When Papa snores the lamp on the bedside table rattles and when Nana snores the blinds on the windows clank together, but when they are both snoring at the same time…oh my goodness!!! Even the neighbors start complaining. It’s funny who does manage to get some rest with all of that racket though.
This is a great book to talk about similes and metaphors with kids while also discussing how family members are all different, but very important pieces of a family.
“My dad is as stubborn as a knot in a rope.”
“My mom is as soft as the softest fluff.”
“My brother is as strong as a baseball bat.”
“My baby brother is as sweet as candy.”
Of course, the storyteller has some similes to describe herself….”I am as sparkly as a star.”
At first Ben’s a little cranky about having to spend the summer in a dusty old house by the ocean, but when he finds a “treasure” in the garage, the whole summer takes a turn for the better. Ben and his grandma end up having great fun with picnics on the beach, splashing in the ocean water and finding more treasures on the beach after a storm.
I completely believe in using books to help you talk to your kids about things that maybe you aren’t sure how to discuss. This is the PERFECT book for explaining to your children that families come in all different forms and that, in fact, some families have two dads. I also love this book because it focuses on how the two penguins spent so much time together and how much they clearly loved each other. I also love this book because it’s a true story of two penguins who ended up with a penguin baby to care for and how the workers at the zoo made it happen. I would read this book to your children before they come to you with questions. When they do come to you with questions then you can talk about this book. They then already have a frame of reference with which to understand what they’ve just asked you. It makes the discussion much easier that way.
If you have more than one child I know you wondered as some point during the pregnancy how you could ever love a second child as much as you loved the first. This book explains it perfectly to two little boys who want to know which one of them their mother loves the best.
Baby is crying and mama is tired, so the rest of the family tells mama to go to bed…they’ll take care of baby. Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt, Uncle and Big Sister all think they know the trick to get Baby to stop crying, but every time they try something, Baby just ends up crying. It turns out that Brother knows what Baby wants. Baby falls asleep all night long and after all the work they put into getting Baby to sleep, the rest of the family falls asleep, too.
This is a very cute book written from the viewpoint of a new baby. The baby describes the things it likes to do during the day, where it likes to go, what makes it cry and what makes it happy. The baby talks about ALL the times of day it likes to eat and all the things it likes to look at. I love this book because it really does describe the day in the life of a baby…all of the feedings and late nights and all the things parents do with their baby during the day. I also like this book because it shows the mom nursing the baby in several illustrations and it also shows the dad giving the baby a bottle…it’s an equal opportunity baby. 🙂 This would be a GREAT book for siblings who are expecting a little baby brother or sister soon.
Toddlers will love this book that talks about how little they were when they were a baby and how they are starting to grow. The teacher in me also has to mention that if you are teaching your students about similes, this would be a great book to read to them. The book uses many, many, many similes to describe how they baby is growing.
When you were born,
you were as big as a cabbage,
your knee was as round as a radish,
your ear as wee as a sweet pea.
Then you grew as long as the lettuce patch,
your foot was as stubby as a beet,
your mouth as dainty as a strawberry.
A little girl writes a letter to her grandma telling her about how her cat had kittens and then at the end also lets her know, by the way, that she also has a new baby brother. Cute and simple story and shows that even though something may be super important to an adult that sometimes kids have their own priorities.
