Answer: My love for kids' books

Guess what? I like it my job, a whole lot.

I get to teach children how to read. Overall, it's pretty boss. I won't bore you with the inane details of the building blocks of literacy, but I do want to share some awesome kids' books I've encountered lately.

My favorite books for emergent readers (like mid-end kindergarten) are these sets called Brand New Readers. They are easy, predictable, and most of all, funny. I haven't met a child yet, boy or girl, good reader or struggling, who doesn't like these books.

My favorite character is Worm. He overheats easily, strives for perfection and often reaches high levels of anxiety.

Exhibit A:

Worm gets a fan. Worm is still hot.


Unfortunately the pictures didn't stretch too well. However, I hope the picture still conveys the extreme level of distress this worm is in.

Exhibit B:

"I don't like it." says Turtle. Worm paints a picture.

If you can't quite make out what's going on, I'll explain. Worm has created a masterpiece of an evergreen, which I think is pretty awesome for someone without hands, let alone opposable thumbs. Turtle shares his critique (I don't like it) and Worm clearly has a small mental breakdown. He proceeds to discard the tree painting and begins working on a new one. If you ask me, Turtle was kind of being a dick.

Anyway, that's a snapshot of the Brand New Readers. They are perfect for teaching young children how to read, and amusing the adults who have to help them.


Next, let's jump up to fifth grade/ middle school. Now I don't know how Jim Benton did it, but he somehow captured the essence of what it is to be a girl in middle school. Astonishingly enough, he makes it humorous. He does this all in the Dear Dumb Diary series.


The books' main character, Jamie, spends ample time investigating one of the most important issues one must face in middle school: popularity. The book is filled with amusing sketches and diagrams to elaborate on certain topics:






I love it, it's so perfect. By the way, Angeline is that quintessential, pretty, popular girl who is really just a huge bitch. Here's Jamie's rendition of her:



I find this pretty funny, since she bears quite a resemblance to my middle school arch nemesis. I am so tempted to put a pic of her here so you can see, but I don't want to taint my blog like that. And I am a bigger person than that. And...I'm afraid she'll somehow find it, so we're just not gonna do that.


Stay classy, Poughkeepsie

Chatie