Are You From The Black Lagoon?

Everyone knows we love books.  I enjoy reading to the boys and the boys love hearing stories--they also enjoy looking at the art work in books.  Last week the boys stayed a couple of days with their grandparents and while they were there they discovered the awesomeness of the Black Lagoon books by Mike Thaler.  Their grandmother (Bleu) told me that they ordered some of the books from the series. I had never heard of the books but the boys were extremely excited about them. Life continued on in it's busy way and we forgot about the books--until one day, Logan was sitting at the table eating and he announced, "We got a box."  I said, "What?"  He said, "A box! We got a box on the porch." I said, "Oh, we got a package?"  Logan said, "Yeah, let's see what it is, mommy!" I got the box, opened it, and discovered it was the boys' Black Lagoon books.  To say they were excited would be an understatement. The stories are clever, very imaginative, and a lot of fun.  The artist, Jared Lee, does a great job of illustrating the main character's imagination as he frets over new people and situations.  We learn at the end of each book that everything is as it should be and the crazy characters in the book are only figments of the main character's imagination.  These books are great for several reasons, but my two top reasons are that 1.) they encourage children to have imaginations, which we are all about--and 2.) they help children learn how to deal with new people and situations by showing that even though you might be nervous or scared it usually turns out alright in the end--you could meet your best friend, or discover that something you were afraid of is actually something you enjoy!  I'm not one for book reviews, but I wanted to talk about these books and also give a big THANK YOU to the boys' Boompa and Bleu for ordering them. We have had a lot of fun reading them. The boys have even started pretending they are creatures and saying, "I'm from the black lagoon!"  Then, they'll laugh and one of them will say, "No! You're just a boy." 
Alex starts kindergarten in a little over 5 weeks--he'll be in school all day this year, which includes eating lunch in the school cafeteria.  Logan will be starting Pre-K so we have a lot of new and possibly scary situations coming our way and I love how these books' themes go hand and hand with what the boys are about to experience. It's funny how things work out that way sometimes!

The boys looking at the Black Lagoon books

The next time you are put in a situation that you don't really want to be in or if you're nervous about starting something new, just imagine that those people and places are from the Black Lagoon and let your imagination run wild!