Nice, Nicer, and Nicest of All...

To receive a package in the mail is nice a few days before Christmas is nice. To receive a package that contains two children's books is even nicer. But the nicest gift of all is to receive pre-release copies of children's books illustrated by a friend and one of my favorite illustrators, Mark Wayne Adams.

And although these books don't officially release until January, I couldn't wait to read these gems. Mildred begged to read them with me, so we enjoyed them together. The first one we read was the Parts of Speech Parade New York City written by Irina Conickberg. It is a beautiful book that explains nouns, verbs, and so forth in a very fun manner. Each page shows a beautiful scene as the parts of speech come alive and tell their story as they parade through New York City. This book would be a perfect addition to any homeschool curriculum or a wonderful help to children needing that little bit of extra help remembering what each part of speech does.

The second book we read was Frozen Floppies by John Hope. This story actually came about after Mark created a pattern for a frozen floppy, and a pattern is actually included in the book. Floppies are a cross between a donkey and a kangaroo and they live in distinct groups that never mingle. That is until a horrible storm causes two of the three floppy groups to work together to help the third group which has become frozen floppysicles.

Reading books was a lovely way to spend Sunday afternoon seeing that I was a bit under the weather. I also managed to watch two programs of interest. The first was a short called The Gruffalo and is an Academy Award Nominee  based on a book by Julia Donalson. This story of a mouse taking a walk through the dangerous forest is absolutely phenomenal and I can't wait to read the book and compare it to the movie version.

And to finish off the evening, Bobby, Emily, and I watched A Charlie Brown. We watch this classic every year and never tire of it's message to remember the true meaning of Christmas.

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. And feel free to drop by my personal website, Fun With Aileen, any day of the week for even more on reading, writing, my very own early grade chapter book, Fern Valley, and my sequel, Return To Fern Valley! I'm also on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.