MommaReads

Henry and his fellow pirates spend their lazy days days reading books and shooting themselves out of cannons, but things change for Henry one day when he finds a message in a bottle warning him and the others that someone is coming to steal their loot. No one believes Henry, so he takes matters into his own hands and when the time comes to save his friends he also learns how to be brave….or at least act like he’s brave. You and your little one will definitely get a chuckle or two out of this one.

Kids look so forward to the start of summer, but this book is a reminder as to all of the reasons why summer stinks…C is for castles the tide washed away and D is for dog doo I stepped in today. Oh, and there’s more…..M is mosquitoes and millions of bites and N is not sleeping on hot sticky nights. See? School is looking better and better. 🙂 If your child has a sense of humor, they will love this book.

This is the cumulative tale of all the steps a father goes through to bake an apple pie for his daughter. Cumulative tales are fun because children pick up on the repetition and can “read along” and participate. The illustrations in this book are also worth mentioning. They are not colorful, but they are very detailed and really compliment the essence of the story and its setting.

Amanda is afraid of the dark at night so her dad takes her outside to see all of the things that are outside when it’s dark that aren’t scary, like fireflies and stars, but when they go back inside there are no stars or fireflies. So the next day Amanda and her mom and dad create a sea of stars to put on her bedroom ceiling. It turns out that Amanda’s dad it being deployed and they both agree that the North Star is going to be “their star” and every time they look at it they will think of each other. Bring on the tissues!!! This is a truly touching story of the relationship between a father and daughter.

I am a sucker for just about anything Mercer Mayer and this one is no exception. It is the story of a boy camping with his dad. As with many of Mayer’s books, things don’t go very smoothly, but no matter, things will turn out alright in the end because he is with his dad.

Dads can get grumpy sometimes and sometimes they are as grumpy as bears. But what would happen if your grumpy dad actually turned into a bear?! I bet he’d give GREAT bear hugs even if he had bad smelly bear breath and I bet he’d make great honey sandwiches. See what other perks come with having a bear for a dad…

An adorable story of what might happen IF a little girl and her daddy were to switch roles. Instead of cleaning the house and doing the dishes he would get to watch TV. Instead of eating oatmeal for breakfast she would eat an ice cream sundae. They both think that being the other might have some pretty great benefits, but in the end they decide that it’s best to be “me”. Oh, and it rhymes, I am always a sucker for a cute story that rhymes, too.

This book is about the quiet time a little girl and her dad spend together as they go on a walk around town listening to all of the noises they come across… from the sound of a jackhammer, to the sound of the crickets in the park to the sound of their own shoes as they walk. Read this book to your little one and then go on your own listening walk.

Learn some science this summer! This is a FANTASTIC book for teaching kids the basics of science. The book is divided up into sections like: gravity, light, machines, energy, water, magnetism and weather. I would say the ideal audience for this book would be approximately ages 4-8, but each child is different. Ninety-nine percent of these activities are very easy to do and use items that you already have at your house. Go through the book and have the kids decide which ones they would like to do and then have them help you gather all of the materials. (as long as it is age appropriate for them to do so) Their enthusiasm will have them coming back to this book again and again. Teacher friends, this would be a great book to have in your classroom and it has MANY, MANY activities that could be used at a science center.

Another summer book for your family, but not one that you read to them. This is a fantastic reference to have on hand even when it’s not summer. It has great activity ideas for kids from ages 12 months to 10 years. There are ideas for games to play both inside and out as well as craft ideas. There are ideas for playing solo as well as playing with small groups and large groups. There are quiet time activities as well as raucous games for all the kids on the block. There are games that have been played for generations as well as new games. What is great about most of these ideas is that you probably have a lot of the things you’d need already laying around the house. You can check this book out from the library, but you might just want to go ahead and buy it because you won’t want to give it back.