Weekend Review: A Book I love to Hate

In case you were thinking I'm a boring, fuddy dud momma who stays at home and has very little life.. oh wait, I am... I thought I'd at least try to write an entertaining book review. Instead of sharing a great book that I love, I thought I'd start with a book I hate.

Love you Forever by Robert Munsch is the story of love between a mother and son. Her toddler son tests her patience all day (I can relate) but every evening, she puts him to bed singing, "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living my baby you'll be." As he grows up and they have their mother/son ups and downs, she continues to sneak into his room at night and sing this song to him.

Seriously, this should be a good book. It has a great repetitious rhyme. It has a good message. It was written by a great author who wrote other books I like.

However, It's a little bit unbelieveable. I mean, what preteen or teenage boy lets his momma rock him to sleep? I think this was written for the benefit of the momma's out there!

And, this book totally freaks me out.

Why does the mom have to climb up a ladder into her grown son's bedroom window to rock him? Is his wife not ok with her MIL intruding on them? Let me just say, if I woke up to my MIL rocking my husband in our bedroom, I wouldn't sleep for a year!!

So that's all I have to say about that. Well, not really. You see, I did a little research on this book and I found out that the song in the book was written by the author for his two children who were born stillborn. And then I felt guilty. And then I wanted to go to confession... but I'm not catholic.

BUT, while I was on his site, I discovered a treasure trove of his books with audio. Mr. Munsch is a goofy looking authory guy but man, he can tell a story. When I heard him read "Roar!", I was laughing OUT LOUD! I could just picture my nephew Alex being the boy in that story. I think that's what makes his books great, they are inspired by real children.

So, I think we all have our own opinions, and I'm sorry but I still am freaked out by Love you Forever.. However, please, do yourself a favor and head to this website and check out some of Robert Munsch's other books.

And in the meantime, tell me... what book do you love to hate???

Thought for Thursday

Out of all of the millions?? of children's books out there, how do you choose a GREAT read for your child?

1. Do you take your child to the library to choose a book, only to have your child pull EVERY book off the shelf while a librarian looks down her glasses at you in frustration?

2. Do you mindlessly wander the children's section of your favorite bookstore looking at WAY over priced books and leave without anything?

3. Did you pick all the books that you just KNEW your child would LOVE before your child was even born and now he's not even interested in reading ANY of those books?

I've done all of those things!

Let's get to know each other. What is your child's favorite book? How do you choose books for your child?

I'll go first!

Logan- age 2. His favorite book (today) is Rumble in the Jungle. It is a poetry book of jungle animals. He's pretty much obsessed with snakes and will go to great lengths to find books with pictures of snakes in them... including pulling every book off of a shelf in the library! I like this book because the animals are big and colorful. Also, we can just talk about the animals or we can read the poetry in the book... and the poems are funny, which I enjoy!

Tyson- age 4 months.His favorite book is Tomie's Little Mother Goose. He loves to hear songs and rhyming-- plus he probably heard it a million times while he was in the womb! I love it because of the shortened versions of nursery rhymes (is that bad?) and because Tomie dePaola is a GREAT illustrator!

Please leave a comment with your child's favorite book... and check back next Thursday for my tips for choosing books PLUS (wait for it... this is gonna be good...) how to get FREE and cheap books!!!!

How?

I can't find the information I need!!! How is this blog organized???
Well, it's not. I'm still learning how to do fancy things like tag clouds (can you even do that on blogger?) So someday it will get better. I've organized the blog following the title of the blog: Ready, Set, Read.
Ready: This is information on reading to/with babies from conception through preschool age. If you have a child who is in the womb-3, this is for you.
Set: Get Set for School! This is information on reading with preschool children ages 3-5. (This is a weak area for me but I hope to learn a lot).
Read: When your child begins reading, you'll find information here! My passion is early reading. Again, I am NOT an expert but hopefully I can direct you to some people who are experts!
I hope you find something to enjoy here!

Why?

Well, a few months ago 2 of my friends had the following conversation-- all names changed...

Phyllis: How did the Parents as Teachers visit go?

Ericka: Great. But she asked me if we had any books in our house for Eric. Why would I have books for him? He's a BABY. He can't READ.

I hope her PAT educator redirected her thinking. If not, I hope she finds my blog. Reading to your child is the most important thing you can do to insure their success as a reader and thus a student in the future. I hope reading my blog helps you to do that successfully.

Where?

Here:
With a Diet Coke
and a Lean Pocket
and sometimes balancing a kid on my lap

When?

There will be 3 special days of the week. Look for new posts on those days.

"Thought for Thursday"s -- The day that I post a topic of interest. Please feel free to comment on this all week. Debate me. Ask questions. Tell me what you know about it.


Wise Wednesday-- The day that I link you to current research, websites, books, etc. that will help in your understanding of the topic posted on the previous Thursday.

Weekend Review: I'll try to review one quality piece of children's literature each weekend... old, new, funny, tear jerkers... I'll try to bring you the best!

What?

What it is:
1. an early literacy blog. (Hopefully full of 'Hot topics' in early literacy like... What does my child need to be "ready" to read? What are some of the best read alouds? When and how should I incorporate writing into my life at home with my child?)

2. a place to share ideas with other moms about early reading.

3. a forum for asking questions to a former reading specialist and getting research based answers. (you can decide to agree with my ideas or even hate them.. I'm ok with that ;)
(Example: What do you think of Your Baby Can Read?-- that's the #1 people like to ask reading specialists. My current answer is, "I don't know... I'm still researching but I'll let you know soon...)
4. a record and review of the books and activities my boys enjoy as baby and toddlers.

What it's not:

1. a place to do research for your master's project (look up some of the really smart people in literacy for that kind of information--You should start with: Linda Dorn, Gay Su Pinnell, Marie Clay, Jim Trealease, etc. ... that's the last time I help you with your research!).

2. I remember from my English classes, you can't have a 1 without a 2 but I got nothing. I'm just trying to make Mr. Whitener proud!!

Who?

I am

a wife to Greg.
a teacher to my 2 sons, Logan - 2 years and Tyson- 4 months.
a SAHM.

I was

a public school teacher for 8 years.
a reading specialist for 2 years.
a reading recovery and early literacy teacher for 2 years.

I have

a Bachelors of Science in Education.
a Masters of Education in Classroom Teaching.
an elementary teaching certificate.
a reading specialist certificate.

I want to

keep current on best practices in the area of education, especially literacy instruction.
be the best first teacher I can be for my boys.
someday return to the classroom to teach.

I dream of

having boys who contribute really good things to their future families and to the world.
retiring with my husband someday and having land with a lake and a pavillion for our tons and tons of kids and grandkids.