Day 220: Leaf Man

We've been in all-out leaf tackle mode here for the past few weeks, and have raked our entire yard no fewer than 5 times already.  As much as I love nature and the outdoors, I'll be honest -- I wouldn't mind if we lost a few of the oak trees in our yard.  The leaves are a great source of entertainment for my kids, of course, and they've had endless fun jumping in leaf piles, "helping" us rake, and racing around the tracks we rake amidst the blanket of leaves that cover the yard.  We've enjoyed collecting leaves of all kinds, as well, whether we set out to see how many vibrant colors we can find or simply go on a nature walk to see how many different types of leaves there are in our neighborhood.  The leaves are just about all down now, but our fun has continued this week after we found this fabulous book at the library!

Lois Ehlert's artwork is always colorful, engaging, and fun, and Leaf Man is no exception.  The story itself is simple -- a leaf man blows away, over marshes, fields, meadows, and mountains, going wherever the wind takes him -- but the die cut pages and clever artwork make for a great deal of creative fun.  All of Ehlert's images are composed of real leaves of various kinds, combined to make different shapes and creatures:  turtles, fish and ducks in a pond, squirrels with their acorns, butterflies, and even a garden of pumpkins and squash.  There is also a guide to the types of leaves featured on the book's cover pages, which I just love.  Each colorful page within is cut and sculpted across the top to make the background of the combined pages appear like rolling hills in the distance, and Ehlert's leaf creations are simply fabulous.  They are not always easy to see at first, which is what makes the book so fun to read.  My kids love looking at the illustrations to see what creatures are hiding among them, and I challenge child to read this book and not want to immediately run outside and collect leaves to make creations of his or her own.  My son made leaf creatures for over an hour yesterday afternoon after reading this book, and I had fun joining in the crafting, too.  I was pretty impressed by some of his creations, and, as so often happens when watching kids create, I loved the ease with which he went from one idea to the next.  He came up with creative designs so much faster and easily than I did!  Thanks, Lois Ehlert, for inspiring him to make some fun leaf art!  Here's a sample of some of the leaf creatures he made:

His first design, which he composed while my daughter and I were still out collecting leaves:  It's me, complete with the green scarf I was wearing yesterday

A deer

A bird

A hummingbird (my favorite!)

A poinsettia (I made the flower part at the top, he quickly added a stem and some leaves to make it even better)

The scene on my coffee table while we were creating

A giraffe

An aardvark

And of course, a Thanksgiving turkey

We hope that this book inspires as much fun for you and your little ones as it did for us!  Enjoy!

Fall favorites

Fall is my favorite season.  I've been a New Englander my whole life (minus the two times I've lived abroad), and I can't imagine autumn without the simple beauty of the changing leaves, apple picking, crisp days, and cool nights.  The first crackling fire of the season, wearing my slippers, pumpkin coffee.... ahhhh... fall is the best!

Here are a few of our favorite stories at this time of year.  What would you add to this list?

Happy reading!

The Ox Cart Man by Donald Hall -- one of my favorite children's books of all!

Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert - Be sure to create your own "leaf people" after reading this one!

A Leaf Can Be by Laura Purdie Salas

 Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson -- our Halloween favorite!

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams

 John Pig's Halloween by Jan L. Waldron

 Bear Has a Story to Tell by Philip C. Stead

Day 205: Green

Spring has finally sprung, and we've reached that magical time of year when the leaves are popping open on trees throughout town.  (Yes!  Finally!)  When I saw this stunning book on the "New Arrivals" shelf at our local library, I just had to bring it home.  Featuring only two words per page, Green seems extremely simple at first glance, but really, it is a work of beautiful complexity from beginning to end.

The simple language of the book is remarkable.  With each turn of the page, we are introduced to another shade of green:  "Forest green, sea green, lime green, pea green" and so much more.  As described on the book's jacket cover, "there's the lush green of a forest on a late spring day, the fresh, juicy green of a just-cut lime, the incandescent green of a firefly, and the vivid aquamarine of a tropical sea." I absolutely love the way the whole story encourages children to delve into the wonderfully descriptive world of language, showing them how something as simple as a color can be described in so many different and unique ways.  The verse is lyrically written, too, though we never manage to read it quickly enough to notice the rhyme scheme as we read aloud.  In fact, I don't think I even realized that the lines rhymed until the fourth or fifth time we read it, since we were always too busy studying the illustrations.

And oh, the artwork!  The texture of Seeger's acrylic paintings is simply gorgeous, and every time I read this book, I just want to reach into the pages and touch the illustrations.  Her use of die-cuts is brilliant, as well, perfectly placed on each page in a way that never fails to delight and surprise us.  My children and I just love flipping the pages back and forth after we peek through the cut outs, eager to see just what those colors were on the page before.  Seeger's creativity and designs are simply incredible!  They make me want to try our own die-cut artwork and see what we can come up with.  Hmm...  Perhaps I know what our art activity will be this afternoon...

Green is a 2013 Caldecott Honor book, and deservedly so.  It also is a Kirkus Reviews Best Children's Book of 2012.  Creative, engaging, and positively lovely, Green is one book that's not to be missed.

Day 196: and then it's spring...

Two days ago, only a few piles of snow remained in our yard and I was thrilled at the prospect of being able to play outside without having to bundle up in full snow gear.  We even spent some time creating chalk art in the driveway in the late morning sun.  It was positively lovely.  Today, we have 16" of fresh snow on the ground.  Maybe more.  UGH.  Actually, it really is beautiful and I was happy my husband got a snow day out of the deal, but I still can't stop dreaming about warmer days.  That one day last week gave me the slightest taste of the sweet spring I know lies ahead (hopefully sooner rather than later.  You'd better not be lying to me, Groundhog!)

Julie Fogliano's and then it's spring captures exactly how I feel every year around this time.  "First you have brown, all around you have brown."  Then comes the planting of the seeds and the wish for rain -- and then the rain! -- until the brown becomes a "hopeful, very possible sort of brown."  Caldecott winner Erin E. Stead's gorgeous illustrations are the perfect accompaniment to Fogliano's text:  gentle, sweet, and remarkably expressive for work so seemingly simple at first glance.  We follow the young boy as he plants his seeds and anxiously waits for them to grow, worrying about whether perhaps the birds got to them, or the bears.  Most pages have just a line or two of text, with the exception of perhaps my favorite page that captures a child's thinking so beautifully. "...maybe it was the bears and all that stomping, because bears can't read signs that say things like "please do not stomp here -- there are seeds and they are trying."  The young boy's anticipation is captured perfectly throughout the story, and I can't help but feel it, too.  When will that magical day arrive when we wake to find green?  It's the same way every year, just as Fogliano describes.  We are surrounded by brown -- the grass, the old leaves that escaped the rakes of the previous fall -- and then suddenly, it happens!  The trees come alive and the leaves jump out and everywhere there is green.  This is a sweet, beautiful story that makes a wonderful bedtime read, especially at this time of year.  I love its message of patience and the way it beckons us to slow down, go outside, plant some seeds, and take time to soak in the beauty of the natural world around us.  Our poor bulbs and seeds might be buried under a blanket of snow, but I know they are waiting, ever so patiently, to come alive with the first signs of spring.  

Day 185: Bear Has a Story To Tell

I fell in love with the work of Philip and Erin Stead as soon as I read their first masterpiece, A Sick Day for Amos McGee, the much-deserving winner of the 2011 Caldecott Medal.  In Bear Has a Story to Tell, the dynamic husband and wife duo is back with another wonderfully sweet story.  "It was almost winter, and Bear was getting sleepy.  But first, Bear had a story to tell."  He visits his woodland friends, hoping one of them will want to listen to his story, but they are all busy readying themselves for winter. Kind and understanding, Bear helps Mouse gather seeds, checks the direction of the wind for Duck before he takes flight south, and digs Frog a hole in which he can cozy up and stay warm for the cold winter months ahead.  Dear Mole is already sound asleep underground.  Finally, as the first snowflakes start to fall, Bear settles himself in and drifts off to sleep for the winter.  When he awakes in the spring, he is excited to tell his story!  One by one, his friends return... but so many months have passed that by the time they all gather to hear Bear's tale, he can't remember what it was!  Erin Stead's illustrations are gorgeous, as usual, and I love the way this sweet, gentle story exudes friendship, patience, and kindness throughout.  It makes for a lovely bedtime read, and is one story we are thrilled to have recently added to our home library.

Day 172: A Leaf Can Be...

We've reached that magical week in New England where, all of a sudden, I look around and realize that the leaves are turning vibrant shades of yellow, orange, and red.  I love summer as much as anyone, but fall is my favorite season.  It is the reason why I can't imagine living anywhere other than New England:  the crunch of leaves underfoot, cool days and even cooler nights, the crisp smell of the air, the crackle of the first fire in our fireplace.  I love experiencing four distinct seasons and seeing the natural world transform in all its wonder all around us... even when it means my husband and I spend hours raking thousands of oak leaves from our lawn.  Our kids are always more than happy to "help" us with this, jumping in and racing through the piles of leaves in a state of pure childhood bliss.  I raked our first official leaf pile today (solely for my son's jumping entertainment), and realized that it would be a perfect day to feature this wonderful book!

My children love nature, so when I saw this book on the "Staff Recommendation" shelf at the library a few weeks ago, I knew I had to bring it home.  Thank you, Fran the librarian, for introducing us to this beautiful story!  In A Leaf Can Be, author Laura Purdie Solas takes us on a "poetic exploration of leaves throughout the year," from the gently unfurling new leaves of spring, to the frost tipped leaves of winter.  In her lovely, lyrical way, Solas reminds us that leaves can be all kinds of things depending on the time and place:  "Sun taker.  Food maker...  Air cleaner.  Earth greener...  Wind rider.  Lake glider..."  And of course my son's favorite:  "Pile grower.  Hill glow-er."  The verses are simple but perfect, and Violeta Dabija's illustrations are gorgeous!  Her use of color and light magically brings the pages to life, and I always find myself stopping and staring at the pictures longer than usual before I turn to the next page.  We also love the additional information featured at the back of the book, which explains in more detail how leaves serve their many purposes highlighted throughout the story.  A Leaf Can Be... is a perfect book to share as part of a preschool or elementary nature unit, or simply to snuggle up and enjoy with your child at any time of year.

Day 132: The Curious Garden

We haven’t even had snow here yet this winter and I’m already thinking about spring!  The worst part is, it hasn’t even really been that cold here yet (though I hear it’s coming this week...)  In thinking about the chilly week that lies ahead, all I want to do is snuggle up on the couch with my little ones and a cup of tea and read some of the new (and wonderful!) books that they got for Christmas.  They got several stories we have been hoping to add to our personal collection for some time, as well as some other new titles I hadn’t heard of before.  One lovely new book my son got from his Uncle Jeff is Peter Brown’s The Curious Garden.  We’ve read it each night at bedtime for the past few days, as well as at some other times in between.  Each time we read it, I manage to love it even more, and I’m so happy that my son enjoys it as much as I do.  The book has a wonderfully soothing quality to it (hence why we love reading it at bedtime), and the subtle language Brown uses throughout is as beautiful as his illustrations.  The Curious Garden tells the story of a young boy named Liam, who stumbles upon a few plants growing in the unlikeliest of places:  a old, abandoned railway in the middle of the dreary, gray city he calls home.  Fortunately for the plants (and later, for the rest of the city), Liam is determined to help them grow.  “Most gardens stay in one place,” but as Liam soon learns, “this was no ordinary garden.  With miles of open railway ahead of it, the garden was growing restless.  It wanted to explore.  The tough little weeds and mosses were the first to move.  They popped up farther and farther down the tracks and were closely followed by the more delicate plants...”  By the end of the summer, Liam and his garden have made their way to every corner of the railway.  But then, as it does, winter arrives, and Liam can no longer spend his days exploring his garden.  Instead, he busies himself preparing for the next growing season ahead, and before he knows it, more than just new plants are popping up:  a whole community of new gardeners is popping up, too.  As the months and years pass, Liam’s garden and spirit grows, until the entire city has blossomed into one lovely arboretum.  It’s lovely to picture, isn’t it?  I just love Brown’s early juxtaposition of the beautiful, thriving plants and the city’s boarded-up windows and pollution-spewing smokestacks, and his pictures of the garden city in the final pages of the book are inspiring and wonderful.  I especially love reading the author’s note at the end.  If you ever read this book, don’t pass it by.  Turns out, Liam’s railway is based on Manhattan’s old elevated railway, the High Line, and the gardens which now grace its rails.  More importantly, though, you’ll share in Brown’s sense of wonder and curiosity about nature and our place in it.  The jacket cover describes The Curious Garden as “a magical story about a boy’s dream and how the efforts of one small person can help change the world.”  In the same vein as one of my all-time favorite stories, Miss Rumphius, The Curious Garden inspires me to make the world a more beautiful place, and give my children the tools, compassion, and desire to do the same.

Day 120: Ox-Cart Man

I've been waiting to write about this book since the day I started this blog.  Now that fall is in full swing and it is October, I just can't wait any more!  The Ox Cart Man has long been one of my absolute favorite picture books.  There are so many things that I love about this story that I hardly know where to begin.  From its very first line, the Ox Cart Man takes us into the life of a family in early nineteenth century New England: "In October he backed his ox into his cart and he and his family filled it up with everything they made or grew all year long that was left over.  He packed a bag of wool he sheared from the sheep in April.  He packed a shawl his wife wove on a loom from yarn spun at the spinning wheel from sheep sheared in April.  He packed five pairs of mittens his daughter knit from yarn spun at the spinning wheel from sheep sheared in April."  And so it goes.  We follow the ox cart man as packs up the things his family has worked so hard to make and grow throughout the year and brings to Portsmouth Market to sell:  birch brooms, woven linen, candles, potatoes, apples, goose feathers, maple sugar.  He proceeds to sell everything he has brought with him, including the wooden box he carried the maple sugar in, the barrel he carried the apples in, the bag he carried the potatoes in, his ox cart... even his beloved ox.  (I'll admit that part makes me a tear up sometimes.  I know.  I'm a sap.)  When he has nothing left but a pocketful of coins, the ox cart man wanders through the market himself, buying new things for his family to get them through the year ahead.  An embroidery needle for his daughter that had come all the way from England on a boat.  A Barlow knife for his son for carving birch brooms.  An iron kettle to hang over the stove.  Two pounds of wintergreen peppermint candies.  And when he finally returns home to family, we see the whole cycle begin once again.  "His daughter took her needle and began stitching, and his son took his Barlow knife and began whittling, and they cooked dinner in their new kettle... and that night the ox-cart man sat in front of his fire stitching new harness for the young ox in the barn..."  

Hall's prose is beautifully written, and I can't help but feel like I am a part of the story while I am reading it.  Each time, I am overwhelmed by a sense of what life was like in those days gone by, and am in awe of its simplicity and difficulty all at the same time.  The gorgeous illustrations, done by the amazingly talented Barbara Cooney, earned this book the Caldecott Medal in 1980, and they are the perfect accompaniment to Hall's story.  Simple, soothing, telling, and beautiful.  At first, I was worried that my son might find this book boring, but he never has.  I think he, too, is fascinated by how our ancestors lived and the ways they depended on nature and the land for their survival.  Seasons change, years pass, and life goes on, but this book will always be one of my favorites. 

Day 112: Listen, Listen

Fall has finally arrived here in New England and it is by far my favorite season of all!  It's why I love living here, and is what makes me tolerate the long, cold winters and those hot, humid summer days that can be so unbearable in a house without air conditioning.  The air turns crisp and the days, though growing shorter, are positively lovely.  I love the smell of the air as the nights get cooler and the leaves turn their gorgeous shades of yellow, orange, and red... even when I know that soon enough, we'll be spending countless hours raking them off of our lawn.  I love the sounds of leaves swishing and crunching under our feet, and the way the late-afternoon light hits the trees and makes those radiant colors glow.  The change in seasons can be magical, and I am always very happy to live in a place that has such variety among them.  Listen, Listen is a beautiful story that captures the wonderful sounds of the seasons as they gracefully turn from one to the next:  summer to autumn, winter to spring, and back to summer again.  Phillis Gershator's rhythmic verse and Alison Jay's beautiful illustrations complement each other perfectly, making Listen, Listen a delight to read, hear, and see.  "Listen, listen, what's that sound?  Insects singing all around! Chirp, chirp, churr, churr, buzz, buzz, whirr, whirr... Plop, plop, acorns drop.  Hurry, scurry, squirrels hop... Crunch, crunch, boots clomp.  Grown-ups shovel, children romp... Pop, pop, bulbs sprout.  Leaves grow, flowers shout."  The rolling verse is soothing and engaging to children at the same time, and Jay's crackle-varnish illustrations evoke a sense of timeless wonder and nostalgia.  Take your time to look at the pictures in this book, as well, for there are lovely little details to be found on each page.  Both my son and daughter love reading this story, and it is definitely one of our seasonal favorites.  My daughter loves hearing all of the different noises and sound effects throughout, and my son especially loves the hide and seek pages for each season that appear at the back of the book.  Available in both hardcover and a large board book format from Barefoot Books, Listen, Listen is a beautiful addition to any child's library.  What are your favorite sounds of the seasons?

Day 68: How Rocket Learned to Read

Meet Rocket:  a cute, cuddly, black and white dog who loves chasing leaves and napping under his favorite tree.  As he settles in for a good nap one day, a little bird lands on a branch nearby and declares herself to be his teacher.  He tries to argue that he is only there to sleep, but the persistent bird continues, encouraging Rocket to be her student.  He ignores her at first, but he soon finds himself drawn in to the story she is reading aloud about a dog who has lost his favorite bone.  Soon enough, Rocket is returning to the bird's classroom by the tree every morning, hoping to learn to read for himself.  Together, Rocket and the little yellow bird sing out the sounds that letters make and piece them together, from the GRRRRRRRR of Mr. Barker's growl to the WHHOOSSHHHH of the wind.  Then, it's on to words that describe the world around them, such as the R-E-D leaves and the cool, crisp weather of F-A-L-L.  As the seasons turn, the little bird flies away for the winter, leaving her star student to keep spelling and reading on his own until she returns.  "Don't forget!" she reminds him.  "Words are built one letter at a time!"  Rocket practices all winter, anxiously waiting for the return of spring and his teacher so that they may read together once more.  How Rocket Learned to Read is a perfect book for any child who is venturing into the glorious world of reading independently.  I just love the way Tad Hills brings Rocket and the adventure of reading to life:  letter by letter, sound by sound, one word at a time.   I love the way he engages Rocket with a story for the first time, going from uninterested, to curious, to captivated.  I love how he realistically depicts learning to read as a journey that takes time, not something that one can learn to do overnight.  And I love little details about the book, like Rocket's expressive face and the fact that the alphabet is described as wondrous, mighty, and gorgeous.  My son just adores this book, too.  He loves the cute little dog, of course, and definitely shares Rocket's curiosity about letters and reading.  My son spells out words everywhere we go and asks what they spell -- in the store, in the car, with his foam letter in the bathtub -- and just loves spelling along with Rocket as we read.  (He was so excited to know the name E-M-M-A the first time we read this.)  He loves little things about this book, too, like the fact that a lilac bush is mentioned in the story.  Every time we smell lilacs outside, he smiles and exclaims, "Lilacs!  Just like in Rocket!"  We have a great, interactive version of this book on our ipad, as well.  How Rocket Learned to Read is a fabulous story that we are bound to read again and A-G-A-I-N.  

Day 19: I Am a Bunny

This is another wonderful story that was given to us as a baby shower gift.  (Thank you, Alisa!)  Our first featured Golden Book, I Am a Bunny follows the adorable red-overall-clad Nicholas throughout the seasons.  We have the sturdy board book version, which is perfect for even the youngest readers.  The story, written by Ole Risom, is very simple -- we learn about all the different things Nicholas likes to do throughout the year such as watch the birds, chase the butterflies, blow dandelion seeds into the air -- but it's Richard Scarry's amazing illustrations that really make this book for me.  We love many other Scarry titles, too, but in my opinion, this is his best artistic work by far.  The pictures are beautifully drawn and his attention to detail is amazing.  I just love the way every butterfly, bird, and frog is different, and his wonderful use of color makes it seem like I can feel the seasons changing as we turn the pages.  I even love the illustration on the back cover of Nicholas lying in the grass admiring a cricket.  It is a soothing and peaceful book to read and a great way to teach little ones about the seasons.  It's a perfect story to read before bed, too, as in the end, Nicholas curls up in his hollow tree to dream about spring.  What better book to feature on this first full day of spring as we watch the snow falling outside?  Hopefully we'll all be outside picking flowers soon, just like Nicholas.