The Great Turkey Walk by Kathleen Karr

This book is absolutely marvelous.  So marvelous that, even though it is a “youth” book, they have published it in Large Print for those of us that are no longer young in years.  I read it in one evening.  And it was DELIGHTFUL.  The lessons encapsulated in this easy read are ones I want my daughter to learn.  For example, all people are treated with dignity and respect.  Each person has a talent that contributes to the group as a whole.  Unlikely people are given big chances – and they more than rise to the occasion.  It also portrays family and love by relationships, not blood ties.

And, it takes place in the USA when, as it says on the back, animals were brought to market on their own hooves or claws.  I’d never heard of a turkey drive before.

It’s a great book!  I’m trying to get Jun interested in it (she’s almost 8) as a “listen while Mama reads book.”  I hope I’m successful!

 

Yoko Books by Rosemary Wells

Ahhhh, these books are too wonderful.  At least half of them make me cry! 

Rosemary Wells has captured many of the simple things that make moving to a new country a challenge for kids in school.  In particular, kids moving from Japan to the USA.

Now, Jun is about as American as they come – though she still insists that babies “hatch!”  Her vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds.  But our family IS bi-lingual.  Bi-cultural.  We eat food from the US as well as Japan.  We like to take rice-balls on picnics.  We use chopsticks.  Some of us read and write Japanese better than English.

Anyway, these are great books!  Read and learn and maybe cry!

Yoko

Yoko’s Paper Cranes

Yoko’s Show and Tell

Yoko Writes Her Name

Yoko Learns to Read

Yoko’s World of Kindness

Side by Side

When we decided to move to the States, but continue to teach English via Skype to Japanese students, I was in need of a good textbook that had various levels, that didn’t require a whiteboard to explain grammar, that could be easily purchased in Japan or the US, and that would work well with private students.

Somehow, I came across Side by Side, the third edition.  And I love it.  Since choosing it, many other teachers have told me how much they like it as well!  Why didn’t I know about this series earlier????!!!?  Oh well, it is serving me very well, and I’m glad to have it!

A Mother For Choco by Keiko Kasza

Imagine my surprise when I read this book that is quite oriented towards adoptive and blended families and realized the author was Japanese – where neither adoptive nor blended families are the norm!  To be fair, she has lived in the US for years, but…I still take my hat off to her for writing such a sensitive and helpful book.

This is the story of a little yellow bird named Choco. He is in desperate want for a mother. He looks and looks for a mother who has some of the same physical characteristics as himself. But he is sorely disappointed when they all prove not to be his mother. The mother who finds him is a mother in the true sense of the word.

I was very touched by A Mother for Choco.  Obviously, my little Japanese Jun Bug and I look nothing at all alike, physically. So, I was so happy that I could reinforce our mother/child link through this book. Jun, on the other hand saw nothing at all unusual about the “real” mother becoming Choco’s mother, and doesn’t seem to yet see our physical differences. It made me laugh!

Open the Barn Door by Christopher Santoro

I am a sucker for books whose illustrations I love.  This is a chunky flap book.  Not a lot of dialogue.  Just a bunch of barnyard animals telling you what they “say.”  And the most delightful pictures!  Ahhh, this is the kind of art that I love!  (And a “flap book”, for anyone who doesn’t know, has little flaps kids get to open up to reveal a SECRET something.  All the rage with toddlers!)  I love this book!

Moo, Baa, La La La by Sandra Boynton

Well, you know, I think it would be hard to get too much of Sandra Boynton.  That being said I don’t like ALL of her books, just most of them!

I’d like to tell you I have a deep reason for liking this one.  But, I don’t!  It is just plain CUTE!  I have found in the past 3 1/4 years that I love books that rhyme.  And this one rhymes wonderfully.  And it is silly.  And, if it NEEDS a redeeming factor, it does teach that pigs DON’T say ” La La La,” and that dogs DO say “bow wow wow.” 

This is just a delightful book that ends with the enticing question “It’s quiet now, what do YOU say?”

Pete’s Puddles by Pierre Prat and Hannah Roche

A friend recently posted about toddler books that depict children from different parts of the world.  I am caucasian and my husband and daughter are asian.  Various other family members are various other …ian’s, so books that my daughter can identify with are really important to me. 

I have no idea in the whole world where I got this book.  Surely I didn’t pay real money for it.  However, as Jun has practically memorized it AND there are children from four various racial backgrounds in the series (only two in this particular book), I think I should introduce it so other parents can give it a shot if they like.

Seriously, I’m not sure why Jun likes it so much.  No rhyme.  No real plot.  No real ending.  No real beginning.  But, apparently it was written by folks who are a lot better at reading a child’s heart than I am.  I guess I won’t be recycling this book for some time either!

Duck & Goose How Are You Feeling? by Tad Hills

I loved the Duck & Goose book about opposites so could hardly wait until this one came out.  I finally got my copy – opened it up – and thought…hmmmm  not what I expected.

The same great duck and goose images were there, but the one word descriptions of feelings didn’t seem to be adequate.  My daughter, however, loved the book.  Then I remembered why these books are so great.  Because someone HAS to read them to the kiddies.  And, hopefully that someone has a clue what the words mean – take “frustrated” for instance – and can talk about the picture, give examples, AND coach the kiddo in what to do when he/she is FRUSTRATED.

This book has given Jun words to many important feelings, and, as I said, I’ve given her some tools to deal with some of them.

For example – frustrated.  Our family takes a big breath and says, “Help me, Jesus!”  big breath, “Help me, Jesus!”  It is amazing how many more things Jun has persevered through using this breathing and praying, now that we have learned the word “frustrated.”

We have a song about being mad.  The book says “angry”, but both work for us.  We say, “count to 5!  1-2-3-4-5!”

The picture of one duck who took ALL the flowers and the others who were so sad and the selfish duck was all alone, and…well, it just naturally leads into a discussion about sharing.

So, this book gets a great grade from me – and Jun (3 1/4 yo)!

Fat Cat on a Mat by Phil R. Cox

If you guessed straight off that THIS book was a phonics book – well, you’d be right.  I have raided my bookshelves at work for books for Jun to read, and there are, therefore, too many phonics books to count.  As Jun is not yet reading these books herself, I “get” to read them again and again.  Phonics books, for anyone who doesn’t know, are often very uninteresting.  The plots and conversations are quite limited to words that, for example in this book, have the short sound for the letter “a” in them.

So, in general, this book is your standard phonics book.  BUT it has a twist – or I wouldn’t bother to finally post about it here!  There is a nice moral in this simple story about a cat who, while escaping from a bee, knocks a birds nest off the branch of a tree.  She takes personal responsibility for her accidental action, and keeps the resident eggs warm, refusing to play with all the little animals that invite her, until they hatch!

I was so glad to find a phonics book that I could use to discuss “trying to make things right” after accidents with Jun.  I guess I’ll keep this phonics book around even after she’s done reading it herself!

The Last Time I Was Me by Cathy Lamb

From the look of this blog, you’d think I hadn’t read a book in months.  Other than Toddler books, you would be mostly right!  However, when I was home in the US this summer, my Mom recommended this book, “The Last Time I Was Me.”  The title looked rather depressing.  Kind of like the story of someone having a nervous breakdown…and, what do you know?  It WAS!

However, it was much much more.  First, the majority of the story takes place in northern Oregon.  I am pretty critical of authors who write about Oregon because I “check to make sure they got it right.”  And Cathy Lamb does get it right.  So, the setting itself was nostalgic in many ways.

And the story was riveting.  I forsook parenting and sleep to FINISH the book before coming back to Japan (it was a library book, and Jun had Grammy and Grandpa to play with her!) 

I am attracted to novels that deal with emotional or psychological struggles in a healthy and mature way.  I learn so much more from the novel format than I ever do or will from a textbook.  That’s how my brain and heart work.

This is a great story of healing, new life, hope, true friendship and love.  Give it a read!