The Valentine Cat

A bit belated for Valentine's Day...

 Here's an adorable story illustrated by Leonard Weisgard about an artist who adopts an abandoned kitten.  Soon the little kitten with a heart shape on his fur is inspiring the artist to paint and draw again.  Through a series of misadventures and one wicked chimney sweep, the kitten ends up at the palace.  Despite the title, there's no love story here, but a happy ending nontheless!

The Valentine Cat

Clyde Robert Bulla

illustrated by Leonard Weisgard 1959

Let Me Call You Sweetheart

Let Me Call You Sweetheart

Mary Lee Donovan

illustrated by Brizida Magro 2022

 What an adorable way to tell your child how much you love them!  Brizida Magro illustrates a variety of terms of endearment from around the world.  (I love that "Crevette" is small shrimp and used to refer to toddlers in French!)

Snowy Valentine

A perfect book for our snowy Valentine's Day today!

Snowy Valentine

David Petersen 2011

Jasper the bunny wants to get the perfect valentine for his wife, so he walks around to his friends' houses to get advice. (All the animals happen to live in super charming English looking abodes.) Jasper almost ends up as the special Valentine's dinner for Mrs. Fox- but he manages to get home and find that he's inadvertently created the best valentine for his wife.

I love books that anthropomorphize animals, especially if they're wearing vests and scarves like in this one. But I always think it's a funny thing if you have the predator animals and the prey animals living together.

The Dove's Letter

The Dove's Letter

Keith Baker 1993

I like to collect books that have inscriptions on the front page. I love to wonder about who the people were and the story behind their words. This book has the most amazing inscription- I think the best I've ever come across. I thought it was from a man to his girlfriend or wife, but a friend of mine thought it was from mother to child. Aren't you curious about the story behind why it was written or how this book ended up in a bin at the thrift store?

December 10, 1988

Half a decade ago
something let go,
gave way in the
gut of my gut.
Something snapped and
started a singing that
goes on and on even
til today one thousand
eight hundred and twenty
five days later. Sure
of Delight. Sure of Love.
Of careful touch and
breath stopping wonder
over all you are; that
such a being could
really be! My love,
My dove, you are still,
by far, Linda, the
most beautiful one of all.

The story itself is nice. A dove finds a letter and everyone she comes across thinks it was meant for them. It's a lovely love story between father and daughter, mother and son, husband and wife, soldier and sweetheart.

 

The Valentine Bears

The Valentine Bears

by Eve Bunting

illustrated by Jan Brett

Less elaborate than Brett's other books, but charming just the same. Mrs. Bear has prepared a special Valentine's Day treat for Mr. Bear, if only he would wake up from his hibernation!

Queen of Hearts

Well, it's that time of year when everyone has hearts on their mind.

For anyone in the Philadelphia area, check Cold Hearted this Saturday.  At the Philadelphia Sculpture Gym come out to support local artists/craftsmen/businesses and find something sweet for your Valentine!

Now here's something from that king of illustration himself, Caldecott, two nursery rhymes- the Queen of Hearts and Sing a Song of Sixpence.

The Queen of Hearts

illustrated by Randolph Caldecott

The Man-in-the-Moon in Love

The Man-In-The-Moon in Love

Jeff Brumbeau 1992

illustrated by Greg Couch

Part folk tale, part love story, with pictures reminiscent of the art deco era. A tale of the Man in the Moon and his wife and the mean Man-in-the-Sun who tried to keep them apart.

There was a woman who lived in a little blue house, deep in a forest glade.  Not a  town or city was near.  She spent all of her days tending her garden and baking the sweet potato pies she made so well.

But they soon found that each had forgotten something very important.  Because the woman could not fly up to live on the moon, the Man-in-the-Moon would have to come down to earth.  First, however, he had to ask permission of the Man-in-the-Sun, who was in charge of all the plantets, stars, and moons.