Children’s Room

Lets Celebrate National Adopt a Cat Month!

/ Sharon Tyler / Leave a comment

Did you know that June is National Adopt a Cat Month? With that little tidbit of knowledge and the bonus of June 19 being Garfield the Cat Day, I thought I would share some great books about cats. So, I have two small lists for our feline friendly readers, one for adults and one for sharing with the youngest cat lovers.

1. Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron
2. Homer’s Odyssey by Gwen Cooper
3. Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats by T.S. Eliot
4. A Street Cat Named Bob: How One Man and His Cat Found Hope on the Streets by James Bowen
5. Making Rounds with Oscar: The Extraordinary Gift of an Ordinary Cat by David Dosa
6. Cat Daddy: What the World’s Most Incorrigible Cat Taught Me About Life, Love, and Coming Clean by Jackson Galaxy
7. Cat Sense: How the New Feline Science Can Make You a Better Friend to your Pet by John Bradshaw
8. Dewey’s Nine Lives: the Legacy of the Small-Town Library Cat Who Inspired Millions by Vicki Myron, with Bret Witter
9. Cleo: The Cat Who Mended a Family by Helen Brown

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Looking for cat books to share with younger readers? Well then you cannot go wrong with:

1. Millions of Cats by Wanda Gág
2. Splat the Cat by Rob Scotton
3. Skippyjon Jones by Judy Schachner
4. Puss in Boots by Charles Perrault
5. Dewey: There’s a Cat in the Library! by Vicki Myron
6. Chester by Mélanie Watt
7. Kitten’s First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes
8. Won-Ton: A Cat Tale Told in Haiku by Lee Wardlaw
9. Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes by Eric Litwin, James Dean

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Eric Hill, Author of Spot Books, Has Passed Away

/ Sharon Tyler / Leave a comment

Eric Hill, author and illustrator of the Spot books has passed away at the age of 86 on Friday June 6th. If you have ever read a board book or picture book about the sweet but mischievous puppy named Spot, you have seen his work. My children loved the Spot books, especially the interaction of lifting the flaps on each page to see who or what is hiding behind them.

The first Spot book, Where’s Spot?, was published in 1980 and has since sold over 60 million copies around the world according to the Penguin Young Readers Group. There was even an animated series based on Hill’s books.  For more information on this author and his work, take a look at the author page dedicated to him at Penguin or here on the site all about Spot.

Do you have any favorite Spot books? I know that I have a couple personal copies with missing flaps that I just cannot part with because of my memories attached to the books and the times when my children were young enough to love Spot. Here are a list of the ten Spot books that remember most, and enjoyed with my children. Do you have a different favorite?

1. Where’s Spot?

2. Spot’s First Walk

3. Spot Loves His Mommy

4. Spot Loves His Daddy

5. Spot Goes to School

6. Spot Bakes a Cake

7. Spot Goes to the Library

8. Spot’s Balloon

9. Spot’s First Words

10. Spot’s First Numbers

Fiction for Young Tech Fiends

/ Sharon Tyler / Leave a comment

Do you have a child that loves the computers and all things internet or computer game related? If you are hoping to get those kids looking at books on paper rather than computer screens, then perhaps some books about computers, the internet, and related games might interest them in  reading a little bit more. Here are some novels that feature computers and related technology in the story.

The Homework Machine by Dan Gutman
Four fifth-grade students–a geek, a class clown, a teacher’s pet, and a slacker–as well as their teacher and mothers, each relate events surrounding a computer programmed to complete homework assignments.

The Boggart by Susan Cooper
After visiting the castle in Scotland which her family has inherited and returning home to Canada, twelve-year-old Emily finds that she has accidentally brought back with her a boggart, an invisible and mischievous spirit with a fondness for practical jokes.

Mousenet by Prudence Breitrose; illustrated by Stephanie Yue.
Sent to live with her chef father and his wife in Oregon after having stayed with her inventor uncle and scientist mother in Cincinnati, ten-year-old misfit Megan is lonely until she starts working with some computer-savvy mice to try to save Mouse Nation–and the planet.

Snail Mail No More by Paula Danziger & Ann M. Martin
Now that they live in different cities, thirteen-year-old Tara and Elizabeth use email to “talk” about everything that is occurring in their lives and to try to maintain their closeness as they face big changes.

Pure Dead Magic by Debi Gliori
When their father is kidnapped and danger looms, the Strega-Borgia children, their mysterious new nanny, and a giant tarantula use magic and actual trips through the Internet to bring peace to their Scottish castle.

Even more great computer, video game, and internet based fiction is out there. Here are some more of the titles I would recommend first; Monsters in Cyberspace by Dian Curtis Regan with illustrations by Melissa Sweet, Gospel According to Larry by Janet Tashjian, Heir Apparent by Vivian Vande Velde, The Softwire: Virus on Orbis 1 by PJ Haarsma, and Curses, Inc., and Other Stories by Vivian Vande Velde. Do you or your children have a favorite I missed? Please let us know so we can spread the word!

Handling Questions About Bodies with Your Young Children

/ Sharon Tyler / Leave a comment

I think every parent dreads certain questions and discussions with their children. There are a thousand difficult things that we will need to discuss with them as they grow up, and no matter how well-prepared we think we are, they are bound to ask a question or make an observation we are unprepared for. In order to help us feel better about approaching the discussion about body differences, changes, and babies I put together a few book lists to help all of us.

In this post I will offer suggestions for parents in deciding what to say and when, and how to broach the body discussion with the youngest children that need to know why boys and girls are different, and why certain actions or questions might be inappropriate. I followed up that list with some book suggestions that you can share with even the youngest children to help explain matters.

There is another book list coming with suggestions for books intended for middle graders as well as preteens and teens.

Books for Parents:

1. What your Child Needs to Know about Sex (and when): a Straight-Talking Guide for Parents by Fred Kaeser

2. What’s the Big Secret?: Talking about Sex with Girls and Boys by Laurie Krasny Brown and Marc Brown

3. Everything you Never Wanted your Kids to Know about Sex, (but were afraid they’d ask): the Secrets to Surviving your Child’s Sexual Development from Birth to the Teens by Justin Richardson and Mark A. Schuster

4. It’s Perfectly Normal: a Book about Changing Bodies, Growing up, Sex and Sexual Health by Robie H. Harris; illustrated by Michael Emberley

5. Talking to Your Kids about Sex: from Toddlers to Preteens by Lauri Berkenkamp and Steven C. Atkins

6. Ten Talks Parents Must have with their Children about Sex and Character by Pepper Schwartz and Dominic Cappello

7. The Big Talk: Talking to your Child about Sex and Dating by Laurie Langford

Books for the Youngest Kids:

1. It’s Not the Stork!: a Book about Girls, Boys, Babies, Bodies, Families, and Friends by Robie H. Harris; illustrated by Michael Emberley

2. Amazing You: Getting Smart about your Private Parts by Gail Saltz; illustrated by Lynn Cravath

3. Who Has What?: All about Girls’ Bodies and Boys’ Bodies by Robie H. Harris; illustrated by Nadine Bernard Westcott

4. Human Body by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld

5. My Body by Andrea Pinnington and Penny Lamprell

6. Human Body by Margaret Hynes; illustrations, Andy Crisp

Need more suggestions? Just stop by the Children’s Room and the librarian on duty can point you in the right direction!

Recommended Books for Newly Independent Readers

/ Sharon Tyler / Leave a comment

If you have a young reader that is able to read independently (for the most part) and ready to make the change from the more difficult easy readers to chapter books then this is the list to take note of. When a child begins reading fluently their efforts are more automatic and exploring a wider variety of subjects and authors and showing less reliance of the illustrations to glean the meaning of new words and phrases. They are using more expression and taking pauses to coordinate with punctuation and the natural flow of language. Their energy is devoted to understanding, have good command and use of the various comprehension strategies, and can correct their own mistakes most of the time while still being willing to ask for assistance as needed.

Here are some suggestions, including some I brought home for my son this week. As usual, I am 20140303-164915.jpgsure I missed some perfectly wonderful books for this reading level, and if I missed your favorites please mention them in a comment so others can check them out. If you are browsing our fiction shelves in the children’s room looking for books for these readers, I can give you some quick hints to find even more. The transitional chapter books have a yellow dot sticker on the spine with the call number. This makes spotting one or two when you are browsing with no specific author in mind super easy. Do not rule out books in the Easy Reader or Easy Non Fictionsection at this stage either- some books here do have  vocabulary that can help your young reader continue to grow.

Ashanti to Zulu: African Traditions by Margaret Musgrove.
Explains some traditions and customs of 26 African tribes beginning with letters from A to Z.

Dinosaurs Before Dark (Magic Tree House, #1) by Mary Pope Osborne.
Eight-year-old Jack and his younger sister Annie find a magic treehouse, which whisks them back to an ancient time zone where they see live dinosaurs.

Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl.
Three farmers, each one meaner than the other, try all-out warfare to get rid of the fox and his family.

Mrs. Noodlekugel by Daniel Pinkwater.
Nick and Maxine have a new babysitter–the eccentric Mrs. Noodlekugel who lives in the funny little house behind their drab high-rise apartment building along with her feline butler, Mr. Fuzzface, and three myopic mice.

Mercy Watson to the Rescue (Mercy Watson #1) by Kate DiCamillo.
After Mercy the pig snuggles to sleep with the Watsons, all three awaken with the bed teetering on the edge of a big hole in the floor.

The Case of the Lost Boy (The Buddy Files, #1) by Dori Hillestad Butler.
While searching for his mysteriously lost human family, Buddy the dog is adopted by another family and helps solve the mystery of their missing boy.

26 Fairmount Avenue  by Tomie dePaola.
Children’s author-illustrator Tomie De Paola describes his experiences at home and in school when he was a boy.

Other titles or series starters that I would recommend are: Ivy and Bean (Ivy and Bean, #1) by Annie Barrows, The One in the Middle Is the Green Kangaroo by Judy Blume, The Beast in Ms. Rooney’s Room (The Kids of the Polk Street School #1) by Patricia Reilly Giff, Never Glue Your Friends to Chairs (Roscoe Riley Rules, #1) by Katherine Applegate, Ruby Lu, Brave and True by Lenore Look, Ellray Jakes is Not a Chicken by Sally Warner, Nate the Great (and the entire Nate series) by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat, Snake and Lizard and Friends  by Joy Cowley, Wonder Kid Meets the Evil Lunch Snatcher by Lois Duncan, Stinky: a Toon Book by Eleanor Davis, Bink & Gollie, Best Friends Forever by Kate DiCamillo, and The Big Something by Patricia Reilly Giff.