Thursday, September 30, 2021

Books the Boys Like - 8½ & 3½

We have nearly hit the craziest time of the year (basically October - December) which also coincides with many holidays which means we are trying to fit in a lot of seasonal book favorites along with non-season specific books. A few weeks ago my sister and I were lamenting that we were running out of recommended picture books to get but now my non-seasonal list is over 70 (just to put on hold) and we still have a few Halloween books I know I want to get and haven't even started on Thanksgiving (T's & P's for when we get to Christmas...that list alone is over 150 books, just to get from the library).  Anyways, so this is a mix of picture books, chapter books with Luke, his graphic novels that he's been loving lately, and some that used to be Luke's favorites that now Sam has latched onto! 

 


Luke
Freckle Juice
by Judy Blume
I read this to Luke although he probably could have handled reading it on his own.  I read it many times as a kid and really thought it was a much longer book than it turned out to be (still counting it for my total!).  A kid wants to get freckles and buys the recipe for a magic freckle juice that then makes him sick.  His teacher is very kind about it.  A nice quick read between some longer ones with him!

Fox & Rabbit Make Believe by Beth Ferry, illustrated by Gergely Dudas
Luke really likes graphic novels, specifically ones with color pictures.  I accept that Dogman keeps him reading but also try to sneak other graphic novels in as well.  This is one of those that I picked out from the library and he said he really enjoyed.  There are 3 in this series and we had all 3 for a few weeks.

Cranberry Autumn by Wende Devlin, illustrated by Harry Devlin
We started with the Cranberry Christmas book which we've read for a few Decembers.  Then I realized there were more seasons/holidays covered and we've been reading those in the appropriate seasons.  Luke really likes this.  There aren't many of them but enough that he's familiar with the characters and they are one of his first picks from the stack of picture books.

My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
This was one that took us a MONTH to get through (which coincided with the start of school, schedules get all crazy when we throw school runs and homework into the mix!) but Luke LOVED the survival story of a boy who lives off the land in the Catskills for a year (!?!?!?  CPS?!?!?).  I read it at least once as a kid (I think my Mom assigned it for homeschool and we borrowed her copy again) and enjoyed revisiting with Luke even if it took awhile to get through.

Ultimate Reptile Rumble by Jerry Pallotta, illustrated by Rob Bolster
My sister got us into this animal battle books this summer and I checked out around 18 at one time, every one I could find on my library branch shelves, when we were in need of books.  The boys LOVE them.  This is the newest one that Luke bought with his own money from the school book order.  He was very excited when he finally got it. 

Sam
Hooray for Hat by Brian Won
This is one that was a favorite of Luke's, probably approximately 5 years ago. Simple story of animals cheering each other up with hats but Sam pulls it often when I am reading books to him in the morning.

Hungry Bunny by Claudia Rueda
An interactive book about a bunny picking apples.  Sam's favorite part is the ribbon that the bunny asks that you make into a rope for him to climb and then a bridge to walk across.  We've read this one a lot lately.

The Circus Ship by Chris Van Dusen
Another one we've owned for awhile but is now one of Sam's favorites.  He LOVES finding things in books and counting things on pages and this book that has you finding 15 animals (on a single page, that's it!) really interests him.  And he's now added cheetahs to his list of approximately 12 favorite animals.

Time for School, Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle, illustrated by Jill McElmurry
We've been fans of Little Blue Truck since Luke got the very first one for his first birthday.  None measure up to the first two but Sam likes this for the Little Blue Truck AND for the school bus.  It's a cute story that we've read often lately.

Blankie by Ben Clanton
Luke read some of the Narwhal graphic novels and Sam liked this board book about the Narwhal making his blanket into many different things.  I love books that show that kind of imagination!

Those are the books the boys have been loving lately!  I always enjoy seeing how these lists change as they grow!


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