Saturday, January 8, 2011

Books of the Week – January 8, 2011

Here are our favorites from the past week:

Tintin, age 7

Babymouse #13: Cupcake Tycoon
Author/illustrator: Jennifer L. Holm/Matthew Holm

The latest installment in the Babymouse series, Cupcake Tycoon is, according to Tintin, the best one yet. Babymouse accidentally destroys the school library and participates in a cupcake fundraiser to help replace the damaged books. Unfortunately for Babymouse, it's a little rough going at first, what with her nemesis coming up with better plans and outselling her. Along the way, however, Babymouse uses her imagination to press on and even realizes that the grand prize maybe isn't the most important part of this whole fundraising thing. Once again, we loved Babymouse's daydreams, plus, cupcakes! And, at the very end of the book, we find out that coming in May are Babymouse #14: Mad Scientist and a new Holm graphic novel series about an amoeba named Squish. Tintin can't wait!

The Adventures of Daniel Boom AKA Loud Boy
Author/illustrator: D.J. Steinberg/Brian Smith

This week Tintin read Sound Off! and Game On! (numbers 1 and 3 in a series of 4), more than once each. Daniel Boom is a boy who lacks an inside voice and learns to use this to his (and the world's) advantage. Loud Boy and four others – his sister Chatterbox, Destructo Kid, Fidget, and Tantrum Girl – soon find that the things for which they usually get in trouble are their biggest strengths. They try to conquer the evil "Old Fogey," who can't stand noisy children and of course is in search of world domination. Johnny Boo picked these out for Tintin and, when Tintin got home from school, these were the library books he went to first (keep in mind, we usually have 50 out at a time).


Johnny Boo, age 5

Astroblast! Code Blue
Author/illustrator: Bob Kolar

Radar the monkey issues an emergency warning and must get his animal crew back to the snack shop before the surprise emergency occurs. Along the way, the reader (if he's in the mood for interacting instead of just listening to the story) must help the crew get back by matching, finding differences, and navigating through mazes. Johnny Boo loves the cute animals and the surprise ending.

I Can Read! The Chronicles of Narnia
Author: Jennifer Frantz

We've got a bit of a Narnia obsession here (and a little crush on the youngest Pevensie, Lucy). Johnny Boo has little Lego people that stand in as the four children and a wardrobe we made from a box. Occasionally he turns the rest of us into Pevensies (he's Lucy, Tintin is Edmund, Daddy is Peter, and I'm Susan). He's read all of the books in this I Can Read! collection and got the newest ones, adaptations of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, for his birthday this week. We saw The Voyage of the Dawn Treader a couple of weeks ago, so it's fresh in his mind, again. These books are based more on the movies than on the books by C.S. Lewis, and are full of photos from the movies. There are words in these that you wouldn't think a preschooler would know how to read, but I think since he's so into Narnia, the books have helped him master them. Also, it's cute to see him read these while his big brother reads the originals.

Other books we've enjoyed (or are still enjoying) this week:

Picture books

Toy Story: Ride 'em, Cowboy!, by Kate McMullan and Lorelay Bove
I'm Bad!, by Kate and Jim McMullan
It's Hard to Be Five, by Jamie Lee Curtis and Laura Cornell
The Fantastic Mr. Wani, by Kanako Usui
Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!, by Dr. Seuss
Thesaurus Rex, by Laya Steinberg and Debbie Harter
Skippyjon Jones in the Doghouse, by Judy Schachner
The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming: A Christmas Story, by Lemony Snicket and Lisa Brown

Graphic novels

Ed's Terrestrials, by Scott Christian Sava and Diego Jourdan
The World of Quest, by Jason T. Kruse
Little Mouse Gets Ready, by Jeff Smith

Chapter books

Ivy and Bean (books 1 & 2), by Annie Barrows and Sophie Blackall
Sir Seth Thistlethwaite and the Soothsayer's Shoes, by Richard Thake and Vince Chui
How to Train Your Dragon Book 1, by Cressida Cowell

Chapter book/graphic novel

Pirates of Underwhere, by Bruce Hale and Shane Hillman

To see what other kids have been reading this week, go to Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns.

9 comments:

Brimful Curiosities said...

Just picked up our first Babymouse book this week. I'm hoping to read it next week with my daughter.

Playing by the book said...

So funny to hear about the narnia business - it's just the same in our house at the moment. All morning m has been Queen Susan, and J has been dressed up as Queen Lucy. M has great plans to make a wardrobe draw and lamppost to turn our kitchen into narnia!

momandkiddo said...

Your boys are just a bit older than mine, so I'm interested in seeing what they are reading.

Grandma and Grandpa said...

Very Impressive!

The boys have read more books in a week than Grandpa has read in 64 years!

Beth Stilborn said...

Since I didn't discover Narnia until adulthood, I'm always delighted when I hear about kids who are revelling in it in childhood.

There are some titles here that I'm going to have to take a look at, although I confess that I can't even read the title of Sir Seth Thistlethwaite *silently* and get it right!

elizabethanne of elizabethannewrites

Ms. Yingling said...

I'm half tempted to get the I Can Read version of Narnia-- it's such a hard sell to middle school students recently; maybe this would entice them!

Nikki in Niagara said...

I absolutely love the Daniel Boom series! Make sure you've read the first 3 before you read #4 as it wraps up the story.

http://back-to-books.blogspot.com/2010/11/253-256-adventures-of-daniel-boom-vol-1.html

Julie P. said...

What a great book week! I have a few of the Babymouse books so we're going to have to try them out!

Natalie PlanetSmarty said...

I was going back and forth on whether to introduce Narnia to my daughter. To be honest, I am not a fan, but I only read it as an adult. I just put in a request for an audio book - we'll see how it goes. You read so many good books in your house.