The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes

I picked Charlotte up from school yesterday where she had her Easter party and came home wearing handmade paper bunny ears.  I love when the pre-schoolers are sent home wearing things on their heads- it's so cute!  We picked up our free Rita's water-ice (even though it was freezing out) and came home for a nap.  Charlotte put down her bunny ears and picked up this book and nap time was even better.

The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes

Du Bose Heyward

pictures by Marjorie Flack 1939

What I really love about this story is that the heroine is a little country bunny momma.  When she was a little girl she wanted to be one of the handpicked Easter Bunnies, who are quick and clever.  She grows up and before she knows it has 21 baby bunnies! 

And by and by she had a husband and then one day, much to her surprise there were twenty-one Cottontail babies to take care of.

She gives them all jobs to do and teaches them to take care of the house.  Then old Grandfather bunny sees how clever and brave and fast she is and gives her the most important Easter Bunny job of all.

The Happy Day

The first day of Spring and it's cold here and there's talk of snow.  But at least my tenacious crocuses and daffodils are undeterred.

The Happy Day

Ruth Krauss 1989

pictures by Marc Simont

In this book by Ruth Krauss, even the animals are happy to see a sign of spring!  They wake up from their sleep and "sniff and run" to the one bright spot of color in the black and grey illustrations.

Other books with Marc Simont's illustrations:

13 Clocks

The First Christmas

The Boss Baby

This book needs to be given to every new parent.  Frazee's pictures are hilarious.  The new baby that arrives in a young (retro-looking) couple's life immediately takes charge.  He sits in his walker like a desk with his bottle and baby monitor on hand and bosses everyone around with his demands.  I can't help but crack up every time I read it.  It's definitely going to be my standard baby shower gift from now on.

The Boss Baby

Marla Frazee 2010

Other books illustrated by Marla Frazee:

The Seven Silly Eaters

Hush, Little Baby

Harriet, You'll Drive Me Wild

Suzette and Nicholas in the Garden

I don't know how the days flow by so fast but before I know it weeks are gone!  And it seems Winter is not ready to loosen it's hold.  Even I, a cold weather lover, have had enough!  So for yet ANOTHER day without sun, threatening of sleet and snow, here's a pretty picture book to escape into.

Suzette and Nicholas in the Garden

Satomi Ichikawa 1986

Maybe it's the children's names, but the story feels European to me- I'm imagining some country house in France.  It's also written in present tense (like the Babar books).  Three children explore the garden around their home. They admire flowers, find the vegetable patch, see bees at work gathering nectar, and watch the goldfish in the pond.

At one point brother and sister sit on the garden wall and Nicholas explains about the wide world beyond their garden.

This is too much for Suzette to understand.  She will think about the world another time.  For the moment the garden is big enough.  'Let's go in and have tea,' she says.  'I feel like some toast and honey.'

Sometimes I feel just like Suzette!

Little Fur Family

Here's a book you'll want to snuggle up with on cold winter days- literally, the book is covered in fur!  Garth Williams' pictures of a bear family are so cute. 

Little Fur Family

Margaret Wise Brown

pictures by Garth Williams 2003

A little bear goes for a walk in the world around him, visiting his grandfather, the stream, and and even meeting a tinier fur creature.

Other books by Margaret Wise Brown:

The Little Island

Home for a Bunny

The Runaway Bunny

The Golden Egg

The Friendly Book

Other books illustrated by Garth Williams:

Home for a Bunny

The Friendly Book

The Kitten Who Thought He Was A Mouse

The Golden Treasury of Elves and Fairies

Over and Over

The Tall Book of Make-Believe

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.