5 Kids’ Books You’ll Love Reading Over and Over…and Over

I really love reading.  When I had my son I was all excited to read my favorite books from growing up to him: The Little Prince, The BFG, A Series of Unfortunate Events, and so forth.  Sadly it soon became all too clear to me that babies have about a five second attention span and chapter books are out of the question – especially if their few pictures are totally black and white.

After many many unsuccessful attempts, I finally gave in and decided to start reading him the children’s books that I had inherited/been gifted.  This experience taught me that lots of children’s books are terrible.  I mean, they’re okay, I just hated reading them over and over and over again.  I seriously felt like Calvin’s dad and the dreaded Hamster Huey and the Big Kablooie.

Months later and with much searching and borrowing from the public library, I have started building a collection of books that are pretty fun – even the 50^th time around – and now I’m going to share my top 5 with you.

Fox in Socks/Oh Say Can You Say – Dr Suess

Look at that, I’ve already broken my own rules and listed an extra book.  I’m counting these two books as one because they’re pretty much the same.  You’ll get some great practice at enunciation and your kids will get some giggles from hearing your tongue stumble all over the place.  I don’t think these books ever get old because it’s like an ongoing competition with yourself, and once your kids are old enough to read they can join in!

                               

I Loathe You – David Slonim

This is a super cute book about a monster and its parent.  The monster parent loathes their little monster very much – “more than smelly feet and chicken pox.”  It goes into depth about the many horrible things the parent loathes, but none more so than it loathes its child.  It’s quite adorable.

Stephanie’s Ponytail – Robert Munsch

Stephanie is a spunky girl with her own sense of style who’s totally happy with who she is, no matter what people say.  Everyone at school copies her hairstyles (even the boys and the teachers), so she just keeps going weirder and weirder to see how far they’ll go.  The story is entertaining, the illustrations are great, and I love the message it sends of “just be you and don’t let others get you down.”

The Noisy Way to Bed – Ian Whybrow

I love reading this to my kid before bedtime.  It’s the story of a little boy who’s on his way to bed.  Along the way he has to walk through his family’s farm and the animals start tagging along.  The story has a nice calming rhythm and rhyme and is honestly perfect for right before bed.

Pajama Time – Sandra Boynton

If you have never heard any of Sandra Boynton’s music you probably won’t love this book as much as I love it.  See, this book has a song that goes with it, and it makes it five thousand times better.  My kid seriously squeals with excitement when we’re reading this book because I can’t help but sing the words and I get really into it.  If you’re going to get this book, learn the song first.  It’s wonderful.

                              

"Philadelphia Chickens" is the CD with 'Pajama Time' on it.  

If you love kids' songs, do yourself a favor and get this CD.

After writing this post I called up my mum for some more ideas and was given a list of about 700 books and authors, so I’m thinking I’m going to make this a recurring theme on Tuesdays for a while (e.g. “5 More Awesome Books to Read to Your Kids”). 

What are some books you enjoy reading over and over again to your kids?  I’d love some suggestions!

Book Review - Doug TenNapel's Ghostopolis

So I got this sci-fi book called The Dispossessed  for Book Reviews-day Tuesday, but…it kinda sucked, in my opinion.  There are very few books that I won’t power through and finish, but this is one of them.  I was all excited for it too – cool title, interesting premise (scientist trying to bring two nations that hate each other together), award-winning author – I just wasn’t all that interested in her writing style.  She’s a little too flowery and philosophical for me.  Does this mean I’m uncultured?  Probably.

I DO have a book for you though.  Just be aware, it IS a kids’ book.  Because I’m uncultured. 

It’s called Ghostopolis and it’s pretty much written for 12-year-old boys, which means I love it.  You’ve got this kid who is accidentally transported to the land of the dead, the “Supernatural Immigration Task Force” detective who transports as well to try and bring the boy home, a skeleton king, Benedict Arnold, an evil dictator who has incredible powers, a touching family relationship, and poop jokes.  I mean, come on.  Who wouldn’t love this?

Oh, and did I mention it’s a comic book?  Because it is.  And it’s awesome.

The author/illustrator is Doug TenNapel, and I currently have holds on every single book of his at our public library.  His work is colorful, artistic, and full of all the necessary comic book words (FUMM, VZZZT, THUMPA-DA THUMPA-DA, PLOP, FOOM, SPLAM and more).  I guess you’d really call it a graphic novel though, because it’s 267 pages.  Seriously though, quick read - The Man is a slow reader and he had it done in just over an hour.  He also gave it a positive review, in case you were wondering.

I think I love it so much because it’s inventive, it’s really well-drawn, it’s emotional at parts, and really I think most kids would enjoy it a ton.  And adults.  Because I’m an adult.  No, it’s not all that intellectually stimulating, but still…FUN.  Much more fun than The Dispossessed, at any rate.  Stormageddon even enjoys it!

A sample from the book (and The Man’s favorite line):

Bad Guy: I have one thing you don’t have that gives me the advantage.

Good Guy: Diarrhea?

And I really can’t top that so here ends my post.  Buy this book

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