Book Basket

This week I reserved books about gardens for our book basket. I'm a theme gal, remember? And since "April showers bring May flowers" I thought that the first week of May was an excellent time to read about gardens ~ flower gardens, vegie gardens...

Up first are some of our favorite garden reads:

Princess Chamomile's Garden by Hiawyn Oram: cute story about a princess who draws up plans for her own garden ~ and then sets to work to create this special garden, with the help of some friends.

In My Garden: A Counting Book by Ward Schumaker: picture book that's perfect for preschoolers ~ counts things in the garden from one to ten, then by tens to fifty ~ and ends with a surprising number.

Zinnia's Flower Garden by Monica Wellington: charming little picture book about all of the things that Zinnia has to do to prepare, plant, and harvest her flower garden. Great non-fiction choice, simple enough for preschoolers, yet lots of info included so that even my 7yo learned some new things.

Whose Garden is it? by Mary Ann Hoberman: everyone insists that the garden is theirs ~ from the gardener who plants it, to the rabbit who dines off of it, to the bumble bee that pollinates it, to the rain who nourishes it...and the list goes on. I liked how this story weaves a lot of information about all of the different things that are involved in the life of a garden.

In the Garden: Who's Been Here? by Lindsay Barrett George ~ we borrowed this one from the library a couple of years ago, and we loved it so much that I purchased it (for a bargain price, of course!)...My kids absolutely loved this book ~ in this book, a brother and sister use clues left by visitors to their garden to determine who's been here. This book is a great read-aloud to add to any science or nature study of gardens. There are also other similar books by this author that we own & enjoy: At the Pond: Who's Been Here?, In the Snow: Who's Been Here?, In the Woods: Who's Been Here?.

This was actually just a partial listing of all of the garden books that we are reading, next week I'll share some more finds...

Fun Reads:

Jamberry by Bruce Degen: This was a book that I saw in a number of other book basket posts. All three of my kiddos (7,5,2) loved this book. Great illustrations and wonderful rhyming words.

Smash! Crash! (Trucktown Series) by Jon Scieszka: We really enjoyed the first book that we read from this Trucktown Series...however, this one disappointed me. It was about two trucks that like to "Smash Crash" ~ translation, they like to make big messes. The book begins with the two trucks smashing and crashing a construction zone, they pretty much make a huge mess of the cones and other materials and then run away. They then proceed to "smash crash" other places, sometimes creating a big mess, and other times creating something fun for someone else. Throughout the whole book there was a loud voice calling for them, and I guess they figured that the person (or maybe truck) that the voice was coming from would scold them for all of their smashing and crashing (this was my thought) ~ but when the truck with the voice finally caught up with them they were actually rewarded...nothing was ever said about their bad behavior...not really a lesson I want my kids learning. The illustrations in this book are very appealing to my 2yo, but I'm not sure we'll be reading any more books from this series.

Commander Toad and the Intergalactic Spy by Jane Yolen: This is a chapter book series that follows Commander Toad and his crew aboard the Star Warts spaceship. This book made me laugh out loud ~ I kid you not! I read it one night before bed, and I honestly laughed out loud a number of times...First published in 1986, this book would be a great read for a child who's ready for chapter books. I finished it in about 20 minutes, my 7yo read it in about 30 minutes. The characters are silly and funny; and the story line keeps your attention (and my attention :)). BTW, the illustrator for the book is Bruce Degen, the author of Jamberry, mentioned above.

Commander Toad in Space by Jane Yolen: another great book in the Commander Toad series ~ I believe this may actually be the first book in the series. I will definitely be reserving more of these books for my ds7.

I've found so many ideas for books to add to my library reserve list from this book basket series. Be sure to head over to The Happy Housewife to read about all of the interesting books that others are reading!