Read to Me Picture Book Challenge

for some reason, I can't seem to get any of these cover pictures in any type of order - probably because I uploaded them all at once...

For the Read to Me Picture Book Challenge, I tried to remember all the picture books I read in the library this week....Those are all the covers pictured here. I read to my grandchildren also, but for the life of me, I cannot remember what we read......

1. Henry and the Buccaneer Bunnies - by Carolyn Crimi is a cute book about a crew of pirate bunnies, and the son of the captain, Henry. Henry is a huge disappointment to his father because all he wants to do is read- he's not interested in stealing, making other bunnies walk the plank, or any other pirate activities...he reads a lot. When a storm comes that strands them all on an island, Henry is the one who knows how to make a hut, how to make stew from sea weed, and how to build a ship -- all from reading books. The pirates then learn that reading is okay after all, kind of useful, in fact. I loved reading this book - the children who heard it, (1st and 2nd graders) all enjoyed it very much - there were funny illustrations, some funny text and a great story over all.

2. A Bad Case of the Stripes - David Shannon. David Shannon writes a lot of books about cars and trucks...I haven't read any of them. I have read a few of his other books though - No, David, and Alice The Fairy. In A Bad Case of the Stripes, Camilla Cream is SO worried about what others think, that she refuses to eat her favorite food, lima beans. She even says she doens't like them, although she seretly loves them. One day she wakes up with striped skin - bright stripes. Doctors are called in, specialists are called in, but nothing works. In fact, things only get worse. She's so worried about what others think of her, that when the specialists start conjecturing about what might be going on (viruses, bacteria...) strange things begin to grow from her...things reach a breaking point whn she turnes into her room. Finally, a little old lady comes to the rescue bring with her a little jar of lima beans...which Camilla finally eats....and finally comes back to normal. There were a lot of laughs in this book, along with the glimpses of reality - i.e., the reporters that show up at the rumor of a different girl, kids being so worried about what others think of them that they deny a part of them. I love when fantastical happenings are used to make a realistic point. Love reading this book, and the kids got a kick out of it.

3. Stanley's Wild Ride by Linda Bailey - I read this book one year to every grade from kindergarden to fifth grade (it was one of the nominees for the California Young Reader's Medal) I remember it getting lots of laughs and many thumbs up - we did our own vote and it won in our school. Stanley is a dog. A dog who is a bit bored with his life...and his backyard. He finds a way out - I love the description of his first few minutes of freedom - running back and forth, quivering with excitement...FREE! He goes off to free his friends and they all end up on this hill, where they think they can see the whole world. They find a skateboard, which Stanley accidently rides...and the rest of the dogs end up on things with wheels also, riding through town and wreaking havoc with barking dogs, police sirens, etc. Finally they end up crashing into Stanley's fence and the wild ride is over. It's one of the funniest books I've read and the descriptions of the dogs' behavior is very doggish. Great book. You might get the impression that I'm partial to funny books - this is true, I think it's fun to get the students and grandchildren laughing and enjoying a good book.

The next three books are by Robert Munsch - my favorite tall tale teller. He writes absolutely ridiculous books that are very fun to read, and while looking through his website, I see that our school library needs to invest in more books of his.

4. Smelly Socks Tina gets a brand new pair if really cool socks- from a special sock- store that she loves so much she doesn't want to take them off. So she doesn't. She wears them everyday to the horror of her teacher, her family, her classmates and to the geese flying over her grandpa's home. Finally, her classmates can't take it any longer and they carry her to the river, take her in, hold her while some remove her socks (the illustrations are wonderful, some of the kids have clothespins on their noses, another a gas mask). Some scrub her feet while others wash her socks...the fish in the area all pass out from the smell in the water (they later recover) but finally her feet and socks are clean again. Next she wants a shirt - and says she won't take that off either...when her mom asks about the smell, she answers that if she waits long enough her class will wash it for her! A very fun book to read aloud.

5. Alligator Baby Have you ever seen a family and you're not sure who the smartest one is, the kids or the parents? In Alligator Baby, a little girl's mother is about to have a baby. The parents are so flustered when it's time that they leave (FORGETTING the daughter) and actually come back with the wrong baby - in fact, it's the wrong species. They figure out that they accidently went to the Zoo, instead of the hospital so they go back to find their baby - they keep making mistakes, coming back with the wrong baby animal, a monkey, an alligator - finally the little girl tells the parents that she'll take care of things, and she goes to the zoo. She follows the trail of crying animal moms and finds her little baby (I can't remember if it was a girl or boy right now) who had been being taken care of by a chimpanzee... She convinces the ape to give up the baby and goes home...the family is reunited, and then there is a knock on the door - after all, they still have all the other babies... Loved it - funny and ridiculous.

6. More Pies! a young boy, Samuel, is extremely hungry one morning. He is so hungry that after feeding him an amazing amount of food more than three times one morning, his mother tells him enough is enough! Samuel is still starving - he's told about a pie eating contest, so he goes. The contestants are huge men that are all big, big eaters. The judge doesn't want to let a little boy in the contest, but the men say why not, so Samuel gets to enter the contest. He eats and eats and eats, wanting more and more pies. Each grown man contestant drops - one by one, after each session until Samuel wins the prize, which is a huge pie....HUGE. He gets home with the pie, but suddenly, he's not hungry anymore....but his little brother is.... Another cute story with supremely ridiculus amounts of pies and food being consumed. I love the extemeness of it. the kids laughed and laughed with this one.

I know I read the grandkids some books this weekend, and I might look for them to post about, but this is good start. I read more than 6 picture books, also but these are the books that stick in my mind. When I remember the others, I'll post about them.