Sisters

Lately Madeleine and Charlotte have been getting along famously (despite their 10 year age difference).  They share a bedroom and already Charlotte is getting worried about Madeleine going off to college and her being left behind.  Last night they were upstairs in their room laughing and reading The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog.  It's these moments that warm a mother's heart.

I feel like this book by David McPhail, about two sisters ("one was big, one was little") could have also been written for me and my sister (15 years younger than me).  Like all sisters, these two are very different in some ways.  One sister was crazy about frogs...the other wasn't.   And very alike in others.  They both liked horses...and sugar-snap peas fresh from the garden.

Sisters

David McPhail

Charlotte is my firefly chaser and Madeleine is my star-gazer.

The Angel and the Soldier Boy

Here is a neat wordless book that tells an adventure story about a soldier and angel doll.  While a little girl is sleeping, some pirates (from the bedtime book she was reading?) steal treasure from her piggy bank.  The soldier goes off to right the injustice.  But I like that in the end it's up to the little angel doll to brave the house (hiding from a cat, climbing up a house plant, fighting a wasp) to rescue the soldier and the stolen treasure.

The Angel and the Soldier Boy

Peter Collington 1987

The illustrations are minutely detailed and yet retain a sense of softness.  And it's a credit to Peter Collington's skill that he can tell such an exciting story without any words.

Winter Flower Fairies

December is over and the living room looks lonely and dark on these cold mornings without the Christmas tree lights.  Outside the earth may be brown and grey but Cicely Mary Barker had no doubt that fairies were about.  The sweet Snow-drop, the Spindle Berry, the teasing Burdock:

Wee little hooks on each brown little bur,

(Mind where you're going, O Madam and Sir!)

How they will cling to your skirt-hem and stocking!

Hear how the Burdock is laughing and mocking:

Try to get rid of me, try as you will,

Shake me and scold me, I'll stick to you still,

I'll stick to you still!

This little volume of Flower Fairies of the Winter has just the right pictures and words to brighten dull January's gaze.

Flower Fairies of the Winter

Cicely Mary Barker 1985

Deep sleeps the Winter,

Cold, wet, and grey:

Surely all the world is dead;

Spring is far away.

Wait! the world shall waken;

It is not dead, for lo,

The Fair Maids of February

Stand in the snow!

Other books by Cicely Mary Barker:

The Complete Book of Flower Fairies

Sheilah Beckett's The Nutcracker

Just before Christmas (in what may become a yearly tradition), we went to see the Nutcracker Ballet performed.  In the beautiful Academy of Music we marveled at the architecture, the gilded decorations, the massive chandelier.  And as we sat up in the 3rd floor balcony, the music swelled and swirled around us.  Tchaikovsky's songs so familiar and yet still exciting and beautiful.  The dancers were wonderful and I worried needlessly about Charlotte's attention span- she was mesmerized.

Of course there are many versions of the Nutcracker story.  In this Little Golden Book one, Sheilah Beckett works her usual charm.

The Nutcracker

Rita Balducci 1991

Illustrated by Sheilah Beckett

Other books illustrated by Sheila Beckett:

The 12 Days of Christmas

The Christmas Story

Other books about The Nutcracker:

E.T.A. Hoffman The Nutcracker

The Christmas Story

The Christmas Story

illustrated by Sheilah Beckett

We still have our Christmas decorations up, so it's not too late to read anther Christmas book.  This one is a retelling of the Nativity story beautifully illustrated by Sheilah Beckett.  I can always spot her distinctive style when I'm digging through books at the thrift store and I snatch them up.  Here is a fascinating bio about her and her work:  http://femaleillustrators.blogspot.com/2010/05/sheilah-beckett-fairy-tale-career.html 

I'm also a fan of her Facebook page:  The Art of Sheilah Beckett

I would LOVE if there was a large coffee table book collection of her artwork (sort of like the Mary Blair one we have which Madeleine likes so much). 

 Other books illustrated by Sheila Beckett:

The Twelve Days of Christmas

Christmas Eve

(Good 'ol Walter de la Mare)

Night Tree

Night Tree

Eve Bunting 1994

illustrated by Ted Rand

Eve Bunting tells the story of a lovely Christmas tradition for one family.  Packing boxes full of popcorn strings, nuts and berries, a caring family heads out into the woods to find their special tree.  It's grown through the years, just like the children have and they marvel at the mystery and beauty of the forest.   It reminds me a little of Owl Moon- the language, the winter beauty, the quiet observation of nature.  A simple, soft Christmas book that we enjoy reading every year.

And look at this wonderful inscription on the title page!