Saturday Seven-Books

StinkBug woke up with a sore throat on Thursday and wanted lots of cuddles and laziness. I was quick to indulge him and who couldn't use a day lazying around in bed watching tv and reading?

He dug through the various book baskets (3 in the living room) and 2 bookshelves in the bedrooms to find his personal favorites.

**It should be noted that I am a BOOK SNOB. Especially when it comes to children's books. As a pre-k teacher I amassed quite a collection of books (in the 400s) before I even got knocked up. I'll admit I  may definitely had some issues sharing MY books with my own children. But I got over that. As long as I am doing the reading I get to control the quality of books that cross the portal. I have NO TOLERANCE for Disney Princess books or Winnie the Pooh or other long wordy books that aren't fun to read or have sucky illustrations.

This has the MOST AMAZING illustrations. Turns out Brad (the illustrator) is from around these parts. Go Kansas! I LOVE LOVE the animals. They looks so soft and sweet and their EYES are swoon worthy. I love the story about a "new one" coming to the farm. It's a fantastic book to read when there's a baby on the way or a new one in the house. The rhyming and repetition is fun to read and easy for little ones to remember. StinkBug loves to pretend that he is the baby at the end of the book.

StinkBug loves farms. He likes to reminisce about our days of living on the coyote farm. NEVER HAPPENED! He shares very animated tales of our adventures on the farm where we never lived. He even NEVER got bit by the baby coyote that Daddy put him on for a ride.  This is an entertaining story about a farmer (go girl power!) who oversleeps and how the animals react and pass the news around the barnyard. We love the illustrations in this one too..especially the owl in her pocket.

It's no surprise StinkBug chose ANOTHER farm book! This one has amazing photographs of animals as they are waking up and not too thrilled about it. Kids can relate to NOT wanting to get out of bed. This one  is out of print but worth searching for. I love rhyming books and this one is no exception. It begs to be acted out with galloping and animal noises.

StinkBug's classroom has a Chicka Chicka Boom Boom tree where the kid's take turn hanging the letter of the week. Since his first visit there he has been OBSESSED with this book. It's a classic and probably one of the best alphabet books on the market. By now you know I love the rhyme. I can't help but read in a sing song voice..."skit skat skoodle doot flip flop flee I'll meet you at the top of the coconut tree." If you can find the audio CD BUT IT NOW! Ray Charles reading this? You better believe it.

A very simple book about starting school. There are only a few words on each page and StinkBug had this memorized by the time he was 2 1/2 and yet he is still drawn to it. When I asked why he likes it he said "Because the mouse is so cute." 

Construction rules and so does this book. What kid doesn't love a book about playing in the dirt and digging up nasty things? The friendly backhoe does a countdown of what he cleans up. We have to re-read these pages several times. Torn up truck tires and tossed-out toiler seats are particularly amusing at our house. This book was memorized in it's entirety after the first reading. It is chock-full of fantastic vocabulary words and extremely descriptive words. Kate McMullan writes the books and her husband, Jim illustrates.

I puffy heart with glitter LOVE the llama llama books. I could sit around and read them ALL DAY. I did read llama llama red pajama every stinking night when we first bought it until the kids hid it from me. They still loved it but apparently reading it 21 nights in a row is a bit excessive. Whatever! I love this because it totally captures the insecurities and nervousness of going to school (or daycare) for the first time. And it rhymes.

What are some of the favorites at your house?

Linking up with Stasha for another Monday Listicles!