We stopped by the library so Norah could participate in story time today. Norah's curriculum comes with a suggested reading list and though it has been difficult to get my hands on all of the books, I found two and we read them earlier this afternoon. They are well worth recommending.

Please and Thank You Book by Richard Scarry

The title is deceptive. This book touched on much more than the appropriate times to say "Please" and "Thank you." It is full of short stories that teach manners to use around your house, while visiting friends' houses, attending birthday parties, etc. My favorite story inside this book was called, "Lowly Worm's Horrid Pests." In a lighthearted way, Lowly, a worm, explains the different ways kids can be pests: Selfish Pest won't share, Litterbug Pest drops trash everywhere... What was said about a few types of pests seemed to enlighten Norah to the things I've been trying to teach her about nagging, whining and throwing fits. We both giggled a lot while reading this and looking at the illustrations. What better way than laughter is there to get your point across? It's a like medicine taken with a spoonful of sugar.

The Web in the Grass by Bernice Freschet

This book is about the life cycle of a spider, but somehow, manages to be a beautiful, heartwarming story. I usually squirm when reading about insects, especially the ones I'd hate to find crawling by my foot, but not this time. The words and illustrations show things like: how a web is built, how a spider uses it to catch a meal, repairs it after each use, the dangers spiders face from natural enemies, their egg sacs and how tiny spiders will climb up then drop little webs to float away.