These cool, sunny days are ideal for my little readers! Under red and gold trees or wrapped in blankets with slices of apple-pie and mugs of tea..they have books around them constantly!

Ilya is not an actual reader, but he’s not shy about asking me or Seth or Yarrow to read to him! And he’s almost as content to sit with a well-loved book and remember the story aloud. He has a deep love for Tiki Tiki Tembo these days, especially The Old Man with the Ladder – Ilya very much longs for an old man to bring him a ladder and let him climb it. But he worries about Tiki Tiki Tembo deep in the well, and hope he won’t fall in again! I love how surprised Ilya sounds when, on the third reading of Tiki Tiki Tembo, the poor boy is still falling into the well!

He is also a huge fan of El Paseo de Rosie – a Spanish & English book about a little hen named Rosie who talks a walk, pursued by a sneaky fox! Our own woods are full of sneaky young foxes, eager to munch a little chicken and Rosie’s walk is so pretty and autumnal that he can’t take his eyes of it! She also comes home safely – and the fox leaves in a hurry, and full of crushed hopes!

We’re also enjoying Teeny Tiny by Tomie dePaola. Though why on earth the teeny tiny woman thinks a bone from a church yard would make a tasty soup for her supper is beyond me! Thankfully, she’s haunted and has to give the bone back! Ugh..but Ilya loves saying “Eww! That is so so yucky!” and being all nervous while the ghost is demanding his bone back! It’s fun for everyone really.

Yarrow is reading everything she can get her hands on! Primarily The Prydain Series, by Lloyd Alexander, a delightful little collection of adventures in which the hero, Taran faces evil knights, sorceresses, and his own doubts and uncertainties to grown into a true leader! She adore Taran and his companions.

She’s also been enjoying Tomie dePaola’s St. Francis – we read it aloud for his feast day and it’s be hauled out of the bookshelf pretty much everyday since then!

If you like St. Francis at all, this book is ideal! The illustrations are lovely, and Francis is written so well! Most of the best-loved stories about him are in the book, too, which makes it a little long to read, but it’s divided into short, little sections and it’s easy to divide up the reading if you want to!

What are your kids reading these days? What are you reading to them? And what are you reading for yourself? I’ll have to tell you all about my book-list soon!