Alfred Hitchcock's Ghostly Gallery

 The spooky season is upon us and what could be better than an old collection of ghost stories?  How about a big hardback collection assembled by Alfred Hitchcock!  The chapter illustrations are just enough with these great end pages and of course this awesome cover.  Meant for kids, the stories aren't too scary and Hitckcock himself puts a caveat in the introduction.

Alfred Hitchcock's Ghostly Gallery

illustrated by Fred Banbery 1962

Walk When the Moon is Full

 "Every thing in this book really happened, but not during the course of one year, nor in one place." 

 Frances Hamerstrom starts off introducing a brother and sister and a whimsical mother who agrees to take them outside for a walk every night that the moon is full.  We journey through the year and the experiences are so simple and beautiful.  A walk down to the pond and a dip in the water with the frogs, sliding on the icy snow, trying to trick a woodcock with a shoe, and even climbing a bell tower over the city.  I don't know why if feels like this kind of living (and parenting) has disappeared lately.  I always felt like the best connections with our kids often weren't big and grand experiences.   Ours came from play and nature and a sense of adventure and curiosity.  What a simple thing to take a walk out under a full moon!

Walk When the Moon is Full

Frances Hamerstrom

illustrated by Robert Katona 1975

    

Deep in the Forest

Deep in the Forest

Brinton Turkle 1976

 Another wordless book that turns the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears on its head.  This time it's a small bear who wanders away from his mother and finds a cottage deep in the woods.  The familiar plot is there, the three bowls of porridge, the chairs, and the beds but it almost feels like a different story told through the perspective of a curious bear cub.  

This is also a nice book for Autumn "reading" and the cover is great to display. 

Album of Horses

Album of Horses

Marguerite Henry

Illustrated by Wesley Dennis 1951

 This is for all those "horse girls" and fans of Marguerite Henry!  Another collection illustrated by Wesley Dennis (see the Album of Dogs).  I actually had no idea there were so many different breeds of horses.  Henry paints a picture of their lives and history as a true animal lover.

The Adventures of Polo

The Adventures of Polo

Régis Faller 2002

With no words to read and bright primary colors, this is a great book for little ones.  They can easily follow along as our little dog hero "Polo" travels in his boat into a jungle, under the sea, to the arctic, even to the moon!  Simple and whimsical with a cast of animal characters. 

Pete and Johnny to the Rescue

Pete and Johnny to the Rescue

Jorgen Clevin 1974

Interactive books are always fun.  This one has lots of things to look for and questions to answer as you read along.  There's even little stoplights on the pages to remind you to stop and answer the questions!   Pete the elephant goes to school while his friend Johnny stays home and takes care of their house on 14 Flower Street.  But as soon as school ends, Pete knows he has to get a job.  He wants to help people so Pete and Johnny start a Rescue Squad.  Soon they are performing all sorts of helpful tasks around their town.

Elephant end pages!

A Country Tale

A Country Tale

Diane Stanley 1985

 The best part about this story of two best friends is the detailed illustrations of Victorian cats!  Cleo and Lucy are two country cats and the best of friends.  They live simply and enjoy climbing Butternut Hill together on fine evenings.  Things change when haughty Mrs. Snickers moves into the manor house nearby.  Cleo becomes enamored with her fancy way of life and quite literally loses herself trying to be a fine lady.  In the end she makes her way back to her faithful friend, Lucy, who helps her rediscover who she really is and the kind of friendship that really matters.  

If you like Barbara McClintock illustrations (Heartaches of a French Cat, The Fantastic Drawings of Danielle), you'll like these as well!