Reviews

Bedtime stories in our household have generally been daddy’s domain. The boys are now reading on their own, and more interested in their own silent reading than read-alouds, which leaves us with our youngest, now aged 5. I spoke about my challenges with her English here, so lately I’ve taken a particular, personal interest in storytime, determined to expose her to a steady stream of English-language picture books.

Today, I discovered the Read-To-Me Picture Book Challenge, and knew immediately I wanted to take part in it. What a great idea!

I’ve been so focused on Reading Reading and my boys’ reading, that I have to admit I’ve missed out on some special moments with my daughter. I’m thinking this challenge can be our special project. I may have to fight hubby for this, although so far, he seems ok with the fact that I have ‘taken over’ this part of the routine. I think he understands how important it is for me, as an Anglo Montrealer, to have a daughter who speaks English.

I’ve decided to participate at the “Feeding” level (72 picture books in a year), although we do read more than 1-2 books a week. I want to take the time to review and post about the books, so I think this is what I can reasonably manage!

I’ve really enjoyed reading some of the posts that other participants have put up so far, and look forward to sharing some of our favorites here! Will any of you join us?

Happy Reading!

Michelle

We all know the importance of reading aloud to our kids, well beyond the age when they are able to read on their own. One of the keys to read aloud success? Choosing books that are age appropriate for the kids. But what happens when, like me, you have kids that vary in ages quite significantly? Adding to my personal struggles with reading aloud to my 3 children at once is the fact that my daughter is only just really starting to speak English. Most blogs I read and follow give great suggestions for English read-alouds.

Because many of the stories that my daughter (age 5) enjoys bore my boys silly, a lot of the time, sadly, I tend to read aloud to her alone, and my boys (10 & 12) go off to read in their room. But how they’re missing out! As am I. And at their ages, research shows that read-alouds are still very important.

I had all but given up trying reading to them at the same time. But last week, my little miracle happened. After reading ReadAloudDad’s post about the Mad About Madeline Treasury, I immediately purchased it. All 3 of my kids were captivated! Why? Well, this is not your usual girly bedtime story! In Madeline’s Rescue, the boys giggled and were shocked to read that “Poor Madeline would now be dead” after falling into the River Seine. And in Madeline and the Bad Hat, they couldn’t believe that Pepito would build a guillotine, and found it hilarious when he’d use his slingshot on the poor girls’ bottoms. Not […]