Monday, November 17, 2008

Book Club

The Very Lonely Firefly by Eric Carle
This poingant book in classic Carle style addresses our inherent need to belong. A new firefly searches and searches through the dark night for another firefly friend. After encountering many false hopes, he eventually finds just what he was looking for. (Side note, I love Eric Carle books and there are several of them that deal with emotions. The Very Grumpy Ladybug, The Very Quiet Cricket, The Mixed up Chameleon, etc.)

Activity: Flashlight Hide and Go Seek. Give each player a flashlight or glow stick (the headlamp lights are best). Turn off the lights and play hide and go seek in the dark. You can all pretend to be fireflies looking for each other at night. Another variation is Sardines.


Curious George Visits the Library by H.A. and Margret Rey
The George books provide plenty of discussion about emotions. In this particular book George is feels impatient about waiting for the Librarian to read a dinosaur book, excited at the sight of all the other interesting books, and very sorry about crashing the book card full of books.

Activity: Make a list with your child of the emotions George has in the story. Then randomly choose a page from the book to hold up and let your child act out how George is feeling at that point int he story. Or go on a field trip to the library and see what makes you curious there.


Thanksgiving:
I don't have a specific title to share with you, but I encourage you to grab a Thanksgiving Book or two during the next week and read them with your children. Talk about the importance of gratitude and how you can each show appreciation in your life. In our house we have made a Thankful Tree. Each day we write one thing we are thankful for on a paper leaf and tape it to our tree. You can also make or write thank you cards to someone special or create a little "I am Thankful For.." book together.


There are plenty of other wonderful emotion books out there. I know our mr linky friends this month have given some great suggestions on emotions books they have read and enjoyed. We would love to hear more from you too.


3 comments:

Heather said...

We just read a really sweet book called Thankful Together about a mom squirrel and a little girl squirrel who thank God for everything throughout the day. It is written as a poem and the illustrations are beautiful.

Doty Family said...

I love Eric Carle. Good picks!

Anonymous said...

Hi. I found you on Mormon Mommy Blogs. Eric Carle is one of my favorite children's book authors/illustrators. It's so fun as an adult to take apart all of the images and think the process he went through to put them together. Really, really like them.