Big Books, Little Ears

Reading chapter books to toddlers, preschoolers, and beyond

Reading Aloud

Our Screen Free Week EPIC FAILURE: 5 Mistakes I Made for You to Avoid

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When the official Screen Free Week rolled around this year I was excited. I had never done a Screen Free Week before, but I was sure I would rock it and be able to soon offer some Screen Free Week Tips!

Screen Free Week is and annual event held at the beginning of May every year. It is a program of Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, and is endorsed by many other organizations.

It’s kind of a big deal.

My kids don’t watch a ton of TV, but I know that there are real benefits to having some unplugged time.

A day doesn’t go by that I don’t read some new article about how our society has too much screen time. Of course, I’m almost always reading that new article about how much screen time we have on my phone… [Read more…] about Our Screen Free Week EPIC FAILURE: 5 Mistakes I Made for You to Avoid

Little House in the Big Woods

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Once upon a time, sixty years ago, a little girl lived in the Big Woods of Wisconsin, in a little gray house made of logs.
– opening line of Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder

I have my original Little House books that I got when I was 7 years old. They have been lugged in boxes through a bunch of moves. They have sat faithfully on my shelves in Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Michigan.

These books have seen a lot. They are dogeared, especially Little Town on the Prairie. The Long Winter is warped from shower steam after being forgotten in the bathroom for a few days. The bindings are all broken in, except for The First Four Years, which I didn’t read as many times. [Read more…] about Little House in the Big Woods

A True Home

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“Home is where the heart is, or so she’d heard.” – opening line of A True Home

Imagine if you ran a hotel for woodland creatures. Seriously, take a second and think about it. If you are picturing a cozy place in a giant tree where every detail for every type of guests is thought of, you are basically picturing the Heartwood Hotel!

I recently read A True Home, the first book in the Heartwood Hotel series. I think I appreciated way more than my kids did the fact that the author had thought of EVERY detail it would take to run a hotel for small woodland animals. Also, it could just be that I could really use a few nights of uninterrupted sleep at a luxury hotel – I was way more interested in the private bird balconies and skunks’ hot tubs than I should have been. [Read more…] about A True Home

The Dodsworth Series

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“Dodsworth wanted adventure.” – opening line of Dodsworth in New York

I love my kids like crazy. I also love to travel to other countries. However, I don’t combine these two loves. Traveling internationally with my kids is just not something I’ve done! To be honest, that sounds super intimidating.

I still want them to know about other places, however, even if I’m not up to navigating the Underground with them in tow. Thankfully, there are books like the Dodsworth series to introduce them to other places! [Read more…] about The Dodsworth Series