As a reader (check out my favorite books from 2021), I’m trying my best to pass down a love of reading to Hugo. It has been one of the joys of my life over the last year to introduce him to the wonders of the library and to see how much fun he is having picking out new books, meeting and making friends with everyone in the children’s department (I still remember our favorite librarian, Ms. Johna!)
It doesn’t happen too often, but more and more these days, I will find that Hugo has made a pillow fort and he’s kicked back reading a stack of books. It makes my heart so happy.
My goal is to always put good books (“living books” as they say in the Charlotte Mason world) around him and to build his imagination, but I also know the value of humor and reading for the fun of it. We are currently working through the Little House on the Prairie series. Oh my goodness, I read my own copies as a child until all of the covers fell off. It has been slow going at times, but we have worked our way up to reading a chapter at a time (but most days it’s just a few pages and that is fine, if it’s forced it’s not fun and I’m not about that for preschool.)
In no particular order, here are our current favorite children’s books.
How The Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Suess
Are you very surprised that for a couple of Christmas nuts, that our favorite book is The Grinch?!?
The Day The Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt and Oliver Jeffers
We LOVE the crayons! This is one of my favorite read-aloud books because it is so darn funny. I burst out laughing every time at how passive aggressive these little crayon characters are. The illustrations are a delight.
Stuck by Oliver Jeffers
This was the first book that Hugo memorized and could “read” back to me, even as a tiny toddler. Oliver Jeffers is a favorite author in this house because of how clever his books are and how fun they are even for the adults to read.
The Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle
Hugo’s first favorite book was The Little Blue Truck. We read it every night before bed and I still have a voice memo on my phone of Josh reading it aloud to him when he was only 5 months old, I would play for Hugo when he was traveling. I love how these little things get set in a family’s vernacular, Josh and I will often quote this book and say we have “big, important things to do” or “nobody heard and nobody cared”.
The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones
This was a wonderful baby gift that we have read over the years. I love the beautiful illustrations and how each bite-sized story points back to Christ and the gospel.
I'd love to hear from you, leave a comment below!