Library Book Haul: Favorite Check-Outs from August
When we make trips to the library, often my book stack looks like this one that I posted last week on Instagram…
I look like a crazy woman hauling a giant bag of books that I can barely muster out to my minivan – but someone out there needs a laugh for the day, and I’m happily the victim.
I love reserving book titles online, and then checking out my giant stack that keeps us busy for the next few weeks. That way, we can peruse the rows of books and get a few that look good by their cover, and have a stack of that I already know we will enjoy that I take from a giant book list that I’ve been compiling.
Here Are Our Favorites From Our August Library Haul:
Stick by Steven Breen – We read this one countless times over the few weeks we borrowed it from the library, and I’m thinking we need to add it to our own library collection. It’s about a frog and his journey through things he sticks to – very clever and enjoyable read.
Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion – This was the first Harry book we’ve read together, and I’m sure it won’t be our last. The boys could relate to this dog’s desire to be free and dirty!
Feathers for Lunch by Lois Ehlert – This book is filled with delightful pictures and an engaging story to go with the illustrations. I love how Lois Ehlert books offer so much more than just the text. It’s a great bird/feather reference that tells all about what the birds in the story eat, where you can find them, etc.
The Three Pigs by David Wiesner This isn’t your traditional “Three Little Pigs” tale. The pigs in this version escape the storybook and run into other familiar stories, before taking revenge on The Big Bad Wolf.
City Dog, Country Frog – Mo Willems This is a sweet book on friendship through the seasons with beautiful watercolor pictures of nature to accompany the story.
Children Make Terrible Pets by Peter Brown – Our librarian recommended this book, and I’m glad we tried it. It was a heartwarming story about how a bear wanted a pet so badly that she picked a human one she names Squeaker.
Joseph Had a Little Overcoat by Simms Taback – A great lesson in making something out of nothing, as Joseph teaches us a lesson in resourcefulness as his coat shrinks and transforms page by page.
Froggy Plays Soccer by Jonathan London We love Froggy books, but this one became a quick favorite, since Froggy plays soccer just like our boys. Froggy is always great for humor including using the word “underwear” in each book, which my boys find hilarious.
The Monster Who Ate My Peas by Danny Schnitzlein – In this clever story, a boy makes several deals with a monster to eat his least favorite vegetable, but in the end he finds out the peas he’s been bargaining and avoiding aren’t so bad after all.
The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon by Mini Grey – This story picks up where “Hey Diddle, Diddle” leaves off. The Dish and the Spoon take off and make money, and loose it and each other in the process. We loved this spin off!
What have YOU been reading with your kids this month? Share some of your favorite library or bookstore finds with us in the comment section!
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We love Froggy books, too! And that three pigs book really is clever. I don’t know that Annalyn loved it (we read it at least a year ago), but maybe we should give it another shot…
I think we had read it before also, but they got it so much more this time – so it was way better. Thanks for sharing this post, Mary. Appreciated you so much!
I would love to see you post this every month! I’m always looking for good kiddo book recommendations. We actually have a few of these ones in our home collection already 🙂 Recently, Jacob has loved “Not Inside this house” by Kevin Lewis about a little boy that brings home increasing large animals – from a bug to a whale! He also loves all the Patricia Polacco books, and we’re currently reading her “John Philip Duck” over and over. He also loves “Goodnight Goodnight Construction Sight” by Sherri Duskey Rinker.
Great to hear your positive feedback, Molly! I’m planning on making it a monthly series! I have Not Inside This House on our list now – thanks for the suggestion! Still feels crazy that we’re all grown up with kids, and not still singing in choir next to each other!
We couldn’t live without the library! Jack is really into dinosaur books at the moment, while Jude has been loving his NASCAR “ABCs” board book. The one and only time NASCAR gear will ever be in our house. 🙂
Cracks me up! The closest we get to NASCAR in this house is Cars and Cars 2. =)
I’ve been thinking about doing this too on my blog– I’ve even taken pictures of the books we’ve checked out recently, just haven’t posted them! Maybe you’ve inspired me to get my act in gear and finally post them. Time will tell if I can just get my act together 🙂 But, there are several books my boys LOVE and I thought it’d be fun to share, too. I’ve seen people do the ‘good reads’ thing, but all I seem to find myself reading these days are kids books! hahah! My boys also enjoyed the “Children Make Terrible Pets” book! If you’re not familiar with Chris Van Dusen, your boys would LOVE him! Thanks for sharing. Maren
I would love to read yours too! Goodness, it could even be a fun link-up someday perhaps. =) I have Chris Van Dusen down to check out – thanks so much for the awesome suggestion. It’s fun to think about us reading the same book to our kids a state away!
Goodnight Goodnight Construction Site is one of our new favorites along with all of the Trucktown books – Smash Crash and Melvin MIght are two good ones we got at the library. My Libby loves all the Fancy Nancy books, but your boys probably wouldn’t love those 🙂
My boys used to love those Trucktown books too! They used to feature it on the Barnes and Noble Read Aloud site, have you seen that?
Thanks! I use your list to get books for my grand daughter. We always goes to the library when she visits!
Absolutely! What a treat she gets to read with her precious grandma.
I had remembered reading Judy Blume’s books as a child, so I checked out Freckle Juice from our library. My boys (ages 8, 5, and 2) loved it! My five year old was especially fascinated with it. It’s such a fun book to read aloud!
Yes! I LOVED Judy Blume growing up! We have Freckle Juice on our Chapter Books list for this year!
VERY cool! I love your list–I can well imagine that these would be a hit with boys! Would you believe that I had a “Harry” book when I was a kid?? Harry by the Sea was a favorite of mine! (I think that makes the “Harry” books real classics, which is the way I like to think of myself lately. Or perhaps vintage! Definitely not antique!
You are totally vintage awesome, Richella! We are discovering how valuable you and you are appreciating by the minute!
Thank you so much for sharing your list! I am always looking for fun books for my 5 year old son. Would love to see this monthly.
Absolutely! So great to hear! I’ll plan on a similar post in September!
I LOVE the library. I also have a long list of books I’ve reserved online, for me AND my boys. I will have to add some of your books to our list!
Harry the Dirty Dog is SUCH a classic! It was a huge favorite of mine and my hubbies…and back when I worked at Barnes & Noble it was a hugely popular book we could never keep in stock. Great choice!
We spent last Friday night at the library until it closed because our family is wild and crazy like that. Love your disclosure btw. 🙂
Those are some of our favorites too! When I volunteer in the library at my kids’ school, it’s fun to peek through the books kids are returning, to see what could be new favorites for my kids to check out.
Joseph Had A Little Overcoat was a favorite of mine!!! I wish I still knew where my old copy was.
What a great list! I love seeing what kids are reading! Two series you might be interested in if you haven’t already found them are: Fly Guy by Tedd Arnold and Elephant and Piggie by Mo Willems. I used them to entice my reluctant reader nephew into giving reading a go! He loved to be read to, but insisted he couldn’t read. But these books appealed to his funnybone. They’re laugh out loud funny, and before long I was reading a page, then he was reading a page. I’d send him a new book in the mail, and he’d call me to read me the funniest parts! His mother would find him reading them in bed, long after the lights had been officially turned off. Love your blog!
Eli’s latest favorite has been “Unusual Creatures” by Michael Hearst. I have to admit, I enjoyed reading it, too! The illustrations are incredible and we learned so many cool and crazy facts. Enjoy your haul!
Thank you for posting book ideas. My kids, too, loooove going to the library. Barn Dance (by Johh Archambault…I think.) is one of our favorites. I think I love it even more than my kids do!! The bear books by Karma Wilson are also a favorite around here…”Bear Snores On” “Bear’s New Friend” I was just telling a friend today that you can prepare a child for school by simply reading together. So much can be learned from the page of a book.
We visit our library every week, too and each week, I wait for our bag to give way with so many books! ha! Some summer favorites this year were:
The Magic Tree House series, King Hugo’s Huge Ego and The Cloud Spinner.
wow, this makes me miss reading to my babies. their absolute favorites were any of the “How do Dinosaurs…” books, “Bark George” and “chick-a-chick-a-boom-boom”
Just coming in on this and thankful for the great suggestions! We’re headed to the library this morning, so I was looking for some new ideas. Got a list in hand now, and have also pre-requested a few of these to be sent to my local library (love that I can do that online – easy, peasy!!!)
Our most recent favorite was A Fly Went By by Marshall McClintock. I used it as a read-aloud, but it was also great practice reader for my first grader.
Another huge favorite for my son when he was 4-5 was Puff, Puff, Chugga, Chugga by Christopher Wormell. That was one we just “happened” up on at the library one day (during a time when he was really into trains!), took it home and read it over and over until we had memorized it and then still kept checking it out until my husband finally got on ebay and found our own copy! We don’t read it much anymore, but it’s one of those that has such great memories for me as a mommy that I’m pretty sure one day I’ll be passing it on to my son’s son. 🙂
And lastly, a favorite from my childhood that I read to my children now… Bembelman’s Bakery by Melinda Green.