Top Five Fridays - Laura Numeroff

We are continuing on this week celebrating my son's favorite reads. When he was just old enough to pick a book from the book shelf with intention and bring it to me to read again and again that book was often If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff and illustrated by Felicia Bond. And if not that one it was probably If you Throw a Pig a Party. I'm thrilled to add the wonderful children's books of Laura Numeroff to my list of favorite books that I'm working on here. The If you give book series are truly children's classics and I'm sure many of you have read them numerous times to your children. But those are not the only books that Laura Numeroff has written. We certainly have not read all of Numeroff's books but we have read many and here is our list of top five favorites-






1. If you Give a Mouse a Cookie (illustrator Felicia Bond)









2. If you Throw a Pig a Party (illustrator Felicia Bond)










3. What Grandmas/Grandpas do Best (Illustrator Lynn Munsinger)








4. The Chicken Sisters (illustrator Sharleen Collicott)









5. 10 Step Guide to Living with Your Monster (Illustrator Nate Evans)






What are your favorites? And for more fun with Laura Numeroff be sure to check out her website http://www.lauranumeroff.com/

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Top Five Fridays - Beatrix Potter

Well as my favorite season, Fall is approaching, I thought I'd share a top five of one of my favorite childhood authors, Beatrix Potter. Pictured above is the book: Beatrix Potter: The Complete Tales. I can't remember my age, but I do remember saving up to buy this book! Charming tales of animals, accompanied by equally charming watercolors are Potter's signature. There are even DVDs out now of these enchanting tales.

I would recommend age 5 and older for the original version for most of these classic tales as they are longer with a slower moving in plot. My oldest is just now able to sit through almost all these tales. The Tale of Peter Rabbit, The Story of Miss Moppet and The Tale of Tom Kitten are shorter and good to start with. There are many picture books that have been adapted from these classic tales for younger kids to enjoy as well. There are also the Appley Dapply's Nursery Rhymes and Cecily Parsley's Nursery Rhymes, also written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter, that are fun to read/recite to the youngest of children. I would highly recommend introducing your children to these characters early. While we have the complete tales in one book, I still like getting the smaller scale books from the library. They are just the right size for little hands!

To explore more of the world of Beatrix Potter, check out this link. Here are the top five tales I read over and over again as a child:







1. The Tale of Peter Rabbit

2. The Tailor of Gloucester

3. The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle

4. The Tale of Tom Kitten














5. The Tale of Two Bad Mice

What are your favorite Beatrix Potter stories?

And have a wonderful Holiday weekend!

Top Five Fridays - Kevin Henkes

With my oldest starting pre-K very soon I thought it would be a good week to highlight some great back to school reads. Growing up and going to school are easy, right? If only it always was. One of my favorite authors of great reads for those early school years is Kevin Henkes.No one tackles some of the tough parts of growing up quite like Kevin Henkes in early children's picture books. His characters are very relatable to children. Some are anxious to go to school, clinging to a loved snuggly, singled out for being different, worried about, well, everything. We've all been there and many have helped our kids through these days as well. Henkes handles these topics wonderfully with a sun will and does come out tomorrow outlook.

You will find his stories and characters endearing. He has written and illustrated dozens of children book classics. Most of his picture books have been illustrated by him. His illustrations are often colorful, cheery and cartoon style. The only exception is the black and white illustrations of his Kitten's First Full Moon book.

I must confess I've not read all of Henkes books, we're working on it. There's a lot. But I have read many. I also have not read any of his novels for older kids. I honestly did not know he wrote juvenile fiction until I started working on writing this post. I will definitely be checking those out soon. To learn more about Henkes please visit his site: kevinhenkes.com.

So here are my top five picks for the picture books of Kevin Henkes-






1. Owen - All you crafty Mom's will appreciate Owen's own Mom's resourcefulness









2. Chrysanthemum - As for terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days, poor Chrysanthemum has her share. But Mrs. Twinkle a wonderful teacher comes to the rescue. Hooray for teachers like Mrs. Twinkle!








3. Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse - Another great read of a day gone bad and a wise teacher to help make things right.










4. My Garden - Okay I LOVE garden books and oh my what a garden a good imagination can grow!







5. Birds, illustrated by Laura Dronzek - Also not a back to school book but a lovely read about types of birds and filled with a rainbow of colors. Would make a lovely classroom read though too.




What are some of your favorites? Any suggestions on which novel I should check out first by Henkes?

Top Five Friday - Mo Willems

We're big fans of Mo Willems around here. Publishing his first children's picture book in 2003, his bibliography has simply exploded. They are almost too numerous to count and he's continuing to write more! I am a huge fan of his humerous, simple writing style and equally simplistic drawing style. And so are my kids. To learn more about Mo Willems visit this link to his site. We went on a Mo Willems reading spree at our library to make sure we've checked out all the books before even attempting to write this post. So here goes...

My top five picks for Mo Willems:




1. Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale - You've got to love a good cautionary tale, no?






2. Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identities - What can I say we're hooked on Trixie and Knuffle.






3. Edwina: The Dinosaur Who Didn't Know She was Extinct - This is so my sense of humor!



4. The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog! - We love the pigeon books but I'd have to say this is one of our favorites. We can not get enough books about sharing over here it seems...repetition, repetition, repetition.




5. I Love my New Toy! - We love the Elephant and Piggie series too, you really can't go wrong here but this is definitly one of my favorites. Oh, the drama!





What are your favorites?

And there's a new Knuffle bunny book on it's way! Knuffle Bunny Free: An Unexpected Diversion is due out September 28th, be sure to check it out!

Top Five Fridays - Little Golden Books

How many of you grew up reading Little Golden Books? I bet pretty much all of you did. They have been in circulation for 65 years! You can read the history of Little Golden Books at Random House Publishing site. Little Golden Books made great books available for everyone when they hit the market selling for only 25 cents a copy. There are the classic books, religious/inspirational stories, seasonal/holiday books, Disney, Richard Scarry's Busy town books, Little Critter, popular kids characters like Thomas the Tank Engine and Barbie stories and more, whew.

I grew up reading them and now get to enjoy sharing them with my two. We've been fortunate to have been given several copies plus get to read old copies while visiting the Grandparents. They make a GREAT gift and I for one hope they publish Little Golden Books for along time.

Now, of course I have not read all the Golden Books that there are to read, but I have read dozens of them. So my top five are:





1. The Little Red Hen, by Diane Muldrow and J.P. Miller








2. The Pokey Little Puppy, by Janette Sebring Lowrey and Gustaf Tenggren







3. The Shy Little Kitten by Cathleen Schurr and Gustaf Tenggren









4. The Three Little Pigs by Golden Books (its the Disney version, I grew up listening to the songs in this book on a Disney record we had, I love to sing them to my two.)






5. The Golden Egg Book by Margaret Wise Brown





What are your favorite Golden Books?

I am really looking forward to seeing what other titles we should check out!

Magic Beans 31 Days of Giveaways!

Top Five Fridays? - Sandra Boynton

Okay, It's Top Five Thursday this week because I'm featuring Sandra Boynton and okay everyone knows Sandra Boynton, I know. So there will be an extra post this week to try to make up for it. But a collection of great reads (and right now I appear to be obsessed with children's books, I know and I am) would not be complete without Sandra Boynton. Plus it is seriously silly book week!

We like everyone else love Sandra Boynton, we've got several of her books, grab those we haven't read off the library shelf upon eye contact and even have a few of her music cds. All are seriously silly fun. So armed with only opinions, I do have my picks.

My top five picks for Sandra Boynton:




1. The Going to Bed Book (whatelse?)







2. Barnyard Dance (I'm a country girl at heart)





3. One, Two, Three (I love a good simple read)






4. Hippos Go Beserk (I love Boynton's hippos)






5 Moo, Baa, La La La (See below)





Fifth spot was definitely the hardest, but Moo, Baa, La La La was the first book that both my kids memorized and both would sit and 'read' the story to themselves. I thought to catch my oldest on tape 'reading' it, so cute. And for that reason it will always hold a special place in my heart. Also apparent by my list, is that I favor classic Boynton, sorry Little Pookie!


What 'five' make your list?

Top Five Fridays - Audrey Wood

I was first introduced to Audrey Wood during my babysitting years. Her books were often found on the bookshelves of the kids I used to watch and it was love at first read for me. These books are also a favorite of my two, especially my youngest and so I'm featuring Audrey Wood on my youngest’s read picks week for Top Five Friday. These books are a family affair as her books are illustrated by either herself, her husband, Don or her son, Bruce. What a talented family.

Here's my top five Audrey Wood books:





1. Piggies








2. Napping House







3. Alphabet Adventure







4. Ten Little Fish






5. The Deep Blue Sea



I can't wait to read her latest book due to come out soon, Piggy Pie Po.


Which 'five' Audrey Wood's books make your list?

Top Five Fridays - Eric Carle

There are so many wonderful classic picture books out there. There’s too many to realistically try to cover. I also try to stay away from well known, well loved classic reads but it’s not because I don't also love those. It’s just that I assume that everyone is already familiar them.

But, I thought it would be fun to do a little series that I've titled 'Top Five Fridays'. I'd like to feature a well established children's book author on Fridays for awhile. Then share my top five favorite books of theirs'. Yep, I'm a list maker girl!

First up I'd like to start with the children's books of Eric Carle. Eric Carle's picture books are often geared for the youngest of readers and the illustrations are truly works of art. I often like to feature his books and illustrations during our 'art' time talks with my two preschoolers. Here are my top five favorite Eric Carle's books:



1. The Very Hungry Caterpillar





2. The Very Busy Spider









3. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See?







4. The Very Clumsy Click Beetle






5. The Tiny Seed







So what 'five' Eric Carle books make your list?