David Shannon rocks

Our bedtime ritual starts out with collecting all of the stuffed animals; then Ryder picks out a book–it is NEVER my turn–and we climb into bed.  First, I read the book, and then Ryder reads the book back to me. As amazing as my 2-and-a-half-year-old is, he cannot read yet, so when he “reads” back the story to me word for word, I know how important story time is to him.

Tonight’s book was “No, David!” by David Shannon. It has beautiful pictures that have a childish feel to them. There are only a few words on each page, but the simplicity of the texts allows lots of room for discussion.

Because there are so few words, I asked Ryder what was going on on each page; when it was his turn, he did the same thing and asked me what I thought was happening! Ryder can completely relate to this little guy who is just doing his own thing, but can’t seem to do anything right! It is great for him to see him make the connections with his own experiences.

 

The Train to Maine

My son LOVES trains! As much as we adore Thomas, there has to be something else out there for kids. On our last trip to the bookstore I was totally unimpressed. My son kept up picking up Thomas the train stuff and books with PBS characters. Ugh. I was about to give up. Literally, about to give up on the bookstore. Around the corner from the children’s books were the Maine’s children books, and there it was.

Now my son can tell you that he lives in Maine, but he doesn’t know much about the state we live in. He does, however, know lots about the Amtrak–it drives by his school daily, and it is the highlight of his day! Check out this nice story about the train ride from Boston to Portland, and talk about the beautiful pictures with your kids.