Tag: dogs

Review: Tight Times By Shook Hazen & Schart Hyman

I think we’re all tired of hearing that it’s been a difficult, weird, hard, strange, unprecedented [insert over-used adjective here] year. Even more so, we’re all tired of living it. While I continue to prep posts about new and newish books (I have so many!); I also love the classics, vintage, obscure older books that speak to timeless issues. They can be so comforting, surprising, and reminders of days past – a reminder that we’ll get through this too.

Today I wanted to drop in with a book I’ve thought about often over this year. I collected it years ago as it is one of my favorite children’s book illustrators ever. I am incredibly drawn to her style and choices and lines – but I’m getting ahead of myself. Join me in this lovely, difficult, emotional, and yet so perfectly childlike book about rough economic times in a city family. Check out Tight Times by Barbara Shook Hazen, illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman, 1979.

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25 Days – Book 2 And Wordless Wednesday: Carl’s Christmas + Interview With Alexandra Day!

For the second book in our 25 Days of Picture Books 2015, I am making this post do double duty and combining a Christmas book with Wordless Wednesday. As such, this post will be a bit longer than my usual Christmas countdown posts, but it also includes an interview with the author herself! Let’s jump in. Here is Carl’s Christmas by Alexandra Day, 1990.

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Wordless Wednesday: What Whiskers Did By Ruth Carroll

Wednesday is upon us again and I am ecstatic to have a fantastic vintage wordless book to share. It is a story from the 1930s about a little dog who runs loose in the woods, escapes danger, and adventures with a rabbit family. It is considered to be the first U.S. wordless picture book specifically for children (Dowhower, pp 59) and remained alone in that category for almost 30 years. It was reprinted in the 1960s, and also went through some illustration changes too, which I cannot quite figure out why.

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Caryn5 Comments

Wordless Wednesday: A Boy, A Dog And A Frog By Mercer Mayer

Last Wednesday I began a discussion on wordless picture books and some of my tips on how to read them. It is such an interesting category of picture books and I am ecstatic to be able to share more excellent wordless picture books on Wednesdays for a while. I have quite a pile forming of wordless books to highlight, but today I want to start with one of my favorites from childhood.

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Caryn2 Comments

25 Days – Book 3: The Puppy Who Wanted a Boy

Another late post I’m afraid, but hey, we are keeping this book Advent going! Today’s book is a sweet paperback from my childhood. Opening this story floods me with memories: my favorite pictures, the sad puppy, the even more sad and parentless boy! I truly believe that what you read as a child affects who you become as an adult and this book can definitely be included in my makeup. Let’s take a look at a tender story, a classic, even if a bit saccharine and tear-jerking. This is The Puppy Who Wanted a Boy by Jane Thayer, illustrated by Lisa McCue, 1985.

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