Are you ready for summer?  My kids are out of school at the end of next week.  Yikes!  There goes my “free” time.

With finances tight… we aren’t going on any big vacations and expensive summer day camps are out.  So, I guess it’s up to me to keep the kiddies busy and happy.  I have been working on creating new job charts, doing a little summer school at home, and of course a list of fun projects and activities.

I’m also thinking about how to keep my kids reading everyday this summer.  Getting them excited about reading starts with having great books.  I asked my kids to each choose one of their favorite books for me to share.  Since I know we are all looking for great books to read, I would love to hear about your favorite books both for the kids and for me!

1. The Pumpkin Runner by Marsha Diane Arnold  -This is one of Ben’s favorite books.  Ben loves the clever story and the wonderful illustrations.  I love it because it’s about a real “Make it Do” kind of guy.  Joshua Summerhays is an old rancher in Australia.  He loves to eat pumpkins and he loves to run with his dog named Yellow Dog.  Instead of using a jeep, he runs around his ranch to take care of his sheep.  One day he decides to enter a 900 kilometer race from Melbourne to Sydney.  Joshua shows up for the race dressed in overalls and gum boots.  The other runners, all decked out it fancy running clothes, look down their noses at Joshua and Yellow Dog.  They don’t care one bit what other people think of them… they just run for the love of running.  In the end Joshua wins the race, shaving a full two days of the record.  He splits his $10,000 prize money with all the other runners.  Ben thinks it’s cool that this book is inspired by a real story.

2.  Cookies: Bite-Size Life Lessons by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Illustrated by the wonderful Jane Dyer – Lily loves Cookies, probably because she loves to eat cookies and she want to be a “cooker girl” when she grows up.  I love Cookies because it is a great why to teach valuable and hard to explain concepts to kids.  For example, “Cooperate means, How about you add the chips while I stir?” or “Open Minded means, I’ve never seen cookies like that before, but, uh, sure, I’ll try one.” or the one I’m feeling tonight… “Regret means, I really wish I didn’t eat so many cookies.”  (Do you see that plate of Snicker Doodles I made today… well, I ate a few of those, a few too many!”)  This book isn’t just for kids.  I love this book so much, I have given it as a gift to friends with a plate homemade cookies.

3.  Do Unto Otters: A Book About Manners by Laurie Keller –  Have you seen Laurie Keller’s books?  She is always extremely clever and this book is no exception.  Emma loves the wonderful and very funny illustrations.  I love the inventive twist on teaching kids the Golden Rule.  In the story, rabbit has new neighbors- the Otters.  Rabbit is nervous because he doesn’t know anything about Otters and is worried about how to get along with them.  His wise friend the owl says it’s simple, “Do unto Otters as you would have Otters do unto you.”  The book teaches all the ways we should treat our friends and neighbors… but it is so delightful the kids don’t even know it’s teaching them something important.

Well, those are a few of our favorite books…  I hope you have a chance to take a look at them and enjoy them as much as we do.  I can’t wait to see a list of new books you love…

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