The first book that I read for 100 Books In 100 Days Challenge is There's A Wocket In My Pocket, by Dr. Seuss. Surprisingly, I hadn't read it before. And, frankly, I'm so glad that I did.
There's A Wocket In My Pocket has a lot of things that I look for when I'm choosing picture books to use in my classroom. Firstly, I love the rhyme in the book. It's fun, and it's silly. And I adore funny as much as any kid ever did. Secondly, I love the fact that it's a great book for teaching nonsense words. For that reason alone, it makes it a great book for teachers. There are so few good books that contain nonsense words these days. And lastly, I love that it's great tool to use when teaching children to use word families to help decode words. Teaching phonics application is a big half of the reading puzzle, and this book is full of phonetic gold mines.
The teacher in me gives this book a big thumbs up. While it's not the greatest Dr. Seuss book that I've ever read, it's definitely worth a reread. In fact, my five year old is reading it right now. * my heart is smiling at this very moment*
How Do I Love You?, by Marion Dane Bauer, is the second book that I read for the challenge. And this book, I give a high five because it tugs at the heart strings. While I could use it in the classroom to teach rhyme, I mostly read it to my children. Because who doesn't love reading books that tell their children how much they love them? I know that I do. In fact, sometimes I buy books just because that's their message.
How Do I Love You? is reminiscent of the poem How Do I Love Thee? Sonnet 43, by Elizabeth Barret Browning. But for children. The words are palpable."How do I love you? Let me count the ways. I love you as the sun loves the bright blue days." ....."I love you as the moon loves each shining star. I love all that you will be and everything you are." You can just feel how much the author loves her child. Or, at least that's how I feel when I'm reading this picture book. It's lovely rhymes and wonderful art work, makes this story one of my absolute favorite picture books/board books. And I know that you will love it too.
There's a wocket in my pocket sounds great. I'm pretty sure I've read Marion's book, although you can hear about a book so much you might forget you haven't actually read it. Hmm...library calling.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a great exercise! I, surprisingly, haven't read Wocket yet either. May just have to sit down and have a Dr. Seuss day!
ReplyDeleteA current book that is excellent for nonsense words is Once Upon a Twice by Denise Doyen. An older one I love is Rain Makes Applesauce.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read either of those. I'll have to pick them both up on my next trip to the library-provided I can find the book that is currently past due. Right now, I'm banned until I give them 8 dollars.
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