Story Time: All Things Sparkly

JOConnor-Fancy-Nancy-Hair-Dos-and-Hair-Don'ts

Story Time with LENikki and I hope you’ll join us today for Story Time with Literary Escapism, a bi-weekly feature where we showcase various children books that fall directly in the fantasy & science fiction genres, as well as books we’re enjoying with our young children. We’re talking boardbooks, picture books, those books labeled as beginner or newly independent readers, and middle grade – anything of interest to those readers who are not quite ready for the young adult genre. So we hope you’ll join us on the carpet as we share the stories that have captured our little ones imaginations.

You know that saying ‘don’t judge a book by it’s cover’?  Well Jellybean, my daughter, could care less about that piece of wisdom.  In fact, she has rules that she follows when picking out books.  In ways, she’s worse than her brother, Munchkin, about being picky.  Her rules are:

  • There must be something pink, whether it’s the book itself or something on the book.
  • There must be something sparkly or frilly.
  • There must be something with horses, puppies, kitties, princesses or pretty clothes.

My girl is serious about these rules.  Anything less than a pony in a sparkly pink tutu and she is not interested, which is why her favorite books right now are Fancy Nancy and Pinkalicious.  She does like Mercer Mayer and Dr. Suess, but who doesn’t?  We are super thankful there are a lot to choose from in each of these ‘series’.  It keeps her busy.  And us from losing our mind from reading the exact same book over and over…cough looking at you Munchkin.

JOConnor-Fancy-Nancy-Hair-Dos-and-Hair-Don'tsPicture Day is just about the most important day of the year, and Nancy has her outfit all figured out. That leaves only one thing–picking a hairstyle Nancy considers the options. Pigtails? A bun? Long and loose? Then Nancy gets a brain wave, and she reaches for the scissors. . . .

Join Nancy in this comical and endearing addition to the Fancy Nancy I Can Read series, with a list of fancy words on the last page

So, while we have a problem with Munchkin NOT branching out, we have a problem with Jellybean and picking books only because it’s a pretty cover.  She’s only 4, so I get that this is normal, but it makes finding books for her next to impossible.  I want her to read good books, fun books, entertaining books!  With this checklist of hers…well they are few and far between.

VKann-EKann-PinkaliciousPink, pink, pink. More than anything, Pinkalicious loves pink, especially pink cupcakes. Her parents warn her not to eat too many of them, but when Pinkalicious does . . . she turns pink! What to do?

This sparkling picture book, filled with such favorites as pink bubble gum, pink peonies, pink cotton candy, and pink fairy princess dresses, celebrates all things pink while showing that being yourself is best of all.

I know that getting her to try out a book that’s not bedazzled or with a dancing penguin on it’s cover, is going to be tough.  That’s ok, because I have to break her of this habit otherwise she is going to miss out on so many amazing books.  We cannot have that!  Especially those that I remember reading when I was little that I’m just itching for her to read.

MMayer-I-was-so-madOh yeah.  There is also one more thing I have to consider when shopping for this daughter of mine.  Her attention span is that of a Chihuahua.  Anything longer than 10 pages and she’s moved on.

Mercer Mayer’s very popular Little Critter stars in a picture book about feeling angry. With minimal text and funny illustrations to spell out every new situation, the book shows the Critter family saying no to everything Little Critter wants to do. He can’t keep frogs in the tub. He can’t help paint the house. Finally, mad at the world, Little Critter announces he will run away. When pals come by and ask him to come and play baseball, our young hero’s mood quickly changes. He grabs his bat and heads off for the game, telling himself he can run away another day if he is still so mad.

 

About Nikki R 120 Articles
SAHM of 2, happily married bookworm, blogger and aspiring author. If I could read/write all day, every day, I would. Luckily I have a very understanding, and patient, husband who lets me get away with it as much as possible. Now if only the kids would understand my obsession, and the house would clean itself, then I'd be all set.