Thanksgiving Is...

In leu of Thanksgiving, I wanted to review a Thanksgiving themed book. I picked up "Thanksgiving Is..." by Gail Gibbons at the library this week. I felt like I needed to get Zane in the mood for turkey day, even though he's already really hyped up for it. I tried to read it to him the other night, but he wasn't really interested. I think he just wasn't in the mood.

The books starts by going through the history of Thanksgiving, going back to Egypt. Harvest festivals and celebrations through time are illustrated, with fun little facts of other cultures and civilizations tossed in. I think the beginning was a little over Zane's head, although I enjoyed it. I was happy that towards the middle of the book, the basic story of the pilgrims was outlined and the rest of the book focused on how our Thanksgiving celebrations today are much like the First Thanksgiving.

All in all, I would recommend it to be informative for kids 4 and older, and have fun pictures for the younger ones. The illustrations are fun so you can always point to the pictures and tell younger ones what you want them to know.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

My Button

I have a button! I'm so proud of myself for figuring out how to make these. Now I just need to figure out how to make the box below it with the code for other people to grab. Soon to come...

Where's the Dragon?

Where's the Dragon? by Jason Hook, ill by Richard Hook is one of my son's favorites. A little boy goes on a dragon hunting adventure with his not so "with it" grandfather. As they search for the illusive dragon, he stays one step ahead. The story is fun and draws children in, but the illustrations are wonderful. The book is textured and there are hidden dragons on every page. My son loves to run his fingers across the page as I read, on his own search for a dragon. There are 72 dragons hidden, some easy and some are more obscure.

I highly recommend this book for any youngster with a love of dragons. Not only is the story well written, but going on your own dragon hunt is continually fun.

Newbery Medal Winners

After deciding that my ideal job would be to get paid to read children's books (let me know if that exists), I decided that I wanted to be on the Newbery Award Committee someday. In preparation for this, I made a goal to read all the Newbery Award Winning books from the time it started in 1922. So far, most have been wonderful. Here's a quick list of my favorite, okay, and don't bother books. I'll go into more detail for each one in another post, here's my list for now.

Great Reads:

2004: The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread by Kate Dicamillo
I must say here that the book is much better than the movie, although I enjoyed both.
1994: The Giver by Lois Lowry - one of my ALL TIME FAVORITE books
1990: Number the Stars by Lois Lowry (just love this author)
1983: Dicey's Song by Cynthia Voight
1978: Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
1963: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
1961: Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell
1944: Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes

Good but didn't amaze me:

2008: Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz
2007: The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron
2006: Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins
2005: Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata
1998: Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse
1986: Sarah Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
1971: Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars

Don't Bother:

1925: Tales from Silver Lands by Charles Finger (couldn't even finish it)
1922: The Story of Mankind by Hendrik Willem van Loon (really boring and not accurate, don't know of a child that could read this)

My FAVORITE alphabet book

This book is the best alphabet book I have found. A friend of mine bought it at the Getty Museum for her daughter and when I had my son it was the first book I bought. Each letter is illustrated by a vignette of a beautiful painting that hangs in the Getty Museum. The complete images are in the back of the book. I found it refreshing to have a children's book that isn't the typical "a is for apple" with a simple picture of an apple. The artwork in this book is beautiful and illustrates each letter creatively. Plus, it introduces your child to fine art, that's always great.

What is The Kid List?

I love reading. I love reading children's books. I go to the library with my 4 year old son and can't wait to get home and start reading to him. When we go to the library, I let him loose in the children's section and pick whatever books he wants. When we get home, we discover some great finds, and I wonder how others were even considered by a publisher.

After many trips to the library, I thought it would be fun to start writing book reviews. My whole life I've been an avid reader of children's and young adult novels. My mom worked at our local library when I was a kid. After school I would hole up, Matilda style, in the children's section. I would find the librarian's step stool, take it to a seldom used corner, and stack up children's books next to me. I would step into the world of books and live my "other life" until it was time for us to go home, at which point I would check out the rest of the stack, and the cycle started over the next day. I think by the time my mom stopped working there, I may have read the entire children's section.

Now that I'm a mother of two, I don't have time to read as much as I'd like, but I am again finding how easy it is to love a short 10 minute story. I hope you enjoy my list of recommended books and if you want, can easily avoid some of the bombs that I find.