On Story Bent

"When Bartholomew, Remember, and Mary Allerton and their parents first step down from the Mayflower after sixty days at sea, they never dream that life in the New World will be so hard. Many in their Plymouth Colony won't make it through the winter, and the colony's first harvest is possible only with the help of two friends, Samoset and Squanto. Richly detailed paintings show how the pilgrims lived after landing at Plymouth, through the dark winter and into the busy days of spring, summer, and fall. Culminating with the excitement of the original Thanksgiving feast, Three Young Pilgrims  makes history come alive." (from the back cover) If I had to choose one book about the pilgrims, this would be it. Absolute top favorite. I loved it as a child and I love it now. (And yes, my daughter enjoyed it too.) Beautifully illustrated and told perfectly, the author touches on all the salient points -- the voyage, the hunger and sickness, the loss even children had to face, and...

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...

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!

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!

From the dust jacket summary: "A is for Augustus, emperor of Rome.... And so begins this lovely journey through the Nativity story, using the letters of the alphabet to highlight the people, places, and events associated with the birth of Jesus. Graceful couplets are paired with richly textured mixed-media collages to create a warm, yet reverent depiction of the first Christmas."   Another of my top favorites, I remember this one from when I was little -- so much so that I was still able to mentally conjure up the title recently and find it. :) From A to Z (for Zest and living life with joy), the words are lilting and lovely. It's like a waltz, where the entire thing is just beautiful. I'm so happy to have it in our growing Advent book collection! This one apparently goes in and out of print (I was able to buy a new hard back copy for around $10 last year), so it's worth keeping an eye on it. For toddlers and up Reviewed for The Literary Christmas Reading Challeng...

This book was a ginormous part of my childhood and is still one of my three top favorite Christmas picture books. Possibly my tip top favorite. (It's a close call and I really can't pick one for the honor, but this sure comes mighty close.) (Please overlook any fuzziness in the pictures, I was working with some tricky lighting but really wanted you to get a little taste. ;)) The summary is simple: a group of carolers comes into a tiny little community and, family by family, the residents join them. Each stop is accompanied with the first verse of a different traditional carol and an artfully done cutaway scene of the Nativity story.  The illustrations are so colorful and endlessly fascinating, packed with all sorts of details. Looking at it now -- with the families of all different sizes and with different cultural heritages, family traditions, activities, etc -- I'm realizing it was actually one of the first books to shape my understanding of just how huge Christmas is: ...

From the author's note at the beginning: "At Chrismastime, in the New Hampshire town where I live, it is traditional for white electric candles to be put in house windows and in the windows of the Baptist Church. It is a beautiful sight. But the early residents of this New England town and other villages weren't always so festive. [some early settlers] tended to avoid any observance of the holiday whatsoever. In fact, one source tells of an Irishman being chased out of a New England town in 1755 because he was 'a Christmas Man.' All of this set me to thinking, 'What might have happened in the early 1800s if a family accustomed to celebrating Christmas moved into a New England town? Using historical fact and my research as a departure point, I began to imagine that it could have happened this way..." I grew up with this story and it's just delightful. Tomie dePaola is, of course, well known in picture book circles and this one fits right in with his be...

 "When Pa decided at the last moment to set out for California to claim his share of the fabled gold, Minnie just knew she couldn't bear being left behind in quiet old St. Joe with her spinster Aunt Addie. The trail west was a trail of bones, she'd heard, but regardless, one bright sunshiny morning Minnie Weldon took leave of her pretty blue and white bedroom with its Rob Peter quilt and starched curtains and stowed away behind the flour barrel in the big covered wagon.  "Minnie took a gamble, a rash one at that, and Pa nearly turned back when she finally climbed out of the wagon. But it also won Minnie a whole new life in the vast freedom of the prairies, the arduous crossing of the Rockies, and at last the descent into the wild hurly-burly of San Francisco at the height of the Gold Rush. There, for a time, Minnie had to survive by her wits alone and in the process of doing so amassed her own crock of gold." (from the dust jacket) I distinctly remember reading T...

In the interest of waking up and revitalizing this blog, I'm gonna keep this short and sweet, but the long and the short of it is, the little princess has recently Come of Story Time Age (I know, I know, that can start waaaaaaay earlier, so more on that at another time in another place), but as I was saying, come story time, she always seems to grab this one and it generally appears near the top of the stack. The text is fairly prosaic, though does nicely build tension and has some fun onomatopoeia (ha! I've tried to work out a way to use that word for a long time ;D), but as always, the pictures are deeply worth reveling in and alive with action. And we love studying our African animals around here and it's so fun to see Princess E enjoy and go through naming them all as we read. So yes, all in all a winner!

This has long been my tippity top favorite Jan Brett. It's been around for years now and still thoroughly fresh, lovely, and absolutely gorgeous. I was so excited to introduce it to the Little Princess this week! (And she loved it; getting very animated over the different animals. That and bees are a big thing right now, so there was that too, what with all the zum zum buzzzzzing. ;)) An absolute delight all round and definitely a classic. <3 I also just found this link for a Berlioz coloring page, so be sure to check that out. It's adorable.

(From the dustjacket) "Round objects, from pancakes to cakes to balloons, fill this book as townspeople busily prepare a sumptuous feast for the king. Children will delight in picking out the items mentioned in the catchy verses that wind playfully through the pages. Illustrator Yu-Mei Han's make-believe setting, renderd in splashy, luscious, colors, hums with energy. This merry concept book offers children boundless visual enjoyment on pages full to bursting with fun. An all-around winner!" Yes, indeed. A tasteful, riotous explosion of color, this one's straight up luscious, scrumptious, gorgeous, and one of the happiest books you'll ever pick up. I mean, you just can't read it and be sad. Definitely one that gets read multiple times in a row -- but the great thing is there're so many fascinating things going on and running through from page to page that even as the Read-Alouder it remains interesting on the third or fourth time through. ;) (I'...

Shirley Hughes is an incredibly talented British author/illustrator with a ton of charming books to her name. Seriously, I can't think of any other picture book author who better or more beautifully captures the world from the viewpoint of a little person. They're lovely! This particular title is a collection of lilting early poems, taking you through the year with a handful for each season. And they stick in your head. Check this out: "Shiny boots, Brand new. Pale shoots Poking through. In the garden, Out and about. Run down the path, Scamper and shout. Wild white laundry Waves at the sky. The birds are busy And so am I." Out and About is one I distinctly remember my mother reading waaaaaaaay back when and to say I'm downright thrilled to be sharing it with my own little princess is an understatement. ;D I can't wait to hear if you've heard of it!