Childrens books

Esme has enjoyed these recently:

The Mitten by Jan Brett.  Esme found this very funny, although I did the reading.  I told her the house was a lot like the one I grew up in (my grandparents, actually), with snow outside and mittens and a fireplace (ours was a woodburning stove) and Finnish/Norwegian decorations.

Alexander and the Wind Up Mouse by Leo Lionni.  We read this one tonight and Esme enjoyed it - especially after Alexander went to visit the magic lizard and got his 'quest' for the purple pebble.  She was a little sad he didn't get his dream, and was a little unhappy that he got a friend at the end - because she wants a friend, and it was mixed feelings.

Red Fox and his Canoe by Nathaniel Blanchert.  We are halfway to 2/3 through this and Esme is doing most of the reading on this one herself, thus the slowness.  The words get a bit harder as you go... she is sounding out some quite well and asking me about a lot of others.  Very fun - I remember this one from my own childhood.

Snow Trouble by Melinda Melton Crow.  Very low reading level - but a confidence builder as it was quick and she knew almost every word without guessing/sounding.  This was from the school library.

A Bug, a Bear and a Boy by David McPhail.  Fairly low reading level - she can read almost every word but it has some length to it so she is ready to be done when she gets to the last page.  This was from a library sale and she does like it quite a bit.