Great books according to my 6 year old

Monday, March 8, 2010

One of the first things anyone learns about me is that I'm a proud parent. I have to really work at turning it down a bit. I'm just so impressed with my kids and get so much joy out of their wonder.
My daughter has been an active reader for a year now and we LOVE to read together. I like to learn what she's into- so I asked her to compile her favorite books for me.
About thirty minutes later, she came out of her room with most of her books.
So this time I asked her if she had to pick five to take on vacation, what would they be.
Here are the six she gave me.

Polo has been a favorite in our house since she was a toddler. The French children's author and illustrator, Regis Faller has created more than 20 books for children.
These books have a comic book panel style and very few words-  I have found that they are inspiring for my kids' imagination.
Imagine a puppy, leaving his island tree house balancing on a wire up to the clouds. In this adventure, Polo meets some musical monkeys, a lonely snowman and some glowing moon men.
I highly recommend the Chez Polo website. It may be in French, but we have really enjoyed exploring the interactive world.

Seek and Find/ Look and Find books are always on the top of her pile in bed. Pretty much any book that is image rich appeals to her. And all the better when a challenge of hidden pictures or picture differences is added. The books she chose from her collection that fit this category are Disney's Princess Look and Find and Richard Scarry's What Do People Do All Day?

Animalia combines two of my daughter's great loves: dense images and animals. Every page of this book is another world of fantastic creatures, alliterative plays on the alphabet and the hidden image of a little boy. 
This book inspired the PBS Kids show and interactive website, which is also a hit with my daughter.

When I asked her about favorites, I wondered which one of Mo Willems' books would make the cut. Over the years we have empathized with Trixie and counted Tony's teeth at least a hundred times. Mo's Pigeon made the cut. She loves this snarky pigeon. I must admit, I do too- The pigeon has an interactive website with fun stuff for kids and info for adults.
For those like us who can't get enough of this pigeon- Mo also has a blog with appearance schedules, downloadable event kits and exhibit information.

And finally, Charlie Cook's Favorite Book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler really appeals to her sense of adventure and love of fantasy. I think it's a very cleverly written story within a story... within another story ....
Charlie reads about a pirate who reads about Goldilocks and so on. The colorful illustrations depict the pages of each book.

This was a fun exercise, I learned some things about my daughters tastes in reading material. And I think she felt really good about sharing her opinions.