You know those books that are so hyped you start to wonder if they are really all that good? Or if maybe they just have a great publisher that could get the book into all the right hands? Or if maybe their illustrator’s last book was so good that people assume this one will be too?

I had read so much about Extra Yarn that I began to wonder if it fell into one of those categories. Extra Yarn tells the story of Annabelle, who with the help of a little bit of colorful yarn, changes her world. The illustrations are darling and even give readers a quick glance at some of their friend’s from I Want my Hat Back. The story though, of the power of one small person, is an important one for children and their grown ups to hear again and again.

Now I think I will go out and search for my own box of yarn…

There are many great things about having two girls. There is just no way to describe sisters without using a cliche or two. Their love for each other can make me cry on the very same day that their arguing does the same. Caroline and Katherine’s relationship is simply something I am proud and thrilled to watch grow.

And then on a more practical level, there are the hand me downs. But not just the clothes. There are the books.

While we always fill the house with titles for Katherine that hadn’t been published when Caroline was the same age, we also go back to old favorites. The picture books have just never been put away. The same ones in rotation now for almost nine years. But the early chapter books, I had put away. The ones that Caroline and I had read them together that Katherine wasn’t quite ready for.

Bringing them out now is like inviting an old friend back to your house. Caroline and I read all the Gooney Bird Greene books, one after the other, lauging so hard at Gooney Bird’s antics that we probably woke up a napping Katherine. Sitting in Katherine’s bed this week reading Gooney Bird Greene was such a joy. I knew what was coming and could anticipate when the giggles would come. I knew which outfit she would find just hilarious and which stories she would question. I knew that Gooney Bird would soon become part of conversation as we talked about her throughout our day, waiting for things to settle down enough for us to read.

I can’t wait to invite more old friends over for a visit…

Rob picks up the paper from our sidewalk on his way to the bus each morning. Each night, he returns with only the parts that he thinks I would find interesting. Quite an efficient way for me to read the paper if you ask me.

The other day, he said, “I brought you an article about the Berenstain Bear’s author. She died.”

“Oh, no!” Katherine said. “But I want more stories!”

And I couldn’t help thinking about how that is the true beauty of books. There will always be more stories. Maybe not new ones. But each time we read a book we are a little bit different, so the story affects us in a different way.

So always more stories. Always.

This weekend, my mother in law called with a question.

“Just curious.”, she said. “Why aren’t you writing about Dr. Seuss?”

March 2nd would have been Theodor Seuss Geisel’s birthday. The Lorax is being released this weekend. Dr. Seuss seems to be on everyone’s mind.

While I know that Geisel was a genius and I know that many people credit him for their love of books, I just can’t bring myself to join the excitement. I do agree that his books have a place. As read alouds. As ways to introduce and play with rhyme. And ways to encourage silliness.

But I often have clients whose parents give them Dr. Suess books to read when they are struggling readers. I can see why this seems to make sense. Unfortunately, Dr. Seuss books, in my opinion,  just aren’t the best early readers.

While there is a fair amount of decodable text in these books, there are also some tricky words. There is very little picture support. And there are very many pages. I have watched clients take 10 minutes to get through one page of Cat in the Hat. If you are trying to develop fluent reading with strong comprehension, it should not take you ten minutes to get through a page. And if you are a reluctant reader, I just can’t imagine that Thing One and Thing Two are going to change your mind.

While Dr. Seuss books are great and should be a part of everyone’s reading world, I hope that people take the time to investigate all the great new literature that is out there as well.

There are so many amazing rhyming books that I often worry get neglected as teachers and parents grab the familiar Seuss off the shelf when they want a good rhyme.

A few of my favorite rhyming books that have been written since Dr. Seuss’ day are:

Jan Thomas’ Rhyming Dust Bunnies,

Mem Fox’s The Magic Hat,

most recently, Amy Krause Rosenthal’s Plant a Kiss,

and so very many more…

Wow.

My book cases would tell me I am a very happy woman…

Last month, I posted about the books I had read over the course of the month with a hope of continuing to do so with each turn of the calendar. They say that it takes twenty one times to form a habit so I wouldn’t say I have it totally figured out but two for two isn’t bad…

Oh and before I go on, a note… These are the books that I read during the month that I consider my book, the book that sits on my night stand, the book that I carry in my purse, the book that I read in the car pool line. I can’t seem to keep track of picture books and read aloud books in quite such an organized way. Perhaps that’s a goal for next year.

This month began with our book club selection, Ready Player One. This book is one of the many reasons I love being in a book club. I never, like in a million years never, would have picked up this book on my own. It is the story of life in 2044, a time when humanity is a wreck and most people spend their days playing a virtual video game. There are tons of references to 1980’s video games that I never played and songs I didn’t really listen to. Despite all of this, I found this book a worthwhile read with mystery, love and foreboding in equal measure.

After Ready Player One, I was ready for Daughter of Smoke and Bone. I had been reading great things about this young adult book and I wasn’t disappointed. It wasn’t quite as compelling as Twilight or Hunger Games but reading it still made for a fun few days.

And then I finally read my first Jack Gantos novel, Dead End in Norvelt, this year’s Newbery winner. In some ways, I don’t like reading the Newbery once it’s been given the Newbery. I think I feel like people did if they read Eat, Pray, Love after hearing so very much about it. I really, really liked Dead End in Norvelt but I couldn’t help thinking about all the other really good books I had read last year and wondering…

And on to March. I have already started reading Wonder, a truly amazing book… More to come on that.

March Events:

BOOKS AS GIFTS: How to  Choose Titles Children Will Love

Instead of going back again and again to the same old favorites, learn how to choose current children’s literature that will leave kids wishing more people gave them books gifts. You will leave the session with the tools to make your own choices as well as with lists of titles appropriate for a variety of ages.

I was very sad last week when I read that J.K. Rowling’s next book is being written for adults.

It made me think of a conversation that Caroline and I had recently about writing. She told me that she was pretty sure it was harder to write a children’s book than it would be to write a book for grown ups. She continued saying that people assume that children’s books would be easy to write because they are “you know, for kids.”

Sometimes, like this time, Caroline and I will have a conversation and I will forget that I am talking with an eight year old. When I read that Rowling had left the land of children’s literature for the more sophisticated world of adult novels, I wished that she had been with me and Caroline as we chatted. Perhaps if she had listened in, she would have remained where she belongs. She would have continued writing the books that are harder to write.

The children will miss you Ms. Rowling. I hope you’ll be back soon…

Last night at dinner, Katherine quieted the group, telling us all that she had a special announcement.

“I got a new library card today. I lost my old one!”

And then at bed time as we talked about our favorite parts of the day, Katherine said, “Getting my library card!”

And then when I asked her what kind of story she wanted me to tell her as part of our usual bedtime routine, she said, “Tell me about  when you got your library card.”

Wow. I’ve always known what a special thing a library card can be but seeing it through the eyes of a five year really tells the whole story…

A lot of my time as a Cybils panelist was spent discussing exactly what it means for a book to be an Easy Reader. There is such a huge range of books that are published under this descriptor. Just a quick glance at the Cybils’ Short List of Easy Readers will show you what I mean.

Books ranged from I Broke My Trunk by Mo Willems

to Dodsworth in Rome by Tim Egan.

These are both fantastic books but as one panelist said, it’s much like comparing apples to oranges.

As a reading specialist and as a mom to a new reader, I have a passionate definition of what makes an easy reader.

To me, easy readers are designed to give the newest readers a sense of confidence. That sense of reading a book independently from cover to cover. That sense of wow- I really can do this reading thing. Many talented writers disagree with me and this is what makes the world go round but for me, an easy reader should be really easy to read.

In an easy reader, there should be lots of white space on each page. Words should be decodable. And if the words aren’t decodable, there should be extremely strong picture support. There should be repetitive text. Fonts should be big, clear and easy to  read. And the story should be fun and appealing.

Maybe this exhaustive list explains why I believe there are very few true easy readers out there except for the mostly dull books published exclusively for schools.

In fact, I believe that Willem’s Elephant and Piggie books are pretty much all that is out there that truly fits every requirement I have.

This would explain the happy dance I did while standing in bbgb this weekend when I spotted Up! Tall! And High! , a new title by Ethan Long.

Pretty clearly, Long has read quite a few  Elephant and Piggie books and hey, who can blame the guy. In Up! Tall! And High!, readers follow the conversation, in speech bubbles, between three competitive birds. The book is separated into three super short chapters allowing these early readers to get the chapter book feeling. There are also flaps which lend some extra appeal to a reluctant reader. I see this being one of those perfect books for an older sibling to read to a younger sibling.

So while I love Elephant and Piggie, I sure am glad there are some new birds on the block…