Books Galore

We don't have a television in our living room.  We do have a big screen in our basement room but no cable or antenna hooked up to it.  We watch approximately one movie a month.

So what is all our furniture pointed at?
What do we do for entertainment?

We read books!  Real books, not words on a screen device; actual paper!

But seriously, we really love to read, and our bookshelves are overflowing.  This frigid winter could not have been endured without these lovely treasures to escape into.

Every time I walk into the library and my sweet friends there pull 35 books from the holding shelves for me, I laugh right along with them. We are crazy!  We haul them all home and go back for more next week.  And again the next week.  And again....

We read constantly and talk about what we read to each other all  throughout the day.  As we wait impatiently for winter to end, we find ourselves hauling a pile outside when it's 45 degrees just for the change of scenery.  (Besides the ground is so swampy you actually sink about an inch down with every step so playing out there is challenging.  Also it is only 45 for about 3 hours and then it's back to 10, so we take it.)

We can't live without books.

In case you were interested, here are our favorite picture books so far this winter:

Unicorn Thinks He's Pretty Great by Bob Shea
One Kitten for Kim  by Adelaide Hall
11 Experiments That Failed by Jenny Offil
Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett
Captain Cat by Inga Moore
The Sorcerer's Apprentice (audio book) by Barbara Shook Hazen
That Is NOT a Good Idea! by Mo Willems
Bubble Trouble by Margaret Mahy
The Beaver Pond by Alvin Tresselt
I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen
This Is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen
Chester's Way by Kevin Henkes
The Fool of the World and His Flying Ship by Uri Shulevitz
Outfoxed by Mike Twohy


And some of the chapter books we have read aloud since Christmas:

Misty of Chincoteague
Pippi Longstocking
The Trumpet of the Swan
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Star Wars novelizations
Stuart Little
The River Bank (abridged and illustrated version of Wind in the Willows)


We also dig through piles of mediocre books that just don't make the cut which really helps all of us refine the styles and stories we prefer.  (There are so many terrible books out there!)  Chloe has taken to memorizing and reciting stories she loves, as well as imitating the illustrations in her daily art.  Evan has gotten really good at recognizing different authors and illustrators as go through half a dozen by the same person.  He is also incredibly gifted at being able to recite entire passages from stories he hasn't heard in years.  This depth of creativity comes from a love of books!

Also, I didn't even include here all the titles I read for myself or all the non-fiction books we learn from and look at together... poetry, nature study, history, the Bible....  It never ends!

Needless to say we really don't miss the television at all.  We'll take books.

We'll also take spring.