Thursday, February 23, 2012

valentine books

books (their valentine haul)
I love to give the family gifts on Valentine's day (and hide them at the end of a trail of hearts). Books have been the gift of choice for Valentine's (and Halloween too) for the past few years. Here are my picks for this year:

For Rainer . . .
What Do People Do All Day? (Richard Scarry) Oh this is so cute and so classic. I adore all the illustrations and Rainer is a big fan of books with a lot of detail to look at. But there is text here too--explaining different jobs around town and how they all link together in a community. Such fun.

Annie and the Wild Animals (Jan Brett). We are big Jan Brett fans over here (Hedgie's Surprise is a favorite, and the Christmas treasury, too). I ordered this one without really knowing what it was. It's sweet--much more short and "babyish" than the others that we have, but still fun. A little girl entices animals to the house with corn muffins, but no wild animal is a suitable replacement for her lost kitty.

books (their valentine haul)
For Dieter :: a selection of William Steig books.

Oh, what can I say about William Steig? Love, love, love! His writing is so original and quirky, so delicious. His word choices delight me. I can't recommend him highly enough. Sylvester and the Magic Pebble is a favorite (but you will cry). Also, Brave Irene--so, so good. For Valentine's day I selected two new ones:

Gorky Rises--fun story about a frog who invents a magic potion and goes flying over the town.
Amos and Boris--about an extremely unlikely friendship between a whale and a mouse and how each can help the other.

These were all well received by the boys (although Dieter was secretly hoping for a lightsaber, he didn't seem too disappointed with just the books!)

Ken got books too--about rocks.

What do you give your loved ones on Valentine's day??

10 comments:

Laura said...

I love your book selection! We are huge Richard Scarry fans here. I have collected quite a few of his books & my boys love that there is so much to see on each page. And my older son became a big fan of Jan Brett last year in kindergarten.

For Valentine's Day we give our boys some small chocolate treats & then a non-edible gift - sometimes arts & crafts supplies, books, etc. This year it was the Cars 2 DVD - they've been asking for it for awhile, so I saved it for Valentine's Day.

Madame Melville said...

I am a HUGE Richard Scarry fan - love, love, love his illustrations! I still have a few left over from my own childhood and I cherish them.

I kept it simple this year for Valentine's Day - heart shaped pizzas, a few sweet treats and some new guitar picks and capos for my little musicians.

Thanks for the book list.

Unknown said...

How appropriate to give books for Valentines Day! Not only to promote a love of reading but February is Reading Month as well.

Jan Brett is a favorite at our house and Annie and The Wild Animals is one of the most favorite. My little just picked it our for me to read to his preschool this week for my turn at reading during Reading Month (along with The Giant Jam Sandwich and The Little House). It was also one of my nephew's favorites and he is almost 20. Such wonderful books! And I must find that Richard Scarry book. We have Cars and Trucks and Things That Go and love it but I think this one would be loved as well!

Anonymous said...

AND this year Feb 14th was declared International Book-giving Day! More about that here: http://delightfulchildrensbooks.com/2012/02/16/international-book-giving-day-link-up/ and here: http://bookgivingday.blogspot.com/ :). My daughter received a valentine/ book I meant to give her when she was born -7 yrs ago!- but didn't. ( When you were just a heartbeat - perfectly fit my pregnancy with her, but I didn't pick it up when I saw it, and then it has taken me this long to find it again!)

Adrienne said...

William Steig is a favorite here as well. His books offer so much for all ages. Dominic and The Real Thief are 2 of our favorites.

Sarah said...

Gorky Rises is one of my utmost favorites. What a great holiday tradition, much better than what we tried in giving the boys a few lovely fancy treats that they ate too quickly and caused much havoc for the rest of the day. Next year we will definitely try something new :) Hope you have a lovely weekend.

Jennifer said...

I love to hear book recommendations! I am a former kindergarten teacher, so I love children's literature. Jan Brett is one of my favorites. I will check out the others you talked about. My boys are 5 and 21 months. This year for Valentine's Day, my husband and I had a daytime date to lunch and Barnes and Noble where we each picked out a new book. I bought The Hunger Games and he bought East of Eden.

Andrea said...

Lovely--I think we have Sylvester and the Magic Pebble on our shelves (leftover from my childhood, I think, or one of my brothers or sisters'), but I've never read it to the boys (we have SO many books, we never get to them all!), but now I'm inspired to get it off the shelf (along with a box of tissues).

I gave my oldest Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh. I never read it, but I loved the movie (the Secret of Nimh) and he's very into fantasy right now. The younger two are very into Magic Treehouse, but I can't stand reading them out loud and could not bring myself to be a nice mommy and buy them two more (there are dozens of them, it seems), so I got them two new Roald Dahl books--Fantastic Mr. Fox and George's Mysterious Medicine (admittedly, I don't care for R.D. that much, either, but my husband read them to the boys). For hubby I got the first Game of Thrones book, along with two Cuppows (lids that turn a mason jar into a travel mug) and knitted him a mason jar cozy. Doesn't sound very romantic, but he was psyched.

Andrea said...

Lovely--I think we have Sylvester and the Magic Pebble on our shelves (leftover from my childhood, I think, or one of my brothers or sisters'), but I've never read it to the boys (we have SO many books, we never get to them all!), but now I'm inspired to get it off the shelf (along with a box of tissues).

I gave my oldest Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh. I never read it, but I loved the movie (the Secret of Nimh) and he's very into fantasy right now. The younger two are very into Magic Treehouse, but I can't stand reading them out loud and could not bring myself to be a nice mommy and buy them two more (there are dozens of them, it seems), so I got them two new Roald Dahl books--Fantastic Mr. Fox and George's Mysterious Medicine (admittedly, I don't care for R.D. that much, either, but my husband read them to the boys). For hubby I got the first Game of Thrones book, along with two Cuppows (lids that turn a mason jar into a travel mug) and knitted him a mason jar cozy. Doesn't sound very romantic, but he was psyched.

Maiz Connolly said...

I adore Steig. His books are all so smart and sweet and his word choices are challenging and enjoyable to parents and kids. Once, when my oldest was 4, he came out of a park bathroom and said, "There was an UNBEARABLE STENCH in there!" That expression is directly from the Steig book, "Shrek!", which is one of our favorites. Proof of how reading to kids builds their vocabularies!

We have the books, but recently discovered a CD called "The One and Only Shrek!" that has 6 Steig stories on it, read by Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci. It is amazing, and I can't recommend it enough!

I love Jan Brett and Richard Scarry, too. You've got such great taste!