Princess and the… no
When Liv was born, there were only a handful of things that I really wanted for her. Of course, I wanted her to be healthy, feel safe, and grow up surrounded by love. I wanted her to become a compassionate, kind, polite, and confident individual. And I wanted her to love books (ok, and Broadway musicals). That’s not too much to ask, right?
So, needless to say, I can’t even begin to tell you how happy I am that she LOVES to read. I’ve always loved to read, and since I could read on my own, I’ve enjoyed reading as much as possible. I remember a trip to the lake when I was 7, and I spent the entire week reading. At the time, I thought it was the best vacation ever because I got to read ALLTHETIME without the interruptions of school or chores. Since Tom and I started talking about growing our family, I’ll admit that I had daydreams about all of the fun things that we’d eventually do together, including reading together as a family.
Reading bedtime stories to Liv at the end of the day is one of my very favorite things. We’ll snuggle up together, and she’ll ask for 3-4 books, and he or I will read. Sometimes I’ll make really bad funny voices, sometimes I read it in my normal mouse voice, and I love to look over to her face, watching and listening intently. After we turn out the lights, I can see her on the baby monitor, with her Puppy flashlight, “reading” to herself.
Some of Liv’s favorites:
-Shel Silverstein (especially “The Giving Tree” and “Giraffe and a Half”)
-ANY Pinkalicious book (her very favorite)
-the Olivia books
-Eric Carle (especially “Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me” and “Brown Bear, Brown Bear”)
-Old Little Golden books, from my mom’s collection. I love reading these, too, as the illustrations are beautiful and the stories are timeless. Maria brings in the onion-cutting ninja every time.
–The “Please and Thank You” book
-Any of the Little Critter books by Mercer Mayer
-Franklin books
With all of the amazing books we read together, there are some ridiculous ones in the mix.
Example #1: Princess and the Pea. WTFFFF. I got this for her, vaguely remembering it from my youth, and basically it’s about a prince searching for a real princess. A girl knocks on the castle doors, claims to be a princess, and the Queen puts a single pea under 20 mattresses and 20 featherbeds. The princess awakens, complains about all of her bruises and the fact that she tossed and turned because “good heavens knows what’s under that mattress!” and everyone is delighted because she must be a true princess. Only a real princess is that delicate! This is where I smack my face with the book. Tom and I spent a good amount of time explaining to Liv that a REAL princess would not have complained, and would have thanked the queen and king for their hospitality and giving her a safe place to sleep. Ughhh.
Another example:
Book of princess stories. We got this for Liv, because she’s a big fan of Disney and all things princess-related. The stories are all pretty bland (“Merida’s mother is the queen. The queen wants Merida to marry the son of a lord. Merida says no. Merida is mad.”) and one of the stories is about the princesses getting ready for their perfect date with the prince. They must have the perfect dress and look perfect!! I don’t think my three year old needs to think about attire for the “perfect date.” I started to read it to her, changed the words, and was rolling my eyes the entire time.
Of course, I don’t take these things too seriously (I think we live in a culture where people are constantly looking to be offended). I’m just happy to be able to see and learn about the things she loves, which will evolve as she gets older. It’s pretty amazing, and a huge blessing, to watch someone grow up.
As far as the books go, I like to read stories that have a good message (instead of indicating it’s ok to complain about your sleeping arrangements, or need the perfect ball gown for your date, haha). Do you have any favorites to share? If you have kiddos, what are their current favorite stories? Have you ever had to change the words?? 🙂
xoxo
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What a beautiful post! Livi seems to be growing into the girl you imagined her to be! She’s very lucky to have such wonderful parents 🙂
Oh my gosh, I loved Princess and the Pea as a little girl! It’s been so long since I’ve read it and didn’t realize the message was so silly. I LOVED anything princess as a child and had a book of short stories. There was one called “12 (or another number) Princess” – they snuck out in the night and went to a ball. I remember nothing else except that I loved it!
PS. So cute that you leave a flashlight for Liv at night and pretend like you don’t know she’s reading under the covers 😉
The Pinkalicious books are fun, but I do find myself changing some of the words because I feel the main character has a bit of an attitude. There is a part where she talks about green vegetable being gross. I change the wording to make it sound like vegetables are delicious. 🙂 And I make sure to add the word “please” to some of Pinkalicious’ demands.
I love the Olivia books!!
I loved to read/being read to as a kid. Dork alert: I remember winning all the reading challenges at school. And also getting the personal pan pizzas from the Pizza Hut “Book It” program hahaha
I remember loving “Angelina Ballerina” as a girl but I have NO IDEA what the message was 🙂
I did the same thing Melissa! Haha The Pizza Hut “Book It” program was the best.
I love the message you want to portray to Liv! Awesome!
I grew up reading the Magic Faraway Tree, by British author Enid Blyton. It truly is the best children’s book – full of adventure, fantasy and mischief.
It is a long story so as a child my mom and I would read it together over several nights. I have since recommended it to friends with little ones and it has become a favourite in their houses!!
My little guy is 20 months and he loves all the Madeline books and the Pidgeon ones, too. We’ll have to check some of the ones you mentioned. Great post!
The books “What do people do all day” and “The Velveteen Rabbit” were two of my favorites.
I’m sure you’ve read these already but two of my very favorite books from my childhood are Love You Forever by Robert Munsch, and Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister. They’re timeless stories, with good morals. I’m 26, and to this day, my mom signs all of her letters, cards, etc. with “Love you forever, mom”. They’re pretty special books.
The Paperbag Princess and anything else by Robert Munsch. He even writes stories about kids that he meets at school readings and other events.
Check out, if you haven’t already, The Paper bag Princess. Love this kind of Princess to read to my two girls 🙂
I just wrote a post on this a few weeks ago 🙂 We love The Day the Crayons Quit, all the Skippyjohn Jones books, The Pout Pout Fish, Dragon Loves Tacos, and Hug Machine.
Yes! Dragons love tacos! and The Day the Crayons Quit!! Love those 2!
My favorite children’s books change regularly because I like so many. My current favorites are “Caps for Sale” by Slobadkina, “This Is Not My Hat” by Klassen (my husband’s favorite since the words tell a different story than the pictures. A great “read between the lines” kind of book), “The Day the Crayons Quit” (also a husband favorite) and “The Jolly Postman”. In that book the postman delivers letters to all sorts of fairy tale creatures and the book actually has “envelope pages” which contain letters to be taken out to read. So much fun!
I saw Princess Smartypants at a museum bookstore in Chicago and I definitely plan on getting it for my niece! When I was younger, I loved loved loved Angelina Ballerina.
The Twelve Dancing Princesses was one of my favorites….but maybe you don’t want to be teaching Liv to be sneaking out of the house 😉
I remember reading lots of Robert Munsch books with my parents when I was little.
OMG YESSSSSS! I, too, love glancing at my daughters face while I read her stories. The smallest little changes in her eyes/smile as she listens is priceless.
And I totally do what you do about questioning some of the “classics” and changing the wording. For example… Pinkalicious (love it!)–there’s a line where she is prescribed to eat all green food, which she responds with “Yuck!”…I leave out that word for fear that she with start to “Yuck!” green things too.
Baylie’s Favorites:
– “The Cuddliest Cuddle in the World” (bonus: she gives me extra cuddles when I read this one)
– “Pinkalicious”
– All her Disney Adventures compilations
Strega Nonna! man, that pasta pot…
My mom used to read it to me in italian even though it’s in English. I love love loved that book.
I liked all the Dr. Suess Books! I feel like most of them have a good message, and they are pretty funny. Also there is a series called Junie B Jones that we LOVED when we were younger. They are really funny! Here are the Junie B Books to check out 🙂 _
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/u/junie-b-jones-nook-books/379002741/?r=1&utm_source=google&cm_mmc=google-_-Nook%20DSA-_-Nook%20DSA%20Ad%20Group-_-DSA&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=_inurl%3A%2Fnook&utm_campaign=Nook%20DSA
<3
Ah Junie B.!!! In high school chorus, when we needed a break, our instructor would read snippets to us from those books. “Sometimes I call him by the name of Cheaterpants” has stuck with me ever since.
Does she like Barbie books, or Frozen? 🙂
My favorites are the Pigeon books, Dragons Love Tacos, This is Not My Hat & I Want My Hat Back and A Mama for Owen
My son, who’s almost three, is currently obsessed with The Little Blue Truck books by Alice Schertle and Press Here and Mix IT UP by Herve Tullet, which are interactive books about colors.
He’s also signed up for this book program where he gets a new book in the mail every month until he’s five. Most of the books are awesome and seem to fit perfectly with his interest at the time. But once or twice we’ve recieved some that quickly got donated. I forget the names of them but one had a pig yelling No! to his parents all the time and the other was about being a big brother and how a new baby is made (mentioning the reproductive system!- because all two year olds need to know that). Haha
Dragons Love Tacos is my 2.5 year old’s favorite!
You should try any Mo Wellems books. She will love the pigeon books of his or the elephant and piggie books. Not princess related however my niece loves them and has all the stuffed animals that go along with the books! A must read 😉
I discovered, through my niece, a new favorite book called “The Pout Pout Fish” that’s surprisingly well-written for a simple kids’ book. Silly voices are definitely required. And some of my favorite manners books from when I was a kid include “What Do You Do, Dear?” and “What Do You Say, Dear?” by Sesyl Joslin. The prospect of having a reason to read all my favorite kiddie lit endlessly is probably the thing that excites me the most about parenthood. That’s okay, right?
I LOVE doing the Pout, Pout Fish voice ! 🙂
i need to hear this voice haha
When my daughter was little, I did not want to read her books about princesses who attracted princes because they were beautiful. When I read Cinderella, I told her that the prince wanted to marry Cinderella because she was smart and could help him run the kingdom and was kind and would be good to the people in his kingdom. One day on the playground, she and another little girl were playing princesses, and they came over to me having a disagreement. My daughter, “mom, she says I’m not playing Cinderella right. I told her that the prince wanted to marry her because she was smart and kind.” I said, yes, that’s right. The little girl looked at us incredulously and said with her hands on her hips, “the prince wanted to marry Cinderella because she was beautiful!” My daughter stomped her foot and exclaimed, “what does that have to do with anything?!?” And I inner fist-pumped about 50 times. Mind now, a year or so later when she could read, she was not happy with me that I had taken liberties with Cinderella but by then she had the message 🙂
Please check out these book lists-many classics and many books that cultivate beauty, character, etc.
http://storyformed.com/book-lists/
This is a FANTASTIC book with book lists
http://www.amazon.com/Read-Heart-Whole-WholeHearted-Families-ebook/dp/B007IX6REA/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1422494209&sr=1-3&keywords=sarah+clarkson
http://www.amazon.com/Honey-Childs-Heart-Imaginative-Family-ebook/dp/B003LSTJUA/ref=pd_sim_b_5?ie=UTF8&refRID=11GHT4V748T7CA3RX77G
I love Mo Willemstad books! They are so cute & funny. Esp the Elephant & Piggie series!
Have you filled a bucket today? Carol McCloud
Paddington!!!
Bernstein Bears
Arthur (a classic!)
If You Give a Moose a Muffin and Matilda are my childhood favorites. My sister recently got them for her class and I had so much fun thumbing through them a few weeks ago.
I don’t have kids but my nieces like the Peppa Pigs books.
I LOVED Dr. Seuss growing up. I still smile when I see my DS books.
I got my daughter the How Full is your Bucket for Kids book for Christmas. It has a great message about being kind to others. We love it.
http://www.amazon.ca/How-Full-Your-Bucket-Kids/dp/1595620273
perfect! thank you
My boys are two and a half and try live to read too!! They like Little Rabbit Waits for the Moon by Beth Shoshan and the Littlle Engine That Could by Waddy Piper. They also have a Highlights subscription from their Grammy that hey love (it’s called Hello Magazine and it’s got water resistant pages and really short).
The story I like, but end up leaving one line out, is Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel. In the story Mike tells the people in a town that his steam shovel can dig as much in a day as 100 men can dig in a week, even though he wasn’t sure it was true. I leave that last bit off since he was kind of lying.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who censors my toddlers books!
So sorry for the typos. I am on my iPhone after being outside talking to my neighbor in freezing weather. My fingers are stiff!
Such a heartwarming post. It really made me smile! I’m not lucky enough to be a mom yet, but hope to be someday soon and imagine I’d cherish these moments as you do!
I don’t think my girls are old enough to have favorites, quite yet, but my husband and I sure do! We go to the library about once a week and check out our maximum allowed number of books — 20. We pick a variety of authors, illustrators, topics, and we see what sticks when the pile is all finished.
If Olivia likes the Pinkalicious books, she’d probably like the Fancy Nancy collection, too. I find them silly, but filled with wonderful vocabulary, which would be lovely for your little wordsmith.
Otherwise, some favorites here (aside from some you mentioned) include: The Complete Tales of Winne the Pooh (we’ve read it through three times now), Rock and Roll Mole, Dragons Love Tacos (then look for Those Darn Squirrels by the same author), The Day the Crayons Quit, The Bear books (Bear Snores On, Bear Stays Up, etc.), The Bear’s Song and the Bear’s Sea Escape by Benjamin Chaud… I should have kept a list.
Reading children’s books is so much fun!
lots of awesome suggestions; thank you!!
Barney bears pizza shop was my favorite book at her age. Still one of my favorites!! Cat games was the book I learned to read with. My dad would sit me on his lap when he came home from work and he used that book to teach me how to read. These are my two favorite kids books!
I am glad I am not the only one who can’t stomach the messages in some of the princess stories. I have found several minnie mouse books to be that way too! Imlove reading with my girls too.
YES!! I never comment, but I just had to on this. Thank you for posting exactly what I’ve been thinking when I read to my also 3yr old. She loves all sorts of books, and has a wide variety. But she once in a while she’ll pick out Disney princess or princess and the pea books and I just want to scream! I can’t bring myself to read her those words…. I do think stories we tell our kids matter (even though the “I grew up with it and I’m fin” argument is tru), I think we have so many great options, why perpetuate things that go against what values we want to instill in our children…. (Recently watched a great Tedtalk on the topic of the importance of different stories). Thanks for sharing!!
i will look for that tedtalk!
It’s called “the danger of a single story” by Chimanda Adichie. So well presented!
Have you guys read Z Is for Moose? It always makes me smile.
I loved reading the Berenstain Bears and Mercer Meyer books when I was her age! My Dad would also read us stories from the Book of Virtues (which we called the Book of Virchies haha). We loved reading when we were little because my Mom made it so fun! We took weekly trips to the library and were allowed to check out as many books as we could carry. Can you picture a 4 year old lugging a HUGE tote bag filled with books? 😀
best ever. going to the library with liv is one of my favorite things 🙂
You need to read her “The Gruffalo”! My almost-3-year-old loves it. The short movie version is also on Netflix right now. “The Cat in the Hat”, “Fox in Socks”‘ and “Green Eggs and Ham” are also recent faves.
so cute! we will check it out! liv isn’t big into dr. seuss yet. i’m thinking when she learns to sound out letters she may enjoy them more
Arthur, Paddington Bear, the Angelina books and all the fairy tales!
liv loves the angelina ballerina books too!
Tripp is verrrrry into Llama Llama books, and he loves Veggie Tales “Peas and Thank You”. We also just got him “Heaven is For Real For Kids” and he will ask us to read that book over and over and over.
and over.
Curious George – in the original book, when they get back to the guys house, George has dinner, smokes a pipe, then goes to bed. Ummm, no sorry. I don’t know where that book went. 😉
hahaha! oh man
I love seeing my 4 year old daughter read too. She loves making up a story and “reading” to me. She’s loves the Fancy Nancy series. Also, the Tallulah books-tallulah’s tutu, nutcracker and toe shoes. These were good reads before ballet recital. The book Tea for Ruby is really cute and we saw a ballet made from this book that was great.
My son was all about train books and curious george when he was a preschooler.
I grew up with berenstain bears
liv loves fancy nancy, too!! i will check out the other ones you mentioned 🙂 bernstein bears are wonderful
When I was little I was a big fan of any Robert Munsch books, for the silly humour, I guess. One of my all-time fav books, the kind you memorize as a child and know if your parents skip a word, was Mr. Gumpy’s Outing, it’s such a cute little story, from what a remember.
We loved the Robert Munsch books growing up! My favorite books as a kid were Sweet Valley Kids and Twins (and eventually SV High), American Girl collections (Samantha and Molly were my favorite stories, and I had Samantha and Kirsten dolls), and the Pee-Wee Scouts (can’t wait to read these someday with my future kid!).
oh i loved the SV books too
I had a similar thought to yours when we were watching Rudolph this Christmas and there were numerous comments about the female reindeer weren’t allowed to go look for Rudolph in the snowstorm. I was cringing a little with my two girls.
We love Pout Pout Fish, Duck on a Bike, I Like Myself (Because I’m Me). I get dumber every time we read a Barbie book but they love them.
I love “Spoon”, “King and King”, and “The Fantastic Flying Books of Morris Lessmore” (a favorite, favorite)….a short sample of some favorites with good messages 🙂
I feel like I’m going to look back on a lot of books I read as a kid one day and be like what the heck? haha That is awesome that Livi loves to read! I was a total bookworm too. When she’s older I recommend Ella Enchanted. It’s one of my favorites. 😀
That was actually one of my favorite stories when I was a kid, but not for the story, itself. When my dad was in high school, he was in a production of “Once Upon A Mattress,” which is the fractured version of this story. The evil queen does whatever she can to keep her son from getting married, and has very strict orders about what makes a Princess. She tests Winifred the Woebegone (aka Fred) with a pea, but the kingdom, and specifically Sir harry and Lady Larkin (who are unmarried and expecting) want the marriage to happen so everyone else in the kingdom can get married too (there’s a law saying no one can get married until the Prince does). Sir Harry finds Winifred, who immediately offends the queen, but intrigues the Prince. At the end, the queen expects a single pea under the mattresses, but the kingdom conspires to put every piece of junk under the sun under that mattress. It’s a hilarious show. My dad played Sir Harry, so it holds a special place in my heart.
Plus, it’s a musical! They made a movie with Matthew Morrison and Zooey Deschanel back in 2006, too. Carol Burnett (The original Winifred) plays the queen.