KidLit Quote of the Day #2

Thanks to all who have guessed at yesterday's quote. Today's quote comes from one of my favorite childhood books that I've read to my own children many times.

He was a Real Rabbit at last, at home with the other rabbits. 

If you have a guess, leave the title and author of the book in the comments section. Get an extra entry if you tweet your guess using my handle @wellreadchild or link to this post from your blog. Those who guess correctly by  Saturday 6/30/12 will receive a copy of Cy Montogomery's Saving the Ghost of the Mountain: An Expedition Among Snow Leopards in Mongolia. 

Good luck, and have fun!

Kali's Song by Jeanette Winter (Review and Giveaway)

Thousands and thousands of years ago, a little boy named Kali was big enough to learn to hunt. After practicing shooting arrows, he sat down to rest and plucked his bow string. From that moment, he discovered a passion for music, and the music was so good that even the stars and mammoths came close to listen. Kali discovered a special talent within himself and used his strengths to become a healer instead of a hunter.

Kali's Song is a beautiful book that celebrates art, finding your own passion, and using that passion to help others. Jeanette Winters' illustrations of cave paintings, mammoths, and Kali happily making music are rendered in acrylic paint, pen and ink, and handmade paper. Their simplicity and color add to the magic and message of the book. This is definitely one I recommend for personal and school libraries.

Would you like your own copy? Go over to this post and guess which famous children's book the quote comes from. Even if someone has already correctly guessed, add your guess in the comments section by Friday 6/30 at midnight. I will randomly draw one winner to receive a copy of Kali's Song.


   

The product links in this post are affiliate links. With every purchase you make through clicking on these links, you are helping support The Well-Read Child.

KidLit Quote of the Day Contest: Quote 1

Tonight, we read 6 books, and as we were reading, I realized that there are some lines in books that just resonated with me, you know, the lines that make you smile and give you warm fuzzies. So, I thought we would have a bit of fun.

Every night during our summer reading challenge, I'll post a quote from a book my kids and I read before bedtime. You guess the the book and author the quote came from, and you will be entered into a drawing to win a picture book for your family or classroom. The book will come from my personal collection. Sounds like fun, right?



 I'll make the first one a little easy for you.

 "...They roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws 'till Max said, 'Be STILL!'" 

Those who guess the title and author right will be entered into the drawing to receive a copy of Kali's Song by Jeanette Winter. Submit your guess by Friday 6/30 at midnight.

At the end of the week, I will do a random drawing from those who guess correctly from each post. I'll announce the winners and will send winners their books.

For extra entries:

• Mention the giveaway on Twitter using my handle @wellreadchild
• Link to the daily contest from your blog and add your link in the comments section. 

That's it! Be sure to check in tomorrow night for tomorrow's quote.

Summer Reading Challenge: Week 2

We've been trapped inside due to a 100+ degree weather here in the DC area, so our evenings this week have been filled with reading. Instead of linking to every book we've read, I'm adding them to the widget in the right column of the blog and just highlighting some of the week's favorites in the posts.

 My little boy is COMPLETELY obsessed with The Monster at the End of this Book. I bought the iPhone app a while back, so he alternates back and forth between the book and the app. I love the interaction he has with the book as I race to read the words before he turns the page.

I also picked up some books at Kohl's last weekend. Their Kohl's Cares Program offers books and stuffed animals at affordable prices. All of the proceeds go to help community initiatives. Kohl's isn't paying me to say this, but I really like the program and how I can pick up a book for $2.50 or $5.00 and sometimes pay $5.00 for a matching stuffed animal. This time, I bought two copies of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?  for baby-shower gifts as well as The Very Busy Spider for my kids. I think we've read The Very Busy Spider about 20 times already.

In total, we've read 30 books this week, bringing our total to 70! 230 to go! Our local library has a summer reading program for kids of all ages, where the kids can track their books online and come to the library for prizes when they read a certain number of books. I signed both kids up for that, and we're going in for our first prize this weekend.

As for me, I am reading the most beautifully-written book I've read in quite a while - The Snow Child: A Novel by Eowyn Ivey. This is a retelling of a Russian fairytale. I'm a sucker for retellings of fairy and folk tales, so that was enough to lure me in. But oh my, is it a beautiful, beautiful story of a lonely couple in the 1920's Alaskan wilderness who build a child out of snow. I'm not finished and am purposefully not reading any reviews until I finish, but I am loving it so far.


How is your summer reading going? Anything you or your children absolutely love?

 

The product links in this post are affiliate links. With every purchase you make through clicking on these links, you are helping support The Well-Read Child.

Summer Reading Challenge: Week one recap

It's officially been a week since we started the challenge. I feel like I need some sort of book ticker that can count the books read. Hmmmm...

Anyway, this weekend, we were recovering from various illnesses and had a lot of time to read. I don't have my lists of the books we read handy, so I'll post them in a different post.

I do know that since the last update earlier this week, we've read 25 books, bringing our grand total to 40. 260 to go!

I've also finished two "grown-up" books and have started three more.

We've had so much fun reading. My daughter has decided that she doesn't want to read the same book twice, so she's set on reading every book in the house. It's pretty cool to see her examining book covers and asking me to read the titles, trying to figure out which one she wants us to read together. And it's always interesting to see if the cover and title of the book meet her expectations. I'm in the process of writing some blog posts about titles didn't quite meet them.

Okay, so this week I want to continue reading about five picture books a night with the daughter, have a short individual reading session with my son every night and read something for myself every night.

What are your reading goals for
the week? How many books are you reading this summer?

Summer Reading Challenge - Days 1-4

I'm so excited that some of you have joined the summer reading challenge! Our challenge thus far started on Friday.

My goals include:

• Read 300 picture books or easy readers with my 5-year-old by September 4th 
• Read with my 2-year-old every night 
• Read something for myself every night. This is a tough one because I'm pooped by the time I get the kids to bed, but I've neglected my personal reading for a while. 

So, here's how it's gone so far:
Since Friday, my daughter and I have read 15 books. We normally average about five books a night, but we had a super busy weekend and didn't read as much on Saturday and Sunday.

1. The Cloud Spinner by Michael Catchpool
2. Dear Tyrannosaurus Rex by Lisa McClatchy
3. Potty Poo-Poo Wee-Wee! by Colin McNaughton
4. Machines Go To Work by William Low 
5. Are You Ready to Play Outside? by Mo Willems
6. Listen to My Trumpet! by Mo Willems
7. I Am Invited to a Party! by Mo Willems 
8. Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressedby Mo Willems (We are fans of Mo) 
9. Monkey with a Tool Belt and the Noisy Problemby Chris Monroe
10. The Monster at the End of this Book by Jon Stone and Michael Smollin
11. The Cajun Cornbread Boy by Diane de las Casas
12. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
13. What Dat? The Great Big Ugly Doll Book of Things to Look at, Search for, Point to, and Wonder About by David Horvath and Sun-Min Kim
14. Scholastic Discover More: See Me Grow by Penelope Arlon and Tory Gordon-Harris
15. Snow Rabbit, Spring Rabbit: A Book of Changing Seasonsby Il Sung Na 

285 to go!

My son and I have also read every night. He normally listens while I read with my daughter, but I'm making sure to give him his own special reading time as well. Here are some of his favorites:

1. Where Are Baby's Easter Eggs? by Karen Katz
2. Baby Lamb Finds a Friend by Laura Gates Galvin
3. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

It is so fun to watch him grow and learn to love books. He actually loves to read to my daughter and has many of the words memorized. So adorable.

As for me, I'm reading the following books:

1. The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon. 
2. Child of God by Cormac McCarthy 

So, that's today's update. What have you been reading? Feel free to leave your links in Mister Linky or comment below!

The product links in this post are affiliate links. With every purchase you make through clicking on these links, you are helping support The Well-Read Child.

Summer Reading Challenge: Quest to 300

My little chica will be starting Kindergarten in September. We attended the Kindergarten Open House at her school a couple of weeks ago where they passed out a list of reading recommendations for the summer. I'm still a little in shock how quickly the little baby in my arms grew into a sassy and spirited five year who walked into the school like she owned the place.  When I told her she had to read five books by the end of summer, she scoffed and said we would read 300.

I'm always up for a challenge, so this past Friday, we started our quest to read 300 books together by September 3. We're talking about picture books and easy readers here because she's five, and we haven't been very successful with chapter books thus far.

I'm using this blog to keep track of the challenge. If you'd like to join in, please feel free to leave a comment. I'll attempt to post daily.

Happy reading!