5 a Day Books, Week 4

I’m back after a long break!  My parents visited England for the first time since we’ve lived here (which is 6 years), and they stayed nearly 3 weeks.  Instead of regular school, the kids have spent some quality time with the grandparents, and we’ve travelled all over the country.  Now that we’re back to a normal schedule, I’ll try to catch up on my blog.

We began reading these 5 books before my parents came, but I spent an extra week on them since we had a long break.

1.  Where’s Curly? (by Heather Amery)—I love Usborne books, especially the Farmyard Tales.  If you’ve never had any Usborne books, I highly recommend them!  One thing that really makes the Farmyard Tales series special is that each page has a little yellow duck for kids to find.  Where’s Curly? is a flap book, making it even more fun for children.  Also, the illustrations are quite adorable. 

2.  Cookie’s Week (by Cindy Ward)—This simple but cute story goes through the days of the week, with Cookie (the cat) getting into some sort of trouble each day.  Gabriela really got into this one—she knew Cookie was being naughty!

3.  There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly (by Simms Taback)—There are so many different versions of this story, but I like this one because of the cut-outs on each page, showing what animals are now inside the old lady, and also because of the detailed and funny illustrations and the extra bits of information.  This book won a Caldecott Honor for its illustrations.

4.  Over in the Meadow: A Counting Rhyme (by Louise Voce)—I chose this book for the rhyming.  It’s also good for counting practice!

5.  Hickory, Dickory, Dock (by Robin Muller)—I first saw this version of the well-known nursery rhyme when I was substituting for a preschool aide several years ago.  The teacher had a read-along tape to go along with the book—the voices and music were really cool.  I was able to buy the book from a Scholastic book order, but I wish I could find the tape (or CD).  Anyway, the rhymes are wonderful, and the illustrations are amazing.  I really love this book!  Gabriela did, too.  : )

I’m linking this post to “5 a Day Books” at The Imagination Tree.  Several of the “5 a Day” participants have chosen Eric Carle books this past week, due to his birthday, which happens to be the same as mine!  (I didn’t know that before.)  Anyway, happy reading!