Comments on: One For the Kids: Storyline Online

By: Ingrid

Ingrid — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 16:38:39 +0000

Sorry you asked yet? My son is 7, right now we take turns reading Calvin& Hobbes.
Then, there’s _The Great Brain_ Series by John D Fitzgerald,

_The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle_ a fictional pirate book about a CHICK! *PLOT SPOILER* Don’t worry folks, her Father doesn’t believe her and calls her a liar when he reads her diary about the pirated journey to rejoin the family in the USA. She IS just a female!

Ben and Me (the second book about a horse and Paul Revere we only got 1/2 through, not as good)

Most anything Shel Silverstein of course (except for that “Not for kids” book he wrote!), but I can’t bring out the _Giving Tree_ now without my son vehemently objecting at the very sight of its cover. I end up a sobbing blubbering mess every time I read it.

_How Things Work_ A book I hate, because it’s got these wooly mammoths that are in the illustrations and quite honestly, I don’t care to know how everything works. I’m fine with simply plugging appliances in w/o a care in the world. *SIGH*, it’s books like this that leave me wistfully wishing I’d had a girl and we could play Barbies instead.

That’s what my Flossie JR’s been reading lately.

By: greenstrawberries

greenstrawberries — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 11:10:24 +0000

A lot of the ones mentioned are great books, my students (1st grade) absolutely LOVE anything by Mo Willems (the Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus guy). He’s written some hilarious books. My kids wanted to know if there were any more by him, so I went online and found out that there’s a new “Pigeon” book coming out in April, so now they ask me fairly frequently when we’ll get it. To me, that’s a sign of a good author, when FIRST graders ask about their new book!

By: Marion Librarian

Marion Librarian — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 05:59:22 +0000

Some of these just aren’t flossy enough for me. You’ve just got to check out The Happy Hocky Family and The Happy Hocky Family Moves to the Country – seriously postmodern tales of woe for the picture book set! And for something more upbeat, my hero, Scaredy Squirrel. And for the really small fry Yummy Yucky by Leslie Patricelli – “Burgers are Yummy. Boogers are Yucky.”

I’d also highly recommend Click Clack Moo, Cows That Type. It’s Union Organizing for preschoolers!

For grownups who grew up with Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, et al, have a look at MT Anderson’s Whales on Stilts.

People! Sarcasm, Irony, and PUNS aren’t just for grownups.

By: Sue

Sue — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 03:13:30 +0000

From the time he was 1 – 2 Margaret Wise Brown’s Goodnight Moon, The Runaway Bunny and the Big Red Barn were my son’s favorites. He also liked It’s Hard Being a Bunny and Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus. As he got older Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day (Judith Viorst) was read every day. He’s nine now and we still have a copy of Alexander. When either of us have a difficult day we read it together.

By: Julia

Julia — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 21:42:02 +0000

It’s true that there are few books written for young children on U.S. Presidents (though interestingly several written on Ben Franklin….).

But if you’re still looking “Witty Nickname” You might try “What Presidents Are Made Of”, a quirky little picture book about the different qualities of US presidents (do you have a better shot if you’re tall? from Illinois? etc).

Another one would be “John, Paul, George, and Ben” a really well done book that talks about Adams, Revere, Washington, and Franklin.

There are also several great kids books on running for president (I love “Duck for President” if you want something that’s more silly than realistic, but there are more “realistic” ones as well), and a really good one on First Ladies and American women in general called “A is for Abigail” (it’s good even if it is written by Mrs. Dick Cheney).

But then it also depends on how young is young. Good luck with your book!

By: Bre

Bre — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 21:02:41 +0000

My daughter is nine, now, and usually reads on her own. But, some of our favorites when she was little were the classic “Goodnight Moon,” which she memorized and quoted along with me as I read, anything Seuss (I was partial to “Fox in Socks”)and, of course, “Where The Wild Things Are.”

I saved a bunch of my own childhood books (sadly, not much survived Mom’s garage sales), and my daughter’s favorite from those is “Cranberry Thanksgiving,” by Harry Devlin. I hope she reads it to her own kids someday.

By: caitlen315

caitlen315 — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 19:33:24 +0000

I discovered the Storyline Online site last week (probably from Pop Candy as well). This weekend, I sat down with my 2 1/2 year old son to see if he liked it. I read to him fairly often, and since he’s incredibly talkative, I usually have to ask him to stop talking and listen so I can finish the story. Well, as we were watching this, I guess I said something to him and HE asked ME to be quiet so he could hear the story. I was quite amused, and he obviously liked the site.

That being said, I don’t know if it’s the default on the site but the captions were on while we were watching the stories. I left them on, hoping that they might do just a little something to reinforce the reading aspect of this instead of it just being a different form of television. I was appalled to notice that there were spelling and grammatical mistakes in the captions! It wasn’t incredibly prevalent, but I don’t see why there should be any at all. First of all, there is plenty of production time to get it done – it’s not like they’re doing this live and a stenographer is trying to keep up. Secondly, they HAVE THE BOOK in front of them! I’m still really surprised about it.

By: Darren

Darren — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 19:30:42 +0000

My daughter is almost 3 and she currently LOVES PJ Funnybunny books. The one she reads is “It’s Hard to be a Bunny” and she seriously loves it. Other than that, we take our two girls to the library every two weeks to read a couple of books and check some out. I avoid repeatedly reading the same books over and over again in favor of a diverse selection of new books.

MY girls also LOVE Green Eggs and Ham.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 19:12:01 +0000

I read larger books to my niece and nephew, like the “Little House on the Praire” books and the “Black Stallion” books… this way, you can read a chapter or so a night. They have something to look forward to the next night.

By: Witty Nickname

Witty Nickname — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 17:28:07 +0000

Disappointed in the fact that there are no books about U.S. Presidents written for very young children, I wrote one for my son.

I have sent it to publishers, but somehow I feel that my son and my nephews will be the only ones to ever enjoy this quality piece Children’s literature.