Ollie's Ski Trip

This year we spent Spring Break out in California with my in-laws, skiing at Lake Tahoe.  Our trip was wonderful!  I realized that I kinda love California.  The mountains are beautiful, the sky is full of sun, the people are so laid back.  Unfortunately I didn't get to ski because of my broken hand, but the kids loved the slopes.  And Charlotte was a quick learner and natural ski bunny. 

 I guess we weren't quite ready to give up winter- just like Ollie in Elsa Beskow's story, who doesn't want Mrs. Thaw to come and sweep away all the snow. 

 Ollie's Ski Trip

Elsa Beskow

 Elsa Beskow was a Swedish children's book author and illustrator.  We actually have one of her beautiful books published in Swedish- which we can't read so we just enjoy the pictures and make up our own story.  This one is about Ollie who gets a new pair of skis for his birthday.  He meets Jack Frost (who is portrayed as an old man) scaring away Mrs. Thaw.  You see, it's not time for Spring just yet!

Ollie meets King Winter and the workers busy making skis and boots and toboggans.  Ollie loves winter and the snow so he has a grand time skating and skiing and having a snowball fight.  In the end when spring finally does arrive, it wasn't so bad after all.

Children of the Forest

Children of the Forest

Elsa Beskow 1987

 We recently added this to our Elsa Beskow collection, a sweet book about a forest family and their adventures throughout the year.  Charlotte was quite taken with the mushroom capped children.  They live under the curling roots of an old pine tree and spend their days at the pond or picking berries, or learning about mushrooms and going to school with wise Mrs. Owl.  On winter nights they would sit around the fire, listening to their father telling stories his father told him when he was a boy, about trolls and fairies, storms and strange cities from long ago.  When Spring comes round again Beskow leaves the reader with this:  "A new year was beginning in the forest and this is where we must leave the children.  But if you like, think about them and their forest friends, and that way, their story will never end."

Peter in Blueberry Land

Peter in Blueberry Land

Elsa Beskow

 Major score at the thrift store recently!  Elsie Beskow, the Swedish artist and children's author, created the sweetest stories about children in nature.  Her books make beautiful gifts and tend to be found in fancier bookstores and catalogues.  I was so lucky to find a pristine copy of her Peter in Blueberry Land at the thrift store (for 75 cents!)

In this story, Peter wants to collect a basket each of blueberries and cranberries for his mother's birthday.  When he goes into the woods he happens to meet the King of Blueberry Land who shrinks him down to size.  Peter then gets to play with the Blueberry Princes, meet Mrs. Cranberry and her daughters, ride wild mice and sail on a bark boat. He returns home with his baskets full just in time for his mother's birthday.