It’s that time again! I can hardly believe 2017 is over; is it just me and my baby haze or was that the fastest year EVER?
Well, ready or not…it’s 20-18 and when Christmas is over I like to strip the house of all things red & green, purge every closet and cabinet, and start the year from scratch! That, of course, applies to my book nook as well. See ya, later Christmas, we’ve got a new year and some great new reads in front of us.
Here are a quick few of my favorite books for this January!
Happy New Year, and Happy Reading friends!
January Books
I always like my book nook to have a good theme for each month and since January is all about The New Year and MLK Jr. Day, I’m going to focus on the following categories with my kiddos:
Inclusion, Acceptance, Perception & First Impressions
All of these books cover one of the topics above. They all carry one common thread: don’t be so quick to judge others. Which is a thread I love!
1. We’re All Wonders- Remember that little book called Wonder?! Kidding…OF COURSE you know about that book, and movie. Right? Please say “right!”. Anyways, they made a picture book and it is so very sweet! We read it at bedtime tonight!
2. You’re all Kinds of Wonderful– Quinlin picked this book out all on her own at her book fair which just warms my heart. This book is by Nancy Tillman who is just one of my favs. The book starts “We’re not all the same. Thank goodness we’re not.
Life would be boring, and I mean… a lot.” How can you not love it?!
3. I Will Not Eat You- Theodore the dragon thinks everything is potential meal until he meets a pesky little boy who teaches him a “funny” little lesson about life. Don’t always judge a “dragon” by its “cave” 😉
4. Gaston- Please tell me you have this book. If not, go get it immediately. It’s easily one of my top 10 pictures books! I love this story about two pups switched at birth and the true meaning of family.
5. Horrible Bear! This angry little spice of a girl gets all pissy with Mr. Bear until basically she has to eat crow. A great story about forgiveness, undeserved reputations and gasp…making mistakes!
6. This is How we Do it– LOVE this book! It basically tells the story of one day in the life of seven different children from around the world! Such a great eye-opener for my girls…and beautifully illustrated! Also, who else is still singing the song?! “…South Central Does it like Nobody Does…”
Change, Growth and Self-Love
1. I’m Gonna Like Me- “The key to feeling good is liking yourself because you are you!”
2. I Will Never not Ever Eat a Tomato- We could all afford to be a little more lenient toward veggies in our diets this year, no? New Years resolution to get your kids to eat more healthy stuff? Give this book a read!
3. Julia, Child- Who doesn’t love to cook in the winter time! I bought this book as a Christmas themed gift for the girls to go along with some kid-friendly cooking utensils. It’s the cutest picture book about Julia Child as a, well, child.
4. I Like Me! We’ve had this cute little book forever and it’s still a favorite to read along. This cute little piggie likes everything about herself…and that just makes me like her even more!
5. Miss Rumphius- One of my ALL TIME favs!!! This is the story of how one lady attempted to make the world a more beautiful place. Absolutely LOVE!
Weather/ Winter Themed Picture Books
These are all short, simple, and sweet little winter picture books so I’ll skip the long blurbs!
- Hibernation Hotel- just picked this cute book up when I was in Vail. I love it! Mr. Bear gets annoyed with all of his annoying friends so he checks into a fancy hotel to hibernate…only he just can’t get to sleep. (Ohhhh what a problem to have, Bear!)
- Over and Under the Snow- part non-fiction in the back! Love!
- The Snowy Day- A Classic!
- Snow– another classic, verse book!
- Goodbye Autumn, Hello Winter– if you didn’t get this in my Christmas book round-up, it still applies!!
- Bear Snores On- you know I love me the Bear series!!
- Winter- super cute pop-up book of the seasons
Non-Fiction
These non-fiction books focus on self-growth and expanding horizons! Of course, we had to end with one of my favorite MLK books!
- Little People, Big Dreams: Maya Angelou– I LOVE this biography series, and why not Maya for the month of January. Her words and poems were so empowering!
- City Atlas– this BIG book is gorgeous! Perfect for expanding your little one’s horizons! Plus, there’s “search-and-find” games on every page! My girls love this one!
- Curious about Snow– this is such a great non-fiction book! Contains The Smithsonian’s famous Wilson Bentley snowflake photos and “looks at the science behind snow, and the history of record-setting blizzards and snowstorms—plus how people have fun in the snow!”
- Nat Geo Weird But True- My kids LOVE these books that my sister got them for Christmas! They went RIGHT into our Non-Fiction bin in our library. Love filling that bin up! Quin even told me the other day when I was in a bad mood that I should chew some gum “because studies show that chewing gums makes us happier!” Bahaha! Thanks, Nat Geo! 😉
- Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.– OF COURSE we’ll end with a Dr. King book! This month has his namesake day AND his lesson is always a great one to teach young children! This story is told in such a beautiful narrative and the illustrations are stunning. Such a quality book!
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