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 140: Katy and the Big Snow

Much to my delight, this winter is proving to be one of the warmest on record here in New England.  We haven't had snow on the ground for more than a few days all season, and one of those storms was back in October.  Usually, I love a good snow storm and am happy have a white winter (at least for a little while), but not this year.  I think Mother Nature must be seeking forgiveness from last year's brutal winter, and I'll admit I'm appreciative of the gesture.  I've been waiting to feature one of our favorite winter reads for a day when we're getting a big storm, but with temperatures looking like they'll stay in the 40s (~ 5C), no snow in sight, and March just two weeks away, I'm just going to feature this wonderful book now and hope that spring is just around the corner.

Virginia Lee Burton has written some absolutely fabulous books for children, and Katy and the Big Snow is one of our favorites.  If you are unfamiliar with her stories, you really must look for them the next time you are at the library.  I promise you won't be disappointed.  Katy and the Big Snow was first published in 1943 and has been a classic ever since. "Katy was a beautiful red crawler tractor.  She was very big and very strong and she could do a lot of things."  Serving as tractor and bulldozer in summer and a plow in winter, Katy works hard for the highway department of the City of Geoppolis.  One winter, a big snow falls upon the city, and it's up to Katy to plow everyone out.  Each time someone new calls for help, Katy is there with her plow and a happy, helpful, "Follow me!"  Thanks to Katy, the police can get out to protect the city, the postman can get out to deliver the mail, the doctor can get to his patient, and the fire department can get to a fire.  The story line might be simple -- the town gets snowed in and Katy saves the day -- but it somehow never gets old.  In some ways, I feel the illustrations surrounding the text are what really make the story.  There are just so many fabulous little details in these images that bring such life to the book!  I just love Burton's border drawings of all the different trucks that make up the highway department's fleet, and my son always studies each one carefully.  I'm sure the fact that the story features plows and trucks and trains only makes him love the book all the more.  And the map of Geoppolis?!  Don't get my geography teacher self started on how much I love that!  What a fabulous way to introduce the concept of maps to young children!  Complete with a compass rose and a key of all of the buildings in town, this map is revisited throughout the story as Katy plows each building out, one by one.  It makes me want to find a big map of our town and show my son where are all of these buildings are near us, too.  Better yet, maybe we'll have to draw our own!  My son is begging me to read this him now as I write, so I suppose I'll wrap things up here.  But you see where I'm going with this.  Katy and the Big Snow is a must read, whether there's snow where you are or not.  This is one book I'm happy to curl up in the sunshine and read on this warm February day.

Day 136: The Snowy Day

Well, it's finally here.  Our first real snow of the season.  I've been quite happy about its absence up until now (in some ways, I think I'm still recovering from last winter), but it sure does look pretty covering all of the trees and branches outside.  Early this morning, long before the sun came up in the sky, I woke to the sound of the snow plow going down our street.  As I looked toward our windows, I could see the faint orange flashing of the plow's lights passing by, then again a few minutes later as it returned to plow the other side of the street.  Although still half asleep, I was reminded about how much I loved hearing that sound as a child, and how upon hearing it, I would immediately turn on the radio to listen for school closings and delays.  I'd stay snuggled up under my covers with the lights off, admiring the snow on the rhododendron bush outside my window and anxiously waiting to hear my town's name on the list. These days, we get a phone call if there is no school, though given that my husband and I are both teachers, we still get excited about the possibility of a snow day every once in a while.  We only got a few inches of snow over the night -- not enough to cancel or delay school -- but the kids and I have been enjoying a cozy morning inside.  When we cuddled up on the couch to read stories, I reached first for Ezra Jack Keats' classic, The Snowy Day.  This wonderful story, perhaps more than any other, perfectly captures the childhood bliss of waking up to a fresh snow fall.  Putting on your snow suit right after breakfast and heading out into the cold.  Crunching through the snow, making all kinds of footprints and tracks along the way.  Snow angels!  Smiling snow men!  Snow balls!  Who hasn't smacked a snow-covered tree, only to have a huge pile of snow plop down on his head?  And I'm pretty sure I tried to sneak snow balls into the house a few times.  I love Keats' descriptions of Peter's adventures that day, for although they are simple, they ring so true to all of my childhood memories of winter, such as the feeling of walking into my warm house and having my mom help me take off my wet socks.  His illustrations are brilliant, too, and earned this book the Caldecott Medal in 1963.  I just love the cutout collage-style, the contrast of the colors, the swirling clouds in the sky as Peter slides down a mountain of snow.  Somehow, when I read this story, I feel warm and happy and cozy all over, even though I'm thinking about how much fun it is to play in the snow.  I'm sure later, we'll be doing much the same thing as Peter, bundling up to go explore and enjoying the excitement of the year's first proper snowfall.  If you've ever experienced snow yourself, you'll immediately appreciate and love this book.  If you haven't, reading it will give you a glimpse of what it is like to wake up to snowy day.  I have a feeling we'll be reading this book even more now that a white winter has officially arrived.  The Snowy Day is one classic that is not to be missed.

Day 130: Owl Moon

Owl Moon is one of our favorite wintertime reads.  Together, author Jane Yolen and illustrator John Schoenherr have created a beautiful masterpiece about a young girl's owling adventure with her father.  "It was late one winter night, long past my bedtime, when Pa and I went owling.  There was no wind.  The trees stood still as giant statues.  And the moon was so bright the sky seemed to shine."  Father and daughter head into the cold, wintry woods in search of a great horned owl.  Throughout the story, Yolen's descriptive verse enables us to feel the girl's growing anticipation and excitement at the prospect of finally seeing one, the way her brothers have before her.  I also love the way we can feel the cold of the night throughout the book, and I am always reminded me of how my cousins and I used to cross-country ski in the moonlight on my grandmother's farm when we were younger.  Anyone who has taken a walk on a cold winter night will appreciate such descriptions as, "I could feel the cold, as if someone's icy hand was palm-down on my back.  And my nose and the tops of my cheeks felt cold and hot at the same time."  Or, "My mouth felt furry, for the scarf over it was wet and warm."  I just love that particular line for some reason.  Schoenherr's illustrations, which earned the book the Caldecott Medal in 1988, are a stunning complement to Yolen's story, as well.  From the darkness of the woods to the blue light cast by moonlight on the snow, his watercolor illustrations are simply gorgeous.  If you haven't yet discovered this wonderful winter tale (or other books by Jane Yolen), look for it the next time you are at your library.  It is perfect for reading on a cold winter night or at any time of year.

Day 126: Winter's Gift

I absolutely love this time of year.  The twinkling lights, the smell of gingerbread baking, the decked halls, the coziness of our house, spending time with family and friends, the spirit of giving… All of these things make me feel warm and happy and festive all over.  There is a special place on my son's book shelf for our winter and holiday books, and I have been eager to share some of these here on the blog for months.  One of my favorites is Winter's Gift by Jane Monroe Donovan, a beautifully touching story of love, companionship, and hope.  My mom gave this to my son for his first Christmas little more than a week after he was born with the inscription, "For W, a Christmas gift to our family.  We love you."  I didn't read the book right away, but as soon as I did, I knew it would be a story we will cherish for years to come.   It also instantly earned itself a spot on my list of books that make me cry.  The story of the recently widowed old man and the lost, exhausted mare he rescues from a blizzard is heartbreaking and heartwarming all at once.  When my son picks up this book, he says, "I should read this book with Daddy.  This book always makes you cry, Mum Mum."  While the beginning of the story is sad  -- it is the old man's first Christmas alone since losing his wife a few months earlier -- the ending is uplifting and lovely.  The illustrations throughout the story are gorgeous, as well; I can feel the cold wind of the storm and the glowing warmth of the man's barn.  I'm always impressed when books are illustrated and written by the same person, too.  I was first struck by the cover illustration of a mare walking alone through the woods in a snow storm, but now I am continually moved by the emotion of the story.  I loved horses as a girl, so I think that makes the natural beauty of this book resonate with me even more.  Winter's Gift takes place on Christmas Eve and Christmas day, but I don't necessarily consider it to be a Christmas story.  To me, its message of enduring hope transcends the holiday, though I can see why it might be categorized as such.   I have yet to see this story in book stores or the library, but I'm sure it's out there if you look for it.  Winter's Gift is one of those timeless books that is appropriate for children of all ages, and would make a perfect gift for kids from one to ninety-two. 

Day 125: Bear Snores On

Today was one of those days where I looked out the window and could just feel winter approaching.  The leaves were fluttering steadily down from the trees, which are just about bare now, and the sky was a chilly shade of gray.   We've reached that point in the season where we need hats and mittens to play outside, and I feel the need to eat chocolate even more than usual.  (That must mean winter is coming.)  A steady rain was falling all afternoon, too, making me want to start a fire in the fireplace, make some hot chocolate, and curl up with a good book!  I like winter -- in limited amounts, at least -- but I am not ready for it yet.  In fact, there are many times when I feel like bears are really on to something by hibernating the cold weather away.  What better book to feature then today, I thought, than one of our favorites, Bear Snores On.  We already featured the second book in the Bear series, Bear Wants More, back on Day 1, but have been waiting to share this one until the weather seemed a bit more fitting.  My mom gave us Bear Wants More as one of my son's first books before he was even born, and we loved it so much that we needed to get some of Karma Wilson's other Bear books, too.  Bear Snores On is where we first meet our beloved Bear and his host of friends:  Mouse, Hare, Gopher, Mole, Badger, Raven, and Wren.  I absolutely love these characters and never get tired of reading this story.  In fact, I read it so often to my son when he was two, that I can still recite the whole story from memory. "In a cave in the woods in his deep, dark lair, through the long cold winter sleeps a great brown bear.  Cuddled in a heap with his eyes shut tight, he sleeps through the day, he sleeps through the night.  The cold winds howl and the night sounds growl but the bear snores on."   One by one, new friends begin to enter Bear's den seeking shelter from the winter storm raging outside.   As they make themselves at home popping corn, brewing tea, and chit-chatting the evening away, Bear's den grows cozier and more lively until there is an all-out party going on!   When Bear finally wakes up and sees all of the fun he has been missing, he is not a happy camper... but leave it to his woodland friends to save the day!  Wilson's rhymes are flawless, fabulous, and so much fun to read, and Jane Chapman's illustrations could not be any cuter.   I especially love the picture of the animals dancing around the fire in Bear's den while the storm rages outside.  The whole scene just looks so cozy and inviting!  This is another one of my favorite books to give as a baby gift, particularly the board book version.  If you haven't discovered this fantastic series, look for Bear the next time you are at the library or your local book store.  Bear Snores On is a perfect book to read with your little one during any kind of weather at any time of year.