GrannyXpress

Another vote for Munsch

Filed under: GrannyX Suggests, GrannyX Reads @ July 18, 2006 10:57 am by healthiacynthia

Today’s entry in the Classic Reading contest is from June K., a granny of two boys (and mother of three girls) in Richmond, B.C.

Granny ReadingBooks to read aloud: Anything by Robert Munsch - and if you have not read Love You Forever, go out right now and buy it. I first got a copy when Jess was born and I gave copies to both Nicole and Kirsten when their kids came along. I still get teary when I read it to Jordan, Dev is a little too big to read it to– he will be nine soon and is into Harry Potter and Captain Underpants.

Jess loved a book called The Teeny Tiny Woman, and it fact it is the first book she learned to read by herself- it is still in her room somewhere, buried under glamour magazines and biographies of politicians,and Kurt Cobain’s diary.

All the Madeline books.

Summer Reading Classics for Grannies

Filed under: GrannyX Reads @ July 17, 2006 11:58 am by healthiacynthia

Granny ReadingYikes… somehow the original post got deleted! I’m hoping that this will include the same link information that I had in the first post… no wonder the landslide of entries seems to have dried up!!! Sorry everyone!

I have a delightful nine-month old granddaughter in the Philippines where our son Phil and his wife, Marylen, live with Alyza. At some near time (please God and Immigration!!) they will be coming to Canada to live with us. I want to be a granny who reads books. But I need your help!! I’ve been out of the loop for so long I don’t know what the popular read-aloud books are anymore!

So, I’ve decided to run a contest on this site. All you need to do is to write a few lines about what book(s) you loved hearing read aloud when you were a child, and what book(s) your grandchild asks you to read when you visit (or he/she visits you). You can dress it up with details, if you like, but that is basically all that is required for the contest. I will publish your entry on this blog. At the end of the summer (probably September) I will award the winners (pulled from a hat) with useful, sweet-smelling prizes.

Please help!! Read over the current entries to get an idea of how other people have replied, and then either post to this site ~just click where it says Comments and follow the instructions… or send me an email at grannyxpress @ yahoo.ca (I put the spaces in so that the spammers don’t pick up the address and spam me, so please remember that there are no spaces before and after the @ symbol).

If you need any other instructions, please just email me!

Granny’s Girl

Filed under: GrannyXShowsOff @ July 16, 2006 2:15 pm by healthiacynthia

Okay…some fresh pictures of Alyza Apple just came in…time for some showing off…

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Alyza’s parents are Phil and Malyn. They’re excellent parents and very good sports.

More About Curious George…

Filed under: GrannyX Recommends @ July 11, 2006 11:52 am by healthiacynthia

Interesting that Vera (previous blog) should mention how her boys enjoyed the Curious George stories because they were a big hit in our household too. Our younger son went into the hospital when he was about four and I remember buying him a book called “Curious George Goes to the Hospital” that I read to him when I was with him there. It was quite comforting, at least to me. There was no encouragement in those days for parents to spend the night with their child, so I had to come home.

Here is a variety of gift-y items based on this popular little monkey:

Just a Curious Little Monkey…

Filed under: GrannyX Reads @ 11:08 am by healthiacynthia

Vera W. from Saskatchewan contributes the following:
The Adventures of Curious George
Reading to my grandchildren? I can’t say I have had that much opportunity to do so but I used to read at length to my boys. One of their favorites was Curious George. Which reminds me, I see a compilation of his stories in the shelf and I think I will take it along to AB with me (when I go to see the grandkids tomorrow). I must get it now.

When I got burned and ended up in the …. Hospital in the burn unit for 21 days, I had a private room for about the first 10 days. In the morning I would close the door and watch Curious George ’cause I knew this mischievous little monkey. My boys each had a Curious George stuffed animal when they were young.

(Vera came back from visiting her grandkids and sent me an email to include this additional information:)
Time was running out and it looked like I wasn’t going to get a chance to read Curious George to the children. Brandon, 3, was so active. Getting him to sit long enough seemed like trying to nail jello to the wall. But on Monday of this week my sister invited them all over for supper and before we ate, I hauled out the huge book, sat in the recliner with one child perched
on each arm of the chair. I think I even have a picture to prove it. (This is definitely for publication but not long into the reading session, little Brandon discovered the “pillows” on my chest and gently began to knead the right one. And then Meagan discovered there was one on her side as well and
she did the same. I hope I didn’t give the impression that it was something very vigorous–it wasn’t. All very gentle. I got Brandon to turn the pages so that got him distracted.)

Lots of Juice in Dr. Seuss

Filed under: GrannyX Recommends @ July 10, 2006 12:30 pm by healthiacynthia

It is interesting for me to hear Dr. Seuss’s Green Eggs and Ham mentioned as a popular book for kids today– I’m sure that my Dad read that to my brothers, and I know that our sons (in their 30s) enjoyed the good doctor’s stories. I guess that is the test of a real classic. “Ted Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss, was far more than an author and illustrator of children’s books and movies. His career included humorist, journalist, advertising genius, magazine and political cartoonist, creator of wartime training and propaganda films, president of a publishing company, and spokesman for children’s education.” ~from a review by Anthony Trendl of The Seuss, the Whole Seuss and Nothing But the Seuss : A Visual Biography of Theodor Seuss Geisel (Hardcover) by Charles D. Cohen

Here is an assemblage of Dr. Suess-abilia for the most ardent young fans (and even some stuff for the older fans):

The Old Books are the Fun Books

Filed under: GrannyX Reads @ July 9, 2006 9:17 pm by healthiacynthia

The following post is by Eleanor K. who lives in Saskatchewan.

Granny ReadingI had a Granny who read to me, but not in English. Somebody in “the Old Country” had sent us a couple of hand-illustrated books and my Granny, who smelt quite a bit like garlic and sauerkraut in the summer, but I didn’t care, would read them to me and my brother. We had no idea what she was reading. But we liked to sit with her and after she finished we would get a donut or some other goodie. She probably only read us these books twice. I have no idea what became of them. All I can remember is that there was a little boy in the book who wore a suit. Nobody that age that I knew about wore a suit.

I know that reading to your kids is a good thing, so I read to my children (3) when they were little and I sometimes read to my granddaughters when they visit here. They are seven and three years old. The seven-year old likes the fairy-tale books that her mom liked (Cinderella and stuff like that) and the three-year old likes me to read her the Dr. Seuss book called “Green Eggs and Ham“. These are the books I have at my house so maybe they like to have other books read to them in their own home. Sometimes these old books are still fun for kids to read.

Dr. Seuss: Green Eggs and Ham and Other Stories

(If you’re a granny and would like to contribute to the wisdom –”reading aloud to one’s grandchild”– click on the granny reading picture above and read the contest guidelines).

Gifts for the Narnia Fans…

Filed under: GrannyX Recommends @ July 6, 2006 5:19 pm by healthiacynthia

C.S. Lewis and Tolkien and their most ardent classical fans would no doubt turn in their graves if they could see the sort of response the teenies of the world have for the big screen representations of their work. Nonetheless, there may be kids reading the original books because of the movies??

Here are some items associated with the Narnia Series that will make good birthday gifts for kids who are familiar with the books or movie:

Before there were videos…

Filed under: GrannyX Reads @ 4:45 pm by healthiacynthia

Today’s blog is from Louise J. who lives in Ontario, Canada

Granny Reading

I didn’t grow up in Canada, and I sure didn’t have a parent who read me stories. Life was just too grim. But I did listen to the wireless (radio) and I loved the spoken word and a good story. When I became a grandmother– which was early on, since I had a baby at 18 and my daughter had her first child when she was 21– I found myself cuddled up with this wee chubby page-turner and we “read” lots of books together over the years. He’s 17 now, and he tells me about what books he is reading– or writing (he’s a budding writer is my grandson)– and I sometimes read out loud to my cat, because I like that experience.

What were the books that he liked most when we were reading together? When he was little he liked the books about trains like “The Little Engine that Could” and the Thomas the Tank books. We read the whole C.S. Lewis Narnia series one summer a few years ago, and he likes fantasy books in general. Before there were videos, this is what kids did. My Grandson watches very little TV. He plays on the computer a fair amount, but he also goes off somewhere with a good book… and I know that I had an influence on him because I read to him when he was growing up.

(If you’re a granny and would like to contribute to the wisdom –”reading aloud to one’s grandchild”– click on the granny reading picture above and read the contest guidelines).

Noah’s Story

Filed under: GrannyX Recommends @ July 5, 2006 12:56 am by healthiacynthia

The Bible story of Noah and the flood has always fascinated me.  I have often welcomed babies into this world with a book about Noah or a toy ark.  At one time I considered creating a line of soft arks that would double as bags (with all the animals inside) that could accompany little ones to Church.  Lucky I didn't invest a wad of money in that because someone had already thought of the idea! lol

For any Noah's-Ark-o-files out there, here is a sample of items you can now pick up for your grandkids (click on the pic for more information):


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