Read Aloud Thursday

Isn’t it a joy to find books that you enjoy reading aloud as much as your children enjoy listening to?  That’s really one of my secret missions for Read Aloud Thursday–to highlight those books that are as delightful for the reader as the listener.  The books I’m reviewing today certainly fulfill this requirement!

Caldecott Award-winning Kitten’s First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes is simply lovely.  His illustrations of kitten, who mistakes the moon for a bowl of milk, are simple and appeal to all ages.  The black, white, and gray color scheme lends the perfect nighttime nuance to the story.  Louise, the resident cat lover at the House of Hope, especially appreciated the very apt illustrations of the kitten doing kittenish things–washing, leaping, climbing, pouncing.  Although it’s very different from Henkes’ usual, this is one of those books that makes you sigh a happy little sigh at the end.  Highly recommended.

I was on a roll with the Caldecott books this week; The Gardener by the huband and wife team of Sarah Stewart and David Small is an honor book.  I picked up this book because Lulu enjoyed it in the book-and-CD format last week, but I wanted in on the action this week.  This is the old-fashioned story of Lydia Grace, a girl who is sent to live with her unsmiling uncle because her father has lost his job and the country is in the grips of the Great Depression.  Lydia Grace’s favorite thing in all the world is flowers, and she finds a way to turn even the tenement building where she and her uncle live into a garden.  This story is written as a series of letters from Lydia Grace to her parents and beloved grandmother back home.  This book would be great to use as part of  a lesson on letter writing, the Depression, or just when you need a heartwarming tale.

It looks like I might as well have called this the Read Aloud Thursday Caldecott Edition, huh?

What has your family enjoyed together this week?  Leave a comment or link to your blog!

Advertisement