The Ark of Father Noah and Mother Noah

We are insanely busy this week with our church's summer camp, but having such a ball with it.  A couple weeks ago my husband and I had a chance to go to the movies (a rare treat indeed!) and we saw the new Wes Anderson movie "Moonrise Kingdom".  The story was cute and the colors were beautiful- if you like Wes Anderson films then you'll love this one.  A recurrent theme in the plot is a flood and there's even a church performance of the story of Noah's Ark.

The Ark of Father Noah and Mother Noah

Maud and Miska Petersham 1930

Here's a decidedly unbiblical version (it's explained that Noah built the door too small and all the big dinosaurs and mammoths had to be left behind) fantastically illustrated by the Petershams.

Yankee Doodle

Yankee Doodle

Dr. Richard Shackburg

woodcuts by Ed Emberley 1965

Another Yankee Doodle book but this time with fantastic wood cut illustrations by Ed Emberley. I like how in one of the verses of this version "Jemima" is a girl and in Kellogg's it's a dog! There's also a recipe for Hasty Pudding which we may or may not try to make this year. And yes, when I read this I lapse into singing!

If you like Emberley's artwork, check out this blog post which shows some of his other books.  (Drummer Hoff is the only other book of his that we have).

Steven Kellogg's Yankee Doodle

Steven Kellogg's Yankee Doodle

Edward Bangs

pictures by Steven Kellogg 1976

Just in time for the 4th of July, here's a great book abundantly illustrated by Steven Kellogg. There's an introduction to the history of the Yankee Doodle song and included are many verses that I had never heard of.

Squids Will Be Squids

Jon Scieszka has the same sense of humor as my son.  This book is a funny sendup of Aesop's fables.  The stories and the characters and especially the morals are ridiculous.

Squids Will Be Squids

Jon Scieszka

pictures by Lane Smith 2000

 Take the title fable- Deer, Mouse and Rabbit all want to do something, go to the movies, shopping, play frisbee.  But at every suggestion Squid just complains. Finally she walks off alone and the moral of the story is "Squids will be Squids". I don't love the illustrations (I think they're kind of grotesque) but I do get a big kick out of the writing and the overall style of the book with different fonts and pictures.

"Frog's New Shoes" is one of my favorites.

"Straw and Matches" is a funny one too.

BeefSnakStik is one of the characters!

Aesop's Fables

Aesop's Fables

illustrated by Nora Fry 1989

Last night we pulled out a book of Aesop's Fables to read around the fire. Madeleine would read us a fable and then Henry and Charlotte and I would guess what the "moral" was (then I took a turn reading so Madeleine could guess).  Sometimes we were close, and sometimes we had no idea what the moral of the story was! Charlotte liked just making up weird, rambling stories to go along.

We have several copies of Aesop's Fables. This one has nice ink drawings and some color plates.

Mad Summer Night's Dream

I'm ready for all sorts of midsummer madness.

Mad Summer Night's Dream

Ruth Brown 1999

Ruth Brown takes a delirious playground rhyme and turns it into a surreal picture book.

It was midsummer night in winter

and snow was on the ground

When miles away, inside my head,

I heard an eerie sound.

They were staring at each other

while sitting back to back.

One was black with brown stripes,

the brown one's stripes were black.

- it was morning!

What a mad midsummer night's dream.

Fairies for the Summer Solstice

We celebrated the summer solstice tonight with some friends.  Our yard is a pretty magical place on most nights.  There is a large oak tree under which we often sit and have a fire.  The shade garden is edged with an old iron headboard that I found curbside years ago.  Then a row of flat rocks leads around the forsythia bush to a bench and clusters of ferns and hostas.  Our tree house sits at the edge of the woods and if you duck your head under the low hanging maple branches you can walk down a worn path to the tall Beech trees and the rope swing my husband made for my 30th birthday.  There is "Puck's tree" which has a large hollow at the bottom and one summer secret notes were left back and forth from Puck and the kids. 

I love all the moss and roots and secret places.  Just the sort of places you might find fairies, especially on Midsummer's Eve. 

Tonight we had colored lanterns and watched for fireflies and there was a secret note tied up with string written in a fairy hand.  Our friends brought new potatoes with dill and sour cream and delicious cold salmon- a traditional Swedish Midsummer dish (I was told).  Madeleine read Mercutio's speech about Queen Mab from Romeo and Juliet then the grownups sat around the fire late into the night.  Everything was wonderful.

And in this state she gallops night by night
Through lovers' brains, and then they dream of love.


The past few days we've kept these books about.

Fairyopolis

A Flower Fairies Journal

2005

Fairyopolis belongs to Madeleine and is one of the best collage type books. It's designed like the journal of Cicely Mary Barker (creator of the Flower Fairies). The illustrations and handwriting and all the little extras are just wonderful. 

Several years ago I had to buy the Deluxe Book of Flower Fairies.  It contains Barker's detailed illustrations and accompanying poems.  The fairies are divided into season and there are notes about each plant and a nice end note about the traditional meanings and uses of plants.

A Deluxe Book of Flower Fairies

Cicely Mary Barker 1998