Wil's favorite books. This is a guy who likes to GET CAUGHT READING!---GIVEAWAY!

It all started with a melancholy remembrance of my lovely bookstore back in Hudson and evolved into a Get Caught Reading contest one year ago. There were many entries that each celebrated the love of books and reading. Raising awareness and appreciation of both people with Down syndrome and your local independent bookstore is the ultimate goal of the contest. People with Down syndrome and independent bookstores have something in common, a unique quality that should be celebrated and valued for their contributions to the community. :)


To kick off the contest this year I thought I would share a short list of Will's most favorite books. Maybe some of you who are interested in entering would be willing to share your favorite titles too!


Will has always loved to flip through books. Starting with board books that offered a visual feast with each new page, to story time books that had large pages of art that led him through the story visually. Will does have favorites, some of the books are extensions of the characters and stories from TV, but some are stand alone favorites that he has enjoyed, I think, because of the flowing rhythm of the words. Both of his favorite books are poetic in nature and involved the steady and easily anticipated progression through the stories. One book is a visual feast that would have any mom or dad pausing to reflect on each page.

Will's number one all time favorite book is Night Cars by Teddy Jam. Will loved this book from the get-go and it has remained the number one requested story. It stays on his bedside table permanently.




Another favorite is fairly new on the scene. It is Wild About Books and is written by Judy Sierra and illustrated by Marc Brown. You may recognize Marc Brown as the creator of the Arthur series of books and TV shows. This is a big book that features a Dr.Suess-esque story spun through the amazing visual artwork. Will loves pointing out the various animals that clamour for books when a librarian arrives at the zoo with her bookmobile. It's hard for Will to hold this big book and turn the big pages, so a bigger helper may be needed for younger children, but the storyline is clever and fun to read, so it won't be hard looking for volunteers.


This next book is a great idea for the car or in a purse as it is a mini adventure of motion. GALLOP! by Rufus Butler Seder is a sturdy board book that offers a surprise in movement with each turn of the page. Please don't expect me to properly explain exactly how it is done, but with a little bit of book-binding magic, animals come to life to the delight of the reader. This book is easily manipulated and the moving animals entice the reader to keep turning the pages.


Imagine a Night is a different kind of book as it is an exercise in imagination for not only young readers, but their moms and dads too. Imagine a Night is written by Sarah L. Thomson. Each page offers an invitation to escape and weaves the real and imagined through the original artwork of Rob Gonsalves. If you are unfamiliar with Mr. Gonsalves' artwork, then you are missing out on secrets that lay right before your eyes. Ms. Thomson and Mr. Gonsalves pair up beautifully to treat you with a little holiday from the ordinary.

Scaredy Squirrel by Melanie Watt is such a cutie-cute book about, well, a nervous Nellie squirrel who must overcome debilitating fear to realize all the things he is missing out on. Scaredy offers readers the chance to laugh at the mountain of precautions that keep Scaredy from getting out of his tree and enbracing life. This is a great book for any kids who have some fears to work through. I must admit though, as a parent with a child who has DS, I found the storyline to be very familiar as I was also a Scaredy Squirrel when Will was born, but came to the realization that life was more than O.K. when the fear of the unknown gets brushed away by the chance to see past those pesky fears. Scaredy now has a series of books, each one giving Scaredy a chance to overcome a new fear.

Usborne's The Complete Farmyard Tales , Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed, The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? are also favorites of Will's. I'm sure many readers out there also count these books like old friends.

And so, let's see who else likes to read, and what they like to read! Send along a picture of a reader who happens to have Down syndrome Getting Caught Reading to enter!

First prize is an Indiebound gift card valued at $25. This gift card is redeemable at any independent bookstore. If you are one of the unfortunate souls who aren't close to an independent bookstore, all you have to do is search for the closest one on the Indiebound website and you should be able to order with your card by phone and have your books delivered!

Other prizes include a copy of Night Cars in board book format, a copy of Wild About Books, a copy of Imagine a Night and a copy of Scaredy Squirrel.

That's five prizes for five lucky readers out there, but you can't win if you don't enter!

All entries will be posted here...in a Who's been caught! post.

Draw date will be Monday Dec. 1st, so get busy catching those readers!