Book List Love

I love a good book list-- who can resist the temptation of a list entitled "Best Beach Reads", "Top Picture Books of 2012" or "Librarians Choice for Best Chapter Books"? Certainly not me.

So, here are a few promising looking children's book lists I've found recently:

• This one is from the New York Public Library and is divided into categories (another thing I love) like fairy tales, picture books etc. 
• I found the above list while I was actually looking for this list - a collection of classic children's books reissued by the New York Review of Books. We've recently read Cheerful and Wee Gillis from that collection and they are both wonderful.
• We've read quite a few of the books on this list, as I love reading my boys folk tales and books about children in other countries, but there are alot more that are definitely going on my library hold list.

I'm looking forward to lots of good reading time with my boys this summer and I'm sure these lists will help us find some new favorites.

Do you have any sources for book lists that you recommend?

Chapter Books

I am a book lover--always have been. Two of my most vivid childhood memories are carrying armloads of books out of the Palms Park Library in L.A. and standing on my head while reading a book. I had books stashed in every room of the house and never understood the idea of reading one book at once.

So, now that I'm a mama, one of my favorite things to do with my boys is to read. But, I'm a picky reader, too, so that means I seek out children's literature blogs and read lots of children's book reviews. I like lots of the children's books that were written in the '50's and '60's, as I appreciate the more formal language and the fact that nature features more prominently in these books than in many more modern books.

I will do a post on picture books soon, but for today, here are some of my boys' (ages 5 and 8) and my favorite chapter books:

• Enid Blyton's Enchanted Wood
• Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows
• Thornton Burgess' Old Mother West Wind (really, anything by Thornton Burgess)
• Sterling North's Rascal (I did a little editing about the sexual behavior of raccoons--I'm a big fan of age-appropriate editing)
• Joyce Lankester Brisley's Milly-Molly-Mandy Storybook

Many of these I have discovered in my son's school library, which has a really well-curated selection. Others I have discovered through research. They have all provided me and my boys with many hours of snuggly couch time as we were transported, through the magic of words, to forests, farms and meadows with characters who soon felt like friends.

More About the Birds

So, I'm kind of becoming a crazy bird mama and, just in case you and your kiddos love the birds too, I thought I'd fill y'all in on some of the cool bird-y things I've found, with a focus on birding with kids.

I am truly a novice at all this, so every bit of information and advice I find really helps me. I'm learning this from the ground up and Ezra is right there with me--fascinated, excited and voracious. Andrew and the boys went to The Audubon Society last weekend and now we are official members! In addition to the membership, they also came home with a finch feeder, as that was one feeder missing from our collection (we now have a suet feeder, a hummingbird feeder and multi-perch feeder and a finch feeder). The finches haven't yet discovered it, but we're waiting...

The boys also came back with this book, which has already been a great help to us. Ezra and I have been wondering what kind of bird the brownish ones were; the ones that always seemed to be there with the red wing blackbirds. This book taught us that they are actually the female red wing blackbirds--with nothing red on them at all! Mystery solved.

We were over at a friend's house last week and I noticed that there suet feeder had a block of wood on the bottom. I asked what that was for and she told us that they were told (by the folks at The Backyard Bird Shop, a great local shop) that some birds like to press their tails against the wood block for leverage when pecking at the suet. Who knew? Our suet feeder gets lots of woodpeckers who don't seem to be bothered by the absence of a "tail rest", but I think we may try one to see if we attract some different woodpeckers.

I also liked this blog post from Imagine Childhood on making your own ornithology kit. I especially like the suggestion about making silhouette cards. I think we'll be doing that soon.

And, finally, I discovered that the perch feeder seems to attract more birds (especially the red wing blackbirds) when I buy the black sunflower seeds than when I buy the seed mix, which includes some sunflower seeds, but also has millet and other small seeds and grains.

What's been happening with the birds in your neck of the woods?