Bout of Books Read-a-Thon, January 2016

When Little Miss Muffet was born two years ago, I fell behind on my reading. With a second little one in the house now, I still haven't caught up. I know that I tend to read more when I have a challenge to which I must be accountable, so I was hoping to find a read-a-thon or other event to help me kick off my reading for 2016. A quick Google search led me to exactly what I was looking for: The Bout of Books! Here is a description from the official website: 

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 4th and runs through Sunday, January 10th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 15 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

Consider this post my official announcement of participation. I am not setting any official goals for myself, since I know my life will be as unpredictable next week as it is during any other, but my hope is to read through as many of the ARCs that I have requested from NetGalley and Edelweiss as possible in the week of the Bout. Getting that backlog taken care of, and getting back to the point where I'm actually reviewing advance copies in advance of the books' publication dates would be really helpful. We'll see how it goes! Check here and on my Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts the week of January 4th to see my progress.

Review Round-Up: Books for Beginning Readers, December 2015

Here are this month's reviews of easy readers and beginning chapter books, collected from around the blogs! I'm always looking for links, so if you post a review of a book for beginning readers during January, email me and let me know. Thanks!

Easy Readers

• Biscuit: Phonics Fun and Biscuit: More Phonics Fun, reviewed by Step Up Readers
• Hamster Holmes: A Mystery Comes Knocking, reviewed by Jean Little Library
• I Really Like Slop, reviewed by Literary Hoots
• Lana's World: Let's Go Fishing, reviewed by Jean Little Library
• Merry Christmas, Amelia Bedelia, reviewed by Literary Hoots
• Rubble to the Rescue, reviewed by Jean Little Library
• Sofia Martinez: Picture Perfect,  reviewed by Literary Hoots
• The Sweet Story of Hot Chocolate, reviewed by Story Time Secrets
• Written and Drawn by Henrietta, reviewed by Sal's Fiction Addiction 

Chapter Books

• The Amazing Stardust Friends: Step into the Spotlight, reviewed by Jean Little Library
• Carver Chronicles: Don't Feed the Geckos, reviewed by Story Time Secrets and Ms. Yingling Reads. 
• The Dragonsitter, reviewed by Mom Read It
• The Haunted Library: The Secret Room, reviewed by Geo Librarian
• Jasper John Dooley: Lost and Found, reviewed by Story Time Secrets
• The Magical Animal Adoption Agency: Clover's Luck, reviewed by Jean Little Library and Sal's Fiction Addiction.
• Olga da Polga, reviewed by Mom Read It
• The Princess in Black and the Perfect Princess Party, reviewed by Sal's Fiction Addiction
• Ranger in Time: Long Road to Freedom, reviewed by Ms. Yingling Reads
• Tales From Shakespeare: Hamlet Retold in Modern English reviewed by Flying Off My Bookshelf
• When I Am Happiest, reviewed by Waking Brain Cells

Reading with Little Miss Muffet and Little Bo Peep: December 2015

Miss Muffet's ABCs

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Miss Muffet can recite the entire alphabet. She doesn't do it on demand, and she instantly stops if you catch her, but I often see her poring over an alphabet book, carefully saying the names of the letters. She does not yet associate the letter names with their shapes, but I suspect it won't be long. Some of her recent favorite alphabet books are:

• Jane Foster's ABC (our beloved review copy from Little Bee Books)
• Alpha by Isabelle Arsenault (an illustrated version of the NATO phonetic alphabet)
• My Best Ever: ABC Alphabet Book (a favorite from back in August)
• Winnie the Pooh Alphabet Book Bag (a birthday gift from Grandpa)

She is also really into the African Alphabet song from Sesame Street, which I used to sing to her a cappella, and which we now sometimes watch together on YouTube. She can sing almost the entire thing word for word, except that she calls the Zulu chief a "Zuzu chief."

Bo Peep's Taste in Books

Bo Peep is quickly approaching the end of that tricky newborn stage and showing much more of her personality. This, of course, includes the emergence of her taste in books. On a recent trip to the library, I parked her stroller in the board book area and just began showing her the covers of different books. Some made her fuss, or turn away, or squirm in disgust, but others caused her to smile and coo. The first one to get a real reaction was What? by Leo Lionni. Other books that make her smile so far are Big Fat Hen by Keith Baker and Big Bear Little Chair by Lizi Boyd. It seems that the simpler the color scheme and the cleaner the lines, the more Bo Peep enjoys it. Pages that are too busy or have too much detail overwhelm her and make her cry. I am so looking forward to reading to her more over the next few months.

Reading Together 

We have a couple of very simple Christmas board books hanging around the house right now, which I chose for Little Bo Peep, but which are just as interesting to Miss Muffet. After going through the books with me to make sure she can identify what is on each page, Miss Muffet likes to bring the books to Bo Peep and read them to her. Bo Peep thinks this is the greatest thing going and listens with rapt attention and a big baby smile on her face. There is nothing that warms my librarian heart more than having kids who read together!

Year in Review

Miss Muffet has had a busy year of reading, and Bo Peep is off to a great start! Revisit everything they loved this year in the posts below:

• Reading with Little Miss Muffet and Little Bo Peep, November 2015
• Reading with Little Miss Muffet and Little Bo Peep, October 2015
• Reading with Little Miss Muffet, September 2015
• Reading with Little Miss Muffet, August 2015
• Reading with Little Miss Muffet, July 2015
• Reading with Little Miss Muffet, June 2015
• Reading with Little Miss Muffet, May 2015
• Reading with Little Miss Muffet, April 2015
• Reading with Little Miss Muffet, March 2015
• Reading with Little Miss Muffet, February 2015
• Reading with Little Miss Muffet, January 2015

Advent Reading Round-Up: Week Four

This is the last part of our Advent reading list for 2015. If you missed them, here are weeks one, two, and three. A Christmas reading round-up will follow after January 6, The Epiphany, which will mark the end of our Christmas celebration, though not necessarily the end of the Christmas season.

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Day 21 (12/19/15)

Duck and Goose: It's Time for Christmasby Tad Hills

This board was a gift for Little Miss Muffet last Christmas, but we didn't spend much time with it. This year, though, it was an instant hit, and she asked for multiple re-readings throughout the week. The story is simple enough for her  to remember and retell to herself, which is nice, and she gets the biggest kick out of the line: "Come on, Goose!" which she has been saying to everyone. I think we still prefer Gossie and Gertie, but this one is fun, too.

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Day 22 (12/20/15)

Counting Christmas by Karen Katz

We have a lot of Karen Katz books, but not many without flaps, so this was a good change of pace. The objects to be counted are pretty obvious on each page, so we did use the book for actual counting practice, and Miss Muffet has gone back to it a few times throughout the week. It's not my favorite, but it's definitely very toddler-friendly.

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Day 23 (12/21/15)

Who is Coming to Our House?

by Joseph Slate and Ashley Wolff 

I have some problems with the rhyming in this book, but the illustrations of the animals preparing their "house" for the arrival of Mary and Joseph and the birth of Christ really resonated with Little Miss Muffet. Some of the lines of dialogue are not assigned a speaker in the text, which makes it feel awkward to read even with the support of the pictures, but that did not bother my little listener in the least. I explained to her that the animals live in a stable in Bethlehem, and now she calls this the "Beth-hem book." We have read it every day since Monday!

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Day  24 (12/22/15)

Silent Night
by Susan Jeffers

I was trying to save most of our books about the birth of baby Jesus until after Christmas, but we had been singing this song a lot and my husband found this book at the library, so we decided to read it at bedtime. The lyrics to the last verse were different in this edition than the ones I know, but Miss Muffet loved hearing it sung, and she got very excited about all the sheep and angels.

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Day 25 (12/23/15)

The Sweet Smell of Christmasby Patricia Scarry

This was a childhood favorite of both mine and my husband's, and Little Miss Muffet's grandma bought a new copy for her last year. Last year, she loved the scratch and sniff aspect so much that for weeks after we read it, she was trying to sniff all of her books. This year, she seemed to have forgotten how they work and was very nervous about the sniffing. In fact, she was more excited about the bear characters than the smells themselves. For me, though, the smells take me right back to 1985 and this was one of my favorite Advent reads!

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Our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day read-alouds, as well as everything we read during the Twelve Days of Christmas will be rounded up in a post on January 7th. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!