Aladdin and the Magic Lamp

The story of Aladdin and the magic lamp originally took place in China and featured not just one, but two magic Genies.  This 1980's version with John Patience's illustrations is full of color and flair.

Aladdin and the Magic Lamp

illustrated by John Patience 1988

(I always like when the front cover picture is continued to to back cover.)

These silhouette end pages are giving me Jan Pienkowski vibes.

Two Hundred Best Poems and A Book of Famous Poems

 A couple more estate sale finds.  We have some other Marjorie Barrows poetry collections.  What I really love is that in the Two Hundred Best Poems for Boys and Girls someone put little pieces of paper to mark (what I assume are) their favorite poems.

A Little Book of Prayers

 I have a friend who owns a lovely little shop in Glenside called "The Nest".  She also does estate sales, one of which I went to last weekend.  Since she's also a fellow book lover, she always steers me to the best books.  Needless to say, I came home with some new (old) treasures!  

Continuing to collect Maud and Miska Petersham, their blue illustrations are the highlight of this 1941 book of prayers for children.

A Little Book of Prayers

by Emilie Fendall Johnson

drawings by Maud and Miska Petersham 1941

Elmer Blunt's Open House

Elmer Blunt's Open House

Matt Novak 1992

I recently was reminded of this book and how much my kids loved it.  The pictures are really cute and I can still remember Madeleine and Henry and eventually Charlotte laughing at the antics of the animals.  Elmer Blunt is in a rush for work one morning and leaves the door to his house ajar.  A group of curious woodland animals (look how cute their faces are!) make their way inside.   The ending even has a little nod to the Bremen Town Musicians folk tale

Before Morning

Before Morning

Joyce Sidman

pictures by Beth Krommes 2016

When we had our first snow of the season in December, it was the perfect time to read this cozy snowy book.  A child's mom is an airline pilot and is off to work.  But in the night the snow begins to fall and aren't we all happy when the snow makes us slow down and spend the day together?  Beth Krommes' intricate illustrations capture both a snowy city and a cozy home.  While Joyce Sidman explains how poetry in the form of an invocation can invite something wonderful. 

No Star Nights

 

No Star Nights

Anna Egan Smucker

paintings by Steve Johnson 1989

I had an older friend who grew up in Pittsburgh and described the cloud that hung over the city from all the steel mills.  This book lyrically describes growing up in a town and landscape dominated by the steel factory.  I can't imagine living in a place where I could never see the stars and the sky was always full of smoke.