(I know it’s not Monday, but…I’m a working mom with a small kiddo, so getting something done at all is an achievement right now, let alone done on time! Hahaha)
The autumn rains have started in earnest, so we’ve been hiding out at our local library and discovering lots of new-to-us books! Here’s a few we read last week – with Halloween quickly approaching, you’ll see there’s a predominant theme to our selections.
Pokemon : Favorite First Friends!
My child is obsessed, to put it lightly, and he is committed to memorizing as many Pokemon and their statistics as he can. I actually had an insightful conversation with a fellow parent, in which we talked about how adults react differently to children’s obsessions based on how “practical” or “important” they are, to an adult’s sensibilities. Most adults are impressed when a child memorizes national flags or state capitals, for example, because that information is perceived as being important. If that same child were to memorize the same number of Pokemon names, however, most adults wouldn’t be nearly as amazed, even though the skill involved is the same.
In other words, let your kids read what they want, and celebrate their passions, whatever they might be. 🙂
Halloween is coming, but my kiddo isn’t fond of all the spooky scary stuff, so this sweet picture book was a perfect pick. We’ve been working on developing resilience and a growth mindset, and this story about a little witch whose first attempt at riding her new broom doesn’t quite go to plan led to some great conversations about feelings, and expressing those feelings in healthy ways – it’s okay to feel frustrated, it’s okay to feel sad, it’s okay to cry when things don’t go our way! But after we do what we need to do to make ourselves feel better, we can always try, try again. And the illustrations are adorable, so it should be appealing for even the most spooky-averse kiddos.
This collection of Halloween-themed poems, on the other hand, did not go over well – in fact, we were unable to finish it because it was just too scary! But for a kiddo who enjoys all the creepier aspects of the season, and revels in the spooky-ooky, this would probably be a great pick. The illustrations are particularly fun, with a vintage-inspired feel.
This is another Halloween book that’s perfect for little ones who are a bit unsure about all this scary stuff, and there’s a fun “Happy Owl-oween!” repeated refrain. Again, the illustrations are really cute. I can see this being a nice book for preschool circle-times, as kids can join in with the refrain.
Have you been digging into the spooky and scary Halloween reads in honour of this most frightful of seasons?
Check out all the bloggers sharing their reading over at Unleashing Readers!
I recently read the Gustavo the Shy Ghost series and those were cute not too spooky reads
These are great Halloween books for young readers. Last year I introduced my two oldest grandkids (now 6) to The Old Witch series by Ida DeLage & Gustave E. Nebel. This year they are able to read them by themselves.