Thankful Themed Books

November 10, 2019 by Katie Wilson

We’re more than a full week into November and Thanksgiving is quickly approaching. Meep! Our Halloween decorations are still up and I’m not sure when they’ll be coming down but you better believe that our November seasonal book corner has been displayed since November 1st. Holiday themed books are perhaps the only thing I’m good at keeping on top of these days so the bookshelves are full of Fall and Thanksgiving themed books. Luckily, Thanksgiving is less about decorations and more about giving thanks and spending time with family. Thanks to the early onset of frigid temps in Chicago we’ve been mostly indoors and have had plenty of time to spend time reading together!

It’s been a couple of years since I’ve posted our favorite Thanksgiving themed books and naturally, our collection has grown! (Read: I have a serious addiction to purchasing picture books!) Below you can find my TAKE on some new books focused on gratitude and thankfulness and if you’re interested in my original collection of Thanksgiving themed books you can find them here. There are so many great options, I’m sure you’ll be able to find something perfect to enjoy with your family but most of all best wishes for a Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving/Fall Themed Books

2019 Halloween Children's Book Edit

September 22, 2019 by Katie Wilson

Tomorrow is officially the first day of fall and if you’re anything like me and my kids you’ve already gotten Halloween on the brain. To be honest, I’ve been thinking about it for weeks. I think my excitement for Halloween can also be attributed to the amount of energy I have in October…we’ve just come off a lull of big holidays, the weather is usually decent and there is plenty of prep time. By the time Christmas rolls around I can barely form a cohesive sentence! So it’s safe to say that Halloween is my new favorite holiday, I’m totally here for the semi homemade costumes, decorations, parties, candy and of course the books! If you’ve been following my blog for the past year you’re well aware of my LOVE for seasonal children’s books. I can’t resist them…no matter the holiday.

Bringing out the Halloween books and setting up our seasonal bookcase is basically the “unofficial” start to the holiday season in our home. This year we’ve added a few more to our collection to accommodate the growing reading levels in our home. These books are perfect for kids aged 2 - 10 and even adults so check out my TAKE on new Halloween titles below and don’t forget to treat yourself to some Halloween candy while you’re at it!

Happy Halloween Reading!

2019 Halloween Edit

For previous Halloween book edits please see here (2017) and here (2018).

National Young Readers Week

November 14, 2018 by Katie Wilson

Today is the last day of National Young Readers Week (Nov 10 - 14) and I’m sharing my TAKE on some books to get your readers at home excited about reading. But first, let’s talk about National Young Readers Week. This week was founded in 1989 by Pizza Hut (Remember, BOOK IT?) and the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress. It’s an annual event the second week in November to raise reading awareness. Many schools recruit their principal, local authors or “celebrities” to read aloud to children in their classrooms. Some schools go as far as to challenge their principal to read all day long to students. We don’t celebrate this in my children’s school but I’m thinking I may need to suggest something for next year! Regardless, I’m always trying to inspire my children to read more so check out my TAKE on our new favorite books. Happy Reading!

Inspiring Books for your Young Readers

The 50 States Fun Facts - This is a companion book complete with a United States puzzle to the fantastic, The 50 States: Explore the U.S.A. with 50 fact-filled maps! We love these colorful and informative books especially when traveling cross country in a car as they are filled to the brim with facts and conversation starters.

The Princess in Black Takes a Vacation - This is the 4th book in a series about Princess Magnolia. One, with a daughter named Magnolia I was super excited to find a series with her name in it. Two, these books are perfect and sometimes a bit challenging for my 1st grader who is learning to read on her own. And three, I love how empowering these stories are. There are currently six books in the series and more to come!

When’s My Birthday? - We hear this question frequently in our house especially as a siblings birthday approaches. This book is beautifully illustrated and full of all the birthday questions. If you’re looking to get someone excited about their special day, this book will do the trick!

Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus - The author Mo Willems, is a favorite in our house and his Pigeon books are at the top of the list. As a former writer for Sesame Street, Willems has a knack for appealing to children. This book will no doubt, have your toddler in stitches before it’s over.

Eye Spy: Wild Ways Animals See the World - This book is a must for animal lovers and those fascinated with science and/or the body. It is insanely illustrated. Literally, the reptiles look so real I get a little creeped out by the snake. The book is broken into sections: i.e. dog, cat, cow, reptiles etc… and shares details about how different species of animals see the world differently. For example, if you could only see the world in five colors. Each animal’s eyes has a flap in which you can open to explore their vision - it’s eye-opening!

A Big Guy Took My Ball - The Elephant & Piggie series from Mo Willems is another favorite in our home. The repetition of words and visual cues are perfect for early readers. The books share important messages are incredibly clever and appeal to preschoolers - second grade. I especially can’t resist all the of the books in the series that have won a Theordor Seuss Geisl Award.

Juno Valentine and the Magical Shoes - If you’re a fashion lover and feminist you’ll love this book and want to share it with your children. The author Eva Chen is the Head of Fashion Partnerships at Instagram and is one of my favorite people to follow on Instagram. In conjunction with the launch of her first book she also collaborated with Janie & Jack to launch a Juno Valentine capsule. I’m currently trying to resist (very hard) from purchasing something but I’m a sucker for a collection and some of the looks are too cute!

2018 Halloween Children's Book Edit

October 10, 2018 by Katie Wilson

If you’ve been following my blog for the past year you’re well aware of my LOVE for seasonal children’s books. I can’t resist them…no matter the holiday. I seriously, have bins of books that I bring out at the beginning of the holiday season and they absolutely, help to build excitement. Last year I posted about all of my favorite Halloween children’s books here.

This year we’ve been generously gifted a couple of new books from family that I wanted to share. Ok, ok…I may have purchased some new ones too! These books are perfect for kids aged 1 - 8 and are heavy on the alphabet as we’re practicing recognizing our letters a lot these days! Check out my TAKE on new Halloween titles below and may I suggest to enjoy them with some candy corn and peanuts. I swear by this combo - it’s the only way I can eat candy corn!

Happy Halloween Reading!

2018 Halloween Edit

Kate's Book Corner - Back to School Edit

August 15, 2018 by Katie Wilson

I have always loved fall and the back to school season. Back to school shopping may have been one of my favorite things as a child. Special outings with my grandmother for a new outfit and a pair of shoes and then a family trip for supplies at Target. I'm sure my mother secretly loathed the trips where I insisted on all new supplies and then spent hours organizing them in my backpack when I got home. I now get to do it with my two oldest which is extra special. Unfortunately, this time of year isn't pleasant for everyone so I thought I would share some books that we have read over the years to help us with the transition.

The nine books in my Back to School Edit are appropriate for kids aged 2-8 but enjoyable for kids (and adults) of all ages. School's First Day of School is beautifully illustrated and all about first day jitters from varying perspectives. Our daughter's is nicknamed Birdie so we love Birdie's First Day of School and I can't get over her mother's chic wardrobe. Goodbye Brings Hello is a new addition this year and it helps to teach children to accept various change in their life like a new school, a new home or a new sibling. Miss Nelson is Missing was one of my favorite books as a child. In fact, the entire collection is fabulous and if you don't know who Miss Viola Swamp is please add this book to your must-read list! A Bad Case of Stripes is a clever story about learning to be your authentic self which is an important lesson for the 1st grader in our home. If you're looking for a board book A Day At School has been a much loved book in our home for years. It's perfect for children in daycare or those starting preschool. flap books have been long standing favorites for years in our home. The Smallest Girl in the Smallest Grade shares powerful message about how one person can make a difference and it's authored by one of our favorite children's singers Justin Roberts! We love to collect Berenstain Bear books and The Berenstain Bears' Go To School is all about sisters first time at school. Finally, our son is entering preschool this fall and we couldn't be more excited to we have been reading this preschool appropriate book on repeat, Maisy Goes to Preschool.

Happy Reading!

The Back to School Edit

Summer Reading Project

July 14, 2018 by Katie Wilson

Our oldest is entering first grade in the fall and she isn't entirely confident in her reading capabilities. As a way to help build her confidence and improve her skills I've come up with a 12 week long Summer Reading Project. To be fair I'm not an educator so this project isn't based on anything other than practice, practice, practice. With that being said, I've already noticed a difference in her ability to sound words out and recognize sight words; so we're going to go with it. Read on for my TAKE on a Summer Reading Project for early readers.

My basic idea for the project was to create a reading journal but I wanted to also supplement the reading with additional skills like drawing and writing. My daughter selected 12 books (1 for each week) and in addition to focusing on reading her weekly selection she uses her notebook to draw 2 pictures, identify 10 vocabulary words and write 2-3 descriptive sentences about the story. We focus on reading the book everyday and split up the other items i.e. vocabulary and sentence writing throughout the week. Depending on the amount of activity during the day we vary our reading time (i.e. not at bedtime when she is exhausted) but try to spend 15-30 minutes focusing on it.

Once Lucy has mastered the book she reads it to her siblings and adds a star sticker to the cover of her notebook. There is a lot of repetition with this method and I do get concerned that she just memorizes her book of the week so a couple weeks after mastering a book I have her go back and read it before starting on a new book. While this project is a time commitment we've made it a priority this summer and I know it's helping when she says things like, "that word was easy." She loves books and I want her to love reading as much as I do and as a bonus it helps fill the time when her younger siblings are napping.

Project Materials

Five Star 1 Subject Notebook (Wide Ruled)
Colored Pencils
Alphabet Stickers
Star Stickers
I Can Read and Step Into Reading books (see below)

Summer Reading List

As an bonus incentive, we were at Barnes & Noble in late June and they have their own Summer Reading Journal program where kids in grades 1-6 can earn a free book (age-appropriate) if they record 8 books that they have read in this journal. The program runs through September 3rd and you better believe we will be brining in our journal to claim our book. I think it will be such a proud moment for Lucy!

Please feel free to share if you have any tips about teaching kids to read and Happy Summer Reading!

Audiobooks for Kids

June 22, 2018 by Katie Wilson

Since infancy our kids have spent a lot of time in the car traveling to see friends in relatives in the Midwest. Most days we walk around our Chicago neighborhood but they are in the car for a 4-5 hour round trip almost once a month with longer 12-14 hour drives a few times a year. For longer road trips the kids pack their own backpack of activities including their iPads. We allow for some screen time but my favorite way to pass the time (I promise it's not just me) is by listening to audiobooks. Audiobooks are perfect in many situations...not just that long road trip so enjoy my TAKE on our families' favorite lineup of audiobooks.

We primarily listen to audiobooks through Audible. Audible is Amazon's answer to audiobooks and they have the largest catalog of audiobooks in the world. It is a stand-alone membership based service but Amazon Prime members do have access to stream some books within the catalog. We have been using the service via their app for the last 18 months and our monthly Audible membership includes 1 book credit and exclusive member savings on additional audiobooks. You don't have to use your credit each month (you can bank up to 5) and I recommend using your credit for adult books which tend to cost more. Children's audiobooks are generally well priced and there are often sales. We have just started to listen to some chapter books and I'm so excited for longer attention spans so we can listen to books like Harry Potter and A Wrinkle In Time.

Audible does a great job of letting people try their service and books before committing. If interested there is a 30-day trial membership and before purchasing an audiobook Audible allows you to listen to a sample of the recording as the narrator's voice is an important piece of the audiobook selection process. A bad narration can completely ruin a treasured book so make sure to listen to the sample and/or check out the customer reviews. Better yet, let some of my recommendations remove the guess work - Happy Listening!

Family Favorites

The Gruffalo (narrated by Imelda Staunton)
The Gruffalo's Child (narrated by Imelda Staunton)
Tikki Tikki Tembo (narrated by Peter Thomas)
The Three Little Pigs (narrated by Fritz Weaver)
Strega Nona (narrated by Peter Hawkins)
Penny and Her Marble (narrated by Cynthia Nixon)
Matilda (narrated by Kate Winslet)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (narrated by Douglas Hodge)
Ramona the Pest (narrated by Stockard Channing)
Ramona Quimby, Age 8 (narrated by Stockard Channing)

Adult Favorites

I know I titled this post Audiobooks for Kids but the truth is my husband and I use Audible quite a bit. It's perfect for our commuter lifestyle so I'm sharing some of our favorites too!

The Handmaid's Tale (narrated by Claire Danes)
Big Little Lies (narrated by Caroline Lee)
Little Fires Everywhere (narrated by Jennifer Lim)
Kitchen Confidential (narrated by Anthony Bourdain)
Moneyball (narrated by Scott Brick)

Kate's Book Corner - The Easter Edit

March 09, 2018 by Katie Wilson

I have many fond memories of Easter growing up. It often coincided with Spring Break and meant a trip to Florida but it always meant milk chocolate covered marshmallow eggs. I still devour these every year. Does anyone else have a favorite Easter candy? As a parent Easter is without a doubt, one of my favorite holidays. I can't get over dressing the kids up, dyeing eggs, putting together baskets and of course, hiding the Golden Egg!

My love for a holiday always translates to an obscene amount of holiday-themed children's books. I counted. I have 24 Easter books but I narrowed it down to my top ten for the edit. The ten books in my Easter Edit are appropriate for babies up to 8 year-olds. The board books lend themselves better to the younger demographic whereas the hardcover books are much preferred by my older children. Not to say that my oldest won't read through all of the books because she will. As soon as I bring up new holiday books they will all pore over them for hours.

I'm a freak for any books about a Golden Egg, Bunnies, and Curious George and luckily my children don't object. However, my absolute favorite Easter book since childhood is The Country Bunny And The Little Gold Shoes. I think when I was little I was memorized by the Mother Cottontail, her many children, and the pastel-colored illustration but as an adult, I read this book and think, this author was progressive! The message in this book is so poignant and so relevant. It shows children that their mothers can raise children and through hard work accomplish their dreams - they can have it all and so can you! So it's safe to say this book will remain my top choice for years to come.

Happy Reading!

The Easter Edit

Yes Day!

February 10, 2018 by Katie Wilson

This past weekend we had our first annual “Yes Day” and by all accounts it was a success! I discovered the “Yes Day” concept by chance a year ago.

Last Valentine's Day there was a widely circulated essay about Modern Love called, You May Want to Marry My Husband published in the New York Times. The touching essay was written by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, a Chicago resident and children's book author who at the time was battling terminal cancer. Unfortunately, Amy passed away last March but I was to say the least, intrigued by her story. As an avid consumer and lover of children's books I had to check out what she had written.

After a trusty Google search or two I discovered that Amy had written dozens of books; even books that I was quite fond of such as Little Pea and Uni the Unicorn. There were however, plenty of new ones to discover including a book called, Yes Day! authored by Amy and Tom Lichtenheld. I quickly ordered Yes Day! a genius book about a day in which once a year a little boy gets to ask his parents for exactly what he wants and they can't say NO! I mean this concept is so simple yet so creative - it’s genius! What kid doesn’t want to feel like they have some control over their parents? Once the book arrived I stashed it in the closet waiting for an appropriate time to introduce it to our kids.

After a few months I started to think that our oldest two children would dig a “Yes Day”. They had been battling cabin fever due to illness and frigid temps and most days we keep them on a strict schedule. Our 3 year old is at the point, where he frequently asks, "Daddy, why do you always say No, No No? Why don't you say Yes, Yes, Yes? Yikes! To be fair most of the time we say NO to keep our energetic son from injuring himself but his point has been taken. Loud and clear. We need to slow down and have some fun! This past weekend I knew was going to be relatively unscheduled so on Thursday night I warned my husband about Saturday's plans and on Friday night I introduced the book. After reading the book, I asked our kids if they would like a “Yes Day” to which they eagerly answered YES and from then on you could just see the ideas spinning in their heads.

So what you ask, did our kids ask to do on “Yes Day”? Well, they both woke up at 6am eager to get started...read below for a sampling of our day.

Can we watch the iPads? YES
Can we watch the iPads for an hour? YES
Can we have pancakes for breakfast? YES
Can the pancakes have chocolate chips in them? YES
Can I pick out my own clothes? (Very important to our daughter) YES
Can we build a fort? YES
Can we keep the fort up? YES
Can we pick up our toys later? YES
Can we have lollipops? YES
Can we go to the park in our old neighborhood? (It was freezing) YES
Can I have cantalopue and ketchup for lunch? YES
Can we have smoothies at Whole Foods? YES
Can we play video games in the arcade? YES
Can you paint my finger nails? YES
Can we play a board game? YES
Can we make banana bread? YES
Can we take the El train to get ice cream before dinner? YES
Can we watch a movie while eating dinner? YES
Can we stay up late? YES
Can I sleep in my sleeping bag? YES

I will be the first to admit that “Yes Day” is fun but exhausting! Our kids have endless amounts of energy however, I’m grateful that for our first “Yes Day” they came up with a very attainable wish list. For the most part their desires revolved around sugary treats and not cleaning up. In a few years I can imagine that their ideas will become much more elaborate. One thing that I didn’t expect was how challenging it was going to be to not say NO! I really made a conscious effort to do this , rather I thought more about the words I used especially if they wanted to do conflicting things. I fear I use the word NO far too often - I sometimes wield it like a weapon (to protect my sanity). But the more I think about it from a child’s perspective being a grown up is like having a “Yes Day” every day. I can for the most part say YES to whatever I want besides all of those adult responsibilities but my children won’t grasp that concept for years.

In the end the kids had a wonderful day, we started a new tradition and my husband and I albeit, sleepy gained some insight. The word NO is an extremely powerful word and children don’t yet understand the reasons behind the usage. It was almost freeing to say YES to them and if we use the word NO a little less often and give our children the option to chose for themselves this will help empower them and give them the confidence to make sound decisions (hopefully) into their adult lives. But baby steps...screen time will still be limited and we will not be eating ice cream before dinner at least, not until the next “Yes Day”!

Kate's Book Corner - The Valentine's Day Edit

January 20, 2018 by Katie Wilson

The last 30 days have been full of holiday travel, frigid temps, illness, 50 boxes of Kleenex and general exhaustion. I'm just starting to pull myself back together and get the house back in order. Unfortunately, I'm the type of person that can't quite relax until everything is in order and that can be frustrating for everyone involved. Putting our holiday decorations away is time consuming after the holidays and much harder to do with 3 littles in need of attention. As a means to save time this year I brought out our Valentine's Day books at the same time our Christmas ones were put in storage. Thankfully our Valentine's Day collection is much smaller and the fact that the books are in rotation in mid-January kind of makes me feel ahead of the game!

Most of the eight books in my Valentine's Day Edit are toddler aged but all of them will bring a smile to your kids faces and I recommend reading them with a side of heart shaped candy. Love Monster is a sweet story with an important message. Curious George and Karen Katz flap books have been long standing favorites for years in our home. Bagel in Love is a new addition this year and is a crowd pleaser. I'd be lying if I said reading it didn't make me crave a bagel straight away but then again I'm often thinking about my next meal!

Happy Reading!

The Valentine's Day Edit

Kate's Book Corner - The Christmas Edit

December 05, 2017 by Katie Wilson

It may come as no surprise that Christmas is easily one of my favorite holidays. It goes without saying that the more I love the holiday the larger our collection of holiday books! The Christmas season was full of traditions in my house growing up and one of those was selecting a new holiday book to read every night. I loved when the Christmas books came out every year and spent hours poring over them. We do the same in our house although this year I've gone a step further and created a holiday advent calendar inspired by a blog post on Babyccino . I wanted to do this for years and you can follow along in my InstaStories as we unveil our book each night. So far it's been a huge hit!

All of our Christmas books have received a lot of love over the years but the eleven books in my Christmas Edit are at the top of my list for the age ranges in our household. I'd recommend Little Blue Truck's Christmas to anyone and everyone with little kids because no one can resist the lights on the tree at the end! The Jolly Christmas Postman, The Sweet Smell of Christmas and The Christmas Cookie Sprinkle Snitcher were all some of my absolute favorites growing up. I still love to pull out the letters in The Jolly Christmas Postman, smell the scents from The Sweet Smell of Christmas and dream about baking Christmas cookies in the The Christmas Cookie Sprinkle Snitcher.

My eldest can't get enough of the Olive, the Other Reindeer and Olivia helps with Christmas. I love the play on words in Olive, the Other Reindeer (genius + my grandmother's name is Olive) and any book involving Olivia the pig is a win in my book. She has so much spunk I hope it jumps off the page and passes to my own daughters. The Snowman and The Mitten are so beautifully illustrated and almost all of these books have lovely messages tied to them which makes them all the more important to read to our children.

Happy Reading!

The Christmas Edit

Kate's Book Corner - The Thanksgiving Edit

November 05, 2017 by Katie Wilson

The Halloween Hangover is upon us but we're slowly trying to get into the spirit of thankfulness. Our Halloween decorations have come down and the small collection of Thanksgiving decorations have gone up. My husband is already in a festive mood...he loves Thanksgiving and is already working on his menu. Naturally, I am thankful for his cooking prowess but need something extra to get me in the mood. A collection of newly unearthed (from a bin in the closet) Thanksgiving themed children's books should do the trick!

We don't have quite as many Thanksgiving books as we do other holidays but these are our most treasured ones. We've read The First Thanksgiving flap book to all of the kids when they were younger. Thanksgiving Day is great for a bit of history of the holiday and Balloons over Broadway tells the true story of the puppeteer from the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. And for those of you, with kids in primary school The Great Thanksgiving Escape is the perfect maturity level for their sense of humor. Happy Reading!

The Thanksgiving Edit

Kate's Book Corner - The Halloween Edit

October 28, 2017 by Katie Wilson

I am OBSESSED. You can ask anyone that knows me really well. There isn't one thing that I splurge more on for my kids than children's books. You should see me at a book fair; I LOVE children's books! They are magical. And who doesn't want an escape from reality these days? I can often be found reading; a passion that started when I was young and I hope to foster that same love of reading in my own children. So it's safe to say this obsession of mine won't be going anywhere.

I thought I would use the blog to introduce a series called "Kate's Book Corner." Here I will share my take on my families favorite children's books throughout the year as well as links to purchase if your in the market for something new.

We have a reading corner in our home with a set of acrylic display shelves that I use for some of our children's books (mostly hardcover). I switch these books out seasonally to keep the kids interested in reading AND to keep my husband and I from reading the same books night after night.

This month we're reading mostly fall and Halloween themed books. Check out the edit below of our nine favorite books starting with something we read our infant "Goodnight Goon: A Petrifying Parody" ending with our Kindergartener's new favorite "Creepy Pair of Underwear!" There's still a few days left before Halloween. Happy Reading!

The Halloween Edit