SUMMER READING

My granddaughter and I have been quite busy this summer, with swimming lessons, baseball games, visits to the park to play and seek out four-leaf clovers, and, of course, the summer reading program at the library.

I'm proud and pleased to say that we have shared well over fifty picture books together since the end of the school year. She's going to be a well-read young lady for her venture into kindergarten in the fall.

To date, I don't think we've found a single book in the lot that we didn't enjoy. Some were hilarious to the point I had to stop reading so she could get her giggle box under control. Others were thought provoking and needed some additional explanations from the wise old Grammy. But she has never tired of them, and just today we picked out another huge bag full of promising titles.

Two of the books that I especially liked were There's a Dragon in My Sleeping Bag, by James Howe, and The Old Tree, by Ruth Brown.

The Old Tree tells the story of just that. An old tree is the home of a variety of creatures, and one day they notice a mysterious X marking one side of the tree's huge trunk. As the creatures search for answers concerning the X, they squabble and carry on as usual, as many neighbors do, but then they all work together to save their home, in a most unexpected way. My granddaughter's favorite aspect of the book is the huge fold-out tree at the end. She loved searching through the roots and branches for all the different woodland animals.

There's a Dragon in My Sleeping Bag is a fun story of two brothers and a situation that arises from their vivid imaginations. I love the way the boys solved their own problem and mended their relationship. 

There are many, many more great books out there, but these were two of our favorites. So far!

HAPPY READING!

Cordelia Dinsmore