The Tale of Despereaux

For my oldest's birthday (she's now 6) we got her The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup and a Spool of Thread, with the condition that we read it to her and she wasn't allowed to read it herself.

(Yes, she can read, and she can read way above her grade level.)

We put that condition on it because we had heard that some parts of the story were quite dark, and we didn't want her reading it without some company. :) The last thing we need is nightmares about rats and dungeons.

As a whole we liked the book, it was well written and has a nice pacing, well suited to reading aloud. It is a bit frightening in some parts, and I wouldn't read it to a two year old, but it does explore a lot of emotional territory, love, hope, cruelty, injustice, revenge, separation. There are a lot of words we had to explain the meaning of (and some I had to look up, even, like "perfidy"!). You will have to decide when it's appropriate for your child. Meanwhile, I would recommend picking it up and reading it yourself first! :) It's good.

Snuggle Puppy by Sandra Boynton is a perennial favorite in our house.

Snuggle Puppy by Sandra Boynton is a perennial favorite in our house.

Clementine, by Sara Pennypacker, we've enjoyed a lot. Also in the …

Clementine, by Sara Pennypacker, we've enjoyed a lot. Also in the series, The Talented Clementine.

Clementine is a young grade school girl who would fit the profile of a "Spirited Child". Clementine is at turns brilliant, artistic, a daydreamer, thoughtful, sometimes awkward, opinionated, caring and quirky. One of the great elements of the story is Clementine's own description of her feelings and emotions, and how she is able to know what to do when she begins to feel a certain way. Sometimes children have a hard time knowing what to do when they get angry, or overanxious, and Pennypacker has done a good job of writing emotions in a language kids can relate to.

I would recommend it for Grades 1 and up, it's not really a toddlers kind of story, it's a "chapter book", as my kids say.

MY new favourite has to be Henry and Mudge by Cynthia Rylant... my …

MY new favourite has to be Henry and Mudge by Cynthia Rylant... my youngest loves to say "Mudge!" and giggles the cutest giggle. I read it just to hear her do it. :)

just picked up a couple books at a used bookstore on College St. …

just picked up a couple books at a used bookstore on College St. yesterday: "Harold and the Purple Crayon" by Crockett Johnson, and "Harry the Dirty Dog" by Gene Zion. Both of them happen to be 50th anniversary editions. They're over 50 years old now. Still great.

i teach 1st grade, and the books they want over and over: "so …

i teach 1st grade, and the books they want over and over: "so much" "knufflebunny" my kind, adorable long-distance love, he puts me to sleep on yahoo talk by reading me: "the story of ferdinand"