What We Are Reading

We have more books in our house than any other single item (except maybe dust bunnies).  As I look around my living room, what I see are bookshelves.  Our entertainment center no longer houses our television -- it holds more books.  Here's a snapshot of what we're reading.

Kate

 No Biking in the House Without a Helmet
(Melissa Fay Greene)

The title alone is reason enough to pick this book up off the shelf, but that's only the beginning.  Welcome to the wild world of the Samuel household, whose real-life escapades are captured in side-splitting (and heartbreaking) detail by Melissa Fay Greene.  She's mother to four biological children and five adopted children, four of whom were born in Ethiopia.  The book is mostly memoir with a bit of parenting how-to thrown in as well.  It's awesome.  And so is the author.  I emailed her a few weeks ago with a few words of appreciation, and she actually wrote me back...twice!
.

Josh

 

The Homecoming of Samuel Lake (Jenny Wingfield)

Miss Mouse

A Mother for Choco (Keiko Kasza)

This is Miss Mouse's newest book.  Thus, it is her favorite.  She's very two like that.  A Mother for Choco is our first adoption-themed book and it is fabulous.  Choco is a wee yellow bird with fat cheeks who desperately wants to find a mother who looks just like him...but learns that a mother is defined by her love not her looks.  My only problem with this book is that I tend to get choked up when I try to read it aloud to my girl.

Buggie

Ten in the Bed (Penny Dale)

This fun bedtime tales illustrates the classic nursery chant.  "There were ten in the bed and the little one said...roll over!  Roll over!"  One by one, a cast of long-suffering stuffed animals find themselves heaved out of bed by a winsome little boy in red footy pajamas.  What Buggie loves about this book is that I trace circles on his tummy each time we get to the "roll over" part.  It cracks him up every time.