Little Bookworms

As an English major, I read and loved some Sherman Alexie, bowed to the greatness that is Ellison's The Invisible Man, and joined in the cliche of adoring Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being, but these days I'm lacking in enough brainpower to deal with the great novels of our time. Children's literature, on the other hand, is right up my mom-brained alley, and getting kids excited about reading is one of my favorite parts of being a teacher and a mom. I'll never forget reading Sideways Stories From Wayside School aloud to a group of third-graders when I was a student teacher, and watching all 30 of them giggle hysterically until tears ran down their faces as I read about Paul trying to resist pulling Leslie's pigtails. By the end, we were all in pain from laughing so hard, and every day afterward, they begged for more chapters from that book...and then I had them. It was so easy to hook them on other Wayside School books next, and then other Louis Sachar books, and so on. It's kind of like being a drug dealer, only nicer.

Since I'm always excited to find new books and authors that the girls or my students might enjoy, I thought I'd pass along some of the girls' favorites right now:

Ladybug Girl was one of Ellie's Hanukkah gifts from Grandma Marmee and Pop-Pop, but both girls love it! It's not big on plot--little girl finds things to do outside while her family is busy all day--but the language is simple and pretty, and the illustrations are adorable.


Pinkalicious is fun and girly, and has some cute alliteration and word play (she has "pinktails" and plays "pink pong"). The main character is kind of a brat, which her parents don't seem to notice, but every book we read doesn't have to be a public service announcement for perfect behavior, now, does it? (This is an internal battle teachers and parents have to fight with The Great Gilly Hopkins and the Junie B. Jones series as well, but kids love 'em!)


Purplicious is one of my favorite words to hear Elliana say: "Puh-puh-WISH-us?" It's obviously a sequel to the above book, and personally, I think they decline in quality as the series goes on (confession: I sometimes hide our copy of Goldilicious because I don't like it much at all), but the girls love it, and it does carry a cute message about being yourself even when you don't fit in.


The Knuffle Bunny books are nothing short of awesome, and I'm so glad the girls have recently re-discovered it. I'm equally glad they haven't yet remembered there's now Knuffle Bunny Free, which makes Mommy cry. A lot.



Every Cowgirl Needs a Horse was one of Kiwi's Hanukkah gifts from Grandma Marmee and Pop-Pop (who obviously have great taste in books), and Elliana loves it, too. It's about a little pretend-cowgirl who wants a horse for her birthday, but gets a bike instead. My rule is that it must be read aloud with a southern drawl. It's fun--and really hard to stop after the book is over! As an added bonus, it got Keira started on randomly talking with a twang, which is all kinds of fun: "Mom? Ah'm gonna go rad mah back nay-ow."


Fancy Nancy is really an ingenious series of books. I wish I'd written them--not only because I'd be filthy stinking rich, but because they're adorable, girls love them, and they secretly teach vocabulary by sneaking in big words followed by, "That's a fancy way of saying ____." Auntie Lisa got this one for Kiwi for her last birthday, and while it's a little over Ellie's head, I'm sure it won't be long before she's on the Fancy Nancy bandwagon, too!


Looks like I'll be planning a Curious George birthday party for Ellie-Bug in the near-ish future, because her obsession with these books shows no sign of diminishing...and she's brought Keira along for the ride, too! George has grown on me, which is a good thing, because we read several of these stories (sometimes multiple times each) every...single...day.

Here are some of my favorite pics of the little bookworms in action:

Baby Keira:


Ellie-Bug, dazzling us with her ability to read upside-down:


Toddler Kiwi and her sidekick, Blankie. Oh, those curls!


Keira and cousin Brandon:


Ellie and her great-great grandma:


Bear and the girls:

The girls with cousin Joshie:

How lucky these girls are, to have so many books and so many people willing to read to them!