our little bookworm!

Amelia signed up for the "Catch the Reading Bug" Summer reading program at the library. The girl loves to read, so it seemed like a no brainer to take advantage of the program that offers prizes, Rascal's tickets, Red Robin meals, etc. for reading.  As an added bonus, I've been much more diligent about getting her to the library at least once a week, sometimes twice!  This, of course, is more for my own sanity, since each book we check out ends up getting read approximately 15 times each day, no exaggeration.  She has enjoyed visiting various library branches and picking out lots of new books at each visit.  This past week, we met the first mini-goal, which was to read 20 books.  Amelia was very proud to hand over her reading log to the librarian, fascinated by the ant stamp she put on the paper, but then had zero interest in picking out a prize.  Mostly, this was because she got sidetracked by the little club house available at the library for the kids to play in. After some prodding, she chose a little handheld butterfly game which she finally showed some interest in once we got in the car to go home.  

I am very much a "judge-a-book-by-its-cover" kind of girl, so that is how we've chosen most of the books for Amelia.  If one or both of us is intrigued by the cover, in the bag it goes, assuming of course that it is an appropriate length.  We are at a weird stage where she is past many board books, but still too little to pay attention for books that are much more lengthy.  Needless to say, we've had some real duds.  But, in case you are looking for some new books to try, here is a list of some of our top favorites from the 33 new books we've read so far this summer (many of these will probably end up on Amelia's Christmas list too!):

1. Bittle (especially great if you are a dog/cat lover)

2. Ivan the Terrier (see above, especially if you have a "challenging" dog like us)

3. Hiding (Seriously, I think this book has been read 9985 times in 5 days AND Amelia can recite parts of the book).

4. Truck Stuck (really cute with funny rhymes and pictures)

5. How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night? (this is a pretty popular book that I see everywhere but never really paid attention to.  When I finally picked it up, it was great!  Amelia loves it and has learned some about dinosaurs and now she loves them!)

6. How Do Dinosaurs Get Well Soon? (see above)

7. There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly (once Amelia got over the initial shock of the lady eating all of her beloved animals, she really liked it and got good at figuring out the next animal to head to the lady's see-through belly.  And then EVERY TIME we got to the page of the "dead" woman flat on her back after eating the horse, Amelia would look very concerned, point to the lady and say, "uh-oh".