WFMW - The Need to Read

This week's Works for Me Wednesday over with Shannon at Rocks in my Dryer is a themed edition. Simply put the posts are all begging for ideas on the things that have us completely stumped.



Now, Toots is a little over three and, I think, old enough to start learning to read rather than just cleverly memorise what words look like so she can fob mommy off at a later date (trust me there's a difference).



For this I need your help. I have quite a lot of books at home for her, a lot of them are along the idea of flashcards, and the more recent ones are short children's stories. However, the story books have been written by idiots.



She isn't engaged by them in the slightest, they're brightly coloured and that's about it. There's no plot, moral to the story, nothing to make it stick in her head.



They aren't even repetitve in the "see spot run, see spot jump" kind of way I remember my first books as being.



What I would like is for you to give me the names of books or authors of children's books which you're children were mad about.



What did they love and ask for night after night. Basically, which books did you eventually claim "you couldn't find" when your kids asked for them.



I'm not particular, I'll take suggestions for anything, modern, time tested classics, anything at all.



Please help a woman desperate for her child's memories of her early reading experiences not to be "hmmmm".

11 comments:

  1. My kids both loved all 6 books in the volume "The Big Blue Book of Beginner Books" (http://www.amazon.com/Big-Blue-Book-Beginner-Books/dp/0375855521/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1220444730&sr=8-1). Their favorites were "Put Me in the Zoo" and "The Best Nest".

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  2. We love the library, and I pick out beautiful books.

    My 2 1/2 year old LOVES Jim Arnosky ("Babies in the Bayou", "A Day in the Life of A Raccoon")

    My older daughter has always loved Stellaluna. I've found sticking to Newberry winners usually works out pretty well!

    You might look for Charlotte Mason booklists (like can be found at www.amblesideonline.com). She detested "twaddle" and there are lots of lists of intelligent children's books floating around.

    Thanks for your comment on my blog!

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  3. Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?

    Chicka, Chicka Boom Boom

    The Kissing Hand

    The Apple Pie Tree

    Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day

    Cookie's Week

    Gail Gibbons and Robert Munsch (the funny ones, not Love You Forever)were favorites, too.

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  4. When we were kids, we loved anything Berenstein Bears and also loved the Sweet Pickles series. Try going to your local library and picking the librarian's brains - they usually have great ideas.

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  5. I'm a fan of "Goodnight Moon"...that's all I can remember from my childhood that I loved, and I don't have children so unfortunately I'm not in a position to know much more than that!!

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  6. My kids love Little Critter and Frog and Toad. Both series with great morals and such. Frog and Toad is probably the better one for learning to read.

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  7. Alex adores the Baby Einstein books, while Ben (who is autistic) enjoyed the encyclopedia of the solar system.

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  8. The 1000 Good Books List has great suggestions organized by reading level. I've also got a bunch of other book lists included in my Homeschooling for Free: 33 Literature Resources post.

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  9. My almost-3-year-old likes Curious George. And we have recently found Barefoot Books, an independent children's book publisher. We loved them so much that I started selling them, too (check out the blog, then click on Barefoot Books link on my sidebar).

    As far as Barefoot goes:
    She always asks for The Gigantic Turnip, a classic folk tale, and great for counting and a good story about teamwork.

    She also likes The Parrot Tico Tango, What's This?, Island in the Sun, Storytime (lots of old classic stories like The Ugly Duckling and Red Riding Hood).

    I could go on forever! Good luck!!
    -Lori

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  10. Anything by Dr. Seuss! My kids loooooved Cat In The Hat, but now Oh The Places You'll Go makes this mama cry. :o) Blessings, Whitney

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  11. These are all great. I think I'll have to start at the library and see about borrowing a few of these and then buy whichever ones she takes to the best.

    Thanks everyone.

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Your comments make me smile. I love that you stopped by.