2000 July 17
2000 Aug 31
2000 Dec 15

One of the differences between having one child and more than one is being able to capture moments. with the first or only child there are more pictures, more notes in the baby book, more attention to which books were checked out of the library and read. And capturing moments enables us to rehearse them and keep them in our memories.

So, an entry for a library book selected by first child, just over a year old, brings back the memory of the old town library, with the new children's books to the right of the entrance, sort of gaping out of the room to catch the eye of everyone who enters and leaves. They had a restriction on new children's books: a limit of 5 to a card. Which is why the baby had her own library card at six months. She loved to pick our books.

There are some board books that never really grabbed me, especially of the Classic flavor. Easter basket, birthday, Halloween, Christmas: any event was worthy of being celebrated with a new kid's book. But man, a lot of those old ones are creepy, or boring, or the rhyme scheme is off. The field has vastly improved with more entries and more competition.

This is an old one, and the library no longer keeps a copy. Look at the pictures at Amazon, and you'll notice that much more attention went into drawing the cars than drawing the critters who were driving. Favorite pages: "Red light. Stop." followed by "Green light. Go. Faster"

Anyway, it's good to capture how appealing this was, if only so I can buy a copy for someone else's baby (I like to give at least one older book and one current popular book both in the board book format, actually I don't know that I ever kept a child's book gift to a two book minimum.) See also Boynton's complete oeuvre and Go, Dog, Go! and Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb which is burned deeply into my brain from the billion repetitions.

Library copy

A great little Chistmasy story, and a particular hit with the younger child.

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Wow, I'm amazed that all the times I've read this, it's never before been in December. Probably because inexplicably I don't own a copy. This was the one on display that sucked me into the picture books. I really was only running into the library to return some things. But then nostalgia.

Library copy

This is one to pre-read for the Possum, mostly. She relies heavily on my suggestions, and it's kind of hard to keep ahead of her.

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I'm unimpressed. It's all a bit thin.

Library copy

pretty with an excellent point

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2009 Mar 31

A big hit with the PandaBat who is not much of a drawer yet.

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Cleaning up some database errors I came across this. Fun fact: a decade on, the child in question is now an adult and an accomplished artist. This is what makes raising children and also going back over old little reviews, so much fun.

Reading level and Leveling System:

Guided Reading: L

Lexile Measure: AD330L

Llama Llama is learning lots of new things at school and making many friends. But when Gilroy Goat starts teasing him and some of their classmates, Llama Llama isn't sure what to do. And then he remembers what his teacher told him: Walk away and tell someone. It works! This story is a way to talk about bullying. A way for children to practice their reading and fluency skills is by have a reading theater. The story can be broken down into different parts for the students. The students can work in small groups or as a whole class.