Our Rainy Day Reading List

It rained ALL day today. Here is what we read:

• Opuestos by Cynthia Weil. A bilingual Spanish/English book about opposites. The illustrations are photos of Oaxacan wood sculptures of animals - Magnifico!
• Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson. Classic. Love the deserving porcupine. My daughter told me what all nine pies were. One was strawberry blueberry banana. Another was Lagoon Pie. "Yes, mermaids LOVE Lagoon Pie." Sorry, she did not give me the recipe for Lagoon Pie, but I think it should involve blue raspberry jello and whipped cream.
• Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin. Cute. And you learn stuff. Like worms aerate soil, eat paper, and don't have teeth...FYI: The worm narrator tells his sister that her face looks just like her rear end - which is true - and it thankfully went over my daughter's head, but my fourth graders would probably die laughing.
• Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs by Judi Barrett. I have LOVED this book since I was in elementary school. It's the illustrations. The illustrations are magic.
• Wacky Wednesday by Dr. Seuss - I have a love/hate relationship with this book. My 3 1/2 year old loves it. Every page has a specified number of "wacky" things to find (a stroller without wheels, a girl standing on a boy's head, a boy walking an alligator on a leash, etc.). I am not a fan of the text. The rhythm is a little clunky - not one of Seuss' best works. Also, we don't say "gee," not because I don't want my child sounding like Beaver Cleaver, but because I was raised not saying it, and I have a hard enough time with her using the filler words "like you know." Oh California. Also, one character says, "Don't be a fool," and I had to explain that, like stupid, we don't call people fools.
• Azak Learns to Read by Jean Chaffee. This book was written by the wife of the former zoo director in my hometown. It's the true story about an orangutan who was taught to communicate using letter magnets. X stood for Azak, W meant water, H meant brush, G meant Gary (the teacher), etc. One day, her teacher Gary brought in orange juice, and Azak didn't know how to communicate that she wanted it. Finally, she put OW for orange water on the board. Azak lived her whole life in the Chaffee Zoo. It's a sweet book, and Jean Chaffee signed it for my daughter, so it's extra special.