Armchair BEA: Day Two Visual Expressions

Ok so I know today's agenda is really supposed to be about comics/graphic novels...but I have to go with another visual medium. Children's picture books!

My son is seven and has multiple learning disabilities. His main classification is communication impairment. To put it simply my son often has a hard time understanding things that are said to him and he has a hard time saying what he wants. It is all in how is brain is wired. Often times things just don't connect for him. So we often get asked the same question over and over and over again. Not just in the normal child questioning way but in his way of trying to understand things.

Because of his disabilities he is not ready for chapter books or overly wordy books. But picture books are just perfect for him. He gets a story and the pictures help him to understand what is going on. Through the pictures he suddenly sees what is happening and he understands it better.

I've always been a fan of children's books but ever since I started reading them to my son I've grown to love them even more. I LOVE looking at the artwork. I love when the artwork is so good that you don't even have to read the words to know what is happening. Its wonderful when I can had a book to my son and wants to look through it and can tell me what is happening. Whenever I read a book to him I always ask what was his favorite picture.

I just read a book last night (review to come shortly) called Abigail and Her Pet Zombie by Marie F. Crow. I haven't read it to my son yet but am so looking forward to reading it to him tonight. Anyway, the pictures in this book were AMAZING!!! I mean I just could not stop staring at them. That's the kind of picture books I love. The ones that make you keep going back and back again to look at them.

Armchair BEA Introduction Questions

Tell us a bit about yourself: How long have you been blogging? Where are you from? How did you get into blogging?
I first started blogging a number of years ago when I realized that I had literally only read two books the previous year. I realized that being a mommy was overtaking my life and I had lost my love of reading. I quit blogging about 3 years ago and recently felt the blogging itch again and started back up just a few short months ago. It is interesting how much my life has changed in all these years.

Currently I live in Central Jersey with my husband, 17 year old stepdaughter, 7 year old son and our cat Marshmellow.

What is one book everyone should read?
 Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson...it was one of those books I could not put down. Seriously, the first time I read it I tossed and turned for about two hours before having to get up out of bed just so I could finish it. I made my stepdaughter read it. It is a very powerful book that I think all teenagers and parents of teenagers should read.

What is your favorite genre and why?
No use in denying it...it is all about romance. The thing with romance is it can also sneak its way into so many other genres. I can read a contemporary romance one day and then be whisked off to a post apocalyptic world the next to a world filled with vampires the following day.

What book are you reading right now?
Down London Road by Samantha Young...though I'm not enjoying it as much as the first book in the series On Dublin Street (review coming soon)

What book are you most looking forward to reading this summer?

Honestly, there is not one book I'm most looking forward to. I'm actually most looking forward to reading a whole huge stack of books with my son this summer. I have a goal of reading him 100 books over the summer. He is 7 but severely learning disabled. So I look forward to keeping up his love of books. There will be a lot of Berenstein Bears, Little Critter's, Splat the Cat, Cat in the Hat books coming his way :)