Jane and the Dragon

Jane and the Dragon is one of our favorite Saturday morning cartoons. Jane is a lovely role model for little girls. Sugar and some serious-bad-guy-kicking spice. I love that Jane can stand on her own and beat any male knight, but is still soft and caring. I can't wait until they're old enough to read the actual book. Here Knight Sicily proves that busting bad guys doesn't belong to boys. You can wear a dress and floral boots and still be major tough stuff. (And props to Analiese for your very dramatic hand-over-forehead bad guy fall.)

and the victorious knight strolls away, pony tail only slightly off center.

*note: I feel I should say this is as violent as our imaginative play gets. Knights, Dragons, and Princesses are stories we play out. We aren't the gun supporting type.

For the love of books...

The boy has found his book. You know. That childhood book that you read over and over again. The first book that hits you just right. We all have one. You may have heard it at school or you may have picked it up randomly at the library. It helps define your childhood. It's the book that you want your children to read later because you thought it was so great. My boy has found his book, Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. His class at school read it earlier this year. Now he's rereading it. Last night I was downstairs cleaning up while he was in his room reading. He came into the kitchen and asked me if he could read to me his favorite part. Of course my mama heart was thrilled and immediately stopped what I was doing. It was wonderful listening to him read to me, to share something that made him smile. Isn't it wonderful to connect to a character in a book? To feel like the author wrote it just for you? I love that my boy has found his book. And being a lover of classic lit and a bit old school, I love that it's not one of these new ridiculously rude books being written for boys. I love that he's relating to a classic tale of a boy and his dog. I love the simplicity and timelessness of that. I love this boy of mine.

Friday Favorites

Every summer our elementary school asks the students to read at least 50 days of the summer. They get a chart to keep up with their reading and if they reach the goal they get to be part of an ice cream party at the beginning of the school year. Today we took down our reading charts so that they can turn them in next week. (The older two will be getting ice cream. And the younger one will be getting a special ice cream date with mommy!) While we were looking over them, I decided to ask the kids what their favorite books are right now. And I'm so very glad that I did! I think it will be fun to look back and see what stories they loved at these ages. They picked some very good ones!

Chris loves the Magic Tree House Series by Mary Pope Osborne. He said his favorite of the series was Christmas at Camelot. (The one in the picture is the one he's reading right now, Night of the New Magicians.) These books are great. I especially like them as a chapter book series for boys because unlike some of the other series out there right now, the characters are curious and witty without being disrespectful and crude.
I've also started introducing him to some of the classics. This summer I bought him Treasure Island. He surprised me today when he said that it was one of his all time favorites. Score 1 for the classics!

Analiese chose Skippyjon Jones by Judy Schachner. If you haven't read this book you should. It's pretty funny. Get ready to use your best story telling voices for the read aloud because this book definitely calls for nothing less!
Her second choice was Fancy Nancy by Jane O'Connor. If you have a girly girl like I do then these are the books for you. No character captures the true over the top daintiness of a 6-8 year old girl quite like Fancy Nancy. Warning: After reading these books you may find that your little girl wants to leave the house in big pink boas. Or maybe that's just my drama queen.

Sicily chose Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. We've had this book since Chris was little but she's the one who has really loved it. It fits. She is a wild thing. Of course this is a classic and for good reason, it's wonderful. If you haven't heard, let me be the first to tell you that a movie version of this great book is coming out this fall. I'm pretty sure that I'm more excited than the kids! The previews look awesome. The wild things look like they popped right out of the book. It's on the calender as a must see.

I couldn't leave out my favorites! I love this little story. The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton is on the top of my list right now. It's about a little house in the country that wonders what it would be like to live in the city. Over time the land around her get developed and before she knows it she is in the city. She becomes neglected until one day when a little girl notices her. The little girl's family decides to move the house back to the country and the little house is happy again. I think this book appeals to my secret desire to live in the middle of nowhere. It's really a very sweet story.

There are so many good children's books that it's really hard to stop at these. There are so many more I want to tell you about. I think it's story time.