You need this book!

It's impossible to raise children without this book, so I HOPE you already have it! It explains the importance of reading aloud,in Jim Trelease's inimitable and readable style. In the back of the book is a "Treasury" of hundreds of the best books to read aloud, for children from birth through high school.(Parents and teachers stop reading aloud by middle school, when coincidentally reading achievement plummets.) This book has been invaluable to me as a parent, a teacher, and a librarian, and has steered me to fantastic books I would never have found otherwise.
I bought the first edition when my oldest child, now 26, was two years old, and own all 6 editions, and have used them when teaching, working in a library, and choosing books for my own children. While the fifth and sixth edition are still available from Amazon, earlier editions can be found at used book stores and libraries. Older editions have unique articles and list wonderful books that may now be out of print but can still be located.

Teach your kids to eat healthy

I have been freaking out about a kid at the preschool where I volunteer this summer. Someone brought in ice cream and cake for a treat, and several kids requested cups of water to drink with it. Another child asked for either chocolate milk or Kool-Aid, and said "I don't drink water". That was astounding to me. Bad enough to have ice cream and cake as a preschool snack, but the thought that they would have to be washed down by a sugary drink...
There are a lot of great books around that help to teach kids about nutrition
Eat Healthy, Feel Great by William Sears, is a good one. Despite its emphasis on meat and dairy, which are not essential for a good diet, it does discuss the concept of foods that should not be consumed, or only be consumed occasionally, the idea of green light, yellow light, and red light foods.

Duck for President!

What a great book to use when discussing the Presidential election with children! It's hilarious, with humor that can be appreciated by both adults and children. Look for the parody of the famous photo of President Kennedy in the Oval Office, when you read Duck for President.
When I worked as a school librarian during the 2004 election, I found Duck for President campaign buttons on the Simon & Schuster website, and soon students were streaming out of the library, proudly supporting Duck for President.

The Cow Buzzed

Now this is a funny book, warning of what could happen when you don't cover your mouth when you sneeze. A bee sneezes and the cow catches the cold—and his buzz. Then the cow sneezes and the pig catches the moo, the duck oinks, and the dog gets the quack. Kids of a certain age think this is hilarious. Don't miss The Cow Buzzed, by Andrea Zimmerman.

2008 Newbery and Caldecott winners

The Invention of Hugo Cabret,by Brian Selznick, won the Caldecott medal. What an unusual book! As the author says,
"My new book, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, is a 550 page novel in words and pictures. But unlike most novels, the images in my new book don't just illustrate the story; they help tell it. I've used the lessons I learned from Remy Charlip and other masters of the picture book to create something that is not a exactly a novel, not quite a picture book, not really a graphic novel, or a flip book or a movie, but a combination of all these things."

The people choosing the top books are looking for something that stands out, is different from other books, and this time they have outdone themselves!
The Newbery medal book has an interesting story too. It began as a reader's theater sort of set of monologues, written by a school librarian, Laura Amy Schlitz. Good Masters! Sweet Ladies is a masterpiece.

Caldecott Honor books are Henry's Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad, illustrated by Kadir Nelson, written by Ellen Levine; First the Egg, by Laura Vaccaro Seeger, The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain by Peter Sis; and Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity by Mo Willems. (My students, preschoolers through fifth grade, all loved Mo Willems. This book is a winner.)

Newbery Honor books are The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt; Feathers by Jacqueline Woodson; and Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis.