The Swamps of Sleethe
I’ve just recently started beefing up my poetry section in my personal library. I looked out over my shelves and realized I had many biographies but not the works that made the people famous in the first place. On hunting down essential poets and their work, I started stumbling across more children’s poetry that I’d like to have for Ayla. Punctuation Celebration was one of the first, many children’s picture books are poetic in nature and I’ve been trying to make sure we have the cleverest and the best here at home, at our fingertips. Among these searches after Story Time at Half Price Books, I came across The Swamps of Sleethe
Prelutsky is the first Children’s Poet Laureate and also a Star Trek fan, which is obvious in this wonderfully fantastical adventure through space (or his version of it) via rhymes and anagrams. Visit fictional planets like Ogdofod and risk becoming dogfood. Breathe even one breath of air in the World of Thade and you’ll be poisoned to death. The poems are exciting, a little bit scary, but wonderful for your kiddos at home who find poetry and space adventure enticing.
The Cold of Drifig Prime, illustration by Jimmy Pickering
On top of the fabulous work of this brilliant wordsmith are the illustrations of Jimmy Pickering
Needless to say, I bought my copy at Half Price Books, and I’m a huge fan with absolutely no buyer’s remorse. Every parent needs a copy for their kiddo.
The Mother’s Day Post
Mother’s Day is celebrated all over the world at various times in Spring to, obviously, honor one’s mother. In the United States, Anna Jarvis founded the day we know now that is celebrated on the second Sunday of May, in 1908. By 1914 it was made a National Holiday. By Jarvis’ death, she was renouncing her own holiday as having become too commercialized.
It is too commercialized. But, who wants to abolish a holiday that celebrates ones mom? No one. Its not like Valentines when you can commit to showing your partner you love them every day of the year. A lot of children (especially adults) don’t live anywhere near their mothers, and this is a good day to (of all days) let them know that you’re still thinking of them even from afar.
My proposal? Untraditional gifts. Token mother’s day gifts come in the form of Hallmark Cards and flowers. That’s all well and good, and if your mother loves those things, by all means, get them for her. But get her something more as well.
Always, I’m a fan of books, afterall I write a book blog. There’s always something special to be found at a bookstore. Whether its the latest and greatest of a beloved series, a funny gift book, a sappy gift book, a history book on a topic of interest that you both share, music, movies, or just a gift card so she can go have some time to herself and pick out something of her own choosing, there’s something for everyone at a bookstore.
For Dads helping small children, a newer (but not too new) overlooked title is Tomie DePaola’s My Mother Is So Smart. DePaola has been an award winning children’s author for years, but even I didn’t know this 2010 publication existed until I stumbled across in the library the other day. Its beautiful, as are all his books, and celebrates the love and awe he had for his mother as a child. Its sweet, and perfect for a young mother to read to her toddler… although I did notice how many things I’ve neglected to master as a mom, like the perfect cookie recipe, and the uncanny ability to always know why my child is crying.
Great Gift #2: I dream of having a cleaning service come through my house once a year. I keep a fairly clean house. I actually enjoy cleaning, when I find the time and energy to clean up blocks and toys that have been strewn everywhere for the 300th time that day. But the idea of having a cleaning crew come in every Spring and scrub my base boards, toilets, showers, and maybe also have my AC ducts cleaned out – that would be the BEST mother’s day gift EVER. (Aside from someone purchasing and installing all my hardwood floors over night without any assistance from me… that would be even better, but a little less practical as a mother’s day gift.) If this awesome treat proved unobtainable, I might settle for lawn fairies to come weed my gardens in the middle of the night.
Shop AKKlemm.scentsy.us
Great Gift #3: After books and a laziness enabler, I choose Scentsy products. I love candles and fabulous smells, but the wickless candle deal with mood lighting has proven to be the best choice when a toddler is running all over the place. When (I say when NOT if) your kid decides to lather themselves in hot candle wax and try to put every blessed thing you own under wax treatment, you want it to be low heat, no flame, I promise. My favorite spring scents available this year are Pixie and Cerise. The Just Breathe is also quite excellent and one of my year round favorites of all time. But you know your Mom and/or Wife, get what she likes.
Great Gift #4: Reloadable Starbucks gift cards. Who doesn’t practically live at Starbucks, or would if they could? Its become an American staple. Cliche, over-rated, over-priced, I agree, but hey, its pretty darn good coffee available on every street corner, I’ll take it. The reloadable gift cards are pretty sweet. Reload them a few times and you are an upgraded customer with free birthday drinks, free syrup add ons, free cups of coffee with your bean purchases, the list goes on. Buy the mother in your life a gift card and take the time to reload it for her a few times before the year is up and BAM! she is one happy caffeined lady.
Whatever you do, be sure to enjoy the day. Sundays should be lovely days anyway, but I hope one day Ayla will love to spend a lazy Sunday with me, reading, having coffee, or maybe picnicing in the sun if the weather is nice.
Weekly Low Down on Kids Books 3/13/12
This week’s kids books have been greatly divided for me. Into two categories: the Librarian on the Roof, and NOT the Librarian on the Roof.
Librarian on the Roof is a non-fiction picture book about RoseAleta and the public library she revamped by sitting on its roof for a week during wind, rain, and everything in between. As a home school mom, this genre of picture book is both my favorite and the hardest to find. Most non-fiction kids books are factoid books, dinosaurs, bugs, ancient people, counting, abcs, numbers, shapes, and so on. And those books are great! We have a ton of them. But finding a picture book that tells a story and then discovering that the story is true is even better.
M.G. King has taken a fascinating tale of courage and determination set right here in modern day Texas and turned it into something amazing. It also helps that she is one of the sweetest people you could ever meet. She is kind, friendly, loves talking to people about her book and anything else, and my favorite part – looks right into your eyes while she’s speaking with you. It’s no wonder that a story about a librarian trying to get the funds to encourage kids to get back to her library would move her.
Librarian on the Roof is hands down a must have for your child. I was lucky enough to get a signed copy for Ayla at the Deerbrook Mall Barnes & Noble the other day, where King had set up shop for the afternoon. (Yes, I know, I work for Half Price Books, but the NEW books have to come from somewhere to make it to a USED store. I even have a membership card there. Yes, I know, I’m a hopeless addict, please forgive me. I will make amends with anyone my book addiction has harmed… when I’m older.)
If you’re a book lover, lover of libraries, lover of heartwarming stories, but have no children, you should still go buy the book. The first time I read it all the way through, kiddo was actually napping and I just couldn’t wait to pop the book open. I didn’t full on cry, but there were definitely happy tears welling up in the back of my eye balls when RoseAleta finally got to come down off the roof. The line about being able to buy chairs just the right size for the kiddos actually choked me up for a moment. Books and people who love books make me absurdly happy.
2010 was a awhile back and this article I’m about to share is old, but if my post about this book has piqued your interest just a little bit, I think this will seal the deal: https://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ld/librarydevelopments/?p=4337
Now, for the NOT the Librarian on the Roof books we read this week:
Shout! Shout It Out!
Probably great for boys, but Ayla just wasn’t interested in yelling with me.
Little Tad Grows Up
Loved! The art is amazing, and it goes through the lifecycle of a frog. Pretty cool, and educational.
Hattie Hippo
This was easily Ayla’s pick of the week. Great for girls. I’m not really into gender discrimination (my little girl’s nursery is baby blue, green, and orange), but Ayla loves twirling hippo ballerinas and could care less about the shouting toddlers and rodents, go figure.
Gobble, Gobble
Beautiful illustrations. Its nice to read about turkeys that we aren’t planning to eat.
Little Monster Friends
Title: My Friend the Monster
Author: Eleanor Taylor
Publisher:BloomsburyChildren’s Book
Genre: Children’s Picture Books
February 1st was the “practice run” and kick off for a weekly gathering at Half Price Books in Humble, a gathering of infants to six year olds for story time. An informal endeavor, I chose a handful of books to read off the cuff and my niece, age eleven, alternated reading aloud with me from her own selections. We tried to pick a little bit of something for everyone, as we had twelve kids there of all ages, both boys and girls. We read from puppet board books, several picture books, a few shiny foil books – but the greatest success was My Friend the Monster by Eleanor Taylor.
My Friend the Monster is the story of a little boy (fox, actually) who moves to a new house and discovers a monster living under his bed. The monster, a large one eyed fuzzy creature is a big old scaredy-cat, and it’s up to Louis the child fox to teach him to be brave and confident.
The pictures are detailed and remind me of something from Highlights for Kids magazine (ie: Richard Scarry). Although the kids were well behaved and sat for all the stories, this one in particular had them leaning in to see the pictures, touching my knee to get a closer look. The story kept them completely riveted and entertained, with only one interruption from a small girl who asked, “Why does the Monster only have one eye?” To which I replied, “Because he’s a monster with one eye. I’m sorry I don’t have a better explanation than that.” She just nodded her head and we continued on with the adventure of Louis and his Monster.
I had flipped through this particular book the day before when I visited the store to get a feel for which books I might choose and make sure my daughter, only 15 months, would be familiar enough to follow directions the next day. Ironically, the page I thought would give me the most trouble while reading to the kiddos was the page that was the biggest success for the entire reading. It was the page where Louis takes Monster to the park for the first time and shows everyone the way… the sentences dance in circles around various images of Louis and his monster along the path. I thought the children would get lost, not being able to see the pictures well enough; they might start to fidget or look away and forget what was happening in the story. Instead, this was the moment I found them leaning in the most, nearly crawling into the rocking chair with me to see Monster and Louis on their merry adventure.
Of course, this convinced me that I had to have this book for Ayla, so as soon as story time was over, I bought a copy. If you’re a book toting mom, I highly recommend heading to the Half Price Books nearest you and grabbing up a copy if you can get your hands on it!
Also, if you’re in the Woodlands/Humble/Atascocita/Kingwood area and you have small children during the day, feel free to come to the Humble Half Price Books at 10:30 am on Wednesdays. I’ll be reading a few books every week as long as we can keep the children sitting (mostly) on their bottoms with bookstore level voices. I hope to make many new, little friends, and hope that all our Monsters can be as pleasant as Louis’.
The Weekly Low Down on Kids Books 1/28/12
Hippos Go Berserk
Excellent kid’s book, whether you get the board book or the picture book edition, as we read from both this week, the kids love this! It’s a great counting book, as it counts both up to nine and down from nine, and it introduces the concept of addition with its final page, referencing the fact that all the hippos mentioned on each previous page put together would make forty-four hippos. Originally copyrighted in 1977, this should be considered a classic.
Little Dog Poems
This is a great introduction piece to different kinds of poems and how often times poetry can get away with putting words all over the page. What is unique about this poetry, is that its all over the page with purpose as its mimicking the dog featured in the over arching story. We have dogs, and Ayla is around them a lot even at other peoples’ houses, so you could tell she really related to this book.
Toot & Puddle
This one made me sad, in that I adore Holly Hobbie, but Ayla wasn’t really feeling it. Which tells me to try again when she’s older. Toot goes on a wild adventure, while Puddle stays at home, so in the course of the book the story happens with what Puddle is doing and then the alternate page has a postcard from Toot. I found these kinds of things really cool at about 5 and up, whereas the postcards were kind of lost on my 15 month old.
Molly Who Flew Away
We read this over and over again this week! Ayla loves the illustrations, and is completely captivating by any story involving mice. I’m not exactly sure what it is she loves about them, but she was in love with this book.
Pip & Squeak
Another mouse story, Ayla would get super excited on each page and point to the mice. You could see the recognition on face, “I found it!” her eyebrows seemed to say every time as she jabbed the little mouse illustration with her pointer finger. This was also my personal favorite for the week as well, its got an adorably clever twist ending, which is fun when you’re a parent reading baby books all week.
The Adventures of Odysseus
This is obviously way to old of a book for my kid right now, but I checked it out as research for the classical education I’m planning for my daughter. In the classical education style you present topics to them every four years on age appropriate levels. This book will be the perfect first introduction to The Odyssey, and Ayla already loves the illustrations even if she can’t sit still for the story yet. Its also done by Barefoot Books: Celebrating Art and Story, for which I have a personal soft spot.
The Weekly Low Down on Kid’s Books
Where to, Little Wombat?
This title was actually added to the previous Low Down on Kid’s Books post in an edit before I decided to make this a weekly ritual, but it belongs in this grouping.
Ayla wasn’t sure about sitting through the first page, but by the second she was hooked. The first time we read this she made me read it three times in a row and carried it around the house for an hour after that. The illustrations are fun and she loved being introduced to new animals she hadn’t seen before: wombat, emu, and koala. Plus, the story is super cute too.
Busy Penguins
So I totally thought this rocked, despite the page dedicated to penguins pooping. But I love penguins. Ayla, on the other hand was not so interested. It didn’t matter how cool or cute the penguins were being, she was 100% focused on Where to, Little Wombat by Charles Fuge. Therefore, no matter how cool I thought it was, I can’t give it higher than a 3 out of 5 stars because kids books really should *mostly* be for the kids.
Jon’s Moon
Oddly spiritual in a creepy way for a kid’s book. Didn’t care for it. We had originally picked it up thinking the title would be fun for her because its got her daddy’s name in it, but you can’t judge a book solely on its title. The illustrations are beautiful though. Could be useful for teaching personification to a small child.
The Tickle Tree
“A phantasmagorical flight of fantasy at your fingertips…” is no misconception! We adore this one at our house. The writing is reminiscent of Dr. Seuss, if Seuss were more soothing and less rambunctious. The illustrations are worthy of being compared to Bryan Collins (of bacstudio.com) and if you follow me on anything, you know how much I love his work. The Tickle Tree should be part of every child’s bookcase, and maybe a few adults’ as well if you are a collector of poetry and art.
Click on the titles to see the books on Amazon.com.
The Low Down on Kid’s Books
How do Dinosaurs Clean Their Rooms – Yolen
This is Ayla’s first dinosaur book and the first thing we’ve read by Jane Yolen. Cute, clever, and rhyming this is great board book for a 14 month old learning to put her toys away before she leaves a room and goes to another. Its quickly becoming an afternoon favorite.
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs – Barrett
Ayla and I read this recently for the first time. She seemed to enjoy it when I made the action loud enough, but its definitely going to be more exciting when she’s a little older. All in all, though, it does not live up to its hype.
Punctuation Station – Bryan P. Cleary
Ayla and I love Bryan P. Cleary books and are trying to collect them all. We checked this one out of the library this week, and as usual she found the rhymes exciting, even if she doesn’t quite know what they mean yet!
The Sea of Bath – Bob Logan
Ayla loves this one. She’s really into the illustrations and there’s the perfect amount of story per page, so she is able to sit still for just the right amount of time before she turns the page for you. We checked this copy out of the library, but I think I’ll have to go buy a copy soon.
Where to, Little Wombat – Charles Fuge
Ayla wasn’t sure about sitting through the first page, but by the second she was hooked. The first time we read this she made me read it three times in a row and carried it around the house for an hour after that. The illustrations are fun and she loved being introduced to new animals she hadn’t seen before: wombat, emu, and koala. Plus, the story is super cute too.
Shop Kid’s Books
Exposure is Everything
My whole life I have been enthralled by the world of books. As a child, I was an avid reader the school librarian could not keep appeased. I lived in the worlds of Laura Ingalls, L.M. Montgomery, Louisa May Alcott, Charles Dickens, C.S. Lewis, Tolkien, and more. Although I went to college to study business, as soon as I was out I sought a position in a bookstore; my dream was to run the literature section, and I did. I worked there for some years, fully stocked up my home collection, became the inventory manager, but then had a baby and so left the company.
We have 17 overflowing bookshelves in our house and books stacked on every available end table in between. I have been gathering up children’s titles throughout my pregnancy until now for my daughter, preparing for a lust of the written word comparable to mine.
People keep warning me that she may not want to read, she may not like it like I do. They keep telling me I cannot force my child to enjoy my hobbies.
I am not forcing her. I am making the written word available. She sees books everywhere, she sees people enjoying books everywhere. In addition to our own collection that we read from every day, we visit the public library for group readings and she sees people outside her family unit gathering to enjoy a book.
My daughter is one year old, and already she often chooses Eric Carle over a stuffed animal. She brings me Rainbow Fish and expects me to read it aloud while she sorts her blocks. It seems sometimes as though she is not actually listening, just sorting her belongings, until I stop reading and she looks up and points at the book. My daughter sorts through her picture books and flips through the pages, she even has her own little cushioned rocking chair she climbs into to do it. She rocks and pretends to read while I lounge and read in our library in our house.
My daughter loves books, and I am both amazed and proud. I implore the world to make books available to their children from a young age. Read aloud to them, they cannot help but be interested and thirsty for stories and knowledge.
Anakalian Whims 