Books Series About Transportation My boys love books (yay!) and they love anything that goes. I am always on the look out for quality books about vehicles that are fun to read, have great illustrations and are full of information. … Continue reading
Douglas Florian, A Poet for Boys Often students are asked to choose a favorite poem (or poet) to write about for a school book report or class project. There are many, many wonderful poets out there- some are very serious … Continue reading
As you know from a previous post, I am a huge fan of Jon Scieszka’s books. My boys are also huge fans, although they don’t know Scieszka’s books by his name, but instead by the stories he tells. The Trucktown series has been one of the best additions to our home library. A whole series all about some wacky trucks and their adventures in a place called Trucktown. The stories include such characters as Dump Truck Dan, Rescue Rita, Monster Truck Max and Cement Mixer Melvin each of which has his or her own personality. The series includes picture books such as Smash! Crash! and Melvin Might as well as what they call, “Ready to Roll” books (beginning readers) such as Zoom! Boom! Bully and Snow Trucking. These books incorporate wonderful rhymes, simple, repetitive text, fantastic illustrations and lots of action. All the things little boys love in books and, the things that make them want to read and keep reading. The series is growing and plans for more books are in the works.
But by far our favorite Trucktown book is called, Truckery Rhymes. This is a collection of traditional rhymes rewritten using the Trucktown characters and all things truck. The whole book can be read in one sitting or read over time. The rhymes are catchy and we find ourselves singing them throughout our day. The colorful, cartoon-like pictures very detailed and great fun to look at.
This is one of our favorite rhymes in the book. It is sung to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.
This version of Rock-a-Bye Baby has replaced the original nursery rhyme as a favorite for my youngest son at bedtime.
So if you have little boys who love trucks as much as mine and, you want to keep them interested in books and inspire them to become readers- these books are a must for your home library!
Watch Jon Scieszka read his favorite Truckery Rhymes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5LCJE-yMwY
© www.boymamateachermama.com 2012
Books About Boxes A box is only a box unless someone uses his imagination and creativity to make it into something more. Here are some books where the characters use boxes for all kinds of adventures. Not a Box (Antionette … Continue reading
Creating a Book with Favorite Songs and Rhymes One of my son’s favorite songs as toddler was a song called, “The Fire Truck Song.” We learned this song in our gym class and we sang it all the time. You … Continue reading
One thing you will quickly learn about me if you continue to read my blog is that I am a huge connoisseur of children’s literature. Not only was I a elementary school teacher, but I was also a school librarian for a few years and worked for about 5 years in a bookstore dedicated to children’s books. I have a collection of, well, I am afraid to count, but I have a lot of children’s books. I am also a bit of a book snob. A good book to me has to capture my attention from the first page, the illustrations must be unique and add a dimension to the book that would be lost without them and, the story, well it darn well better be a good story.
One of my favorite authors is Maurice Sendak. He is a brilliant writer and his illustrations are the perfect match to his writing. But something has disturbed me over the years about peoples’ responses to his writing. They say things like, “His books are too scary.” or “The stories are too strange.” Okay, I will grant them some of that. They can be a bit scary and even a bit odd, but if you know what Sendak is trying to accomplish, then you will realize just why his books are the way they are.
Sendak writes about what children know. His books “acknowledge the terrors of childhood, how vicious and lonely it can be.” If you read anything about Sendak’s personal history, he lived many of the terrors of childhood and knows first hand how awful they can be. He does not “dumb down” his writing for children. In fact, he says himself that he hates being known as a children’s book author. He says “it belittles [his] talent.” He also says that he “refuses to lie to children…[he] refuse[s] to cater to the bullshit of innocence.”
So if you can get past the books being a little odd and perhaps scary and try to see them through the eyes of an adult who lived through some scary things and through the eyes of a child, then you can appreciate their value and their beauty. You can appreciate Sendak presenting these “terrors” but always, always reconciling things at the end. Take Where the Wild Things Are for example. It is the story of a little boy who talks back to his mom and is sent to his room (sound familiar?). The boy then “runs away,” but only in his imagination, to a land full of monsters (another childhood fear and perhaps a manifestation of a “mean mom”) where he is able to “tame them all with a magic trick” therefore he is able to resume his control and face down a childhood evil (monsters) and win. And, when it is all over, his dinner awaits him and it is “still hot.”
So you can take Sendak’s books or leave them, but realize the his books are what children’s imaginations are made of and they hold the power that allows children to fight those monsters and win.
Quoted items in this post are from http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/oct/02/maurice-sendak-interview
