Two books most-read in 2011

As I was sifting through the highlights of 2011, focusing on replaying the treasured memories and weeding out the not-so-pleasant ones, I wondered if I were to zero in on one book, and only one book each, that Ana and Og enjoyed reading the most this year, what would the two books be?

And I posed this same question to my Saffron Tree family and collected a fund of responses, which I have shared in Part 1 and Part 2 at ST.

This is a fun exercise for me as I have pretty much shared the much-loved books over the whole course of the year. So, I looked in on the more recent  reads that I have not written about here and came up with the most-read-and-relished books, the most-talked-about books, the most-amusing books... well, in short, just two lovely books that they didn't tire of easily.

Where the Sidewalk Ends
by Shel Silverstein

Ages 4+

The tattered old hardbound book, full of memories and character, a hand-me-down from her dad, was the one most often chosen from the bookshelf by the six year old at bedtime. It is one of my favorites as well as I am partial to poetry.

From Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout to Unicorn, Yipiyuk to Afraid Of The Dark, Sick to Crocodile's Toothache, this book is full of the absurd, the funny, the weird, and the charming, making for a delightful and amusing read, anytime, every time, as evidenced in our house.

Poems, poems, poems! That's what the 6 yo gravitated towards in 2011.

Flap Your Wings
by P.D. Eastman

Ages 4+

Reading this book became almost an obsession with the 3.75 year old. Every night at bedtime, for about 5 weeks, among the stack of 4 books for the bedtime-read carefully chosen by the pre-schooler, was nestled this irresistible (to him at least) volume.

A little boy walks along a path; he finds an egg without a nest; he finds a nest without an egg; he promptly puts the two together. And thus stars this wonderfully rooted story with Mr. and Mrs. Bird providing the comic and the heart-warming.

While the profound concepts of the nest getting crowded and the young one learning to fly away on his own are lost on the little one, it is an equally amusing book at face-value: from the time the enormous egg hatches and we find out the "baby bird" is a crocodile till the end when "Junior" (as he is fondly called by the Birds)  desperately flaps his "wings" clumsily all the way down to the water below... and swims elegantly, feeling at home, the book entertains and provokes giggles.

[image source: amazon.com, google.com book search]

Santa at PNP

For the last couple of years, we've managed to contact Santa via PNP (Portable North Pole). Since they are used to video chats with Thaathaa and Pattee, Nana, and Cousin, the kids totally buy into the PNP's illusion. The trick is to let only one of the kids talk to Santa via PNP at a time or they'll easily call the bluff.

Now, whether I believe in Santa or not, I think there is something magical about suspending logic and reality to let the kids feel something special at least once a year.

Then again, what is reality? If it is as defined in the narrow sense: the state of things as they actually exist,  then it appears that kids have accepted the wider definition: everything that is and has been, whether or not it is observable or comprehensible.

The adults in the family have agreed that as long as kids want to believe in it we will sustain the fantasy.

And who is to say it is fantasy? Ana leaves notes for fairies and we build fairy houses in the backyard all seasons. She believes they exist but don't want to be seen, and that's why she cannot see them easily. And that's OK with her. And that certainly is fine by me.

But, I am digressing...

Ana wrote a Wish List to share with Santa. It was heartening to note that she had just 2 things on the list. Well, three if we read the note inside the note.

Of course, her Wish List to Nana was a bit longer - but it was all books anyway, about half a dozen or so.

Since Xmas and Birthday are the only official days in a year when the kids get presents, we do put some thought into it. Nothing overboard.

And she wanted candy, of course. After the mindful talk about children around the world who don't even get a decent meal for days, and what we can do to help them, I do let her have an occasional Werther's™ or a lollipop or richly frosted cupcake just to let her know how fortunate some of us are and how grateful we need to be. The profuse thanks and beaming ear-to-ear smile I get from her as she relishes the treat makes it worthwhile. No sense depriving, it only makes her crave it more. Moderation.

Her school did a Frugal Lunch day right before Thanksgiving. It was quite an experience for her: to be hungry for a long time and eat just enough to abate not satisfy the hunger. She decided to skip breakfast that day. Her teacher cooked some brown rice and beans - just enough, not much - and they all shared it - hence "frugal lunch". No snacks. Despite a cranky 6-year old I ended up with that evening, I was glad she had that experience. She really started to empathize.

"Mama, I have an idea. How about let us get a house with many many rooms for people who don't have a place to live or have any money to buy food or warm winter coat. A bunch of people with lots of money can give some of their money to buy things that we can keep in that house. Like food, blankets, sleeping bags. Then whoever needs it can come and have some food and take a blanket or sleeping bag and sleep in one of the rooms in the house."

And, rather than Spring Cleaning, we've adopted a Winter Cleaning habit. With a fairly lean wardrobe, and minimal toys and things, I know how tough this must be for Ana. She used to hang on to some things because she likes them even though she has outgrown them. But, this year, she was very enthusiastic about looking through books and toys and dress-up/costume things and such and gave away quite a bunch.

Oggie didn't ask for anything specific. It sort of doesn't make sense to him, this whole Christmas thing. Not yet, anyway. He lives in the moment mostly and doesn't worry about other things. He is also just 3 - well, 3 and 3/4ths.

We baked some gingerbread cookies. We are trying our best to save some for Santa when he stops by tonight. Kids decorated some cookies with colorful icing. We hope to keep up the tradition of reading The Night Before Christmas before tucking the kids in bed.

What has all this got to do with the Dragons at the top of the post? Nothing much really. It's something Ana did while Og was on a play date - with just a few random stickers, a sheet of paper, a pencil and imagination. And it says 'for my parents' which made me melt on the inside.

Nadolig llawen!  Dymuniadau gorau!

Kids Craft: Stitched Xmas Cards and Pine Tree Cards

We seem to love making cards for some reason. Well, usually it starts out as a fun little drawing or coloring or painting or paper crafting or fabric project and gets turned into a card, among other things.

Stitched cards are my favorite, as are fabric cards I used to make a few years ago and sort of outgrew as the novelty wore off. They can be hand-embroidered, or hand-sewn with applique-like running stitches; or, my favorite is to machine sew fabric on to paper as in this project.

Items used: Card stock (various colors), felt and other fabric scraps (various colors), cookie cutters, scissors, sewing machine

I let Ana cut the shapes paper first to use as template, much like we did for the Felt Hanging Decorations; then pin this paper template to the felt fabric and cut out the shapes; then I take over and sew the felt shape onto card stock paper using sewing machine as Ana is not yet ready to use my sewing machine.

Pine trees are a favorite especially since everywhere we turn we see a bunch of these sturdy evergreens in our area, standing tall and inspiring dreams. To celebrate them, we made a few cards with the generic triangular pine tree shape. We used some original art work paper that we made, and some scrap-booking paper, and of course, some out of fabric.

Kids Craft: Recycled Xmas Wrapping Paper Cards

Such a shame that beautiful wrapping paper gets ripped and thrown in trash a lot around this time of the year. At home, we've tried to use as little as possible and reclaim/reuse/recycle the wrapping and tissue papers.

Especially fun is to reuse the Xmas wrapping papers to make greeting cards that are easy for pre-schoolers to make.

There is something very satisfying about making something with your own hands - even if it is just assembling a few things, or drawing a few simple lines - for kids. And it is more meaningful to them to share it with their friends and teacher when they have made it themselves.

From last year's wrapping paper I had cut out and saved some Snowmen, Snowflakes, and a few others. To make it sturdy, I glued the wrapping paper onto card stock and let it dry before saving these cuttings. Some days ago, I brought them out to let Oggie make a set of greeting cards for his teachers/friends.

It takes just a bit of preparation, as usual, to make it a smooth process for the 3.5 year old. Simpy arrange the pre-cut wrapping paper pieces, card stock and glue stick in a tray and let the child glue as they like. A half dozen unique and charming greeting cards are ready in no time at all.

And, Ana did a few of the Holly & Berries Wreath Card as well at the same time.

Kids Craft: Holly & Berries Wreath Card

For the Silly Penguins Winter Greeting Card, we had used a McGill Holly & Berries Paper Punch I had found for $2.99 at a neighborhood store. This punch makes a bow, a sock, a star, 2 holly leaves and berries of different sizes.

We had used some of the bows and socks for the Silly Penguins and had a bunch of Holly leaves punched out and ready to use. And that's how these cards came about.

Now, this is not an original idea - it was inspired by the picture that came on the package of the Holly & Berries Paper Punch. Ana saw the package picture and decided to make a few of her own to give to her friends/teachers.

Items Used: Cut/punched out from various colored construction papers - holly leaves in two different sizes, berries in red, bows,stars, glue stick, white card stock paper cut to the size of the greeting card and folded.

Draw a circle on the card stock paper. Glue the leaves, in layers, along the circle. Add berries and a bow. Et Voilá!

Kids Craft: Silly Penguins Greeting cards

Penguin is Og's best friend.

He loves everything about them, thinks they are silly. Spends the most time looking at them at the Zoo/Aquarium.

When the kids and I sat down to toss around ideas for Holiday cards, penguin among them, Og latched on to it, even remembering the "Penguin Works" - i.e., Easy Paper Penguin Cards we made last year.

Potato-stamped Penguins, Paint Blob Penguins and Fingerprint Penguin were a few options we considered before settling on this one.

This year, being a year older, it seemed like a good idea to add on layers to that Paper Penguin project and let him experiment with the parts.

It does take a bit of preparation to make the project less frustrating for the 3 year old. I was glad to have found this McGill Paper Punch for $2.99 at a neighborhood store and was happy to put it to good use.

But, if the paper Punch isn't available, can use stickers, or simply cut out paper feet like I did for the Easy Paper Penguin cards last year. Now, this Holly & Berries Punch makes a bow, a sock, a star, 2 holly leaves and berries of different sizes and we wanted to use as many of the pieces as possible.

Items Used:
McGill Holly & Berries Punch 92099
Black, Orange and White card stock or construction paper for penguin
Light blue or white card stock greeting cards - simply cut an 8½x11 paper as desired
Teal blue, lilac, light blue and sparkly white tissue paper (I used the scraps I had saved from wrapping presents)
Stick glue

The Wintry Effect was the basic background layer: tissue papers glued in layers on the greeting card face. Simply apply glue all over the front of the greeting card and paste the tissue paper, preferably cut to size. We implied a sort of horizon by overlapping dark color and the sparkly white tissue paper.

Next come the penguins on this icy landscape. The first couple started out as nice little guys - star-bellied and non-star-bellied, with bow-tie and a restrained charm.

Then, Oggie decided to let a couple of penguins go wild... if you notice the droppings from the penguin's bottom, I hope it brings a smile :) The left one below slid on the icy shore and landed in the ocean. the right one is gazing at the vast ocean while doing his business. (Og's interpretation, not mine).

Ana made a couple of "girl" penguins with bow on their head rather than the neck; and one who was pretending to be a moose.

All in all a fantastic hour and a half well-spent having good fun and getting a few Holiday Cards ready in the process!

A Plump and Perky Turkey

A Plump and Perky Turkey
by Teresa Bateman
illustrated by Jeff Shelly

Ages 4-8

Publisher: Marshall Cavendish Corporation

Stories told in rhyme have a charm and allure that is hard to miss. A Plump and Perky Turkey is one such which, despite its simple story line, managed to put us in a Read->Laugh-along->Repeat cycle.

The people in Squawk Valley
were downhearted and depressed.
Thanksgiving was approaching,
but without its special guest.

Special guest? Why, the turkey, of course!

Far and wide and long and hard they search but not one single turkey was to be found.

But then, Ebenezer Beezer has an idea: why not let the turkey find them instead? And that is what they set out to do. A Squawk Valley Art Show with a turkey theme.

An ad is circulated: Model Wanted for the Art Show.

Why, even turkeys understand
(as everybody knows)
you can't make turkey art
without a turkey there to pose.

None respond, except for silly old Pete, the Plump and Perky, Clever and Cocky.

With a proud and jaunty gobble,
he gave out a hearty cry—
"A plump and perky turkey?
Well, I'm sure I qualify."

He is hired without delay and put to work right away posing for the artsy-craftsy folk to make their turkey art.

They make turkeys out of spuds,
and out of clay and out of rope.
They made turkeys out of oatmeal,
and out of paper, out of soap.

When it is time for Pete to judge the Pete-inspired art, the salivating people exult at having trapped the hapless bird. He studies each work of art as the crowd close in and cheer; he stops for a closer look and then he... disappears!

How? you ask. Well, since I believe it is cruel to leave the reader hanging (esp., if they cannot get their hands on the book easily), here's what Pete did:
The room was full of turkeys,
in a wall-to-wall collage.
For a clever bird like Pete
it was a perfect camouflage.

And manages to escape.

Needless to say, the people of Squawk Valley are certainly disappointed. Crashed are their hopes to relish a roast turkey. But, being pragmatic folk, they agree when Beezer says breezily:
Right now, at least I'm thankful
that we still have shredded wheat."

Turkeys are notorious for lack of smartness, sometimes even to their own detriment. The story puts an interesting twist on this fact. And why cannot they be found around Thanksgiving in Squawk Valley? Well, being clever flightless birds, they gather in groups, hop on hot air balloons and head to warmer shores come autumn.

The illustrations by Jeff Shelly are silly, comical, expressive and busy. The beautiful oranges and browns capture the autumn in the air.

The catchy lilt and rhythm, the double-trickery, the illustrations, and the autumn cheeriness of the setting all have added up to a merry read-aloud favorite.

Six from the 6 yo (that vaulted into our Wish List)

Of all the books that came our way in October, selecting just six of the books the six year old and I liked best sure was tough. Only restriction was that the six short-listed ones must be picture books (we will do a separate chapter books list) and something Ana enjoyed reading more than once and would love to share with her friends.

Why six and only six books? Well, for no reason other than that I like the sound of "Six from the Six Year Old" to go with "Three from the Three Year Old" posted earlier.

And, we did find more than six books we liked that I want to share here. At another time. In a separate post. Mostly non-fiction, plus a few delightful chapter books.

It wasn't a surprise to note that four of the six books showcased poetry - Cat Poems, Poetrees, Mirror, Mirror, and Around the World on Eighty Legs.

However, Hooray for Inventors! was a surprise for me. Something about the format and the presentation of tidbits of facts about famous inventors and their inventions seems to have impressed the six yo.

A Horse in the House is one of those books that makes one wonder about the animals and question our assumption that they are just dumb beasts (or that we humans are intellectually well-endowed).

Sometimes we hit a dry patch for weeks and none of the books we randomly bring home from the library stirs us even remotely. Sometimes even the books I placed on hold having read rave reviews about fail to resonate with us. And of course, sometimes there are those books that I love absolutely and want the kids to like them but they were totally unimpressed.

I think we got lucky that many of these wonderful books landed in our house at the same time, somehow cosmically arranged, to help us share it here.

I would've loved to dedicate individual posts to each of these. Maybe I will at Saffron Tree.

Here they are, in no particular order, the six books that not only caught the six year old's attention over the last month's reads, but impressed me tremendously!

Poetrees
by Douglas Florian

This book is ripe with poetrees,
They're grown to educate and please.
You'll see a cedar,
Oak tree too.
Birch and banyan,
Pine and yew,
Palm and gum
And willow tree,
Plus more you'll love tree-mendously!

And true to its promise, Poetrees offers seed-sized lessons about the mighty trees. The font spacing and arrangement of text on some of the poems like The Seed, Tree Rings and Roots - reminded me of the concrete poems we've read (Janeczko's A Poke in the I comes to mind).

Some of the words have been spelled creatively to rhyme and I had fun discovering it with Ana. For example in Tree Rings, "his-tree" at first baffled her but as we replaced it with "history" it made sense. Plus, we learnt about Heartwood and Sapwood. Two things we didn't know before we read this particular poem.

Imagine a background zoomed in on the tree rings, with the text going around in a circle along one of the rings depicted.

Tree Rings:
Tree rings show how trees grow. Wide rings: fast growth. Narrow rings: slow. Heartwood: dead wood. Sapwood: living. A tree's true his-tree free for the giving.

The large format book has huge double-page illustrations for each poem, in portrait orientation (rather than the usual landscape) so that we open the page and hold it up vertically to read and appreciate it in full.

And when I read, "Each poem is printed on a vertical double-page spread illustrated with mixed-media artwork in gouache, watercolor, colored pencil, rubber stamps, oil pastels, and collage on brown paper bags", I was doubly awed by what an interesting canvas the brown paper bag made.

Glossatree (Glossary) at the back of the book provides more information on each tree.

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Around the World on Eighty Legs: Animal Poems
by Amy Gibson
illustrated by Daniel Salmieri

From Far Far North to Down Under and Out Back, we travel the world and discover the various animals, some thriving, some extinct. All in charming lilting rhyming verse.

Some are short little verses, some are multi-stanza poems, but they all bring out a distinguishing feature about the animal in an unforgettable way.

Anaconda:
Although Anaconda is fond of a hug,
to my liking, his hug is a little too snug —
And a little too strong, and a little too long,
and that's why when I see him, I hurry along.

The illustration for this poem shows a fairly devious-looking anaconda wrapped tightly around a sign that reads "Free Hugs".

We learn about Auk (extinct), Skua, Guillemot (and its wedge-shaped eggs), Proboscis Monkey, Pangolin, Slow Loris, Takin (something she had learnt about thanks to D's Bhutan trip a few years ago), Goanna (thanks to Steve Lattanzi's Goanna Joanna), and even tiny Krill, among other regulars, of course.

Auk:
When moved to talk,
the awkward auk
lets out an awful,
raucous squawk—

No dainty squeak,
no piercing shriek,
no chilling screech
slips past his beak...
(and a couple more verses that reiterate the squawk of the auk)

The illustrations by Daniel Salmieri, combining watercolor, gouache and colored-pencil, complement the text well and are laced with humor and lightness.

The "Menagerie of Facts" located at the back of the book lists the animals alphabetically with brief notes about them. [Amy Gibson's site has resources for teachers]

Much like Polar Bear, Arctic Hare by Eileen Spinelli, this is a book I'd love to have on my bookshelf. It is delightful and informative, with simple colorful illustrations that lean on the funny side. There's something in the book each for the budding writer, the curious young zoologist, the quirky goofball, and the seasoned adult.

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Mirror, Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verses
by Marilyn Singer
illustrated by Josée Masse

Fairy Tales. There is always something new to discover - a new perspective, an interesting what-if, a hidden agenda... We never tire of them.

Mirror, Mirror takes some of the classic fairy tales and turns them upside down. Literally. In breathtakingly refreshing, clever, and unique reversible verses.

Isn't this a fairy tale?

A fairy tale this isn't...

Write a short verse. Read it in reverse, line-by-line, with perhaps change in punctuation. Does it make sense? If so, does it convey the same idea from a different perspective, an opposite perspective? Then you have a reverso poem.

Sleeping Beauty, Red Riding Hood, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Cinderella, Princess and the Frog, Hansel and Gretel, Rapunzel... there are two sides to every story.

Picture a larger than life wolf camouflaged among the trees in the woods in the background. Now imagine him wearing a snazzy suit coat and a hat, lumbering on all fours. Slavering jaw. Front paw raised in motion. Glaring... glaring at the little girl in the foreground. A little girl wearing a red hooded cape. Popping berries into her mouth. One leg kicked high behind her suggesting skipping motion while the basket in her hand swings jauntily. All in bright colors of teal and green and brown and red and yellow, a brilliant blend of warm and cool colors.

In the Hood
In my hood, skipping through the wood, carrying a basket, picking berries to eat — juicy and sweet what a treat! But a girl musn't dawdle. After all, Grandma's waiting.	After all, Grandma's waiting, mustn't dawdle... but a girl! What a treat — juicy and sweet, picking berries to eat, carrying a basket, skipping through the wood in my 'hood.

Illustrations by Josée Masse are bold, bright and gorgeous, cleverly bringing out the two perspectives of the reverso poems.

The six year old read it over and over. To hear the "yeah, I get it, mama!" after every poem that clicked was divine music to my ears. We read it together, discovering the perspectives. I loved reading this aloud to her as I could make dramatic pauses to bring out the differences that the same lines in reverse order presents.

This has become one of my all-time favorite books! (Nana, if you are reading this, we would like to add this to the Wish List)!

[Here's an interview with author Marilyn Singer about her creative process for this book].

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Cat Poems
by Dave Crawley
illustrated by Tamara Petrosino

The two cats we adopted as tiny kittens nearly a decade ago are quite a source of entertainment and education for the kids at home.

Plus, of course, an assorted bunch of neighborhood cats stop by as often as they can as I am a soft-touch - I end up feeding them. Not just leftovers or cold milk that the kids didn't finish, but toasty warm milk - warmed up just for them now that it is winter - as soon as I spot them pawing the back door.

Which is all to say that we love cats. Cats are right up there with Horses, Ana's first favorite in the mammalia. So, this book of cat poems easily amused her.

The illustrations are funny and charming, complementing the poems well. Front and back inside covers have illustrations of the various popular variety of cats from Persian to Manx, Ragdoll to Siamese, Himalayan to American Shorthair (which is what our two kitties are, I think).

However, when she got past poring over the inside front cover, she still took her time over every poem, presented one per page - some short, some long, some in cartoon style panels and some as a sweet little story. The book seems like fitting kid-size tribute to these much misunderstood creatures.

Don't ever try to wash a cat.
It simply doesn't work.
If you should put her in the tub,
the cat will go berserk.

So true. And yet, until Ana actually tried to get one of our kitties in her bath, she did not know this. And since she has done it, she laughed out loud at this poem and and accompanying illustration.

Non-cat-lovers might be inclined to give this book a miss, but, the poems beautifully showcase the idiosyncrasies of cats, the fiercely proud and selfish yet cuddly and affectionate nature they choose to exhibit, and yet always manage to bring warmth into the people they live with.

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Hooray for Inventors!
by Marcia Williams

From Gutenberg's Movable Type to Marconi's Radio, from Wright Borthers' Flying Machine to Thomas Edison's Light Bulb, the book is packed with information presented in a child-friendly cartoon format with colorful panels. The illustrations with conversations lean towards the comical, but each panel has the facts progressing along like a story.

Thanks to My Brother's Flying Machine we had read nearly a year ago, Ana enjoyed Wilbur and Orville Wright and their Fabulous Flying Machine section very much.

I found the Owl conversations around the edges on the borders of each page to be quite distracting, but Ana found them silly and entertaining. [Author's website is laid out much like the pages of her book - busy border, lots of color, conversational asides]

Back of the book has a page dedicated to Women Inventors, many of whom I am ashamed to admit, I had not heard of before. And finally in My Favorite Inventors Take A Bow section we learn about the author's favorite inventors.

This is not a book that can be read in a hurry. And not just once. It has to be consumed in small doses, maybe focusing on one invention/inventor at a time. A nice book to have handy for the curious mind.

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A Horse in the House
and Other Strange But True Animal Stories
by Gail Ablow
illustrated by Kathy Osborn

Gail Ablow, an award-winning broadcast journalist shifted gears to present this collection of news stories about Animals (and Humans) Behaving Atypically. Facts from the news are spun into short one-page stories that are both amusing and outlandish.

The Donkey Wedding apparently took place in Magadi, a village near Bangalore, India, to invite the Water God Varuna to shower down rains to their drought-stricken place.

Eye-glasses for the near-sighted greyhound, an antenna implanted in a Secret Agent Acoustic Kitty's tail to transmit sounds as soft whispers, the now-famous relationship between Owen the baby hippo and Mzee ("old man" in Swahili) an old tortoise...

Each story is crisply told, peppered with just enough humor and drama to fascinate a six year old.

The illustrations by Kathy Osborn are vivid yet rather surreal, bold yet humorous.

Author's note at the back also lists the references to the news stories in the various publications that inspired this book.

A quirky book for the young reader who loves the bizarre as much as sugar and spice and everything nice.

[image source: amazon.com, and where possible from author/illustrator websites]

Three from the 3 yo

Of the several books we managed to read in the last few weeks, only a handful resonated with us, as usual. I enlisted the three year old's help to come up with three books that warranted a place in our Wish List.

Why three and only three? Well, it was just a whim. I rather liked the sound of "Three from the Three Year Old" as opposed to "Seven from the... or A Dozen from the..." I could always share the other wonderful books in a separate post :)

How did we arrive at these three? I resorted to the Optometrist style of refining by asking "Did you like Cat In The Hat Seeds or Ocean Babies better?" , "Inside, Outside, Upside, Down or The Big Honey Hunt?", "Mouse Count or Sneezy Louise?", holding the books up two at a time to get Og to pick the ones he favored most. I *might* have skewed the results a bit by asking leading questions, but, no matter.

The three books from the 3 yo also happens to appeal very much to the 6 yo. And to all ages, as a matter of fact.

Well, here they are, the list of books (in no particular order).

Calvin Can't Fly
The Story of a Bookworm Birdie

by Jennifer Berne
illustrated by Keith Bendis.

I think it is the comical colorful illustrations that appealed the most. Calvin is a brand new baby starling hatched along with his siblings and cousins.

While the others discover worms and dirt and water, Calvin discovers books.

While others dream about eating bugs, Calvin dreams about adventure stories and poetry.

While others learn to fly (with their teacher Mr.Wingstead), Calvin is busy in the library (which is inside the trunk of a large tree, with posted Hours and Nocturnal Hours by the arched doorway).

Finally, when it is time to migrate, Calvin hasn't quite mastered the art of flying, owing to lack of practical knowledge although he was brimming with theoretical details. His cousins end up towing him much to Calvin's embarrassment.

At this point, the parent radar started beeping when I read it for the first time: So, Calvin's love of books does not turn out well for him? I can't pass that message to my kids...

However, the message in fact turns out to be quite a (wild yet) positive one. Calvin, thanks to his bookish knowledge, manages to steer his whole migrating flock of fellow starlings away from danger. And they thank him profusely and throw a party in his honor.

Calvin's cousins call him names: "nerdy birdie", "geeky beaky", "bookworm". When you are a bird being called a "worm" is a very bad thing.

"We don't do name-calling, Mama, that's not okay. Calvin's cousins are mean to him." chime in Oggie and Ana every time we read this page. Another message registered.

And the heartwarming part is at the end when Calvin can actually fly! He never tried it before and therefore never knew he could do it. But once he tried it and practised hard, he flew just as well as the others who continued their journey of migration.

I ended up loving this book as much as (if not more than) Og.

Spoon

by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
illustrated by Scott Magoon

A charming little book by one of my favorite authors. Her Cookies book was Ana's favorite a few years ago, still picked up from our bookshelves on and off.

It amazes me to see Ms.Rosenthal do it over and over again: take a simple route to present a profoundly beautiful message without sermonizing, always gentle and tender, woven with humor and wit.

The message again is quite subtly yet clearly conveyed: Spoon is not satisfied with who he is. He longs to be like others. He sees them as having more fun. Knife gets to cut and spread. Fork gets to go practically everywhere. Everyone thinks chopsticks are cool and exotic.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Spoon, his friends rather envy him. Knife says, "No one is allowed to be silly with me." Fork is impressed as Spoon is used to measure out stuff. Nobody uses Fork to measure stuff.

Well, you get the idea. The book celebrates the individual and their unique traits that make them who they are, at the same time lets us see the flip-side to everything.

Spoon finally sees his own merits when his mom reminds him of all the things he can do. So, finally Spoon feels alive again, rather than mope around thinking of all the things he cannot do.

Some of the tongue-in-cheek wordplay in this book is probably lost on the 3 year old, who takes it at face value and laughs at the pictures and yet gets the message about why Spoon is special in his own way. A brilliant book for all ages.

The illustrations are funny and witty, with dark black line and greyish silvery look. The page with Fork having all the fun digging into a slice of cake, standing up with a forkful of salad, and esp., ready to delve into the pie was the kids' favorite. I liked the Spoon family photo where the spork is the black-sheep, rather a misfit. Would they welcome him in the Fork Family photo?

Mañana, Iguana (book+CD)

by Ann Whitford Paul
illustrated by Ethan Long

Bilingual books are fun. So are books with CD for read-along. Mañana, Iguana has both these features making it a recent favorite with all of us.

We learnt the days of the week in Spanish, as well as Yo Si (I will) and Yo No (Not I) thanks to conejo and culebra and tortuga.

Much like the classic folk tale The Little Red Hen, the story covers friendship, teamwork and not the least, contribute if you want the benefit of the labor.

On Monday (lunes), Iguana decides to throw a party for her friends the following Saturday (sabado). There are party invitations to be written and delivered, food to be prepared, decorarions to be hung.

Iguana asks her friends conejo (rabbit), culebra (snake) and tortuga (tortoise) for help. Predictably, they each have an excuse for every task. Rather than help out now, they say, "Mañana, Iguana" and while away their time.

Well, the rest of the story is apparent: the friends get a rude shock when they try to gate-crash Iguana's party, not being invited and not having helped host it. All's well that ends well. They realize the error of their ways and come through in the end.

The illustrations are vibrant with the Southwest landscape, complementing the story well, revealing Iguana's feelings at every turn. The repetitive response when Iguana solicits help and the distinct characteristics of the animals makes this a wonderful read-aloud book.

The timelessness of this story and the Spanish-learning opportunity appealed the most to me.

[image sources: www.ethanlong.com Long, www.scottmagoon.com, amazon.com]

Spectacular Autumn

With the weather limiting their outdoor play, and me restricting the roughhousing indoors (mostly for my own sanity), the kids are getting more restless these days, charging me with the task of redirecting all that energy by finding constructive things to do.

What's the most fun thing you did in school today, Ana?
Reading.

Hm. OK. What's the second most fun thing you did?
Ummm... Reading.

Tell me about one thing that you did in school that was not reading, but was interesting and fun.
Let me think... Nope, nothing else was fun. I don't want to have a conversation about this anymore, Mama!

And thus ends most of my probing into the day's events at school.

Oggie, on the other hand, is full of stories, some of which I suspect happened entirely in his own dimension of the universe. (Or so I hope).

"I was a raindrop and I fell from the sky and I turned into a giraffe today."

"I drawed the sounds I heard and it was dark and noisy."
...

And progressively his stories degenerate to the predictable 3-yo fascination (no thanks to Stool Scanner App): "I made bum gravy today and I stirred it together with my pee and made a yucky soup in the toilet!"

Anyway, I was flitting around the house gathering the 30-odd books due back at the library soon, shivering under three layers of sweatshirts and cardigans (well, the thermostat did say 60°F but I think it has taken to lying, just to spite me), muttering to myself Haven't I reminded them enough to not leave the books scattered about the house? How many times have I showed the spot we put the library books?... when it occurred to me that Fall, the beautiful, gorgeous Autumn, is slipping away.

The bright yellow maple leaves against the deep periwinkle sky in our driveway, the reds and oranges and browns bursting with ardor down our street, the gusty winds spreading chilly discomfort daring the burning sun to touch my skin as I watch the kids rake the fallen leaves... What would we do without the changing seasons and the promise they bring?

A Magic Rainbow and a Mummy

Come September. One of the coveted LPs from my dad's collection. (Which he just gave away to some stranger, along with the HMV turntable). To this day I cannot say these two ordinary words together without the tune ringing in my head...

Well, anyway, I was going say, Come October, the house buzzes with talks of pumpkin and harvest and Deepavali and Mama's birthday... and for the last few years also CROCUS at Saffron Tree.

Plus, of course, Costumes.

I've expounded enough about Halloween here before, so, will skip that thought except to record that I am not fond of spooky stuff. Just personally. It manages to disturb me enough with no ROI that it hasn't been worth it for me. I cannot watch horror movies for sure - just peeking between the cracks in the fingers over my eyes seems too much of an effort to sustain for an hour plus.

So, of course, I don't encourage spooky stuff for the kids.

However, I have no objections to people getting their thrills. D for one loves off-beat horror, cult classics, weird stuff. He is a well-adjusted human being. (As far as I know). So, no judgments is my motto on this. For adults.

However, growing up in a culture that celebrates a festival every other day, with actual customs and manner of celebration varying form region to region, family to family in India, I have come to look upon Halloween and Thanksgiving as reasons to set up a tradition that I am comfortable with and hopefully pass on to the kids.

Coming from a tradition where death anniversary of the family's forebears are observed in a solemn manner, it didn't seem odd for me to read a book about Dia de los Muertos to my kids. And it was quite fun for Ana to do a related craft with her friends.

I still remember the joy and wonder I felt when I watched D carve a huge pumpkin on my first birthday as a newlywed. He made it look so easy and effortless and I loved the way the candle shone through carved pumpkin Jack-o-lantern.

So, pumpkin carving has become a firm tradition for the last decade. Kids have gotten into it. Ana and Oggie scoop out the innards, separate the pulp and seeds so I can roast the seeds for the next week's snack.

Dress-up is always fun. Especially if it comes out of one's imagination. With that in mind, I've tried to encourage the kids to come up with costume ideas. I cannot forget Ana's first. How stubbornly sure she was about being a Peanut Butter Jelly Sandwich!

Now, it's not like Halloween sneaks up on us unawares on anything, but for some reason, Ana and Oggie don't settle on their costume until just a week or two before Oct 31st. Which leaves us scrambling to get it ready in time.

This year's costume discussion started with Oggie leaning strongly towards Watermelon, his favorite fruit.

I was pushing for squid in a not-so-subtle way - with ulterior motive, of course, and not because of some strange love for the sea creature. See, I was particularly thrilled about the Octopus costume I had made last year.

After a lot of back and forth, with me tossing out some of his cute ideas as I wasn't up to making the costume, we settled on Mummy.

Thanks to the Boston MFA trip and the Egyptian wing there, Oggie was fascinated with mummies. Now, he doesn't quite get that it is just dead people, preserved. he thinks they are a special species. Anyway, so, Mummy it was.

How to make a mummy costume? Well, I sort of made it up. And it worked out rather okay. Oggie has very specific dislikes so I couldn't just wrap him up more. He was willing to wear a hat but refused to be wrapped up anymore than that, so, his costume had to be simplified: A partially unwrapped Mummy.

Ana has come up with interesting ones in the last few years and this year was no exception. She very firmly said she wanted to be The Magic Rainbow With A Pot O' Gold At The End!

How to make a magic rainbow costume? Well, I tossed around cardboard cut-outs, strips-of-color outfit and such. After googling around a bit, I loved the cutie here: Sunshine and Rainbow. And that's what I did, with a few edits.

Which parent willingly allows a steady candy diet? None that I know of... The kids' dentist says indulge them once a year, rather than small sugary treats on a regular basis. Enough said on that already... refrain from insufferable preachiness I remind myself.

Anyway, pencils, erasers, little activity books, apples, are all fun to hand over when the doorbell rings with the Trick-Or-Treaters waiting eagerly... However...

Happy Halloween!

The Green Earth

Life on earth as we know it today is quite unimaginable without those luscious green plants all around us - the only living things that take the brilliance of our star, the sun, and convert it to energy and in turn fuel the rest of us who co-habit the earth.

In celebration of these hardy and amazing life form that not only can make their own food, but share it with us, and give off much-needed oxygen for our existence, we enjoyed reading a few books that inspired awe and wonder in us.

Celebritrees : Historic & Famous Trees of the World
by Margi Preus
illustrated by Rebecca Gibbon

Trees are the oldest, biggest, and tallest living organisms on earth, says this book that celebrates trees in a novel way. Fourteen of the most beloved trees that have earned a name for themselves are showcased in this non-fiction volume.

From Methuselah (Bristlecone Pine) in California to The Tule Tree (Montezuma Cypress) in Mexico, to The Bodhi Tree (Ficus religiosa) in Sri Lanka where Buddha is believed to have gained enlightenment to The Chapel Oak (Chene-Chapelle Oak) in France, trees as old as 4800 years to as young as 50 years are presented, one per page.

And to safeguard them, the exact location is not disclosed, and only illustrations of them accompany the book, no photographs. The Tree of One Hundred Horses, a Chestnut in Sicily is considered to be the thickest tree ever known, which has now split into three sections and yet is still alive. And how did it get its fancy name?  When the Queen of Aragon went sight-seeing to Mount Etna, a rainstorm made them take shelter; the queen and her one hundered horsemen all found shelter under the wide branches of this benevolent tree.

We read not only that they are tallest or oldest or widest, but that they have a story of their own, things they have seen and done just by being themselves, witnessing history unfolding.

More About The Trees section at the back of the book provide further information about each kind of tree in the book, like the Oak, Cypress, Giant Sequoia and Baobab among others.

What Can We Do To Help Grow Celebritrees section gives some ideas on how we can help trees.

Incidentally, Redwoods by Jason Chin (reviewed here at Saffron Tree) is another interesting book we read a couple of years ago.

Trout Are Made of Trees
by April Pulley Sayre
illustrated by Kate Endle

April Pulley Sayre's books are a favorite, like Meet the Howlers and Honk, Honk Goose.

In Trouts Are Made of Trees, we learn how we are all part of one whole circle, all thanks to trees. Trees who let go of their leaves in autumn. Leaves that fall into a nearby stream and settle down to let algae grow on them. Algae that are eaten by the caddisflies, and shrimp, which are in turn eaten by the bigger predators and finally by trout.

Trout are made of trees. 
So are the bears
and the people
who catch the trout and eat them.

The Gift of the Tree
by Alvin Tresselt
illustrated by Henri Sorensen

A great oak tree lived in a forest for over a 100 years, providing home, shelter, food and shade.

As the years went by termites and rot set in, making the tree weaker. Winter storms tore off the branches one by one until only the trunk remained. With hurricane and slashing rain, only a stump marked its once proud existence.

Even then the tree didn't give up. Deer mice family, rabbits, dormant grubs and fungus  found shelter from the harsh winter, awaiting warmer spring. Woodpecker, chipmunks, raccoons lived with their families in the hollow trunk that had fallen down.

However the tree lived on through the acorns it had dropped years ago which have now taken root even as the great oak tree returns to the earth to rest.

The illustrations are evocative and gorgeous, capturing the vagaries of nature with the bright lush greens of spring and summer to the orange browns of autumn to the cold gray whites of winter. [Browse Inside at HarperCollins.]

[image sources: books.google.com, amazon.com, betterworldbooks.com]

[cross posted at Saffron Tree CROCUS2011]

Why Can't We Live a Non-sequential Life?

Sometimes I wish we did not live our days sequentially. I mean, we all get the same number of days to live... But we shouldn't have to live them in order.

--The Mother's Guide to The Meaning of Life,
by Amy Krouse Rosenthal.

A general listlessness and severe fatigue...

A bit of bawling - a rather generous bit with possible meltdown in the horizon...

A feeling of being superfluous, touching nobody, making no difference...

These were not the emotions I had hoped to wake up with the other day when the earth went around the sun yet again marking the passing of another uneventful year in a mundane life. But there they were anyway, uninvited.

The quote from Rosenthal's book popped into my head making me wonder what it would feel like to live that Deepavali day as the carefree ten year old that I was setting off fireworks and snacking on Deepavali specialties; and then jump forward the next day skipping the awkward teens but living the life of a studious twenty-something seeking comfort in academics; then jump back to those teenage days when I was filled with a drive to accomplish the next goal I had set for myself; then jump forward again to a ripe old age (if I am blessed with that) and glimpse how the kids turn out; and then jump back to the present day, whatever that happens to be...

Not really time travel per se but living my exact life that I have been given, albeit non-sequentially.

Hard as it was for me to process the strange inner disquiet that stretched out its tentacles and puppeteered me that morning, especially when the mind was content with all the blessings, I was not convinced that it was mere mid-life crisis or agitated thoughts that triggered such a melancholy... it had nothing to do with what I am or have been or ever wanted to be... nothing to do with material possessions, nothing to do with station in life, nothing to do with expectations, nothing to do with anything external... nothing staggeringly deep or philosophical... in fact I couldn't put a finger on it and that is what troubled me more.

Why were my innards smoldering so?

After all the moping and stomping and screaming about nothing in particular, the monster was finally unleashed to escape into the vast cosmos, by a simple "What's wrong?" from D.

Which is all it took for me to realize that nothing was wrong as such but just that I was terribly out of tune and my vibrations were not in harmony with the universe. Acknowledging and accepting that is one step closer to re-establishing the delicate equilibrium.

Thus passed another birthday, also the day of Deepavali (literally "an array of lights" in Sanskrit), the Festival of Lights, with the lighting of lamps and candles, sharing of simple food and being home with my loved ones.

[Image: "Wild Duck Reflecshon" by Ana]

Older Than The Stars

Older Than The Stars
by Karen C. Fox
illustrated by Nancy Davis

Ages: 4-8

Publisher: Charlesbridge Pub Inc

You are older than the dinosaurs. 
Older than the earth. 
Older than the sun and the other planets. 
You are older than the stars. 
You are as old as the universe itself.

Thus starts this wonderful book Older than the Stars by veteran science writer Karen Fox and continues to intrigue and capture the young minds with chockful of information about the universe we happen to inhabit.

A là This is the house that Jack built, the cumulative story unfolds with
This is the BANG when the world began.

The illustrations on the page is animated with spiral scribbles and the letters B, A, N, G sort of emanating from the center of the double-page spread and radiating outwards, giving a sense of what the Big Bang must've felt like.

These are the bits that were born in the bang when the world began, the book continues with each page adding a bit more information about cosmic activities that went on to create the world we inhabit today.

Each double-page spread features bold art work with text arranged around and about the image highlighting and complementing the poem adding to the impact.

Plus a little information box on each page gives stark facts in simple enough words for the older kids: The bits zigged this way and that way, and sometimes they bumped into each other. When this happened they stuck together and formed something called atoms. Almost everything in the world is made up of atoms.

As the cumulative poem builds up, we learn why we are older than the stars: our bodies are made up of remnants of that primeval dust which is all there was and has been, getting recycled over and over into all the forms that has evolved over the age of the universe.

The resident six year old found the book interesting. Some of the scientific facts are probably beyond her grasp at her current level, but enough of it is presented in a crisp and clear manner that held her interest. Of course, the rhyming text by itself easily fascinated both the 3- and the 6- year old at home.

At the back of the book, there is a Time Line of the Universe and Glossary.

[image source: http://www.olderthanthestars.com]

[Cross-posted at Saffron Tree for our annual festival CROCUS 2011]

CROCUS: Celebrate Reading Of Culturally Unique Stories

Since 2007, Saffron Tree (ST) has been a household name: not only do I contribute to this wonderful repository of children's book reviews, but also benefit from its expanding resource, thanks to fellow moms/dad, friends, who have become almost like family over these past few years.

For the third year in a row, we are celebrating ST's birthday with our homegrown festival CROCUS: Celebrate Reading Of Culturally Unique Stories. Each year we focus on a theme to keep things interesting and entertaining.

CROCUS 2009 had us going around the world to bring stories to our kids, tales we had not read before - folk tales, fairy tales, trickster tales - from each of the continents, all reinforcing the fact that it is One World, despite our geographical boundaries.

CROCUS 2010 had us exploring multiculturalism based on aspects that make up the crux or core of a culture - mythology, folklore, arts, crafts, dance, music, lifestyle, food, traditions, festivals, even games.

Now that it is time for CROCUS 2011, we've pulled up our socks and gotten around to yet another adventure in understanding our world and in turn ourselves: The Five Elements. Most ancient civilizations recognized common elements of nature that pervade the universe we inhabit, attributing all material (perhaps non-material) objects to be made up of five elements variously identified as Air, Water, Fire, Aether/Space, Earth. And that is what we are exploring and celebrating for CROCUS 2011.

Our very own CROCUSWord - a crossword game for kids and adults, interviews with wonderful folk who do what they do to preserve, protect and raise awareness about the elements, books of course, plus arts and crafts are all lined up to be shared with you over the next week.

Please Join us for CROCUS 2011 from Oct 23rd to Oct 30th at www.saffrontree.org. Readership and comments are a great way to connect with each other and support our efforts... and we hope to see you there cheering us on, not just at the festival but all through.

Nonsense!

Nonsense!
poems by Edward Lear
pictures by Valorie Fisher

Publisher: Atheneum/Anne Schwartz Books

There was an old man, who when little
Fell casually into a kettle;
But, growing too stout, he could never get out,
So he passed all his life in that kettle.

Edward Lear needs no introduction. Twentieth child in a family of twenty-one, raised and educated by his eldest sister, Lear's talent as an artist was natural and well appreciated in his times, so much so that Queen Victoria asked for drawing lessons from him. When at Knowsley Hall, commissioned by Earl of Derby to draw the birds and animals in that estate, Lear started writing limericks to entertain the kids there. Under the pseudonym Derry Down Derry, he published these wonderfully silly and funny poems in A Book of Nonsense.

Nonsense! is a collection fifteen of his inventive nonsensical limericks illustrated in a brilliantly whimsical fashion by Valorie Fisher. Everything about this book is completely charming. The resident six year old thinks this book is 'goofy' and 'weird' and 'funny' and 'silly' (which, btw, are all good, raving responses) and chooses to read it many times over, on and off, just for fun.

What makes this book remarkable and memorable for me, besides Lear's fun with words, is Valorie Fisher's illustrations.

Each poem is presented in a double page spread. Left side has a bold patterned vintage wallpaper-like background upon which is set the stark black text in an old-fashioned curvaceous frame. Right side has a full-page illustration which showcases Ms.Fisher's ingenuity: a comical combination of real life objects and scenes with cartoons and cut-outs that create a surreal world. (A glimpse into her style is available here).

There was an Old Person whose habits,
Induced him to feed upon Rabbits;
When he'd eaten eighteen, he turned perfectly green,
Upon which he relinquished those habits.

The illustration accompanying this poem combines small rabbit figurines in the foreground corner, cut-out collage of rabbits and trees for the background, with old-fashioned cartoon-like rendering of a typical old man with glasses, hat and an agonized expression, green all over, holding his tummy desperately. As if this is not enough, Ms.Fisher, keeping the young ones in mind, has added two little message labels - one on the watering can and another on a shovel-like tool - defining two of the words in the poem: Induced - Caused, Relinquished - Given up. And, the wallpaper-like background for the poem on the left side is bright green with blue spots all over it.

The illustration for the poem about the Young Lady of Welling shows her fishing with her foot while playing the harp, and has a little ribbon which explains one particular word in the poem that might challenge the little ones: Accomplished - very skilled.

When Ana read, There was an old person of Nice, Whose associates were usually Geese, she paused a bit as she read Nice as the usual word nice (like mice), and caught herself not rhyming right. And one look at the accompanying illustration with signs for La Patisserie de Nice and La Plage de Nice she guessed it must be French and rhymed Nice with Geese. Plus, of course, one sign read associate: a friend or partner which eliminated any need for me to go into tedious explanation of the new word for her.

Ana studied the pictures in great detail, especially the Old Man of Berlin who got baked in a cake, the Young Lady of Ryde, the Old Person of Rheims... however, the Old Man with a nose looked a bit scary she admitted. Not that the picture is gory, just that he has such a long nose it made her wonder how he would do the everyday functions.

A gem of a book to have on the bookshelf (hint, hint, Nana).

[image source: paperbackswap.com]

The Honeybee Man

The Honeybee Man
by Lela Nargi
illustrated by Krysten Brooker

Bee's barf = Honey.

This much information is probably all it takes to fascinate some kids.

Where do bees keep their honey? How do we get to the honey? Why do they let us take it? And, who keeps the bees?

The book blends fact and fiction about a Bee Keeper in New York City, Fred, who keeps bees in 3 little houses, beehives, each with two white stories and one red, up on the roof top, way up high on the building, so bees can fly in and out of their houses easily. Each beehive has a queen which Fred names Queen Mab, Queen Nefertiti, Queen Boadicea. (His cat of course is simply named 'Cat').

Queen bees can live anywhere from 2 to 5 years. Drones,the male bees, stay in the hive and tend to the work there, with a life span of about 2 months. Hives become active in spring when it starts getting warmer and continues all the way till end of autumn when it starts getting cold.

The buzzing activity inside the hives is brought out with straightforward description. The queens are laying eggs. Some workers are building wax rooms, some are feeding babies, some are making the hive tidy. Others are getting ready to forage in flowers abloom all across Brooklyn.

Female worker bees gather pollen and nectar all day long buzzing about busily, live anywhere from 1 to 4 months. From blueberry bushes to sweet pea, to squash flowers, to sage and linden tree flowers they fly and suck nectar and store it in their honey sacs in their bellies. They perform their waggle dance to show where the best flowers grow.

Bees store the honey for their food during long winter months when no flowers bloom and it is too cold to buzz about. So, what happens if we take away their food? Do they die? This was a question that came up when we read that Fred sends puffs of smoke to make bees burrow deep inside their hive so that he can take the honeycombs and not be stung non-stop during the taking.

As it happens, ideally, Fred takes only a bit from the top (super) level and not all of the honey so the bees still have enough for their food.

The details about the wooden frames in the beehive, the honeycomb with wax caps, and how Fred slices it off to get to the rich thick honey, and the spinning machine that squeezes every last drop of honey into the barrel were easy to follow. And finally, Fred pours the honey into jars, labels them and shares with his friends.

The illustrations complement the narration well, bringing it all together. Front and back inside covers of the book shows diagrams of flower, side view of a bee, beehive sectional view, queen, drone and worker bee and a close up look at the stinger.

Notes at the back provide Some Amazing Facts About Honey, Honeybees, and Beekeepers.

[image source: barnesandnoble.com]
[cross-posted at Saffron Tree]