Happy Banned Books Week!

I look forward to Banned Books Week every year. I'm not sure why since we read just about everything in our house, so really every week could be banned books week. Maybe it's because I don't like being told what I can and can't do, especially when it comes to what I can and can't read so I revel in it. I especially like the thought of reading banned books to my kids in front of the people who wouldn't approve.

Last year I read Charlotte "And Tango Makes Three" by Justin Richardson. It's probably one that I will read to her over and over. Right now it's just a picture book about some penguins to her but I'm hoping that as she gets older, she'll get that it's about family.

This year, we read Maurice Sendak's  "In the Night Kitchen". It's just a fun book. A little strange, like a dream that didn't quite make sense but you enjoyed all the same. Apparently, the reason why people try to ban or censor it is because there's a young, naked boy in it. An illustration, not a real photo, which makes it even more ridiculous. The first time I read it to Charlotte, I was surprised she didn't point it out. She didn't seem to think it was strange that he fell out of bed, out of his clothes, and into some cake batter. The part that stuck with her was the bakers singing "Milk in the batter! Milk in the batter!"

Sendak himself didn't see what the big deal was. In his interview with Terry Gross on NPR, he said,

"Well, the hell with that. I mean, I didn't set out to cause a scandal. I set out to do a very particular work where he had to be naked in order to confront a particular dream he was in. You don't go into a dream wearing Fruit of the Loom underwear or PJs. You go tutto. You go yourself, your being, and that's why he was naked, and it was idiocy. It was incredible idiocy what went on over that book for many, many years about Mickey being naked. "

And he's right. For kids, being naked is totally normal. My 1 year old son loves it. I swear he's happier when he's not wearing pants. A friend of mine who has 2 boys told me she has a hard time keeping clothes on them. They're toddlers! They're happy and free! I see nothing wrong with it, as long as they're not peeing all over my floor, in the privacy of our own house.

So to celebrate the end of this week, we read the book morning, noon, and night. After dinner, Charlotte helped me make a couple mug cakes. Pouring the milk into the batter was her job. Cake topped with vanilla ice cream and mini chocolate chips. Then the kids took a bath. They were naked. Then they weren't. And now they're asleep, hopefully dreaming some strange but happy dream that involves cake.

There's a book for that.

When our daughter said she wanted to go to the zoo, I went to the library and found a new book about the zoo. Because that's what I do. I might be a little obsessed. Fortunately, there's a book for everything!

It's about a little girl who is afraid of the zoo but can't remember why so her family tries to help her remember and overcome her fear. It's HOW they help her that is so fun! They use everything from blankets to plastic bags to cardboard boxes to sleeping bags to go through different animals alphabetically. Each page has a more creative creation than the last. What makes it even more entertaining is that you have to guess the animal for most of them. (I was surprised how many Charlotte was able to figure out!) The whole time I was reading it, I was thinking how awesome this little girl's parents are. And that I need to brush up on my crafty skills. (There are books for that, right?)

We've now read this more than 5 times in the past 3 days and I'm still finding new details in the illustrations that I didn't notice before. Which is a good thing, because I know we're not done reading it for a while. Especially after our trip to the zoo today.

When I asked Charlotte what animal she wanted to see, she immediately said "Giraffe!" (Spoiler alert: That's letter 'G' in the book!)

Then we got home and she wanted to read it again.

I love it when I pick a winner. ^_^

Little Lottie Loves ... Little Elliot in the Big City

This blog was supposed to help me keep something of a log but life has gotten in the way lately. And by life, I mean work. Long and late hours meant I barely had enough energy to feed, bathe, and read to my kids, let alone write about it. I needed motivation. I needed a reason to keep going. Then this morning, when my daughter was begging to watch more videos of herself as a baby, I had an epiphany! Since this blog is about reading to our kids, our kids should have a special segment about the books they ask us to read over and over and over...and over again. And since they love to watch videos of themselves, what better segment than one where they're the star!




According to Little Lottie, this is a must buy!

Seriously though, I don't think there's a cuter elephant in kidlit right now. Like little kids, Elliot faces some challenges that come with being smaller than everyone else. But then he makes an unlikely friend who helps him in a way you wouldn't expect.