{"id":11642,"date":"2016-01-18T15:26:36","date_gmt":"2016-01-18T21:26:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/?p=11642"},"modified":"2016-04-20T12:39:21","modified_gmt":"2016-04-20T18:39:21","slug":"books-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/2016\/01\/books-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Books!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some books we read and what it did for our family<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I learned from my mother to make time to read to children. My favorite memories of my mother are when she read to us, and my picture of motherhood wasn\u2019t complete without reading books aloud. I haven’t been good about early bedtimes, perfect nutrition, and many other things, but I have been good about reading aloud.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"My<\/a>
My mom reading to the kids, 2007<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There are some books on our shelf that I could probably say from memory: <\/span><\/span>The Muppet Babies Book of Shapes; The Pokey Little Puppy; The Cat in the Hat; One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish<\/i><\/span><\/span>. So few Caldecott and Newberry Award winners were among our favorites from early childhood! <\/span><\/span>The Three Little Pigs, The Little Golden Book of Sounds, The Egg Book, <\/i><\/span><\/span>and other<\/span><\/span> simple stories\u00a0were\u00a0enough to keep our little people happy. Library trips would bring lavishly illustrated and poetically versed books to our home, but these weren\u2019t the favorites of the very young. It was just <\/span><\/span>Hop on Pop<\/i><\/span><\/span> and <\/span><\/span>The Three Little Kittens<\/i><\/span><\/span> for us.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Reading calmed my children, gave us time to snuggle, and became part of the bedtime routine. One day in Texas I discovered that I could read to the children and think about other things at the same time. This time of mental escape when the kids were quiet and happy was a blessing. Although my mind sometimes wandered during the early years of Dr. Seuss books,\u00a0I kept reading\u00a0because my mother had done the same for me and I loved her for it.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Treasure Island, Johnny Tremain, The Hobbit, Tom Sawyer<\/i><\/span><\/span>, and <\/span><\/span>The Lord of the Rings<\/i><\/span><\/span> trilogy are some of the books that I introduced to the kids at a young age. I noticed that my children have returned to these books on their own to enjoy them again. It doesn\u2019t matter how old the children are, if it\u2019s a good book, they\u2019ll sit around and listen to me read it.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"OLYMPUS<\/a><\/p>\n

Some of my instinct to gather my children close around me is helped by good literature. I have grown closer to my children by giving 20 or 30 minutes at a time to read aloud. I\u2019ve traveled through the stories with them and watched their wonder and laughter. As they grow older, I see that reading aloud is a good catalyst for conversation with kids who don\u2019t feel like talking.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I hope each child carries a memory of me reading books aloud. I hope that when they think of me, they see me with a book not too far from reach. My personal reading has helped me in my parenting to be more informed, centered, and entertained. I\u2019ve filled the house with books, ready for discovery and rediscovery. Having a house full of well-read books is one way that this quiet mother says, \u201cI love you.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

When I asked the kids in 2015 which books they loved best from early childhood, this is the list they came up with:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

A Bargain for Frances<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Another Monster at the End of this Book<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Are You My Mother?<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Black Beauty<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Carry On, Mr. Bowditch<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Chrysanthemum<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Corduroy<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Dinosaur Days<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Fire, Fire!<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Firetruck<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Goodnight Moon<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Guess How Much I Love You<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I Can Dress Myself<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Jessica<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Little Golden Books (any of them)<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Monkeys Jumping on the Bed<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Muppet Babies Be Nice<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Oh, the Places You\u2019ll Go<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Richard Scarry\u2019s Busy Workers<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Royal Diaries Series: Queen Elizabeth<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Tell Me Again about the Night I Was Born<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The Dot<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The Hobbit<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The Little Red Hen<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The Lord of the Rings series<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The Pea<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The Quiltmaker\u2019s Gift<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The Raft<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The Ugly Duckling<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The Very Quiet Cricket<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Tiki Tiki Tembo<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some books we read and what it did for our family I learned from my mother to make time to read to children. My favorite memories of my mother are when she read to us, and my picture of motherhood wasn\u2019t complete without reading books aloud. I haven’t been good about early bedtimes, perfect nutrition, … Continue reading Books!<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,20,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-angies-memoir-project","category-life-according-to-angela","category-motherhood"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11642"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11653,"href":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11642\/revisions\/11653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}