One of our sweet neighbors shared this book with Harper earlier this week: First Day, Hooray!
We’ve read it for two nights in a row (Harper’s 1st day of Kindergarten is tomorrow!) What I love most about this book is that it does a good job of capturing the excitement and nervousness of the first day of school not only from a student’s viewpoint but also from the perspectives of the school teachers, bus driver, and janitor. They all have “bad dreams” the night before the first day and after we’d finished reading it Harper said, “They all had bad dreams about things that would happen but nothing bad really happened!” This book has been helpful in stirring up her excitement for school, since she’s been a little anxious about it (see also Wemberly Worried for another great read about a nervous new student.)

Cole’s 1st grade teacher introduced us to this series of books last year: Junie B. Jones. Let me tell you, Junie B. is a force to be reckoned with and her teachers have their work cut out for them! But Junie B. is funny, sincere, and oh-so-perfectly imperfect, and these chapter books are an easy, enjoyable read (even if the grammar is a little wonky depending on Junie B.’s speech patterns.) One of my favorite memories from Cole’s class last year is seeing his teacher sitting in the rocking chair with all the children gathered round, listening intently to stories about the irrepressible Junie B.

Finally, a favorite from my own childhood – I have long admired Miss Nelson, a tired and slightly harassed school teacher who comes up with a clever way to convince her students to behave in the classroom.

The Magic School Bus series is a fun, informative, visually dynamic way to introduce your kids to science concepts. What I love most about these books is the combination of a silly story + sidebars with actual facts. A lot of learning goes on in Ms. Frizzle’s classroom, which is awesome! (Her outfits are pretty rockin’, too!) Harper would really like to have a Magic School Bus for herself!

I prefer the classic series though I haven’t read some of the most recent titles. One of our very favorites from this series is On The Ocean Floor, which we just read again in preparation for our trip to the beach. There is also a series of Science Chapter Books for older readers.

MathStart Books, written by Stuart J. Murphy, are a fun, easy way to introduce your kids to math.There are so many different titles in this series, and three different levels for learning. (Level 1 is recommended for 3 and up, Level 2 is for ages 6 and up, and Level 3 is for ages 7 and up.)

What I love most about these books is that they aren’t hitting you over the head with a concept – there is still a silly story involved that helps make the learning process FUN. This series of books is illustrated by a host of artists, but one of our favorites is Rodeo Time, illustrated by David T. Wenzel. Rodeo Time talks about about creating a schedule and allowing enough time for all the events in your day, which has come in handy recently as we try to squeeze all of our summer activities into these last few weeks before school starts!

What can I say about Tomie DePaola? His books are frequently among our favorites. His illustrations are instantly recognizable. He is a prolific illustrator, and has illustrated (and written) over 200 children’s books. He was supposed to sign books at Malaprops in Asheville last September but the book signing tour was cancelled. I was bummed.

Some of our favorites by Tomie DePaola are oldies but goodies, such as The Art Lesson, Simple Pictures are Best, written by Nancy Willard, and Strega Nona.

DePaola’s books are quirky, funny, and oh-so-enjoyable. His website is equally fun with coloring pages for kids, a blog, and additional artwork. We sure hope he makes it to Asheville one of these days, but in the meantime we’ll just keep on being delighted by his books.

Have you seen these? These baby books by Workman Publishing are advertised as “100% baby-proof: chew-proof, drool-proof, and rip-proof.” They also happen to be nontoxic and 100% washable, which I think is cool. I just discovered them yesterday at Barnes & Noble, so I haven’t had time to test the “indestructible” theory in the hands of a baby, but I have high hopes. Plus an added bonus is that the artwork is beautiful! The softly-textured books were created by Kaaren Pixton, who happens to be a talented artist and the grandma of triplets. (SO I’m guessing these books have been put to the test already!) Anyway, if you have a baby who loves to chew (who doesn’t?) and are tired of their board books being consumed then I’m think you might really enjoy these books.

PS. There’s even one with a frog on the cover!

My Aunt Gretchen introduced us to the All Aboard Reading Picture Reader series when she sent us a couple of books several years ago. One of the titles she sent us is Too Noisy! which I just read with Harper last night. What I love about picture readers is that they include illustrations of objects as part of the text — this is a great way to introduce beginning readers (as well as those who haven’t learned to read yet) to reading. Typically I’ll trace my finger under the words as we read, and then pause at each picture to let Harper fill in the word for me. Not only does this help my beginning reader follow along with what I’m reading, but it also introduces the concept of reading from left to right. Picture Readers are also great for building confidence in hesitant readers and can be really helpful if English is a second language. Plus, a silly, fun story that teaches a little something is rarely a bad thing!

I woke up thinking about this book, and when I realized it was Tuesday (sometimes it takes me awhile) I thought, “oh, perfect!” Kevin Henkes has written and illustrated dozens of children’s books. I love the variety of his designs – I’ll run across a book of his without realizing that he wrote & illustrated it and then glance at the author’s name and go, “Goodness, here’s another one by him!” (I talk to myself a lot, you may have noticed. )

Anyway, his mouse books are a personal favorite in this household – There’s Lilly with her purple plastic purse, Wemberly who’s worried about just about everthing, including starting school, adorable Owen and sweet Chrysanthemum. I think you get the picture… Anyway, check out his titles the next time you’re at the library or book store – they’re definitely a treat!

My mom mailed us another great blast from the past last week: the Childcraft series of learning books! I distinctly remember being fascinated by these books, and learning about the 7 Wonders of the World (they’ve changed now, haven’t they?) and doing the math problems in the Mathemagic book. It’s so fun to see the kids discover these books with the same excitement and thirst for learning, even if some of the information is slightly outdated (considering this set is copyright 1980.)

Here’s a little info I found via Wikipedia:

The Childcraft series was originally created in the 1930s by W. F. Quarrie & Company, then publishers of the World Book encyclopedia. The series’ title was Childcraft – The How and Why Library.
Childcraft was created as a sort of encyclopedia for young children. With simple texts and illustrations, the volumes were designed to make learning fun. Each volume addressed different subjects, including literature — such as short stories and poetry, including fairy tales and nursery rhymes — as well as mathematics and the sciences.

The good news is that you can own your own updated set of these books, too, if you’d like, but for now I think we’ll just stick with the ones we have…even if Pluto isn’t really considered a planet anymore, the 7 Ancient Wonders of the World have changed, and there’s this crazy new thing called computers.