Construction sites, Trucks and More.

For months, my daughter has been slightly obsessed with Truck Party! by Tammi Salzano.  A sweet little truck is celebrating his birthday (another of her obsessions - birthday parties) and is surprised with a fun party.  This would be a GREAT gift-book.

So I've started paying more attention to truck theme books while out and about, and one that is consistently recommended by mothers of truck-lovers is Good Night, Good Night Construction Site by Sherri Duskey Rinker.  It did not disappoint.  Just informative enough that the truck-obsessed will appreciate the vocabulary, but also with a good, relaxing tone and a nice cadence while reading.  Adding this to my wish list!

Maudie, Olivia, and other feisty young ladies.

This week, we have been reading Maudie and Bear by Jan Ormerod and Freya Blackwood.

Maudie is a spirited young lady with grand emotions and great ideas.  Bear is the archetypal, anthropomorphized parent figure.  If Maudie is fire, Bear is cool earth.  Their interactions are delightful.  And the illustrations are layered, complex, and interesting for all ages.

I also quite like the formal tone of the language used.  We have been reading it before bed, when that type of deliberate, slow speech and tone are exactly right for calming and centering before our bedtime routine.  My daughter loves to mimic my tone.  "One moment, please" she has been saying throughout the day - because in one of the chapters of this book, Maudie must prepare herself properly before their outing.

Even though Maudie is a tough cookie, the tone of the book makes her behavior more palatable for me.  I chafe a bit at Olivia's attitude in Ian Falconer's books, perhaps because his books are a more dramatic read. Ian Falconer is to a roller-coaster what Jan Ormerod is to a nice walk in the forest.

Jan Ormerod is new to me, but is a well-published, Australian author.  I'll check out some more of her work in the next few weeks - she may be an upcoming author alert!  Stay tuned!

The other book we have been enjoying this week is Lizette's Green Sock by Catharina Valckx.  A totally different book, but quite fun and funny.  We were on a sock-theme.  We also read New Socks by Bob Shea.  What a funny guy that Bob Shea is!

New Feature: Recommended by a Friend.

The O Family has been consumed lately, but how could I neglect my sweet, little blog.

Introducing... Recommended by a Friend!  A new feature, more for me than you, but here it is.  Because the people I love know I love this here little blog and that I love to read, I often get book recommendations.  But like everyone, especially us mothers, bits of information fall out of my head and scatter to the wind with every passing moment.

TA DA!  A way for me to remember!

Our first recommendations come from a charming, energetic 6 year old by named Jaden (c/o his darling aunt Nicole) - here they are:

Stuck by Oliver Jeffers

I Will NOT Read This Book by Cece Meng

The Pirates Next Door by Jonny Duddle

and last but not least -

Jackhammer Sam by Peter Mandel

Please feel free to make suggestions in the comments, or anytime you see my posts on Facebook or Productive Parenting - or even Pinterest.  I am here to serve.

I Love You, Mom.

Today my daughter has been saying every few hours: "I love my beautiful mommy" and then hugging me.  It's what we yearn for in this life - someone to pour our love into, and for them to find that love beautiful.   Today after some trouble settling down, I rocked her to sleep, and with her warm, sleeping body melded into mine, thinking about how those words feel when you hear them brought me to tears.  Tears representing the extreme gratitude I have for the opportunity to be raising this sweet girl.

So in honor of a day when you feel loved, peaceful and worthy - even if for you today is a day quite the opposite - let's talk about some books that can nurture those feel-good words in our children.

One of our favorite books with a great love theme is Hooray for Fish by Lucy Cousins.


I must admit, we change the end to talk about "Daddy" instead of "Mommy" because I find it harder to find pro-Dad books.  And the father of this child happens to be very worthy of adoration and praise.

I also love the Anna Walker books - there is a whole series of "I Love..." books.  I Love My Mom is a great one.  My daughter's favorite line is: "When I say, 'What shall we do?' She says: 'Let's try something new!"  She recites that quite often, and it keeps me on my toes, thinking of great new things to do.


Certainly, if you read this blog, you've already read my reviews of "Me" and "YOU." - two great books about love.

Of course there are a million books about how much we love our children, and we do.  But feeling that love reciprocated keeps us going, reinvigorates our efforts, and reminds us that the love we give is planting the seeds of a positive emotional life for these sweet babes.

And in case I don't say it enough to the woman who gave birth to ME, "I love you, my beautiful mommy."

YOU.

The subject of this post: You.

No, not YOU.  Oh, "you" what a confusing topic.  Grammatically speaking, the confusion of "you" and "me" is a one of the most common mistakes in the English language.  It's a concept so complex - the idea of a generic subject - that children's brains involuntary revert to speaking about themselves in the third-person to avoid confusion.

But in this case, You is delightful book by Stephen Michael King.

(Special note for children's book authors and publishers, never choose a title like YOU!  Try googling "You" - you hardly come up with an easy-to-navigate list!)

The book is a simple explanation of the world.  It's an explanation that includes things I love: colors, sizes, music, and adventure.  But the clear message is one of love.

And isn't it nice in our worlds of complex parent-child negotiations, schedules, meltdowns, and other bumps-in-the-road to have a moment in the day when your child may feel like the most important thing in the world is them.

I Want My Hat Back.

I love when I find a well-done book trailer to post here for you.  This one gives you a taste of the tone, text, and illustrations of this wonderful book.

Simple in concept.  Great repetition, great dialogue, great surprise ending.  It's fun and funny.  My daughter does not want to read it once, she wants to read it three or four times in a row.  She loves it.

I'm glad she likes it, because I like it too!

Me.

One day not so long ago, I was in the library looking for something new to read.   There was a book, a perfect square - which I always find attractive - with an equally attractive bear on the cover.

The title of the book is: Me.

The author: Philip Waechter.

A quick flip revealed the right word to picture ratio for my wee one, and *plop* it went into the rapidly filling library bag.

A few days later, I fished it out of the pile and began reading.  It's hard to get a good idea of the book from the first few pages.  Is it all egotistical mantras?  Is this bear full-of-himself or what?  But the last few pages are so sweet, so lovely, so true that this fun little book is now on my all-time-favorites list.  I want to buy a copy for everyone I really, truly love in the world.

So I have a new label for this kind of book - birth to death.  Because I challenge anyone of any age to read about this fantastic bear and not fall in love.   Or at least remember who it is in the world that you do love - and perhaps fall in love with them again.

This one might be worth another try at video posting!