Category: Book Lists

Yesterday afternoon, I went into my daughter’s first-grade class to read out loud to the class, and February 5, 2020 is World Read Aloud Day! Those two events got me thinking that I should share some of our favorite titles to read aloud, books that my husband and I enjoy reading, that lend themselves to being read naturally, that children love hearing, and that have illustrations conducive to a larger group… So, today, I’ve got a list of more than 20 of our favorite books to read aloud to groups of children!

Given that we live in a climate so mild that our girls talk about “going to winter” rather than winter being an actual season they experience at home, we tend to wait till after the holiday season to bust out winter books. It’s not like we need to read snow books while we celebrate the first snow or anything like that… But, we do still love to read books set in snowy places, and I know many of you around the world have had your first snowfalls already, so I figured I’d share my updated list of winter books we’re loving with you all right now.

Continue reading “Winter Books We’re Loving” →

I first started to gather books for this booklist about five years ago, but fortunately, my girls didn’t need to be reading a stack of books about a beloved family pet dying then. So, while we’ve read — and truly loved — some of these books for years (hello, City Dog, Country Frog!), and while I could read these on my own, our family didn’t need to read them until this past year when we had to say goodbye to our beloved first family pet.

Today, I’m sharing the four books that our family turned to when our 12.5-year-old dog died, and that we still read from time to time with the girls as they continue to work through their grief. I’ve also got six other books that might be helpful to your families, too, giving you a big list to choose from, as well as one book that might help children support their friends when their friends lose a pet. Hopefully, when your family needs this list, a few of these will help your children, too.

Ah, fall… While I’d truly have a hard time naming my favorite season (for the record, it’s a toss-up between summer and fall…), I am always excited when fall rolls around. I love football and sweater season. I love the crunchy leaves under my feet. And I love the clear skies and breezy, cooler days.

While we still have weather in the 90s here and our leaves don’t really start to change until about Thanksgiving, I know many of you around the country are starting to pull out sweaters and sweatshirts, enjoying cooler mornings and evenings, and maybe even seeing some color on your trees. But, it is supposed to be a tiny bit cooler here this week (we get excited about low-80s around here!), so I’m getting in a fall mood!

Read more to find our favorite fall picture books, some fall-ish books with fantastic social-emotional lessons, and board books for the littlest readers.