It’s 1:15 a.m. on Saturday morning. The power went out about 10 minutes ago and as I need something to help me sleep, I’m doing a Quick Takes post for Brett. I fell asleep with my laptop in my lap last night while waiting for the power to come back on (which it did 30 minutes later). As it has been for the last two weeks, I’m doing childrens’ books that I love and/or would read to Brett given the chance.
Old Mother West Wind by Thorton W. Burgess. I had to read these over the summer before third grade and they were enjoyable then. I’d love to read them now that I’m an adult. I’m pretty sure I can find them online for my NOOK.
A Child’s Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson. Poetry would be a good way to learn English and the poems are pretty memorable themselves. I still remember a couple of them by name after it was read to me as a child. My grandfather had poems memorized that were from that anthology and I wish I had learned more of them by heart.
If I Ran the Zoo by Dr. Suess. I loved this book when I was in kindergarten and first grade — I think I actually asked to read it to the class in first grade. (We took turns bringing books to school to read.) Reading it as an adult was still fun but I think there are other Dr. Suess books I like better.
Scrambled Eggs Super by Dr. Suess. This is one of my favorite Dr. Suess books, hands-down. My mom still has large swaths of the book memorized 30 years later. (She continues to remember large passages of all the Dr. Suess books she read to us as kids.) I remember the part about the Bombastic Aghast almost perfectly and I can’t wait to read it with Daniel.
Love You Forever by Robert Munsch. You can actually get a copy of this book from Hallmark onto which you can record your voice. It’s one of my projects for Daniel while he’s in preschool. I think this would be a great thing to do if you adopt Brett and have to head home to wait for paperwork because it would be something with your voice on it. It also talks about a mom who loves her son through all of his growing up years so that would be another positive.
The Three Billy Goats Gruff. This is one of those stories that has no author and gets passed down through generations. My grandfather apparently told this one really well and I wish I remembered him telling it. (My mom and I were discussing these things last Sunday during the Promise Walk.) It’s a great story because if you know the basics, you can tell it without pictures and do funny voices or shake the chair/couch where you are reading this to your child.
Frog and Toad books by Arnold Lobel. These are stories that have spanned multiple generations and are an easy read — some of my homeschooling friends give these books to their kids who are learning to read. Brett would be able to see the pictures and that might help with him understandng the stories and learning some English words.
For more Quick Takes, visit Jen at ConversionDiary.Com. Please consider donating to Brett’s fund by clicking on his picture on the sidebar.