Silly Books ...

I had seen on blogs a lot of references to "Pete the Cat," but had no idea who or what that was.  Then I found 2 books in the children's library about Pete the Cat.  On a whim, I checked them out for the girls.  We were in love with them!  James Dean, the author, has struck gold.  I hope he has more coming!

Our favorite one was this one:

The book, like all good children's books, is ridiculously simple.  Yet, it is rhythmical, silly and has a great moral lesson.  Pete loves his white shoes and sings a song about it.  Then he steps in strawberries and his shoes turn red.  Does he cry?  Goodness no!  He sings a song about how much he loves his red shoes.  The books continues in this manner.

After about two readings, Sabrina would "read" this book by herself.  When she sat down and "read" it to Robby, he was so impressed that she was reading now.  I had to explain that she had simply memorized the book.  But, she still sits and "reads" it aloud at least once a day.  She dances in her seat during the songs and loves the silliness of the plot. 

We have also started copying the book's recurring refrain in our daily life.  When something "bad" happens to Sabrina, like she breaks a crayon, I'll say "Will Sabrina cry?  Goodness no!"  This sometimes will distract her from whatever it was that upset her and diverts a potential melt down.  Sabrina is going through some emotional swings, and I am getting creative with my solutions.

The next Pete the Cat book we enjoyed is this one:

This book is also ridiculously simple.  Pete starts with four buttons, which he loves and sings a song "my four groovy buttons ..." As he goes through the book, he keeps losing a button.  The book provides a quick subtraction lesson each time he loses a button.  In addition, Pete chooses not to get upset when he loses a button, he simply changes the wording of his song to "my three groovy buttons," etc. 

I love the life lessons in these books!  If only my kids were as happy-go-lucky as Pete the Cat!  Ironically, I got the Christmas Pete the Cat book from the library and was not impressed.  The plot, and the message, were not nearly as good.  There is one more Pete the Cat book which is on hold at the library for me.  I hope we love that one!

But, we did find a new, fun Christmas book which I had never read on my own.  I saw this on a teaching blog:

The author, Margie Palatini, has written a cute book about a moose family.  The father does everything he can to make Christmas perfect for his family.  The kids found this funny and cute.  It is always interesting to me how so many books use animal families.