Bout of Books Progress, Day 2

Day 2 was slightly better than Day 1. I read two books cover to cover: A Cricket in Times Square by George Selden (which is one of my picks for the Old School Kidlit Reading Challenge this month) and The Burning Questions of Bingo Brown, which I borrowed from Open Library just for fun because I love Betsy Byars and I eventually want to read all of her books. I will probably get through the rest of that series this week.

I still haven't finished A Likely Story by Jenn McKinlay, but I'm getting close. Day 3 has been a little tricky so far, but the night is young...

Bout of Books Progress, Day 1

I had my last CCD class of the year last night, and then I participated in the #boutofbooks chat as soon as I got home, so my evening reading time was limited, and I got off to a slow start. I finished a book I had been reading for a couple of weeks - First Class Murder by Robin Stevens - and made a little bit of progress on A Likely Story by Jenn McKinlay. I also read about 30 pages of Murder on the Orient Express, but that's a long one, and I don't really plan to make it a priority this week. 

My goal for the week is to catch up on my Goodreads challenge. I have been perpetually 40-ish books behind for over a month, and though I can make some of it up with picture books, I also want to get a few longer books done. I'm hoping for at least a slightly more productive Day 2! 

Paging Through Picture Books: Let's Go to the Library (1990), The Giant Story (1953), Every Day a Dragon (1967), Do You Know What I'll Do? (1958), Puddle Wonderful (1992), The Birthday Party (1957)

I fell behind on the Picture Book Reading Challenge during April, but I'm catching up in May! Here are my reviews for #18 a book celebrating libraries or reading (Let's Go to the Library), #44 a book published in the 1950s (The Giant Story), #71 a book about dinosaurs OR dragons (Every Day a Dragon), #75 a book that makes you cry (Do You Know What I'll Do?), #86 a poetry book (Puddle Wonderful), and #93 a book about celebrating birthdays (The Birthday Party).

Let's Go to the Library by Lisl Weil

Let's Go to the Library was published in 1990, but its two-toned illustrations have a wonderful vintage feel. I'm sure some readers (and librarians who have weeded the book) feel that it looked outdated when it was published and looks even more so now, but both my husband and I were drawn to it precisely because it looks older. The content is impressive. Some of the technology mentioned is a little behind the times (microfilm, for example) but the overall mission of libraries as providers of information comes across very clearly. There is also a good amount of history packed into the book, which helps contextualize libraries in our culture, and in our world. I have read a lot of kids' books about what librarians do, and compared with some newer titles, this one is better written and less preachy.

The Giant Story by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers, illustrated by Maurice Sendak

We have been collecting a lot of Maurice Sendak books recently. In going over the list of his books on Goodreads, my husband discovered this story by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers which just happened to be available to read from Open Library. The story is about a boy who spends his whole day pretending to be a giant who can crush people's houses and eat the leaves from trees. Miss Muffet is really into giants right now - fighting them off, painting pictures of them, imagining that one comes at night to bite her thumbs - so I shared this with her. She told my husband she didn't like it, but the look of joy on her face as I read betrayed her true feelings. It was a definite case of right kid, right book, right time.

Every Day a Dragon by Joan M. Lexau, illustrated by Ben Schecter

Every Day a Dragon is a story about a father and son who play a game of make-believe every afternoon. When Dad arrives home, he pretends to be a dragon, and the boy hides from him to avoid being eaten. At the end of the night, the boy heads to bed so he can get a good night's sleep and have enough energy to fight the "dragon" again the next day. This is the perfect book for imaginative preschoolers. The illustrations by Ben Shecter (complete with a saucepan upside-down on the boy's head) perfectly match the mood of the story. It reminds me a lot of newer books like Mitchell's License and Daddy Makes the Best Spaghetti, which also focus on fun father-son dynamics.

Do You Know What I'll Do? by Charlotte Zolotow, illustrated by Garth Williams

In Do You Know What I'll Do? a big sister talks to her little brother about the things they will do together, and the ways she will take care of him. I'm not sure this would have made me cry before I was a parent, but with all the talk in our house lately about being big sisters, it struck a pretty big chord.  I'm a little disappointed that this book has been re-illustrated in recent years. Garth Williams was a brilliant illustrator and I find it disrespectful when publishers discarded allegedly "outdated" pictures and allow a new illustrator to reinterpret the text. I much prefer to read original versions.

Puddle Wonderful: Poems to Welcome Spring selected by Bobbi Katz, illustrated by Mary Morgan

Because of our love for poetry picnics, we have quite a few poetry collections. I'm not sure how this Pictureback book came to be in our possession (it may have been mine or my sister's in childhood?) but it's a heavily illustrated collection of surprisingly scholarly poems for kids, including works by E.E. Cummings, Langston Hughes, John Updike, etc., as well as poems by kids' authors like Jack Prelutsky. We read it cover to cover one night at the dinner table, and I think I will take it along on our next poetry picnic since it is so portable compared to some of our larger tomes, and the illustrations are very preschool-friendly.

The Birthday Party by Ruth Krauss, illustrated by Maurice Sendak

This was another Goodreads discovery that was available on Open Library. Krauss and Sendak have done several books together and this one is not their best, but it does share the charm of their other works. The main character is David, a boy who has been many places, but never to a birthday party. David wants "to have been to a birthday party," however, so he is thrilled when his family throws a surprise party for him. I love the concept of wanting "to have been to a birthday party" because it implies wanting to cross an experience off a list rather than to simply enjoy the experience for its own sake - something I think young kids feel fairly often. Sendak's illustrations are also spot-on. Even with very little text to suggest personality, David comes fully to life in those pictures.

Seven Quick Takes: Things We Won't Do With Baby #3

Now that I'm in the second trimester, it's starting to sink in that in less than six months, we will be a family of five! As I start to get into baby prep mode all over again, I've started thinking about all the things we won't be doing with baby number three.

We won't find out the gender.

We have never found out the gender of our babies, and though it is driving some of our family members crazy, we won't be finding out this time either. A few people have told me that they think we should find out since we have 2 girls, and we don't have any boy stuff, but since we never find out, we have an entirely gender neutral newborn wardrobe. I know that finding out the gender is a surprise no matter when it happens, but I love that moment in the delivery room when the nurse tells me what we have. Even Miss Muffet has jumped on the bandwagon with us. I've asked her a couple of times what she thinks it is, and she just says, "I have to wait until the baby comes to find that out, Mama."

We (well, I) won't breastfeed.

It surprises people when they find out we exclusively formula feed our kids. This is probably because we homeschool and don't have a TV and make our own baby food and use cloth diapers. We sound like a family that would breastfeed. We just don't. This used to make me feel guilty, even though I know it's the right decision for our family, because there are lots of articles and blog posts out there that claim that not breastfeeding by choice is a sin - not to mention the ugly comments in every Internet post on the subject. But while the church teaches that you have to feed your baby (obviously!), it does not teach that you must do so using any particular method. So now I mostly don't think about it much, except when I see cool gadgets like this and when nosy old ladies question me about my parenting. (This is my third baby, little old ladies. Bring it on.)

We (hopefully) won't wait too long to go to the hospital.

When I was expecting Miss Muffet my grandmother told me the story of when she almost didn't make it the hospital to have her second child (my aunt). Miss Muffet's labor was 18 hours so I thought I'd have some leeway with Bo Peep, but that did not turn out to be the case. By the time contractions were in a regular pattern of any kind, they were only about 2 minutes apart. This time, I keep joking that I'm going to camp out in the hospital parking lot. It's only 5 minutes from home, but I want to be there in plenty of time in case #3 is even quicker than his/her big sister.

We (again, mostly I) won't plan on an epidural.

I have always planned to have an epidural and have yet to have one that worked. With Miss Muffet, the epidural failed and I felt everything anyway. With Bo Peep, the anesthesiologist was on his way, but by the time he would have gotten there, she had already been born. Having done it naturally twice now, and with the second labor being so short, I've decided to just go in with the assumption that there will be no pain relief. This does not mean I won't ask for it if the opportunity arises, but I'm done trying to make it happen.

We won't worry about what to do with our big kids.

When Bo Peep was born, I was completely stressed out about what to do with Miss Muffet, and we didn't have a clear plan until 37 weeks. This time, I'm planning to line up a couple of family members to come and stay with us - one before the due date, and one after, if the first person needs to be relieved before the baby comes, and I also have a couple of friends who have said they would help us if we need it.

We won't buy newborn clothes.

I think Miss Muffet wore more newborn clothes than Bo Peep did, but they both mostly skipped right onto 3 months pretty quickly. I think what we have is still in pretty good shape, and no matter how cute the clothes are, there is no sense in buying an outfit that a child can only wear for a week. I think we'll save our budget for a new swing (our Mamaroo died when Bo Peep was still an infant) and boy clothes if it turns out we need them.

We won't bring a lot of stuff to the hospital.

When Miss Muffet was born, I brought a ton of stuff with me, and used absolutely none of it. Last time, I was a lot better about only bringing what we'd use, but I feel like I could go even more minimalist. I looked at this list the other day and laughed a little bit because at this point, I really think I could walk in there with my insurance card, my toothbrush, and my phone and be set until it's time to go home.

Bout of Books 19

Bout of Books 19 starts Monday! This is my fifth time participating overall, and my second time since starting this blog.

If you're not familiar with Bout of Books, here is the official blurb:

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, May 8th and runs through Sunday, May 14th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 19 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

I've had too much going on to really think about what I am going to read just yet, but I'm hoping to have a reading list put together by Monday. I usually get a lot of reading done, and I don't want to waste the week! 

Book Review: Cody and the Rules of Life by Tricia Springstubb (2017)

Cody loves Gremlin, the monster figurine her brother, Wyatt, passed onto her a few years ago. When her best friend, Pearl, proposes a trade - Cody's Gremlin in exchange for Pearl's Arctic Fox - Cody goes along with it, but regrets it almost immediately. Though Cody is pleased that Pearl thinks of her as "trusty" enough to care for one of her prized possessions, Cody misses having Gremlin to confide in, especially when her brother's brand-new, hard-earned Cobra bicycle is stolen. Unable to stand it any longer, and afraid to tell Pearl how she feels, Cody steals Gremlin out of Pearl's backpack during a field trip and then allows Pearl to believe he has been lost. Before she can feel better, however, Cody will realize that she must be honest with Pearl, or she will be just as bad as the thief that took Wyatt's bike.

This book, like the others before it, demonstrates Springstubb's understanding of the significance of small events in the life of a child. Negotiating trades and bargains with friends is something most kids must learn how to do at some point during the early elementary years, and Cody's experience provides a great blueprint, both for how to handle the situation poorly, and how to navigate handling it properly.

The details of the story are also appealing, and they immerse the reader in Cody's world. These are just some of the little things that I really liked in this book:

• The tempting gong on Cody's teacher's desk, and the fact that Cody has to try so hard not to touch it.  
• The fact that Cody's teacher mistakenly assumes the Cobra is an animal, not a bicycle.
• Wyatt's teenager-esque dialogue that reveals his age and attitude without modeling disrespecful or inappropriate behavior.
• The fact that Cody accidentally (and secretly) scratches Wyatt's bike, a clue which later helps him identify it. 
• Cody's concerns over dripping pizza sauce in Pearl's seemingly immaculate house.

There are also several wonderfully quotable lines in the book. I especially liked Cody's observation, "If you enjoy rules that make no sense at all, go on a field trip." and her understanding that [C]onscience must be deep-down. Like a backbone. Conscience must be a vertebrate." 

Families looking for books with a clear sense of right and wrong and a believably flawed but overall good-hearted character need look no further than the Cody series. I say this every time I review one of her books, but Springstubb is the one of the best writers of new realistic fiction titles for kids, and I make it a point to read everything she publishes.  You and your kids should, too. 

Old School Kidlit Reading Challenge, May 2017 (Animal Stories)

The fifth month of the Old School Kidlit Reading Challenge begins today!

This month our focus is on Animal Stories.

To participate, read a book or books connected to this month's theme with a publication date in the decade of your birth or before. Post about it on your blog, or wherever you typically review books. On the last weekday of the month, Wednesday, May 31st,  I will publish a link-up post for you to share your reviews from the month.

Feel free to share what you're planning to read here in the comments and/or on social media using #oldschoolkidlit2017. Happy reading!