kids book review---Leo The Late Bloomer

So, I had almost stopped blogging in any way shape or form and now look at me! Two posts in a week. Granted one was just incredibly depressing, but this is life here folks.

Alright, so once upon a time I really thought that I would review some children's books here on my blog cause I love children's books and read tons of them and have some very strong opinions on many of them. BUT when you do read tons of children's books that usually means you are reading them and running with kids and not writing things online. Well, except for those people who seem to manage it all, but I am not one of those people.

I read a book from the Library the other day to my kids and we loved it. The three of us just sat there and read it three times in a row and with kids my kids ages we do not do that all that often anymore. Back in the day that was all I ever did, the same books over and over and over, but now they are good with reading different ones each time and their favorites over again just now and again.

This book they all loved. My daughter picked this out at the Library, although it reminded me the most of my Boy.

The title is Leo the Late Bloomer, by Robert Kraus, and it is a delightful book. It is about a Tiger cub named Leo, who shockingly is a Late Bloomer. I know... I know... strange since that is what the title says.

Leo's dad worries about him. Leo's mom is convinced that he will bloom. Leo's dad watches him constantly looking for signs of blooming and in the end Leo does what Leo's mom knew he would do. He blooms beautifully.

I read this book with it's sweet lyrical quality and nearly cried. Now, I know that I am on the emotional side right now, and I get that, but this had nothing to do with my daughter, this had everything to do with my Son.

My Boy has been a late bloomer. He didn't read when all his buddies started reading. He had ZERO interest in writing anything... including his name. He did not want to draw things, but loved using just colors and circles and things. I worried. I fretted. I pushed him with school. I put him in situations at church he just personally wasn't ready for. People told me that he just needed shoved off in that direction. They told me that sometimes it would be painful for kids but it was best for them. They questioned my parenting. I sat and watched and worried and prayed.

I started him a year late in cub scouts in a younger level. I relaxed. He found books he loved. He learned to love writing. He found his voice. He bloomed.

When we finished reading this book for the second time last night my little Leo just snuggled into me and you could almost hear my little lover of Tigers purr. This story was his and it does have a beautiful ending.

I highly recommend this book. It is good for your late bloomers to relate to and it is good for all children to see differences and to understand about that. We are different, but we all bloom at some time or another and each bloom though different is gorgeous and amazing in it's own blooming way.

pack?! who is next? quack?

Oh, I am sure many of you have gathered that I love books and I especially love children's books. I would have made a very happy children's librarian if God had not seen fit to give me the lovely job I currently have.

A favorite book of nearly every child I have known is Make Way for Ducklings and I just found that very story in the news. Unfortunately, one of the ducklings is missing.

Poor Pack got duckling-napped!

It is a sad day in Boston folks!!!

What can we do to help?! Well, I really have no idea what you can do to bring Pack back to the park, but I think that a good way to show support would be to run (yes run... you can do it) out to the nearest bookstore and buy a copy of Make Way for Ducklings. It has an amazing innate charm that kids love. Eveyone must know of some child who would love to own a copy of this fantastic book. We have one on our shelf and I think it is time to bring it out for reading tomorrow.

The only other way to help would be if say, you saw someone sneaking a large bronze statue of a duck into their house. That may clue you in to call the police. So everyone look out for wandering bronze ducks. Pack is missing. We need him home!

Dia de los Reyes

Happy Three Kings Day!!!

This is also known as Epiphany and is a very important holiday for many people. Our family has some fairly strong Puerto Rican roots to it for which I am so grateful and because of that we have begun incorporating some of this holiday into our family traditions.

I did find an awesome children's book on Three Kings Day at our base library and as you know that I love kid's books and I love sharing them with you all that book is The Storyteller's Candle.

There are many great books on this celebration but I do think this was my favorite! It doesn't just tell the story of Three Kings Day though, it tells some of the culture of the Puerto Ricans in New York city in the early part of the last century and how a wonderful librarian reaches out to the community. I think it resonated with me and my kids because of our love for Libraries and books and all of that good stuff.

If this isn't a celebration that you are familiar with check it out. Find a book or two or at least google it and see if this isn't something you and your family would enjoy celebrating as well.

This celebration and Epiphany have been around long before Christmas was celebrated, so if for nothing else, you should check out the wonderful and rich history behind it.

book work nook work it works

My kids are addicted to books and they have been since they were incredibly young. There are lots of things that I need to improve on in my life, but my kids love of books is not one of them. Their skill in reading is another story, and if you want to read a little bit of it you can do so here.

I started reading to my kids when they were beyond little. Just days after we were out of the hospital and I was finally getting over the fog of my C-section meds, I started reading to my son. I started off with books like this and this and this.


We slowly moved on to other books and more books and more books and more books and more books.

My wonderful husband thinks I have too many books. I tell him that we just don't have enough bookcases. I have seven bookcases. Can you ever have enough?

When the kids were little though, I didn't have anywhere near this many and what I did have wasn't of the same quality. I really picked up any book I could afford and most of my books were used and most of my books are still used. I would get them at thrift shops and used book stores and places like Airman's Attic which is a free thrift shop for Junior Enlisted in the Air Force.


As I have slowly been able to afford more books, I have slowly become more and more discriminating. I have slowly passed more of the just OK books on to others at Airman's Attic and I have slowly picked up more books that are more then just OK books.

The one thing that has never changed though in my house is that we read... many, many books a day. I have read to my children for unlimited amounts of time and have yet to find their limit on my reading books to them.


The second thing that has never changed in my house is that books are always available for the kids to get to. I have had book baskets beside comfy kid sized chairs since my kids were just a year old. In the beginning the baskets were stuffed full of fun board books that they could sit and look at when they needed some quiet time. Or when momma was making dinner and couldn't read and cook at the same time, or just whenever. Often times they would be sent to the book nook to settle down. It was not even a time out and it works wonderfully as a quiet area for them.


In our old house, we called the book space with their little chairs and baskets the Library. It was really just a little corner of our living room. Here in our new home, the name has slowly morphed into "The Book Nook." The kids voluntarily head over there MANY times a day. They pull book after book off the shelf and they look at pictures and they study the details and they check it all out.

I have tried to organize it by subject matter somewhat, but that only sorta works. They love just about any kind of book out there and you will find every genre of book on these shelves. I do have the Magic School Bus books pretty much in one spot and the Early Readers pretty much in one place. I have the very early phonics readers in a separate place and the fiction and non-fiction is mixed all over the place. The picture books are down lower and the kids chapter books are up higher. We mainly read the chapter books in the evening, but we have been known to sit down and devour a nine chapter book in an afternoon. None of use wanted to stop reading... we all wanted to find out what was going to happen to Little Bo.


What works for me is having a kid's book area. This is a place that my kids can go that is theirs. When they were young they would mainly just pull books from their baskets and not the shelves as much, so I would rotate different books into their baskets. Now I do not have to use the baskets as much.


What works for me, in this spot, is having small kid size comfy chairs. My kids are about ready to grow out of these guys and I have been considering a couple of high quality comfy bean bag chairs. I do think the chairs and the comfiness is important. They will stay there longer and look through more books if they are comfortable.


I also have this crate. It is full of library books and this is where they all must go back to. Library books are not to go upstairs (this rule was instituted after I found some overdue books under a bed). This entire crate goes to the library with us once a week and then it stays right here in the Book Nook and they pull books out all through out the week.


When I find books that my kids LOVE we actually follow those authors. We check out their websites, we find out when their new books will be released and we show up at the bookstores on those days to have a snack and to read our new book.

I have had friends over and my kids have sat glued to books in the book nook the entire time. People are amazed and I am frankly thrilled! This has slowly evolved for us into such an awesome thing! I am SO grateful that it has become such an important part of our home and of our lives.

What works for me is fostoring a love of all things books!

Check out more things that work for others at Rocks in my Dryer's Works for me Wednesday!

I Bought Before Green Gables

This is my somewhat pathetic teaser, though still not as pathetic as most news stations teasers.

So, yesterday I went out and purchased Before Green Gables. You may remember that I blogged about it in the past.

So far, I have only read the first three chapters and I have been pleased. No... it is not Montgomery, Wilson has a very different voice. The problem is that I am actually liking the book so far. This didn't only surprise me, it shocked me.

I am not sure if this sentiment will continue or not, but only time will tell.

I do read very quickly, but this being Easter weekend, I am not sure when I will have time to finish the book and also compose my thoughts on the whole thing.

Look for the post in the semi-near future...

Before Green Gables

I happen to be an Anne of Green Gables addict. I will honestly say that without any qualms. I started reading Montgomery's books when I was about 10 and I have never looked back. I consider them some serious comfort reading. I found Anne on the wonderful PBS channel growing up in Pittsburgh, PA. We would rush home from wherever we happened to be and the entire family would be completely glued to the TV watching the Anne series. I then found out about the books and requested them for Christmas. My grandmother, another avid reader, bought me the whole Anne series and I devoured them all in a very short time and wanted more. Slowly over the years, I have bought nearly everything written by Montgomery, I have reread these books more times than I can count. One of my absolute dream vacations would be to go to PEI; I keep thinking that someday The Girl and I will run on up to the Island and explore to our hearts content. I will need to wait until she is old enough to read the books herself... and then there is no looking back... we will burn rubber out of the driveway! Yes, I am addicted.

Today, I heard of this interesting article that discusses a "new" Anne book. This is a prequel that is authorized by Montgomery's family. L.M. Montgomery herself died during WWII, and so she has no say in the matter, but her family obviously thinks this is a good idea. I, however, do not but I am not making money on it, so take that as you will. I suppose it bothers me because I think Montgomery left enough about Anne's life to have it stand on it's own. In the books, Anne never wanted to discuss her time much before Green Gables though she did on very rare occasions. She did give enough information over time however, that you are able to piece together the basics. I don't believe that this book is necessary... and I don't believe that Montgomery herself would like it much. There is quite a bit to be said for leaving things to the imagination and I would think that Montgomery herself would have enjoyed us imagining all sorts of other endings and beginnings to the lives of her characters. Her characters have such large imaginations that I can't fathom her wanting us to have absolutely everything filled in for us.

All of that being said I will, unfortunately, be purchasing this book. How sad is that?! I know that I will not be able to help myself and I will report to the bookstore to check it out and then I will buy it and will probably not like it. Can I stop myself? I seriously doubt it.

I will post a review here just for all of you. Oh... and if perchance you have not read the L.M. Montgomery books, particularly The Anne series and The Blue Castle and The Story Girl, then run out and get them now. I am not kidding... they are more than worth it. There is a reason that Canada is making an Anne postage stamp to celebrate the 100 year anniversary and an Anne coin etc... etc... You will be missing out if you never read these books and it will be all your fault, cause I warned you right here on my little blog.

The Day the Giggles wore us out!

Tonight, the kids and I sat down on the sofa for some good reading time. We read a couple of chapters in the book The Family Under the Bridge, we followed that up with the wonderful and whimsical book The Day the Babies Crawled Away.

We followed that with some lovely reading from the favorite collection of Madeline, and finally a wonderful couple of stories from yet another of my children's favorite books, The Usborne Book of First Experiences.

Admittedly, The Day the Babies Crawled Away, has not been on our shelf long, it is a new acquisition. We picked it up at a yard sale this last fall, for oh, about a quarter. It is a nice hardback book with a dust jacket. We all know that the dust jacket will not stay on the book, but I am willing to give it a fighting chance.

I will admit that we just giggled ourselves silly at this book tonight. It hadn't been read in awhile because it is a little too tall for most of my shelves, so it has to lay down on a shelf and it had gotten buried. I dug it out and we read it tonight and honestly, there are so many little funny details that my children just found hysterical. The kids often take books to bed and this one was one of the ones chosen. The Girl got the honor of toting this one off to bed and she was thrilled.

One of our favorite details of this book, that my children think is one of the funniest things in the world is the one little baby is almost constantly hanging upside down. In every scene, there she is! It is so cute! She has this little bow on her head, just like the ones I used to put on the top of my little baby's head and I think my little girl felt great connection to this silly little one because of that. In the last picture, it shows all the babies, through the windows, at home with their parents. Through that little bow-girl's window, we see the mom and daughter hanging upside down from the rafters in their house. My kids found this incredibly funny.

I don't think I mentioned that this entire book is done in silhouette. The background is in color, the sky softly changing to show the changing of the day... the silhouettes showing all the detail and all the charm. The illustrations are simply fantastic for a children's book, crisp and clear and so sweetly detailed.

My kids loved this book and what better way to put kids to bed than with lots of giggles.