When the delicious smell of the baking blueberry pie stole out from the oven, the little elf sniffed. He wanted that blueberry pie so much that he almost got his nose caught in the oven door. Elmer is a house elf after my own heart! I too truly love blueberry pie, dear Elmer. I understand….
Tag: picture books
The Practical Princess
The Practical Princess by Jay Williams surprised me. Before reading it, I assumed that it was going to be yet another addition to the current craze of feminist reimaginings of fairy tales. I wasn’t entirely wrong about that, however, I was wrong about how I would feel about that. The other day in our book…
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…
Harold and the Purple Crayon
“Wow,” you’re thinking, “she’s really going deep with this one!” Well, laugh all you want, but Harold is one of my favorite characters, and it pains me that there are so many folks out there who have never even heard of him. I will fix that right now! Harold has been around since before I…
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…
Papa Gatto
Ruth Sanderson is one of my favorite illustrators and children’s storytellers. Her art is classical and magical; her storytelling is traditional and grounded in folk tales. After falling in love with her work in the two Saints: Lives and Illuminations books, I started to request everything else she had from my library. Her Twelve Dancing Princesses is…
The Wishes of the Fish King
In May of 2016, author Doug McKelvey and illustrator Jamin Still collaborated on a Kickstarter project to fund the creation of a gorgeous new picture book. The Wishes of the Fish King is a story that Doug wrote when his first daughter was two years old. At the time, they lived in a house on…