Books for Kids of Any Age

I have a weakness for children's books, sometimes for the text, sometimes for the illustrations, and especially for those books with both.  Recently, I've ordered three (for gifts, but I get first read and enjoyment).  

Ordered in September, this delightful book

about love and friendship.  First published in 1965

and such perfect examples of what makes a friendship so wonderful.
I think I may order more of this one.  They are small
and affordable and perfect for an anytime gift for any age.

I Like You

Arriving yesterday:

Theophile Alexandre Steinlen loved cats and

sketched, painted, sculpted, and made posters of them.
The Artist Who Loved Cats

 One of Steinlen's famous posters.  1905

Written and illustrated by Lark's sister and brother-in-law,

If Monet Painted a Monster is almost as much fun as

the Newbold's If Picassa Painted a Snowman, which I bought
a couple of years ago as a gift, and kept for myself.
It is now part of my Christmas decorations.

One of my favorites is this take on Hopper's famous Nighthawks.

Some Halloween  Books for Kids

45 Books Featuring Mighty Witches

from picture books to chapter books to middle grade and teen

I have this one from when Bryce Eleanor was small.

I reviewed The Black Witch in 2017.

Now I must resist ordering more.  

Serendipity

Sometimes serendipity is a quiet coincidence, followed by another coincidence.  Sometimes it snowballs.

I recently read I Know My Name by C.J. Cooke in which four-year-old Max wears Gruffalo pajamas and insists that his father read him The Gruffalo each night.  (I Know My Name is a psychological mystery, not a children's book.)  

I am always intrigued with the titles and illustrations of children's books that I see on various blogs and on book review sites.  Gruffalo sounded familiar, but I had no picture of a Gruffalo in mind, I just liked the kid in his favorite pajamas who loved the book.  So I looked up The Gruffalo, written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler.

A day or so later, I was looking at postage stamps that intrigued me (I love mail art and whimsical stamps).  I saw the following bird stamp on Pinterest, which led me to this article.    Axel Scheffler had created the delightful images for The Royal Mail's 2012 Christmas Stamps!

Huh?  Axek Scheffler illustrated Julia Donaldson's The Gruffalo!  The stamps I'd found were serendipitously connected to a small detail in a recent novel.  

Then a couple of days later, I was looking at the article again and checked Axel Scheffler's website and discovered he had illustrated a cover for T.S. Eliot's Ole Possum's Book of Practical Cats, one of my favorite books of all time.

My copy is the one illustrated by Edward Gorey, but I love Scheffler's version as well.  So...I looked at other Scheffler books and found that I had a copy of Room on the Broom, also written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Scheffler.  I bought a copy of Room on the Broom for Bryce Eleanor about five or six years ago.  I had it out for Halloween as inspiration for October mail art, but didn't use it.  Maybe I will next year, after finding all these serendipitous connections.

And since I love letters, postage stamps, and mail art, I think I want to read about Postman Bear, too!   

Without ever paying attention to the name of the illustrator, 

I have consistently been attracted to Alex Scheffler's art.  

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

The Mysterious Benedict Society is a book for young readers at the upper elementary to middle school levels.  It offers some unusual and endearing characters, suspense, and a criminal mastermind.


Reynie Muldoon lives in an orphanage  when he sees an add in the paper reading, "Are you a gifted child looking for Special Opportunities?"  Reynie has never really fit in at the orphanage and decides to show up for the exams.  The exams are certainly unusual, but finally Reynie and three other children are the only ones who have made it through all of the exams.


Reynie, Kate Weatherhill, Sticky Washington, and Constance Contraire are introduced to the unusual Mr. Benedict who informs them that, if they choose, they may take part in an important and dangerous mission to save the world.  The four all agree to the challenge, form The Mysterious Benedict Society, and prepare to infiltrate The Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened.


Our heroes must employ the unique skills they possess and must work together to defeat the insidious Mr. Curtain who plans to take over the world.


An excellent book for the target age group, The Mysterious Benedict Society would be a great read aloud book for both parents and children.  It provides good fun and adventure, and there are more:  The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey and The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma.


Other Reviews:  Framed and Booked, Remarkable Reads, Madigan Reads, 


Fiction.  Adventure.  2007.  486 pages.

Friday Finds

Friday Finds:  What great books did you hear about/discover this past week? 

Here is the book I found:  Wherever You Are my love will find you.  One of Amelia's (our daughter) dear friends bought this book for Bryce Eleanor (our granddaughter).  It is mostly a picture book, but the poem is as lovely, or more so, than the illustrations.

I love, love, love it!  It would make a great Christmas gift for any young children you might need to buy for.  Or for the parent of a young child.

Visit Friday Finds to see what others have discovered!

"A bit of trash now and then is good for the severest reader.  It provides the necessary roughage in the literary diet."  --Phyllis McGinley

It is one of those serendipitous coincidences that after having read the above quote in the new Reading Woman Engagement Calendar that Debby sent me, I read this post over at Annie Joy's Letters about one of her favorite fairy tales as a child, The Plain Princess by Phyllis McGinley. 

Have to admit that I agree with Annie Joy about the recent phenomenon that elevates self-absorption to entertainment-- celebrating the rudeness and egotism of individuals most of us would never want to to know.

It is disturbing that many parents begin this kind of training almost as soon as a kid can walk and talk.  Instead of teaching kindness, generosity, patience, and self-control, some parents seem to delight in a kid's misbehavior and label them, as Annie Joy mentions, divas.  Good luck with that!  It will definitely come back to haunt them.

All kids behave badly at times and often the bad behavior is hilariously funny.  That doesn't mean that you want to encourage bad behavior, even if you are chuckling inside as you correct it.

Good children's books promote some insight into the feeling's of others, prompting empathy.  The books don't have to be Pollyanna-ish (although, frankly, I loved Pollyanna;  in recent years, that is a confession that one doesn't always want made public).  I did, though.  Not that I could have ever been that patient or that kind, but I wanted to be.

Why is Anne of Green Gables still popular after all of these years?  Another little do-gooder, Anne.  Another child with a positive outlook and determined kindness.  How passe'.  Yet we former readers continue to return to Anne and her friends with regularity and find peace, comfort, and inspiration.  Of course, Anne has a bit of a temper on occasion that we can also appreciate.

Bad girls can also be inspiring. My girls LOVED Kay Thompson's Eloise.  I even read it to my AP English students, and they loved it, too;  I've read that book aloud more times than I can count.  (Notice the similarity of covers with The Plain Princess.)  Eloise, however, had an absent mother;  as entertaining as her behavior is, most kids realize the reason for it.  Eloise isn't mean-spirited, and she and Nanny have a loving relationship.  In many ways, I suppose, it is a cautionary tale, but such a thoroughly delightful look at mischief and imagination.

 I'll mention one more great children's book about mischief and a mother who both understands and guides.  Olivia by Ian Falconer also draws on Kay Thompson and Hilary Knight (illustrator) for this charming series for pre-readers.



But I digress.  Back to the quote.


"A bit of trash now and then is good for the severest reader.  It provides the necessary roughage in the literary diet."  --Phyllis McGinley

I've been reading a lot of trash lately. It makes reviewing even harder when you have mostly negative points to make.  Sometimes trips to the library yield mostly treasures, and sometimes, trash.  Lately, my selections have included more of the latter than I'd like.

Some I've returned unread, some I bulldoze through regardless. This what what I intended to post about, reading trash, but I found the connection with Phyllis McGinley's quote and Annie Joy's post much more interesting, and I so love good children's books.

This and That

Skip To My Lou has been posting some terrific ideas to encouraging reading- the series is Bloggy Book and Craft-a-thon, and I especially love the Day 6 (book marks specific to the book) and Day 4 (torn paper collage) . What creative ways to encourage kids to read!

Vanilla Joy also has some excellent ideas about reading with children.

I think The Invention of Hugo Cabret (reviewed in yesterday's post) would offer a ton of creative activities - and that would be such fun.

Still have a couple of reviews left -- the J.A. Jance and a Reginald Hill (you know I love the Pascoe & Dalziel seried) that I had not read. Hill is tops in the genre, and one of my favorite writers period.

A couple of new ARC's: One More Year: Stories by Sana Krasikov and When the White House Was Ours by Porter Shreve (a novel loosely based on his own family and the alternative school they founded in Washington, D.C.)

I've started the one by Porter Shreve (have to wonder about his family background since Shreveport, named after Henry Miller Shreve, is where I grew up and is still just across the river). I'm not quite half-way through, but do want to share one quote from the mother whose son says he didn't lie, he just didn't tell what he knew: "Secrets and lies are two sides of the same coin. Only, one is hidden and the other is face up."

The Invention of Hugo Cabret (with post script)

Sleznick, Brian. The Invention of Hugo Cabret.

Hugo Cabret is an orphan living in a train station in Paris. That information alone has its own fascination. Written for children, the book includes page after page of beautiful drawings -- an interesting combination of narrative and picture book.

My favorite parts have to do with Selznick's symbolic emphasis on eyes and the way he connects those elements in his drawings to plot elements in a subtle manner. The story is a mixture of fact and fiction, and I liked that as well. I liked the play on words in the title. Automatons , early movies, and clocks all fascinate me....

I was not, however, as captivated as many readers have been and thought the narrative much less artistic than the drawings. All the elements of mystery are here, but the textual characterization and the plot never have the effect of other great children's novels. The writing and dialogue seem stilted.

This does not mean that I didn't enjoy this book. I did. Actually, quite a lot. There were many elements that I appreciated, but for several reasons, it did not quite live up to what I hoped for when I first heard about it on NPR a year or so ago.

Last summer, I read The Chess Machine which I reviewed here, another mixture of fact and fiction that dealt with magicians and automata. A nice companion book, but written for adults.

A peek at an automaton:

-----------Post Script----------
Other reviews: Becky's review ; Maggie's review; Carl's review;

Fiction. Juvenile/Children's Lit. 2007. 533 pages.

Shel Silverstein biography

I started the biography of Shel Silverstein (A Boy Named Shel) that author Lisa Rogak sent me. Quickly discovered that there was little the man couldn't do if it involved the written word : cartoons, books, essays, plays, songs, poems.

I knew he wrote A Boy Named Sue, but didn't realize that he had also written The Unicorn, the Irish Rovers hit. Or that in addition to writing for Johnny Cash, he also wrote hits for Loretta Lynn, Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show, Bobby Bare, Marianne Faithful, and Emmylou Harris. Did you know he wrote Marie Laveau and Queen of the Silver Dollar? He also composed original music for several films and was nominated for an Oscar for the score of Postcards from the Edge.

Of course, the children's books will be the most long lasting of his accomplishments because they will never grow old. A Light in the Attic has actually been banned from some libraries for the very reason that children love it. I can pick up any one of Uncle Shelby's children's books and enjoy the silliness and the truth with fresh pleasure. Well, except for The Giving Tree, which I avoid because it makes me cry. Each and every time.

NPR has some audio clips from The Best of Shel Silverstein. And the link to his official site that I posted some time back -- great animation and Shel reciting poems. Another good link, Shel Silverstein Remembered.

Olivia

I love Olivia, star of the children's book of the same name by Ian Falconer. O.K. she has a lot in common with Eloise, my favorite character in the world of children's books, but she is written for younger children and is a delightful pig to know.





This is some of the cute fabric now available from equilter.com These are only the beginning, and I want them all and don't know what I'd do with half of them.

Monday Musings

I visited Camille over at BookMoot (and she knows what the word "moot" really means, unlike most people who mistakenly believe that it means that something is self-evident or already decided; a moot question or topic is actually one that IS OPEN to discussion) and found one thing after another to enjoy, especially if you love children's literature. This post has a video about the making of a Coraline doll by puppeteer Mary Robinette Kowal; she has been commissioned to make 3 Coraline dolls and one is to go to someone who preorders the special edition of Coraline.

:P -- I know, Coraline didn't appeal to me--BUT I know many of you loved it, so watch the video, you will enjoy the music as well as the process.

Then visit Kowal's site where she chronicles the "building of Coraline"-- also courtesy of Camille and also fascinating!


**I've discovered a new possibility for the R.I.P. Challenge: The Monster Hunter's Handbook: The Ultimate Guide to Saving Mankind from Vampires, Zombies, Hellhounds, and Other Mythical Beasts by Ibrahim Amin. Oh, yeah! This looks to be right up Carl's alley!

Now, must prepare for my visit to the dentist. Two more crowns to be replaced. Damn it!

New Books

Went to the library yesterday and picked up several mysteries, most of which are related to books or manuscripts. Started Blind Submission last night, and it is speeding along. When I stop and rest (yard work), I pick the book up and give it 10 more minutes, and since I read over half of it last night, should finish it tonight. Not great, but very tense, especially as I approach the conclusion.

Fee and I had a good discussion about Nelle Harper Lee and Flannery O'Connor last night, and he is itching to read a little O'Connor (I always recommend Good Country People) and the letters as well. He may simply want me to quit reading aloud to him. Who knows?

My neck hurts from planting and weeding. Have not done anything strenuous, but something about the way I hold my head always gives me problems in the spring.

Received an ARC from Harcourt's Children's Books Division yesterday (Thanks, Anna); perfect timing as it should fit into the fantasy challenge. Evil Genius (has not been released, but review is on Amazon.com) by Catherine Jinks is a nearly 500 page YA novel and looks quite interesting. Jinks has won the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award 3 times.

Alice and Quilt Books

I like this very much! Especially the section on The Background & History of Alice in Wonderland.






I love quilt books and own more than I should, but can't resist them. The library also provides me with ample opportunities for books on quilting. Quilted Memories is mine, and I've been enjoying it for about 10 days now. Lots of pictures. The other one is overdue at the library, but I love it and will probably renew it (in the vain hope that I'm going to try some of the blocks). I've been through it countless times; some good tips as well as great quilts.

The Tall Book

I can't get the 2006 G.I.F.T. Challenge logo to load. Will try again later.

Here are Carl's suggestions:

What you agree to do, if you choose to participate, is to partake of and/or post on any 4 of the following:
Christmas movies
Christmas novels/short stories
Christmas songs
Christmas poems
Christmas traditions
Christmas memories

One of my favorite books when I was young was The Tall Book of Christmas. Out of print for many years, it is now available again, and I bought this copy several years ago, almost breathless with excitement to see it again in print. The copyright date is 1954.

The book begins with the The Christmas Story and has several excellent (if a bit old-fashioned) stories, poems, carols and songs. Mother read it to us when we were very young, then I read it myself for several years, then I read it to our children. It warms my heart each time I bring it out and flip through the pages...

Here is an illustration from The Great Walled Country.

"Nobody who lives there ever grows up. The king and the queen, the princes and the courtiers, play a great deal of the time with dolls and tin soldiers."

This story by Raymond MacDonald Alden was first published in 1906. The illustrations are, of course, from the 1954 edition, but have an innocence and charm that still appeals to me.

Nancy Drew, the 60's version

Found these old Nancy Drew mysteries that I bought at a flea market a year or so ago. They were published in 1960 & 1961, so they are old, but not nearly as old as some. I'd love to have some of the really early ones. I used to be a big flea market visitor and shopper, but have not been very active in the last few years. Which is probably a good thing, since leaving without a purchase of some kind is a skill I've yet to master.

Watched Disc 3 of Firefly last night. :)

On My Previous Post and Comments

My previous post received some comments that I think deserve further consideration. How many of the books we loved as children stand up to adult reading? Why? Does it matter?

For me, the L.M. Montgomery books do stand up...as long as I don't overdose. There are certain themes in the books that get repeated -with different characters- in each book. When given adequate time between reading, I don't find this a problem, but I'm certainly aware of it.

For really young children-- if I can read a book over and over to a child without thinking it banal...I (as an adult) rate it an excellent children's book. Children, however, often love to have books read to them over and over that an adult will consider boring and trite (driving said adult to distraction at the 3rd reading, much less the 203rd demanded by said child). If the book appeals to many children in the same way, then logically, it must have qualities that place it above the dull category into which an adult might consign it.

For early readers-- being able to read on their own in such a reward in and of itself for children. Having characters that can be counted on to remain the same (I don't think young children want character growth nearly as much as they want dependability), but who continue having new adventures is a plus for beginning readers.

Another note, I remember when my children fell in love with the Sweet Valley High series. I was stunned, horrified! Their reading levels so much higher and there were so many excellent books available, why did they turn to these silly things? Obviously, I was too old to appreciate whatever call these books had. I, who would not have blinked an eye had they been reading Nancy Drew. Which tells me something... I read Exodus, Gone with the Wind, and other adult books in grade school, and I adored Nancy Drew. At the same time.

Poetry is the same way. I still love some of the poems I read in childhood. They are not good poetry, and I'm perfectly capable of distinguishing between the quality of "Little Boy Blue" by Eugene Field and "Holy Sonnet 10" by John Donne. I love them both. I read Donne as a child (in one of my mother's anthologies), but I couldn't appreciate him. Maybe Eugene Field is partially responsible for creating a love of poetry that was capable of growing and maturing. In my book, that makes Field as important as John Donne.

So... does it matter if The Boxcar Children would not stand up to a re-reading from an adult perspective? Not for me. It was a step on the way and will always evoke feelings of comfort and satisfaction and gratitude.

Five on a Treasure Island - From the Stacks Challenge

I read Five on a Treasure Island for one of my From the Stacks Challenge books. Enid Blyton had cropped up on so many lists of Beloved Children's Books that I ordered the first in the Famous Five series and The Faraway Tree to get a taste of Blyton.

Unfortunately, I don't have that special feeling that envelopes a book that you've read and loved in your own childhood. (For me that would include L.M. Montgomery's Ann books, Pippi Longstocking, The Borrowers, The Five Little Peppers, etc.) Fortunately, I discovered these and can pass them on to my grandchildren. The book is, as is often the case from this earlier time period, a potent mixture of innocence and adventure. The characters are thinly drawn, there are didactic messages of the importance of friendship, loyalty, and sharing, and there is remarkable freedom from parental supervision. Add a dash of deserted island, the ruins of a castle, the mystery of hidden gold, some bad guys, and the creative resourcefulness of children and voila: a perfect confection for early readers.

The freedom from parental supervision is a common theme in children's books, and is even more evident in light of current practices. How many parents today would allow their children the freedom at 9, 10, and 11 years old to row out to the island, negotiate the danger of the rocky coast, and not be particularly worried when a bad storm develops? No life jackets. And those are the minimal skills of these children, who think fast and take decisive action to defeat the adults who would steal the gold and who threaten to shoot the beloved dog Tim.

My daughter and I have discussed the changes in the area of freedom in children's lives before--the freedom my parents had as children, the freedom of my own childhood, the more circumscribed life of my children, and the even more closely supervised lives of children today. Easy to see the appeal of children who are allowed the independence of the Famous Five (or the Boxcar Children or Pippi).

Since Five on a Treasure Island is the first in this series, some time is committed to the circumstances in which Julian, Dick, and Ann meet their cousin George (Georgina), develop their friendship, and bond with George's dog Tim. I imagine the rest of the series falls more quickly into the mystery/adventure narrative.

The books are for very young readers or (one of the things I loved beyond telling when my children were young) for the reading of a parent to the child. What a great way to end the day, one chapter at a time.

Bookmarks and Activities for Kids

I love Jan Brett's children's books and illustrations. Here you can find some lovely bookmarks that you can print (and I would laminate them) for free. My favorite set is Daisy Comes Home. Or would you like her alphabet flashcards? Or bulletin board month? Check out all of her free activities! If I were a primary school teacher, I'd bake her cookies once a month.

National Geographic has a place where kids can create their own bookmarks. Click "Help" for clear instructions. Or maybe your kids would enjoy the Dinosaur Egg Hunt with information about where dinosaur eggs have been discovered - with pictures and links. Ancient Egyptian loved their pets, too, and sometimes gave them elaborate burials. This site goes on and on and on with activities and information and lesson plans for different grade levels. Just one more.

in progress... on order...of childhood

Falling in Love with Natassia: on page 216, almost half way through. I've had to get past a section that made me want to chunk this one, but things are better now. At almost half way, Natassia is not a major character, although she appears to be the inciting incident. I have no idea at this point what my final decision on this novel will be.

Wild Swans: on page 258, right at half way. The Changs have survived so much, but the Cultural Revolution is imminent, and I'm fearful. I was unaware of the famine in China that killed approximately 30 million people in 1958-1962. Chairman Mao's policies were both ridiculous and amazingly destructive, but disagreement of any kind was fatal. As Cheya and I have discussed, examining and comparing the lives the "three daughters of China" led in comparison to 3 generations of our own families is revealing.

I've given up getting The Thirteenth Tale from the library and placed another Amazon order. Another mixed bag: Tender at the Bone - Ruth Reichl, The Thirteenth Tale - Diane Setterfield, Five on a Treasure Island - Enid Blyton, and The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton.

Last year on my other blog, I did several posts relating to children's books as a result of doing a Meme about them. I visited several sites that also completed Shelley's Meme and found that Enid Blyton's books called to me. Recently, I've read several mentions of Enid Blyton and the Famous Five

Other posts resulted from an article about what children should have read before finishing school with choices from J.K. Rowling, Philip Pullman, and Andrew Motion and just pondering the subject of children's books. As a result, I eventually ordered a set of L.M. Montgomery's Ann books which I started and stalled on this summer. Now, I'm pursuing Enid Blyton (the choice of many readers who did Shelley's Meme as well as showing up frequently in other places in the blog world).