Posted in Tips on December 7, 2011
*Stay tuned! We will continue this series with middle school and high school book choices soon!
Books make fantastic gifts for travelers. Even if your child hates reading, they could probably be grudgingly convinced to listen to you read a story! Yesterday, I posted about favorite books for PreK children, toddlers, and babies. Today I am sharing favorite series of books for elementary school-aged children. I volunteer in my son’s library every week and these are the books that we cannot shelve fast enough. Kids come into the library and grab these books off the cart before they even make it to the bookshelves!
I have not read all the books I have listed, though I am working my way through the pile. I recommend that you read along (or read the book before) with your children. Only you as the parent can decide what is and isn’t appropriate for your children.
Elementary
Junie B Jones by Barbara Park – Junie B. is a spunky little girl who finds herself in many predicaments. The series begins with Junie in Kindergarten. In book 18, she becomes a first grader and continues with her hijinks. The first book in the series is Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus. The third book is called Junie B. Jones and Her Big Fat Mouth. When my son began reading the books, I read a few of them and made sure that he knew that language like that was not acceptable in our house and just because Junie uses it doesn’t mean he can! It doesn’t seem to be an issue. Other books: There are over 30 Junie B. Jones books so there should be plenty to keep your little reader reading!
Magic Tree House by Mary Pope Osbourne – In the Magic Tree House books, a brother and sister pair named Jack and Annie discover a magic tree house full of books that takes them on journeys all over the world. Together, they have adventures and solve mysteries. Other books: There are 46 books in the series with number 47 to be released at the end of the month and number 48 to be released in July of 2012. There is also a nonfiction series of books called the Magic Tree House Fact Trackers that cover topics discussed in the fiction books like twisters, dolphins, mummies, pilgrims, polar bears and more.
39 Clues is a series written by a number of popular authors, many whose names you will recognize like Rick Riordan (author of Percy Jackson and the Olympians series), Linda Sue Park (author of A Single Shard), Margaret Peterson Haddix (author of the Among the Hidden series which I recommend for middle school students) and more. In the first book, Amy and Dan’s grandmother dies and they discover that they are part of the most powerful family in history. The source is hidden in 39 clues around the world,, which they set out to find. We literally cannot keep these books on the shelves. The students are waiting for them before I have even checked them back in. I had a few minutes of down time and read the first few chapters of Book One. It was definitely captivating and I plan on reading through the series with my son. These books are commonly checked out by 4th and 5th graders. Other Books: There are eleven books in the series.
Nate the Great by Marjorie Sharmat is another current favorite of my second grader. Nate is child detective who solves all sorts of mysteries (I am finding a recurring theme of solving mysteries while having adventures!). Other books: There are twenty six books in the Nate the Great series that have been published over the past thirty years. There is another series of books about Nate the Great’s cousin, Olivia Sharp.
The Amber Brown collection by Paula Danziger (Parents: You might remember reading her book The Cat that Ate My Gymsuit when you were younger!) is realistic fiction about a little girl named Amber and her friends and family. Our favorite book from the series is Amber Brown is Not a Crayon which is the first in the collection.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney might sound familiar because of the recently released movie based on the book. With the November 2011 release of the sixth book, the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series is in constant rotation. The book is based on a middle school student so I recommend it for older elementary or middle school students. Other Books: There are six books in the series.
Carole Marsh’s Real Kids, Real Places mystery series books are not only fun to read but are also educational. The books take place in real places and there is a mystery to be solved in each one. There are forty eight mysteries that are set in places like Mount Rushmore, Hollywood, DisneyWorld, the Twin Cities, Yellowstone, Hawaii, Mount Vernon and more. Other Books: Carole Marsh has written lots of books but another travel series that caught my eye is Around the World in Eighty Mysteries where there are mysteries to be solved at Big Ben, Dracula’s Castle, Mt. Fugi, the Great Barrier Reef and more.
Share your favorites in the comments!
*Stay tuned! Tomorrow, I will share favorite series of books for elementary, middle school and high school students!
When all else fails and I can’t come up with a gift idea, I head to my favorite bookstore and buy a book or a gift certificate for the recipient. Even though we allow handheld video games and electronics during our travels, I still limit the time that each child gets to spend playing them. Books are always first on the list of things to pack.
Buying books before a road trip or vacation are some of my favorite memories from my childhood. Before every trip, we would head to the bookstore and be allowed to pick out a certain number of books to take with us. When we got home, my mother would confiscate the books and hide them. I can still see that fresh new pile of books stacked high in my mother’s closet, taunting me to take one and steal off to my room where I could start reading. But, oh no, we couldn’t touch those books until it was time to pack up our backpacks for our trip.
As a teacher, I tried to read anything and everything that came across my desk. It helped me keep up with what the kids were reading and it kept me semi-cool in their eyes when I could discuss Twilight, Crank, or Harry Potter with them. Now, I volunteer in my son’s library and I have been trying to keep up with the books that are currently popular. Here are a few series of books, both recent and old favorites, I have seen in constant rotation at the library. If you buy the first in the series, I highly recommend being ready to stop by a bookstore to buy the next few!
I have not read all the books I have listed, though I am working my way through the pile. I recommend that you read along (or read the book before) with your children. Only you as the parent can decide what is and isn’t appropriate for your children.
Baby/Toddler
Brightly colored board books are what will fit the bill for your baby or toddler. Though some of these are more author collections rather than a series, the books will still be appreciated.
Any book illustrated by Eric Carle – We particularly loved the books written by Bill Martin Junior like Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See and Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You See.
Susan Boyton wrote our all time favorite nighttime book, The Going to Bed Book. We also loved Moo, Baa, La La La! My five year old still asks me to read that book sometimes!
Ten Little Ladybugs by Melanie Gerth – Children love to run their hands over this book where they get to count the ten little ladybugs as they disappear. This book came with us everywhere for several months! Other Books: Ten Rubber Duckies and Goodnight Sweet Butterflies by Dawn Bentley
Pre-K
Pete the Cat – If you asked me to recite Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes right now, I could sing the entire book. Both of my kids adore Pete the Cat and his adventures. Other books: Pete the Cat: Rocking in My School Shoes; Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons (out in 2012)
If you Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff is a catchy book about that silly mouse that keeps wanting more and more! Other books: If You Take a Mouse to the Movies; If You Take a Mouse to School; If You Give a Pig a Party; If You Give a Pig a Pancake; If You Give a Cat a Cupcake
Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister Herbert is one of my favorite children’s books of all time. I love the beautiful illustrations and the moral of the story. Other books: Rainbow Fish and the Whale; Rainbow Fish Finds His Way; Play with Rainbow Fish
Pinkalicious by Victoria Kann is one of my daughter’s current favorite books. She LOVES pink…pink walls, pink bedspread, pink, pink, pink, The book is full of pink, pink, pink so it is perfect! Other books: Silverlicious; Goldilicious; Purplicious; there are also a number of I Can Read books
Fancy Nancy by Jane O’Connor is frilly and fabulous. We don’t have many of the Fancy Nancy books, but we do have all the holiday ones. I always purchase holiday books for the kids and somehow my daughter’s books have all been Fancy Nancy books! Other Books: Fancy Nancy: Splendiferous Christmas; Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy; Fancy Nancy: Aspiring Artist
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom…will there be enough room? This catchy book teaches letter order and the other book in the series teaches numbers. This is a favorite of my son still even if he won’t admit it. Other Books: Chicka Chicka 1, 2, 3
Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems is the only book on this list that I haven’t read but my kids think they are hilarious! They have read them at school and have told me all about them. I have them on my list of gifts that I still have to pick up! Other books: Don’t Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late; The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog; The Pigeon Wants a Puppy
I got a little carried away in my excitement to share favorite books with you that I ran out of room in the post. Tomorrow, I will share favorite series of books for elementary, middle school and high school students (unless I get carried away again and have to extend the post into a three part series)!
Share your favorites in the comments!
Reading books is not just a favorite pastime, but also part of my career. As an English teacher, I spent ten years teaching over 800 children to learn to love (or at least tolerate) reading…reading of any kind. That is the beauty of books. There is so much reading material from short stories, novels, magazines, poetry collections, nonfiction, comic books and more that it was rare that I couldn’t come up with something that a student would at least try to read and enjoy. Once I started teaching 9th grade, I was always amazed each year by my students’ reactions towards Fahrenheit 451. Even the students who hated reading were appalled that the characters actually started fires and burned books. Now that I stay at home with my children, I love to watch their love for books continue to grow into a mild obsession like my own.
To me, there is nothing more amazing than watching a child read a sentence for the first time and realize that they pronounced it correctly. Or watching a teenager pick apart a passage in a classic that they would never have chosen to read themselves and get it. Or helping a child pick out a book in the library. Or trying to get the attention of a tween that has been pulled so far into a story that they can’t even hear you talking to them.
A life without that? No thank you.
This year, Passports with Purpose is working to raise $80K to help Room to Read build two libraries in southern and eastern Zambia. This is a project I can stand behind. Not only because of the amazing people behind Passports with Purpose and their previous success, but also because we have friends who run an orphanage in the south of Zambia.
I can’t help but wonder if this library will in some way affect them and the mission that they have chosen as their life’s work. What an amazing thought…
So how can you help? Travel bloggers all over the world have procured amazing prizes that are up for grabs. The prizes range from hotel stays to several Kindle Fire eReaders to gift certificates. Donate $10 at a time and put your name in the hat for the prizes that you are interested in. Who knows? You just might win something great while helping to build libraries in Zambia!
What are you waiting for? Open your pocketbooks. Open your hearts. Put books into the hands of both children and adults alike. Donate.
A few weeks ago, my family and I got the chance to drive to Orlando and meet Shrek and his pals. It isn’t often that you can see snow and ice in Orlando, Florida but you can if you visit the Dreamworks Experience at the Gaylord Palms. I was honored to represent Travel Mamas, a site that I love and read often. Hop on over to Travel Mamas and read about our visit to the Gaylord Palms Resort Dreamworks Experience!
Posted in Sharing on November 24, 2011
I have so much to be thankful for this year. As I celebrate Thanksgiving with my family, I am thinking of everyone that reads this site and my fellow blogger buddies. I hope that you have safe travels and a happy Thanksgiving.
~Jen
When you walk around LEGOLAND Florida, you will spot lots of figures made from LEGO bricks. The kids love spotting them everywhere they turned.
Stop by Delicious Baby to see other Photo Friday submissions!
Over 50 million bricks were used in the building of LEGOLAND Florida. You can find those bricks all over the park but many of them are in Miniland USA. Miniland USA is exactly that…a mini-land made out of LEGO bricks. Though you would think my kids wanted to hop on as many rides as they could, they chose to spend time in Miniland USA every time we walked past it. There were buttons to push, things to watch and buildings to recognize. We loved spying landmarks that we have seen in person and I was so excited when Big S spotted the Washington Monument, something he remembered seeing on a previous trip.
My LEGO-loving son couldn’t get enough of Miniland and I could see the wheels turning in his head about the different structures he was going to try to build with his own LEGO bricks when we got home!
See my other posts about our visit to LEGOLAND Florida:
One Adult and Two Kids at LEGOLAND Florida
LEGOLAND Florida in Winter Haven – A Weekend Getaway from Pensacola
Posted in Navarre on November 8, 2011
Navarre Beach sits between Pensacola and Destin on the gulf coast of Florida. We are lucky enough to live in Pensacola and we visit Destin regularly during the summer for its great shopping, restaurants, and beaches but we normally cruise right past Navarre. In a recent visit to Navarre Beach, I realized that we have been missing out on a great family friendly beach destination.
The beaches are filled with laughter from kids splashing in the water and digging in the sand. All of the restaurants that we ate at welcomed children of all ages. There is an amazing park and splash pad as well as a butterfly house that is great to visit. We stayed at the Summerwind West.
Summerwind is a condominium located on the water just steps away from the Navarre Beach Pier, the longest pier on the Gulf Coast. There are so many pros to staying in a condo and they often outweigh the cons. I love to be able to spread out and give the kids their own space. It is nice to put them in bed and not have to worry about disturbing them if I want to watch some late night television or stare at the stars from my balcony. This was my view in the morning…not too bad.
We stayed in a three bedroom unit managed by ResortQuest that was decorated in beachy decor. One bedroom slept two in one bed, the second bedroom slept two in bunk beds, and the master bedroom had a king sized bed. In the living room, the couch was a pullout, sleeping a total of eight. The unit had two large bathrooms and a fully equipped kitchen. Both the master bedroom and the living room led out to beautiful balconies facing the water.
Things to know before you go with kids: When you first arrive at your condo, be sure to check the sliding glass doors that lead out to the balcony. Our living room door was locked but our bedroom door was not. I promptly locked the doors so my little one couldn’t head out on the balcony by herself.
The unit we stayed in also had a washer and dryer that were great for cleaning up the towels after a long day at the beach. Exiting out the back of the condo building, it is just a short walk past the pool and on to a boardwalk that will take you directly to the beach. The pool is big enough that even though there were usually at least two other families there, it never felt like it was crowded.
You don’t use a key to get into the condo; you use a keypad. The number was easy to remember but I tucked a copy of it into my bag so that I always had it with me in case we forgot. Using the keypad was great because it meant that we didn’t have to worry about carrying a key with us while we were at the beach. It also meant that I didn’t have to worry about whether or not I was putting the keycard next to my phone which inevitably always makes it so the key doesn’t work.
The location of Summerwind is perfect for a family vacation. There are a lot of condos and houses on the strip of beach but Summerwind is within walking distance of the pier where kids will love to watch the fishermen bring up their catch and try to spy stingrays or sharks in the water. It is also a short walk from several restaurants so you don’t have to get in the car and drive after a long day spent at the beach.
Do you prefer to stay in condos and house rentals or hotels when you travel?
Just a quick post to share where else you can find me this week!
The Vacation Gals is one of my favorite travel blogs and is one of the first that I started reading on a regular basis. I am so honored to have a guest post over at The Vacation Gals about the things that you should to do before you go on vacation without the kids.
I am also at Traveling Mom sharing four reasons why you should choose Hollywood Studios as one of the theme parks to visit on your Disney trip. We have always avoided it and when we went recently we fell in love with the park.
Over at my Pensacola with Kids site, I wrote an extensive review of our trip to LEGOLAND Florida in Winter Haven and the things that you need to know before you go.
Happy Halloween!
We were told by Captain Kirk of Condor Sailing Adventures that October is a great time to sail…he wasn’t lying. Our sail with Condor Sailing Adventures was a blast and the kids are still talking about how much fun it was.
Little S thinks she is rather suited to this sailing life!
Big S has decided that he doesn’t want to live in a house when he grows up…he wants to live in a sailboat. Driving the boat is serious work!
And really…who can blame them?
(That is the new baseball stadium that is finally going up. It has been years in the making and we can’t wait until it opens for the Pensacola Blue Wahoos 2012 season!)
Stop by Delicious Baby to see other Photo Friday adventures.
*Thank you to Condor Sailing Adventures for hosting us! As always, my opinions are my own with no outside influences.
Reading is such an important part of my life and I can’t even imagine not being able to read for any reason. I can’t imagine life without the smell of the library, the sound of a book spine cracking open for the first time, and the stacks of brightly colored books on my table just begging me to drop my chores and pick them up. I will never forget what I felt inside when I finished reading Gone with the Wind for the first time in high school. To this day, it is my favorite book. Its tattered cover shows so much wear and tear but all I see is love for a book that kept me company at night when I couldn’t sleep and traveled to several countries with me. Yes, I did lug that 1037 page tome with me during several trips.
