This is a wonderful book by Zondervan Publishers. Scheduled in Sonlight's Grade 2 Readers, it has a refreshing and straight-to-the-point way of narrating the stories in the Bible. We particularly like the drawings as it helps the characters come alive in a meaningful and relevant way. At the back of the book, it says that it is written for children 6 years old and below. Well, my son is 8 years old and although he enjoyed reading it, he did find the stories too simple and would always comment "...that's it? why didn't it say the __________ [insert some event that happened in the story]..?" I guess this is because he was reading another Bible Story comic book entitled "Mangga Messiah."

It's a good read-aloud to children 2-4 years of age and Independent Reading for kids 5-7 years old. Oh and don't forget, there's a 3-paged Bible Dictionary at the end of the book. It'll do well to read it to your child when appropriate.

Click the picture thumbnail to view the full photograph. This photograph was taken and manipulated by Dan Abbey (my husband). This is a photograph of Chuck holding a knife. I couldn't agree more with its message.

I've always been an activist by heart. Like Dan, I believe that children should be loved more, given attention more, heard out more, and understood more. They shouldn't be controlled with fear but disciplined with love. There's a vast difference between those two.

We, as parents, sometimes don't realize the effects of neglect to our children. But it's what this photograph simply shows - it's a matter of life and death.

Neglect can destroy a child's life.

I feel like I'll be posting a lot of favorite books since Chuck is just crazy about the read-alouds. We're nearing the last chapter of Charlotte's Web and I must tell you, I don't want it to end.

Everytime we finish a chapter for the day, Chuck would beg to continue one more chapter. Then one more. Then one more. Until I can't take it & just doze off after. You know how reading aloud can take so much of your oxygen thereby making you sleepy? Well, I do this a lot after our Read-Alouds. Chuck's favorite part here is when Fern names her pet. Like Charlotte, he has developed a doting affection towards the pig. It teaches him how to be a friend, how to love as a friend, and how to serve as a friend. I have a mixture of excitement & caution when I read as I don't want to get too attached to the characters myself. I mean you'll forgive me if I don't want to mess up my reading just because I cried endlessly reading the last chapter. I feel like a kid everytime I read aloud to Chuck. It's a wonderful experience! And so is this book, it has an inviting way of making you fall in love with the characters.

Here are some additional resources I highly recommend while reading Charlotte's Web to your child:

• Charlotte's Web Unit Study - This page has vocabulary lists, web activity ideas, printables, links to internet lesson plans, and even snack ideas!
• Charlotte's Web Worksheets from abcteach.com - These are fun worksheets ranging from acrostic, crosswords, dot to dot, to word searches and writing prompts
• Chapter- by-chapter Comprehension Review - I'd like to share this PDF which is a terrific, radiant, humble unit features chapter-by-chapter comprehension reviews of E.B. White's famous book, as well as detailed looks at the characters, vocabulary, and writing style of the book.