The Elf on the Shelf - the Best Visible Reason to be Good

I realize I am writing about this late in the game, with Christmas a little over than a week away. I ordered the elf online and pretended that my boys were receiving him directly from Santa because he heard that there have been some problems being good lately (we all know who that might be - Ricky).

Ricky is in kindergarten and has bought into it. He looks for "Scooter" every morning and loves to announce where he is when he's found. The pain though, is remembering to move the darn thing and coming up with more spots to put him - we only have so many places in this house. I hate it when my husband puts the elf in our room. I mean, have you seen him???

What a creepy-looking doll. I really do love the elf on the shelp idea - I just wish that the creator made the doll a little cuter. Put a few more pounds on him and he looks like Chucky!!!

Anyways, the Elf on the Shelf kit comes with the elf, and nice story book that explains the elf and his powers. You are supposed to name him. As a family, we finally agreed on Scooter Von Snitch. The whole idea is very cute and I'm sure we'll have several years of finding good spots for Scooter ahead of us. My only regret is that we should have bought him last year - I think we only have another year or two of Ricky truly believing in Santa before someone at school convinces him otherwise. Oh well. In the meantime, it's a good way to get Ricky to be good.

So what do I do after Christmas is over and we put all our stuff away - including Scooter?

Bob Books - Tools for Learning to Read

I first learned about Bob Books when I worked for one of the largest book retailers. Parents would come in looking for them frantically. So of course when Ricky was 4, I bought them and tried to introduce them to him.

He hated them almost immediately and one time had a fit so big that I never brought them out for months. Earlier this summer, Mark introduced Halo - an inappropriate (age 17) video game on the xbox to Ricky. I decided to grasp the opportunity and bribe my son to learn to read and his reward would be time on Halo. It totally worked.

Ricky has now mastered 16 Bob Books so far and knows many sight words. He enjoys reading these books to his grandmothers, his aunts, uncles, and anyone who will listen. Learning them has boosted his confidence at school and about himself in general and it's really great to see. It's cool to be able to read a book by yourself!

For those of you who may not know what Bob Books are, they are little books - about 8 pages each, that build on reading. They have to be read in order - as each book builds on the previous one in terms of sight words, and the sounds. The box set Ricky has almost finished is the short vowels. He has 2 more books to go to finish the 18 book box set. The second box set has the long vowels. I bought these larger box sets from Costco earlier this year.

I totally recommend these books for parents to do with their kids to supplement what they are learning in school.

Photo borrowed from http://www.bobbooks.com/img/mfbb-1.jpg

Funny Farm by Mark Teague

As a fan of Mark Teague's books, I knew this book would be a winner when I saw it. I bought it for Ricky's 5th birthday although I think it's more for the 2-5 year old group. I can still read it to Ricky, but it will be more for Teddy pretty soon.

The story is about a dog named Edward who visits his aunt and uncle on the farm. Each page has one sentence with great illustrations - also by Teague - that describe Edward's adventure on the farm.

Very cute, simple, and great illustrations. A great book for little ones who like to hear stories about the farm.

Orchard Books, 2009

The Night Before the Tooth Fairy by Natasha Wing, Illustrated By Johansen Newman

Ricky has all his teeth and our next door neighbor (who is 6) just started losing his teeth and told Ricky about it. Ricky's a little freaked about losing his teeth but is intrigued by the Tooth Fairy thing so I decided to get him this book.

The book is written in the Night Before Christmas style and is very funny and cute. Here is the opening lines,

""Twas the night before the Tooth Fairy

would come take my tooth,

I'd been so excited

ever since it got looth."

This book does a great job addressing what happens when your tooth gets lose, when you lose it, and how cool it is when the Tooth Fairy comes. I think Ricky feels a lot better about the whole thing now, thanks to this cute book.

Scholastic, 2003

The Circus Ship by Chris Van Dusen

The author of this book also has a book called If I Built a Car - which we actually own. I can't believe I didn't review that book! It's on my list of books to review in the near future. He's also written and illustrated Down to the Sea with Mr. Magee - which is also quite good.

We got hammered with snow last night and Ricky didn't go to preschool today so I read this book to him. The story is about a circus ship that has an accident and all the animals swim to shore to a town in Maine. They all grow to love living in the town and want to stay. The circus owner comes to town, looking for his animals. The animals hide and blend into their surroundings so they cannot be found. The mean circus owner goes home empty-handed.

The book is written very well - in a rhyming fashion - and the illustrations are great. They made Ricky laugh at many points.

Chris Van Dusen's books are not your ordinary children's books and do not follow the usual cookie cutter formula. They are original stories that grasp your child's attention. I really enjoy his books and so does Ricky. Our book is overdue and he's asked me to keep it for another day - that's how much he likes it.

Candlewick Press, 2009.

Crow Call by Lois Lowry, Illustrated By Bagram Ibatoulline

I can't read the name Lois Lowry without thinking of Anastasia Krupnik - one of my favorite characters as a young adult. Lois Lowry wrote some great books for kids and is partially responsible for the book lover I have become as an adult. So when I saw this book at the library, I had to check it out - because I knew it was going to be good - and because I was curious.

Crow Call is based on a real life experience of Lois Lowry as a young girl. This book is about a young girl and her connection to her father, who has just returned from the war. She and her father set out on an autumn morning in Pennsylvania and share some cherry pie in town. Then they go out in hills and call the crows. Having lived in Chicago my whole life, I never heard of crow calling. So this was educational for me too.

Since Ricky is a soon-to-be 5 year old boy, he was a bit bored by this book. I think he might be too young for it and doesn't really appreciate the book's merits quite yet. He knows about war from Star Wars but we haven't told him about the actual world wars yet - and the killing, death, etc. He also has no concept of being apart from either of his parents for more than just a day while he sleeps at grandma's house. Living in Chicago, he has gone to the park several times, but has never been out in the woods or anything close to the beautiful Pennsylvania hills. Gosh, this book is pointing out so many things I have yet to show my son!

This book would be perfect for a girl who is ages 6 to 8. I will definitely read this book to my son when he is bit older and can appreciate it. As a young girl, I know I would have loved this book myself. The story is sweet and the illustrations are breathtaking.

Scholastic Press, 2009

The Elevator Man by Stanley Trachtenberg, Illustrated By Paul Cox

I got this book from the library for Ricky. I was attracted to it because of the illustration style. This book is about a little boy who is friends with the Elevator Man. The building's elevator is renovated and the Elevator Man gets a promotion to Doorman.

I was worried that Ricky would be bored during some parts, but he was at full attention the whole time. This book was good because it struck up a conversation about the whole elevator man thing. Riding an elevator is probably one of Ricky's favorite things to do when we go anywhere - specifically, pressing the button.

I explained to Ricky that old elevators needed an elevator man, and we talked about condos, and hotels and the number of floors on them, etc. etc. Actually there is one page where the illustrator shows several floors in a courtyard fashion - and all the people waiting for the elevator. In a nutshell, this book was a good tool for teaching Ricky about buildings and elevators. A Life Tool.

I appreciate this book because it gave us a topic that we wouldn't really talk about otherwise.

So in that sense, it's educational for little kids.

Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2009