What We’ve Been Reading in September

Some Outstanding Children’s Picture Books

Overboard by Sarah Weeks: A toddler size bunny delights in throwing things. Possibly because this book reminded us of Mr. Cuddles, Ms. Crazy Preschooler and I laughed and laughed. The text allows for lots of tonal variation as you read aloud, enabling the reader to milk the drama.

Seen Art? by Jon Scieszka: This was a little over Ms. Crazy Preschooler’s head, I think, but the irony used is quite fun, and it would be such a wonderful book to integrate famous art with older kids who would pick up on lots of the puns.

Teeny Weeny Bop by Margaret Read MacDonald: A rhythmic text plays on some of my favorite nursery rhymes (ones that I particularly like to use in music class). This was not only fun to read, but would be a neat segway to discussing the value of money, how markets and trading work, and the power of careful decision making. We just enjoyed reading it for fun.

Kids Chapter Books

Judy Moody Gets Famous by Megan McDonald: I read this out loud to Ms. Crazy Preschooler. While the characters in this book were amusing and we enjoyed the illustrations, this just seemed to lack something. Charm? Realistic characters? I’m not sure, but it wasn’t very engaging.

Junie B., First Grader: Aloha-ha-ha! by Barbara Park: Who can resist falling in love with Junie B? She’s up to her usual tricks. We particularly liked the grouchy ladies on the airplane.

Books for Grown Ups

Good Poems for Hard Times Edited by Garrison Keillor: I finally bought this book! I’ve been wanting it for a long time, and I loved it. I read it straight through and then have gone back and read my favorites many times over. I love the diversity of poems. I wish I were still teaching so I could share them with students! There are some great picks in this anthology. The poet biographies were interesting too!

My Life as a Furry Red Monster by Kevin Clash: This memoir (?) is written by the pupeteer who runs Elmo on Sesame Street. A devout Sesame Street Fan, I heard about this book on NPR one night and couldn’t pass it up. It was a nice, light read, perfect for having a baby in the hospital. It was really interesting to have a behind- the- scenes look at Sesame Street and I enjoyed reading about Clash’s life growing up and how he turned out to have a career with Elmo. At times the book seemed to be saying the same things over and over.

Land that Moves, Land that Stands Still by Kent Nelson: I had been waiting to read this book for a long time, and it was a good read, but not nearly as good as I expected. Some of the characters seemed too much alike. Some of the situations seemed a little contrived. All of the main characters were female, and I felt the whole time I was reading that the author was obviously not female, which of course, he was not, so in a sense, the characters didn’t feel very authentic to me.