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."

Hot Dog

 I may favor vintage children's books but I'm always discovering new author/illustrators and adding them to my library.  I just got this fun book in the mail as a surprise from my friend, Margaux!  Since we both got puppies for the first time several years ago, we've realized that we've become "dog lovers!"  She knew I would like the clever title and how Doug Salati draws all the facial expressions and mannerisms of a little dachshund.  

Hot Dog

Doug Salati 2022

(Molly graciously posed for me.)

When it's too hot and crowded in the city, a dog has had enough!  So his owner takes him out for a day at the beach where he gets to romp and be refreshed.  Salati's spare text reads like a poem and his pictures capture the noisy city chaos giving way to a breezy beach.

What to Look for in Winter and Summer

 I had to track down these vintage Ladybird Nature books on eBay (they came from England).  They are such a satisfying small size and have rich full page illustrations.  I appreciate that everything in the pictures is talked about in the text.  It makes for a particularly nice pairing of information and art.  There are two more versions for Spring and Autumn.  I'm keeping my eye out!

What to Look for in Winter

What to Look for in Summer

E.L. Grant Watson

illustrations by C.F. Tunnicliffe 1959

  

Anna's Summer Song

Summer is well underway.  The days have been hot and humid and the cicadas are in full chorus.  Lena Anderson's pictures, each featuring a flower or plant are full of Summer feelings.  The poems by Mary Steele are fine, (some better than others) describing such summer things as honeysuckle scent at night, ferns in the rain, and cornflowers by the road.  Some books are just easily appealing, like long summer days...

Anna's Summer Song

Mary Q. Steele

pictures by Lena Anderson 1988

Fireflies!

Fireflies!

Julie Brinckloe 1986

It's firefly season.  We've been spotting them at the edge of our woods.  They come out just as the sun is going down and twinkle in the gloaming.

What is summer without running out after dinner, mason jar in hand and catching fireflies with the neighborhood kids?

Saying goodbye to Summer

Moon-Watch Summer

Thinking of Neil Armstrong...

Moon-Watch Summer

Lenore Blegvad

illustrated by Erik Blegvad 1972

We seem to like the books by Lenore Blegvad. This easy reader (with nice, unpretentious drawings) tells the story of a boy and his sister who are sent to live with their grandmother in the country for the summer. The grandmother's country house is a dream (at least to me!). It's surrounded by beautiful mountains, a big garden, a creek, and her old horse in the pasture. But it's the summer of 1969, Apollo 11, and all the boy, Adam, cares about is following the astronauts on the radio and watching the moon landing. He resents that his grandmother doesn't have a tv and her rural way of life. But within a few days, he learns to see the value of the country, the slower pace, and the natural world around him. When circumstances force him to care for his younger sister one night, he forms a tender bond with her and begins to understand the beauty in the way his grandmother lives.

That very morning the whole family had watched the televised beginning of another journey- one that Adam had waited a long, long time to see:  the roaring, fiery blast-off of the Apollo 11 spacecraft, on its way to land the first men on the moon.

Sometime later Adam turned off his radio, and the farmhouse was quiet.  Outside in the sloping fields crickets chirped.  He could hear frogs calling from the damp grasses along the edge of the brook below.  With the touch of cool air from the pine woods on his face, Adam lay under his quilt and thought about the astronauts.  Enclosed in their capsule, they were also at rest for the night, moving farther and farther away from him at every moment.

Also by Lenore Blegvad:

Anna Banana 

The Golden Book of Camping and Camp Crafts

We just came back from camping in one of my favorite places, Ithaca, NY.  I LOVE camping.  I love the sound of the tent zipper, I love making a campfire in the morning and coffee on the camp stove.  I love how friendly other campers are, how dirty you get, how even a trip to the bath house can be an adventure with insects and animals.

We had a skunk visit our site at 4am one morning and regular chipmunk guests. We sat around the picnic table playing cards, Henry made popcorn over the fire and one night I made a dinner of fresh tuna steaks cooked in the coals (in foil packets with onions, lemon and cilantro) and Chris and I shared a bottle of wine (and we tried to put the kids to bed in their tents early!)

We've been staying at Robert Treman State Park for about 6 years now. My parents were the ones who found it first and two summers ago we rented cabins with them for a week. The trails through the gorges and woods are just beautiful for hiking and the waterfall at Enfield Glen (where we camped) is usually open for swimming. Chris thinks it's the best swimming spot around.

(Henry climbing many many steps.)

I love this book of vintage camping instructions.  I feel like we're spoiled with our light nylon tents and sleeping bags.  This was the first year we've ever used air-mattresses in the tents and I have to admit it definitely raised the quality of sleep!  We still use tin plates and cups and real utensils (anyone who knows me knows I have a weird aversion to paper dishes) and part of family bonding time is hauling water and washing up after meals.

The Golden Book of Camping and Camping Crafts

Gordon Lynn 1959

illustrated by Ernest Kurt Barth