The Stray Dog

Caldecott Honor 2002

The Stray Dog
Retold and Illustrated by Marc Simont
From a true story by Reiko Sassa

Oliver has been carrying this book around for a few days. I can see why-- it is a fun story with great pictures.

High: I love how the dog looks inside of the dog catchers net--what great illustrations.

Low: Like the dog in this story-- my childhood dog's name was Willy. Only Simont spelled it wrong:)

Our favorite pictures.

Finally Some More Caldecotts

We have been reading Caldecotts...as you can see they were such a hit, they were reread by my five year old.

 

Mother Goose (1945 Honor) Tasha Tudor

High This delightful book of rhymes was a huge hit for both of my kiddos. They loved that it had many "chapters," since there was a table of contents in the front. They also loved reciting the rhymes that they knew. A huge hit was "Ding dong bell, pussy's in the well..." which my mother had just taught them the prior week.

 

Low  I was unfamiliar with many of the rhymes, and had a difficult time finding the rhyme and rhythm of them.

 

 

Many Moons (1944 Winner) by James Thurber, Illustrated by Louis Slobodkin

 

High This clever little tale about a spoiled princess that wants the moon had a fun story that both my kids enjoyed. Above, Frankie is pointing to her favorite illustration of the princess in her bed. Notice all of the pink. We read this story three nights in a row.

 

Low We read this story three nights in a row.  (kind of long....and predictable)

Creating a Goodreads Shelf--Finally!

Some of our kiddos taking a moment to READ

My pal LibLaura5 has been a much more active blogger and reader than I have for the Caldecott Challenge these past few days. My family is finally home from visiting the in-laws in North Dakota. We traveled to Jamestown (which is almost the geographical center of North America as my 10 year old niece pointed out to me--just in case you were wondering) and celebrated the holdidays.

My husband is child number five of eight children--many who now have their own children. It was a whirlwind of a trip, very noisy (not much reading to be done), and a lot of fun. I did get to talk books with lots of the kiddos and their moms. It is fun to see what my family is reading, and recommend books to them.

Needless to say, I am finally feeling like I am getting on board for the Caldecott Challenge.  The bad news is...I could see readers tweeting away and could not join in with the talk (I finally just put my phone away it was just too painful).  The good news is...being late on the bandwagon, much of the legwork of getting books on my to-read shelf was already done.  My goodreads shelf practically created itself--so yeah for that. So join our challenge over on Laura's page--and go check out our Caldecott Challenge Shelves--and "steal" away--I did.

There are still many Honor books to be added--Laura has a great little tutorial and list started over on her blog.  Check it out.

*photo taken by my brother-in-law and photographer Stephen Geffre

Caldecott Challenge

My life as a reader just got more interesting. My friend and fellow librarian LibLaura5 called me yesteday afternoon with another of her great ideas! We were so excited to try reading the Newberys--but being the busy moms and librarians that we are, she knew we needed something a bit more manageable to accomlpish in one year. Thus the Caldecott Challenge was born. Being the friend and reader that I am, when she asked me, I quickly jumped on board to help her cohost a Caldecott Reading Challenge on our blogs.

The goal: Read all Caldelcott Books and Honor books in 2012 and blog (and tweet #nerdcott) about our progress along with other readers.  I invite you to Join the Challenge over on Laura's Blog.

I can't wait to get my hands on some of those beautiful picture book.  It is going to be a lot of fun to read these books.

This is a stress free challenge--so join us--read what you can, or what you want.  Just READ...and enjoy the beautiful pictures too!