Thursday, February 16, 2006

For the love of books! - Thirteen Thursday

Being an English teacher, it should come as no surprise that I am obsessed with books. I love books. I love to read them, touch them, smell them, handle them. I could spend hours in a book store searching for new books and authors. I pour over the book order forms that come to my classroom. I love all things books. As I tell my students, you can never have too many books (well, you can, but only if they start to take over your house).

Because I love books so much (and because I have a stepson who hates books), it was important for me to instill a love of books in Camden. And he does so far. Of course it helps that I collect them and surround him with books. Just to give you an idea, the boy is almost 10 months old and has over 80 books. Yeah, just a few. He'll grab a book, crawl into my lap, and sit there turning the pages and having us read to him. When he first wakes up from a nap, he wants to have books read to him. This kid can spend hours with books, just like his mom. In honor of my book obsession, I want to share some of my favorite children's books with you. Feel free to share with me your favorite children's books, either ones you love to read to your children or ones you loved as a child.



This was the first book I ever read to Camden. I read it to him in the first week of his life. It took me about two months to be able to read it all the way through without crying. It's a touching story of the love between a parent and child.








This is another beautiful book that shows the love between parent and child. It is written in simple rhyme and contrast.


"I am your parent;/you are my child./I
am your quiet place;/you are my wild."

I love the style this book is written in.





Another great book about the love between a parent and child. Camden loves to turn the pages of this book and I get to tell him how much I love him.














Camden loves this book! He loves to turn the pages and stick his fingers in the holes of each food. He'll skip right to the foods, stick his fingers in the holes, and then go back to the start and want us to read it to him.











This is a delightful board book, perfect for boys. It's all about a garbage truck and what it does. Mark does the greatest voice for the garbage truck, which is why I think Camden loves it so much.





Another great book for voices. Mark does a ghetto voice for the llama. The bat sounds like Dracula, the seal is a redneck, and the swan is British in our voice rendition. Cam loves to hear our funny voices as we read this book. It's also another great book for rhyme.







Camden loves to touch the ladybugs and the holes as they disappear one by one. He also love the butterfly book by the same author.








This is my new favorite. I realize Camden is a little too young for it right now, but with him in daycare and me working, I love the sentiment. I read it to him and give him his own kissing hand for when I am at work. I cannot wait until he is older and can really understand the meaning of this book.








This book is so much fun! I love the pictures and the simple wording. It's also over Camden's head, but I love to read it again and again.









I cried the first time I read this book. It conveyed so many of the feelings I had about my pregnancy and my child, especially after the infertility. I vowed then to give this book to any infertile friend who was blessed with a baby.





I have this book so memorized I can read it without even looking at the pages. Mark doesn't like it so much, but I like the simple rhymes and patterns. It's a classic!







I love this whole series of books. I love the circular pattern of the books. Definitely a delight to read!









My husband and I love anything by Mercer Mayer. We have several of these books and love each of them. We plan on getting more, and more, and more.




So there you have it - some of my favorite children's books. Please share your favorites with me!

24 comments:

Unknown said...

Those are totally fun books, I'm gonna have to follow your advice and show you mine. :)

Mama D said...

My husbands parents just brought us a bag full of books that belonged to him. Some of them were given to him when he was very young. They are old and smell delicious. Most of them are in pretty good shape too. A book he and I bought for Baby A that we both loved as kids was "The monster at the end of this Book". It's Grover from Sesame Street afraid for you to turn the pages to get to the end and he trys to stop you in various ways. Then it turns out the monster is him.

Regina said...

Rachelle- even though I don't have children, I read a lot of kids books! I have plenty of nieces (yay for babies!) and nephews so its good to keep up with the new books coming out. You picked out some of favorite ones!

Julie said...

I *heart* books, as well. Started when I could flip pages. Then I became a 1st grade teacher, went to grad school to get my ed master in Reading, and worked as a reading specialist. Good things.

One of my fave books for parents (because, let's face it, most quality childrens' lit is really all for the grown ups!) is I love you the purplest.

Stephanie said...

I love books. All things Sandra Boynton are good, and we also love Barefott Books. (www.barefootbooks.com)

Angela said...

STILL can't read Love You Forever without crying. I love books just as much. Anything by Lauren Child is good, but especially the Lola books.....it's so fun doing the English accent when your reading them....no one in my house can say "fish fingers" without sounding like they were born in England!!

Fern Bourrie said...

OMG....I love all those books. They are favorites of mine and the kids. My TT are up.

Kimmy said...

We love these, too! "Love You Forever"...my grandma gave me that when I found out I was pregnant. She read it to me and cried. I read it to Jacob every single day while I was pregnant and pretty much for his first year.

My mom gave him every Mercer Meyer book...he loved them so much.

Great list.

Thanks for stopping by!

Patti said...

I used to be a therapist for autistic children, and one of my favorites to read to my little guys was "If You Give a Pig a Pancake". I seem to remember one about giving a moose a muffin too!

I also love "Where the Wild Things Are"

Fun topic!

Lei said...

On The Day You Were Born
The Little Prince
The Giving Tree
Papa Please Get The Moon For Me
I Love You The Purplest
My Many Colored Days :)
Whose Shoes?
The Day It Rained Hearts
Mama Do You Love Me?
Counting Kisses
How Do I Love You?
Here Are My Hands
The Very Quiet Cricket
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
The Velveteen Rabbit
Runny Babbit
Jamberry
I Love You As Much...
Everywhere Babies
Babies on the Go
Charming Opal
Lilly and the {ruple lastic Purse
Lyle Crocodile
Olivia
Oh, David!
In My World

Holy cow I can't stop...

Anonymous said...

Goodnight Moon. (Sigh)

Heather said...

LOVE those books....particularly the first two you mentioned!!!!

When I was little I always got into trouble for reading past bedtime. In fact, when I was grounded, I was grounded from BOOKS, because my parents knew that grounding me from TV and friends wouldn't matter as I'd just spend the days in my room reading and having a good ole' time! lol.

I find little time to read for myself nowadays and it makes me sad. I've got to make the time!

Anonymous said...

My mom gave me The Kissing Hand when I went to college. She signs all her emails "Look in your hand, there is something there from me. Love, Mommy." So precious.
Books....oh man:
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs
The Art Lesson
Strega Nona
Officer Buckle and Gloria
Elmer's New Friend
Old Hat, New Hat
Mrs. Rumphius
Counting Kisses
Wow City
Any Clifford book
Good Night Gorilla (and of course Good Night Moon)
It's Pajama Time
Go Dog Go
The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish
Also, just to save me some typing...the New York Public Library has a list of 100 Picture Books Everyone Should Know. My preschool classroom library when I taught was based on this list, and 98% of them are winners:
http://kids.nypl.org/reading/recommended2.cfm?ListID=61

Anonymous said...

We are a big fan of Mercer Mayer too. Great list. My list is up. Have a lovely evening. Be Well...

Jenn said...

rachelle,
I am a big book lover, too. You have to check out LibraryThing (Im so addicted!!) and they give you a widget for your blog to display the books of your choice. (it's also free up to 200 books)

I love your choices. I have worked for both Borders and Barnes and Noble and I don't think I brought home my part time paycheck except in book form.

Emily said...

OK, I think I have all those books too! LOL

But the BIG favorite in our house has always been Blueberries for Sal...I still read to my kids out of my old, beaten up childhood copy :)

owlhaven said...

Great books, all!
Mary

owlhaven said...

Great books, all!
Mary

Pam said...

Love the books and knew all but two or three. Thanks for introducing a couple new ones! Thanks for stopping by today. I am a total bibliophile and can't possibly ever read enough. Keep me posted once in a while about what you're reading.

Morris said...

Goodnight moon is a personal favorite of mine.

Mr. Morris
Ask Morris

Jacinda said...

"The Kissing Hand" is also one of our favorites....and the sequel, "A Pocket Full of Kisses." I love, love books by Patricia Polacco although they're really more for me than my girls right now b/c of their ages. I also love, "Just Like You."

emlouisa said...

I can't believe I missed this post! I was busy finishing (finally) the last Harry Potter book last night. I know you approve of that. :)

We love books here too. A wants to read them all day long!

My favorite kids books:
Belly Button Book by Sandra Boynton
Goodnight Moon
Guess How Much I Love You

Shannon Nelson said...

Don't forget that Feb. 27-March 3rd is Read Across America week! I am going into my son's school and reading "Just me in the tub," by Mercer Mayer. I even made up a "My keep me clean Chart" for all of the kids.

My FAVORITE book is The Giving Tree. It always makes me cry.

Anonymous said...

I have lists here (see the left-hand pane and scroll down) and here (classified by age). There are so many great books out there! I'm glad that your son is so excited about books. That's wonderful!