Mousekin's Thanksgiving

Mousekin's Thanksgiving by Edna Miller (Simon and Schuster, 1985). 

This book is about a mouse who wakes up on a cold November day to discover that the food he stored for the winter is gone. He goes to all the animals in the woods asking them who took his food, and they describe the large bird that gobbles. Come winter, the turkey digs up the food from under the snow and the mouse and all his animal friends have a feast. 

The text and watercolor illustrations evoke a calm, quiet atmosphere. This is the only Mousekin book I had as a kid, but I've discovered that it's actually part of a series. I look forward to checking out some of the other titles, especially the other holiday ones.

For more Thanksgiving books, visit my Pinterest board here.

Halloween Surprises

Halloween Surprises by Ann Schweninger (Puffin Books, 1984). 

This is an adorable book that I enjoyed as a kid. It's about a family of bunnies celebrating Halloween. The book is set up like a comic strip, with speech bubbles telling the story as the bunnies create their costumes, make jack-o-lanterns, go trick-or-treating, and host a Halloween party. I especially love the tiny baby bunny.

Smudge, the Little Lost Lamb

Smudge, the Little Lost Lamb by James Herriot, illustrated by Ruth Brown (Macmillan, 1991). 

This is a sweet book about a little lamb who, one spring day, decides to venture out from his farmyard to explore the world. However, he soon becomes lost and is unable to find his way home. Luckily he meets some nice people along the way who eventually help return him to his mother. The story is text-heavy so probably best for ages 5 and up. I really like the watercolor illustrations. A nice read for springtime. 

Minou

Minou by Mindy Bingham, illustrated by Itoko Maeno (Advocacy Press, 1987).  

Growing up, we had a dog. Despite not having a cat of my own until I was a teenager, I have always been a cat lover. "Kitty" was one of my very first words. So I loved this book about a Siamese cat in Paris. 

Minou is a loved, pampered kitty.  But when her elderly owner becomes ill, she is left to fend for herself on the streets of Paris, something she doesn't know how to do. Luckily another cat teaches her how to survive and she becomes a mouser at Notre Dame Cathedral. Written by the then-Executive Director of the Girls Club of Santa Barbara, this book promotes independence and self-reliance to girls. Adults (and kids familiar with Paris) will also enjoy seeing the famous landmarks in the pictures. However, as a kid, I just knew I loved the story of the sweet Minou. 

Happy Birthday to Me...

Tomorrow is a big day for me... it's my 30th birthday!  I can't believe it.  I'm looking forward to celebrating with family and then next week taking a mini-vacation to Miami with friends. 

I always loved my birthday parties as a kid because my mom threw me some great ones.  I always had a theme and fun, creative activities.  Here is a photo from my 7th birthday when I was obsessed with Aladdin.  We had a magician perform also, so it was sort of a combo theme.  

Another one of my favorite parties was themed "The Birthday Lady Vanishes" when I was turning nine. It was a mystery party where all my guests had to make up a character and come in costume with a name and some facts about their alias. We made a short movie with cheesy camcorder tricks to make it look like various items and then finally the birthday girl "disappeared." I played two parts, the detective there to solve the case and the disappearing wealthy socialite birthday lady. I still have the VHS tape. I remember another fun decorating detail was that my mom and I made "Wanted" posters of all my friends.  

Anyway, to tie in this birthday post with children's literature, I will share one of my favorite birthday books. It's Happy Birthday, Moon by Frank Asch (1982).  I loved the Weston Woods video, and luckily it's available on Youtube, so I will share it with you below. (The film is actually only 6 minutes, the video here repeats for some reason.)
 
You can find more birthday books on my Pinterest here.

Bear in the Sky

Bear in the Sky by Stefan Czernecki and Timothy Rhodes, illustrated by Stefan Czernecki (Hyperion, 1990). 

This was a childhood favorite of mine. Judging from the little I could find online, it doesn't appear to be a well-known book, which is a shame. The folk art illustrations left a strong impression on me.  

This is an origin story for the constellation Ursa Major, the Great Bear. The title bear loves to dance in the forest with the birds and other creatures.  When he is shot with an arrow by hunters, a gypsy couple nurses him back to health, names him Zloty, and gives him a velvet vest. His joyful dancing cures a princess who cannot smile.  However, she is a cruel princess, and keeps Zloty captive.  When he will not dance for her anymore, she gets mad and throw his vest out the window, which disappears and leaves a stairway of stars. Zloty climbs the stars into the sky, where you can still see him dancing. 

The High Rise Glorious Skittle Skat Roarious Sky Pie Angel Food Cake

The High Rise Glorious Skittle Skat Roarious Sky Pie Angel Food Cake by Nancy Willard, illustrated by Richard Jesse Watson (Harcourt, 1990). 

This was a childhood favorite of mine. The girl in the story wants to bake a special cake for her mother's birthday-- a cake that her grandmother baked for her when she was a little girl. When the girl searches the attic for the recipe, she finds it, except there is one secret ingredient missing. Luckily, a trio of angels show up in her kitchen to help her make the most delicious, heavenly cake ever. 

I found this to be a magical story as a kid. Reading it again now, I'm especially impressed with the illustrations, which are extremely creative and layered. It's also nice that the angels are diverse in race (white, black, and Asian), gender, and age.

Most of all, you will find your mouth watering for angel food cake after reading this book!

A Day at the Beach

A Day at the Beach by Mircea Vasiliu (Random House, 1978).

Seeing as it's 90 degrees here, I thought this book was appropriate for today.  It's a simple story showing a family at the beach: swimming, building sandcastles, exploring tide pools, collecting shells, playing in seaweed. A nice feature is that there is a picture glossary with the names of different types of wildlife at the beach. There is also some diversity in the crowd scenes. All in all, a nice little book for summer.

Moonshadow

Sorry it's been a while since my last post. I recently got a new job and moved back to my hometown in Connecticut so I've been busy, but it's also easier now for me to raid my parents' attic for my old childhood books.  

Moonshadow by Angela Carter, illustrated by Justin Todd (Victor Gollancz Ltd., 1982).

Apparently a rather rare book, this was one of my favorites as a kid.  My dad and I found it at a used bookstore when I was little and I loved the way he would read me the zany story and we would find the hidden pictures within the illustrations. 

The book is about a boy named Tom who likes to play with his shadow, casting shadow puppets on the wall before bed.  One night, a goblin, who says he's the Man in the Moon, jumps out at Tom and tells him his shadow is tired of him playing games with him and wants a night of freedom where he doesn't have to follow him around all the time.  Off his shadow goes, in the shape of a cat, and Tom must run to catch him.  The illustrations feature many optical illusions and hidden pictures.  In the beginning there is also a map for a board game that you can play with dice. 

In researching the author and illustrator, I discovered that they are both relatively well known in Britain.  Carter is known for her feminist and magical realism novels and Todd seems to be best known for illustrating British children's classics like Alice in Wonderland and The Wind in the Willows. 

This is definitely a unique children's book! Maybe a little too scary for some young kids, but it was enchanting for me.

On Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Beni Montresor (Young Scott, 1961). 

Normally when I think of a book from my childhood, it's the illustrations that come back vividly. While the orange pages (which unfortunately my camera tried to make white in the images below) with blank ink definitely made an impression, what I really loved about this book as a kid was the ever talented Margaret Wise Brown's words.  A quiet tension runs throughout the book.  It's at once peaceful, with tranquil words describing children unable to sleep while snow falls softly in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve, but it also combines that with the heart-pumping excitement and anticipation of Christmas.  It's a great classic to read the night before Christmas. This version is out of print, but it was republished in the 90s with new illustrations.

I've made updates to my list of multicultural picture books that I originally posted last year.  You can check that out here. 

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, everyone!  

The Witch Who Was Afraid of Witches

The Witch Who Was Afraid of Witches by Alice Low, illustrated by Karen Gundersheimer (1978).  

This was one of my Halloween favorites growing up.  It's the story of a young witch who lives with her older sisters who are bossy and mean to her.  They make her feel like she's not good enough to do magic like they can.  But one Halloween she befriends a trick-or-treater and learns she really does have witch magic.

It was reissued in 2000 with new illustrations by Jane Manning and made into an "I Can Read" book.  From the images I've seen of that version (Amazon), they are perfectly nice illustrations but lack the quirkiness of the original version.  It's actually really interesting to compare the two to show how a story can have such a different feeling depending on the illustrations. The expressions of the character faces in Gundersheimer's version just can't be beat. 

See my Pinterest board for more Halloween books.

The Trouble with Mom

The Trouble with Mom by Babette Cole (Putnam, 1984).  

This is a book from my childhood that is a lot of fun.  I used to read it at Halloween time although it's not actually about the holiday.  It's about a boy whose mom is quite eccentric.  Although she's never called a witch in the text, the pictures portray her as such.  His mom doesn't fit in with his classmates' parents, in fact they call her names and don't let their kids hang out at their house. The boy is ashamed and wishes his mom were normal.  But when a fire breaks out at school, his mom saves the day and the other parents realize she's ok afterall.  This is a funny book with a good message to not judge people who are different.