Winter Reading

I'm super behind on getting this posted. I made a list of the books we loved but didn't have the time to write about all of them, so I'm going to do my best to remember what we loved about each book! Read last year's winter reading list here, 2017's here, 2016 here, 2015 here, and 2014 here.

Winter Reading Favorites

• May I Please Have a Cookie? by Jennifer E. Morris- My mom picked this book up at a book sale or garage sale and has it for the kids at her house. Elise loves it and when we visit we read it over and over. She likes all the creative ways the boy tries to get the cookies and she also likes how the solution was so simple all along. It's pretty repetitive and she likes to read along with us which I always love.

• Let's Go for a Drive by Mo Willems- The kids have always loved Elephant and Piggie and this book quickly became a favorite for Elise. She picked it to read so many times in a row that Carter started getting tired of it. One picture she especially loved showed a trail behind Piggie which she was convinced was a toot. It was pretty funny! 

  

  Elise pointing out Piggie's toot.

• Dragon Post by Emma Yarlett- A parent of one of my students sells Usborne books and I wanted to buy a book for each of the kids for Christmas. I chose Dragon Post for Carter because it reminded me of The Jolly Postman book we read when I was a kid. I loved that there were envelopes on different pages with letters you could pull out and read. The kids loved this book so much we read it at least once a day for weeks after we got it. They had certain letters they especially loved and wanted to pull out of the envelopes. They did a good job taking turns pulling letters out and Carter figured out that if he let Elise pull out the first letter, it would work out to where he got to pull out the letter that had been bitten by a lion. Elise never figured that out so everyone was happy!

Reading one of the letters from the book.

• A Bad Case of the Stripes by David Shannon- Elise was gifted this book for Christmas from my aunt and uncle. We had read it before and I even own the book, but once it was her book she was obsessed with it. We read it at least once a day as well. The kids both wanted to try lima beans after reading the book so that was a plus!

• Lifesize by Kane Miller- When I picked out books for the kids from Usborne I chose this one for Elise because it reminded me of Steve Jenkins books. I adore him and I love how he is able to make sizes and measurements come to life for kids. We had a blast reading this book and the kids loved how they could hold different animal parts up to their bodies. This book was amazing and will be a great tool for my classroom when learning about measurement and zoo animals.
  
  
  
  
• Chester by Melanie Watt- I love the Scaredy Squirrel series by Melanie Watt and had read the Chester books also by her but was never very impressed. Elise picked this one out at the library and I wasn't super enthused. Reading the book with her and seeing it through her eyes made me love it. She laughed each time we read it and after multiple readings even read along with me. Her favorite part was when he talks like a cave cat and says "Ooga Chugga Ooga Chugga!" She'd have me read that page over and over. 
  
• Daisy Gets Lost by Chris Raschka- When I saw this book I grabbed it right away. We love A Ball for Daisy and I was excited to see what came next for Daisy. A Ball for Daisy was also a favorite book in my class and the kids were always asking me to read it to them. I'd exchange the names in the book for names of kids in the class and they loved that. It's a great book for modeling for kids how they can read the pictures in a book and they loved that each time I read the book I'd add different and more details. Carter and Elise loved that Daisy gets lost by chasing a squirrel and the noises I made for Daisy were their favorite! My students loved this book as well. 

• Goodnight Already! by Jory John and Benji Davies- In this book a bear is continuously bothered by his friend the duck. Carter thought it was absolutely hysterical and loved that I gave the bear a voice similar to the one I give Eeyore. 

• Potty Power! by Eunice Moyle and Sabrina Moyle- This book was slightly ridiculous but Elise loved it. Any kind of poop, toot, or bathroom humor is great in her eyes!

• Kindergarrrten Bus by Mike Ornstein- When we read this one I wished I'd come across it at the beginning of the school year. It was so great! I loved that the pirate was afraid to do something without his parrot who was a comfort to him. It was a great reminder to kids that adults get scared and nervous sometimes too and it's okay to be scared about something new. Carter loved that I read the book with a pirate voice and I read this one enough times that my throat was sore.