D is for dinosouar and de Paula

months and months ago, i wrote about beginning down the Alphabet Path.  we made it all the way to…C!  but we picked up again this week at D.  mind you, we don’t do many extra activities or even look for specific books.  we just take the theme and head to the library.  it’s just a way to focus our reading a bit.  here’s what we got:

for the most part i’m not a fan of books where children behave badly.  my kids don’t need any more ideas!  but these are dinosaurs, not children.  and they do end up tucked in and on their way to sleep.  we also really love the endpapers of this book.  all of the dinosaurs and their names are represented.  Nico really likes finding each dinosaur inside the book.

this book by James Howe stars a brontosaurus who wants to be a ballerina.  it’s great.  especially the illustrations!

more dinosaurs behaving badly.  i guess it’s hard to resist making these giant creatures be destructive.  one of the illustrations shows a princess riding the t-rex.  that was a big hit here.

i am not a fan of the (computer generated?) illustrations in this one.  but the story features a neat teacher and references Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World–excellent, by the way!  it’s our least favorite, but it’s still worth a look.

all these wonders were joined by a few books by Saint Tomie de Paula.  we got Nana Upstairs, Nana Downstairs, The Book of Fables, and Stagestruck yesterday. these few joined the others on our shelf already: The Popcorn Book, Angels, Angels Everywhere, and The Book of Bible Stories.  all gems!