Columbus

Today was cold and grey and I loved it.  It was just the sort of day to put on My Room in the Trees and sit at the kitchen table cutting up apples for applesauce. 

Charlotte came home from school talking about Columbus Day.  I'll take a break from Halloween books to share this beautiful one by the D'Aulaires.  We read part of it at naptime.

Columbus

Ingri and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire 1955 

It's nice to learn history this way, told in a story with beautiful pictures that capture the spirit of adventure and determination that Columbus had. Madeleine hates Christopher Columbus (because he was cruel to the natives and began sending them back to Europe as slaves.) I think he was deeply religious but had plenty of flaws and failings.  And while Leif Ericson may have beat him to North America, there's no doubt that his voyages changed the world.

There once was a boy

who loved the salty sea.

He would be a seaman when he grew up.

He would not be a weaver like his father,

who sat all day

in a dark, little shop

weaving yarn into cloth.

A ship would be his shuttle,

the waves his warp,

the wide bounding sea his loom.

Four Scary Stories

Tomie de Paola is always so wonderful!  His books were my favorite when I was a little girl.

Four Scary Stories

Tony Johnston

pictures by Tomie de Paola 1997

Here's one that uses the common device of several stories told within a story. An Imp, a Goblin, and a Scalawag all get together to tell scary stories about the scariest thing they can think of: a Boy. Of course, the stories are much more silly than scary!

 

The Ghost-Eye Tree

The Ghost-Eye Tree

Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault

illustrated by Ted Rand 1988

Some lyrical prose and dark pictures tell the story of a boy and his sister sent out to get a bucket of milk by their mother. It's a "dark and windy autumn night when the sun had long gone down".

Why does Mama always choose me when the night is so dark and the mind runs free?

The children have to pass the "Ghost-Eye tree" and on their way home their imagination gets the better of them.

The Soup Bone

So who is ready for some Halloween books?

The Soup Bone

Tony Johnston

illustrated by Margot Tomes 1992

This story is actually pretty creepy if you think about it.  An old woman goes searching for a bone to put in her soup and digs up a skeleton instead.  Margot Tomes' pictures in their muted colors of brown and grey and red add a nice haunted colonial feel.

After scaring each other, the skeleton and the old woman become friends and go out together for some spooky fun.

Look at this awesome fellow on the last page!

Other books illustrated by Margot Tomes:
The Teeny Tiny Witches

Out and About

Out and About

Shirley Hughes 2005 

This was one of our recent cozy naptime books. The simple poems follow a little girl and her brother through the year.  Charlotte and I talked about the seasons and she told me which season was on each page.  Of course the Autumn picture is my favorite.

This poem reminds me of one by Robert Louis Stevenson- "Bed in Summer".

Other books about the Seasons:

A Book of Seasons

Over and Over

Have You Ever Seen a Smack of Jellyfish?

Henry requested a trip to the Wagner Institute for his birthday.  We brought a friend and my brother (who had never been before and really liked it).  It's a free museum in a beautiful old building (seriously, the antique radiators are amazing) with an incredible collection of natural artifacts dating back to the 19th century.

If you've never been, and you're in the area, it's worth a visit.  They host events that are great for kids and a lecture series in the antique lecture hall.  I've attended some really interesting ones in the past.  The collection has taxidermy animals, skeletons, insects, fossils, rocks, shells, etc...  There's a particularly interesting case that shows the process of making the taxidermy animals.  All of us grabbed clipboards and did the scavenger hunt they provided.

 I like supporting these 'hidden treasures' which Philadelphia seems to be full of, so we picked out some things from the gift shop, one of which was this awesome book.

Have You Ever Seen a Smack of Jellyfish?

Sarah Asper-Smith 2010 

Another animal ABC book but this time with bold graphics and the name for animals in a group. Now we know that a group of rhinos is called a "crash" and a bunch of turtles is a "bale". Really fun stuff!

It's funny how appropriate this one (and the hippo one) is!

Other ABC Books:
The City-Country ABC
The Underwater Alphabet Book
Christmas ABC
ABC Dreamsbnm,/

Christina Katerina and the Box

Seeing a picture of Margaux's boys hiding in a box reminded me of this book.

Christina Katerina and the Box

Patricia Lee Gauch

illustrated by Doris Burn 1998

Christina Katerina loves boxes. When they get a new refrigerator, the box, sitting out under the apple tree, becomes Christina's castle. Her imagination knows no boundaries as the box gradually falls apart (and her mother is looking forward to getting rid of it). With her "sometimes friend" Fats, they turn the box into all sorts of things.

We've had a fair share of great boxes over the years- the best ones being our dryer box and our neighbor's refrigerator box. They've become houses, bear caves, forts, doll mansions, etc... When Charlotte was a baby we had a box (I forget where it even came from) and Madeleine and Henry decorated the inside with drawn on furniture for her. It's really true about the simplest things being the best toys.

Christina Katerina liked things:

tin cups and old dresses,

worn-out ties and empty boxes.

Any of those things, but mostly boxes.

Hat boxes,

bakery boxes with see-through lids,

shoe boxes.

Other books illustrated by Doris Burn:

Summerfolk