Dads Read Too

JER: “ We Don’t Eat Our Classmates ” by Ryan T. Higgins was a really great recommendation from our friend Alice.  It details Penelope’s inner struggle to avoid eating her classmates, even though they are SOOOO DELICIOUS!  Her parents help her see that “children are the same as us [T-Rexes] on the inside.  Just tastier.” Once the tables were turned on her, and she learned what it felt like to “be someone’s snack, she lost her appetite for children (Even when Cece Woodman spilled BBQ sauce all over herself)”. It is a really great book for discussing empathy, and learning how to treat others how you want to be treated.

JER: “ Color Farm ” by Lois Ehlert magically blends colors, shapes, and cut-outs to overlay different animal shapes.

DADS LISTEN: “ Reframing Anger ” on NPR’s TED Radiohour with host Guy Raz.  This is a synopsis from the website: “Anger is universal and complex: it can be quiet, festering, justified, vengeful, and destructive. This hour, TED speakers explore the many sides of anger, why we need it, and who's allowed to feel it.” I especially enjoyed this, entirely relatable, experience from host Guy Raz and the resulting dialogue with clinical psychologist Russell Kolts about how we can use compassion to manage our anger.  Dr. Kolts goes on to explain that anger can be useful in “activating us to act now”, but it is a vulnerability that needs to be addressed.  One way to manage anger, is to take steps to interrupt the momentum of anger to create some space for whatever comes next.  If you try to visualize yourself in a past experience where you were angry, and think of what encouragement you might have given yourself at that moment to “be at your best in that moment.” ...

JER: “ Finn Throws A Fit ” by author David Elliott and illustrator Timothy Basil Ering is Ejler’s latest book obsession.  She has asked to read it every night we’ve had it from the library. If you have spent an extended period of time with any toddler, this book will be very relatable.  When a toddler throws a “fit”, it can feel like every natural disaster known in this world are all descending from the tightly drawn face and flailing limbs of an angry little body.  But the “fits” pass just as mysteriously as they arose, and life moves on.

Edward Abbey, “Desert Solitaire”, Preface #newyearsevefeels

JER: “ BOB Books ” by Bobby Lynn Maslen and John R. Maslen are really great learn-to-read-books.  I have been trying to find a way to encourage Lake to read more, but I wasn’t making much progress.  I am really glad Andy suggested these books.  They use a very simple progression of sounds and the switching of letters to make it very easy for kids to have the courage to try reading.

JER: “ The Whispering Town ” by author Jennifer Elvgren and illustrator Fabio Santomauro is based on the true story of Danish resistance during World War II. AUTHOR’S NOTE: “By 1943, the Nazis began to round up the estimated 8,000 Danish Jews and send them to concentration camps.  Danes hid Jews in private homes, warehouses, barns, hotels, and churches.  Then they secured boats and hired fisherman to transport them across the sound to nearby neutral Sweden.  Almost all of the Jews were smuggled out of Denmark.  About 1,700 Jews escaped from the small fishing village of Gilleleje.  One moonless night, the town’s citizens stood in their doorways and whispered in directions to the harbor.” As I read this story, I couldn’t help tearing up, thinking about the tremendous bravery of these Danes.  It also gave me tremendous pride to know that my ancestors were part that effort.  My great-aunt Gerda Valentiner (the sister of my grandfather Ejler Valen...