SUYL: Favorite Children's Books

This week at Kelly's Korner the "Show Us Your Life" theme is favorite children's books. I know I don't talk much about my job (other than to rejoice in making it through work weeks, which I did again, HOORAY!), but suffice it to say that I work for the nation's largest federal early literacy grant where I work with at-risk students developing pre-literacy skills. So it probably doesn't come as a surprise to hear that for the most part my days are consumed with children's books (and paperwork) (and tying shoes) (and snot).

And I would now like to issue an apology for the amount of parenthetical statements in the previous paragraph. I suppose I could have accomplished the same goals by over-using ellipses (...) but...I didn't...

Anyway, so I basically consider myself one of the world's leading authorities on children's books. Or at least I do in my classroom. I love TONS of books (I also HATE tons of books...trust me, just because you can draw cutesy pictures and rhyme words does NOT mean you can write kid's books) and it is impossible for me to pick an absolute favorite...but I can definitely let you in on one of my current favorites. I wanted to find a book that maybe you aren't already familiar with, and this one is definitely one you should pick up. And it doesn't hurt that my kids love this one just as much as I do.



This book is AWESOME. It's a pretty quick read (good for kids with short attention spans...or teachers) with giant text, fabulous illustrations, and surprisingly broad vocabulary. It's simple and really really funny. It's a book grown-ups enjoy just as much as kids, and that's a hard find sometimes. It even has a really funny author's note at the end. It's just great. I love it because although it's very short, it engages my kids so much that we can easily spend 20 or 30 minutes reading it in a large group setting...they want to talk about it, to connect with it, to point out the features they find funniest...and for us, that's really the goal.

So that's my quick pick for today. Please let it be noted that I do not actually own this book for myself (that is, outside of school) so if anyone would like to purchase it for me, I've so kindly included the Amazon link up above. :) Go ahead and get it for your own kids, your neighbor's kids...or anyone you know who dresses up their pets and needs a subtle clue. (Myself not included, of course. You'd be getting it for me because I like it, not because I think there's anything wrong with keeping poor Lola warm when it snows. Thanks.)