passionately sharing, discussing and admiring children's picture books
Our book today fully lives up to its name as it is indeed sweet, and also quite fragrant with its scratch n’ sniff panels hinting at the many smells that accompany this special holiday. The Sweet Smell of Christmas was written by Patricia Scarry and illustrated by the endearing J. P. Miller in 1970 and lives on as a wonderful portrayal of some of the lovely traditions of the season.
Continue reading “25 Days – Book 2: The Sweet Smell Of Christmas”
The first book on this year’s Christmas book advent list is a gorgeous, fragile, colorful pop-up by Robert Sabuda, The Christmas Alphabet. Originally published in 1994, this is the “Deluxe Anniversary Edition” from 2004 and I have absolutely no idea what makes it different from the original as I have never checked.
Continue reading “25 Days – Book 1: The Christmas Alphabet”
December 1 has arrived! I may be setting myself up for failure here, but I’ve decided to attempt another Christmas book advent list. Last year’s was so much fun and quite inspiring for my book enjoyment and writing, so let’s give it another go. I’m hopeful that I’ll hit every day and my accumulated list includes some books I didn’t get to share last year, some new to me ones, and even some hot-off-the-press 2013 editions from my favorite bookstore. I hope you’ll follow along and maybe discover some new Christmas picture books to enjoy yourself and with the little ones in your life.
Continue reading “25 Days of Children’s Books For Christmas, 2013”
Happy Thanksgiving to all my American readers! Last year, I shared one of my new favorite Thanksgiving themed books by Melissa Sweet, Balloons Over Broadway, that celebrates the famous parade and its history. It was again a big hit at this year’s storytime. This year, my mind has been struggling with some different feelings about what used to be a favorite holiday. With my broadening education about the continual stereotyping of Native people in picture books, I’ve become quite disheartened towards typical Thanksgiving picture books with their constant questionable portrayals of “Indians” and misrepresentation of “the first Thanksgiving.” Not wanting to disdain the holiday completely, I am striving to take Debbie Reese’s comment to heart and even beyond books: “Sometimes I think that Thanksgiving books for young children should just focus on things people are grateful for.”
Continue reading “Book Review: 1621, A New Look At Thanksgiving”
Seems like forever since I have done a book review, but this one has maintained a steady spot at the top of my favorites pile since I began this Cybils craziness. I readily admit, that I didn’t give it much thought when I heard and saw it coming out earlier this year, and now I’m making up for lost time. This is a sweet book about a little girl’s family working together to build their dream home and all the time and effort and love that makes up those walls. Here is Building Our House by Jonathan Bean, 2013.
Continue reading “Book Review: Building Our House By Jonathan Bean”
This poor sad blog is being greatly neglected lately and I figured it is worth popping in briefly to share why. That picture above shows only a small portion of the recent chaos and piles of books I find myself under.
Continue reading “The Cybils Have Me Hopping… Err… Reading!”
Three Books a Night 