MommaReads

Ben’s mom and dad have been dreaming up Halloween costumes for him and his brother since he was born. One year his brother was a magician and he was a rabbit. Another year his brother was the devil and he was an angel. Ben was a wedge of cheese one year and his brother was a mouse. The problem is that no one ever asked Ben what he wanted to be and the costumes his parents were coming up with were hot and hard to walk around in. So, this year, Ben has declared that he will be in charge of his own costume. His mom and dad have already started on his costume for this year, but give him their blessing to be whatever he wants. The simplicity and creativity of what Ben comes up with is perfect.

This book discusses many aspects of fall in an almost poetic tone-the language is beautiful and very descriptive. Falling leaves, raking, hibernating insects, colder air and warmer clothes, shorter days, pumpkins and planting bulbs are all discussed in this book. There is also a fun section in the back that includes fun fall nature crafts to do with your kiddos.

Clayton and Desmond fall in love with the same pumpkin. They water it, fertilize it and even give it sugar water to help it grow faster. The problem is that they are both watering it, fertilizing it and giving it sugar water…neither one of them knows that the other exists because they both come to the pumpkin at different times during the day. Well, with this much love and care the pumpkin starts to grow into a VERY large pumpkin. They do both end up meeting each other one night when they both come to cover up the pumpkin to protect it against frost and they come up with a very clever way to share their pumpkin.

Ann Estelle is all ready to go trick-or-treating and so is her friend, Michael. Ann Estelle is a Fairy Queen with a long lacy skirt, glittery wings and a wand. Michael is a pirate with black boots a sword and an eye patch. Ann Estelle’s father takes them out trick-or-treating on a dark and kind of spooky night where they learn that you have to be scared a little in order to show how brave and courageous you can be. The illustrations in this books are a delight, too! It is by Mary Engelbreit after all.

Helen and her dog end up in a top secret “witches only” grocery store where dogs aren’t allowed while trying to return a Free Broom coupon to a lady who dropped it on the street. Very cute story.

Poor Jeb’s pumpkin patch is going to get ambushed by a bunch of crows right before Halloween. He comes up with a very clever plan to save his pumpkin patch and there is a little twist at the end, too.
Very cute.

The little boy in this silly, but heart-warming tale, wants to know if his mama would still love him if he was a big scary ape? Of course, she tells him she would still love him and she would take care of him and comb him to make sure he didn’t have any tangles. What is I was a smelly skunK? Yep, she would still love him and sprinkle him with a sweet-smelling powder. What if he was an alligator? Yep. A dinosaur? A swamp creature? A green alien? Yep, yep and yep. The mother lets the little boys know that no matter what, she will love him and take care of him. Very touching book that will also get some giggles. The illustrations are a hoot, too.

As you might have already guessed, this is a fun rhyming book about Mrs. McNosh’s squash that gets a little out of hand. As soon as she plants the seed in her garden, it starts to grow and quickly becomes so big that she’s not quite sure what to do with it. She does come up with a silly solution though that both her and her dog enjoy. Such a fun book to read aloud. 🙂

This is one of my all-time favorite reading websites for kids because not only is it high quality and interactive, it also covers everything from those kids who are just beginning to know their letters and letter sounds all the way to those kids who are beginning readers. I also like that once the children get to the beginning readers section, there are both fiction and non-fiction texts, Chinese fables, Greek myths, folk tales and plays. It also has a function where children can click on an icon if they come across a word they don’t know and it will say the word for them.

Okay, this isn’t a book, but it DOES have to do with reading, so…

I LOVE these things. They are great for beginning readers who are learning to read three-letter words with short vowel sounds. There are two links below. One link is for a way to buy one and the other is a worksheet children can use to practice writing the words they make. Enjoy!

from Let’s Explore