books!

Zoë has just recently become interested in books!!  Ever since she has been able to grasp things and pull them to her mouth she has been interested in them as chew-toys.  But in the last week or so she has started staring with intense interest at the pages- the colors and faces in particular- and then tries to pull the objects off of the page and into her mouth instead of just gnawing on the page whole.  I am so excited!  Reading to Jonathan has been one of my favorite things over the past few years- and I am so excited to be reading with Zoë now too!

I love the way that a book can capture his imagination and permeate everything we do and talk about.  Sure we read the same books time and time again, but he is just as engaged every time and those places and characters and themes become part of his little world.  So I try to choose the titles that populate our book bins carefully- both because I know each title will be with us for a while and because I want to fill their worlds with stories that introduce them to a world that is full of wonder and laughter and love.  So with that said, here are a few of our latest favorites...

Since Zoë is at a stage where she studies faces and colors like crazy, we mostly read these two:

1) Peek-a-boo Baby by Margaret Miller. She has a whole line of baby faces books, and this is the one we have.  Bright colors and simple words on one page; close up baby faces playing peek-a-boo on the other.  Simple and perfect for her.

2)  While you were sleeping by John Butler.  A counting book with super cuddly animals going about their business "while you were sleeping".  The illustrations are great; the words are simple, but engaging and poetic.  When I pulled it out of the baby bin for the first time in about 18 months, Jonathan could recite all of the words on each page and he always wants to cuddle up and read with us when I pull this one out for Zoë.


Jonathan is starting to really love simple plot-lines and these have great art too!

Augustus and his Smile by Catherine Rayner.  We picked this one up at the library, but then I had to buy it because 2 weeks just wasn't enough for any of us.  The artwork is magical and the story about a tiger who is searching for his smile is just sweet.  

I Stink! by Kate and Jim McMullan.  He's a two year old boy, so garbage trucks are the most interesting thing on the face of the earth.  I put this one in his Christmas stocking and I think we've read it every night since then.  It follows a garbage truck on his rounds, gives us the alphabet in trash, and has ample crashing and crushing and banging.