Richard Scarry's Busy, Busy World

Book - Richard Scarry's Busy, Busy World
Author - Richard Scarry
Age - 2-6

We discovered this Richard Scarry book on a trip to visit friends in Fayetteville, Arkansas. We had other Richard Scarry books, but this one goes on 33 adventures around the world!!! It took me a while to find it on eBay since it is out of print. The inside front cover has a map of the world and shows the character and where their adventures takes place. Catherine's 2 favorite adventures were in Paris and Rio De Janeiro.

In "Pierre, the Paris Policeman" Pierre is directing traffic when he hears someone yell "robber." He chases a jewel thief who happens to be a rabbit through Paris. You see the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, and Notre Dame. Catherine especially loved the Paris story since she was going to spend her 16th birthday with Ken in Paris.

The "South American Carnival" story is really cute even though I don't like snakes!!! All of these animals are trying to get on a single plane to fly to Rio De Janeiro for Carnival!! The plane is so full of animals that it breaks open. So, the snake wraps himself around the plane to hold it together. They all fly to Rio and have a 'splendid time'!!!

I'm sure I will be reviewing other Richard Scarry books in the future. Catherine loved to read many of them!!

Snowmen at Night

Book - Snowmen at Night
Author - Caralyn Bueher
Age - 3-7

Given our recent recent weather it only makes sense to talk about a book that focus's on snow!!! I loved to read Snowmen at Night to Catherine. It answers the question that kids wonder - what do our toys, creations, etc do at night? Kind of along the lines of The Teddy Bear Picnic or Toy Story - what do our toys do when we are not around? The narrator, a young boy, wonders why his snowman looks a bit different in the morning.

He imagines what they do at night from sledding down a hill, drinking ice cold cocoa, playing baseball with snowballs, and the worlds biggest snowball fight!! It is amazingly cute. I was feeling sad tonight, so I read it to Ford my 2 year old. He loved it just like his big sissy.

Catherine was never able to play in the snow or build a snowman. However, I am sure that she would have wondered the same thing as the little boy in the this book. I think that this books helps children to really use their imagination and isn't that what books are suppose to do?

Enjoy!

Little Monkey's One Safe Place

Book - Little Monkey's One Safe Place
Author - Richard Edwards
Age - 2 - 5 years

One of my favorite books to read to Catherine when she was around two years old was Little Monkey's One Safe Place. It is about a little monkey who goes off to play in the jungle by himself. He takes a nap on a branch and wakes up during a storm. He gets scared and swings off to find his mom at home.

When he finds her she tells him everything is OK. She tells him that he just needs to find his safe place when he is scared. This sends him off on an adventure to find his safe place. He searches all over for his safe place, but each place he looks has something scary there. He looks in the hole of a tree but finds a snake. He goes to a small island but confronts a crocodile. Finally, he goes back to his mom and tells her that he could not find his safe place. She tells him that she is his safe place. Whenever he is scared or lonely just to come back to her.

It was always at this point that Catherine would say "mommy and daddy are my safe place" in her sweet little baby voice that was quite endearing. I would give her a hug and kiss and tell her that I would never let anything hurt her. As she got older this turned in to conversations about what she should do if the house was on fire or if someone broke into our home. She liked to walk through the various scenarios. Amazingly they never seemed to scare her.

The Perils of Penelope

One of Catherine's favorite book for the last 2 years has been Sesame Street's The Perils of Penelope. It is a story about Bert and Ernie. Bert is dressed up as Penelope whose always the 'damsel in distress'. Meanwhile, Ernie is always the hero.

Ernie - "Fear not Penelope! I will save you!"
Bert/Penelope - " Why do I always have to be Penelope?"

Catherine always thought it was hilarious and she would even make us read the inside of the covers!!! Personally I dreaded the nights that she chose The Perils of Penelope, but evidently Ken (my husband) loved to read it. Regardless, it is a cute book. I think that this book is a large reason why she enjoyed watching Sesame Street on Saturday and Sunday mornings. She always wanted to see what adventures Bert and Ernie went on.

Well, tonight I wish I could read this book to her again and I can't help wondering what great adventures we are missing out on. Good night sweet girl, you are missed.

Ladybug, Ladybug

I thought it only fitting to start this blog with the first book we ever read to Catherine. We started reading to her when she was only a few weeks old and her favorite book was Fly-Away Ladybug by Lamaze. She LOVED that book.

The book is about the days journey of a Ladybug. It starts with: "Ladybug, Ladybug fly far away. There are wonderful things to see today." It ends with: "Ladybug, Ladybug you flew so fast. Now you can rest home at last."

If Catherine started crying, we could recite the book and she would stop crying. She didn't even have to see the book!!! Since then we have given the book to just about everyone we know that is having a baby. Catherine's little brothers also loved Fly-Away Ladybug. We look forward to reciting it many more times in the futures.

Come back again for more of Catherine's favorite children's books.