March 17, 2007 by Barbara.

It was a day full of books and I feel like I should state that we do other things with Reid other than read. She and I went out for breakfast and shopping in the morning and in the afternoon she and Ken built with Legos and wooden blocks and also played with playdough. Still, we read:

• Stephanie’s Ponytail and Jonathan Cleaned Up and Then He Heard a Sound by Robert Munsch, both from the Munsch Treasury Reid had me pick up as we left her room in the morning;
• The Cat in the Hat at bedtime and The Cat in the Hat Comes Back after our naptime by Dr Seuss. It doesn’t matter if you read them out of order, they still make sense;
• How Do Dinosaurs Learn Their Colors? by Jane Yolen, and, yes, it was hard to spell colour without the “u”. This book would be good for the dinosaur-obsessed kid since it contains the names of each of the dinosaurs pictured and maybe that will be Reid one day, she did have me repeat the names a couple of times;
• Blue Hat, Green Hat by Sandra Boynton, a book that, technically, Reid read to me as she provided all of the words;
• A Dragon in a Wagon by Jane Belk Moncure, which is a primer on transportation and given my previous work, it seems like I should impart this knowledge;
• When Will It be Spring? by Catherine Walters, Reid and I enjoy this one. It makes me think of when Reid wakes up and asks if it is “waking up time”. I am not sure why Reid likes it;
• The First Day of Winter by Denise Fleming, a counting book that seemed appropriate as we are getting still more snow today and it is about a snowman’s “… 2 bright blue mittens and a red hat with a gold snap”;
• The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog! by Mo Willems, I love the dialogue between the duckling and the pigeon and the fact that the pigeon shares even though he never intended to;
• Sheep in a Jeep by Nancy Shaw, a silly rhyme with pretty pencil drawings;
• Mouse Count by Ellen Stoll Walsh, who also wrote Mouse Paint. Ken considers this book a bit dark since it is about a snake who counts mice as he puts them into a jar with the intention of eating them (but they escape). Reid didn’t seem particularly interested in the storyline;
• Portable Universe: Sun, illustrated by Sabrina Orlando, a poem that talks about the relationship between the earth and the sun in terms of seasons, the length of the year, etc.; and
• Good Night, Little One by Salina Yoon, for once as the last book before we shut the light out.

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March 17, 2007 by Barbara.

Okay, technically, the Cat in the Hat has been at our house for years. In fact as I’ve mentioned previously, I’ve owned him and many other Seuss books since I was in university but now that Reid has the attention span to listen to these long stories, it’s like a long-lost friend has come to visit. Thing 1 and Thing 2 came out at bedtime on Tuesday and the Little Cats A through Z came out when the Cat in the Hat Comes Back came out on Wednesday night. I love Dr Seuss! (In case you hadn’t guessed.) I remember reading Dr Seuss books to the nieces and nephews, in particular I remember being able to recite Marvin K. Mooney Would You Please Go Now! to Brianna when I babysat her. I can’t remember if it was her favourite book or mine. I wonder if she’ll smile when she reads this or have nightmares.

I don’t know if you realized that March 2nd was the 50th anniversary of the publishing of The Cat and the Hat or that the book has only 236 words, many of which are repeated. I didn’t know these details until I read a post on a blog about it. One fact that struck me was their stat that in middle class homes, a child will have 13 books of their own while in a lower-class neighbourhood there will be 300 children for every one book. Now, I am suspicious of stats, especially given how many kids books we own (which is, admittedly, well over any average) but I have heard Melissa speak of reading to four year-olds at her kids’ school that don’t know that in most books the words run along the bottom and the pictures go above and so can’t orient the books properly for her to read to them. She lives in a middle class neighbourhood in a well-off city. It brings tears to my eyes to think of kids without books.Even if I am a bit melodramatic, it is still a terrible thing to have happening in our country. ABC CANADA Literacy Foundation has a “Ways to help” ( http://www.abc-canada.org/sponsorship/) program which includes shopping with a rebate and direct donations if you’re so inclined.

Have a great day. And read a kid a book this weekend - if not yours, someone elses ;+)

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