Read Aloud Thursday and a Book Giveaway!

I hope you all have had a happy Read Aloud Week!  I’ve enjoyed sharing some of our old and new favorite read-alouds this week.  For this week’s Read Aloud Thursday, I thought I’d break with my normal routine of sharing our library finds and share what I hope will be a helpful bookish hint.

Some time before Lulu was born I purchase the HarperCollins Treasury of Picture Book Classics: A Child’s First Collection at Sam’s or some such place.  I have been a collector of children’s books since long before I’ve had children of my own.  I used to blame it on having nephews, but the truth is (if you haven’t figured it out by now), I just love children’s literature, plain and simple.  This anthology really is a treasury in the truest sense of the word.  It is a compilation of some of the best in children’s picture books.  It includes

• Goodnight Moon
• Caps for Sale (my thoughts here)
• Harold and the Purple Crayon
• Crictor
• A Baby Sister for Frances
• Leo the Late Bloomer
• William’s Doll
• If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
• George Shrinks
• Baby Says
• From Head to Toe
• Pete’s a Pizza

This book has turned into our default take-along for trips to the doctor’s office.  We started doing this when Lulu was just a toddler.  We are rather germaphobic here at the House of Hope (Steady Eddie has had just enough microbiology to make him this way for the rest of his life, and it has rubbed off on me), so I liked the idea of having something that would keep the girls’ attention and something that would not be dropped in the floor, etc.  The book is really heavy, which encourages them to sit in our laps contently while being read to.  It helps, of course, that we actually sort of forget about the book most of the time until an occasion to go to the doctor arises, and then we pull it off the shelf.  Actually, that very thing happened just this week when Louise’s allergies finally morphed into something that required a physician’s care.  Once she got over the initial angst of going to the doctor, Louise then asked for the “big blue book.”  We made it through three of the stories and were working on the fourth when Louise’s name was called.  As if reading a great story like Harold and the Purple Crayon (my favorite!) isn’t enough, the fact that we only pull this book out infrequently adds to the excitement and interest.

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Well, folks, this is the final post for the Read Aloud Week book giveaway.  I’ve had a great time sharing some of our favorite read alouds with you all week long, and I hope this has at least been an inspiration to you in your own family reading.  The book I’m giving away is The Animal Hedge by Paul Fleischman, and you can read my review of it here.

So how do you get in on the action for a chance to win this great book?  Here’s how:

1. Leave a comment (even if you don’t blog) telling me you family’s favorite read-aloud or what you’re reading aloud currently
   
2. Leave another comment with a link to your Read Aloud Thursday blog post
3. Put the Read Aloud Thursday button in your side bar and come back and tell me you did in another comment
   
4. Create a blog entry alerting your readers to this Read Aloud Thursday giveaway, or mention the giveaway in your Read Aloud Thursday post (either will do) and leave me a comment telling you did so

Be sure that each comment includes your contact information (email address or blog link).

This giveaway will end on Sunday night at midnight, CST.  I will post the winner on Monday morning. Happy Mother’s Day!

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