On Story Bent

I do love this cover -- one of my favorite paintings: Il bacio (The Kiss) by Francesco Hayez (1859). So striking and iconic. "For most of her sixteen years, beautiful Keturah Reeves has mesmerized the villagers with her gift for storytelling. But when she becomes hopelessly lost in the king’s forest, her strength all but diminished, she must spin the most important tale of [her] life. With her fate hanging in the balance, she charms Death himself—a handsome, melancholy, and stern lord—with a story of a love so true that he agrees to give her a one-day reprieve. Now, she must find her true love in the next twenty-four hours, or else all will be lost. Keturah searches desperately while her village prepares for an unexpected visit from the king. But Lord Death’s presence is never far, hovering over all as mysterious happenings start to alarm her friends and neighbors. If she is to save her soul and the souls of the people she adores, Keturah must confront Lord Death one last time...

This book is SO good. At first, for some ridiculous and (somewhat) unknown reason, I was dreading it’d be tedious and/or some sort of guilt trip, but I needn’t have worried. Once I started, I gobbled it up in about two days. It’s straight up encouraging and inspiring and  do-able . Everyone should read it and it’s definitely one every parent particularly should have stashed on their shelf. Or even better, out somewhere where it’s getting dog-eared and tripped over and referenced often. The scope of the book covers various statistical points (on the importance of reading aloud and story in the life of a child both as regards education and development, etc.), but even more, it’s on shaping hearts and minds, building family bonds, shared history, and loyalty, and engendering a wide-awake, sprawling, deep vision of the world. Also (and especially helpful) lots of friendly, relaxed, down-to-earth, excellently unpreachy, from-the-trenches tips and ideas for how to actually go about it in a b

One that has already stood the test of time (decades now, so I think we can fairly definitively say that), I was debating whether it was even worth my time reviewing this one. But there are always new readers. (+ one must be consistent with reviewing, mustn't one? ;))  It's so well written... And though it was a groundbreaker upon publication, personally, I don't think it's stuck around just because it's on mandatory school reading lists. It's a day in the life of a young child, told simply and beautifully, and that immediately resonates. It's one I vividly remember from my own growing up; and I've since seen it genuinely loved and enjoyed by all different children alike -- boys and girls, the quiet ones and the loud and wiggly ones... Their attention is caught and they naturally identify with the little boy protagonist. So yes, altogether a classic and an absolute gem!

Perhaps not quite as much of a family favorite as Goodbye Summer, Hello Autumn , this is still an absolutely lovely book. (And seriously, it probably just has to do with seasonal preference... plus the fall colors in the other one are stunning.) This book follows the same outline and I really like how it takes the reader through exploring the seasons in both country and town. This one also has a brother and sister duo experiencing everything together, which is very sweet.  The ending pages are exhilarating. On second thought, I feel like I might've been a little hard on it up above. The text is actually a tad smoother and easier to read than Summer/Autumn  and, as I'm flipping through it while typing this up, I'm falling even more for the restrained color scheme and the soothing simplicity of the illustrations. Definitely going on our favorites list after all. Highly recommend!

Didn't realize till recently that this was actually the very first ever Katie book! It has a good selection of paintings (and I especially love the one from Renoir). Works covered include: The Hay Wain by John Constable Madame Moitessier by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres The Umbrellas by Pierre-Auguste Renoir Surprised! by Henri Rousseau Dynamic Suprematism by Kazamir Malevich As aforementioned, studying  The Umbrellas was really fun -- discussing how he used the colors themselves to evoke the feeling of rain, etc. I do like the Katie books for their immersive nature -- they're absolutely excellent for making the art come alive and connecting with young readers. That said, this one also led to a fruitful discussion about how we should indeed look with our eyes and obey Do Not Touch signs, and some of the reasons for those signs (finger oils, etc.); and also the difference between our world and the magic of Katie's world. ;) It led, too, to some good discussion on appropriate

This one always reminds me of Owl Moon -- what with the story revolving around the father-daughter duo going through the snowy forest, keeping an eye out for animals -- but the actual content is quite different so both are entirely valuable in their own right. Smoothly written, it's an excellent introduction to the subnivean zone -- that layer between snow and ground, which is an entire world in its own right -- full of hibernating animals and also those hunkering down with the larders they gathered earlier in the year and munching their way through the winter. A few top dwelling animals -- deer and foxes, etc. -- make an appearance as well.  There's a nice glossary at the back where it expands further on each animal mentioned, too.  A great selection for natural history.

Love this book and definitely a favorite for this exact time of year -- winter just breaking into spring. It follows a similar basic outline to Jan Brett's famous Mitten story, but (personally) I find this one particularly charming. It has more of an emphasis on unlikely friends all having to get along together under the protection and the watchful eye of a (very) patient guardian figure. The illustrations are absolutely gorgeous (of course ;)) and the ending is very sweet. And, come the ending, the Small Person immediately asked where we can go see musk oxen and was more than a little disappointed at how far we'd need to travel... so all the more reason to enjoy and appreciate having this delightful secondhand glimpse into their home and habitat. :) An all around win and highly recommend!

One of the most well written and engaging in the entire series. There is a bit of overtly intentional mess creation in it, but (as always) Katie is careful to go back over her tracks and make sure everything is scrupulously put right, so I'm comfortable with how it all works out in the end. There are always artistic renderings of lots of other famous pieces on each page, but following is a list of the works specifically explored: Sunflowers by Vincent van Gogh Breton Girls Dancing by Paul Gauguin Apples and Oranges by Paul Cezanne Tahitian Pastorals by Paul Gauguin  As aforementioned, this is one of the liveliest Katie books and we ended up really enjoying it and getting entirely invested in the story. It's tremendously vivid and colorful, too! In the recommendation line up, would probably place it just after  Katie and the Mona Lisa and Katie and the Starry Sky. (Note: I just remembered that one of the imitation paintings on page 5 does show a nude swimmer from the back, but i

I really love this one! I was only able to find and add it to our collection this last Christmas, so it’s not as familiar as some of the others in the series, but I just loved the gentle narrative. It was the first story wherein the small person was really following historical differences then v. now (i.e. everyone taking turns in the washtub on a Saturday night and then the no running and jumping rules on Sundays). And then the birthday celebration was so sweet! It gave me the same feeling of simplicity and pure enjoyment I had when first reading the other books growing up. :) Happy to recommend it! <3

I kept wanting to like this one soooo much! And actually, I did like it -- about half of it rather enormously. The problem: the whole premise of a 'simple Christmas' in many ways typifies much of how I actually grew up celebrating Christmas and quite a few things I incorporate now in our own home. So therein lies the problem, because the little protagonist in the book isn't sure she'll enjoy it all -- the "focusing less on getting and more on giving", the making of homemade gifts and the giving away of cookies -- (and then, of course, she comes to find out that she has a marvelous time and it's all wonderful ;)), but you can see the issues that might create for a child who hasn't ever experienced... I don't know... a "normal crazy Christmas" (I guess ;)). It's all about frame of reference.  And note: personally, we're not against the purchasing of gifts and the layering on of festivities, because on the flip side we also don't

I wasn't planning to do a 3 Strikes post this month, but we're decluttering during Advent and I'm trying to be diligent about dealing with things as they come up, so... ;) Someone gifted this to us years ago (which was so so kind of them!!) and it's been living at the bottom of our Christmas book box ever since while I tried to figure out what to do with it (it is a classic after all). It does have a bit of a nostalgic Narnia feel to it, i.e. with the basic concept + the ending, so that's interesting. But.... the time has come. In short, it's a definitive Santa book, and (while we appropriately honor the memory of the faithful Christian saint Nicholas who ran his race before us), we don't do Santa, and the whole point of this title is Santa-ness, so..... yes, this one's being donated.

Set just as fall is tipping into winter, this is a perfect story for this time of year. In true Jan Brett style, there's so much going on in the illustrations! We notice something new each time. And, as always, they're just gorgeous. My one caveat is that it has a bit of a secret ending... so still thinking over the pros and cons of that, to be quite honest. Basically, the characters in the story don't have all the information, but (due to the illustrations, mostly) we as the readers know the whole story, which basically all boils down to an easy mistake and a case of misappropriated credit. On the flip side of all that, it is thought provoking and does give good, age accessible and appropriate material for discussion. (And the small person definitely gets and loves the joke. ;)) So there are my rambling and indecisive thoughts on this one... Definitely one you might want to keep an eye out for and flip through at your local library!