Picture Book Love

This morning Eleanor and I were reading during Samuel's nap. We read about Christmas, a boy who worries, a boy who dreamed of having a fish, about a Christmas tree farm, and a Great Doughnut Parade! (to name a few) I think if I had to pick, reading books to my babies is my favorite thing about their childhoods so far. I know that's not a big surprise for a librarian to say, but I never feel unappreciative about the books we have, the books we've been given, and the books we borrow.


As we read this morning I was thinking about when we'd no longer be reading picture books together. I got really sad. I wondered what I'd do with the huge mountain of books we own. It is alot. Hundreds. I buy these books as much for myself as for them. So many favorites. The stories I love. The memories of reading them together I love. Since I am a librarian I don't think it'll look too crazytown to keep them down the road :) And of course there are all the books and programs I've done as a librarian for other children. That will be a continuation for me (I hope).

And then I thought about the fun of what will come after picture books with reading chapter books together......and then both of them reading on their own. Maybe they'd be happy to talk about the books they are reading with me. Maybe Eleanor and I could do a book group together......and then I didn't feel too sad about not reading pictures books together as much. And that of course is years from now!


It's special to get out Christmas books and read them throughout this month. Christmas Farm was my new favorite Christmas book this year even though it came out in 2008. It is a really sweet story

The second photo is Eleanor and the third photo is Samuel :)

What We're Reading

Sometimes when Eleanor and I are running into the library and grabbing books quickly we can take home a jackpot of great reads OR an ok stack that is pretty alright. This week we definitely grabbed some great ones. Here are some that we are really enjoying.

The Hello Goodbye Window by Norton Juster and Chris Raschka--when this was honored with the Caldecott Medal a couple years ago, I liked it, but in revisiting it, it's a top favorite of mine now. Such beautiful illustrations and emphasis on family and imagination.

The Courage of the Blue Boy by Robert Neubecker

The Peace Book by Todd Parr

Now that Eleanor is in her big girl bed, she loves The Magic Bed by John Burningham. I love all his books and of course a book about a bed that flies and travels at night is pretty cool. His Hushabye is my favorite though. Wish it was still in print.

A book that is coming back into print this Fall that I think is my all-time favorite picture book for babies and toddlers is The Baby Goes Beep by Rebecca O'Connell. We're reading alot about babies over here and this is fabulous. I don't know if I've ever enjoyed reading a book to a Baby Laptime crowd more, with Baby Cakes by Karma Wilson as a second.

And lastly, a great book to recommend for a first child expecting a sibling is How to Be a Baby...by Me the Big Sister by Sally Lloyd-Jones and Sue Heap.


For me, I have felt starved for a great book for awhile now and our book group is reading The Book Thief by Markus Zusak which I am a little over halfway through and cannot recommend enough. From the first page it's brillant and you are told the that in the prologue the narrator will introduce himself--the colors--and the book thief. That was enough to hook me. I am wondering now what Zusak's other books are like.

What are you reading??

If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all that before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.

I was really sad today when I heard that JD Salinger passed away, although he was 91 years old and I hope lived a good life. Anyone who knows me well knows I cherish the The Catcher in the Rye. Even though I went on and on (I think) at book group this Fall about how much the book and Holden and it all meant to me, I still don't know if I can put it all into words. It's just one of those books that changes you. And I love that Holden Caulfield and his sister Phoebe.

Ironically, I don't think I even read Catcher until I was in college...although I have since read it several times. I admit I am also obsessed with this beautiful red cover. I have about 7 copies and have to buy it whenever I see it - although it's been awhile since I've seen one which kinda makes me sad too.

Lastly, Catcher is the one book that I can't understand people not getting. Here is where my bookish snobbery comes out--which I can always put aside EXCEPT with this book. It's you and not the book. You just don't mess with this book. That's all.

If you haven't read this book or anything by Salinger, I hope you do.

photo credit

Books 09

One of my New Years Resolutions for 2009 was to read more. And I feel pretty good that I gave it a good effort. One of the great things about being in the UAE last year was I had more time for reading with not working. At the same time I could have done better! Here's a list of books I read last year:

01. The BFG by Roald Dahl
02. Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
03. The Kite Rider by Geraldine McCaughrean
04. George's Marvellous Medicine by Roald Dahl
05. Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary
06. The Giver by Lois Lowry
07. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
08. Life of Pi by Yann Martel
09. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
10. Princess: The True Story of Life Inside the Saudi Arabia's Royal Family by Jean Sasson
11. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
12. Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl
13. Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
14. The Olive Readers by Christine Aziz
15. Girls of Riyadh by Rajaa Alsanea
16. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
17. Stuart Little by EB White
18. Belong to Me by Marisa de los Santos
19. The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid
20. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
21. Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
22. The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
23. Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri

--Love re-reading #22 and #06 (very favorites of mine)
--Book that surprisingly affected and touched me the most, especially because it's something I would not normally have read: #8 (thanks, Robin)
--Some books I really did NOT like: #19, #20, #15, #03, #13
--Most disturbing but enjoyed: #7 and #9
--Everything pre #20 was in the UAE and my choices were not as wide with no public libraries there and only having limited access to a school library - hence lots of great classic children's titles I enjoyed reading. They did have adult fiction though as well.


When we returned to the US, my friend Dianna and I invited some friends to start up a book group. I'm so happy we did this! It's great to see everyone at least once a month and motivates me to read since it's usually all the time I have for reading anymore. The last four books were book group reads. Now we are reading Keeping Faith by Jodi Picoult which I am looking forward to.

I'll be updating my sidebar with books I am reading this year. Take a look.

So do you have a favorite book you read this year you'd like to share? I'd love to hear it.

photo credit
book plates found here

Days

So my little Eleanor turned THREE this past Friday. We had quite the birthday weekend for her traveling down to Cincy to see family and she ate up all the attention and birthday looty loot she scored. It was nice. Hard to believe just a year ago we were celebrating her birthday at Jahli Park in the UAE with high 70 degree weather!

Have you ever seen The Secret Language of Birthdays? It's a great fun book to take a look at. Every day of the year is labeled with "The Day of the......." describing characteristics of people born on this date, things for them to watch out for, strengths and weakness, and famous people born on this day, etc.

I remember pouring over this book as I approached my due date curious of what date Eleanor could possibly be born on. And what's her day? "The Day of Intensity" - yeah. And she lives up to it! My day is "The Day of the Blissful Wizard" which I really like the sound of, although I wish I lived up to a bit more - maybe I do, I don't know.

Something I haven't mentioned on here is we are expecting another baby which is pretty exciting. Baby is due May 27th ("The Day of Driven Dedication" oh boy) but I know the great likelihood is most babies are not born on their due dates. So we'll see!

When I worked at my last library branch we put this book on the break table and people would look up their day and write it down on this large wipe-on-wipe-off board we had. It was VERY interesting and fun. Take a look sometime.

A Storytime in the Woods

So I totally suck at blogging lately. I think it was just much easier when we were abroad because I felt like there was more to share, more going on, and had a deeper sense of needing to stay in touch with being so far away. And I totally don't want this blog to be just about photos of the girl! But since most of my days revolve around her, that can be hard not to do! So here is yet another about the girl....and I promise I'll do better next time.

A couple weekends ago we had our photos taken again by the fabulous and talented Jessi Weithman of Everyday Studios. She is a good Mama friend of mine. She was one of my most faithful friends who emailed me without fail throughout our time abroad. And when I say throughout I mean several times a week - often daily!

I wanted to share a few photos during our session that are my favorite...a storytime with Eleanor in the woods. Many of you know I'm a librarian and am so happy that Eleanor already shares a great great love of books.


If you are looking for a wonderful photographer in the Central Ohio area, please do visit Jessi's site Everyday Studios for more information. She also has a fun blog to read.