Imagine—celebrating thirteen days of Halloween instead of just one…As of this writing, there are precisely thirteen days remaining until All Hallows Eve, making this the perfect day to review The 13 Days of Halloween By Carol Greene, Illustrated by Tim Raglin
In this revision of the Christmas standard, The Twelve Days of Christmas, a charming ghoul showers [...]
We’ve got lots of books going — or we are about to get them going–at our house. Nothing escapes the necessity of multi-tasking in our wacky world, does it? Not even the relaxing practice of reading.
I can only imagine that Logan, our 5th grader, must have picked up the habit from me. I always [...]
While we wait for the first of the leaves to make their way to the ground, how about some seasonal reading, the kind that you can fall into to escape all the raking? Here are my autumn favorites–Each makes creative use of language and is richly illustrated.These are books you can fall into as if they were piles of [...]
It is a weekday, and for most of us, that means that we are juggling work, homework, practices, and who knows what else. It is rare that the kids do any additional writing at home. But, today is Constitution Day, the anniversary of the signing of the nation’s founding document, and as is every day–an opportunity for writing! You [...]
When talking reading with other parents of boys, something like this crops up in nearly every conversation: “Stevie used to love to read, but now he hates it,” OR “I just cannot get my boys to read…”
Reading is not a gender specific activity, but I do think that parents play a role in making it [...]
A staple book that seems to get more attention in the summer at our house is The Book of Cards for Kids by Gail MacColl.
This book, which I highly recommend, is your guide to every card game you can imagine, from the classics like Gin and Crazy Eights to the more obscure and fun Smudge, Frogs [...]
A few days ago, our ten-year-old reader began reading
The Official Shel Silverstein website is a fun place for some wordplay. The kids area: Let’s Have Some Fun, offers printables, downloads, and games and puzzles.
I recommend them all, but point you to the
Practice Being A Poet Game, an interactive game where your child can choose words from Silverstein’s poetry to create their own [...]
Logan and Dad have started reading Flush by Carl Hiaasen. This is a book at a higher reading level than Logan is accustomed to–it is cataloged as a young-adult novel and includes some challenging vocabulary.
But challenges are good for all of us. They develop strength. We build muscles in our arms by challenging them [...]
Most every book I have on rearing babies and toddlers includes mention of making reading part of the daily play routine.
In What to Expect: The Toddler Years, there is a generous section covering reading with the pre, pre-school set, encouraging parents not to be concerned with teaching their kids to read, but with teaching them [...]