surely you know that what happens tomorrow depends upon what you do today. The big man tells you to chop down a beautiful tree. He does not think of his own children, who tomorrow must live in a world without trees." When the man awakes, he can not cut down the tree. Lynne Cherry's detailed illustrations reveal a reverence for nature and beauty.

Brother Eagle, Sister Sky

Brother Eagle, Sister Sky was the first children's book I ever bought for my daughter. It is an adaption of the famous speech delivered by Chief Seealth (Seattle) during the 1850s. "We did not weave the web of life, we are merely a strand in it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves." Although there is controversy as to whether Chief Seealth (Seattle) ever actually said these words, the point is moot in my opinion, especially in considering this quality children's book is written for children and not historians. The book has also been criticized for not representing the rich diversity of Native American cultures or representing images of Cheif Seealth's tribe; however, the message of Chief Seealth's word ring true! These words were spoken as an elegy for the way of life he saw ending. The beautiful, detailed images that accompany the text throughout evolve from Native Americans living in harmony with nature to a bleak clearcut from logging to a modern family planting trees. The final image leaves us with a sense of hope and renewal.