May 6, 2012

Book Blogger Hop May 5-11

Book Blogger Hop


This week's question: What are the  next five books in your TBR (to-be-read) pile? And don't worry, you can change your mind and read something different-we won't check?

My list is never set in stone because I review children's books. Our family goes to the library once a week and whatever my 20 month old grabs off the racks is what we're reading for the week.

Here's my list:

1. The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson- This is my own personal read, not for review on the blog. I just finished The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo because of the movie being out and I decided to read the whole series.

2. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson- The last one in the series.

3. May I Bring A Friend? by Beatrice Schenk De Regniers - This was one of my favorite books to read as a child and I can't wait to introduce it to my son. There will be a review for this one.

4. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst- Another childhood favorite that I will be reviewing with my son.

5. The Little One Series inspired by The Purpose-Driven Life by Amy Warren Hilliker- This series introduces the five purposes from The Purpose-Driven Life: Knowing God's love, Being a member of God's family, Growing in Christ, Helping People, and Telling others about God. I will be doing a review of these books but I will hold the review until my son and I have gotten through all of the books.

What books are in your TBR pile? Let me know in the comments.

May 5, 2012

Caldecott Challenge 1938 to Present


Laura of LibLaura5 and Anna Z of A to Z Library are hosting the Caldecott Challenge. The full details are here.

In a nutshell, I will be reading through all of the Caldecott Medal Winners and Honor Books by year, starting from 1938. I will be blogging about my progress here as well as tweeting using hashtag  #nerdcott.

This is a STRESS FREE challenge and there is no set deadline and I am quite happy about that. I plan on reading them in order and I know that some of the older titles may be harder to find. At this time, I have not decided how I will tackle the posts for this challenge. I may do video reviews for each individual book. I may do a single post for all the books for each year or even each decade. 

I guess I will decide once I read the first set of books. Here is a list of all the books.

Are any of you participating in the challenge? Be sure to let me know and link your blog in the comments.

Book Challenges and Reading Incentives

The past few weeks I have been working on getting my blog set up the way that I want and joining a few blog hops and book challenges.

Because my son is not yet 2, he doesn't really have certain books that he likes over others. I decided to join a few book challenges to help with this. Not only do I have "rules" to follow and my blog readers to hold me accountable, I also have a list to go by for picking out books. This makes it easier for me to find books to share with my son, but it also helps me go out of my comfort zone and find books that I may never have heard of or chosen on my own.

This is a great idea for parents as well. When you have a reluctant reader, a book challenge, with some incentive at the end, may be a good way to get them motivated. You don't have to worry about them not being able to find a book they like-there are book challenges for just about every genre. And when you have a list to follow, it helps to keep you involved as well as your child.

Most book challenges have some general rules, but you can always create your own. Use a book log like this to keep track of your child's reading and have a reward or incentive agreed upon from the beginning. The reward can be a trip to the ice cream shop, a pizza party, or anything that you want. Just be sure to let them choose the incentive.

If your child is not able or chooses not to complete the challenge, still praise them for what they did accomplish. You want them to know that you are proud of any of their accomplishments, no matter how small.

Do you participate in any book challenges or read-a-thons with your child? What types of incentives do you offer? Be sure to let me know in the comments.

May 4, 2012

Read to Me Book Challenge-Max Celebrates Cinco de Mayo


Max is invited to a fiesta at Jose's house. They are celebrating Cinco de Mayo. Food, music, dancing, and a parade are all part of the fun.

This is a very cute book with colorful illustrations about what goes on at a Cinco de Mayo celebration. The book explains the English translation of the words "Cinco de Mayo" and "fiesta." It shows the traditional clothing, foods, music, and some of the activities that occur at a fiesta.

As noted in other reviews out there, the book doesn't take the opportunity to explain the reasoning and history of Cinco de Mayo, only to say that it is a holiday in Mexico.

I read this book to my almost two year old (20 months). He enjoyed the illustrations and could point out tacos since we eat them quite a bit in our house, but he doesn't understand the concept of holidays.

This book is a Read-it! Readers Red Level, meaning that it "presents familiar topics using common words and repeating sentence patterns." This book is meant for children who are just beginning to read. The focus is more on them learning to read the words and not necessarily understanding the whole background of the holiday.

For this reason, I believe it is a very well written book for the age level it was meant for. To find out more about Cinco de Mayo and activities for your children, check out Apples 4 the Teacher's Cinco de Mayo page.

Do you have anything special that you do for Cinco de Mayo? Let me know in the comments.