The start of school and beginning of fall always reminds me of warm cups of tea, yummy scones and good books. We had our monthly library trip where we filled up on a bunch of books for September. My kids asked me if we could just have a reading day for homeschooling that day and I thought that it was an excellent idea. Soon my children had taken all the cushions from my couch, a bunch of blankets, some favorite stuffed animals and they informed me that they had created a “book house” where they were all sprawled out reading their books. It was a delightful site to see. Even my 3yr. old had his books out because he wanted to be part of the “reading” day. I love the flexibility of homeschooling that allows me to say “Yes” to a reading day.
One of my favorite genres is children’s picture books. I must confess I had a library of children’s literature before I ever had kids. When I graduated from college, the gifts that everyone brought me were different children picture books. I especially like the picture books that have sense of humor added to the story. There are numerous picture books out there that are quite enjoyable and entertaining for any age. I like adding them randomly to our homeschool when I find one I especially like. Here are a few of my favorites….
1.Aunt Chip and the Triple Creek Dam Affair by Patricia Polacco
This is a delightful book that celebrates books. I discovered Patricia Polacco in my college days when I was studying elementary education. I think she is a delightful author and many of her books are enjoyable. I loved this one because it celebrated reading and books. Its actually a good one for the start of the school year.
2. Click, Clack, Moo Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin
This is one of favorites because of the sense of humor that the author brings to the story. Its all about animals that are negotiating with the farmer for different things that they want using a type writer. The expressions and things that they type are hilarious. This is a book that gets taken out of the shelf quite often by my children. Doreen Cronin has written other wonderful books that are also worth checking out.
3. Peanut by Linus Alsenas
Peanut is a book that is about an elderly lady who wants a pet puppy and she ends up with a pet elephant. The sense of humor comes in when she thinks, through out the story, that the elephant is a puppy. My kids think this book is hilarious.
4. The Wolf’s Chicken Stew by Kieko Kasza
Kieko Kasza is another of my favorite authors. She tells a delightful story and brings humor into her stories that make us read them over and over again. Wolf’s chicken stew is about a wolf that wants to eat this chicken and all the ways that he tries to fatten the chicken up for his dinner but in the end it has a surprise ending where the wolf actually becomes part of the chicken’s family.
5. The Mitten by Jan Brett
The mitten is a story about an small animal that finds a mitten to keep warm and hides in it. Then as the story continues, all these different animals also want to hide and get warm in the mitten at the same time. Jan Brett is an amazing author that has written several of my favorites. The illustrations are great too.
6. If you give a Pig a Pancake by Laura Numeroff
If you give a Pig a Pancake is probably many kids favorites. Its a story that explores the question what would happen if you gave a pig a pancake and the results of that choice. She has written many others in the series. Some of my other favorites are “If you give a Mouse a Cookie” and “If you give a Moose a Muffin”
7. The Napping House by Audrey Wood
I love the rhythm of the language in the “The Napping House”. The kids start learning really fast what the story is going to say and they start reading it along with you. The illustrations are hilarious and it definitely has a place reserved on our library shelf as one of our favorites.
8. Once upon a time, the End (asleep in 60 seconds) by Geoffrey Kloske and Barry Blitt
This book makes me laugh. Its a humorous book that shortens all these bedtime stories to the length of 60 seconds. The way they shorten the bedtime stories is where you find the sense of humor in the book. So my kids were not satisfied with the short length of the stories, but it was still fun to read and laugh at how they shortened the stories.
9. Barnyard Dance and Pajama Time by Sandra Boyton
Honestly I probably own every Sandra Boyton book that she has written. They’re my favorite board books for kids. You can tell that they are well loved at our house because we occasionally have to get a new copy because of the wear and tear on the original one we bought. Sandra Boyton does an excellent job of bringing a sense of humor to kid board books. My kids memorize the Sandra Boyton books quickly. Great gift idea for new or young mommies. Although I do see my older kids pulling them out of the shelves too.
10. The Book with No Pictures by B.J. Novak
This is a new picture book that I just bought for my collection and I am so glad I did. It is now added to my favorites list. The author decided to write a book with no pictures that kids will love. In the book there are all sorts of silly sayings and the author points out that he can make the reader say anything he wants. Its written in a delightful and humorous way. Even my older kids were laughing. The author is quite creative in how they chose to write this book. I hope there are more books like this from the author.
Homeschool Unit Study Idea:
One of the ways that I have used children’s books in my homeschooling is to have an author of the month. I pick one of my favorite authors like Jan Brett or Dr. Suess and I create a unit study. I gather books from the author we are studying and I also try and find a biography on the author. You can do the unit study as simple as you want or dig deeper. For a simple unit study you could just read the different books and read the biography of the author. If you wanted to dig deeper, you could have activities that go along with each book or you could have your older kids write papers on the life of the author. You could also have your kids write book reports or reviews on what they thought about each book the author wrote. They are a ton of different things you could do for the author of the month idea.
Hope you enjoy some of my favorite picture books. There are many more that I could have blogged about and I am sure you might have different favorites that would go on your list. What are your favorite picture books for kids?
Living the Adventure 