You read to me, I'll read to you Meme

This week NMD and I have combined older titles with newer. While she makes her way through Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard Atwater, I have been on picture book duty. Here's the current list, some of which I have already commented on.

I read to NMD:
1000 Times No, as told by Mr. Warburton
Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey
Funny Farm by Mark Teague
Grumpy Grandpa by Heather Henson, illus. by Ross McDonald
Marley Goes to School by John Grogan, illus. by Richard Cowdrey
One by Kathryn Otoshi
Sea of Tranquility by Mark Haddon, illus. by Christian Birmingham
Sir Cumference and All the King's Tens by Cindy Neuschwander, illus. by Wayne Geehan
Snoring Beauty by Bruce Hale, illus. by Howard Fine
Vunce Upon a Time by J. Otto Seibold and Siobhan Vivian

This week's highlights include Sea of Tranquility, which is a personal favorite. If you think you've heard the author's name before, well you probably have. Before Mark Haddon became internationally famous for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, he wrote this gentle, fond picture book about his own love affair with the moon. The book has been re-released for the fortieth anniversary of the lunar landings as Footprints on the Moon.

No surprise that NMD liked 1000 Times No--she is eight after all! It is an amusing and straightforward story of a toddler who wants to make himself absolutely understood by declaring "no" not once, not twice, but 1000 times in 1000 different ways. Fun to pore over with your own strong-willed child.

This weeks' most interesting concept book is Kathryn Otoshi's One. It is essentially an anti-bullying story. But the way that she combines colors and numbers--everyday teaching tools for young children--with word play for the grown-up reader is a novel approach to a subject which is not always successfully tackled.

Don't forget to visit The Well-Read Child, which is hosting this meme.