Thursday, May 19, 2011

Read Aloud Thursday ::: The Search for Boy Books



With the boy's 1st birthday a mere five months away, I have decided that it's time to start investigating some good boy's picture books that we may need to add to our family shelves. While we have a few classics (Mike Mulligan and the Steam Shovel and Lentil) we really don't have a lot that fit the bill for some reason. The girls have pretty dominated our book buying efforts so far. : )

I recently checked out four books at the library that looked promising after having seen them on someone's blog (which escapes me now, maybe Melissa Wiley's blog?) Anyway, these definitely fit the bill for the boy and the little girls enjoyed several reads of them as well.

I'm Big!I'm Bad!
I'm Mighty!I Stink!

I'm Big, I'm Bad, I'm Mighty!, and I Stink! (there is also I'm Dirty, but my library system didn't have it) are written by Kate & Jim McMullan. These books are very bold and colorful - that is what you first notice when you pick them up. I'm Bad talks about life from the perspective of a tyrannosaurus rex - he's mean and fierce ... no, wait. He's just a little guy and he's hungry! I'm Big comes from a brachiosauraus (I think that's what it is - obviously I will need to learn my dinosaur names) and he towers over the rest of the dinosaurs ... while looking for his lost herd. These two were probably my favorite of this mix. I loved how the dinosaurs in both books were trying to talk big and tough (just like little boys do) but it's wasn't over the top or obnoxious.

The other two in the pile - I'm Mighty and I Stink - did less for me. They weren't terrible, but the other two just out shone them, if that's a good way to put it. I Stink is the day-in-the-life of a garbage truck and all he goes around to pick up and smash. I'm Mighty is about a little tug boat that can do a really big job. I probably won't add all four of these to our shelves, but I would guess if we don't buy at least I'm Big and I'm Bad, we'll visit them again at the library.

Our current chapter book read-aloud is The Penderwicks: A Summer Take of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy. I can't believe I haven't blogged the Penderwicks before so definitely more on this soon!


For more Read Aloud Thursday, visit Amy at Hope is the Word!

7 comments:

  1. Anonymous6:33 AM

    I vote CORDUROY! and Harold and the purple crayon!
    These books look GREAT too!

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  2. I LOVE The Penderwicks.

    I remember Will loving all the books about Thomas the Train and even The Little Engine that could. He also loved Curious George, and if I had a nickel for every time I read Mike Mulligan and the Steam Shovel, I'd be a wealthy woman!

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  3. These look GREAT! Perfect for boys. I'm going to look at The Penderwicks now - never heard of it!

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  4. I second mer's recommendations. Especially the Thomas books.

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  5. My boys love these books.

    My younger son loves Curious George and the Max and Ruby books by Rosemary Wells.

    My older son LOVED all the Bill Peet books and Henry and Mudge.

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  6. Ooohh, you must read I'm Dirty! It's my son's favorite of the whole group. :)
    At that age my son really liked train books like Chugga Chugga Choo Choo by Kevin Lewis. He also liked Byron Baron. Now we're reading all the Tony Mitton books.

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  7. The Penderwicks books are fantastic!!

    There is a site http://guysread.com/books that might give you some suggestions and help you with finding boy books.

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Thanks for commenting!

One of my goals this year has been to diversify my reading. As I've spent the last 17 years homeschooling anywhere from 1-4 kids, I woul...