Awe-Inspiring August - 2018 - Children's Readathon - Picture Books

My blogging friend, Jay Cudney, is hosting another readathon and this time it is children's books.  I have not read children's books since my kids were little, thinking that since I'm an adult they no longer have a relevance for me.  Wrong.  It has been so long that I can see new things in them that I didn't notice before.

The three books for this week were: 

"Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak, "Goodnight Moon" by Margaret Wise Brown and "Oh the Places You'll Go" by Dr. Seuss.

Let me get "Where the Wild Things Are" over first.  I am not a fan.  I don't like Max and I don't like animals.  There.  I said it.  I don't think I actually read this book to my kids and if I did it was only once.  I know I did see the movie but I don't know how I sat through it all.  I think my husband wanted to see it.  I had to go to a special section in the library to get it because it is a Caldecott Medal winner for "most distinguished American picture book for children."  Still not impressed. 

The other two books I really love though.  "Goodnight Moon" was a true favorite.  It was a really great one to use for reading before bedtime to settle the kids down.  Each page is filled with wonderful words and pictures and you can use it to help teach them names of colors and objects. 


      


"In the great green room there was a telephone, and a red balloon and a picture of..."  I would have the kids point to the different items and ask them what other things they could think of that were green, etc.  Definitely a fun one to read. 

"Oh The Places You'll Go" by Dr. Seuss is another one that is great but not just for little kids.  I didn't realize until just recently what a perfect gift this is for giving to graduates of all ages.


  

It explains that there are endless possibilities and choices you can make and that things will not always be sunshine and flowers but that you have the tools to work through the bad times.  Our daughter recently graduated from college and we gave this book to her as a gift, with each of her siblings, my husband and I writing her a special note on the pages inside.  I also added some pictures of her at various stages of her life throughout the book as well.  She was touched. 

Thanks to Jay for hosting this readathon.  I'm looking forward to some of the other books that were chosen.  We'll be doing this the whole month of August so if you want to bring back some good memories (or make some new ones), feel free to join along!