Discover the joy of reading to your child. We began reading to our children from pregnancy on. It's a wonderful feeling to watch your child's face light up when you read to them. You can see their imaginations soar. Sometimes we will read the same story night after night. Sometimes, we will have to read it more than once in one sitting. Eventually, they come to memorize some of the stories. There is nothing more precious than watching your child "read" to her stuffed animals! It's never too early or too late to get a child interested in reading. Pick up a book today! There is no time like the present to begin reading!

I will attempt to keep track of the books we buy from Olivia's monthly Scholastic Book Club (Scholastic.com) and give a review of how I liked the book and how the girls enjoyed the book. This will all be purely my own opinion and the opinion of my girls. I urge you to pick up the books yourselves and form your own opinions. I will also attempt to link each book to a website, if possible. I hope that you enjoy and discover some of the magic that we do when we open up a book~

October 1999

Pooh's Leaf Pile
Written by Isabel Gaines
Illustrated by Studio Orlando

What I thought ~ Winnie the Pooh is always a fun and easy read. This book shows kids some things they can do with fall leaves and shows Rabbit how he can have a good time jumping in leaves. It's a nice book.

What Morgan (age 2 1/2) thought ~ I like Tigger because he bounces!

What Olivia (age 5 1/2) thought ~ I liked it. My favorite part was when Pooh and Piglet were crunching the leaves. And when they made crafts. At the end when Rabbit threw a big pile of leaves up in the air, I really liked that.

Clifford and the Halloween Parade
Written by Norman Bridwell
Illustrated by Norman Bridwell

What I thought ~ What can I say about Clifford? Well, he's always a good choice. There's something so wonderful about him that kids seem to adore him. I know he was one of my favorites while I was growing up. There's not many words in this book, so it would be great for a new reader. Clifford's adventures are always fun.

What Morgan (age 2 1/2) thought ~ I like it. It has a bat and a cat.

What Olivia (age 5 1/2) thought ~ My favorite part is when Clifford sees a cat.

Zoom Broom
Written by Margie Palatini
Illustrated by Howard Fine

What I thought ~ This book is eccentric. It says it is the sequel to Piggie Pie!, so I am not sure if we really need to read the first one to know what is going on in this one. It is about a witch that needs to find a new broom. I'm not really crazy about this book. The pictures are a little grotesque and "in your face". I think that the characters are not very likable and you can get easily tongue tied reading it.

What Morgan (age 2 1/2) thought ~ I like all the witch things.

What Olivia (age 5 1/2) thought ~ I like the part where she has all thirteen toes warming by the fire. This book has a LOT of words!

Scooby-Doo and the Halloween Hotel Haunt
Written by Jesse Leon McCann
Design by Peter Koblish

What I thought ~ The first few times I read this to the kids it was fun. It's a glow in the dark mystery. If you know anything about Scooby and the gang, then you already know this story. It doesn't wander from the basic outline of the cartoon. The glow in the dark images are great and really spooky and cool. After reading this book every night for a couple of weeks, it gets really annoying doing the whole lights on-lights off thing. This book was definitely worth it, though, because they love it!

What Morgan (age 2 1/2) thought ~ The phantom glows in the dark!

What Olivia (age 5 1/2) thought ~ This book is so cool! I love the cover and all the pages. I really like haunted stuff and spooky things. This book is really spooky!

November 1999

Thanksgiving Cats
Written by Jean Marzollo
Illustrated by Hans Wilhelm

What I thought ~ Quick, easy rhyming story about Thanksgiving cats. It's a cute book with sweet pictures.

What Morgan (age 2 1/2) thought ~ I like the kittens.

What Olivia (age 5 1/2) thought ~ I like the title page because the kitties are cute.

Plenty of Penguins
Written by Sonia W. Black
Illustrated by Turi MacCombie

What I thought ~ This is a great book. It rhymes, which makes it an easy read and it also has facts about penguins. It makes learning fun, which is a huge plus! The pictures are great and in the back, it shows you several different types of penguins and asks you to go back through the pages and try to find each type. I really like this book!

What Morgan (age 2 1/2) thought ~ I like the babies.

What Olivia (age 5 1/2) thought ~ My favorite part is the fairy penguin. I also like when all the penguins dive off into the water one by one.

My Dinosaur
Written by Mark Alan Weatherby
Illustrated by Mark Alan Weatherby

What I thought ~ I love this book. It's about a little girl and her adventures with her dinosaur. The illustrations are amazing and it seems like it's so full of magic. I chose this book even though Olivia said she didn't want it. As it turns out, it is one of her favorites now. I can't say enough good things about it.

What Morgan (age 2 1/2) thought ~ I like the dinosaur!

What Olivia (age 5 1/2) thought ~ My favorite part is when the girl rides on the back of the dinosaur and feels like she is flying. I really like all the pictures.

December 1999