This fabulous story came into our home via my mother. It was ex libris – a discard from the Brookings Public Library, and it had already been rebound and was an ugly book. But what a beautiful story. This Liberian folk tale, retold by Verna Aardema and illustrated by Ellen Weiss tells the tale of…
Tag: Books We Love
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel
I have written about waiting to leave for school in the morning as a kid. Captain Kangaroo was integral to the experience for many reasons, but specifically the clock at the bottom of the screen let us know when it was time to leave. I thank Captain Kangaroo for introducing me to Mike Mulligan and His…
Voyage to the Bunny Planet
“Far beyond the moon and stars, Twenty light- years south of Mars, Spins the Gentle Bunny Planet. And the Bunny Queen is Janet.” Three books that help us know that our imagination, hope, and love can transform even the worst day. When we first found these stories, they were three small books (First Tomato, Moss…
Caps for Sale: A Tale of a Peddler
I love this book. I remember it from when I was a child. We didn’t own a copy of this book, but I first experienced it on mornings before school in the mid-60s when Captain Kangaroo read it to us all via his childrens’ television program. I remember the pages would shake when the peddler…
Mama, Do You Love Me?
When Emily was about two, someone gave me a terrible book by Robert Munsch titled Love You Forever. It is a dreadful story of a co-dependent creepy relationship between a mother and son. I read it once and literally threw it away. In the kitchen garbage. I was horrified by the message of the book…
Wake Up, Wilson Street
One of the quietest, loveliest books that we read to the girls is out of print – Wake Up, Wilson Street by Abigail Thomas with illustrations (really paintings) by William Low. A grandmother and her grandchild sit and look out the window in the early morning and watch Wilson Street awaken. The sun comes up,…
Many Moons – Once upon a time…
When the girls were little, I never missed an opportunity to read James Thurber’s Many Moons to them. It is the story of the Princess Lenore who “fell ill of a surfeit of raspberry tarts” (something we wish we could all relate to in the dead of winter) and takes to her bed. The king,…
In which we begin…
This holiday break we were the house of critters. We dog walked, kitten entertained, fish sat, and hosted Po the bunny for the duration of the break. Po is a cute little guy, and I had no idea that I would find him so darn entertaining to have around. The first day he was at…
Living on the Lip of Insanity 