Happy Spring! The best time of the year– I can’t believe it is already April. March went by incredibly fast, but I’m excited for the first full month of spring. Here are our most read/loved books of the month. For these posts I haven’t decided if I’m going to also share repeats, or just new books I haven’t mentioned yet… and on that note I feel the need to mention that we also read, or mostly listened to on audio, a ton of Frog & Toad.
Ada Twist Scientist | This was a tv before the book situation– we loved the Netflix adaptation & picked up the book from the library and mostly loved it– we read it daily at the beginning of the month. My issue is that Ada’s parents essentially get mad at her (their words) for being curious. They send her away to be alone and it mentions her heart turning to goo because she’s so sad. It feels really harsh to me, and my 4-year-old usually asks to skip those 2 pages. I wish they could at least apologize?
Otherwise, there is so much to love about this book. It’s great to see a diverse character, especially a girl, in STEM, it’s a fun read aloud, and the illustrations are fun and so clever with all of the details– including being able to solve the mystery of the smell.
Truman | This is the cutest story about a turtle who misses his human when she goes to school for the first time. The illustrations are by the same artist who wrote Stumpkin, and they are a delight!
Last year I saw Mel Fell everywhere and I had a feeling it would be one that my boys would love. Usually I start with the library, but this wasn’t available at the time, so I purchased a copy and somehow held onto it until springtime. It’s a short little story about a bird (a kingfisher) who goes to fly/fall for the first time– the book is cleverly told turned sideways and when Mel reached the water you turn the book in the other direction as she flies back to her nest. This is another one where the illustrations really tell the story.
Luna Loves Art | I love books about museums, so I was sold by this one before really knowing what the story is about. Luna’s class goes to the museum and one boy is repeatedly seen being on his own and having a hard time. The story actually goes pretty deep with some symbolism used when the boy shares his feelings about a couple pieces of artwork, but on a more surface level it’s a great opportunity to talk about kindness & also touches on families looking different.
In wanting to be more intentional about learning our letters I did a quick library search and found What About X?. I’ll admit, I didn’t expect it to be — but it’s a great book for talking about letters. X, and his class of other letters prepare to go on a camping trip. A great way to talk about letters while also having a fun narrative to follow.
And lastly, we discovered the adorable early reader series Charlie & Mouse this month. We’ve only read the first two in the series so far, but each book has 4 short stories about two brothers, Charlie & Mouse. We all love these stories– some are silly, some are a bit more serious with some humor that goes over my kids’ heads, but definitely a series I plan on owning eventually.
I hope your month was full of books you loved reading!
Carly Reads Here 