I enjoyed William Steig’s Sylvester and the Magic Pebble years ago, but not so much that I set out to find everything Steig had written. More recently, I read Dr. De Soto and didn’t love it. I also remember feeling that the cover of The Amazing Bone is a bit creepy; flashbacks to childhood nightmares … Continue reading Amos and Boris
Miss Jaster’s Garden
Miss Jaster’s Garden by illustrator turned author N. M. Bodecker is one of those picture books that every family library should have. The illustration has a daydream-like quality with soft watercolors, the story line is adorable and the kind that children love to giggle at, and the writing is charming and intelligent. If Anne Shirley-Blythe … Continue reading Miss Jaster’s Garden
The Library Lion
I cannot remember where I discovered this perfectly sweet picture book. I am sure that someone in my book group suggested it, and I regret that I cannot give them credit for the excellent recommendation. Alas, the best I can do is share this with as many others as I can so that the recommendation … Continue reading The Library Lion
Bambi
Oh, Bambi! I had no idea. My husband inherited his dad’s copy of Felix Salten’s Bambi, so it was in our family library until we passed it on to our son. Though my husband assured me that it was nothing like the cartoon, for over 30 years I resisted reading it. I assumed that … Continue reading Bambi
The House of Wings
My family and I have developed a fun little habit of heading to our local St. Vincent de Paul Charity Resale shop about once a month to donate our excess and rescue books. Sometimes I discover homeschool gold like a 1980s set of Childcraft. Sometimes I find a book set I know nothing about but … Continue reading The House of Wings
Billy and Blaze
I have a cowboy kid. You know, a little guy who loves horses, dreams of living on a cattle ranch, and who believes that the wild untamed West is still out there, waiting for him to put on his boots and spurs so he can saddle up to that special kind of man’s work. I … Continue reading Billy and Blaze
David and the Phoenix
“You never know what you will find when you climb a mountain…” While he was a student at Berkeley in the 1940s, Edward Ormondroyd had a vision of a “large pompous bird diving out of a window, tripping on the sill, and crashing into a rose arbor below” (from the author’s letter in the Purple … Continue reading David and the Phoenix
The Water Horse
“Writing my books is like handing out presents. Giving children pleasure gives you a wonderful sort of Father Christmassy feeling.” - Dick King-Smith, October 1995 Dick King-Smith was a gift to children. A beloved English children’s author, King-Smith grew up in a sort of well-to-do existence. His family owned a quality paper company and King-Smith … Continue reading The Water Horse
Handle With Care
A couple of years ago someone gifted this oversized hardbound picture book to my science loving kids. We read it immediately and loved it. This spring, my ten year old was searching for science books to read during his daily quiet hour. When he pulled this one out of our biology bucket, we all enjoyed … Continue reading Handle With Care
The Wilderking Trilogy
This spring my family fell in love with The Wilderking trilogy. Much like Narnia or the Shire, the Wilderking books are set in a place that feels romantic and a bit heaven-kissed. Corenwald is a place of physical beauty, vibrant community, traditional values, exotic intrigue, relative peace, and the possibility of high adventure. The fictional … Continue reading The Wilderking Trilogy