Reads for 2011, Part 2

As promised, here are the picks from children's literature.

Kid Picks:

1."Science Verse"- more zany fun from Jon Scieszka! It's hard to resist the fun of poems about such scientific concepts as metamorphosis, the water cycle or the food chain when written with this writer's sense of humor. Hilarious, and well illustrated. My boys love this one.

2. "Th Wonderful Wizard of OZ" (graphic novel)- normally I'm leary of graphic novels, but when Briggy insisted on signing out this version of the story by Shanower and Young from the library I fell in love with this story all over again. Whwether you actually have read the book or only know the movie, this one is well worth finding. Thier art breathes new life into a classic and the charm of the characters is impossible to resis.

3."Tyrannosaurus Was a Beast"- we're big fans of the poet Jack Prelutsky around here, and this book of his is an absolute gem. Poems about dinosaurs? A huge hit!

4."My Father's Dragon"-Thanks to Jacky for introducing this book to us. Elmer goes on a quest to rescue a baby dragon held captive by the mean animals on Savage ISland, battling them with his wits and the contents of his pockets. The perfect book to start your kid on chapter books as it's not too long and ther'es still plenty of pictures on the pages. Briggy and I read it together as his first chapter book.

5."Clever Jack Takes the Cake"-when Jack, a poor boy living near the forest is accidentally invited to the princess' birthday party he creates the best gift that he can: a splendid cake. But on the long journey to the party can he make it past all who oppose him with his gift intact? Fairytale-like in it's beauty.

6."Goldilocks and the Three Bears"- being a sucker for fairytales, I'm always on the lookout for well-told versions with excellent illustrations (there are far too many insipid versions on the market). This one by James Marshall is marvellous.I simply love the bear's home cluttered with books and them going out on their battered bicycle. Goldilocks is also delightfully bratty.

7."Pippi Longstockings"- I read this book years ago, and I spent a great deal of my childhood wishing that I could be Pippi. She is impossible not to love, especially as a child; living on her own in the way she wants, complete with a pet monkey, a treasure chest full of gold and no school. What's not to love? Check out the version illustrated by Lauren Child, it's the best version that I've ever seen. It leaves me hoping that she'll illustrate Pipp'e further adventures in her other two books.

8."We are in a Book!"- with Ben learning how to read we have discovered a splendid early reader series by one of our favourite authors Mo Willems. Whether you have a beginning reader or not, the adventures of Gerald the elephant and Piggie are splendid fun. In this one they realize that they are actually in a book and hilarity ensues. It's excellent, but lla of their books are.

9."Charlotte's Web"- yet another book I rediscovered last year by reading to one of the kids. Both Ben and I were cheering for Wilbur and his best friend. This time around I better appreciated the style of Mr.White's writing. I also was left longing for a similiar swing like the one mentioned at one point in the story, plus just a farm.

10.""Cute and Easy Costumes for Kids"- okay, this is not technically a book for kids' reading consumption, but the boys did love pouring over the wonderful costume possibilities between it's pages. The best part (for me at least) was that all of the costumes were easy to sew, even for such nervous novice such as myself. That'sa picture of the costumes that I made Ben and Brigham from this book for Halloween at the top. They were a big hit.