Read Alouds: Berenstain Bears

On our most recent trip to the local library, there was quite the display of Berenstain Bear books (and videos).  My children were immediately filling our bag with the books.  Actually, E (age 2) found a book that he decided would be better to hold onto instead of placing in the bag (the Big Road Race, as seen below).  At one point I told M that if she wanted another BB book, she would need to trade it for one we already had in the bag so we could leave a selection for other children.

I really like Berenstain Bear books because Stan and Jan (and sometimes Mike) Berenstain know children and families so well!  My daughter, especially, seems to relate well with the problems the Bear cubs face.


The Berenstain Bear and the Big Road Race tells of four big, fast cars in a race.  Brother is also in the race in a little red car that just says, "Putt, putt, putt" instead of roaring and growling like the other engines.  Despite being the slowest car, Little Red finishes the race...in first place, of course.  Being that my son does not know colors yet, I liked how each car was a different color...and each driver had a different problem (like bragging or hunger) that allowed Little Red to persevere.

The Berenstain Bears Love Their Neighbors tells all about how nice of a community the bears have...except for the Bogg brothers.  However, when it comes down to the Bears needing help, it's the Bogg brothers who come to the rescue.  The Bear family quickly realizes their mistake, and invite them over to dinner.  This title is part of the Living Lights series (published by Zonderkidz) with a Christian message, though anyone can enjoy this book.

Bears in the Night is a perfect book for a beginning reader!  The story is extremely simple in language, but rather amusing to read!  Though it does not use complete sentences, I really enjoy this book.  The repetitive nature is effective and great for that beginning reader!  My daughter read this book with almost no help!

Seven bear cubs are in one bed.  They hear a noise outside and decide to investigate...and sneak outside.
"Out of bed
To the window
At the window
Out the window
Down the tree
Over the wall..."
Personally, this may have been my favorite Berenstain book of the day, but that's probably because my daughter was able to read it to me.  Success is a wonderful thing, you know!  I just wish the bears looked like themselves instead of rats in the book.

The Bear cubs even get into some serious mystery solving in The Berenstain Bears and the Missing Dinosaur Bone.  Three cubs and their dog, Snuff, are the Bear Detectives, helping find the missing dino bone before the Bear Museum opens for the special showing.  Like Bears in the Night, it is also a Beginner Book, but not nearly as simple in language and text.  Still a fun book though!

These were all enjoyable to read.  It was a little Berenstain Bear book party!  hehe!

I'm linking up over at Hope is the Word today!  Check it out for additional read alouds of various kinds!

Read Alouds

Looking to make a preschooler or even a school-aged child laugh?  Try Big Chickens Fly the Coop!   (When I was first writing up this post, I learned that this is part of a series.  We borrowed Big Chickens from the library, but I definitely prefer Fly the Coop!)

Big Chickens Fly the Coop is funny, though especially hilarious to children.  Four big chickens sit in their coop wishing to see the farmhouse, but it's safe inside the farmhouse.  They repeatedly have the following conversation:
"We should always stay home."
"We could always stay home."
"We would always stay home....except...we've always wanted to see the farmhouse."  


Then the chickens fly the coop and find trouble because they mistaken a doghouse, a tractor, and a barn for the farmhouse.  (Don't laugh...or do!  Ha!  It's reasonable.  You know...the doghouse has a roof and door, just like a farmhouse!)

In addition to the English lesson with the should/could/woulds that are repeated throughout Big Chickens Fly the Coop, there is some rather colorful language that cracks kids up.

..."It's a doghouse!"
The chickens flounced, trounced, and body-bounced.  The dogs pounced.  Drooling muzzles dribbled.  Frightened yard birds quibbled.  Sharp teeth crashed.  Pointed beaks smashed.  Snouts snapped.  Wings flapped.  Until...
...four slobbery chickens ran all the way back to the coop.


Does that make you smile?  My kids love it, especially my two year old son.  He often requests Big Chickens Fly (the) Coop.  He also will fill in words of the story.  It is a definite favorite!

When I taught first and third grade, this would have been a hit when discussing the should/could/would family as well as descriptive writing...and even rhyming.  Now it's just fun to read aloud to my kids.  Even if we sometimes read it MANY times most weeks.

We've been reading a lot of I Can Read books, too, featuring the Rainforest Friends and Bible stories.  I wrote a post on those that you can check out if you wish.

Read Aloud: Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle

The chapter book Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle was a recent gift to add to our collection.  My daughter, age 4 1/2, saw it, and immediately was curious about it and wanted to read it.  The name alone is enticing for a child, let alone the cute cover illustration (though mine is a different edition).  Both of my kids were loving it from the beginning!

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle lives in an upside down house and is rather lonely, despite her pets.  Then one day she makes a friend- a little girl.  Soon the girl has told others about Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle and children from all over town come to see her.  She bakes with them and the boys dig holes in her yard looking for buried treasure.

As dear as all of that sounds, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle is really quite the clever woman, and soon earns a reputation for knowing children very well.  Moms call her for advice for their children.  She comes up with all sorts of cures.  There is the "Slow Biter Tiny Bite Taker Cure" and possibly what is needed in our home the most is the "Fighter Quarrelers Cure," among many others.  The children's problems in the book are fairly extreme, though really, most families can relate in some way or another.  The cures are just as extreme...and I suspect most moms wish problems could be cured so easily-and creatively.

My daughter really enjoyed this...probably as much as a 4 1/2 year old can.  My son would also ask for the book, though we didn't always read it aloud with him.  In addition to the chapter intro illustration, there is one full-page illustration in each of the chapters.  This is a book that I am thankful for and expect that we will enjoy it again in a few years when the kids can better appreciate the plentiful humor.  My book jacket cover says it is for ages 6-10, and I would agree, though Amazon says ages 9-12 for the reading level.

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle (and others in the series) will be on our gifts-to-give-to-others list as my children's cousins and friends get older!  This is a book that has been around for years...and will certainly be loved for a long time!

We're always on the lookout for more chapter book ideas for a 4 year old.  Please let me know of any suggestions!

I'm linking up with Read Aloud Thursday!

Read Alouds

Last week we finished reading The Classic Storybook Bible.  I really felt that my 4 year old learned a lot from these stories.  No, not all stories were included, but it is very well-written, by Kenneth Taylor.  I definitely recommend it!  (We're now reading the Jesus Story Book Bible which is also excellent...and all stories point to Jesus!  This is our first time reading it straight through, though we've read most of it here and there.)

M seems to be reading a lot more on her own.  She's willing to read words and some sentences to us from books, though she doesn't want to read BOB Books to me right now.  (I think she doesn't want the responsibility of having to read the entire book on her own.)   I'm sharing here about some books that she was able to help read...but please don't think I'm just sharing to brag, though I'm very pleased and surprised.

 From the library, I have been amazed at how much she can read from Go, Dog. Go! (this may be familiar because of school though) and a Sesame Street book called It's Not Easy Being Big.  She is somehow reading long vowel words, though some are words that are familiar from other books, and memorized instead of sounded out.  She seriously read the whole book of Time to Sleep, Sheep the Sheep to herself (I was in the kitchen) until she got to the end where she couldn't read the word "checkers."  Granted, the book is extremely repetitive, and the pictures help with the animal names.   I am loving the simple words of Mo Willems and his ability to create a fabulous story that is another great beginning reader book (though some are more complicated, too).  As much as I write about Willems, we need to get some of these books for our own library!

The great thing about all of the easy readers above is that our 2 year old is just as interested in them as our 4 year old!

To see what others are reading check out Read Aloud Thursday and What My Child Is Reading.

Read Alouds

E is about 2 1/2 years old.  This week he has been loving a couple of books!  (We have been reading with M, but nothing new is standing out.)

Richard Scarry's Splish Splash Sounds was a favorite of our daughter's and now is a favorite of E's!  He does request this book often.  I love it for the early language skills it helps to produce, though E is talking well enough now.  (It's on my list of great books that encourage speech!)  One of the reasons it is so great for speech is because of the focus on sounds throughout the book.  This book is classic Busytown!  A young child typically loves to mimic sounds, and Splish Splash Sounds is great for that!  (My only complaint with some of Richard Scarry's Busytown books is that the characters seem to change a bit.  We read enough that I've noticed at least 2-3 character changes over the years.  This book refers to Huckle building a sand castle, but a bear is building, not a cat.)

A library book we have been slightly obsessed with is Flashing Fire Engine. Written by Tony Mitton and Ant Parker, it's part of a series.  (I'm really tempted to buy the set of machine books, but they are mini books...I'm not sure how I feel about that.)  With rhyming text and many fire engine details, it may be the best fire engine book we've ever read!  I also like the last page has labeled illustrations to help the reader to remember some of the new terms.
I'm linking up to see what others are reading, too!

Read Alouds

We have been reading plenty, but I can only think of a couple of books that the kids have really been loving this week.

E, age 2, requests The Hungry Giant's Baby often.  This is written by Joy Cowley and is adorable.  A group of humans babysit the Hungry Giant's baby, Bubba while he goes away for a bit.  It's cute to see how they brainstorm how to keep the baby happy.  First they try milk.  Bubba sleeps for a bit, then she is unhappy.  They take Bubba for a ride in the back of a truck, but she's so big, the wheels fall off.  And on and on it goes!  My little guy likes to cry, "Wah!  Wah!" and coo, "Goo!  Goo!" for the baby at the appropriate times.

M, age 4 has enjoyed Edwina, the Dinosaur Who Didn't Know She Was Exinct.   Edwina is loved by all in her town except a smarty-pants boy, Reginald.  He knows dinosaurs are extinct, but no one will listen to him until Edwina, in her kindness does.  It's another hit by Mo Willems.

We actually read a couple chapter books by Arnold Lobel that I didn't love.  One was Uncle Elephant.  For my four year old, I didn't care for the book using the word "darn."  I just don't think it is needed.  Grasshopper on the Road used some negative words in name calling that I didn't care for.  These were words such as "stupid."  Mild, but once again, unnecessary.

We did listen to Little Town on the Prairie in the car, and I have to say, it may be my favorite Little House book!  I just loved it!  (I also really enjoyed Laura's ignorance at age 15, as she wondered why Almanzo Wilder would want to walk her home from the literary meeting when her mother and father were there to see her home.  She was truly clueless that he could be interested in her!)  This book was a bit sad since Mary goes away to a college for the blind, but Laura's commitment to earn money to help is commendable!  I am so not ready for this series to end!!  Only two more books!

To see what others are reading, check out these link ups!