* Practically ANYthing by Robert Munsch. I think I have everything this guy ever wrote. The stories are not "great literature" or anything, but they are rollicking good stories to read aloud to a group of young children. They demand to be told again and again, and usually have lots of parts where the audience can participate. Storytellers love Robert Munsch stories - in fact, I heard my first one at a festival, being told, rather than read. We are already planning to do a Readers Theater presentation of a Robert Munsch story at a Friday Morning meeting in the spring!
* Practically ANYthing by William Steig. These stories ARE great literature. William Steig is just an amazing author who never writes "down" to children - his books are full of rich and glorious language. It's amazing to me that he wrote his first children's book at the age of sixty - there's hope for me yet! I've used these in the classroom many times to study story structure - and maybe we will again this year - but mostly we've been picking them up and just reveling in them during library times. Oh! The adventure! Danger! Heroism!
Finally, this isn't about a particular book series or author, but the children have really been enjoying our books on CD this year. Our old system finally conked out and I got a new one from Amazon that was delivered just today. This was good news to all, as we have lots of new books and CDs from our recent Scholastic order that were begging to be listened to. Listening to CDs while looking at the words in books is not only a sweet way to share a book experience with 3 of your best buds, but it also hones reading skills in a real way.
And there you have it - just three of our current favorites. I'll keep you posted as children discover more and more delights as the year goes on.
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