WWRW: Walrus Books

It probably started with The Pigeon Wants a Puppy by Mo Willems. Our love for Mo is well documented on this blog and that is probably C's most read. In the book, wait for it, the Pigeon wants a puppy. And when he gets a puppy he realizes that he does not in fact want a puppy. He changes his mind to a walrus.

And that my friend, planted the seed. Babies, toddlers and children, they are like little gardens. You plant seeds of knowledge, faith and manners and with some nurture they will eventually grow into (hopefully) self-sufficient adult people.

It was the one line about Pigeon wanting a walrus. Then we read the wallpaper on the inside of back cover. You can "Look Inside" on Amazon but it's a box that says "One Walrus" repeated. So at the end of the book we say "One Walrus" many many times.

Then there's the classic Polar Bear Polar Bear What Do You Hear? by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle. After a smattering of zoo animals the very last zoo animal is a walrus bellowing.

We apparently read these books a lot. I knew we did, but gosh we must have. Because in C's magnetic fishing  there is a walrus to grab and it is his favorite. He carries it around.

Some kids like dinosaurs. Or trains. My younger brother liked gnomes. C... has a thing for walruses. I know this will shock you, but there's not a whole lot of toddler appropriate information about the walrus out there. We made some walrus coloring sheets. Those are fun. We've been watching some YouTube videos obsessively. Here's his favorite:

Bonus: When he watches this he sits in my lap and gives me a hug when the two walruses do!

So as of 3:00 today when my package finally arrived. (Oh President's Day getting in the way.) We have been reading:

Where's Walrus by Stephen Savage. The walrus escapes from the zoo and hides from the zookeeper who is chasing him down. In the end, the walrus does go back to the zoo and gets a bigger enclosure to boot. So in some respect it's a book about tiny zoo enclosures and animals getting bored in captivity. Except it's not really about that at all. (That's me really really digging for an over arching theme.) 

This is the perfect book for a toddler who has a fascination with walruses for a few reasons: 

• He gets to find and point to the walrus on every page. But it's easier than Where's Waldo? So he is actively engaged. 

• There are no words. I know listening to stories is so important but narrating what's happening is a lot of fun and super helpful for understanding as well. Plus then it can be as short or as long as we want. 

• The graphic-y design is really fun. Not all kids have a graphic designer Dad but since C does, we're happy to engage him in good design and talk about good design elements with him. And he doesn't mind because it's about a walrus. 

So that is what we are reading, or rather, paging through this week on our journey of walrus love. Any other walrus book suggestions? We'd be happy to hear them. 

 Linking up with Jessica and her other lovely people.