Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Books, books, and more books

On my husband's Kindle: Dune. He's only read it, like, 100 times or something.

Recently on my nightstand:

World Made By Hand by Howard Kunstler. After peak oil, after "The war in the Holy Land", and after bombs have apparently gone off in LA and Washington, D.C., life goes on in a more pastoral way in rural New York State in this novel. I quite liked it, and appreciated that it examined life after "the end of the world as we know it" without going into full on Mad Max territory, by which I mean that I could still believe in and like these people.

Carbon's Read-Aloud: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Since this one is HUGE, it will take us awhile to finish.

Before Harry Potter, we read The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. I love that book, and it was nice to finally share it with one of my kids.

Following up on The Mixed Up Files, we read Introducing Michelangelo.

For Story of the World:
The Wisdom of the Crows by Sherab Chodzin and Alexandra Kohn (very good Buddhist tales)
The Prince Who Ran Away by Anne Rockwell (loved this story of Siddhartha)
Elephant Prince by Amy Novesky (only so so)

For Sonrisa Spanish:
Los Cinco Patitos by Pamela Paparone
Oso Pardo, oso pardo, ?que ves ahi? by Bill Martin
Diez Perros en la Tienda by Claire Masurel
Three Friends/ Tres Amigos by Maria Cristina Brusca & Tona Wilson

For Five in a Row:
The Story About Ping by Marjorie Flack (a classic, and our first stab at FIAR)

For Sunday School and Church:
The Full Belly Bowl by Jim Aylesworth (a very good story, which I used for a Story for All Ages)
The Three Questions by Jon Muth (another very good story, with a Zen flavor, that I used for a Story for All Ages)

For Hypatia's Bedtime stories:
Light by Jane Breskin Zalben (a lovely midrash tale)
What's Coming for Christmas by Kate Banks
Fox in Socks by Dr. Seuss
Under the Christmas Tree by Nikki Grimes (poetry)
Who Would Like A Christmas Tree by Ellen Bryan Obed (sweet year round tale of a Christmas tree farm)
Hogwash by Arthur Geisert (a book without words, but very cute)
Harry and the Bucketful of Dinosaurs by Ian Whybrow (a favorite of the kids)
Wake Up House by Dee Lillegard (poetry)
The Snow Queen by Susan Jeffers (good)
Traction Man Meets Turbo Dog by Mini Grey (the kids loved this)
The Little Red Lighthouse and the Big Grey Bridge by Hildegarde H. Swift (kids loved it)
Gilbert in Deep by Jane Clarke and Charles Fuge (kids liked it)

Audiobooks in the car:
Becoming Naomi Leon by Pam Munoz Ryan (very, very good)
Tales from Bunnicula, Books 1-4 by James Howe (it inspired Carbon to make up stories)
Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles: the Nixie's Song by Tony DiTerlizzi
Ivy and Bean: Doomed to Dance by Annie Barrows (we all loved it)

2 comments:

  1. We loved our read of Bunnicula here and we love all the Ivy and Bean books. We've listened to several in the car but not the latest one. I'd love to hear what Carbon thinks of Goblet of Fire (and how he did with Prisoner of Azkaban). My 6yo loves loves loves books 1 and 2 but we've been hesitant to go further thinking she might be too scared.

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a great list! I really liked The Mixed Up Files too, when I was a kid. I'm glad you found a good Michelangelo to go with it.

    ReplyDelete