What's Inside a Caterpillar Cocoon?

 Another fabulously illustrated book by Rachel Ignotofsky.  We absolutely love her other science books.  This one is all about moths and butterflies, their differences, their life cycles, their defense mechanisms, etc.  All accompanied by thrilling artwork displaying the shapes and colors seen in nature (and a few friendly smiling faces as well!)

What's Inside a Caterpillar Cocoon?

Rachel Ignotofsky 2023

The Elephant Who Liked to Smash Small Cars

 There's a great children's toy store in Peddler's Village that also has a wonderful collection of books.  Recently we were browsing there and discovered this book.  Charlotte and I read it on the spot and when the story included the elephant getting smashed (don't worry, he's ok)  I knew it had to have been published years ago.   They just don't write children's books like this anymore!  

 The elephant's face and pure glee at smashing cars cracked us up.  We had to bring it home so I could read it to Chris.  Even he said, "What?!" at the story.  

The Elephant Who Liked to Smash Small Cars

Jean Merrill

Ronni Solbert 1964

Time of Wonder

 Some children's books are just beautiful, like this one.  Robert McCloskey's muted illustrations take us to a northern island in the summer.  His story celebrates nature and the sea, the passing of days like the tide, and the coming of a hurricane.  In a melodic way, McCloskey invites us into the world of children exploring the nature around them and the wonder of it all.

   

Time of Wonder

Robert McCloskey

1957

"Out on the islands that poke their rocky shores above the waters of Penobscot Bay, you can watch the time of the world go by, from minute to minute, hour to hour, from day to day, season to season."

"Back from the shore the trees look like ghosts.  The forest is so quiet that you can hear an insect boring a tunnel deep inside a log.  And that other sound- not the beating of your heart, but the one like half a whisper- is the sound of growing ferns, pushing aside dead leaves, unrolling their fiddle-heads, slowly unfurling, slowly stretching."

Come to the Window

Just a lovely illustration by Sharon Kane (from the Little Golden Book Counting Rhymes 1972).

Cranberry Thanksgiving

Cranberry Thanksgiving

Wende and Harry Devlin 1971

The Cranberry series was written and illustrated by the husband and wife team Wende and Harry Devlin in the 1970's and 1980's.  This one is the only one we have in our collection, but I remember some of the others from when I was a kid. They take place in New England and feature a girl named Maggie who lives with her grandmother at the edge of a cranberry bog.  Her grandmother is so famous for her secret cranberry bread recipe that she has to hide it in their house.  When guests come for Thanksgiving dinner, grandmother learns not to judge a book by it's cover!

The Poppy Seed Cakes

The Poppy Seed Cakes

Margery Clark

illustrated by Maud and Miska Petersham 1924

Maud and Miska Petersham are fun illustrators to collect.  Their work is always so bright and colorful.  I've noticed that thrift stores tend to have many of their books.

Auntie Katushka makes the most delicious poppy seed cakes (with poppies she's brought from the old country) for little Andrewshek.  But he never can seem to obey her when she tells him to keep an eye on things!  Anderwshek reminds me a bit of Astrid Lindgren's Emil.  A little boy who doesn't intend to be naughty, but gets into mischief easily!  The other stories involve a little girl named Erminka and her beloved red boots that seem to be the source of her trouble!