Les Livres du Lundi

Admittedly, my reading this week has not been particularly deep. I did, however, complete my first French chapter book: “Alerte a la ferme!” by Soraya Benhaddad. Reading in French is still quite a stretch for me, so even this easy reader contained quite a few unfamiliar words and phrases. Despite my limitations, I understood the general plot of a new mother hen, quick—at first--to dismiss the kind advances of the other farm animals in favor of her own motherly instincts, who learns the hard way that it takes more than just herself to take care of her young.

Jadon could not determine just one pick of the week, so, today, we have The Top Three of the Week! I have to say I agree—he has found three great reads!

First, “Nicolas, where have you been?” tells the engrossing tale of a young mouse who sets off to best the birds at berry-hunting, only to be both captured and then cared for by other birds. Its simple story-telling and pictures really captured Jadon’s attention, and he got the implicit message of peace-making and mutual understanding. Jadon put it this way: “He was actually thinking to tell them that the birds ARE nice.”

Next, “I Ain’t Gonna Paint No More” by Karen Beaumont is a hilarious and capricious look at one boy’s obsession with painting. The rhyming text and progressive storyline allows children to finish the phrase with the next body part to be (gasp!) painted. Jadon says, “It’s so funny! The pictures make me giggle. I especially like when he says, ‘What?!?’” (Which is, of course, in place of terminology for the backside body part that would rhyme with that word….)

Finally, Jadon found the classic “Make Way for Ducklings” by Robert McCloskey to be a “surprise” hit. I say “surprise” because, when we first brought the bag of library books home, Jadon could hardly be convinced to open this one’s cover. But once we did, he loved the story. This is his take on this favorite: “I like it since it’s funny. All the ducklings rhyme. At first, I didn’t like it because the pictures weren’t coloured. I didn’t realize it was gonna be cool, and they were gonna find an island.”

Happy Reading!