Five favorite books for my son's last day as a five-year old

Today is the last day of my life that I will have a five-year old. The change from five to six seems huge to me--when you are six, you are truly no longer a squidgy baby...sigh.

In honor of this, here are the five books that my son loved the best this past year.

The Last Polar Bears, by Harry Horse. The story of Grandfather and Roo the dog's journey to the North Pole struck some deep chord in him, and he was tremendously taken by the humor of it. He is getting the other three books in this series tomorrow.




United Tweets of America: 50 State Birds Their Stories, Their Glories, by Hudson Talbott. An entertaining and informative book about state birds. On the one hand, it was gratifying that this Christmas gift was embraced so enthusiastically, and it's great that he's learned so much about the USA. On the other, I am so gosh darn sick of this book. I have read it about fifty times, and that is just too many. It still makes him laugh, however. Especially the cardinals.


The First Dog, by Jan Brett. The story of how paleowolf, hungry and looking for left-overs, became the first dog. He likes the humor of this one too.






GON (Book I of IV), by Masashi Tanaka. The fierce intensity of this small but powerful dinosaur appeals greatly.






And finally, one that isn't funny at all, but which was his favorite book last summer:

Let's Explore a River (Books for Young Explorers), by Jane McCauley. A photojournal of three children taking a trip down a river. Out of all the books in a lovely used bookstore in Vermont, this is what he wanted...




There were many others that he loved as well, but he keeps these five on his special shelf, face out, because he loves them best (except for Let's Explore a River, which he had forgotten about. After reading it more times than I wanted to, it is still fresh in my mind).

Amd tomorrow, he will be getting many more books...