Belinda Begins Ballet: Don't let obstacles get in your way

Title: Belinda Begins Ballet
Author: Amy Young
Illustrator: Amy Young
Age Range: 3-8
Genre: Picture book

When I was growing up, my parents decided at some point that my duck walk would no longer do and decided ballet lesson would be the thing to cure my walk.  (Little did they understand that my duck walk feet also worked very well in ballet.)  When they told me I was going to do ballet, I pouted, cried and screamed because I didn't want to dance.  I was worried about the clothes, what I would look like and what I would be doing in the class that could potentially humiliate or embarrass my already then fragile ego.  (I was a bit of a sensitive child.)

However, I ended up loving ballet enough to take it for about five years.  I loved the dancing, the discipline, the French words, and the whole movement and grace of the dance form.  When dancing, I felt so different and out of my body and a part of the music in a way that I've never experienced since then.  I love ballet.

In the book, Belinda Begins Ballet, Belinda also loves ballet, only she isn't aware of it initially.  She starts life having these rather enormous feet, and they are her most distinguishing characteristic.  As she grows up and goes to school, a teacher notices these feet and decides that Belinda is the perfect person to play the clown for the school talent show; Belinda will be clumsy, uncoordinated, and fall and crash into things as only a clown should.  Only, Belinda does not like the role, and is entranced one day, when she inadvertently catches one of the students dancing a ballet solo for the talent show.  From that day on, Belinda watches and then goes home and practices ballet movements.

In the end, when it is her turn to dance onstage, Belinda chooses to dance gracefully and beautifully, and not like a clown at all. She is true to herself and what she wants to do.  She does not let her big feet stop her from being the dancer she wants to be.

I love Belinda because she tries hard to overcome the obstacles that are in front of her, and in the end her hard work pays off.  My daughters have both loved the book for it is funny as well as having a powerful message.

The first book in the series


The next in the series...also really super cute


A funny one where Belinda is supposed to dance in Paris, but her shoes are lost so she has to figure out how to make them...to the rescue - Baguettes!


The last in the series...there is a bit of a catty girl in this one, so I'm less keen on this than the others, but still a good read

Cars:Rushing! Honking! Zooming!: Rhyme and have fun with your child

Title: Cars: Rushing! Honking! Zooming!
Author: Patricia Hubbell
Illustrator: Megan Halsey and Sean Addy
Age Range: 3-8
Genre: Picture book, rhyming

There has been a lot of research done in regards to the benefits of reading aloud rhymes to your child.  Rhymes help children gain some basic building blocks to become readers.  But more than that, children love rhymes.  I think rhymes help ME to read the story with more fun and more inflection and I can see that the rhythm and rhyme engage my son an additional level besides just the story line itself.

I picked this book up on a whim and upon opening it, knew immediately that my son would love it.  The pictures are really unique, sort of retro but also modern at the same time.  The illustrators mix up who is driving all of the cars - sometimes animals, sometimes humans but it makes for a really wonderful thing to look at.  My son can't get enough of it and I've been reading/rapping the book to him every night for the past six days.  He loves the pictures, and the last line of the book is "they go to rest" and I always whisper it, since it is a picture of a cars "sleeping" in their garages.  My son, now also whispers it and it is so fun to see.

This book simply details in rhyme, types of cars, what they do, where they go, why they are useful and is just a really fun book both to the eyes and to the ears.

Hardcover


Paperback

All of a Kind Family: Good clean fun and a window into the past

Title: All of a Kind Family
Author: Sydney Taylor, Helen John
Age Range: 7-12
Genre: Historical Fiction

I worry a lot about what my children consider to be entertainment.  In a world where there is TV, amusement parks, ipods, iphones, cable, video games and cartoons, there is never any lack of entertainment.  But I worry that this overly commercialized society will eventually stifle any creative juices in their bones and stunt their imaginations.

I spend a lot of time talking to my children about how the world is changing, and how they have so many things that I didn't have as a child.  I also really like them to read about times and places where people didn't have as much, and instead relied on their wits, their imagination, and their spunk to get them through the day.  I like them to imagine worlds where the things that they consider to be normal didn't exist and still people were very happy and enjoyed and loved their life.

I loved this book as a child.  I remember picking it up at my local library, and reading the first page and deciding to get it.  It was a heavy hardback book, but I loved reading books about lots of siblings, especially sisters since I didn't have any sisters.  There were several in the series and I know I read all of them.

The story takes place in New York, post WWII and portrays a wonderful Jewish family and the escapades of their life. There are five girls ranging in age from four years to twelve year old.  It is more a series of vignettes and isn't really one cohesive novel with a beginning, a middle and an end.  Rather it captures individual moments in the family's life and how they deal with those situations are really funny.  One such story is the one where the girls have to dust (they have chores!) and they complain about how much they hate dusting.  Their mother decides to make a game of it and hides buttons, and as the girls dust, they are supposed to try and find the buttons.  It's a cute game and one I think I may have my kids try when I want them to mop the floor or something.  It has such a sense of good clean fun and the adventures and misadventures of the girls are wonderful to read about.

This would be a great read aloud book with your child, if he or she can't read well enough yet.

The Secret Garden: The magic of the outdoors

Title: The Secret Garden
Author: Frances Hodgson Burnett
Illustrator: Inga Moore
Age Range: ages 8-12 (possibly age 6+ if read aloud and discussed)

In a world that is overflowing with technology, media, video games, and entertainment, it is hard to understand the appeal of a garden.  However, on a recent visit to my parents' house in Southern California, I've discovered that my children, all three of them enjoy a beautiful garden in a way I would have never had expected them to.  They go outside, water the plants, pick up different flowers, admire the flower petals, smell roses, pick fruit and just enjoy the beautiful space outside that my parents have created and maintain with their hard work.  Every evening, we would go outside and the kids would find something new to look at in the garden, something new to pick up, a secret corner to explore and a new flower to discover.  The backyard garden is a magical place for them and it warmed my mother's heart to see them enjoying a space that she and my father had worked so hard to create.

And it was with that vision in mind that reminded me of this book, one of my personal favorites as a child.  I'm sure I read this book at least 20 times if not more, and adored every single read I did of the book.  The book captures the experience of a young girl, Mary, who has been recently orphaned and who has not really ever received much love in her life.  Mary is then sent to live with a cold distant uncle who doesn't really have any idea how to raise and deal with children.  The house is a beautiful large home, but with no heart in it and filled with sad mysteries and pain.  Mary begins unraveling some of the mysteries, including discovering a cousin, Colin who is an invalid and unable to leave his bed. 

Mary also begins befriending some people in the house, and makes a friend with Dickon, who happens to be the most wonderful person of all, because he understands the world of living creatures and plants.  With Dickon's help, Mary begins reviving a garden that has long been locked away and neglected and with her love and devotion, she brings it back to life.  In addition, Colin also discovers his own power of his legs and begins to walk.  Through the garden and Mary's love, the house is restored to one of joy and the family is made to be whole.

This is a magical book about the healing power of the outdoors.  It also is a testament to the power of love and devotion and the amazing power of purpose and joy.  it is a wonderful read, a classic with rich vocabulary, details and wonderful narrative.  It is not a flash in the pan book, and it is rather dense in its text, but it is absolutely wonderful and a must read for any child. 

The beautiful hardback version with gorgeous illustrations


Paperback version, same text, no illustrations

Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?:Learning to make animal sounds

Title: Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?
Author: Dr. Seuss
Age Range: 1-4 years old
Genre: Picture books with rhymes

This was one of the first books I ever bought for my daughter, and I started reading it to her when she was about 6 months old.  I used to exaggerate the sounds like "Moooooo" and "pop" and "buzz" and "whisper" and she would sit there fascinated with the sounds.  Perhaps she may have been fascinated by her crazy mommy's face as it went through various expressions trying to exaggerate the sounds, but no matter, it was a funny book to her.

There has been much research to support the use of rhyming books in promoting early literacy.  This one in particular has been discussed as a great book for reading aloud to your little one.  The rhymes, repetition of sound, and rhythm of the book are thought to be crucial in helping children develop the ears to be good readers.

Aside from the potential literacy benefit, the book is just plain fun to read aloud.  There are lots of great sounds to be made and in the end, everybody can be like Mr. Brown and moo, pop, whisper, and buzz just like he does.

Smelly Socks: A funny book about stinky feet

Title: Smelly Socks
Author: Robert Munsch
Illustrator: Michael Marchenko
Age Range: Ages 3-8
Genre: Picture book

Initially, I knew Robert Munsch as the author who wrote the tearjerker children's picture book, Love You Forever. That book initially wrenched my heart in half as I sobbed the last part of the book out to my children as they watched in disbelief as their mother crumbled into an emotional soggy mess.  But I learned from my daughter's preschool teacher that Robert Munsch wrote many many other titles aside from that one.  (Incidentally, Robert Munsch's favorite book is NOT Love You Forever.

Smelly Sock is a totally different vein of writing. In it you get a sense of Munsch's incredibly quirkly and engaging style as he outlines the life of a girl who gets a pair of socks, loves them so much, and decides not to wash them.  Eventually animals and plants wither in her wake, simply from the odor that pervades from her feet.  The townspeople band together, pick her up and throw her into water to wash her feet. 

This book is funny with great illustrations and details very amusingly, the life and times of a young girl who won't wash her socks.  She is a bit irreverent as she stubborn insists on certain things during the book, but overall, the book is funny to read and enjoy.

Moo, Baa, La La La: Baby gifts that don't get old

Title: Moo, Baa, La La La!
Author: Sandra Boynton
Illustrator: Sandra Boynton
Age Range: Baby - 2

My fourth year of teaching high school, a wonderful woman colleague in our English department got pregnant.  It was the first departmental pregnancy, as most of us were young, hip, and single, and not even married as of yet, but she was.  It was exciting to watch her body change and it made me wonder at the time, what it would be like when it was my turn.  In any event, the other 10 of us decided it would be fun to have a baby shower for her, and I agreed to host it at my house.

As a department, we decided that we wanted to start the baby out with a lovely library of books, so each of us was to bring one or two books for a child that we loved as our gift.  At the end of the shower it would mean that she would go home with a big bag of books to put on the new baby's shelf.  When I saw my friend and colleague take home a huge stack of books with a big smile on her face, I knew that I would always give books as baby presents, because I thought the idea so lovely and so wonderful.

And that is what I do.  Ask any of my friends.  They usually get a box of books delivered to them right after the birth of their child and on their child's birthday.  For a baby's birth present, I usually give between seven to ten titles, mostly board books, of things that I know the little munchkin would love. (Even if it is loving to chew on it.) This is one of the books that always makes it into my little box of books for a newborn.

This book invites you, the parent, to speak in "mother-ease" which is that sort of soft, high singsongy voice that we always end up doing with babies.  In it you will make sounds like a cow, a sheep and some pigs that sing.  The pictures are adorable, in that inimitable Sandara Boynton style, and the rhymes are fun.  (Incidentally, some studies have shown that early rhyming books for kids are very important, as they help later when kids begin to read.)

A board book, which basically means its a bit more sturdy.


The other one of her books which almost always makes it into a baby's first books gift.