Thursday, October 9, 2008

Obsession.

I love children's literature. I am obsessed. I am addicted. And my dealer is cheap. So you see the problem will only get bigger.. I send home book orders every month. Yes, I will not apologize. I am one of those teachers... I get so excited when the book order arrives in our classroom. I hate getting them in the morning because I become so distracted. I have asked the office to please deliver boxes to my classroom after lunch..my class deserves a non distracted teacher... After lunch when my class is gone to PE.. I dive into the box of delightful children's literature..
I love the smell of new books, the look, the feel. My senses explode as I touch every book. I flip casually through all the pages.. Sometimes, I break out in show tunes.. Oh, What a wonderful morning, Oh what a wonderful day, plenty of new books are headed my way... I kid, I kid.
Aren't they beautiful. Don't you want to touch them all? To read them.. This is actually a very small order for my class..We usually get 3 boxes. This time it all came to us in one box..
See, I told you it was a small order. Their are 28 kids in my class and only this many people ordered.. See the big pile in the back? Um, the one that is not spread out but stacked up. 17 books. It's not the bad right? Who could pass up such cheap books. The majority of them are under 5 dollars. I went to B&N a few weekends ago and spent $27 dollars on two books..Look at one of the treasures that was waiting for me, as I opened up the box. Oh, how I love David Catrows illustrations. They are so colorful and fun.. This is a book of poetry that teaches manners! Isn't the cover so stinkin' cute?

I have several children's books that are my favorite. Some of them are Llama Llama Red Pajama. The Quilt makers Gift, Stand Tall Molly Lou Mellon, and The Wide Mouth Frog. I also love different versions of The Gingerbread Man.

What is your favorite children's books?

To check out more photostory Friday post... click here!

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Okay, All you creative ladies.. I need your help. Basketball season is upon us and I love to do things for our basketball team. This is my fifth year at this school so all the things that I have done.. Have been done before.. I need some ideas please.. Some things I have done in the past are... Our Team Is Red Hot- Red hots - Go Big Red - with a pack of big red. Blow Away The Competition - Blow Pops
You guys are all that and a bag of chips - Chips Play Smart - Smarties Mighty & Mean Demonettes Score Big - Score Bars Crunch The Competition - Crunch Bars Wipe Out The Competition - Toilet Paper etc. That is just a small sample but I need more Ideas.. please please share some with me... Oh, and if you can't think of any right now.. come back later.. the season last through March.. Oh, our school colors are red and white. Our mascot is a Demon.

I made this for our girls team last year and my kids handed them out as Valentines. The team loved it and so did my little guys. They thought it was so cool to be hanging out with the big kids.. _________________________________________

Look what I found.. I was digging through some pictures at my parents house the other day..and I came across this.. I have wanted to post it all week but I waited until today. And how fitting, since it is my 33rd Birthday. The little tag that was taped on the end of my hospital nursery crib... I thought it was a fun keepsake. It was turning a little yellow so I scanned it, so it would be forever preserved. My Mom's name is Lawanna. Not Lawanda. It is weird to see it written out.. even if were spelled correctly... It's not familiar.. for my Mom has never gone by that name..

Happy Friday, My dear bloggy friends!


90 comments:

Cecily R said...

When we moved in July I packed boxes and boxes and boxes of books--MOST of them children's books. I TOTALLY feel you on this one!!!

Great PSF!

Celine said...

Happy Friday to you too!
I love the smell of new books too! Inspiring and..you want to read them right away!
How neat that you found your birth tag!

earthlingorgeous said...

Oh wow! Those are nice books like I want to read all of them! Hhahahaha! That is so sweet your birth tag! Precious!

Wendy said...

I LOVE kids books!! When I was little I loved the "Mr Men" books, we bought the whole boxed set for Ryan before his 1st Birthday, he loves them as I did when I was his age!
I LOVE Bookshops and the smell of new books too!
How cool to still have your hospital tag!

Anonymous said...

David Catrow is my favorite illustrator, too! He did the illustrations for a book called "I Wanna Iguana". You would probably crack up at that book! I, too, LOVE children's books. My class this year orders like crazy, which is strange. It really varies every year though. I could read children's books all the time. I always joke that I became a teacher so I could keep reading picture books and watching kids movies! Haha!
Have a wonderful Friday!!! We have a half day with the kiddos and an in-service. Woo!

Tanya said...

Me too! I used to sell children's books and I'm still in love with them. When I go to the bookstore, the children's section is the first place I head. I love everything about them. One of my dreams has always been to have my own little bookstore with a great children's section :)

Us said...

Awwww...books! My favorite thing! I order books for me and when the box arrives, I get so excited..it's a littel weird! I could spend hours in the library or the bookstore. And we order from Scholastic for my daughter and I still get excited. I have so many favorites!

And cool birth tag..what a great keepsake!

Us said...

Oh, and I think it's so awesome that you play Casting Crowns in school!

Sondre Lyn said...

Oh Man! I seriously LOVE books, too! My favorite kids book is Corduroy. I love that poor little unwanted bear!

Lindsay Gray said...

Jacob Too Too and the Dinosaur was one of my favorites. Or the Shell Silverstein books. I can still recite some of those poems to this day!

You sound like a fabulous teacher. I wish my teachers had been as enthusiastic about their job as you!

Unknown said...

I love how much you love your job! I pray my kids (when I have them) have wonderful teachers like you!

I love seeing your tag from the hospital. You were a pretty small baby...I was 8lbs, 2oz but my friend weight 11 pounds! Seriously...HUGE!

Anonymous said...

I love new books and the smell if just the best. If I were a school teacher I would be the same as you!!!

Have a nice weekend.

amy (metz) walker said...

My favorite one is "The Missing Piece Meets the Big O" by Shel Silverstein. It has SUCH a value-lesson in it, diguised by cute story! It's bascially about finding fulfillment in yourself - being yourself - and realizing that nothing and no one makes you whole!

Have you read it?!

Debbie said...

I TOO am a sucker for those books. Big time. I love the smell the newness, and the price ;)It is fortunate for my kids because everytime they bring home those scholastic thingys I get all weak in the knees and let them get a book or two. I think the people at scholastic know this. That's why they make it so cheap fpr me to feed the habit ;)

I am your Favorite Things Swap partner and wanted to let you know that I am finally getting your package out to the post office today. I have been trying to get that done all week. Don't tell Kat. She might put me in Favorite Swap Time-out next time. I wish I had been on time mailing it so that it would have arrived on your birthday. Oh well, it's always fun to keep celebrating after the fact...and FYI, my birthday is next Friday. Love October birthdays!

Let me know when you receive it!

Straight to Your Hart said...

I love children's books..I have a hard time when I do get the catalogs to order from..to pick some out!!

Jennifer said...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!! Hope you have a wonderful day and weekend!!

thotlady said...

Thanks for visiting my site.

Your site is wonderful, your excitement is so infectuous, it jumps off the page.

Love, love, love, books, even children's books.

Whitney said...

How fun! I love books too. LOVE THEM!

tiarastantrums said...

lovely post!
we have so many books in this house.
Right now our favs are the elephant and piggie books by mo williams!

Megan said...

Omigosh. I miss getting those little Scholastic newsletter things and picking out the books I wanted. And my parents would always let me order some cause they are so cheap. Thanks for the memories. I miss Scholastic!

Megan said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Alex @ I'm the Mom said...

I LOVE book orders. My mom used to buy from them all the time and I plan on buying from them whenever our son brings them home. We're currently sending in Book Order Month #2. He'll be getting almost $100 worth of books lol. They sent home three catalogs!!! One was french. I HAD to buy from all three lmao.

Rebecca Jo said...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!! What a neat little find to have that tag from your crib!!

I have to add, I LOVE everything about books too - & kids books are so fun to read & the illustrations! I would constantly be purchasing books too! I bet the kids love them!

Rebecca Jo said...

Forgot to say - Amelia Bedelia was my favorite kids book!

Lisa @ Boondock Ramblings said...

Happy birthday and I love children's books too!

I have too many favorites to name, I'm afraid, but some are the DR. Seuss books and some are those not as well known.

Interest PSF!

Grand Pooba said...

Your post brings back so many great memories from grade school.

I LOVE BOOKS

And I LOVED ordering them just like you. I got so excited when the book fair would come to school.

I still get excited because there is a book fair that comes to my office building each year. YES! I feel like a kid again!

Melissa said...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!

Oh, and I love, love, love getting the Scholastic book orders. i love it when they come home from the teachers and I order everytime!!

katylinvw said...

Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! how exciting, and what a fun keepsake! - i'm with you on the books, too :)

Unknown said...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!
My lilest bean LOVES those scolastic book order forms-wonderful books to choose from!

I cant wait for our SSS exchange it is going to be such fun

Elaine at Matters of the Heart) said...

Happy Birthday to you, have a blessed day. I can say I had a great thirty third year, I wish you a year full of everything your heart desires.

Ooooh I hope we get our books today. I love when we get the order slip at our pre-school. It is the best deal in town.

Mrs. Realife said...

YOU are a girl after my own heart!!! Seriously.............. teachers have a special connection unlike any other :)

HAVE THE BEST WEEKEND!

Jennifer Owens said...

Okay Miss Becky!!! I was wondering if you were going to post anything Birthdayish today.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!

By the way I love kids books too. There Berenstein bears are and still are my favorites.

Amy said...

Happy Birthday, Becky!
I hope that you have a day that is as special as you are.

And to answer your question about favorite children's books...My boys loved all of the Little Critter stories, the Arthur and D.W. series, and abslolutely everything Ramona and Henry Huggins. Then when they got just a little bit older, there was a series of four books by Gail Rock about a girl named Addie and her family. We loved Addie. We would only read one or two chapters together a day, to savor the books, because we knew there were only four of them. We were all 3 so sad when we got to the end, because we felt as if our new best friend had moved away.

Sigh.

They made television specials of the books too...They are "The House Without A Christmas Tree," "The Thanksgiving Treasure," "A Dream for Addie," and "Addie and the King of Hearts." We have all but the last one on VHS, and we watch them at the holidays.

And last but not least....in my humble opinion, "Charlotte's Web" is the most precious book ever written.

Sniff, sniff

We loved it.

Happy Birthday again!

God Bless,
Amy:)

Unknown said...

oh how i miss those days when the scolastic book order came around, and we got to order new books!!! i LOVED the bernstein bears when i was growing up!

Michelle said...

I love children's books. When my sister was in college she used to work in a Children's book store. My girls have a bunch of really awesome books signed by the authors. So totally cool. I think my favorites that have been signed are from Amy Tan and Kevin Henkes.

Naturally Caffeinated Family said...

I used to get sooo excited about scholastic books! Looking through the magazine, ordering something, getting it! Oh I totally relate to your whole description, ha! Happy Birthday!!!

Tânia Pinto said...

Haaaaaaaaappy birthdaaaaaaaay toooooooo youuuuuuuu!!!!!
:D I really have no ideas about that basketball thing..

And gosh... I wanna take a better look at those books :D

Mrs Anne said...

*HAPPPPPPIEST BIRTHDAY TO YOU!*

I LOVE children's books! when I was teaching (5th grade) I used to get more excited when the books came in that the kids did I think :) I also remember being so excited as a kid to bring home the paper-thin order form to my mom to pick out what books I could order. Of course I wanted to be sure to order enough to qualify for the "free" puppy or kitty poster or stickers that came with your order of $5 or more. :)

My favorite children's books would have to be the Eric Carle books or Shel Silversteins collection.

Great post my dear!

Hope your day is as fabulous as you are!

xoxo

Brett Alexandra said...

Oh gosh, children books are so CUTE!! I remember when I was little and would get SO excited to go to the book fair when we had them at school.

Annikke said...

Happy Birthday!

I love, love, love books too!

"J" said...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR BECKY!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!

I hope you have a WONDERFUL day!!!!

I love your school spirit!!!!
You ROCK!!! I don't even know you as a teacher just what I read in the blog! You get my vote for TEACHER OF THE YEAR!!!! I love it!!!! Schools need MORE TEACHERS like YOU!!!!!!!

Back to the basketball thing!!! I will try and think of something!!! I played sports in school...so let me think...if I come up with something I will get back with you!!! Is it just for a sign you will hang up??? I was a little lost by the candy...YUM...candy!!! I think I stopped reading when I started thinking about candy! =) lol

I remember back in the day when I was in school...we use to order books! It was ALWAYS a TREAT to get your books!!! =)

"J" said...

I think it was because I was soooooooooooooo hungry - it's lunch time I'm not eating just blogging!!! lol

I will see what I can come up with!!! One of my BFF's that I work with - we were on the same v-ball and b-ball team in High School!!! I'm sure we can come up with something!!!

Faith said...

Happy Happy Birthday Becky!!! I hope your day is filled with blessings!

Rachel said...

I miss that part of teaching -- getting new books. New books are the BEST!

PSF - Dueling Parents

Jamie @ Bungalow Bee said...

Happy Birthday!!!

I LOVE kids books too. I love books of any kind, but particularly vintage kids books (as you know!). I used to love Scholastic BOoks and would beg my mom to let me order something out of it for book fairs. I plan to stock up when I have kids, too! :)

sassy stephanie said...

Happy Birthday! How fun to run across that!!

I love love love love the book fair at school. I always wonder how "cheap" books can get me into so much trouble!

Ruby Red Slippers said...

I LOVE children's books too!(I use to teach first grade...) I have too many favorites to list, but now I associate books with my own kids:Goodnight Moon, Is Your Mama a Lama, And The Hungry Pitter-I mean "Catipilliar"-we pronounce it different in our house!

Mom24 said...

I love the books clubs too. My son's teacher isn't doing them this year, and it makes me sad.

Lindsay said...

Oh oh - I LOVE new books too...even though I'm not a big fan of reading right now. But I could seriously spend the whole day in Barnes & Noble. Awwww. So cool you get to TOUCH AND SMELL them before handing them out!!

Maggie May said...

Aren't the children's books lovely these days? I love the illustrations in them, especially.
Its lovely that its the weekend! Enjoy it!

Krista said...

Happy Birthday to you! I LOVE books! I think I've started a book collection for my son... mostly for me! Our favorite at the moment is Go Dog Go. :)

Robyn said...

I love kids books too, I always mean to order from scholastic from daycare and always forget.

Wendy said...

So glad you are a book lover I'm so glad you visit my blog. I love all of those books also. Have you read the Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett. I love Jan Brett!! Our preschool gets scholastic and I order them for myself every month. Love scholastic! Watch for my Tuesday Tales the next two weeks. I have two people guest posting while my husband is having surgery!
You will love them!

Chris said...

Children's books are so much more interesting to look at than "adult" books.
I love anything by Dr. Seuss.

Mandy said...

Can I just say I am impressed with 54 comments! WOW! :-)

I too love children's books. We have too many but my kids love them and they do get read. I would be the distracted teacher as well and I do get excited when the book orders come home!

As far as how much did my kids gets paid? Well, they got paid with a sigh from their mom... :-)

Missy said...

My sister just finished college last year and is now an elementary teacher, and we have had a blast building up her new classroom book library - it is such fun, and there are so many good kids books!

Elaine at Matters of the Heart) said...

Okay I am back again...Hope you are having a wonderful birthday.

We did not get our books today, oh well, maybe next week...

Anonymous said...

We love our books here too. Now all I need are more book shelves!

david mcmahon said...

Thanks for the visit and the comment. When I moved countries, I shipped almost 150 kilos (300 pounds) of my precious books!

Ohilda said...

I, as a Mommy, love ordering Scholastic books. I just finished ordering a few today! No Barnes and Nobles or Borders for this girl! Give me those school book order forms and watch me smile!

Ohilda

Kellan said...

Oh - Alexis just has to place her school book order - every single time. We are a book lovin' family and I love seeing those books when they come home with her. You are so cute!

Have a good weekend - Kellan

Anonymous said...

I love book orders as well. I looked forward to the day that I could once again order from them. I have fond childhood memories of my own book orders. Now I get to share the excitement with my daughter. :) How fun to be the receiver of the entire order!

Storytellin' Mama said...

I feel the same way about children's books... good thing I have four kids!!

Happy Birthday, love the birth I.D.!

Smiling Shelly said...

Happy Friday and Birthday!! I have a trunk full of books right now that I should send your way (only, you prolly already have them all). I keep meaning to donate them to our Library or a school.

Casey's trio said...

Happy birthday...lots of comment love for you today:) I love your enthusiasm for your book orders. I get the same way about buying Fiction books to read. I have a good 4 boxes of books I haven't read in our house.

Joyce said...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Thank you for visiting my blog; it's a pleasure to meet you.

I share a similar addiction to books, especially children's picture books. Some of the artwork is so gorgeous.

Kelsey said...

Happy Birthday!!!

Oh how you just brought back SO many memories of those scholastic book orders every month from school. In elementary school I was one of the only people in my class who would order books. I would get SO excited when they came and then go home and read them all. I wish I could still do that book club! Especially now that I've got the 3 yr old into books and we are constantly going to B&N and spending way too much money.

I LOVED the Bernstein Bear books as a kid, that and Little Golden books. It's so sad they're not really around any more.

Jennifer P. said...

Hello Becky! I LOVE the Frog and Toad series, and also Goodnight Moon and anything by Roald Dahl. I thought I was the only one who oogled over kiddie books :)!

You know what else I LOVE?....the package you sent me!!! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IT!!! Couldn't have picked more perfect things myself. Thank you for the time and effort and thought you put into all of it! I have your 'tribute' up on my blog today!

Best to you,
~Jennifer

Cecilia said...

I love ordering books every month... Scholastic ROCKS!
How precious that you found you birth tag!
PS-thanks for visiting my blog!

stefanie said...

Happy Birthday!

I love the Mia Hamm quote, and I am planning to plagarize it.

New books are the best. So are old ones. So are children's books and YA books and fiction and non-fiction. There is a facebook group called, "I'd marry the Beast for a library like that!" I definitely would.

imbeingheldhostage said...

HAPPY 33rd!!!!
I LOVE children's books and I love ordering from Scholastic... I would be so poor if I was trying to teach :-(
Since you're book crazy as well, maybe you can help me. I am trying to remember a book I read as a child (a favorite) and it was some creature who accumulated all colors of spots. I can't tell you much more than that because one of my kids came home with a book about a dog who got food, paint, pollen dripped on him and he got spots-- that's not the one.
Anyway.. sorry to ramble. Great PSF!

Susan said...

Oh, I love Scholastic! When I was still teaching before my son was born I had accumulated thousands of points at one point from all the kids who were ordering. (I taught in an area with well off families.)
Since I taught 4th grade I usually got novels, but when I found out I was pregnant, I used all of my thousands of points on picture books. Love, love, love every one. The funny thing is that I always want to introduce him to new books and he loves to read the same ones over and over. I know that will change with age though.

Shanan Strange said...

Your students are blessed because I am sure you are passing on your love of books!

Have a happy weekend!!

Tricia said...

OMG! You just described me to a "T" I am a retired teacher and I miss Scholastic Books Orders more than school! I looked in the office every day after lunch for my box. Thank goodness we can track them now. I am subbing for a sick leave and she has been getting catalogs and I so want to order. My classroom walls were covered with book jackets with Robust Vocabulary words on them. We "Read The Wall" with them I brought them home with me when I retired! I loved Joseph Had A Little Overcoat, Stellaluna, Snowflake Bentley.....and it goes On and On!

Rose said...

I love children's books too. Honestly, two of my favorites, McBroom's Ghost by Sid Fleishman and Bear Party by William Pene Du Bois. yes, they are both "vintage". I have a lot of books from my childhood that I read to my 3-year-old. He loves them too. (At least we haven't accidentally stolen any from a store!) Great photo story.

Thanks for stopping by and commenting!

latree said...

wow! I love the smell of new books. but will you keep them smell 'new' all the time? :D

Susie said...

I LOVE that you love books as much as I love books! Sophie is going to learn to read ASAP for this very reason!
I'm so ordering from scholastic btw-thanks for the reminder!

Kmommy said...

Oh I too LOVE childrens books!! I took a children's lit class and so loved it! And I took a class called Lit for Teachers, geared towards jr high/high school. Oh man did my bookshelves get beefed up after those classes!

Beth@Pages of Our Life said...

Girl you gotta love the blue tongue! I love what you did to your blog! So fun!

Tulsi said...

Let's not "snicker" at the other team? I am not creative off of the top of my head.

Heather Bug said...

Becky! Remember me...Heather Bug from xanga! I was reading someone's comments and recognized your name. I am so glad you have a blog..I'll have to start reading it. I hope you are fabulous!!!

Joy said...

Aaahhh! The smell and look of fresh books!! You have to love that!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!! I hope you had an enjoyable day!

Team treats:
Apples-You're the apple of our eye!
Tootsie Rolls-You're on a roll! or Roll over the competition
Gummy Worms-Worm your way into a win
Pixi sticks-Stick it to them

I could think of more if I were standing in the candy isle. But then again I might be distracted by all that sugar!

Sara @ Domestically Challenged said...

It is a bit older, but you might enjoy the Mysterious Benedict Society. I love them and am planning on reading them to my class. And I send home book orders each month too. They are educational, inexpensive, and GOOD. Silly parents who order the games and toys out of them.

Becky said...

I am addicted to children's books also. My house is over flowing with them. My latest buys are 2 cute books by Lance Waite, "A Day with My Dad," and "A Day with My Dad at The Beach."

Carol said...

Becky,

I love books, too. We are a homeschooling family and just read "Ginger Pye" which I noticed was in your box of books. It was an enjoyable read. The author loves to write really loooonngg sentences.

Rachel said...

Happy Birthday!!!

I loved getting those books when we ordered them from Scholastic...woohoo!

Unknown said...

Happy belated Birthday to You! Hope it was wonderful

Brooke said...

Happy belated B-Day. What a fun little keepsake to still have your hospital tag from your birth. We are both 1975 girls too!

What's next said...

my youngest daughter's favorite lately has been What are you so Grumpy about? Fun book... I'm going to give your link to my niece who is also a teacher who has a book problem!

CC said...

Yes! I want to touch all those books!