The Rain Came Down

Written and illustrated by David ShannonA guest post by my favorite guest ShaLisa! Enjoy!

The cause and effect relationship is a developmental skill that usually occurs in the second year of a child’s life. If you are looking for a great book to reinforce this skill, read The Rain Came Down written and illustrated by David Shannon. This book is great for young children, coupled with short sentences and familiar vocabulary. Still, there are lots of new words to learn and new ideas to explore. Older children love to discover the world of what if and if this, then this with this book. And, most importantly, this book is fun and children love to read it.

One night while reading this book, my toddler exclaimed, “No, mom, you said it wrong. It says….” She then repeated the sentence I had just said with a deep and husky voice. Alas, it is a fun book filled with characters ready for the reader to make come alive. My four year old said, “I would help that man clean up the fruit so I could have an ice cream cone with three scoops too.” Ah, the world of what if – anything can happen in that world. All a child needs is a little food for thought, some ammunition - a good book to stimulate new possibilities.

Other books to reinforce cause and effect relationships include the If You Give a Mouse a Cookie series.

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
Written by Judith Viorst
Illustrated by Ray Cruz

Thank you to my good, talented, and wise friend ShaLisa for this guest post on what I consider a classic book. Enjoy!

This is a book that my mom, a counselor by profession and by heart, read to me throughout my younger years when I truly believed I was having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. It was a way for me to know my mom understood some of my feelings. Sometimes, she didn’t have to read the book, but would gently say something like, “Is today a day you wished you lived in Australia?” Then I knew that she knew and somehow, her knowing made things much better.

Now I am a mother. When my child seems to be having such a day, I find reading the book calms us both and puts a smile on our faces. The book reminds me of how things sometimes seem from the eyes of a child. (I also see now how a bad day for Alexander might have also meant a frustrating day for his mother.)

This book has been around for a long time. It is a book that my mom still reads often, this time to her junior high school students who, undeniably, have bad days. Oh, how a children’s literature can affect a person for good!

A note from Lindsay: I think I will have to adopt the sweet tradition of stopping and taking a minute to pull out this book when my children (or I!) have a bad day. I just love this idea!

Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon

Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon
Written by Patty Lovell
Illustrated by: David Catrow

This week I have a guest post from a brilliant mother, writer, and reader-friend of mine, ShaLisa. She gave this book as a gift to me once, and now it's a favorite of mine. Enjoy!

The first time I read this story to my children, the book seemed only to have inspired them to see exactly how many pennies they could balance on their teeth. However, the message of the book is much greater than this balancing skill which it invited, and with repeated readings, my children understand a little more each time, how anybody, including themselves can be proud of who they are --just the way they are.

Molly Lou Melon stood just taller than her dog and was the recipient of loving advice from a loving grandmother who, you will discover when you look at the last page, learned a valuable lesson in life to share with her Molly. Even when faced with the challenge of moving to a new school, Molly stood tall.

The illustrations are delightful, my favorite being the friend pictured on a couple of the pages, with awed eyes and sweet admiration. A child will be blessed to learn the same lesson as Molly Lou Melon. Molly, with buck teeth and big beautiful eyes, set out to make the world better for having lived in it. And so she did.

If you like this book, try I Like Myself! by Karen Beaumont, illustrated by David Catrow.