January 2021 Book Reading List

Welcome to the start of the fourth year of my monthly book reading lists. That’s right - I published the first reading list all the way back in January 2018.

Oddly enough, this is only my 36th post - it would be my 37th (12 * 3 + 1 = 37) but I missed February 2018. I blame that on my son being born in March 2018 - although I didn’t use that excuse for my December 2019 book reading list when my daughter was born!

Books I Read to My Children

Reading to my son (left) and my daughter (right).

Books I Read to My Son

I read 41 different books to my son. I would have read more (different) books, but he’s starting to want the same books read to him repeatedly.

He really likes the books by P.D. Eastman. You’ll also notice a theme of poop in a few of the books below - while he can go pee in the potty, he’s reluctant to go poop in the potty. We’re trying to get him used to the idea of pooping in a toilet.

• 5 Little Apples
• A Perfect Picnic (Sesame Street)
• Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman
• Baby Einstein Playful Discoveries Who Lives Here?
• Big Dog… Little Dog by P.D. Eastman
• Biscuit’s Pet and Play Christmas
• Daniel Goes to the Potty (Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood)
• Daniel Plays Ball (Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood)
• Dear Santa by Rod Campbell
• Disney Babies at the Farm
• Elmo at the Zoo
• Friends Ask First! A Book About Sharing (Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood)
• Good Night, Gorilla
• Goodnight, Numbers
• Grandpa and Me by Karen Katz
• Grover
• How Do Dinosaurs Count to Ten?
• I Hear a Pickle (and Smell, See, Touch, and Taste It, Too!)
• I Love You, Mom (Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood)
• If You Give a Moose a Muffin by Laura Joffe Numeroff
• If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff
• If You Give a Pig a Pancake by Laura Joffe Numeroff
• I’m Feeling Thankful (Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood)
• Let’s Poop!
• Little People Let’s Go to the Zoo!
• M is for Mickey A book of first words and ABCs
• Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Over the River
• One Leaf, Two Leaves, Count with Me!
• One Seal
• Peek-a-Zoo
• Pete the Cat I Love My White Shoes
• Poop or Get Off The Potty!
• Spot Loves His Daddy
• The Best Mouse Cookie
• The Hueys in None the Number
• The Lorax
• The Monster at the End of This Book
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar’s Snowy Hide & Seek
• Too Big for Diapers
• Whose Poop is That?
• You Poop Here

Books I Read to My Daughter

I read 19 different books to my daughter.

What’s new with my daughter this month, in regards to books, is twofold: she’s started looking at books on her own, and she’ll bring me books to read to her.

What’s new with my daughter this month, not in regards to books, is that she’s starting taking steps. She’s not full-on walking yet, but she most certainly will by the time I post my next book reading list.

• A Picnic with Monet
• ABC Animal Orchestra
• Baby Einstein First Words
• Big Dog… Little Dog
• Biscuit Visits the Petting Zoo
• Daddy’s Girl
• Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell
• Early Days Farm Animals
• Elmo’s World Puppies
• Goodnight Moon
• Grandpa and Me by Karen Katz
• Grover
• Grover’s Guessing Game About Animals
• How Do Dinosaurs Count to Ten?
• I Hear a Pickle (and Smell, See, Touch, and Taste It, Too!)
• Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?
• Pete the Cat I Love My White Shoes
• The Best Mouse Cookie
• Your Baby’s First Word Will Be Dada

The Book I Read for Me

I finally finished that textbook on local government I’ve been reading for the past few months, so I can finally name that book: State and Local Government 8th Edition.

The cover of State and Local Government 8th Edition by Ann Bowman and Richard C. Kearney

I decided on this particular book by seeing what was the required textbook for a course on local government at a local community college. That course was PLS 1232 State & Local Government at Sinclair Community College.

They’re using the 10th edition - I chose the 8th edition because it was much cheaper. I paid about seven bucks - as opposed to the almost sixty bucks the ninth and tenth editions costs right now. (Of course, all these prices are subject to change, especially as more editions come out.)

My review of the book? It was decidedly pro-government biased (it even says so on the back cover - saying that the book has a “pro public-service stance”), as well as biased liberally and towards the Democratic Party. It used a lot of idioms, so non-English speakers may have difficulty understanding parts of it, especially when it goes back and forth referring to states by their name and their nickname (e.g. referring to Ohio either as “Ohio” or “the Buckeye State”). I think the best (most hilarious) simile it used was “it is as tangled and intricate as the webs of a thousand spiders on methamphetamines.”

Onto the next book - which will probably be the next book in the Cluster Series that I’m reading on my Kindle.