Four For Friday!

As promised, this week's Four For Friday is featuring four books that are recent favorites of my darling Sugar Bear. We all know toddlers LOVE repetition....and I have to say that I have read each of these books more times than I thought humanly possible.

1. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle- This is a classic. I am not ashamed to admit that I had been doing a search for over two years for a gently used board book. I am just so cheap frugal, and paying over $8 for a book is hard for me. Well, to be honest, paying over $4 for a book is hard for me. I can not properly describe my joy when I happened upon this perfect condition little honey in a Goodwill about a month ago for....are you ready?????.....FIFTY CENTS! Seriously, you would have think I won that Million Dollars I spoke of earlier this week. I am certain fellow Goodwill shoppers thought I had all sorts of mental illness, but I don't care. Sugar Bear took to this book right away. Some books take a few readings for her to accept, but not this one. She immediately fell in love with the tiered pages describing what that little caterpillar had to eat. Taking into account our love/hate relationship with caterpillars, I am thrilled that this one right here never leaves us itching.




2. Mommy Loves Her Bunny by Josephine Page- I am not sure who loves this book more, her or I, but this little precious one is enough to make any mama and child feel all fuzzy and warm inside. Unlike the others in this list, it is quite short with only 10 pages including the cover. It was perhaps one of the first books that Sugar Bear let me actually read the words to her. She likes how predictable each page is, and we both enjoy the darling illustrations. The sweet little mama and baby animal drawings make me want to reach through the book and squeeze them.


This page makes my Sugar smile, as I always ask her which piggie is nursing. She loves to point to the nursing piggie and say, "awwwwwwwww...piggie having na nas!" She can relate to those feelings so very much, and I think it helps her then relate more to the whole book.


The conclusion of the story always makes us snuggle in tight for a great big hug. I LOVE IT! I am starting to wonder if this is really a favorite of mine instead of my daughter??? OOPS! OH and I also got this book for $1 at the Goodwill, six or so months ago.



3. Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman- OH.MY.GOODNESS....how she loves this book. This one was given to me at a baby shower. I am not certain I paid much attention to it until a few weeks ago, when Sugar Bear picked it for one of her nap time reads. I immediately came up with some fun voices for the baby bird, dog and cow. I believe this was the first book where she really got into me reading in character. If I pause and try to let her fill in the words she struggles to get the character voice right and giggles when she is done. We have so much fun with this book and have read it most every night since that first day. Sugar Bear has for some time been interested in the whole, "lost my mama" thing. I think it stems from the "Wonder Pets". They are often trying to help a baby animal find it's mother. This book plays right into the theme, and Sugar loves watching the baby bird on the hunt for his mother.




4. Egg In The Hole by Richard Scarry- This was another Goodwill find this summer for $1 or so. I had a few Richard Scarry books as a child, and I just loved them, especially the illustrations. This particular book appeals to Sugar Bear's love of all things FARM. As you may know, Sugar is quite the farm girl. She is a huge admirer of all the animals and is willing to jump right in and get dirty. This book takes us on the adventure of helping Henny find her lost egg. There are many characters for me to act out, and my girl delights in the barnyard fun. It is a fun little book that was well loved by it's previous owners, and we now know why.



Thank you for letting me share our recent favorites. I'd love any book recommendations. What do your kids love? What were your favorites as a child? Please share.