favorite flower reads: flower study part 3

...my mother's garden is very nice, but if I had a garden there would be no weeds, and the flowers would keep blooming and blooming and never die.  

- Kevin Henkes (from My Garden)

As fall nears, our flowers are slowly fading, but Elise and I have enjoyed observing the next phase of the plant life cycle - seeds!  Here are a few books that have inspired out flower study these past few weeks:

• Flowers by Rene Mettler
• Alison's Zinnia by Anita Lobel
• A Seed is Sleepy by Dianna Hutts Aston
• Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert
• My Garden by Kevin Henkes
• The Reason for a Flower by Ruth Heller

Check out part 1 of our flower study here and part 2 here.  

Happy weekend, friends!!!

our favorite winter reads

We'd been waiting for a really big snow, saving good stuff in a sack.  Finally it was a perfect snowball day.  

- Lois Ehlert (from Snowballs)

Here are a few of our favorite books to snuggle up with on a snowy afternoon.  With the exception of the talking animals in Stranger in the Woods, all of these books are based in reality.  Which is just right for 2.5 year-old Elise - too much fantasy leaves her confused and concerned!

• Owl Moon by Jane Yolen
• Snowballs by Lois Ehlert
• In the Snow: Who's Been Here? by Lindsay Barrett George
• Stranger in the Woods by Carl R. Sams II & Jean Stoick
• The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
• What Can You Do in the Snow? by Anna Grossnickle Hines

What do you plan on reading this weekend?  

favorite veggie reads

Eat food.  Not too much.  Mostly plants.

                                                                   

                                                                 - Michael Pollan (In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto) 

      

A few books that have inspired our growing love of vegetables!

• Growing Vegetable Soup by Lois Ehlert
• Vegetables, Vegetables!  by Fay Robinson
• Vegetables in the Garden by Pascale De Bourgoing
• The Vegetables We Eat by Gail Gibbons
• Vegetables Every Day by Jack Bishop
• Food For Thought by Saxton Freymann

favorite fall reads

Then, sometimes quite suddenly, a fresh wind blows and the summer is over.  The days are shorter.  September is here.  Now the days are cooler and a sense of change is in the air...

- Alice and Martin Provensen (from The Year At Maple Hill Farm)

Yes, the days are certainly growing shorter and cooler around here.  That means more time to snuggle up with a good book - and blog!  What have you been reading with your little ones?  Looking forward to catching up with everyone!  :)

• Old Bear by Kevin Henkes
• Leaves by David Ezra Stein 
• The Year At Maple Hill Farm by Alice and Martin Provensen
• The Little Yellow Leaf by Carin Berger
• One Red Apple by Harriet Ziefert
• Time to Sleep by Denise Fleming

favorite springtime reads

A few books that are currently giving us spring fever:

• Snowy Flowy Blowy by Nancy Tafuri
• Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
• Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert
• Mama, Is It Summer Yet? by Nikki McClure
• And Then It's Spring by Julie Fogliano
• A Book of Seasons by Alice and Martin Provensen

What have you been reading lately?  I'm getting the list for our next trip to the library, and would love a little inspiration!  :)

sing me a story

What's better that reading a book?!  Singing a book - of course!  Each time we visit the library to check out books, I try to find at least one that is based on a song.  Much to the amusement of Hubs - whose singing is typically limited to the shower - these end up being the books that Elise asks to read over and over and over again!

Here's a little list of some of our favorite singable books.  Please feel free to add yours in the comments!

• Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes by Annie Kubler
• Mary Wore Her Red Dress and Henry Wore His Green Sneakers by Merle Peek
• Baby Beluga by Raffi
• There Was a Tree by Rachel Isadora
• Down by the Station by A. Twinn
• If You're Happy and You Know It by Jane Cabrera
• Over in the Meadow by John Langstaff 

3/17 UPDATE!!!  I can't believe I left out Fiddle-I-Fee by Will Hillenbrand - one of our very favorites! 

***This post was inspired by Sixtine et Victoire's March reading list.  Be sure to check it out!***

much loved books - 13 months

Whether she's flipping through the pages on her own or curled up on the couch reading with her papa, Elise has been choosing these books over and over and over...

1.  Do You Want to Be My Friend? by Eric Carle

2.  I'm as Quick as a Cricket by Audrey Wood 

3.  Skip to My Lou adapted by Nadine Bernard Westcott

4.  My Friends by Taro Gomi

5.  Good Night, Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann

No links to Amazon, sorry!  ;)  Although I do buy books from Amazon, two of these books were purchased at a local bookstore, two were gifts, and one is a library book!