Next Stop: Rural America

Leaving here and heading East (and back in time about 40 years), we have been entering the world so beautifully captured by Mary Azarian's woodcuts. I admit that, in general, I am more focussed on story than on image when reading books with my boys. I will forgive illustrations I don't love if the story is great, but not the other way round. So, it is notable when I love the art in a picture book as much as I love the story. Miss Bridie Chose a Shovel was one of those notable books for me -- a wonderful book that tells the story of a young immigrant who chose to bring a most practical item with her to the New World. The book tells the story of Miss Bridie's life through the various ways she uses her shovel. As I read it, I thought to myself - who made these woodcuts? why is this person not more well-known?. Well, it turns out that Mary Azarian is well known (in fact, she has won a Caldecott Medal); she just hadn't been known by me.

I quickly logged onto our library website and ordered up some more books that Azarian has illustrated. The only one that's come in yet is Snowflake Bentley, which, like Miss Bridie, impresses me both in it's story and it's artwork. The book tells the story of Wilson Bentley as he grows up in rural Vermont fascinated with snowflakes. The book, which has informative sidebars that we skipped as we read the story the first-time through and then went back to read afterwards, chronicles Bentley's attempts to capture the beauty of snowflakes, in drawings at first and then with a special camera eventually leading him to become the foremost expert on "snow crystals". A wonderful winter story.

Treat yourself and you children and discover the beauty of Mary Azarian's woodcuts, and the wonderful stories that go along with her illustrations.

Book List Love

I love a good book list-- who can resist the temptation of a list entitled "Best Beach Reads", "Top Picture Books of 2012" or "Librarians Choice for Best Chapter Books"? Certainly not me.

So, here are a few promising looking children's book lists I've found recently:

• This one is from the New York Public Library and is divided into categories (another thing I love) like fairy tales, picture books etc. 
• I found the above list while I was actually looking for this list - a collection of classic children's books reissued by the New York Review of Books. We've recently read Cheerful and Wee Gillis from that collection and they are both wonderful.
• We've read quite a few of the books on this list, as I love reading my boys folk tales and books about children in other countries, but there are alot more that are definitely going on my library hold list.

I'm looking forward to lots of good reading time with my boys this summer and I'm sure these lists will help us find some new favorites.

Do you have any sources for book lists that you recommend?

Chapter Books

I am a book lover--always have been. Two of my most vivid childhood memories are carrying armloads of books out of the Palms Park Library in L.A. and standing on my head while reading a book. I had books stashed in every room of the house and never understood the idea of reading one book at once.

So, now that I'm a mama, one of my favorite things to do with my boys is to read. But, I'm a picky reader, too, so that means I seek out children's literature blogs and read lots of children's book reviews. I like lots of the children's books that were written in the '50's and '60's, as I appreciate the more formal language and the fact that nature features more prominently in these books than in many more modern books.

I will do a post on picture books soon, but for today, here are some of my boys' (ages 5 and 8) and my favorite chapter books:

• Enid Blyton's Enchanted Wood
• Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows
• Thornton Burgess' Old Mother West Wind (really, anything by Thornton Burgess)
• Sterling North's Rascal (I did a little editing about the sexual behavior of raccoons--I'm a big fan of age-appropriate editing)
• Joyce Lankester Brisley's Milly-Molly-Mandy Storybook

Many of these I have discovered in my son's school library, which has a really well-curated selection. Others I have discovered through research. They have all provided me and my boys with many hours of snuggly couch time as we were transported, through the magic of words, to forests, farms and meadows with characters who soon felt like friends.