First, books for toddlers and pre-schoolers:<\/p>\n
I taught myself to read with this books, and even now, just looking at the cover makes me happy.<\/p>\n Green Eggs and Ham<\/em> was the result of a bet between Dr. Seuss and his editor–a bet that he couldn’t write a book using only fifty words. Not only did he win that bet, he wrote a classic. I mean, who doesn’t immediately remember “That Sam-I-Am! That Sam-I-Am! I do not like that Sam-I-Am!”<\/p>\n And although it wasn’t written by Dr Seuss, Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb<\/a><\/em> by Al Perkins and illustrated by Eric Gurney was another favorite. <\/p>\n I was talking with a friend the other day, and her son loves this book, and loves repeating “Dum Ditty Dum Ditty Dum Dum Dum.”<\/p>\n Who can resist “STOMP YOUR FEET! CLAP YOUR HANDS! EVERYBODY READY FOR A BARN YARD DANCE!”? Not me!<\/p>\n Both of these books (and several others) have apps for Android devices, and I’ve had many children play with these apps on my phone, and they saved several dinners from “I’m booooooooored.”<\/p>\n There’s lots of roaring in this one, so if you’re reading it as a bedtime book, you might want to start, rather than end with it.<\/p>\n There are no words to this book, just a story told in pictures.<\/p>\n Gorgeous pictures.<\/p>\n But really, anything by David Weisner is going to be absolutely gorgeous. Art & Max<\/a><\/em> is another fabulous book by him, as is Flotsam<\/a><\/em> <\/p>\n These are good for per-schoolers, and kids learning to read.<\/p>\n The cows have gotten their hands on a typewriter, and have decided they have some demands to make of Farmer Brown.<\/p>\n I’m sure ultra-conservatives have problems with the theme of collective bargaining and striking to get what you want, but it’s really quite marvelous.<\/p>\n Papa is trying to read a bedtime story, but the little red chicken gets a little too into the stories, such as warning Hansel and Gretel “DON’T GO IN! SHE’S A WITCH!”<\/p>\n Unlike most of the previous books, this isn’t a funny story, but it is quite lovely. And the pictures are beautiful.<\/p>\n This is probably going to be appreciated more by jazz loves than by those who don’t listen to jazz, but if you know who Charlie Parker is, you’re going to enjoy reading this book.<\/p>\n Now go find a kid and read to ’em!<\/p>\n (NOTE: If you click through to Amazon and buy one of those books, I get a penny or two, that eventually adds up to MORE BOOKS FOR ME!)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As I reader, one of my goals in life is to help all the small people in my life become readers. So I give a LOT of books as gifts–enough that I had to create a spreadsheet so I could track who has received what. As I was wrapping books for the latest birthday, I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kids"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-147","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4118,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/4118","url_meta":{"origin":4099,"position":0},"title":"Books for Kids: Part II","author":"Michelle","date":"October 24, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I mostly review adult and YA books, but because there are a lot of kids in my life, there are also a lot of kids books in my life, so here are some books for the kids in your life. Books for Kids Part I These are some good books\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Kids"","block_context":{"text":"Kids","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/kids"},"img":{"alt_text":"Dont-Let-Pigeon-Drive-Bus","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Dont-Let-Pigeon-Drive-Bus-297x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4134,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/4134","url_meta":{"origin":4099,"position":1},"title":"Books for Kids: Part III","author":"Michelle","date":"October 24, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Here are books for middle grade readers and older kids. A lot of these I can recommend for adult readers, they're really very good (and with online ordering, you don't have to skulk into the kids section, feeling like a creep who doesn't belong). Part I - Toddlers and Pre-Schoolers\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Kids"","block_context":{"text":"Kids","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/kids"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/The-Old-Man-Mad-About-Drawing.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1153,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/1153","url_meta":{"origin":4099,"position":2},"title":"The Graveyard Book","author":"Michelle","date":"May 24, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"The Graveyard Book (2008) Neil Gaiman Nobody Owens lives in a graveyard. I've known this for quite awhile. You see, I read Neil Gaiman's blog, and he'd been talking about The Graveyard Book long before he every got around to writing it. So I knew there would one day be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/Graveyard-Book.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/5","url_meta":{"origin":4099,"position":3},"title":"His Dark Materials","author":"Michelle","date":"January 23, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman I picked these up because I had heard good things about them, because they were supposedly 'Young Adult' books and thus a fast read for me, and because all three books of the trilogy were out and available.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/6","url_meta":{"origin":4099,"position":4},"title":"Sabriel, Lirael, Abhorsen","author":"Michelle","date":"January 23, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Sabriel, Lirael, Abhorsen by Garth Nix I'd been looking Sabriel for awhile but hadn't picked it up to read, mostly because I already have too many books I'll read when I have time to get around to it, but I read some positive comments about the books, and decided to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13600,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/13600","url_meta":{"origin":4099,"position":5},"title":"Skinwalker, Audio Edition","author":"Michelle","date":"November 22, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Skinwalker, Audio Edition (2009\/2010) Faith Hunter narrated by Khristine Hvam (Jane Yellowrock) I had trouble with the last couple Jane Yellowrock books, so I decided to go back to the beginning. Also, I wasn't in the mood to listen to the Night Watch series anymore, and this was one of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Skinwalker","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Skinwalker.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4099\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"green-eggs-and-ham\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/green-eggs-and-ham.jpg?resize=110%2C150&ssl=1\")
<\/a>Let’s start with my all time favorite book from childhood, Green Eggs and Ham<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n![\"moo-baa-la-la-la\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/moo-baa-la-la-la.jpg?resize=149%2C150&ssl=1\")
<\/a>Another favorite is Sandra Boynton. (She’s on Twitter<\/a>!) MOO, BAA, LA LA LA!<\/a><\/em> is quite possibly one of the happiest books I can think of, followed immediately by Barnyard Dance<\/a><\/em>. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n![\"dinosaur-vs-bedtime\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/dinosaur-vs-bedtime.jpg?resize=123%2C150&ssl=1\")
<\/a>Another fun book is Dinosaur vs. Bedtime<\/a><\/em> by Bob Shea. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n![\"sector-7\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/sector-7.jpg?resize=131%2C150&ssl=1\")
<\/a>Sector 7<\/a><\/em> by David Wiesner is another book that parents have told me their kids have loved. <\/p>\n![\"photo-2-wiesner-sector-7_600x350\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/photo-2-wiesner-sector-7_600x350.jpg?resize=300%2C175&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n![\"click-clack-moo\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/click-clack-moo.jpg?resize=116%2C150&ssl=1\")
<\/a>Click, Clack, Moo Cows That Type<\/a><\/em> by Doreen Cronin is another fabulous book that is a lot of fun to read aloud.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n![\"interrupting-chicken\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/interrupting-chicken.jpg?resize=150%2C123&ssl=1\")
<\/a>Interrupting Chicken<\/a><\/em> by David Ezra Stein is another fun book (are you seeing a theme here? I love fun books.)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n![\"Zen_Shorts\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Zen_Shorts.jpg?resize=143%2C150&ssl=1\")
<\/a>Zen Shorts<\/a><\/em> by Jon J Muth is another lovely book. A panda moves next door to three siblings, and over time, each child visits Stillwater the panda, and he tells them stories.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n![\"CharlieParkerBeBop\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/CharlieParkerBeBop.jpg?resize=143%2C150&ssl=1\")
<\/a>One last book for this post, is Charlie Parker Played Be Bop<\/a><\/em> by Christopher Raschka. This is a jazz story, full of rhythm and rhyme and swing. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n