Living Out Loud: springtime favorite

If there is one thing I over buy for J it's books. I'm sure he could happily keep reading the same books but I get bored and there are SOOOO many books out there I just cannot resist. I especially love TJ Maxx because they are the price of used books but in better shape. Not that all used books are in horrible shape - I definitely buy a good deal from Half Price Books too. Kids can just be so hard on books though that the used ones often show a bit of wear and I don't have an issue with that other than they will fall apart sooner once J gets a hold of them. He doesn't chew them, thankfully, but he is rough on them all the same. He has no concept of front/back cover and often tries to close the book in the wrong spot. Another great source for books is Amazon because they often run sales on books if bought in 4s. I think the sale was if you buy 3 the 4th is free and if you do that twice then you also qualify for free shipping! That was quite a score for the holidays and his birthday but a bit excessive for an everyday purchase (even for me).

What about the library you ask? Not yet. When he is older and reading on his own we'll become frequent visitors to the library. I have gained a new appreciation for libraries in the past year. I had not taken advantage of the wonderful resource they are since probably middle school when my mother would take us to Westminster College's library. They had an awesome children's section complete with a fort! I am not embarrassed at all to admit that even in middle school I had as much fun in that fort as my much younger siblings. I loved to climb up on top with a few books and spend a good bit of time deciding which in my pile would make the cut and come home with me that week.

This winter I found a book at Half Price Books that J never really took to, but I continued to read it to him anyway because it was MY favorite. I loved the artwork - absolutely loved it. I wrote about it a few months ago and if you don't remember take a look at it here.

Over vacation one of our bags was 3 days late in arriving. It apparently wanted a separate vacation in Miami and St. Thomas. J's bedtime reads were in it so we found a book on St. John for him. It is my new favorite and this time J likes it too! It's called the Secret Seahorse. It's definitely a book I can see him growing with because right now he just gets the basics. In time he'll see it's actually a hide and seek book . . . looking for the seahorse of course.

For me, I love the artwork. The winter book I loved the artwork also and wanted to live in it. This book, I want to re-create the artwork. The entire book is felt applique of different underwater scenes and various underwater creatures complete with coral, a shipwreck, and sparkly sequin fish scales!