Our family relies heavily on our town library.  Lovey is an avid reader and pretty much reads all.day.long.  Her voracious appetite for books isn’t easy on the wallet so we try to get at many books as we can from the library.  Also, only having one income currently means Honey and I aren’t buying as many books.  We have found some great books just by browsing the shelves.  (I highly recommend Tomato Girl by Jayne Pupek and Heft by Liz Moore, both discoveries I made just by looking in the stacks.) And of course, it’s a great place to play and participate in activities for Kitten while she’s not in school.  She has insisted that we attend story time EVERY Friday.

I thought it might be fun to take a peek inside our library bag.  We’ve been getting some great books that your family might enjoy too.

Penguin Cha-Cha

This one is about penguins at the zoo who love to dance, but only when no one is watching.  It got a few giggles out of both girls.

A Splash of Red

This is a Nutmeg Award finalist in the Elementary category.  Lovey is doing an activity at the library called Nutmeg Nibblers where they read a book a month from the list and then talk about them with a snack.  The first one was on Arnie the Doughnut, it’s really funny. In any case, A Splash of Red is about Horace Pippen, a little known (at least to me) American folk artist.  After reading the book I definitely wanted to know more about him and am curious to see some of his work in person.  The illustrations in this book are beautiful and the story could spark some interesting discussions about race in our country’s history with older kids.

The Book with a Hole

I love the imagination in this book and so does Kitten.  The author wrote one of our other favorites, Press Here. The hole in the book becomes something different every time you turn the page.  It kept both girls, together and alone, entertained for quite a while.

Fortunately, the Milk

I will admit that as an adult I’d never read Neil Gaiman.  I know, I know.  This is another Nutmeg finalist and I thought Lovey would enjoy it.  She is in 2nd grade but reading at a much higher level so finding books for her has been quite a challenge.  I thought worst case, we could both read it and if she didn’t understand we would work through it together.  We both read it in about a half hour.  We both loved it.  It’s a delightful adventure story about what happens to a dad when he goes out to get milk for the breakfast cereal.  The illustrations really help make the book funny. There were parts that had even me laughing so I know that kids in elementary school would love it.  It’d be a great bedtime read aloud for the Kindergarten to 2nd grade set and an independent read for grades 3-5 (or kids reading on that level).

Last, but not least, one for mommy book club.

Black-Eyed Susans

This is the latest pick from my book club.  We have been meeting very sporadically the last 9 months but we are trying to infuse new life into our group.  We chose this one after reading library reviews and I’m so glad we did.  It’s really holding my interest.  The story centers around a girl who at 17 was kidnapped and left for dead in a shallow grave with another body and the bones of other victims in a field of black-eyed susans.  Years later she is coming to terms with the idea that the man sentenced to death for the crime may in fact not be the perpetrator.  I’m more than halfway through this one and I have no idea where it’s going, but I’m engrossed.

 

That’s all I’ve got for now.  If you like this idea, let me know, I can keep you posted on what our family has been getting from the library in future posts.