March 23, 2013

The Texas Library Association publishes booklists each year for all ages of student readers. 2X2 books are for age 2 through 2nd grade; Bluebonnet Books are for 3rd through 5th grade. (There are levels up through high school and include graphic books.) Although I didn't consult their lists during my reading project, I have recently had several read from the current list read to me by my oldest grandson, Aidan, who is completing the 2012-2013 list of 2X2 books for school. If you've read any Michael Chabon books (The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, among others) and you have any little ones in your life, I recommend The Astonishing Secret of Awesome Man. Introduce that little one to a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist.

I don't know that other states have similar lists. I tried searching briefly but came up with nothing. If anyone is reading this blog and knows of a similar series of booklists, I'd appreciate getting the information.

Friday I did check out a Bluebonnet Book, Like Pickle Juice on a Cookie. Left it in the bag of books the grandkids checked out but I'll pick it up later. Milo, the fifth grader who carpools with us, read it and the title is just too appealing to not read it.
 
Funny how I never feel awkward about picking up a child's book anymore.

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Seeing as how I am a bit tired of The Elephant’s Child on my NOOK, I decided to download another book for Abby. I chose Olivia by Ian Falconer since Abby does occasionally watch the TV show and seems to be interested in it. Can’t say that it was a hit with Abby—or maybe she just can’t ask for it the way she can ask for “elfan.” I didn’t really enjoy Dame Edna’s narration nor the music with it. This is one that confirms my feelings that a book doesn’t need to be more interactive than a nice lap to sit in. But it is a Caldecott Honor book.

More successful reading for Abby included Hugs and Kisses, a Disney baby book. She’s always liked these, which all have a tactile feature to them, but she doesn’t love them. I grew up a huge fan of Disney and pretty much remain one today, so simple as these are I find them appealing. I also read Nancy Tafuri’s Five Little Chicks one time. I think she liked this one because she’d been watching a video with chickens. Plus she’s beginning to be interested in counting 1 to 5. I rather liked this one too; I could imagine myself as a toddler wanting my mother to read this to me over and over. (That is until my mother told me the stories of taking baby chicks to bed with her when they lived on a farm—and she’d wake up the next morning with chicks who’d smothered during the night. )

Eric Carle. I feel like he is an author I grew up with but his career only started in 1967. My son was born in 1968. The Very Hungry Caterpillar was written in 1969. In 2002 Mr. Carle and his wife founded the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Massachusetts. How I would love to go there someday. His 40 books have been published in many languages, appealing in both their words and their illustrations. In 2003 Mr. Carle received the (Laura Ingalls) Wilder Award for lifetime achievement. As he should have. Among his fans: Abby, age 2. The “first” time I read Mister Seahorse to her, I had to read it SEVEN straight times. The next day, it was four times. What will tomorrow bring—and what will we do when it has to be returned to the library? NOOK? I love Eric Carle and I’m charmed by Abby’s reaction to this book, but I have to admit that it sorta creeps me out. Basically it’s a dear story about daddies in the fish family that take care of the eggs until they hatch, but the tilapia male carrying the eggs in his mouth or the Kurtus nurseryfish carrying them on his head make my skin crawl about as much as the Surinam toad. Well, maybe not that much.