Little Readers

They love books, just like their Mama. A couple of times each day I look over and see something like this:

Ah, it warms my heart. Our current load of library books yielded one or two gems, for you connoisseurs of children’s literature:

  

Creepy Carrots! by Aaron Reynolds
Mercy Watson to the Rescue by Kate DiCamillo
Baby Brains and RoboMom by Simon James

And from earlier this month:

 
Where’s My Teddy? by Jez Alborough
Mr. Putter and Tabby Stir the Soup by Cynthia Rylant is one of my old faves but Jay and Rose started really liking it recently. They crack up every time Mr. Putter says “Jiminy!” We love all of the Mr. Putter books.

Of course we had to check out The Nutcracker again. Sigh. Luckily Jay has it memorized almost word for word by now so I don’t have to actually read it as often as before. I love hearing Jay’s little voice say big things like, “festive paper” and “his features were course.”

None of us will be sad to see January go. It  has been SUCH a cold, gray, sunless month in the Yakima Valley. I have been battling wintry grumpiness every day. It’s good for me, I’m sure, but by the afternoon, all I want to do is snuggle up in my chair with a million blankets and a stack of good books. I have been doing a good amount of reading and re-reading lately. Books that I have read in the past month or two:

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton—it was pretty good, but kind of left me feeling unsettled at the end.

Sammy Keyes and the Showdown in Sin City by Wendelin Van Draanen—possibly my favorite Sammy book yet, and it’s #16 in the series! It was just released on January 8th. If Nancy Drew has every bugged you with her perfect life, you’ll enjoy Sammy Keyes solving mysteries in her dirty jeans and high tops. I love the humor—I sit there and laugh out loud every other page when I read Sammy Keyes books.

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott—I always love that one, and the movie too.

[insert guilty pleasure—I supposed I’d better admit that I read the Twilight series again recently. Seeing the last movie put me in the mood to re-read them. You can always count on Stephenie Meyer to tie up all the loose ends and give a satisfying ending.]

The Host by Stephenie Meyer—I liked it a lot better this time, possibly because I read it on my Kindle so I didn’t have to hoist and heft the giant tome around. It’s an interesting tale. Think alien invasion meets love story, with intriguing comments on soul vs. body.

Friday’s Child by Georgette Heyer—LOVED it. Georgette Heyer sure  knows how to write humor into stiff upper-class Regency manners. The background banter between 3 bachelor buddies in this book was hilarious!

Second Kiss by Natalie Palmer—another fave. A short, sweet best friend-love story.

Currently I’m reading Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, continuing my quest to read all of her classic books. Last year I read Emma, Pride and Prejudice, and Persuasion. I loved them all. And the movies.

Ok, that was long, but reading is one of our major pastimes around here, especially in the cold dark winter.

PS…we framed those 4 pictures at last: