by Laura Falin posted in Life

Are you doing a summer reading program with your kids" I really love our library reading program, because even babies can participate (parents track the minutes they read out loud), and adults can as well. I always sign up along with the kids because I feel like I can't nag them to read unless I'm doing it myself.
Since it's summer, we're going to the library a lot more, too. You can find some really great older books this way -- bookstores seem to display really popular books, or really recent books, but you have to hunt to find some of the older classics. Here are seven classic books that aren't as popular anymore, but are worth hunting down to read with your kids.

1. The Little Fur Family --
There was a little fur family, warm as toast
smaller than most, in little fur coats

and they lived in a warm wooden tree.
Margaret Wise Brown is best known for "Goodnight Moon," but I like this story better. It tells the story of a little fur child (we never do find out exactly what animal he is...) and his adventures in the woods during the day. He returns to his house at night, where his parents tuck him into bed "all soft and warm." A great, soothing bedtime story.
2. The Funny Little Woman -- a woman who loves to laugh and make dumplings accidentally loses one. She chases her dumpling...right into the clutches of the wicked oni, who want to capture her so she can cook dumplings for them forever. In the end, she manages t...