Silly Dilly Songs

Take Me Out of the Bathtub and Other Silly Dilly Songs by Alan Katz and David Catrow is a picture book, but one which older boys will surely like as well. I purchased this book for my own boys and several other others in this series also. Katz makes up new lyrics set to familiar tunes such as “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,” “Yankee Doodle,” and “Oh, Susanna.” One of my favorites is “I’ve Been Cleaning Up My Bedroom” set to the tune of “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad.” Here is part of the song.

“I’ve been cleaning up my bedroom, all the livelong day

I’ve been cleaning p my bedroom, just to put my stuff away

Mom says, ‘Tidy up that pile

Sitting on the floor.’

I just nod to her, then smile

And shove it our the door!

Please clean up this mess

Please clean up this mess

Please clean up this mess today – ay-ay

Please clean up this mess

Please clean up this mess

That is all my mom can say”

Some of the songs require a little bit of practice, but at least your kids won’t care whether you can sing very well or not because they will be laughing hysterically. Soon you might be singing the new lyrics to these songs instead of the traditional ones because they are so catchy. Catrow’s illustrations are quite zany as well. The subject matter of the songs are things that kids can relate to such as a little brother with a stinky diaper, having to clean your room, not wanting to go to bed, being stuck in the car for a trip, and many others. While I love this book, my favorite is Where Did They Hide My Presents: Silly Dilly Christmas Songs. These are obviously (mostly) familiar Christmas tunes with new lyrics about all the fun surrounding the Christmas holidays. What kids (and adults) don’t love Christmas carols? Soon, you may find yourself singing “Snowball Fight” instead of “Jingle Bells.”

I Stink

There are some great picture books for boys out there these days. A good one for pre-schoolers is I Stink by Kate McMullan and illustrated by Jim McMullan. The book is about a garbage truck with a bit of an attitude. At night while we are sleeping he goes around and collects our trash. One of the fun things about this book is that he makes lots of noises which makes it a great book to read aloud. Kids will have fun chiming in with you and making the noises themselves! Jim McMullan does a wonderful job with the illustrations. The expressions on the garbage truck make him look a bit ornery. In addition, the text itself changes sizes and colors to reflect the intensity of the story. Not only is the story fun, but kids can learn their alphabet at the same time! After the garbage truck has compacted his trash, he has room for more to eat. His next choice on the menu is alphabet soup. He fills himself with more trash beginning with each letter of the alphabet. But of course, since it is trash, it is not your typical nice things like “alligator” and “dog.” It is gross stuff that really appeals to boys such as fish heads, puppy poo, year-old yams, and ugly underpants.

If your boys like this book, there are several similar books by the McMullan duo along the same lines. I’m Dirty is about a backhoe loader and I’m Mighty is about a tugboat. If your kiddos are also dinosaur fans then also check out their dino books I’m Big and I’m Bad, which are equally fun.

More Captain Underpants

OK, maybe we don’t really need any more Captain Underpants, but this book was too funny to resist. Want a way to sneak in some extra reading for your kids without them realizing they are doing it? Try The Captain Underpants Extra-Crunchy Book O’ Fun. This is actually an activity book of sorts that Dav Pilkey has created, but it is not your typical activity book of course. It begins with a comic strip that has George and Harold explaining to readers how to make your own comics.The comic ends with the warning that most adults don’t appreciate comics, “so be prepared to suffer for your art!” There are other comics interspersed throughout the book about “Hairy Potty” and of course the famous flip-o-ramas. There are also instructions for making your own flip-rama. In additin, there are word searches (“Professor Poopypants’s Preposterous Puzzles of Perplexing Peril”), mazes, crossword puzzles, jokes, how to draw characters from the books, and mad libs. This activity book would be great for a car trip or anywhere you have to wait such as a restaurant. Of course, the book is so funny that you might want to get Extra Crunchy  book number two to keep for yourself.

Creepy Crawlies

Looking for a nonfiction book to please your boys? Look no farther than Micro Monsters: Close Encounters with Invisible Armies by Nam Nguyen. It is so disgusting and creepy that I can barely stand to look at it, which makes my kids want to read it even more! If you are of the opinion that  bugs are disgusting with the naked eye, just wait until you see these horrific pictures. Without having to peer under a microscope, you can see close-up pictures of all kinds of creepy creatures such as army ants, lice, follicle mites, and amoebas. The large, full color, photographs are labeled so you can learn your “monster” anatomy and physiology. There is a brief overview presented of each creature. Here is the one for the amoeba:

Amoebas are an entire group of animals that can shape-shift to eat with extensions of their bodies. They surround food with tendrils, transfer it to the middle of their bodies, and then digest it from the outside in with chemicals. Constantly morphing feelers surround and hold victims in, making the amoeba a nightmare for any cell or bacteria.

Other interesting facts are presented, such as geography, habitat and any particularly interesting tidbits. For instance, did you know that tapeworms can grow up to 32 feet long inside your intestine? Ugh! There are a few other features that make the book fun. For each organism, they are rated on scales of intelligence, strength, speed, agility, endurance, and evasion. It is kind of fun to compare and contrast the organisms against each other. Finally, each creature has a superpower and weakness listed. One benefit of this book is that after seeing all of these creepy crawlies, perhaps your kids will be more motivated to wash their hands!

Would you like popcorn with that?

It is great to see all of the movies coming out based on popular children’s books. This provides a great opportunity for parents to interact with their kids. If your kids are anything like mine, they love a special treat of going to the movies. I suggest reading the book first and discussing it with your kids, then going to see the movie or renting it and comparing it to the book. This could be a great discussion of what the strengths of the movie are and what are the benefits of reading the book. Although there are plenty of books and movies to choose from these days, let me suggest a classic. Check out the Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss. For those who are unfamiliar with the story, it recounts the adventures of a family that is shipwrecked and stranded on an island. After reading the book, find the 1960 Walt Disney movie version. It is packed with action and adventure and my kids loved it so much they asked for the movie for Christmas.

Another book classic for you and your boys to read is Mr. Popper’s Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater. I had personally never heard of this book before but it sounds quite funny. It is about Mr. Popper, who is a house painter, but dreams of being an Antarctic explorer. One day, he receives a gift in the mail. Surprise! It is a penguin. Soon, the house is overrun with penguins that must be taken care of. The movie version of the book comes out tomorrow, June 17^th and stars Jim Carey.

Suzanne Collins, not just for young adults

Most boys love a good adventure story, no matter what the particular genre – fantasy, science fiction, realistic, etc. If it is a great story full of action and fun characters, they are more likely to be motivated to read. I recently picked up a new series to try out on my boys (they always get to be guinea pigs). As a fan of the Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins I had to find out what else she had written. When I saw she had written a series for children, I was excited because I thought they would like her fast paced, action oriented writing style. With that in mind, I began to read them Gregor the Overlander. Gregor is an average eleven year old boy from New York City except for one thing. His father is missing, having disappeared mysteriously several years ago. It is summertime and Gregor is spending his time taking care of his two year old sister Boots while his mom is at work. While doing laundry in their apartment, Boots ends up falling down an air shaft and Gregor follows her. They both end up in the world of the Underland, where they encounter oversized creatures such as bats, crawlers (cockroaches), spinners (spiders), and rats, but also humans. Gregor eventually learns that he is the subject of a prophecy which is a little nebulous but foretells about him rescuing his father. With a team of creatures and humans he embarks on a quest to find his dad and fulfill the prophecy. The book is filled with action, and most chapters end in suspense so that my kids were begging to read another one. Collins also develops the characters in such a way that they are easy relatable. You quickly end up caring about the characters and what happens to them. Even the animals and bugs each have a specific personality. Also, the setting of the Underland is portrayed quite effectively and you can almost imagine you are there yourself. This book passed my boys’ test with flying colors. My kids were constantly asking me to read more of it. Now that they are on summer break, my oldest son asks me at least once a day to read him some more “Gregor,” something he has not done with any other book. This has continued as we are reading the second one in the series now, Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane. He was disappointed when we had to return book number one to the library because he wanted to try reading it himself next. My husband and I are enjoying the books also and if one of us misses a chapter we go back and read it. There are five books in the series and kids from mid to upper elementary levels should be able to read them on their own.

Mo Willems

I don’t know if anyone else out there has had this problem, but for me it has been somewhat difficult to find beginning reader books for my boys. In the first place, my older son did not want to sit down long enough to read period. In addition, he was a reluctant reader because reading was difficult for him at first. He still loved being read to, and loved the many adventurous stories we would read together, but he did not have the ability to read these more difficult books on his own. I had trouble finding books on his ability level that were exciting enough to keep him interested. How I wish I had discovered the Elephant and Piggie series by Mo Willems back then! We have the entire series of these easy reader books in the library where I work and we can hardly keep them on the shelves.  I have heard numerous comments from parents that their kids (particularly boys) love them. My younger son, who just finished Kindergarten loves these books as well. It is easy to see why. They have Willems’s usual humorous illustrations starring Gerald the elephant and his friend Piggie. The expressions on the characters are wonderful and the text of the books also matches the emotional state of the characters. This is great for beginning readers because they learn how to read expressively. My son loves reading the books to us out loud and he matches his voice to the emotions of the characters. The text of the books is repetitive enough so that kids have added to their reading vocabulary by the end of the book. Despite the limited vocabulary, Willems creates fun dialogue between the characters that flows naturally and does not seem odd or forced like some easy reader books. Elephant and Piggie are so funny that adults and kids will be laughing out loud while reading. Best of all, kids will be learning a lot without even realizing it or minding. As a nice little feature, if your kids are familiar with Willems’s pigeon books, he makes an appearance on the inside back cover of every one of these books!

The joke’s on you.

Many boys really enjoy joke books. While it is hard to recommend specific joke books, here are a few I’ve perused recently that were pretty fun. The first is called Smart Feller Fart Smeller by Jon Agee. It is not your traditional joke book. It contains jokes in the form of spoonerisms. Spoonerisms are verbal mix-ups of the beginning sounds of several words. I found this book to be extremely clever and different than your typical joke book. Each joke opens with a question such as, “What did the trucker order for lunch?” Then, flipping the page you find the answer, which is a spoonerism of the correct answer. In this case, the trucker ordered a “chilled grease sandwich.” Another example is “What did the picky eater say about dinner?” The spoonerism is “I refuse to eat parrots and keys!” The spoonerisms themselves are funny, but they are all accompanied by Agee’s great black and white, cartoon-style illustrations. For those kids who don’t get the spoonerisms, they are all translated on the last page of the book. And, of course, don’t forget that “fart” is on the front cover which is guaranteed to get boys to take a second look. If kids like this one, check out Agee’s other books such as Go Hang a Salami: I’m a Lasagna Hog: and Other Palindromes. Palindromes are words or sentences which can be read both backwards and forwards and still make some sort of sense.

 

 

 

 

Another idea is Let’s Eat in the Funny Zone by Gary Chmielewski. These are jokes that are all food-related. The jokes are broken down into sections such as sweets, vegetables, and breakfast. While the jokes are probably not clever enough for the upper elementary grades, they should please younger children. The book itself is inviting because it is filled with brightly colored illustrations and colored backgrounds, and the jokes themselves are written in large, brightly colored fonts. I had this book sitting around the other day and my kids and niece found it (ages 6, 8, and 9). They amused themselves for quite awhile by reading each other jokes. This book is also part of a series, so if your kids like this one there are several others they can pick up with jokes in different subject areas such as science, sports, school, and animals.

Embrace Your Inner Superhero

Who doesn’t love a good superhero? You only have to look at all of the superhero movies coming out this summer to recognize our fascination with them. Boys in particular even from a young age are running around with capes and masks on. Lucky for boys, this is one category of books that has expanded quite a bit. There are a wealth of superhero books out there in a variety of formats such as picture books, easy readers, graphic novels, and chapter books. And, you can find everything from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to the more traditional Batman. If you want to add a new superhero to your son’s repertoire, try the Larryboy chapter book series published by Zonderkidz. Even if your kids have never been Veggie Tales fans, they should enjoy this series. The star of the books is, of course, Larry the cucumber, a humble janitor by day at the local newspaper, where he has a crush on the staff photographer, Vicki (does any of this sound familiar?). However, when duty calls, Larry the janitor turns into Larryboy the superhero who has lots of fun gadgets and plungers on his head. Larry even has his own butler/assistant Archibald who speaks to him at work through a video monitor in his mop which Larry must put on his head to see! In addition, Larryboy, must attend Superhero 101 class at the local community college to learn the “basics of being super.” Although each book has some kind of a moral lesson, they are also filled with humor, as Larry bumbles his way to capturing the villains. Much of the humor is tongue in cheek and parodies of other familiar superheroes. The books themselves are fairly short chapter books around 100 pages long with plenty of illustrations. Kids as young as pre-schoolers would probably enjoy having the books read to them, especially if you are good at doing different voices!

Fairy Tales for Boys?

Although many fairy tales involve princesses or queens, they should have plenty of things that boys are looking for. Although I used to read the occasional fairy tale to my boys when they were younger, it has been awhile. Two things occurred in the past several months to make me think of fairy tales differently. One, the grandparents took the boys to see Tangled kicking and screaming because they did not want to go see any “princess” movie. They ending up loving it and it has since become one of their favorite movies. Second, when I was browsing my Kindle recently, my younger son asked me to read him a story off of it. All I had for kids were Grimm’s Fairy Tales. I started reading Snow White to him and he was completely fascinated. He has since asked me many times to read him more off of my Kindle. Really, when you think about it, fairy tales have much to offer boys. Take Hansel and Gretel for example. It has several bad guys, the wicked stepmother and the witch. It has some spooky scenes in it, the kids being lost in the woods and being captured by the evil witch who wants to eat them. It has a house made out of candy. It has some blood and guts (they push the witch into the oven). The underdogs triumph and good wins out in the end.

If you want to find some for your boys, there are, of course, plenty of fairy tales to choose from. The traditional Grimm’s and Hans Christian Anderson are great places to start. If you are looking for something different, here are a few recommendations. You Read to Me, I’ll Read to You: Very Short Fairy Tales to Read Together, is a great book by Mary Ann Hoberman (she has several other ones in the You Read to Me, I’ll Read to You series). The book has 8 different fairy tales that a child and parent or more experienced reader can read together. These are just snippets of the original fairly tales, but they are a lot of fun for beginning readers. The placement of the text and the color indicates which lines each reader will read and each story ends with both parties reading together, “You read to me, I’ll read to you.” Both the stories and the illustrations are quite humorous. Another great suggestion is The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka and illustrated by Lane Smith. It will have kids (and adults) laughing from the get-go. It is basically a parody of well-known fairy tales such as Jack and the Beanstalk, the Ugly Duckling, Chicken, Little, etc. It manages to make everything funny from the title page, to the table of contents, to the back cover. For your boys to appreciate the humor, they should first be familiar with the regular telling of these fairy tales. Also, young children, may not quite get the sarcasm. However, elementary school kids should love the humor and the brilliant illustrations (this is a Caldecott honor book).