My Love of books and a review of Owl Babies plus some activities.
My First Love
It would be an understatement to say i love books. I honestly cannot live without them.
I get all antsy and anxious if i haven't got a book on the go. What would i do....talk to my husband? Really, you do that?
I have loved books for as long as i can remember. I grew up on an estate with a little library. Some of my earliest memories are of me and my older sister ( 11yrs my senior) going off on our own to spend time picking and reading books. We would then go to the park behind the library before taking ourselves off home to work through our books before doing it all again the next week.
I can still see in my minds eye the library's squat prefab structure, dated 70's decor, orange carpet and laminate book shelves. The yellowed and torn books worn by many hands. I was gutted when it closed, to be replaced by a young offenders institute.
You'll be glad to know i didn't visit the building after that. ; )
When i found out i was expecting, it wasn't the cute little booties i rushed out to buy. It was books. Baby books mirrored and monochrome, children's rhyme books, even children's classics to build up a collection for 'Bumps' future reading.
I clung to what i knew, i provided books like most mommies provide blankets. Many and layered, a different one for different times, seasons or occasions. If i could make my baby well read then i could make him well loved or something like that, it was all a bit fuddled by pregnancy hormones but my baby NEEDED books.
Much to my great delight i have nurtured a book lover. It fills me with joy each time he brings me a book asking for a story and i love the way he remembers snippets of his favourite, repeating them in his play or when he needs the reassurance they offer.
Book Review
We love the book 'Owl Babies' by Martin Waddell, Illustrated by Patrick Benson.
Its a sweet simple story of three little owls who wake up in the night to find their Mommy has gone. The three owls have a good think about where their mommy is (all owls think a lot)and baby Bill repeats 'I want my Mommy', my son loves to put on his cry baby voice and say this bit.
After a nice snuggle up together on a branch to ease their anxiety, the baby owls see their mommy return and she reassures them that she had only gone to get them food and that they knew she would come back really.
N loves it when the owl mommy returns, squealling 'AND SHE CAME'
when she swoops across the night sky. He had some issues with separation anxiety and when i found this book i knew it was just the thing to help him.
All i need to say now if he needs reassurance when i leave him is, Think about the Owl Babies and he does, 'because All Owls think alot' and we agree that mommies always come back. He KNOWS this just like, Sarah, Percy and Bill did.
Here are a few owl related activities I've found for you to enjoy this week.
- Here is a site i stumbled upon which is full of great activities including a fun Owl sandwich, some colouring pages and a Owl finger rhyme.
- Here you can find an O is for owl printable to sneak in a bit of Literacy.
- Here, Here, and Here are my favourite of the many Owl crafts out there. Loo roll Owl anyone?
I will be linking up with the 9th Kid Lit Blog Hop over at Mother, Daughter, Son Book Reviews. Please stop by to have a look at some other great reviews.Here
