Have you ever heard the story of Dewey, the kitten who was dropped in the book return slot at a library in Iowa on a cold winter night? If not, you need to read Dewey the Cat.
Did you know that the majestic marble lions outside a New York Public Library building have names? World-renowned Patience and Fortitude appear in lovely picture books and even a wordless book.
I would never have guessed I would be buying graphic novels for my children. But that’s because I mistakenly equated graphic novels with comics. I now know graphic novels aren’t just collections of comic strips like Peanuts or Family Circus (though our whole family loves the works of Bil Keane and Charles Schulz!); graphic novels…
When a friend pulled her kids out of public school to homeschool them last November, the first thing I did was gather a stack of books about homeschooling to loan her. But what I really wish I’d added to the pile is a few picture books about homeschooling for her kids. That was pre-pandemic. Now…
I grew up less than a mile from our local public library. It was back in the day when there were rows and rows of little drawers holding the card catalog, each card representing a book on the library’s shelves. To check out a book, you signed your name on the card you pulled from…
“Any letters?” One of my children asks the oh-so-hopeful question almost every single day when they see me walking back from the mailbox, flipping through the mail. And oh the delight–the raptures–when an epistle has arrived from one of their pen pals! My children come by it naturally. I’ve been writing letters to my pen…
My first mailing address was at a little white house on half an acre about a mile out of town. I still remember how grown up I felt when my parents let me cross the country road to get the mail out of our mailbox all by myself. My daddy’s youngest cousin is just six…
We were the couple buying vintage children’s books on our honeymoon. We had to laughingly explain to the clerk at the used book store that we didn’t have any children yet; we just liked children’s books. Nine years and four children later, our collection of children’s books has grown exponentially. And even though we may choose the board books…
Everyone piles on the couch, the kiddoes still in their pajamas. It’s one wintry morning, and everyone is slow in waking up. The bright pictures captivate their imagination. The boy was caught in the storm. But the story draws them in. He stumbled toward the house his grandpa had built. “If the boy could make…
“How does a cow go to sleep — tell me how? How does a cow go to sleep?”
By the time it’s pages are half through, Mary’s eyes are drooping. It seems that the effect of saying “go to sleep” over enough times induces actual sleep on the part of a tired toddler—not to mention the yawns that Daddy is doing his best to suppress as he reads!
Going to Sleep on the Farm is one of our 18-month-old daughter Mary Kate’s favorite books…
Eloise Wilkin has always been my favorite children’s book illustrator. In fact, she’s probably my very favorite illustrator ever (excepting my husband’s drawings of classic cars and my daughter’s “pictures,” of course!). I grew up with my parents reading me the Golden Sturdy Shape Book versions of My Good Morning Book and My Good Night…
The End.
The End.