It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly blog hop co-hosted by Unleashing Readers and Teach Mentor Texts which focuses on sharing books marketed for children and young adults. It offers opportunities to share and recommend books with each other.
How are we already at the end of January? The speed at which time flies by is getting to be a bit alarming!
Working at a library means I’m always bringing home books for bedtime, which is good, because the kiddo demands an endless variety of stories. I’m sure I’ve said it before, but if you have small children, search out your nearest library – it can save you a fortune in books, especially when it comes to hardcover picture books, which can really add up!
We still love picture books, but now that the kiddo is starting to read we’ve been borrowing more early readers to support him as he explores the wild world of reading.
FLY GUY PRESENTS: MONSTER TRUCKS
Thanks to my young son, I now know more about monster trucks than I ever imagined I would. For example, I know that the truck on the cover of this nonfiction reader is named EL TORO LOCO, and that it is a Monster Jam truck (not to be confused with Hot Wheels trucks, which are entirely different). I am in no way interested in monster trucks, or any kind of motor vehicle for that matter, but my kiddo is, and so we read an endless parade of books about such entities as GRAVE DIGGER and MAXIMUM DESTRUCTION and MOTOR-ROARUS.
When caregivers ask for advice on encouraging their kids to become avid readers, I always recommend that they harness their children’s natural interests, and use them to their advantage. Does you child love monster trucks, or dinosaurs, or ballerinas, or horses, or a specific cartoon character? Find books on those subjects, and your kiddo is more likely to want to read them! Do I want to learn more about the world of monster trucks? Most certainly not. But my kiddo sure does, and he’s the one who’s learning to read, so I go with the flow, and let his passions be our reading guides.
KIT AND KABOODLE EXPLORE THE CITY
KIT AND KABOODLE VISIT THE FARM
More hide-and-seek fun with Kit and Kaboodle! My son just can’t get enough of these books, I think I’ve got every title in this series either checked out or on request. He can be very methodical when he’s focused on a specific task, and he does not quit until he’s located each and every hidden object.
These are a great example of how little consistency there is between publishers when it comes to reading levels. These are apparently “Level 2”, but the language is very similar to what you’d find in another publisher’s “Level 1” series. When caregivers ask for books for kids of a certain age, I always recommend they actually open the books up and take a look inside, because the numbers on the cover don’t really mean that much, and can vary wildly. One publisher’s level 1 can be another publisher’s level 3, and vice versa! It’s not very helpful for caregivers, and can be pretty frustrating for us librarians, too.
My son read his very first Elephant & Piggie book! As a children’s librarian I have long been waiting for this moment. I adore the Elephant & Piggie series, and couldn’t wait to share them with my kiddo. He was…less enthused about them than I was hoping. I wasn’t all that surprised though, to be honest – not that much happens, and he does tend to lean towards nonfiction. But he was able to pick out a lot of words (he’s mostly reading through sight words, and has only just started to sound out words phonetically), and the large print and minimal text really is so fantastic for emergent readers.
My son adored this book. And it’s easy to understand why. Cats are hands-down his favourite animal, he absolutely loves them, so any story about a family getting a pet cat is going to be a hit. Also, he’s very sensitive and empathetic, so seeing an old cat find a warm, loving home made him so happy. It’s also very rooted in reality, which he finds easier to relate to than stories that are more fantastical.
Interestingly, this story is told from the mother’s perspective, which you don’t often see in picture books, which tend to be told from a child or animal protagonist’s perspective.
Oh, and the illustrations are very sweet. If only my partner and I didn’t have such terrible cat allergies, we’d be looking for a kitten of our own, just like the family in the story!
Hi Jane, sorry to be so late – busy week! I know all these except that kitten story, will look for that one! Thanks also for the advice about the easy readers. We receive tons of them at the used bookstore where I work & I have put them in separate bins but will encourage customers to look inside! It is fun to read about your son’s interest & beginning to read. I remember when he was born! Time flies! Hope your week is going well!
Isn’t it amazing how fast time flies by? He’s going to be 5 this year, and starting kindergarten in September! 😭 We always find great easy readers at our favourite used bookstore, A always gets such a thrill when he can pick out an armful of them. 😃
Jane, if I didn’t have such terrible cat allergies we would have a cat!
Figuring out reading levels is a crazy task. My favourite thing to do in libraries is weed. I especially like to weed those early reader collections. IMO, these are the most important books because it’s through them that we grab beginning readers. Some of the books I’ve weeded have been just god awful – boring boring boring!
So many of them are just awful! And there’s no consistency, it’s such a pain. You’re absolutely right, they’re so important, because they’re like a gateway for kids into the amazing world of independent reading!