My son has been busy making his birthday list for days. He asked for a book that I thought, at first, was a joke. It turns out that I had a lot to learn. (more…)
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books
Books That Will Keep Your Daughter off the Stripper Pole
All parents want to prepare their daughters for a good life. One of the key goals of all parents is preventing their daughters from earning a living on the pole. Parents also want to prevent early grandchildren. So, with that in mind, I researched some books that will help keep your daughter on the straight and narrow: (more…)
The Oz Books: Read Them For Free
Now that “Oz, the Great and Powerful” is coming out, it reminds me of one of my favorite childhood memories. My mom was a great fan of the Oz series of books by L. Frank Baum (none of which was the basis for this movie, by the way). You can read all of these books free through the Library of Congress. The books are old enough to now be in the public domain. (more…)
Parenting Resources From Focus On the Family
I love Focus on the Family. Anytime I am looking for an over-the-top column idea, I simply have to check their website, and I quickly find an idea. I found a pleuthora of parenting resources and I thought I would share some of my favorites with you so that you can add them to your library. (more…)
Read Children’s Classics from the Library of Congress on your iPad or Tablet
Denslow’s Humpty Dumpty
W.W. Denslow (New York: G.W. Dillingham Co., 1903).
Lets face it, lots of children’s books these days are lame because nobody wants to be offended about anything and nothing really that bad ever happens to any of the characters.
Don’t get me wrong, this is usually a good thing and we don’t really want to devastate and traumatize the developing young minds of our children if we can help it, right? Remember Bambi, the movie? I could probably do without the memories served up by three-year-old me and those opening scenes.
Still, I have this overall impression of many children’s books as lacking a certain vitality and as being distilled and watered down. For example, we were recently given a version of Little Red Riding Hood from a friend in which the grandma doesn’t even get eaten by the wolf! Instead she goes out for a morning walk near her cottage while the wolf creeps into her bed, waiting for riding hood. What is going on here?! (more…)
A Review of Oddly Normal by John Schwartz
John Schwartz has written an informative and honest record
Creating a Children’s Library Part 2: Ages 2 to 5
I’ve taken to blaming Sandy for all the things I’ve put off these past few weeks. I have used plenty of excuses: I’m ‘catching my breath’ or ‘dealing with all the stuff I didn’t handle’ because of the storm. Well, the storm has come and gone and it is finally time to stop procrastinating and checking things off my to-do list. So I thought I’d start with a pleasant one: part 2 of my book recommendations for young children. This age group is 2 to 5 years old. As a reminder, here is Part 1 which is focuses on Babies to Toddlers. (more…)
Preschoolers Say All Kinds of Bizarre Things
If you haven’t been around little kids in a while, you might forget that they can come up with some bizarre, yet irrefutable logic. If you have small children, I highly recommend that you write down some of the things that they say because they are hysterical. You don’t always realize it in the moment.
Fortunately, Leslie McCollom, the author of “Preschool Gems” has taken the time to record some of the brilliant musings that small minds can produce.It makes for a very entertaining read and is accompanied by a lot of fun pictures. I plan to bring this book along to family gatherings to distract people from potential arguments about politics or other topics.
Sometimes the children burst forth with the irrefutable logic that only a small person can produce: (more…)
I Will Write These Books and Become Rich
I have always had fantasies of writing a book. For some reason, I really want to hold a book that has my name as the author. Unfortunately, so far, publishers have seen this as completely unnecessary. I send them proposals; they fall asleep reading them. (more…)
Creating a Children’s Library Part 1: Baby Board Books
This series was born out of a request from my nine year old niece, Gigi. She wanted me to choose my favorite books I read as a nine year old and give them to her for her birthday this November. I had a doozy of a time narrowing it down to ten great books especially since I also added books I’ve read with my kids when they were that age. It got me noodling about how many books I’ve purchased for my kids over the years. We still have thousands, despite giving away a lot of them to family, friends or charities. My kids and I collect books like other people collect stamps, spoons and other tchotkes. (more…)
Suggested Reading for Gay Dads
Becoming a dad as a gay man is not an overnight process. Some reading may help you make sense of the various options, to learn the limitations, and also simply to pass the time. This is a very short list of published works that I’ve read on the topic. There’s also plenty to read online including the rest of CrassParenting.com. Here’s some suggested reading. (more…)
