Crabtot recommends
I know as moms we're meant to say that nothing delights us more than a big fat stack of wordy books before bedtime, because reading is so important and bedtime is so special and yadda yadda, but come on: there's a reason Goodnight Moon is so popular, and I'll wager it's not just the red balloon in the bedroom.
Truly does my heart leap when Crabtot picks storybooks that are short on text. In such cases, two books are a breeze and then it's lullaby, lights-out, and grownup time, thank you very much. I especially love it when Crabtot picks a book that's not only short, but also funny and a tad peculiar. And I've found it's often the books I've never heard of but plucked randomly at the used bookstore that become the biggest hits. Example: The Yawn Goes On by Sally G. Ward, (which you can buy used for a whopping 3c here).
It's an amusing little book about how tedious life can be, with witty text and manic watercolor drawings. On the cover, a mother yawns, and her mouth is a puncture hole that continues through the book from front to back. This hole becomes a yawn on each page, a great big yawn that passes from person to person in the course of a busy day. On every page someone is tired. The final page moves from the family, collapsed in exhaustion, to an owl yawning in the garden.
I love this book for its simple realism, for showing that life is not just about hugs and rainbows but is also exhausting and monotonous. I love this book because it has this odd and rather hypnotic refrain—and the yawn goes on—that Crabtot likes repeating. I love this book because the dad bathes the kids and the mom looks completely frazzled. And I love this book because it is short.
I'll be doing more book reviewing in this blog. If you'd like to recommend your tot's favorite, comment or email me (by clicking on the envelope below this post). Also feel free to bash a book or three! We can alternate Must-Reads with a Book Bashing, where schlocky books (anyone else hate Guess How Much I Love You?) get the dissing they deserve.
I hate Maisy, she must be made to go away. Please!
And I struggle with the Dr. Suess books that come in at a novelesque 57 pages. Now, great reads for parents and kids, "While Mama Had a Quick Little Chat" by Amy Reichert, the illustrations are divine and the story just demands an imperious voice in a British accent. Another great story, which comes with a dvd that is truly magical, is "Moongirl" from Henry Selick.
Amanda
http://lifewithbriar.blogspot.com
http://toddlywinks.blogspot.com
i personally love the saggy baggy elephant and the poky little puppy. the poky little puppy is great because it's memorably repetitive. my boy likes hearing my voice reading anything right now as he's just coming on 3 months. i can read all my chick lit, gossip rags, or the adverts from the newspaper for the grocery store or zellers.
Loving these new suggestions. And I quite agree, mam2bna, Seuss, while wonderful and all can feel novelesque, as you put it, when read in the evening by a tired mommy.
Poky Puppy, will have to check out and Quick Little Chat, which will suit my sort-of Brit accent (South African) quite well. I think it's grand to get suggestions from moms of different titles that one wouldn't normally find easily. Thanks and please everyone else lurking, put your two cents in!
I'm probably completely alone here, but I hate the Giving Tree. I think it tells kids that it's ok to be a selfish little jerk, and that nature is here simply for our convenience. I realize that isn't the intended message, but that doesn't stop it from sending it. That said, I love everything else by Shel Silverstein.
My librarian knows better than to recommend us books that are long-winded. We want short, funny toddler books, ASAP.
Meagan, I agree. the Giving Tree is kind of a shocker. Crabhub and I were both mortified on first reading it to Ctot. I wanted to weep with the misery of it all...Oh the coldness of humanity! Shel Silverstein also looks a tad insane on the back cover. But the drawings are fantastic...
Hey Crabmommy...while I have to admit The Giving Tree is pretty weird, Runny Babbit is an absolute classic. Great pictures and easy for Dad to read at bedtime....if you are in a good mood you can read 5 or 6 poems....if you can't wait to get back to the fireplace and enjoy a glass of Scotch then the kids are normally happy with just a couple of short pages.
For brevity "Goodnight Gorilla" is excellent, so are the Sandra Boynton books.
My daughter is always bringing me dreadful Franklin books to read so I always tell her "thats a Mommy reading book sweetie."
But the worst books of all are the vast number of crappy product books like Blues Clues stories, Buzz Lightyear: Space Ranger, and the hideous Arthur books. What is Arthur? We have an early one where he seems to be an anteater and then he changes into a bland melted bear?
I just brought some Anatole (the French cheese tasting mouse) books by Eve Titus on ebay for a few dollars. I loved them as a kid and my kids seem to enjoy them as well. Maybe they will be ready for the really weird Mr. Ben books. Talking of Mr. Ben we shouldn't forget the Mr. Men books, small, moralistic and quite funny.
Hi baddadbad,
Love your handle there and thanks for that pithy list. I can't wait to check out Anatole and the intriguing-sounding Mr. Men and Runny Babbit books. This is such a great conversation, people...Isn't it far more fun to ask each other rather than the librarians or consulting the amazon recommended reading pages? I have a great list now just in time for the holidays when I will be taking a looooong plane trip with Crabtot. The more books the better. Keep it coming.
At bedtime, I like to read "Click Clack Moo, Cows that Type," "Where the Wild Things Are," (I thought this would scare my two-year-old but she loves it!) and of course, "Good Night Moon."
Childrens Books I love:
Adventures of Cow by Lori Kirchek
(very funny for parents, tots may not get it, but like the pics)
Animalia by Graeme Base
(Not your typical alphabet book - have actually read it when there were no kids in the room)
What do you do with a kangaroo? by Mercer Mayer
(I especially like the part where he says to push the tiger off the bike that he took from you - playground justice you'd love to see, but could never really say with playground parents around)
Pat the Bunny by .... I can't remember. overtired.
(something about the smell of those flowers...I don't know what it is.)
Miss Spider's Tea Party by David Kirk
(I love the hard back book with the thick, hard to rip pages. I always like reading this one) (SEE NOTE BELOW)
I may burn for writing this, but I get ALOT of milage out of toy catalogs that come in the mail.
Children's Audio Stories I love:
Anything by Bill Harley. VERY funny guy - I can listen to it and it doesn't make me want to open a vein. My kids (3/5/7) listen to these while going to bed at night.
Children"s Books I hate:
Any tv/movie character in a book. Except, at times, classic Pooh. And Miss Spider's Tea Party, which came before the cartoon
I have to agree with last post about the giving tree. I just don't get it. I hate "the boy". Jerk.
Richard Scarry books. This man never had kids.
Good luck on the trip. Hope you get a window seat!
Moooommy!
Thanks so much for such a good pithy comment. And for mentioning Miss Spider's Tea Party. LOVE IT! And didn't know there was a cartoon of it. Off I go back to Amazon b/c you know we love a good bit of 11-hours-a-day DVDing in this house.
But I have to disagree with you on Richard Scarry. I WORSHIP him. I loved him as a kid and Ctot adores him too. The Polite Elephant, Pierre the Paris Policeman, all those dizzying illustrations of breakfast...And Lowly Worm! LW a huge classic in the Crabfamily at large. My Victorian mother once famously insulted my stepfather in an argument by saying, "you are nothing but a lowly worm!"
Anyway, I love RS and you hate and that's what our book forum should be all about. I'm glad to have the Book Wars here on Cmommy. Let's duke it out! :)
HJH loves Dubi Dubi Muuu & Jaja, Jiji Oink....illustrations are great and text hits his funny bone. (They are the ones with Farmer Brown and his wise barnyard animals). And, you will be thrilled to hear, he has them memorised (e.g., they are not everlasting reads). Madeline is also quite sweet with simple rhyming and lovely illustrations. He adores the Magic Bus series....but I caution you, they are looooonnnnng and detailed. True confession time: I cringe when he chooses it.
PS Your column is hilarious and smart. You know I adore your wit. ox
I have to second What Would You Do with a Kangaroo? because it is really so so great. The kid has such attitude and the illustrations are so detailed.
If you want to scare the liver out of your kid, Outside Over There by Maurice Sendak should do the trick. Goblins sneak in the window of the nursery and take a baby. The older sister goes looking for the baby and eventually outwits the goblins. I remember being terrified but fascinated by this one.