Week 7 of the Library Club

Catherine and I returned to the library probably for the last time this summer. I wanted a batch of books with a return date that got us through to school. These are due 26 August … right after school starts.

It has been a fun summer watching her grow as a reader. She already likes to read and often picks up something “just because,” so it isn’t about the technical skill of reading. No, what I’ve enjoyed is watching her learn how she can explore. It’s that little  voice inside her that is gaining strength and says “let’s go look for something about X.” For the second week in a row, Catherine headed straight to the online catalog. She wanted to look for “more scary books.” I thought I was onto something when our branch didn’t have a book she wanted and I told her we could ask for another library to send it. Nope. We’re still into instant book gratification.

She has also started learning how to “read” the shelves. If she spots a book she already knows and loves, she’ll stop to pull out other books by the same author interest her. Sometimes one grabs her; sometimes it doesn’t.

The only thing that induces a whine is my request that we find a chapter book. I still haven’t figured this out, because she LOVES chapter stories … and we had a request nearly every night last week to stay up longer so she could keep reading where we left off. Don’t get me wrong, we’re not rushing away picture books – we enjoy reading them together and Catherine will read many of them to us. Still, I want her to begin expanding her options. So what did we get? Here goes …

Punk Farm by Jarrett J. Krosoczka – Catherine picked this one out. “Mom, Mrs. H. read this to us in Kindergarten.” And then she proceeded to ask me to hold the book so she could play her “library voice” air guitar. She had borrowed this one a lot from the school library after they read it in class.

Swift by Robert J. Blake – I picked this one. Yes, mom can be lured in by covers.

A Williamsburg Household by Joan Anderson (photographer George Ancona) – Catherine picked this one. I’d bet anything that it’s the cover photo that grabbed her.

Superhero ABC by Bob McLeod – Another favorite from school.

Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey – The next title in my effort to get those Top 30 picture books read.

Ivy and Bean by Annie Barrows (Ill. Sophie Blackall) – “Aw Mom, I don’t want a chapter book.” Well, that didn’t last long … three pages in she was hooked!

Jokelopedia: The Biggest, Best, Silliest, Dumbest Joke Book Ever by Ilana Weitzman, et al. (Ill. Mike Wright) – Catherine picked this one, and I’m glad. We needed some new material!

What’s next? The school library. I’m really anxious to see if some of the fun Catherine had this summer translates to her use of the school library. Now that she’s a second grader she’ll have a little more freedom to explore the library … let’s keep our fingers crossed.