New library books

Despite not having posted for aaaages, we have been reading every night although not as much as we should be. This is because I've been crocheting something that has to be finished next week. We've also been making things from Recycling Things to Make and Do - checkout our (my) castle desk tidy (I decided to spray paint it in front of Ben after all and he couldn't have cared less). How skinny are those legs?!

We went to the library yesterday and only borrowed 5 books as I found we weren't getting through 10 (and the overdue fines turned out to be hideous). We read 3 of these books last night, the first being Little Sisters Are..., which we have already had but had to have again. And still, the 'little sisters are bitey' page is immensely popular. You may reclal that the first time I read this story to Ben he was upset by the illustration of a little sister chomping into a visibly distressed bigger sister's arm. But this time around he considered the page with complete glee.

We also read Willy the Champ. A bad selection for a 2.5 year old - Ben just didn't get it. It's about bullying so I'll borrow it again in 6 years' time (hopefully not). We also read Peepo! which I had never read before, despite the backcover boasting that it is "'The BEST book ever published for babies' - Books For Your Children". I don't agree with this claim but then again Ben isn't a baby which is perhaps why he didn't like it either.

So I only have 2 books left to try on him tonight: How to be a Baby by Me the Big Sister and Curious George Catches a Train.

Little sisters are... is by Beth Norling

Willy the champ is by Anthony Browne

Peepo! is by Janet & Allan Ahlberg

The best $13.95 I've spent in a while

We are now the happy owners of the best activity book in the world - Recycling things to make and do. I bought it at around 1pm yesterday at the Botantic Gardens bookshop and it has kept us occupied for at least 3 of the 30 hours that have since elapsed! I knew it was a top purchase when the guy working at the shop told me sotto voce "this is a really good book".

The book shows you how to make things using stuff you have lying around home and in your recyling bin. I've been hoarding shiny paper, wrapping paper, ribbon, small cartons and wool of varied textures for the last 10 years, just waiting for a book like this to come along. Last night Ben and I made 3 robots from the 'Robot Collage' page. We used cardboard, shiny paper, pipe cleaners and ribbon that was wrapped around a bunch of flowers. Grandma Bo and Papa Karl came over today and were ushered into Ben's room to admire the 'bots as soon as they arrived.

Then this morning I was woken up and dragged to the kitchen table to make a 'Castle desk tidy'. It's a work in progress but I will post a picture when we've finished. We have used the bottom of a nappy box, a Sirena tuna box, 2 toilet rolls and half a Vita Weets box. I'm going to incorporate some egg cartons and Tamar Valley mini yoghurts plastic in the design too. The instructions suggest spray-painting the boxes once you've assembled them in castle formation, which I really want to do because I have red spray paint, but then again I don't think Benji could cope with the excitement of spray-painting.

Now I'm in a complete recycling zone - checking out anything and everything lying around the house and wondering what little marvel could be made out of it. I wonder whether the Reverse Garbage Truck still exists?

Recycling Things to Make and Do is by Emily Bone and Leonie Pratt and designed and illustrated by Josephine Thompson

Where's my teddy?

We have read most of the books we currently have on loan from the library and so far Where's My Teddy? is Ben's second-favourite. The Birthday Box is still leading the charge.

I selected this book because it was one of my favourites for preschool storytime. It's about Eddy who loses his teddy called Freddy in the dark woods. Eddy bravely goes into the woods to look for Freddy but his fear turns to confusion when he comes across a gigantic teddy sitting in a clearing. He's trying to work out how Freddy got so big when he hears loud crying - it's a big brown bear looking for his own teddy. And tucked under the big brown bear's arm is Freddy!

So Eddy and the big brown bear do a quick swap - they're clearly scared of each other - and then run home to their snuggly beds. I adore the illustrations on the last page which show the big brown bear in bed clutching his teddy and then Eddy in bed clutching Freddy, both with looks on their faces as if to say "That was close!".

Turning to my new Good Book For A 2yo Boy Checklist, this book rhymes, has a scary part, requires the reader to shout "HELP!" and ends with bedtime (albeit uneasily). The illustrations deserve special mention because Eddy's emotions are clearly visible as he goes into the woods, finds the gigantic teddy, swaps bears and lands in bed. There's also an illustration of the dark, empty woods at the start and the end of the story which we ponder over for a minute or two, wondering what's in there...


And just to prove how much Benji loves this book he interrupted me during the writing of this paragraph to read Where's My Teddy?. We have also been reading No More Bottles For Bunny and the enigmatic Potty Time. More about them next time.

Where's My Teddy? is by Jez Alborough

Camping (and books)

We are back from our 5-day Easter camping extravanganza and I am pleased to say we had a great time. Ben took to outdoor life like a duck to water which meant I had a great time too - even got to have a snooze in the hammock! We went to a place called the Glasshouse on the shores of Lake Tyers, about 20km past Lakes Entrance. No running water, no toilets but lots and lots of fresh clean air and sunshine.

I knew nature would keep Benji entertained, nonetheless I took some toy cars, playdough, a full pencil case, a battery-operated DVD player with 3 DVDs (including Madagascar), a colouring book and a pile of softcover books. He ended up playing with everything but the cars and I am hoping some wombat isn't choking on dried up playdough pellets aka 'cakes' as we speak.

I didn't want the books to get wrecked so they weren't allowed to leave the tent, which was in fact a camper trailer. What a godsend and a must for toddler-camping! Happily the books returned home intact - we didn't take library ones just in case.

The days were filled with Ben pottering around having the time of his life: playing on the beach, in the sand dunes, by the lake, driving the car (yes, Ian gave him a driving lesson), trotting around after his heroes Birdie and Carol and lots of hammering and tinkering with the bolts, screws and handles hanging off the camper trailer. On Sunday morning we had an Easter egg hunt which went down well as one would expect. Everything a 2 year old boy could ask for!

After his evening socialising round the campfire we trekked off to the tent for bedtime storytime with our old friends Ernie, Rosie, Hairy Maclary, Spot, etc. I was very glad he had something familiar to fall asleep with as even the pyjamas he was wearing were new ones I had bought for cold nights.

Sadly we didn't see much wildlife, which I attribute to the presence of lots of family pets. At one point we spotted someone's Jack Russell halfway up a tree - hilarious, but not if you're a bird. Oh well, at least the Easter Bunny found us!

Happy to Ben!

Last week was one full of illness and disappointments but we made it to this week, largely thanks to a successful library visit last Tuesday followed by a quick trip to Bunnings (this is relevant, believe me - all will be revealed). So far we've only managed to read a few of our borrowings because we are stuck on book 3 - the most popular so far by a country mile - The Birthday Box.

The Birthday Box is about a boy, dressed in nothing but a nappy, who gets a box for his birthday. There is a puppy in the box, which the little boy is happy about, but it is the box that he is truly thrilled to receive. He takes the puppy on adventures through the skies and across the sea in his new box. He turns it into a robot costume and then kits it out with some pillows and a blanket. The story ends with the little boy settling into the box for a nap with his puppy, saying how lucky he is to have been given a box.

This is book has everything that Benji is into: birthdays, birthday cake, the "Happy Birthday to You"* song and boxes. It was during our Bunnings trip that I grabbed a Benji-sized box at the checkout and loaded our stuff into it. Before we even sat down to read this book Ben was all over - and in - the Bunnings box. We have since read The Birthday Box many times and it's now no.1 toy...

*Benji has taken the liberty of shortening "Happy Birthday to You" to "Happy to Ben". It is just wonderful to overhear him singing "Happy to Ben" to himself.

The Birthday Box is by Leslie Patricelli

Magnificent Mister Magnolia and Scoot!

Today started well with everyone happily ensconced at childcare and work but at around 2pm things declined when childcare called to say Benji was sick and needed to be picked up. He was overjoyed to see me and overjoyed to get home which made me think he'd just orchestrated his first sickie, but a few hours later even Madagascar, neither movie nor book, could keep him happy.

So tonight I selected 3 short books to read at bedtime. Ben picked Spot Visits His Grandparents first and then I picked Scoot!.

I thought we'd give Scoot! another go because, as you may recall, I really liked it the first time but Benji didn't stick around to hear the second page onwards. This evening I had his full attention and so we got through Scoot! - and he liked it! It is about the animals, insects, birds and amphibians that live around a pond, in the middle of which live "silent turtles who sit still as stones".

The story features finches, salamanders and dragonflies and some brilliant illustrations which lend themselves to being counted. We counted the turtles on each page and pointed out the different animals. We are going camping by a lake in East Gippsland at Easter, where birds flock freely, so this book was great preparation for our upcoming holiday.

The third book I picked was Mister Magnolia. This wonderful book is about eccentric Mister Magnolia who has only one boot. He's also got 2 sisters who play the flute, a trumpet that goes rooty toot and a dinosaur - what a magnificent brute! But poor Mister Magnolia has only one boot. Benji and I counted the kids in the picture who are taken for a scoot (what a coincidence, there's that word again) and the owls in his bedroom who are learning to hoot. This story has a happy ending as Mister Magnolia is given a new bright sparkly cowboy boot - and then goes to bed.

I'm going to have to create a list of books that end with people going to sleep in bed soon, as well as another list of books where every character in the story is depicted in the picture on the last page (for example, The Waterhole and Who Sank the Boat?).

Scoot! is written and illustrated by Cathryn Fallwell

Mister Magnolia is written and illustrated by Quentin Blake

Visit to the op shop

We have been reading lots of books lately, with an emphasis on Rosie Sips Spiders, BANANA!, Who Sank the Boat?, Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy and Ernie Dances to the Didgeridoo. Spot's had a bit of airplay, but interest in him seems to be waning. Ben's getting too old for him now anyway.

The little gem you see on the left is the result of a visit to the op shop last week. Instead of coming out with doll's cradle, I left with a brand new copy of Madagascar Movie Storybook for $1. The movie is one of our favourites - can't quite say the same for the book which contains about 0.05% of what's in the movie.

That's a bit unfair of me really because it is a picture book after all. It has got some of Marty the Zebra's great lines in it that I can do in my best Chris Rock voice as well as the lead penguin's "Cute and cuddly boys, cute and cuddly". Benji giggles through most of this book, which I abridge even further such that we launch between one quote to the next - no storyline to speak of. Best of all are the illustrations - isn't that usually the case? - which are 1960s Golden Book style. We've had at least an hour of entertainment from this book already, which isn't bad for $1.

Sadly our library books are going to cost us more than that because we didn't get to the library last Wednesday and I keep forgetting to renew them. We'll take them back this Wednesday instead and get a new batch, which must include Mr Gumpy's Outing or Mr Gumpy's Motor Car or anything else by John Burningham.

NannaAnne's present

It was with great fanfare that NannaAnne stopped by on her way home from work yesterday with a present - which was a very big book! The Wind-up Plane Book comes with a wind-up toy plane which you can see it in the bottom right hand corner of the picture. Several pages have a track built in so that you can wind up the plane and race across the page. Ben can't yet wind but loves the racing part. And what's more, the story is about a boy called Ben who is going on his first plane trip with his mum and dad and baby sister.

This evening we contemplated the double page map of the world at length. We have a couple of globes on the front hall table so Ben is aware of maps and happily he is taken with this one. I think this is probably due to my brother Nick's trip home from London in January, because I was able to show him where Nick and his girlfriend Anna both live. He seems fascinated that we live at the bottom of the map and they live at the top. Just wait until we get to the parts about how baggage handlers do their job!

I must add the Magic Pudding to my to-buy list because we went to the Children's Garden today at the Botanic Gardens and Ben had a great time climbing all over the sculpture of same. It's a shame I cut the Magic Pudding out of the photo - I laugh just looking at him because he's such a grumpy old boot.

Ben's in his nappy because they've turned the water feature back on - hooray!!! I have to say that garden is the best place for 2 year olds in Melbourne, without any shadow of a doubt.

Wind-up plane book is by Gillian Doherty and illustrated by Stefano Tognetti

The Magic Pudding: being the adventures of Bunyip Bluegum and his friends Bill Barnacle and Sam Sawnoff is written and illustrated by Norman Lindsay

The Elephant and the Bad Baby

Well it appears our diagnosis of hand, foot and mouth was wrong because although Ben was still under the weather yesterday, this morning he seemed okay. So I dropped him off at childcare and drudged off to work despite feeling rotten myself (I'm certain I have the adult version of it sans the spots). I went for some fresh air at lunchtime and made a beeline to Readers' Feast.

I bought Benji The Elephant and The Bad Baby, having lurked around the Australian picture book section for a few minutes, flicking through classics such as Wombat Stew and Possum Magic. I was on the verge of buying the latter but the thought of explaining the concept of invisibility to him was more than I could bear.

I distinctly remember that our childhood friends the Hewetts had this book and that we read it over and over again. I also distinctly remember being horrified at the bad baby's bad manners. In the story, the bad baby hitches a ride with an elephant and they both go rumpeta rumpeta rumpeta through the town, stopping off at various shops and helping themselves to ice creams, pies, buns, chips, chockie bikkies, lollipops and apples*.

The elephant becomes upset because the bad baby doesn't say "please" when he is offered the goodies. But this upset is nothing compared to the anger the shop keepers feel as they chase the bad baby and elephant down the street because they haven't been paid. Paying for things you buy at the shop, by the way, is definitely a concept that Ben understands because I make him give our corner milkbar owner 65 cents each time he buys a Freddo frog.

This story is just like Hairy Maclary From Donaldsons Dairy, My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes and The Wonky Donkey in that it introduces a new character or story development at each turn of the page and builds upon itself (there must be a technical term for this kind of story). I love reading these rhyming building books more than anything because you can almost sing them - which gives me something to do (having read the book a hundred times) and it keeps Benji captivated too. He also studied Raymond Briggs' wonderful illustrations intently as the elephant and the bad baby exit each page to the right with the shopkeepers wielding things such as a shiny meat cleaver and spatula.

Clearly the message to the story is that it is bad not to say please and commandeer elephants to steal food from shops.

The Elephant and the Bad Baby gets a double thumbs up from me. Ben listened to the whole story without wriggling, but as soon as we'd finished it he demanded Love That Baby! and chortled the whole way through it. He's such a softie! He's going to be devastated when we return it to the library on Wednesday.


* I like that a healthy food is tacked onto the end of the list as an afterthought. And threatening babies and animals with meat cleavers and spatulas? Clearly this book was written decades ago (1969 to be precise). How refreshing...


The Elephant and the Bad Baby is by Elfrida Vipont and illustrated by Raymond Briggs
Wombat Stew is by Marcia K Vaughn and illustrated by Pamela Lofts
Possum Magic is by Mem Fox and illustrated by Julie Vivas

Poor little B

Since Friday afternoon Ben has been whiney and tired and refusing to eat, and voila! spots (not the canine kind) have tonight appeared on his throat and his hands. Ian and I have made an internet-assisted diagnosis of hand, foot and mouth, largely suggested by the signs appearing in the childcare centre this week announcing that it's spreading around. We've done well I suppose to have avoided it for so long. Lucky I brought heaps of work home to do this weekend - looks like no work for me on Monday.

So it's been a tough day and the only time he quietened was to eat his Trampoline ice cream, watch Over the Hedge and then to read Rosie Sips Spiders, Wibbly Pig Likes Bananas and Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy. In fact he smiled during HMDD, but not the ice cream.

We read Little Sisters Are... last night and it didn't go down too well. He did not like the page where the little sister bites the older sibling at all, and seemed to disapprove of the remainder of the story. I on the other hand found it amusing and will have to track down Little Brothers are... to see what he thinks of brothers' antics.

Fingers crossed that the poor little guy feels a bit better tomorrow. Apparently HFM comes with a very sore throat so what a great excuse for more ice cream.

Little Sisters Are... is by Beth Norling

Bottomley Potts all covered in Spots

We read 4 Spot books tonight and Ben was asleep within 2 minutes of me putting the last one down. Believe it or not I choose Spot because a) Ben clocked up a meagre 10 minutes of sleep today and was exhausted and b) consequently I am exhausted and travelling interstate very early tomorrow morning so wanted something that I can recite with my eyes closed. Which unsurprisingly I could, as could he (he read Spot Goes on Holiday, kind of).


And did you know Spot is 30 years old this year? I visited http://www.funwithspot.com/ today which I will show Ben as soon as I get home tomorrow night. I am seriously considering purchasing the 30th anniversary teal-coloured foil special edition of Where's Spot? and oh my goodness, Spot's Birthday Balloon would make his day!

We didn't get to the library today because we had a lot on. But I checked our borrowings online and they are not due until next week anyway. Which is good because we've lost Scoot! and we are still enjoying Love That Baby! Speaking of babies, we met a completely gorgeous newish baby today and Ben was fascinated because he was drinking milk from his "mummy's tummy". We haven't managed to read our other baby book "Little Sisters Are..." that we borrowed from the library yet but will do so after perused funwithspot.com tomorrow.

Old favourites

We went away for the long weekend to the beach and took a bundle of books with us - you know, the usuals: Who Sank the Boat, Spot Visits his Grandparents, Ernie Dances to the Didgeridoo, Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy and The Wonky Donkey. We also took 2 new instant favourites, Rosie Sips Spiders and Hairy Maclary's Bone. I must hunt for another beach book along the lines of Grandpa and Thomas and the Green Umbrella - actually maybe Magic Beach would be good given our current penchant for Alison Lester, although from memory it's not about beaches.

Ian did the reading last night. The pile by the side of the bed revealed a few additions to the those listed above, including an In the Night Garden book which we read again when we woke up this morning (it's one about the Tomliboos playing a happy waving game which lends itself to some great sound effects... haaaaaaaaaaaahoooooooooooooooooooo).

Tonight we revisited Things I Like, plus a few of those listed above which I really must start abbreviating, eg. WSTB, EDD and HMDD. We have developed a few little games for storytime - each story is prefaced with Benji saying "Ready... Set... GO!" which is a cue for me to open the first page really quickly with pretend fumbling and fussing which just cracks him up. And now he adds a grandiose "The End" to each story before he leans over to select the next cab off the rank.

I was thinking during Things I Like that I also need to find a story about cleaning up. Benji is going through a real bin and throwing-out-rubbish phase, evidenced by great fanfare when we turn to the bin page. There's also a bin in HMDD which draws especial attention. Oh, now I remember that we have Harry the Dirty Dog that Amy and Ned gave us with Stick Man so that's a good start. So, my shopping list for our next library visit, which is tomorrow (yay!), contains books about beaches and bins.

Trip to Readers' Feast

I went to Readers' Feast today at lunchtime and bought Benji two new books - Rosie Sips Spiders and Hairy Maclary's Bone. We read each book twice at bedtime as well as Who Sank the Boat once, just for old time's sake.

I was looking for the Hairy Maclary books when Rosie Sips Spiders leaped out at me. I grabbed it after flicking through it and realising that it had the same layout as one of our faves, Ernie Dances to the Didgeridoo, in that it also features 6 children, including one called Ernie, who share various aspects of their lives with us on each page. The spiders Rosie sips are of the fizzy icecream drink variety, which Ben has never had, so as far as he's concerned it's called Rosie Sips Milkshakes.

It wasn't until I started to read the blurb on the back cover that the penny dropped that Rosie Sips Spiders and Ernie Dances to the Didgeridoo are actually part of a 6-part series... excellent! Four more excuses to buy Ben books.

He liked Rosie Sips Spiders more than Hairy Maclary's Bone. He dragged his finger across each page, pointing at each child and making the occasional observation as to what they were doing. Frank flying his rocket to the moon was a popular picture and we had a giggle when we saw Ernie's bum while he was having a shower under a tree.

Hairy Maclary's Bone features Hairy's canine friends getting stuck in awkward places while trying to snatch his bone from him. Hercules gets stuck in a sign, Muffin in a hedge, Bottomley in some fishing baskets, Bitzer in some builder's rubbble and Schnitzel on an old stone wall. Poor old Schnitzel just can't take a trick.

Another penny has dropped as to the type of illustrations that Benji likes, those being simple and colourful drawings (Sometimes... is an exception to this). I tried to read 2 of our library books - Scoot! and We're Sailing to the Galapagos - to him earlier this week but he wasn't the slightest bit interested. This was to my dismay because I thought they were both completely ace in terms of both story and illustrations, which are paper collages. I had selected Scoot! because it has onomatopoeia AND alliteration in it (Liz did we learn about them in year 7 or 8 English? Maybe it's more primary school level, I can't remember). And I had selected We're Sailing to the Galapagos because I want to sail to the Galapagos and see the blue-footed boobies.

Anyway, no matter, I will make a note of them and try them again in 6 months' time.

Rosie Sips Spiders is by Alison Lester

Hairy Maclary's Bone is by Lynley Dodd

Scoot! is by Cathryn Falwell

We're Sailing to the Galapagos is by Laurie Krebs and illustrated by Grazia Restelli

Hairy Maclary et al

I haven't posted for a while but that's not to say we haven't been reading - we've been reading all of our library books over and over again and then some more! We've been reading so much that after we read our bedtime stories I fall asleep when Benji does.

Our latest favourite has to be "Cairy" aka Hairy Maclary From Donaldson's Dairy. Be warned though, even though this story ends with a cute little dog curled up in bed, it is NOT a bedtime story - especially if you read it with a lot of oompf - and how could you not given its ending?

It starts with Hairy Maclary going for a walk down his street, collecting on his way Hercules Morse as big as a horse, Bottomley Potts covered in spots, Muffin McLay like a bundle of hay, Bitzer Maloney all skinny and bony and Schnitzel von Krumm with the very low tum. That's Bitzer to the right and Muffin McLay below.

They're all out enjoying their walk when they encounter Scarface Claw the toughest tom in town who scares the living daylights out of them such that they turn around and hurtle home. I can't help but read this page with noisy bluff and bluster - "Off with a yowl and a wail and a howl, went Schnitzel von Krumm with the very low tum, Bitzer Maloney all skinny and bony, Muffin Mclaylike a bundle of hay..." and through the list a scampering dogs we go!

Benji loves it! And then it takes about half an hour for him to settle down and get to sleep. Which is a bit annoying but far be it from me to tell him he can't read the book he wants to read the most. And of course to the right we have Schnitzel von Krumm departing his salubrious surrounds...

There is a whole series of Hairy Maclary books. I still have my Readers' Feast voucher, and it's work Friday tomorrow, so I will nick down there at lunchtime and pick him out another one. And one final bit to say in favour of this great story - I remember Hairy being one of my little sister's favourites when she was small - and she's now 23. Hi Amy!!

Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy is by Lynley Dodd.

Love that baby!

"A book about babies for new brothers, sisters, cousins and friends" - we have found a little gem in Love That Baby!

Benji just adores it and so do I. It is not a story, it's more of an instruction manual for little kids on how to handle a new baby. It is divided into chapters on topics such as feeding, baby talk, crying and sleeping and provides little tips for kids such as "If your baby grabs something of yours, the chances are it will go right in her mouth and come back to you all wet and yucky". Ha! So true... and this pearler "Babies wee in their nappies because they don't know or care about toilets...".

I found particularly insightful the tips on how to stop a baby from crying, like holding it up in front of a mirror or a running tap (maybe not so realistic with stage 3a water restrictions). Ben seems to like the page where various excuses are offered for why babies cry, such as "My tummy is sore", "I've done poos" and "I'm tired and want to go to sleep". He also likes the games page showing peekabo and This Little Piggy, offering his toes for a tickle.

As for the illustrations, Benji loves the baby on the rug, which - if you will permit me to show off something I learnt at library school - is on the verso of the title page. And he breaks into a huge smile when we get to the series of peekabo pictures. We've read this book countless times already and it's even done a trip to IKEA.

Books have become an integral part of our daily routine now. We read a few books in the morning, a couple before Ben's afternoon sleep on stay-at-home days and then we read lots at night. He reminds me about them where we're getting his pyjamas on even. In the last few weeks he's been sitting down by himself reading one when I've picked him up from childcare. Good work Benji!

Love that baby! is by Kathryn Lasky and illustrated by Jennifer Plecas

Bedtime storytime at Hawthorn Library

For something completely different, Benji and I went to bedtime storytime at Hawthorn Library tonight, along with around 30 other kids, mums and dads. All the kids were in their pyjamas and carrying teddies, snuggled up with their parents on big leather beanbags and listening intently to the stories Rita the librarian was reading.

Meanwhile Benji was roaring around the Australian history section, through the folios, to the old photocopier room and back again. Thankfully Ian turned up 10 minutes later and calmed him down so that we could join the other families and listen to the last story which was about penguins.

Storytime was capped off with everyone making a circle and holding hands, singing a song that I'd never heard before, a la the Hokey Pokey. Benji was in the middle of the circle doing some kind of Cossack dancing.

Afterwards we, as in Ian and I, did an activity which was colouring in a whale, cutting it out and taping a straw for a blowhole which you could fill with water to spurt out. We did a sensational job of our whale as you can see, with Ben contributing about 2 minutes out of his busy schedule to colour in the spots at the bottom and add a few stripes.

Bedtime storytime is a monthly event at each of the Boroondara libraries and despite Ben's less than impressive performance, we will take him again. He loved being amongst other kids, who were all older, and proudly showed off his stuffed toy puffin to them. It was a very enjoyable evening.

Insofar as yesterday's borrowings go, the big hit so far has been the Ahlbergesque Love That Baby! More about it next time...

Fun visit to the library

I had every intention last night of posting what we had just read but fell asleep about 5 seconds after putting down the last book. So Benji and I had a lovely 10 hour sleep together and consequently we've been in top form today!


Last night's repetoire comprised a Spot book, My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes and The Wonky Donkey. Since our ebay purchasing junket we have been playing the My Cat Likes to Hide in Bokez game which goes something like:

Kate: "The cat from Spain flew an aeroplane but my cat liks to hide in..."

Benji: "BOKEZ!!!"


And so on and on and on, through France and Norway then via Berlin to Greece and way across to Japan and then crossing the equator down to Brazil.

The star of the night was The Wonky Donkey. Erin and Edward gave it to Benji for his 2nd birthday, which is funny because they gave him My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes for his 1st birthday. It's a doozy although Benji doesn't quite get it. It starts with "I was walking down the road and I saw a donkey, HEE HAW! and he only had three legs! He was a wonky donkey". Then it is revealed the donkey has one eye and likes country music, which makes him a honky-tonky winky wonky donkey. Then we find out he's tall and slim, so he's a lanky honky-tonky winky wonky donkey. I never realised that there are so many nky-ending words in the english language.

I love reading this tongue-twister of a book. It rhymes, I get to express myself with a tremendous HEE HAW! on every page and - Benji will love this one day - it has a fart joke in it. The illustrations are great too.

Our 10 hour sleep resulted in a lovely trip to the library this morning. Benji spent quite a while jumping on the beanbags in the children's area before settling down to read a few stories. We stayed for about an hour and have made a list on the right side of the page of what we borrowed. You cant go wrong when 3 out of your 10 books' titles end with an exclamation mark. I am especially looking forward to Crusher is Coming! and Mister Magnolia, while Benji has his sights on Wibbly Pig Likes Bananas. Which is fine, so long as it gives us break from the omnipresent Spot. His cutesy puppy dog antics are beginning to get on my nerves...

On the receiving end of Spot

On both Saturday and Sunday nights I had the pleasure of Ben reading Spot to me. It was interesting to see which things he had picked up along the way - the most emphatically read page was from Spot Goes on Holiday where Spot tries to swipe a towel from the hippopotamus getting changed in the bathing box. I was pretty impressed with his intonation.

This evening we went to the park after dinner and then had to go and pick up an ebay purchase past Springvale Rd. Benji was getting a bit restless in the back of the car so I promised him some stories when we got home and then we then recited My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes which passed the time rather well.

Tonight we had 3 stories, oldies but goodies: Who Sank the Boat, My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes and Grandpa and Thomas and the Green Umbrella. The next 2 days are home days (carless, panel beater, oops) so we will walk to the library and borrow a big stack of picture books. Which reminds me, I'm going to go to the library's website now to check the catalogue to see that Avocado Baby and The Elephant and the Bad Baby are on the shelf. Oh yes and how could I forget, Crusher is Coming! - now that is a top read!

I was a children's librarian at Hawthorn Library before I was a lawyer. It was such fun, especially preschool storytime on Fridays at 11am with Bec. How can I ever forget us being halfway through a story when 4 year old Sally called out to Bec and I "I'll show you my bum later if you want". None of the kids got it but the mums up the back had a good laugh. I wonder what she's doing now, 12 years later? Hopefully not showing people her bum...

I will have to change my work days once Benji is capable of sitting still for 3 stories in a row just so that we can go to preschool storytime. He would love it.

Avocado Baby is by John Burningham

The Elephant and the Bad Baby is by Elfrida Vipont and illustrated by Raymond Briggs

Crusher is Coming! is by Bob Graham

A counting book: take 2

I got out of the shower this morning and heard noises from the bedroom. "Banana... banana... BANANA!!!", Ian was reading BANANA! to Benji who had planted himself in the middle of the following (clockwise from top left corner):

1. The 12 Days of Christmas

2. Ernie Dances to the Didgeridoo

3. BANANA!

4. Spot Visits his Grandparents

5. Who Sank the Boat?

6. Grandpa and Thomas and the Green Umbrella

7. Spot Goes on Holiday

The two 'books' in the foreground are a sticker book and a colouring book and despite protestations, they are not for reading. Minutes later we were out the door and off to work/childcare.

This evening Benji chose Spot Goes on Holiday (it's wearing a bit thin B). I chose some newbies, Sometimes... and The Waterhole. Benji got Sometimes... for his 1st birthday and it is a sweet book, particularly the wonderful illustrations which look like lino cuts mixed with collage. It serves perfectly as a bedtime story with its short and simple storyline being a mum elephant telling her baby that she loves him whether he's happy or sad, good or bad, scared or brave, not knowing how to behave, dirty or clean, kind or mean. Wow now that I look through this book again, the illustrations are amazing. Wonder if they come in framed prints? I had a flashback to The Elephant and the Bad Baby while I was reading this book - that is definitely one to go in search for an add to Benji's bookshelf.

Next up was The Waterhole by Graeme Base which was given to Benji by none other than Katy the Children's Librarian. It's a counting book - 1 through to 10 - of animals who visit a waterhole to drink. The illustrations are also amazing yet completely different to Sometimes...'s in that they're really intricate and full of hidden surprises such as other animals and a gang of frogs. Benji loves the frogs and calls out "Frogs! Frogs!" as we turn each page.

But I get really sad when I read this book because as it progresses the water in the hole dwindles. By the last page, which shows 10 sad kangaroos standing around a dry waterhole, I am heartbroken. And that poor little frog with his suitcase in the bottom corner who turns his back on the waterhole... what will become of him?

Sometimes... is by Emma Dodd

The Waterhole is by Graeme Base

The 12 days of Christmas

Yes it's unseasonal and no, it doesn't have Santa in it, but I wanted to do a counting book and by complete coincidence Benji picked The 12 Days of Christmas to read tonight (amongst others). Sadly, we didn't get past the partridge as he took an instant dislike to it. He must have found out I bought it at The Reject Shop for $5.

We had back-up though in the form of: Who Sank the Boat? (again), Ernie Dances to the Didgeridoo (again) and Spot Visits His Grandparents. I think the latter needs no elaboration as to the storyline, nor Benji's predictable enjoyment of if, particularly as it was a work day today and a taxing one at that.

I am however delighted to report that the hitting, and aggression in general, stopped a week ago. It's a belated Christmas miracle!

Big book day

Busy day but fitted in lots of books... Benji is now doing what he did as a 15 month old which is head for the books first when he is looking for something to do.

First thing this morning he brought me BANANA! to read. Then a couple of hours later we did a Spot trilogy: Spot Goes on Holiday, Spot's First Walk and Spot Stays Overnight. I love Spot Stays Overnight, especially "Time for bed boys!" and "Hi Mum what do you want?" which I always read in a really whiney voice - "Awwwww muuuuuuuuuuuum... ". Spot is getting a bit too young for Ben now but it gives him confidence because he can name everything on the page, like bike, bone, bee and so on.

This evening we went out and got home late so I suggested we go to bed without a book but that didn't go down too well. So we bundled into bed with: BANANA! (I reiterate, not bedtime reading), 2 of the Spots, My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes and lastly Grandpa and Thomas and the Green Umbrella. I read BANANA! quietly and got some lovely smiles at the end when the monkeys shared the banana. Then the Spots - Ben had no energy to lift what flaps remain. Next was My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes which is always a winner with clever repetitive rhymes and a tour through a variety of countries. Then Grandpa and Thomas and the Green Umbrella which should be in our Top 5.


I bought this book at the Hill of Content after spending a lovely weekend by the Great Ocean Road last December. I wanted to reinforce the whole beach experience for Benji with a book and this one was the only one about beaches there, and now I think even if I'd been presented with a huge range of kids' books I couldn't have picked a better one. It's got all your beach paraphernalia in it: spades, buckets, umbrellas, sand, sticks, suncream, swimming, bathers and lots of beach.

Benji loves his Grandpas so it's not surprising he loves this book where Grandpa and toddler Thomas go to the beach for a day out. The lunch scene is a particular favourite, although I haven't managed to convince Ben that Grandpa's thermos isn't an icypole. Admittedly I don't read the text to this book, I make up my own from the pictures which are beautiful: golden sand, clear water and when the weather turns, blustery grey winds and rain.

In the last 24 hours Beniji's counting has improved immensely so I will steer him towards a counting book tomorrow.


BANANA! is by Ed Vere
The Spots are by Eric Hill
My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes is by Eve Sutton and illustrated by Lynley Dodd
Grandpa and Thomas and the Green Umbrella is by Pamela Allen

Each peach pear plum quince and 2 monkey stories

We walked down to the park after dinner this evening. On the way there we passed what I thought was a pear tree hanging over the footpath. It had lots of fruit on it and Benji thought it was pretty special.

We spent a lot of time outside today so by the time we got home Ben was pretty tired. I checked Google images to see what the fruit tree was - a quince - and we skipped bathtime and headed straight to bed, armed with Things I Like and Each Peach Pear Plum. I was going to pick only one book, being BANANA!, but thought it far better for daytime reading than bedtime reading, as it involves an argument between 2 monkeys over a banana which they ultimately share happily. It is a really fun book and I think it encourages empathy, because each time we read it Benji becomes quite forlorn when one of the monkeys doesn't get any banana after being promised some.

We read Each Peach Pear Plum first. We've had it for quite a while but have only read it once or twice, despite it rhyming. Tonight he listened quietly, making occasional observations as to what was going on (it wasn't easy explaining why there's a baby floating down the river in a bassinette).

The highlights were firstly, it had big juicy fruit trees in it - which we had just seen in real life an hour earlier! - and secondly, the page with the witch in the sky on a broomstick. Benji furrowed his brow when he looked at her so I explained she is just like Meg from Meg and Mog. To trigger his memory I recited that part of the book where Meg gets dressed and pointed out that this witch was wearing black socks, big black shoes, a long black cloak and a tall black hat. He got it, said "Flying" and then suddenly exclaimed "Careful!!" thinking she was going to fall out of the sky. It was a pretty cute moment.

We topped off a great day together with Things I Like, focussing on the birthday parties page and counting the cakes on the party table. The last page shows the monkey sleeping in his bed and saying that he likes dreaming. It reminded me of a conversation I had at work yesterday with Kate who has 3 children and who has learnt to only read bedtime books that end with someone going to bed (she mentioned Peepo! which is also by Janet and Allan Ahlberg and Where is the Green Sheep?). Not a bad idea...

Each Peach Pear Plum is by Janet and Allan Ahlberg

Things I Like is by Anthony Browne

BANANA! is by Ed Vere

Meg and Mog is by Helen Nicoll and Jan Pienkowski

Where is the Green Sheep? is by Mem Fox and illustrated by Judy Horacek

Ernie and the 'doo

Today was a work day. When I got to childcare at around 10 to 6, Benji was sitting on the floor reading Spot's Birthday Party to himself. I perched myself on the teensiest chair ever and read it with him. And then we read it again - it was a true Spot experience given most of the flaps were missing.

We started off tonight with Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy. I bought it last Thursday thinking he'd like it because it is very similar to My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes which he really likes (and which I like reading even more). But by Schnitzel von Krum he'd had enough so I'll try it again in a few days' time. Then he picked Who Sank the Boat? from the pile, but quickly turned to the part where the pig climbs into the boat and started squealing "Pig butter! Pig butter!". I can't quite see the humour in pig butter... anyway, next up was Ernie Dances to the Didgeridoo which we read 4 times.

Benji got Ernie Dances to the Didgeridoo from Jessie for his birthday. She wrote a little inscription on the first page which I am commanded to read each time, probably because it contains the very popular words "Happy birthday".

Ernie moves to Arnhem Land because his parents are working at a hospital there. The story takes place over the course of a year and each double-page spread shows what Ernie and his new friends are doing as the seasons changes around them. The illustrations are dreamlike - lots of greens, blues, pinks and orange. The picture to the left is Benji's favourite. Tonight we paused on this page for a couple of minutes, pointing out the moon, the birds (which are bats), the house, the river, Ernie getting out of the car and his new friends sitting under the tree. My favourite illustrations are these 3 wet ones on the right below.

I was super-pleased that Benji referred to the kids under the tree as "friends" on the second read-through, as usually any person he encounters is called a boy. He also picked up the words "goanna" and "surfing" and as with previous reads was particularly excited by "Joseph does backflips off the coconut tree" as he fancies himself as a gymnast. And... ... ... look out for the special guest appearance by Santa riding in the back of a ute.

Spot's Birthday Party is by Eric Hill

Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy is by Lynley Dodd

Who Sank the Boat? is by Pamela Allen

Ernie Dances to the Didgeridoo is by Alison Lester.

Wow, by coincidence they're all author-illustrators tonight!