10 Picture Books I Would Unashamedly Read Now

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

How has your week been? I feel like it went by really fast. Anyway, today I'm linking up with Top Ten Tuesday for the theme "My Top Ten ALL TIME Favorite Books of X Genre," and giving you my top ten favorite picture books that I would still read today. Yeah, I know, it's not really a genre, but I figured if I did something like historical fiction, you guys would go, "Ugh, Maddie, we've heard you rant about Moon Over Manifest, The Golden Thread, Out of the Dust, etc. like 1,000 times, do you really need to tell us again?" So I decided to be nice and a little bit creative (cause that's always a good thing) and I came up with this.

Tea with Milk

Okay, so I pretty much adore this book. I think my mom read it to me and my siblings for school when I was like 9 or 10. It's about a Japanese girl who is born in America and feels at home here, but is homesick when she moves back to Japan. It's really interesting learning about the cultural differences. When the time comes for her to marry, her parents hire a matchmaker. She gets upset and decides to find her way on her own, and I believe she meets a man who had the same life situation and they get married and it's a really awesome biracial book with awesome prose. We used to own it and now we don't and I'm still sad that we don't have it, and I'm planning on buying it for myself soon because I'm still a child at heart... Wait, scratch that. You don't have to still be a child to like this book. C.S. Lewis said, "A children's story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children's story in the slightest." This is a good children's story, folks. As are all of the rest of the books on my list and you have to agree with me because my opinion is law. I'm going to buy this soon because it's a good book and you all can judge, but I don't care (and I don't think you would judge anyway). ;)

Love You Forever

Um, it's about loving your mom forever and moms loving their kids forever. What more could be said? I can still hear my mom's voice reading the words, and that just makes me really happy, but also kind of sad. I'll love my mommy forever. <3

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

So they made this into a movie a year or two ago, and it looks really cheesy and I'm upset. The book used to be one of my favorites when I was little. It's one of those that you can't remember a time when you first read it because your mom probably read it to you before you could remember (literally). It's a really cute book and I might consider buying this one, too, just because I think it would cheer me up when I'm having a bad day. It's funny because some of the things Alexander gets mad about are so trivial and silly, but if it were happening to me, I would probably not be having it either. So if you're having a bad day, reach for this book and I can pretty safely say you'll feel a little better after reading it.

The Berenstain Bears

Okay, I'm pretty sure I was still reading these when I was 12... yeah, yeah, I know. But these books have good lessons and the people er, bears in the stories actually take a while to come to conclusions. I mean the plot lasts longer than just two pages. Anyway, I guess I've pretty much always kept loving the things I loved in childhood, even if I had first read or watched it now I would not, you know what I mean? I mean I think I still love some things because I remember how much I used to love it when I was younger and I feel like it's a part of me and it's harder to tell myself I'm too old for it than to just keep liking it, even if it makes me look like a baby.

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

Look at that cover though. It's so super cute. It makes me really happy. It's about how a little mouse would become your friend if you gave him a cookie. That my friends is what I call adorable.

Fox In Sox

I'm not gonna lie, I first read this book like this year, I think. This is my one year old brother's favorite book, so if he was crying, I would be like, "Hey, Xav, do you want to read Fox In Sox?" and he would stop and be happy and go find the book and bring it to me and we would read it over and over, mostly through skipping around back and forth all around the pages. I would be reading it (which, if you don't know, is all tongue twisters) and he would just stop every once in a while and look at me and smile like everything that was coming out of my mouth was gibberish and he thought it was hilarious. So yeah, I love this book and I also need to get my own copy. By the way, I really miss my little brother right now.

Madeline

This is my name, of course this is gonna be on my list. Oh, it's actually pronounced differently, by the way. Mine is pronounced Madelyn and the character's is pronounced Madeline. I actually tried to get my parents to change the pronunciation when I was like 8 or 9 because I thought it would be cool. Idk, don't ask. But anyway, I had a lot of Madeline things when I was little. A Madeline barbie doll, a Christmas tree ornament, most of the books, a few of the TV show episodes, the movie... I think it's funny because Madeline the character is "the smallest one" and everyone is always commenting about how tiny I am. She also has a big scar from surgery and I do too. Aaaaanyway....

Blueberries for Sal

I actually don't remember much about this book, but I remember it is really adorable and since I don't remember it, that makes me want to find it and read it now.

Abel's Moon

This book is about a dad who travels and then tells his kids really awesome adventure stories. And then I think he builds them a secret fort thing where they can have their own adventures and pretend it's a spaceship or anything they want, and then when he comes home they can all tell each other stories. Basically, it's a book about a really awesome family who knows how to have fun.

Imagine a Night

I read this this year, I believe. The best thing about this book is the illustrations. If you look closely at the pictures, there are hidden people or faces, or the blanket on the bed looks like a field, etc. It's just really cool and creative.


So there it is, people! My favorite picture books of ever. Are any of yours on this list? Are you surprised that I actually came up with 10 books for a Top Ten Tuesday post this time? I hope you're having an awesome week!

Also, I have been changing a few little things on my blog, and I was wondering what you thought about the new look. Any suggestions?

Okay, peace out.

- Maddie

Songs

Joy at Just Joy tagged me for The Song Tag! It's my first official tag:) This is going to be super fun. I mean, really, music is almost my life. So without further ado - Oh, wait, I gotta mention the rules.

~List the rules and include the button in your post:

                                    Ta-da!

~Tag a couple of other bloggers to do this tag (let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog).

And now, I present the questions and my answers to them.



1. First song that comes to your mind

Happy, by Pharell Williams. I think the original version is kinda boring, but I love the Africanized version by Alex Boye. It's a really, well, happy song and it always makes me dance.

2. A song that always makes you happy

So, a few weeks ago, we went to a concert at our friends' house. They had a duet called Adam & I play, and I loved them. We hadn't heard of them before we went, but we bought both of their albums that night. I love them because their music is so honest.* They write about things that I like to imagine I would write about, and you should give them a listen. Anyway, one of their songs that always makes me happy is We Have Love. It's a song that laughs at trouble and says everything's going to be all right <3

3. A song you hate

Current popular song that I hate? "Watch Me" (Whip/Nae-Nae). Just no. That is not real music, Emmet (sorry, I had to use that reference). "Gangnam Style" is also a really dumb song. Let me tell you that I went to a Christmas party once in the Philippines with my family and my friends' family. We watched about 30-40 performances from the different chapels that day, and at least 5 of them did a dance to "Gangnam Style". Plus, they played it in between performances, so yeah. Needless to say, we groaned every time we heard it playing.

I also don't agree with the song "Flawless" by MercyMe. I don't hate it, but it irritates me because I think the message is so *ahem* flawed. "...the truth is the cross has made you flawless" - really? I don't think so. Just because Jesus died for us does not make us perfect. He has opened the gates of heaven for us, but that doesn't mean that whatever we do is now justified.

4. Favorite romantic song

Grrr. Favorite? Okay, most of the romantic songs that I like are from musicals (I've never actually watched the last two, I've just heard these songs) :

"On My Own" from Les Miserables

"A Little Fall of Rain" from Les Miserables

"Come to Your Senses" from tick, tick...BOOM!

"Someone Else's Story" from Chess

And, yes, they are all sad romantic songs:)

5. Favorite sad song

This was a hard question. I was going to say The Last Goodbye by Billy Boyd, but I think I like I See Fire (the cover by Peter Hollens), better. All the feelings from this song...from both. 

6. A song that brings back memories

Oceans by Hillsong United always makes me think of a death. The death of a certain little baby boy whom I had the pleasure to know. They played this song at his funeral, and it seemed so fitting because he died by drowning. I will always and forever remember him whenever I hear it, and I know that he is in heaven praying for the rest of us to get up there, too.

7. A song that you have been playing on repeat

This was at the beginning of the year, but I have to say this. The cover of Jai Ho done by Peter Hollens and Alaa Wardi is probably the song I have heard on repeat the most times in one day. We were visiting our friends for Christmas and a wedding, and we stayed with them for a few weeks. Both sets of our parents went out one day, and we were left to babysit our siblings with our friends and their siblings. I remember playing music almost non-stop that day, and about every third song that we would play was Jai Ho. It just makes you want to dance, and dance it made us do. Everyone had their own little dance they would do to it when they would walk through the room, and it was so fun to watch everyone:)

But the song that I've been playing on repeat currently is "Topsy Turvy" by Family Force 5. It's Alice In Wonderland themed...of course I'm listening to it constantly because of NaNo. 

8. Favorite song by your favorite artist

I guess I'm going to say that Owl City- gosh, but I love Rich Mullins, too. I'm gonna say that they- oh, and Taylor Swift -are my favorites. So favorite one from each:

1) "Hot Air Balloon" by Owl City
2) "We Are Not As Strong As We Think We Are" by Rich Mullins
3) "Back to December" by Taylor Swift

9. Weirdest song you like

Okay...I'm pretty sure that I have more than just one that can fit into this category. The question is...Do you guys really want to know the answers to this? I'm gonna go ahead and give three examples: 1) "Shake It Off" by Taylor Swift. It's not got the best lyrics and it's super repetitive. I guess I like it more for the beat. 2) "Bird With A Broken Wing" by Owl City. I'm not ashamed that I like this song. It is weird, especially if you listen to the commentary behind the song, but I like the dark and strange feeling that comes when I hear it. There's also a tinge of sadness. 3) This is the weirdest one. I saved it for last, for the impact:p *takes a deep breath and says really fast* "Dum Dum" by Tedashii featuring Lecrae. *exhales* I'm not even sure why I like this song. It's definitely not real music, Emmet (I had to say that again; sorry). Maybe it's cause it's one of the only rap songs I've heard that's appropriate, even though it's still dum dum (*laughs at her dum joke*...okay I'll stop now). There you go. Now you know some things about me that make me weird.

10. All time favorite song

This is not even a fair question. I'm really bad at saying my favorite anything, especially when it's a general question. I can answer better when things are in categories, like All Time Favorite Broadway Song or All Time Favorite Pop song, though I will still tell you three answers to the question (like I did for all other questions up there). So I think I'm gonna have to give you my top favorite from some different categories.
1) My favorite musical ever is Les Miserables, and my favorite song from that is "Turning."
2) My all time favorite Catholic song is "Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silent."
3) All time favorite credit song is "When Can I See You Again?" by Owl City.
And I guess I'll spare you from having to read any more.

So there you go. I officially gave more than one answer to all but one of the questions, and probably had a little more fun than I should have:D

And now I tag

Esther @ An Indefatigable Little Scribbler
Katie @ A Writer's Faith

Natalie @ On the Wings of Imagination

Annie @ Curious Wren

I hope you guys have as much fun as I did:)

*I'm going to do a post about "Honest Music" sometime. It may not be soon, but it will happen!

How's everyone's NaNo going? My novel is...almost non-existent:P Oh, well. I'm trying.

auf wiedersehen, darling

-Maddie