Fishful Thinking Summer Reading!

One of my goals this summer is to have DEAR time each day to Drop Everything And Read with the kids. This was part of Abby's day during the school year, and one of my favorite times of the school day when I was a kid too ( - and when I was teaching). I've actually been working on compiling a list of picture books that have some of those Fishful Thinking key ingredients and a few activities from the website that go along with them so I thought I'd share -

*All By My Myself - Mercer Meyer - Empowerment (Mastery Moments)

*My Heart is Like a Zoo - Michael Hall - Emotional Awareness (Mood Music, Feeling Collages, Emotion Charades)

*The Pout-Pout Fish - Deborah Diesen - Resilience, Optimism (Bag it Up, Positive Habits)

*Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon - Patty Lovell - Resilience, Optimism, Empowerment (Bag it Up, What Would You Do, In Your Shoes, Silver Lining Game)

*Llama, Llama Mad at Mama - Anna Dewdney - Emotional Awareness, Resilience, Optimism (If You Feel It, Talk About It, Gift of Time, Mastery Moments)

*Alexander and The Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day - Judith Viorst - Emotional Awareness, Resilience (Shake of the Frustration Dance, What Would You Do?)

*The Berenstain Bears Think of Those in Need - Stan & Jan Berenstain - Optimism, Goal Setting/Hope (Finding Meaning, Inspire an Attitude of Gratitude)

Abby is now really into chapter books too - so I'm starting to compile a list of those as well. Right now we are reading Ramona the Pest. How I love Beverly Cleary!

And if any of you moms are looking for a great book to read on your own this summer, The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch would be a perfect Fishful Thinking Book Club selection. Inspired by his lecture at Carnegie Mellon - "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams" - it's all about optimism, overcoming obstacles, achieving goals, seizing the moment, and inspiring others (including me) to do the same. I love his book dedication - "With thanks to my parents who allowed me to dream, and with hopes for the dreams my children will have."

Awesome.