Thursday, November 12, 2009

What We are Reading This Week , November 12

This past weekend I took my little elf and her friend to the library. It has been a while since we’ve been and so we really went nuts!! We took out about 30 books between the two of us!
Usually we only take out about 5 each, but I guess we were trying to make up for library withdrawal. And of course, I took a few books out for the children at the daycare, too.

So, here is the list of what we have been reading this week since our backbreaking trip home from said library.

The Elf has read:

  • Ramona the Brave
  • Ramona the Pest
  • Ramona and Her Father (all by Beverly Cleary)
  • Magic School Bus. In the Time of The Dinosaurs
  • MSB, Explores the Senses by Joanna Cole.

My daycare children (as well as the Elf) enjoyed:

  • Saturday Night at the Dinosaur Stomp by Carol Diggory Shields and wildly illustrated by Scott Nash
  • On the Night You Were Born by Nancy Tillman
  • Berenstain Bears on the Moon by Jan and Stan Berenstain

We also borrowed The Glow in the Dark Night Sky Book by Clint Hatchett, illustrated by Stephen Marchesi. Besides the fact that “Night” is our theme at the daycare this week (hence the Night theme in the above picture books), I thought that here at home we could use the “late autumn” constellation map when we are out next Tuesday night (November 17-18 , 11:00 pm until 4:00 am) to witness the Leonid Meteor Shower.

I’m still not sure whether to have the Elf up so late to witness the shower or not. It is a school night and it is getting much colder. But she is eight now and interested in all things celestial, so it might be worth letting her sleep in and go to school late….
I will likely get her to bed early and wait to see if the night is clear enough and we get a good show before deciding whether or not it is worth waking her.

Another book that I took out was Hana’s Suitcase by Karen Levine. It was winner of the Canadian Library Association Book of the Year for Children, the Silver Birch Award and the National Jewish Book Awards. I read it alone and cried.

The Elf knows certain things about war. She knows that war is not a nice thing. She knows that countless people die in war. She knows a little about the Holocaust. But I don’t think I’m ready for her to read this book yet. Because once you know such horrible truths about the world, it changes you… and I’m not ready for that yet. When she’s a little older, it will be a good book to read.

I am thankful that we are fortunate enough to live in a place where she gets to hold onto her childhood longer than many children in the world who are living through war now. And my heart goes out to those Mamas and Papas who must endure the cold and brutal reality of having more than just the loss of childhood innocence to face.

4 comments:

Mary Lynn said...

I need to take the kids to the library again soon, too. We always seem to pass it when we're in a hurry to get somewhere. They've been asking to go, though, so I really ought to make a special trip there to get some books.

Love reading the book suggestions. I feel same as you regarding introducing the kids to the subject of war. I want them to have an appreciation of what a wonderful place they live in within a world that sometimes can be far from wonderful. I'm just not ready yet to go into all the details, though.

Z-Kids said...

hooray for Ramona!

Lynn said...

I loooooved the Ramona books when younger. And I have Berenstain Bears on the Moon right next to my bed waiting to be reviewed!

Brimful Curiosities said...

30 books! That's quite a haul. I loved Ramona as a young girl.