little lit book series

I’m excited to announce a new series I’m starting with a group of other amazing readers on Instagram.  It’s entitled #littlelitbookseries and every month we’ll be sharing favorite books that we are reading that month.  This month’s theme is children’s travel books since we are coming off the heels of summer, a season of trips and travel adventures. Please join us for our monthly book series and you’ll be sure to discover new titles as well as revisit old favorites. Here’s my pick for the month:

The Dodsworth series is by Tim Egan, is a collections of travelogues about Dodsworth and his duck companion. The duck has a droll sense of humor, which actually made me laugh out loud a few times.  Dodsworth and the duck do the usual in each visit--see the sights, partake in local cuisine and mix with locals in each city they visit.  Their trips are not complete without comical mishaps, mostly attributed to the duck's mischief.  Dodsworth is hilarious to read aloud. The independent reading level is for ages 7-8.

Please check out everyone else's favorite travel books in the #littlelitbookseries!

sam's sandwich

Sam's Sandwich, by David Pelham, is a lift-the-flap book that is gross and icky in the funniest way.  Sam, a doting brother, offers to make a sandwich for his sister Samantha.  Thoughtful, right?  What she doesn’t know is that he places a slimy, not-so-delectable surprise in each layer.  The hilarious rhyming text gives clues as to what each surprise entails, and children will have a ton of fun guessing what is hidden in each layer.  This book will have children talking!  

We have an older edition published by Penguin Books, however, Candlewick Press has just published a 25th Anniversary Edition of Sam’s Sandwich.  Click here to watch a preview of the book.

bedtime math

“We want kids to feel about math the way they feel about dessert after dinner.” -- a quote from author Laura Overdeck about Bedtime Math. This is the third book in the brilliant series written by her and illustrated by Jim Paillot: Bedtime Math: The Truth Comes Out.  There are a hundred math problems that accompany different intriguing topics that kids are curious about (e.g., Have carrots always been orange?)—with three different challenge levels for each math problem—wee ones, little kids and big kids, plus a bonus question. We’ve been going through the first book with Avery and she has been seriously enjoying it!  This series not only makes math fun, but practical, since kids are able to see how math is used in real life.  This is one of the best gifts we can give our children—showing them how their education plays a big part in them understanding the world. Happy reading and solving math problems!