Happy August 1st! I kind of wish I wasn’t saying that right now. If social media is any indicator, I think we all have a tendency to reach this date and either hold tightly onto summer and live in denial that the school year starts during this month for many of us, or throw our hands in the air and cry, “Great white sharks, we are so far from being able to survive our fall schedule right now!” … or both. What I would like to do on this August 1st is acknowledge what’s coming and hold on to what is. Because it is still summer, and we will still spend hours at the pool and watch TV in the late afternoon and all the other summer things. Still, I have to admit that, yes, it is a good idea to maybe start inching the bedtimes back towards the school year routine. The great thing about this time of year is it’s the perfect time to begin or reinstate reading before bed with your kids. (Or yourself. Great adult options here!) And picture books are a great place to start. While the land of chapter books is a wonderful place to plunge into with my kids, I am beyond glad to have a five-year-old and a two-year-old who keep me deep in picture books every day. If we’re honest, the older two read almost all of them with us, too. Here are our favorites lately!
What Do You Say, Dear? by Joslin Sesyle is hands down my favorite picture book discovery of the summer. This book on every day manners presents completely bizarre scenarios that will have you and your kids laughing and learning at the same time. Now, when I say, “What do you say, dear?” no one groans; instead, we all smile at the inside joke this book gives our family now and eases us into talking about manners. The illustrations by Maurice Sendak are priceless. If your kids don’t learn a thing, you will at least have a lot of fun reading it!
All of us enjoy Ella the Elegant Elephant and other books in the series. The warm colors are so friendly and the atmosphere of Elephant Island make these books perfect for summer reads. We took Ella Sets Sail with us to the beach this year. Warning: Ella’s mother is a baker and you might want a pineapple pie when you’re done reading this book!
Rapunzel by Sarah Gibb and Cinderella by Barbara McClintock – Both of these fairy tale books are beautifully illustrated. I love that the McClintock version of Cinderella is drawn in the style of the time period the story is set in. Neither of these books is very much like the Disney version of their stories at all, in case that is refreshing to you as it is to me sometimes. (Not knocking the Disney moves, I love them, but staying true to old texts is important, as well!)
The Kitchen Knight by Margaret Hodges- A longer picture book, for sure, but chock full of good talking points on winning a prize fairly and on your own merit. And it’s not just a morality tale–my eight-year-old son thinks this book is a keeper and when we were done reading it with just one of his sisters, he said, “We need to read this one with everyone!” His only complaint is that the Kitchen Knight looks too old, but I liked the illustrations just fine. =)
I can’t promise that these are any of our other favorite picture books (visit our children’s book category to find more!) will completely erase the chance of protests when you push those bedtimes back to sane fall hours. Push through that whining! Picture books are magic.
Hoping your last days of summer are as magical as humanly possible,
Mia/Alana (why two names? Answers here)
Dianna says:
You’re so right about the beginning of August. I am starting to stress already about getting things in shape for the approaching school year!
We read What Do You Say, Dear? recently too. So fun!