Kid's Book Review: Matilda

Matilda

Written by Roald Dahl  |  Illustrated by Quentin Blake

Reviewed by Isabelle (age 7)

Drawing by Isabelle

Taryn's Home Library

"So please, oh PLEASE, we beg, we pray, go throw your TV set away. And in its place you can install, a lovely bookshelf on the wall." — Roald Dahl

I would be lying if I said that a great deal of thought went into establishing spaces for reading in my home.  They just kind of... evolved.  We have a ton of books, we spend a lot of time reading, and we needed places to store the books and read them.  Three corners of our home have gradually become dedicated reading spaces.  

First, the living room.  We have an incredibly comfortable (if not incredibly attractive) easy chair in the corner of our living room.  This is usually where I read with my kids.  

Book of the Week: This is the Way to the Moon

Text and images by Sarah

This book is a recent favorite in our house.  We have a couple others from Sasek's "This is" series and a  few more on our wish list, but this particular book was a Christmas gift for my toddler, from last year.  You may have heard of buying clothes in advance for kids, well I buy books in advance.  

This year over Christmas, we went to the Houston Space Center and it definitely made an impression on both of our kids.  I was surprised by how much of an impression it made on my 2.5 year old since I think things can be hit or miss at that age, especially depending on their mood of the day. Since the trip he has been making all things blast off and has been even more interested in rockets and astronauts. When I got this "space book" off of our bookshelf he was thrilled.

Sarah's Reading Philosophy: Enjoy It

This is a picture of my two kids during a photo shoot we had last summer, and it is probably my favorite of the shoot because it captured this moment where the two of them are reading one of their favorite books, Should I Share my Icecream? from the Elephant & Piggie series by Mo Willems. They are both engaged by the story and are calmly sitting with each other, which was magical.

When it comes to my reading philosophy, the bottom line is that I want my kids to love reading. In addition to enjoying the many noted benefits of reading, I want my kids to enjoy the process.

I want them to look forward to going to a book store or library and finding books on topics that they are currently interested in.  I want there to be times when they are so excited about what they are going to discover in a new book that they can't wait to crack it open. To experience the way a new book has increased their imagination or taught them a lesson, and then share that with a friend or sibling.

I want them to see books and reading as fun and exciting vs boring or hard work.

How do I go about achieving these goals? Well, it is certainly a work in progress at our home but these are a few things that work for us:

Taryn's Reading Philosophy: The Chocolate Touch

                            

I believe that a love of reading is learned.  Children need to be introduced to great books, taken to the library, wander around bookstores, have conversations about the concepts, stories, and characters they find in books.  We can each make reading a conscious part of our family culture.  I'm still figuring out exactly what that means, but here are three things that are working for us.  At least for right now.

Readers of Books

Hi Friends!

Welcome to Tee & Penguin, a place where we share a lot about kids books and reading, as well as some of our thoughts on our favorite kids toys. We are both passionate about reading and finding good books to read with our kids.

Our goal is to raise "readers of books" and enjoy ourselves in the process. We will be sharing book recommendations, giving tips on how to start and build a home library, and give insights into what works for our families when it comes to reading and play.

We believe in making reading and play meaningful and fun. There are so many toys and books to choose from that we wanted to create a resource for families to reference when looking for that perfect book for your 2 year old or finding a wonderful gift for your child's best friend.

We believe in kids being creators, inventors, builders, thinkers, problems solvers and good citizens and we think that reading and play are an important part of how they become those things.