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29 days of book love…a true classic

The first children’s book I fell in love with as an adult but before I had children of my own was A.A. Milne’s The House at Pooh Corner; a philosophical romp in the woods with stuffed animals that has real meaning.

There are many versions of this book and I happen to own a vintage 1950’s copy thanks to my sister-in-law’s love of old shoppes.

A lazy Sunday afternoon is the perfect time to read a little Pooh with someone you love. Read with me…

“One day when Pooh Bear had nothing else to do, he thought he would do something, so he went round to Piglet’s house to see what Piglet was doing. It was still snowing as he stumped over the white forest track, and he expected to find Piglet warming his toes in front his fire, but to his surprise he saw that the door was open, and the more he looked inside the more Piglet wasn’t there.

‘He’s out,’ said Pooh sadly. ‘That’s what it is. He’s not in. I shall have to go for a fast Thinking Walk by myself. Bother!”

And then he hums to keep warm…tiddly Pom.

Delightful. If you’ve never read this you must. With a friend, a little one or big, or by yourself, you will make new friends as you read about their adventures together.

TTFN…

29 days of book love…

Inkheart

Cornelia Funke

(2003)

originally published in German

This book is a thrilling ride crafted for fantasy lovers and book readers of every kind. Imagine how it would change your reading style if your reading abilities could change the story as it does for Meggie and her dad Mo. Mo loves books and is good at fixing them. He was also a very good storyteller at one time. Soon after her mother’s disappearance though Mo won’t read to Meggie and she doesn’t understand why. Mo has such incredible reading abilities that even a few bad guys are interested in his talents.

What if, I as a librarian, read in such a way that my library patrons one-by-one began disappearing as I was reading? Would you want to send your child to the library anymore? Meggie and Mo’s journey and the unique cast of characters smattered along the way make this an incredible story worth sharing. I once read it aloud to a class of 5th grade students in Little Rock. Their teacher and I were friends and she struggled with readalouds so I agreed to help her by modeling. This is the book I chose, I went every afternoon to read to them, and they were mesmerized by the story. It was one of the best experiences I had of transporting children (and their teacher) to another land far, far away…

The movie is not worth it and even the second book not so much. This book is a stand alone for me. It’s so good it doesn’t need anything more.

29 days of book love…

Finding Fortune

Delia Ray

2015

An almost ghost town mixed with the long gone button factories that lived along the Mississippi River and you have just two parts of Delia Ray’s new story for elementary and middle school students.

12-year-old Ren is fascinated by the old school in the almost empty next town over curiously named Fortune. An older woman is fixing up the school as a boarding house and a button museum and Ren gets mixed up with their stories instead of her own.

Her dad, serving in Afghanistan, will be home soon and Ren feels like her mother needs to be more excited about his upcoming arrival. Her older sister is busy working and dating a French foreign exchange student. It’s easy for Ren to find life a little more thrilling with Hugh, Hildy, Mime, and the rest of the museum characters.

Mystery and intrigue-perfect for kids wanting just a bit of a scare.

29 days of book love…

Beatrix Potter-need I say more? I love everything she did. She was talented and wanted to distribute a pocket size so anyone could afford her little stories. I have this large paperback at home that I’ve enjoyed for years. At school we still have a large collection of the minuture books and some young readers are drawn to them; quaint and sweet.

2016 marks 150 years for Beatrix Potter, cause for great celebration in the book world and beyond. A new website is being rolled out plus you can find her on twitter and Facebook! I’m sure Ms. Potter would have loved her social media presence. Hopefully it might mean a whole new generation will love her work. Enjoy this delightful Peter Rabbit video-my favorite-that naughty little adventurer! Share it with a little person in your life, both books and video! Enjoy.

29 days of book love..

We love ballet at our house and we’ve read a lot of ballet books over the years. We are attracted to them as Groovy Girl would put it.

We’ve had Tallulah’s Tutu by Marilyn Singer for a few years and love it for many reasons. Every once in awhile we do sort through the books on her book shelves and we pass them on to others but the ballet books she tends to keep.

We love that this book has lots of real ballet words in it, we love that her little brother’s name is Beckett (I have a nephew with the same name), and that there is a boy in her ballet class, and that the illustrations show a variety of ethnicity. The illustrations are done beautifully in shaded tones by Alexandra Boiger. This is a whole series; Tallulah’s Solo, Tallulah’s toe shoes, Tallulah’s tap shoes and Tallulah’s Nutcracker. If you have a budding dancer we recommend any of these titles. Tallulah isn’t perfect and she learns to work at her practice of dance, learning it’s not just about the tutu!

29 days of book love…

A classic collection of poems by a master of American verse

Selected Poems of Langston Hughes

This book contains a selection of the poems of Langston Hughes chosen by himself from his earlier volumes.

I bought this book years ago while I was student teaching. I used it to teach at a difficult high school with struggling students. Some of the students got into Langston, some of them were bored, and one student fell in LOVE. He’d never heard of Langston and was amazed-truly-to discover a black artist with such talent. It was a good moment for me as a young teacher to see the light shine in his eyes.

Harlem Night Song

Come,

Let us roam the night together

Singing.

I Love you.

Across

the Harlem roof-tops

Moon is shining.

Night sky is blue.

Stars are great drops

of golden dew.

Down the street

A band is playing.

I love you.

Come,

Let us roam the night together

Singing.

I think he has an interesting eye, poetic sarcasm, and the ability to say it like it is but in beautiful verse.

Democracy

Democracy will not come

Today, this year

Nor ever

Through compromise and fear.

I have as much right

As the other fellow has

To stand

On my own two feet

And own the land.

I tire so of hearing people say,

Let things take their course.

Tomorrow is another day.

I do not need my freedom when I’m dead.

I cannot live on tomorrow’s bread.

Freedom

Is a strong seed

Planted

In great need.

I live here, too.

I want freedom

Just as you.

Sadly Langston’s poems still resonate today as relevant not historical. We need to consistently be working on the racism that prevails in our country. Today. Now. We can’t wait for future generations, we can’t let more young black men or women die just because of the color of their skin.

His poetry is powerful stuff. This is the book I pick up when I need some inspiration.

29 days of book love…

Past my bedtime. I hosted book club tonight (Behind the beautiful forevers by Katherine Boo-we highly recommend). I made yellow potato curry and a red quinoa salad with roasted brussels sprouts and cauliflower. We had a great time discussing the book. Everyone left by a little after nine and I kicked it into high gear. My night was far from over. I cleaned up book club dishes while I started a pan of brownies. I would have liked to have gone to bed and read the book I started last night but I have a competition in the library for students to guess the connection of books in a hallway case. A class of 4th graders won and in return I host them in the library for a free hour of maker space fun. Of course tomorrow is their hour! I have Legos, crafts, UNO cards, book marks to create, and magna tiles to play with. I’ve hosted a few of these kid-friendly parties in the library and they seem to have a grand time.

The first time I did this I made the class a treat. Not really thinking it through of course because now every class needs to have a treat. It just wouldn’t be fair. So after book club I made these lunch lady brownies. They look delicious and the kiddos tomorrow at the end of the day will LOVE them.

My book love for today is the LAST thing on my list before I head to bed. It might be worth it for me to start posting in the morning instead at the end of the day. I’d get to bed quicker…

Red Shoes by Eleri Glass and Ashley Spires (2008) arrived on my doorstep one afternoon in the mail a few years back. This is something that happens to you as a book blogger-books just arrive. It is a welcome treat. I get to enjoy them over and over. I’m sure it came from the publisher or I won it on another blog; either way Groovy Girl and I sat down immediately and read it.

This one is just about shoe shopping from a young girl’s point of view. Her mother picks the sensible lace-ups but she wants the red ones. She scuffs around in the brown lace-ups but still has her heart set on the red ones.

Every mom or dad has seen that look; despair of not getting what you so desire. It’s a push me pull me situation. Eventually she gets to try on the beautiful red shoes…and her delight wins her mother over…

Simple text paired with beautiful illustrations make this a wonderful book for anyone who loves shoes, fashion, or children! It’s just one small battle in the great scheme of parenting.

29 days of book love

When you love books as much as I do you look for them in odd places. I was having a girl’s day with my friend Mary Kay one day, a lovely afternoon of lunch and second hand/antique shops. As we were browsing I happened upon a book by Elsa Beskow. I was in love.

First published in 1910 this is a beautiful picture book from a different era but many children would love it. Tiny forest people with mushroom caps on their heads. Elsa’s story relays the fun the children have in their woodland home, playing with other animals, and going off to school to learn. Following the little folk through food gathering in the fall, winter snow games, and fresh spring beginnings…the seasons are beautifully portrayed by Elsa Beskow, an artist and author from Sweden.

I have another Elsa Beskow book-Ollie’s Ski Trip-that my friend Mary Kay found for me later. It is as small as my palm and filled with beautiful illustrations and it is like a small chapter book with pages filled with words about Ollie waiting for winter so he can use his new pair of skis. Old Man Winter eventually does show up but first Ollie gets to meet Jack Frost.
Charming books-ones I bring out when I need a moment of respite from the busy world around me.

29 days of book love

April is a long way off but I’m looking forward to it for several different reasons.

1. Spring will have sprung and it will be warmer.
2. Our son will turn 21 at the end of April
3. Maggie Stiefvater’s book The Raven King will arrive.

I read her Shiver series first and liked it-the characters especially-I think she has an amazing knack for creating memorable characters and placing them in very unique stories often related to legends or fairy tales. A few years later I fell in love with The Raven Boys. I consumed all books in short order as soon as they were published. In fact one came out after I’d had my kindle for about a year. I hadn’t read one book on it though because it was hypocritical-me being a librarian and all. Then The Dream Thieves came out and I could download it ever so quickly and suddenly I could see the advantages of this Kindle tool.

I love Blue’s character and I thought I could easily have grown up in her household. Crazy aunts, psychic mothers, I would have fit right in. I highly recommend the whole series. Any of Stiefvater’s books are worthy. Also if you every have the chance to go to one of her author events she is entertaining and enjoyable to listen to-she rants, swears, and tells great stories.

Blue Sargent, the daughter of the town psychic in Henrietta, Virginia, has been told for as long as she can remember that if she ever kisses her true love, he will die. But she is too practical to believe in things like true love. Her policy is to stay away from the rich boys at the prestigious Aglionby Academy. The boys there — known as Raven Boys — can only mean trouble. (from the book’s website)

29 days of book love…

Just like participating in Nano (National Novel Writing) writing every day during February has been challenging. I love books can easily come up with 10 books I love on the spot but my goal was to write about books I haven’t blogged about already (at least recently) and to do it EVERY day. My days are busy. School, Groovy Girl, busy husband,…and I make food from scratch just about every day.

I have an amazing author/twitter friend (@joellewrites) that I met after reading her book Restoring Harmony a few years ago. She lives in Canada now but did live here and left after Bush took office-you remember all those voices chiming in that they would move after he took office and started a war after 9/11. Well she actually did it. This fact got my attention and I applaud her for standing up for her beliefs.

Restoring Harmony is dystopian-still very hot after The Hunger Games trilogy brought the whole genre to the forefront. What I like about this story is that it’s more real but without so much bloodshed.

A dystopia (from the Greek δυσ- and τόπος, alternatively, cacotopia, kakotopia, or simply anti-utopia) is a community or society that is undesirable or frightening.

Molly’s family grows their own food and survives on an isolated farming island in Canada but when her mother receives word that her grandmother has suffered a stroke back in the states Molly is the one who needs to cross back into the U.S. to help her grandparents to safety. An economic collapse has crippled the U.S. and oil is almost gone, poverty, hunger and rampant crime have taken over. Molly leaves the only world she knows and uses her smarts to help her family to safety. The story is exciting and eye-opening-could this world be part of our own future? Read Joelle Anthony’s Restoring Harmony and see. This is perfect for late elementary-middle school students.