Tuesday, March 2, 2010

favorite children's books

dear emily,

before i begin a post to which i have long looked forward, i want
to thank everyone for teaching me how to underline!  it took the
entire blog world to do it. :)

two things saved my life when my children were little like yours:
my love for peanut butter and children's literature.  good thing,
too, because we had a steady diet of both.  

isn't it amazing how many times a child can listen to the same 
story?  if i tried to deviate from the story of ferdinand by 
munro leaf, shelby would say, "no!  he just liked to sit under the
cork tree and smell flowers."  

the most charming, witty, and hilarious of all authors is arnold
lobel.  my boys and i would roll on the floor with laughter at
frog and toad adventures and then sniffle a bit through
uncle elephant.  

e.b. white is famous for stuart little, but i prefer the clever
story of louie in the trumpet of the swan.  poor louie is mute
and has to hang a chalkboard around his neck to communicate, 
plays the trumpet (think louie armstrong), and tries to win the
love of serena.

but our hands down favorite is the big friendly giant by roald 
dahl.  the BFG is the only friendly giant averse to eating 'human 
beans' and forced to endure 'snozzcumbers' and 'frobscottle.'  his 
lovable nature  is enhanced by his funny abuse of the english 
language and constant befuddled state.  he also make gross
sounds that might offend some moms but kids love it! 

just the beginning,
lea

ps. sarah said, "God has made me laugh..."(genesis 21:6) and 
named her son, isaac, which means laughter.