Read Aloud Thursday: July 21st

I just found out about this weekly meme, called Read-Aloud Thursday @ Hope Is the Word  (found it via Homegrown Learners, oh how I love my homeschool bloggers!).  I am excited to take part because I love reading aloud to my kids.  And just the other day I was asking my friends on Facebook what they are reading aloud to THEIR kids.  And I also, I'd like to start highlighting some of the great Usborne Books & More titles I have to offer.  There are so many good ones available!!!  So, this is perfect for me!

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We have been slowly working our way through the Hank The Cowdog series by John R. Erickson.  Preston (5 yrs old) absolutely loves hearing about Hank's zany adventures.  We are currently reading #4 Murder In the Middle Pasture.  We read one chapter per night, and it almost always leaves us hanging... so much so that Preston usually demands to continue or else he won't go to sleep.  But, I have to assure him that we'll find out what happens soon enough!  I'm not really sure that he's catching every bit of humor or sarcasm that poor 'ole Hank uses, but he's absorbing the vocabulary (though some of it includes words like "howlter" and "whoopter" -which goes along with laughter, lol!).  

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We also read God Gave Us Christmas, a book my mom brought over after purchasing from a garage sale.  It's an adorable book explaining that God is the reason we have Christmas, because He gave us the gift of Jesus!  The pictures fill up the entire page and are really quite beautiful.  Both boys enjoyed hearing the story and seeing the images.  Callen (16 months) insisted that the polar bears were "woof woofs" but... close enough.  Haha.  It was nice to hear a lovely Christmas story in the middle of our 100-degree heat right now.  Yuck!

And, finally, a spotlight on an Usborne book we read this week: Brush Your Teeth, Max and Millie written by Felicity Brooks!  Preston actually read this one aloud to me during bedtime the other night, and I captured it on video.

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He is a great reader for his age, however, he's not the best at being enthusiastic regarding brushing his teeth.  Ha!  So, I had him read this, and talked about how Max and Millie are younger than him and... look how great THEY are about brushing their teeth!  It worked for a night or two, at least.  It is an adorable book, the kids are super cute.  The pictures and story are fun for a kid to hear (or read), very easy for a kid to relate to.  This is a board book, so it's great for toddlers or younger children... you don't have to worry about them tearing pages and ruining the book (one of my problems right now with Callen).  Max and Millie appear in several other books, including Take Turns... and Time For Bed... so your kids can really get to know these sweet little children!