Book Basket ~ Rain, Rain and Kids' Choices

For the final week of April, I chose to check out books about rain ~ you know, "April showers bring May flowers" ~ you gotta read about rain in April, right?

So here's a listing of our Rain (and other weather-related) books:

• Flash, Crash, Rumble and Roll by Franklyn Branley
  
• The Storm Book by Charlotte Zolotow: I love this author's way with words...this book tells the story of a rainstorm. This book is quite unique in that there is a 2-page spread of just words (no illustrations) followed by a 2-page spread of of illustrations (with no words). I loved how this encouraged my kids and I to create pictures in our heads while reading, and then to search out what we read about in the illustrations that followed.
  
• Rainstorm by Barbara Lehman: this is a wordless book ~ only illustrations are used to tell the story of a little boy who is stuck inside alone on a rainy day. At first my 5-year old was not at all interested in this wordless book. But after "reading" it to her and my 2-year old, I later found her "reading" it to herself, and later to the 2-year old :)
  
• Thundercake by Patricia Polacco: We love Patricia Polacco books around here. In this book, Polacco tells the story of how her Babushka (Grandmother) helped calm her fear of thunder and lightening by turning a stormy day into a baking day. (Note: Many of Polacco's books are taken from stories of her own childhood.)
  
• Peter Spier's Rain: this is another wordless book about the adventures that a brother and sister have while taking a walk on a rainy day.

We also checked out some books that had nothing to do with our theme:

• Melvin Might? by Jon Scieszka: part of a new series of books entitled "Jon Scieszka's Trucktown" ~ my 2-year old pulled this one off the shelf as we were heading to check our books out, it had a very colorful cover with a mixer truck flying through the air ~ I guess it was just too irresisitable for my truck-loving little guy! Cute story about a mixer who overcomes his tendency to worry in order to help a friend.
  
• Emma Kate by Patricia Polacco: A cute story about a girl and her (very large) imaginary friend.
  
• Appelemando's Dreams by Patricia Polacco
  
• Fancy Nancy's Favorite Fancy Words by Jane O'Connor: Fancy Nancy is one of my 5yo daughter's favorite characters right now.
  
• Fancy Nancy at the Museum by Jane O'Connor: Another of my 5yo dd's picks. I do like how this author introduces us to lots of "fancy" words in her stories ~ it makes our everyday conversation a bit more interesting :)

The following books are in my 7yo's "to read" pile:

• Encyclopedia Brown Tracks Them Down
  
• Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Disgusting Sneakers
  
• Encyclopedia Solves Them All
  
• The Boxcar Children: The Mystery of the Wild Ponies
  

We went by the library's drive-through window last night and picked up a new batch of books for next week ~ we're looking forward to reading about gardens. Plus, I got a couple of books that I've seen reviewed on some other book basket posts :)

To see what others are reading ~ check out The Happy Housewife's new book basket series!