We currently have a five (turning 6 this month boy), a two and a half year old girl and a five month old girl. Our picks this month strive to balance the durability of toddler reading with the ability for our six year old to read some of the selections independently. Many of these titles are also available at your local library as well. Here is what's on our bookshelf this month:

May Holidays

Mother's Day

  • Me and My Mom By Alison Ritchie is a cute board book for both moms and kids alike. We love the thicker pages for durability and the sweet story and messaging for all those ways that we learn and take after our moms. We enjoy this one as a celebration of what Mom does all month long! 
  • The Night Before Mother's Day by Natasha Wing is our other selection for celebrating Mother's Day. We love the pacing and story telling like that of the classic night before Christmas, but as a mom, I specifically love how it helps give some examples and can help prepare our kids for what to expect on the day. 
  • The Berenstain Bears Mother's Day Blessings by Mike Berenstain is a classic but a fixture in our millennial parented household. The book does a great job recognizing all the moms around us who make a really big difference in each of our lives and the community overall. It helps open up other conversations with our kids about who else we can include in our celebration and how we can help honor them as well. 

Memorial Day

  • Memorial Day by Emma Carlson Berne has been a family favorite for years. It does a great job educating kids about the true meaning of the holiday - celebrating those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our freedoms, while also referencing the official mark to the start of summer. 

Theme - Farming and Gardening

In Minnesota, reaching May usually means we finally can say goodbye to snow and safely start welcoming spring. We like to embrace the start of the growing and farming season in the midwest. These are great to have up all month long. For an easy additional activity, you can also start some seeds with your kids to watch them grow! For our younger readers, here are some of our favorites:

  • Touch & Feel Old MacDonald Had a Farm brings the classic song to life with the beautiful pictures and multi-sensory experience. All of our kids have mastered the song after a month of this book!
  • Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, A Duckling for Daniel by Angela C. Santomero tells the story of Daniel Tiger's class pet - Ducky. The class waits patiently for the egg to hatch, and learns new ways to help make the time pass. We love the subtle tools and ways this encourages our kids to wait and have patience - even in the exciting moments!
  • I Can Grow a Flower by DK is a lift a flap book the follows the journey from a seed to a flower. We love the interactive flaps and the illustrations that engage both our youngest and oldest readers alike. Its a great staple in this season where we are focusing on getting our gardens planted.
  • Poke-a-Dot Old MacDonald's Farm by Melissa and Doug brings the classic tune to the satisfying sound and feel of a pop-it toy. This is a favorite not only this month, but onward throughout the year. Its a favorite for the preschool age as we are practicing counting in as many ways as we can think of!
  • Little Blue Truck Feeling Happy by Alice Schertle and Jill McElmurry is one of the newer releases to the Little Blue Truck family. Really any of the Little Blue Trucks would work with this theming. We enjoy the touch and feel aspects of this book as many of our petting zoo and farm visit opportunities also open up around this time of year.
  • Lola Plants a Garden by Anna McQuinn is a charming picture book that again focuses on our theme of gardening with the natural undertones of patience. Lola works to research, plan, dream, decorate and care for her garden in order to make it thrive.
  • National Geographic Kids Seed to Plant Reader by Kristin Baird Rattini takes the learning from DK's I Can Grow a Flower and levels it up with beautiful photography and a slightly more advanced explanation. The level one reader status was great for the first to second grade reading level.
  • Construction Site: Farming Strong, All Year Long by Sherri Duskey Rinker and Ag Ford brings the favorite characters from Goodnight Construction Site to the farm - with new friends - Big Tractor, Pickup Truck and Combine! We love the rhythmic and poetic flow to this book. It beautifully blends the work by both the machines and animals to help make the farm function. While we touch on this gardening and farming unit in Spring, the book does a great job showcasing the hard work all year long and really is timeless in its reading.