What We Read...

Books are EVERYWHERE in our house... in fact, I don't think there's a room in this house, where there isn't a book. Are we book lovers? ... I'd say yes... But even more so, we love the presence of books. You know the idea that they're RIGHT there, can be easily picked up, and entertain us for a few minutes a day... or hours sometimes. We have shelves full of them, piles on tables of them, baskets filled to the brim with them. They're sort of decorations, but useful ones at that... ones that don't gather dust. 

I thought it would be fun if today, I shared some of our favorites with you... and by favorites, I mean books that entertain ALL of my kids at the same time, not just one of them. If you give Finn any board book, he'll munch on it, and especially likes the ones that have texture elements. If you give Marley any book with pictures of animals inside, she's entertained for a few minutes at least... give her the book, "Ten Tiny Toes" and you have a best friend for an hour if you can handle reading it over and over and over again. If you give Charlotte a medical book, she can totally be entertained for the whole day. She LOVES all things related to the human body... it's fascinating. Don't get me wrong, she loves any book she can read.. especially books she can read to her siblings.

The books I'm going to share with you, are books I can read to ALL of my kids at once... and they all love them. I've picked most of them up from bookstores, or online (through an Usborne book party). 

Something fun that we do as a family, is pick up a book on our travels. If we're in a new city, we like to find something from a "local" shop... It helps our kids remember our time in a specific location/spot. For example, while we were in Seattle on vacation a few years back, we found this gem:

Although the content on some of them might be "over" the babies heads... a lot of them have vibrant photos that draw in their eyes, or you can purchase a little stuffed animal to go along with them, so there's a visual attached to the book. Usually the babes will hold onto the stuffed animal, and play with it (or chew it, in Finn's case) while I read the story (or even Charlotte sometimes). 

Here are our current favorites:

Secrets of the Seashore, by Carron Brown.  I purchased this book through an online Usborne party... but you can't get it on their website anymore... so there's a link to same one, sold on Amazon. This book (there are others by the same author that do the same thing) is our current absolute FAVORITE. You read it in the dark, with a flashlight... it's a "shine a light" through the pages kind of book. It's AWESOME! It's filled with tons of facts, and the kids are always excited to read it when the lights are turned off.

The Mischievians, by William Joyce. This book is an investigative look into all of "life's mysteries"... it's super humorous... and parents don't get bored of this book.

The Princess and the Happiness, by Ulf Stark and Silke Leffler. This book I picked up on a whim at Ikea. I wasn't sure how it was going to read, but for the price, and the beautiful illustrations, I was drawn in. It's such a fun book... again, you can get a little stuffed princess doll to go along with it. There are a lot of other books in the "series".

The Pout Pout Fish, by Deborah Diesen. These books are SO fun... there's a stuffed animal that you can purchase to go along with them. They are life lesson books, but at a super easy level for kids to understand.

Wheedle on the Needle, by Stephen Cosgrove. This book is a LONG one, especially for night time... but it's a sweet story. Charlotte loves remembering that we picked the book up on our adventures out in the pacific northwest.

A Day at the Market, by Sara Anderson. This board book, is our FAVORITE board book. We picked it up while we were in Seattle... it's about the Pike's Place Market... which was our favorite experience while we were there visiting. The language of the book is amazing, filled with rhyme. The pictures are so bright and eclectic. I love how durable this book is... it's a keeper.

The Paperbag Princess, by Robert Munsch. I was introduced to this book when I was a little girl... it holds a VERY special place in my heart. The story is precious... and this is a "must have" for your collection.