Joy on Books for 2020 Holiday

I have, I’ll have you know, bought some adult books and read some of them in 2020. Two that I hope to eventually review properly here are One Billion Americans and The Property Species. For now, I’ll just say that I recommend them if your interests overlap with mine.

The books that I read are usually children’s books. I read them out loud, every night.

These are some classics that my 2-year-old is currently asking for on a nightly basis. She is in the repetition stage and also edging into the stage of development where she will flip through a book and “narrate” from the bits that she remembers. “Cow jumpin’ da moon!” is one of the lines she will use when flipping through Goodnight Moon.

Two classic books that are a little more complex for 2 are Make Way for Ducklings and The Little Engine That Could. Sometimes I’ll only read half of the words to keep the pages flipping faster for her.

I’ve got another classic recommendation. I don’t think it’s bad to recommend classics that you have already heard of. At this point, there are so many classics that people still need to choose between them. The Narnia series is really great. The plots are good. Kids are always being told to “be nice”, but children are going to see a portrait of goodness in these books that will serve them well. What does it mean to be good and why do we bother? We just got to the part where King Caspian abolishes the slave trade on an island.

Even though I’m currently reading through the series with my 5-year-old, I would recommend a different strategy to most parents. Wait until age 6. Start off with The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe just one page before Lucy goes into the wardrobe. That way your kid will immediately start meeting magical creatures. Once your child is invested in Narnia, they can probably sit through the entire first chapter on a second read-through.

Two more random kid’s recommendation: (1) We got Germs out of the public library last year. When my son was 4 (well before Covid), he asked for that book every night for months. We checked it out over and over. In the time of Covid, I think this is a great intro to the immune system.

(2) Aunt Flossie’s Hats is a good way to sneak in some history without it feeling like school. The story involves a woman relating memories to her granddaughters. (bonus points for being anti-racist)

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