Max Lucado Book Give-Away!
I love books, and I love the slow process of building a library for The Meatball. I love that he likes to sit down and turn pages and point at pictures. There are some classics that we had to start with, but I’m finding great new stuff all the time too.
Someone gave us two Max Lucado board books, both illustrated by Sergio Martinez, that are absolutely beautiful. Crossway Publishing has generously offered to give away two more, to one Spits and Wiggles reader!
Both are stories of Punchinello the Wemmick, who lives in – you guessed it – Wemmicksville. Wemmicks are little wooden people made by Eli, the woodcarver.
In You Are Special, the Wemmicks start dishing out stars and dots – stars to the good Wemmicks, and dots to the bad Wemmicks. Punchinello gets dots, but then he meets a Wemmick who has neither. She suggests Punchinello visit Eli to learn why the stars and dots don’t stick to her.
In You Are Mine, the Wemmicks start getting competitive about who has the most, and the best, boxes and balls. (And I love that the two who seem to start all the trouble are named Nip and Tuck. I see what you did there, Max.) Punchinello gets caught up in the competition too, until he accidentally stumbles into Eli’s wood-shop.
Great stories, and beautiful illustrations. A lot of kids’ books, especially little kids’ board books, have super-simple illustrations with really basic colors. Those are great too, but I like having some variety, and something a little more artistic.
All that said, we don’t really read these much right now. There is a lot of text on most of the pages, especially in You Are Mine. I try sometimes, because I like these books so much, but he wants to flip pages faster, and I can’t do the injustice of paraphrasing these. So we’re waiting, and I know when he gets a little older, these will become favorites.
So, you want? Add them to your little person’s library, or give them to a friend or family member with kids. Check one person off your Christmas shopping list TWO MONTHS EARLY. (Imagine!)
Leave a comment on this post, and tell us about your favorite book(s) for little people. What were your favorites as a kid? What were your children’s favorites when they were little? What are a few that every toddler has to have? I’ll select a random comment in one week – on Wednesday, October 23 – and email you for a mailing address!
Spits and Wiggles 
When my daughter was small we checked out a book from the library titled “It’s Me, Emily” – I think. I remember that Emily would hide or do something and the tag line on every page was “It’s me, Emily!” My daughter loved it. I was never able to find the book (this was back before Amazon) so we checked it out often. This post has reminded me I need to find it for my grands (if there ever are any!). Nowadays, I read to a third grade class weekly. Generally, I choose a “chapter book” and take the entire year to finish it, but this year the first book I chose has only twelve chapters. These sound like they would be wonderful to read to these precious children. I know they would enjoy the art!
This one? http://www.amazon.com/Just-Emily-Anna-Grossnickle-Hines/dp/0899194877/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1381942527&sr=1-1&keywords=it%27s+just+me+emily
That’s it. I found it on Amazon right after I posted this. It’s on the way to my house right now. Along with my husband’s favorite book, “The Mouse and the Motorcycle.” His birthday’s at the end of the month. He’s gonna love it! (I hope)
Awesome. I’m gonna add that one to my list now. 🙂
I’m really loving the Sandra Boynton books – and so is my son. They have such a nice rhyming flow, the stories are fun, and best of all I don’t seem to get sick of them (despite reading them a million times). His current fave is Personal Penguin.
As a kid, my favourite book was Strega Nona by Tomie DePaola. I still give it as a gift often!
Those Sandra Boynton books are cute. I feel like the illustrations look really familiar, but I can’t place them. 🙂
I noticed that my little guy seems to like the ones that have a really regular meter to the words too. He knows right when to reach up and turn the pages. 🙂 We try Goodnight Moon a lot, but we hardly finish it. There’s another Fisher Price book (M is for Monkey) that we use at bedtime too, with a steady meter to the poetry, and he loves that one.
Gonna have to look into those!
I have a “set” of books printed by Marshall Field way back in the 30’s, maybe sooner. It starts with a book of then favorite nursery rhymes, progresses to short stores (Hans Christian Andersen and the like) and on up to classics like Moby Dick. I expect that Niah might enjoy them when he’s a little older, but I strongly suggest you keep him in Christian books and stories as much as possible. This set is okay in that it’s good literature, but nothing compares with the character that gets “ingrained” with bible based stories/themes.
Mike S
We’re definitely going to try. I’m glad we have these, because even though they’re a little over his head right now, I think they’ll suit him for longer once he does grow into them.
We like Topsy Turvey Kingdom by Dottie and Josh McDowell. Great message, rhyme, and pictures. 🙂
That looks great. I’m gonna add that to the list. 🙂 Thanks!
Bella (and Aliza when she was little) really likes books with different textures. Usborne books are good touchy feel board books. We like one called That’s not my Airplane or there’s called That’s not my Truck. Also finger puppet books. We have in my Pond, but there are lots of others.
My fave as a kid: Mr Poppers Penguins
Seeley’s fave so far: barnyard dance. Every kid should have the Very Hungry Caterpillar.
Meatball loves Hungry Caterpillar; he pokes each hole on each page. I’ve heard of Mr. Popper’s Penguins, but never read it – didn’t Jim Carrey make a movie out of that one?