The Library

Have we talked about what a blessing the public library is?  There's one not far from our house.  Rory seems to devour books, so the first week we moved, we got a library card.  Every Saturday we head to the library.  We don't actually go there to pick out books, because we reserve them online ahead of time.  Rory goes to the library for Poo.  Oh wait, that's Pooh.  In the children's room at the library, there is a shelf with large stuffed animals ("germ traps", as Daddy calls them).  Rory runs in and picks up Pooh, gives him a giant squeeze (while Daddy gags and searches for hand sanitizer), then puts him in a chair so she can read him a story.  Sometimes Piglet and Clifford the Big Red Dog get to join the party, too.  She gets a few books and proceeds to make up stories (and even words) while she loudly (despite our "shhhh"s) describes the pictures to them. 

After her story time, we go up to the front counter.  Rory hands the people at the desk our library card and asks if we have anything waiting.  They come back with a stack of books and Rory immediately starts LOUDLY TELLING EVERYONE WHAT EVERY BOOK IS.  It's embarassing as heck, but the librarians love it because she's giddy with excitement about her books.

Here are some of her recent favorites:

• "A Good Day", by Kevin Henkes
  
• anything by Todd Parr (the "Otto" books)
  
• anything by Mo Willems (the Pigeon books, the Elephant & Piggy books, and Knufflebunny books)
• "Blueberries for Sal", by Robert McCloskey
  
• "Pinkalicious", by Victoria Kann and Elizabeth Kann
  
• "If You Give a Cat a Cupcake", by Laura Numeroff
  
• "The Giving Tree", by Shel Silverstein
• "Silly Sally", byAudrey Wood
  
• "The Napping House", by Audrey Wood
• "Fancy Nancy", by Jane O'Conner
• "Where the Wild Things Are", by Maurice Sendak
• "Kitten's First Full Moon", by Kevin Henkes