All Our Favorites: Picture Books

Two weeks ago (this is a very lazy summer) when I took all the books off the shelf, dusted, and organized I thought I might as well make a list of 25 titles we think ought to be on everyone's shelves. As soon as there is a list, there is an exception or two (or ten). Somebody likes Five Little Monkeys or Froggy. Then I remember Eloise Wilkin and certainly she deserves a mention. Dr. Seuss goes without saying. I could go on with "but" and "what about." Instead, consider this just a starting point. After all, we have over 100 books on that shelf; we dare not mention the "school" shelves and my wish list.

I'll arrange these, very approximately, from short to long. Books for the toddler at the beginning and books for patient listeners at the end. The last books are quite long, even if they are "picture" books. Never be afraid of old books; our tastes, in books as in all else, are cultivated. Cultivate an appreciation for the best.

All our favorites:

1. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Numeroff
    Also Moose a Muffin and Pig a Pancake. The library has some of her newer books and we don't care  for those quite as well.

2.  Corduroy by Freeman

3.  Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
     At eighteen months Kara ran around demanding "nigh, nigh boon." There are so many other good books by this author: Run Away Bunny and another real favorite Big Red Barn.

4.  Baa, Baa Black Sheep or I'm a Little Teapot or How Much is That Doggie In the Window or others by Iza Trapani. Be ready to sing.

5. Harry the Dirty Dog (and all the other Harry books) by Zion. Laugh out loud fun.

6. Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? by Carlstrom. Here is an exception to the general rule: all the other books by this author have proved disappointing.

7.  Curious George by H.A. Rey. Please be discerning and only choose the original books by Rey. The books based on the TV series fall short of the originals.

8.  Ox Cart Man by Hall.  Barabara Cooney's illustrations are wonderful, as always.

9.  Caps For Sale by Slobokina

10.  The Story About Ping by Flack

11.  The Little Engine That Could by Piper. Yes, the original.

12.  Peter Rabbit and any others by Beatrix Potter. Buy the little green books, if you can. Accept no so-called "improvements" on the originals!

13.  Frog Went A-Courtin' by Langstaff and Rokankovsky. This is a four hundred year old folk song, fun to sing, and silly. Also look for Over In the Meadow.

14.  The Biggest Bear by Ward. You'll laugh when the bear is in the kitchen, I promise.

15.  Year at Maple Hill Farm and Our Animal Friends by the Provensens

16.  A New Coat For Anna by Ziefert

17.  Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney. I admit: I love this book for the illustrations and desperately wish I could grow lupines.

18. Make Way for Ducklings by McCloskey

19.  Blueberries for Sal by McCloskey

20.  The Little House by Burton

21.  Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Burton, again

22.  Katy and the Big Snow by Burton, again. These receive three separate mentions because we have read these books more than almost any others on our shelves.

23.  Seven Silly Eaters by Hoberman. The book flows with rollicking rhyme, but the illustrations are priceless if you love kids and creative chaos. I'm convinced they are homeschoolers, though the book never mentions it.

24.  Saint George and the Dragon by Hodges

25.  The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship: A Russian Tale by Ransome

*A note on why I don't link to Amazon: Our state passed a sales tax law on internet purchases. Opposed. Amazon retaliated by ending the affiliates program here. Opposed. I never made a penny, but I loved the convenience of linking to Amazon. If another blogger is an affiliate, give them a penny by purchasing through their Amazon link. They will love you for it.

Together With Hannah

The photographer was the resident six year old - but I like them!

From the crowded, disorganized shelves of the used book store I pulled an old library copy of Thee, Hannah. When I stood at the counter to pay, the owner announced it too old to charge for and gave it to us free, with our other books. I intended Kara to read it by herself. I've already read it twice in my "career." But she asked so sweetly and it's hard to resist De Angeli's illustrations. Then, too, this girl is growing so fast our days of dolls and read-alouds are numbered.

Together we wonder at Friends who say "thee." We admire the simple dresses. We wish aloud for a doll's tea table, just like the one in the book. I think, silently, the bitter-sweet thought: soon there will be nobody to sit at it. Together we're delighted to find another girl who hates to brush her hair, and always looks like a scarecrow in back. Not alone, this is what we love to know.

The best things in life are free. Reading aloud on the couch and books so old no one else will buy them. These are my irresistible pleasures.

Cabbages and History Books

There is a tedious vacuity on the shelves of the children's section at the public library. I listlessly picked out one book after another, turned the pages then re-shelved it. I started with authors whose last names began with "F" and moved methodically along the shelves to "S."

Are there that many morally objectionable books in the childrens's section? A few, certainly. More commonly the books are cheaply illustrated, or worse, poorly written. There is only subtle variation between the tired, predictable plots. Bear goes to bed. Chipmunk goes to bed. Bear goes to kindergarten. So does chipmunk. Bear makes a new friend. Tractor makes a new friend.  Bear learns to share. Chipmunk shares. Tractor shares. Oh help! Rabbits not only receive a bowl of cabbage soup, they then plant a garden full of cabbages and share with the whole town. Ughh! Our society's moral compass righted by generous servings of cabbage soup, served hot until it is coming out of our nose. (I didn't like that book.)

My finger listlessly trailed the book spines until "H." There I picked out Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek by Deborah Hopkinson. At least, I thought, this is a book about a real person. At least, it doesn't pretend to be what it is not. Right there on the cover I read, "A Tall, Thin Tale." I figured I could live with a tall tale, just not one involving cabbages. (But I have nothing against cabbage.)

After dinner Arden and I sat to read. Abe and his friend try to cross a creek, Abe falls in, his friend fishes him out. This certainly won't be the cornerstone of anyone's history curriculum but the book is based on a tidbit of historical fact. I didn't care for the narrator speaking to the reader, though it was fun to read aloud. I didn't care for the reference to movie soundtracks or the rewritten scene. I did like the illustrations. I did appreciate a children's book that freely admitted, "For that's the thing about history-if you weren't there, you can't know for sure." Some of us are still learning that as adults.

Arden thought we were done. He had already begun preparing the next book. I still had one more page, the one announcing itself as the last page. And the moral. Not more moralizing!

"Listen to your mother and don't go near any swollen creeks."

 If you live, make cabbage soup for the friend who saved you. You'll be a better person. Not in this book.

"A mite weak, perhaps? Like Abe, a bit thin? Then how about this: Remember Austin Gollaher, because what we do matters, even if we don't end up in history books."

That is a moral far more refreshing than coleslaw, and it gives us more to chew on besides.

Kindergarten Read-Alouds

I made a list and sent Kara to gather all the books. She brought them back in a pillowcase. We lined them up on the shelf. There they are: Arden's Kindergarten Read-Alouds.

How did I decide what books we would read together? They must hold his interest. Boys as protagonists, if possible. A few pictures mixed in with the text. Simple, and a few harder selections to challenge his listening skills. I don't want to be bored while reading; I'm looking for a skillful story line and literary story telling. After all these years of reading aloud I am finished with boring books - there are so many good ones we could enjoy instead.

Arden and I will read other books as well. We'll read the picture books from the kids' history baskets. (It is always a good idea for a child to know a bit about George Washington. I know, it may be more easily mastered at nine, but people do tend to look askance if they ask a seven year old about G.W. and  your child responds with a dull, blank look.) We'll read classic stories, fairy tales and Mother Goose from our home shelves. We'll check out books from the library, fiction and non-fiction. Today Arden wanted to know why pandas don't eat people. We'll capitalize on that interest with a book from the library. We'll read a lot of books this year.

Here's our read-aloud list. It is like a set of goals, we may meet it, we may not. We may add to it. I'll let Arden decide the order, with just a little guidance from mom. Every moment cuddled on the couch will be precious, binding our hearts, feeding his mind with knowledge as necessary as food is to the body.

o   Farmer Boy

o   Little House in the Big Woods

o   Five True Dog Stories

o   Light at Tern Rock (Christmas)

o   Story of Dr. Dolittle

o   Charlotte’s Web

o   Stuart Little

o   Follow My Leader – Garfield

o   Henry Huggins

o   Homer Price

o   Little Pear

o   Mountain Born – Yates

o   Mr. Popper’s Penguins

o   Mrs. Piggle Wiggle

o   Balto and the Great Race

o   Bears on Hemlock Mountain

o   Story of the Treasure Seekers

o   Missionary Stories with the Millers

o   Storytime with the Millers

o   The Wind in the Willows

o   Narnia

Turtles and Tadpoles

 

Mr. Turtle was found by the road this morning. Sam brought him back to the so-called flower bed by the patio, as you see it is not exactly the Garden of Eden. After I had put banana bread in the oven two excited children took me out to meet the turtle. We watched him crawl among the plants and climb rocks, then tried to feed him, but his mind was on escape and he would not be deterred. When we were done enjoying him, we set him in the grass and let him crawl away, giving strict instructions to Sam, who would be mowing, to watch out for the turtle.

We are also entertaining a pair of tadpoles - in a large plastic water bottle and thus the distortion in the photo above. We'll watch them grow then set them free. I had my brother, who is visiting for a few days, research what they like to eat. He reported fish food is best but greens also work, and having some handy lettuce on the compost plate, we made them a quick meal of it, and they seemed appreciative. Arden is not quite sure how these things with tails will become frogs, so there is plenty of learning ready to unfold before our eyes. Tomorrow we will be off to the library to check out Starting Life: Frog (Starting Life) by Claire Llewellyn. We have checked it out before, and it did seem to be a very nice book, but did not have the immediacy that it will now.

A little exploring in our yard, a little fun with a few little friends, that's what our little people were busy about today.

Coming to the Well

    "An answered prayer," and I begin with just the title of the nightly Bible story.  This night little Arden lays his head down quietly, an aching finger, the wound from the brothers' wrestle-fest, cradled close.  I stop and ask if he's ever prayed and had God answer his prayer.  No.  We turn to Sam, high in the bunk bed, and, yes, Sam remembers once asking for help from God with math and he found God faithful.  Tonight we'll pray, I tell Arden, after the story we'll pray for that sore finger, and Arden's eyes are wet with tears.  He's five and he's tough, but hearing of his mom's love and the compassion of the Living God, he knows he's needy.
     So we read of Abraham burying his wife of years, and desiring a wife for Isaac.  We read of water drawn from ancient wells and women who carry pitchers on their head.  And Arden wonders why they would do that and not just use their hands.  We read of a faithful servant believing his master's God will help in a strange land, and bowing down in prayer, and God brings Rebekah.  Rebekah pours out water from her pitcher and the servant praises God.  God who hears prayer.
     Are you like me?  Do you have those creeping moments of doubt when you wonder if your small concerns really matter to God?  I always know the biggies matter, though some people doubt even that.  But I have these nagging doubts that a sore finger and bad dreams are too small for the notice of such a big God.
     I pray in faith, He says He counts every hair, knows every sparrow, and names all the stars.  He's waiting for me, for us, as our Father holding good gifts in His hands.  We come, with eyes closed and a little hand in mine.  We pray for healing overnight, a protected heart and mind, and the coming of a Rebekah for each of these boys.  I trust God to provide water from the ancient wells, living water, bubbling over to eternal life.

This is the Bible story book we love:  Child's Story Bible: Genesis-Ruth is volume one of three volumes by Catherine Vos.  These old blue volumes don't have any pictures of Christ, but the few pictures they do have leave something to be desired aesthetically.  If a painting of Jesus doesn't bother you, the same Bible stories are here in one volume: The Child's Story Bible.  I sometimes find Catherine Vos' Bible stories double as a devotional for mom, they're very thoughtful and well told.  Her husband, Geerhardus Vos, was a noted Reformed Old Testament theologian, so while she sometimes embellishes the Bible stories, it's always in a trustworthy manner.  One of her own sons also went into ministry,  and I love to imagine her telling these to him and the fruit that these stories bore in his life.

He Grew A Bit Today

    "I don't learn how to read, I'm too busy playing."  Arden tells us as if he fully realizes that the task of reading is a matter of choice.  He chooses not to read.  As a matter of discipline I've made him learn some phonemes.  A few letter sounds, vocalized and traced out on sandpaper letters.  We have reviewed and tried a little blending using the letters from our All About Spelling board.  We drew accompanying pictures with dry erase markers of axes, cats and hats.  But his heart just wasn't in it.  I tried backing off a little.  Childhood is about free time, play and toys and Arden is enjoying himself.  There is plenty of time to learn.  Then today I thought, maybe he'd just like to read a book.  I dug the Bob Books out of the box.  Arden read his first book (with plenty of help from mom).  Then he read his second.  He's proud.  He's keeping them out on the chest in the living room, to read when the mood strikes him, just like the rest of us.  A guy can only learn sounds for so long before it seems pointless.  But to grow up and read a real book, well, he might be interested.

Arden brought more and more teddies to join the picture party. 

Arden's stack joins all the others on the chest.

*Bob Books:  Mine are from a thrift store and are now being used for the third time.  My kids have loved them when there's no other real book they're able to read.  Bob Books, Set 1: Beginning Readers
*The Teddies:  This week we're playing one game after another of Ravensburger Teddy Mix & Match - Children's Game

A Cherished Winnie-ther-Pooh

     Arden and I have been reading Winnie-the-Pooh (Pooh Library original 4-volume set (Pooh Original Edition), as an aside I have linked to this set because it is most like mine, with black and white illustrations by Ernest H. Shepherd.  Shepherd visited Milne's home, and sketched the original Pooh and friends; I do hope you realize they were the stuffed animals from the nursery.  They were brought to life, given character by the real Christopher Robin, A.A. Milne's son, and Milne only fleshed out what had already been begun.  Shepherd sketched out the animals as well as the real home, stream and woods in the world of Pooh.  Shepherd also went back and made color illustrations for a later edition, and I suppose that's okay as well, but I am partial to the black and white.  Disney is not Shepherd, let's make that quite clear.)  My Pooh books are inscribed,  "From Uncle P. and Aunt P., Sept. 14, 1975."  A birthday gift.
     Today Arden and I read Chapters 5 and 6 in which "Piglet Meets a Heffalump" and "Eeyore Has a Birthday."  I adore Pooh, every child of mine hears them read out loud, one on one, accompanied by snuggling and smiles.  As I read to Arden, I am often interrupted.  We must turn to the end papers and carefully study the map and pinpoint each particular over and over.  Exactly which tree was Christopher Robin sitting in when Pooh was tracking the Woozle?  What path did Pooh and Piglet take home from Christopher Robin's and where did they cross the stream?  The Heffalump trap is right near Pooh's House and the Six Pine Trees.  Why haven't we read about the Sandy Pit where Roo plays?  I don't remember this careful attention to detail in my other children.
     Eeyore's birthday was full of little pleasures for Arden and I.  I laughed out loud, and there was loud mimicking laughter, surely if mom is laughing it must be funny.  I laughed over gloomy Eeyore, returning the happy returns and defending himself, "You don't always want to be miserable on my birthday, do you?"  I laughed over Pooh's Wobbly spelling, it's good but the "letters get in the wrong places."  (Have a speller like that at your house?)  I laughed when Owl investigated Pooh's reading ability and discovered when Christopher Robin told Pooh what it said, then Pooh could read.  (How about a reader like that?)  Owl, the expert, comes out with writing, like this,

HIPY PAPY BTHUTHDTH THUTHDA BTHUTHDY

     Try reading that aloud to your pre-literate five year old and describing what's wrong with the spelling.

      Finally, Arden broke down.  Real laughter came bubbling over when Piglet ran with that birthday balloon and popped it.  Even Ally laughed aloud, from the next room, when Eeyore proclaimed the popped red balloon his favorite color and size - Piglet's size.  In this world of friendship and love, it's all well in the end.  Eeyore sits down with his rag-of-a-balloon and finds it's just the right size to take in and out of the empty honey pot.  Then the voice of Christopher breaks in to the story concerned that he hadn't done anything for Eeyore.  As the Narrator describes Christopher Robin's party preparations, he's cut off, yes, Christopher Robin remembers.  Milne captured a whole world full of childhood love and imagination, helping even a mama like me to cherish the worlds of joy swirling here around me every day.

*I checked back in How the Heather Looks: A Joyous Journey to the British Sources of Children's Books, to be sure of Shepherd's trips to Milne's home.  In her notes Joan Bodger lists several biographies of Milne written for adults.  One with photos of the real true places.  Another written by the real true Christopher Robin, Christopher Milne.  Wouldn't those be fun?  I think I'll check the library. Or check The Page at Pooh Corner, for a brief biography and photos.  Be sure to see the toys!

A Rooster Named Pola Negri

     They're drawn in by the laughter, wondering what could be so funny behind the pages of the oversize book.  Soon there are three snuggled around me, one on each side and one stretched out on the back of the couch behind us.  The book was funny, unexpectedly funny.  The title didn't draw us in, Our Animal Friends At Maple Hill Farm, it seemed rather dull.  The cover art didn't draw us in, boring, didactic, perhaps no more fun than learning that a cow eats grass.  And so the book was shelved, unread, brand new and never opened, for half a year. 
     Arden and I were laughing after a couple of pages.  The cats did us in.  A page full of cat pans and spitting cats, boring cats and good cats, playing cats and mothering cats.  The spitting really got us chuckling.  The names the Provensens chose kept the humor in motion.  There was the rooster named Pola Negri.  Another named Big Shot who liked to fight and hated children and his come-uppance was in being carried off by a fox.  A horse named Ibn Rafferty and a beloved ewe known as Old Eleven.  And pages of dogs.  Sweeney, who's not around any more, and one poor little dog who ran away and no one remembers his name (we laughed and laughed).
    There are imperfect horses and imperfect ponies, and as the Provensens point out, imperfect people.  Still it's fun to know them.  It's fun to know all those animals with their idiosyncrasies, dogs that carry rocks, geese that like horses, silly sheep and goats that make every one angry.  We were glad to meet them.
     Our actual experience with animals is scant.  We had a grouchy old cat, who died this spring, but she made us laugh.  Once she performed a surprise leap off the microwave cart, into the side of Sam's head and knocked a two year old clean off his feet.  We have a little dog.  She's a lot easier to live with, but she can't make us laugh the way the way that bad cat could.  Over Thanksgiving a stray dog wormed his way into our affections.  We were hoping that if ignored he'd wander on, but Kara shattered those hopes, hanging over the bed at 7 AM and saying,"We found a little dog.  We named him Scotty Jim.  Can we feed him?"  When the thunder storm struck Scotty Jim was smart enough to let himself in and make himself comfortable on the rug.  Wasn't he good not to sit on the couch?  My kids still talk about Scotty Jim, he won our affections and we hope he has a good home.  At times we wish for chickens, horses or sheep.  Bryan has drawn a firm line - no more animals.  Bryan used to do 4-H in his youth; we thought differently of him.  For now we just go on wishing for a little hobby farm, wishing in the same way we wish we'd win the lottery, but we never buy a ticket.  But we love to read books like this written by someone who cares for animals, all sorts.

Scotty Jim

A Season of Thanks

     I have three books I  love to read to my children before Thanksgiving. 
     Every year, until last year, I took time out from the current history study and read aloud, Stories of the Pilgrims (notice, you can buy used for only a penny).  Ally and I knitted with vigor after reading of wee pilgrim girls knitting as they walked to school.  I love that the author realizes that the Pilgrims left Holland for the sake of their children.  If you think, like I did for so many years, that the Pilgrims landed on these shores only for religious freedom, you've only heard part of the tale.  This year I'm having my kids read it on their own and learn to love it for themselves.
     The other two books we love, I have to love reservedly.  Alice Dalgliesh's  The Thanksgiving Story is a 1954 classic, simple and clear.  Yet, I'm always disappointed to read her conjecture that the Indians may have understood the Thanksgiving prayer, because they had a prayer of their own, giving thanks to their "God" for the harvest.  If only she hadn't felt it necessary to capitalize that! 
     Cheryl Harness' Three Young Pilgrims is a visual feast with astonishing detail.  Learn the Indian tribes, the name of every Saint and Stranger on the Mayflower, which ones died they first winter, and the exact point they landed in the New World.  You can spot William Bradford's home in the drawing of Leyden Street, or, of more interest to the boys, the fort.  I read it yesterday with Arden.  Of course, my little naval hero was in rapture over the details of the ship.  The disappointment is that in a book dedicated to the Pilgrims, and in which the author acknowledges the "life and writings of William Bradford," someone was notably absent.  William Bradford's God was mentioned only in passing, and it is my suspicion that Bradford would be disappointed.  I read to Arden that the Pilgrims invited the Indians to feast and "offer prayers of thanksgiving to the Maker...."  I pause and ask, "Who do you think the Maker is?"  Thoughtfully, he answers, "The Indian."  The reference is just a little too veiled for a four year old.  And I answered, "No, who made the Pilgrims?"  That was easy, "God."  Bryan thought it was funny to recommended I just read aloud, Of Plimoth Plantation.
     And so we prepare for Thanksgiving, as Margaret Pumphrey wrote, a time to

"... rest from our work and spend the time in gladness and thanksgiving.  God has been very good to us."

Our Friend Sal

      Yesterday Arden snuggled beside Kara on the couch, feet tucked up and leaning into her.  Bold and confident Kara reads Blueberries for Sal.  We've read that book so many times, picking memories all the way.
     Earnest Ally, Flighty Sam and Baby Kara picking blueberries among six foot bushes and we chant out together plink, plank, plunk.  We had read it, and read it and lived it sans the bear.  I know we're not the only ones.
     Even earlier I remember the first time I read it to Ally, on another couch, another house, a faraway state.  Back in the days when my girl and I would read an hour at a time til my throat hurt and we'd hit the books again in the afternoon.  When Little Sal and Little Bear are all mixed up on Blueberry Hill, Little Ally tenses; she knows they'll be found out, laughs out when they are found, and breathes out when they go home with their mother.  I knew we'd read that book a hundred more times, because that's one good story.
     In another house, and another state Little Kara opens a present, her very own hardcover copy of Blueberries for Sal.  A book we chose hoping someday she'd sit with her own little ones and read of buckets and blueberries and bears.  And she loved that book.  She loved that book so dearly she carefully cut out a page and I found her on the living room floor coloring Sal.  All those line drawings, just begging for one more artist to add her touch.
     Yesterday I mentioned to Kara that it wasn't possible to read the story to Arden, it's missing a page.  Oh no, she'll just tell Arden the missing page of the story, and read him the rest.  We laughed, our memories all mixed up on Blueberry Hill, and Jolly Kara says, "Well, it does look like a coloring book."