Book Bombs

Usually they are more interested in the train and Lego table, play kitchen and doll house, picking out puppets, or playing their version of chess and checkers, but today they did what I've been hoping they would do....pick out books at the library.

Summer is about many things, and for me it is participating in summer reading programs at the library. I remember logging hours spent reading, stretching out on my butterfly comforter and devouring a silly romance, earning the ultimate ice cream party...

My boys love reading, OK, they love me reading to them. My oldest is beginning to enjoy looking at a book himself, especially if we've read the story before. He uses the pictures to retell the story to himself. We read roughly an hour every day. We always read for 30 mins. before bed and then another 30 throughout the day, 10 here and 10 there.

They easily achieved the first prize break of five hours. They got yummy, and totally not healthy, bread stick coupons for Little Caesars, which was great because Mom and Dad were hungry and we weren't in the mood or position to spend any money in town today.

We not only left with these tasty, carb coupons but a tote full of books. These books were not picked out by me. The boys did it all. A few I slipped back on the shelf, but most made it in the bag. They did OK, but there were two total bombs. STAY AWAY FROM THESE READS!

Old Friends by Lynne Barasch.



Basically it is about a woman who is so old she has outlived all her friends and is lonely. Then she is strangely drawn to a dog that seems to know her. She figures it out that this dog is her best friend Anna. Then the main character dies, but emerging from her house is a dog who finds the reincarnated Anna, and they wag in great delight. My 2-year-old did not get it, and neither did I. How did this one get published? Must be an inside connection or a really good agent. I'm baffled. I'm also hiding this one on the top bookshelf.

The Bravest Ever Bear by Allan Ahlberg and Paul Howard.



OK, so this book was clever, and as an adult I almost liked it, but it missed the mark with young children. Here is the summary put out by Candlewick Press: Fairy tale characters tell their stories from their own perspective, with new endings, and find themselves encountering each other as their stories overlap.

Basically the literary humor was way beyond my little guys and the storyline was too random and spastic for them to follow, with little interjecting characters randomly placed throughout the pages. Allan and Paul had fun writing this, and the publishers had fun putting it together, but I'm not sure if young children have that much fun reading it.

So, there you have it from our last visit to the library. The boys did pick some fun ones, but I decided to be negative and focus on the bombs! Happy Reading!