this week's library book

This week's library book was a favorite of mine as a child, George and Martha by James Marshall. There are several George and Martha books, each consisting of four or five short stories about the adventures of two best friends. This book is a compilation of all the George and Martha books, over 300 pages of their adventures.

In the foreword, James' friend Maurice Sendak explains, "If one of James's most remarkable attributes was his genius for friendship, then George and Martha are the quintessential expression of that genius. Those dear, ditzy, down-to-earth hippos bring serious pleasure to everybody, not only to children. They are time-capsule hippos who will always remind us of a paradise in publishing and—both seriously and comically—of the true, durable meaning of friendship under the best and worst conditions." 

I have always loved James Marshall's illustrations. I especially love the hand drawn type which introduces each story. I spent hours as a child trying to replicate his bubbly letters. As Sendak says in the foreword, "Much has been written concerning the sheer deliciousness of Marshall's simple, elegant style. The simplicity is deceiving; there is richness of design and mastery of composition on every page. Not surprising, since James was a notorious perfectionist and endlessly redrew those "simple" pictures." 

I read that most of the George and Martha books were printed as four color overlays, so Marshall had to make four different drawings, one for each color. For a 48 page book, this meant he had to create almost 200 pieces of art. He sometimes had a hard time meeting his deadlines. As his publisher writes in the afterword, "He was a great storyteller personally as well. His grandmother died three times, according to Jim, to explain overdue artwork."

I was putting together a board on Pinterest of all the library books I've shared over the years, and realized how much I love seeing our books this way. Documenting our favorites has gotten a little harder now that my daughter Bee (my most patient hand model) is in school all day, but I love doing it. Some of our favorite books have been checked out from the library several times and feel almost like old friends.

this week's library book

This week's library book is a classic by Bernard Waber titled Ira Sleeps Over. (As you might remember, I'm already a big fan of Bernard Waber's other series about Lyle, the Crocodile.)

A young boy named Ira has been invited to sleep over at his friend Reggie's house for his very first sleepover. But he has a dilemma: whether or not to bring along his beloved teddy bear, Tah Tah. What if Reggie thinks only babies sleep with teddy bears?

"He won't laugh," says my father.
"He won't laugh," says my mother.
"He'll laugh," says my sister. Ira decides not to take his teddy bear.

The kids have a great time until Reggie starts to tell some spooky ghost stories. Ira gets scared and wishes he had brought his teddy. Reggie then reaches into his drawer and pulls out his own teddy bear! Ira is so relieved, he runs home to get Tah Tah.

His sister says: "Reggie will laugh. You'll see how he'll laugh. He's just going to fall down laughing."
"He won't laugh," says my father.
"He won't laugh," says my mother.

"He won't laugh," says Ira.

I always love hearing about the authors of my favorite books. You can read more about Bernard Waber over on the Houghton Mifflin website. I especially liked hearing about how he got started illustrating books.

"My involvement with children's books originated with some illustrations of children I carried in my art portfolio. Several art directors suggested that my drawings seemed suited for children's books. At the same time, I was also having read-aloud sessions with my own three children. I am afraid enthusiasm for "their" books began, in fact, to cause them occasional discomfort. "Daddy, why don't you look at the grownups' books?" they once chided as I trailed after them into the children's room of our local library. Before long I was mailing out stories and ideas to publishers. Rejections followed, but after a time a cheery encouragement arrived from Houghton Mifflin Company, and to my delight, a contract was offered."

Imagine if Mr. Waber had given up when he received that first rejection letter?

this week's library book

We've been finding some great library books lately, following our library routine. When I saw Mama, Is It Summer Yet? on the shelf a few weeks ago, I recognized Nikki McClure's papercut illustrations. She cuts each picture out of black paper with an exacto knife (can you imagine!). I first discovered her work because a good friend gave me her beautiful baby book The First 1000 Days which I've been trying to fill in for Baby M.

This sweet, repetitive book shows a mother and child getting ready for summer. The child asks "Mama, is it summer yet?".

"Not yet," she answers as they plant their seeds and wait for them to sprout and grow.

They move through the seasons, tending their garden through the springand reading books out on the lawn once it gets a little warmer.

"Is it summer now?"

"Yes! Oh yes, my little one! The honeybees are in the flowers. The sun is warm on your round belly. The berries are juicy and sweet." And now that spring has finally arrived, a nice warm summer is right around the corner.

this week's library book

Summertime means lots of things at our house: lazy mornings, corn on the cob, afternoons at the pool, ice cream cones, Saturdays spent at the beach with the cousins, the county fair, going to bed a bit later than usual.. and, of course, trips to the library.

I was first introduced to Don and Audrey Wood when C received The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear as a birthday present several years ago. So when I saw The Napping House at the library, I added it to our pile without even opening it up. I do this a lot at the library, find an author I like and then search through the stacks to see how many other books they've written. I figure if I love one book, the other books can't be half bad.

The Napping House tells the story of "a napping house, where everyone is sleeping". First the snoring granny, then a dreaming child, and on and on with a dozing dog, a snoozing cat, a slumbering mouse... and finally a wakeful flea, all in a pile on grandmother's bed.

When the flea decides to bite the mouse, which scratches the cat, which claws the dog.. and so on and so on, needless to say the nap is soon over.

I read in an interview with Audrey Wood that this book was based on the napping habits of their son Bruce, who refused to nap at home, but would nap at his granny's house where everything was quiet. "We learned by trial and error that the only way we could get him to sleep was to walk him the two blocks to his granny’s house. Everything there was restful and calm, and granny (my mother) always loved to take an afternoon nap. She owned a fluffy dog, and when granny, the dog, and Bruce settled into her cozy bed, everyone was dreaming in minutes. This became a daily ritual, and we began to refer to my mother’s home as "the napping house." That’s how the book was born."

this week's library book

I'll confess that I have a little issue with princesses... which can be tough, when you have a four year old daughter. For the first few years of her life, I admit that I limited Bee's access to princesses and all things purple and sparkly (I had a specific aversion to Disney princesses). It's not the princess stories I have a problem with, I just don't like how Disney has taken ownership over these beautiful stories that have been around for so long.

And then I found some photos of myself as a little girl, about Bee's size, dressed in a bright pink princess costume for Halloween (which my mom reminded me I wore more than one year in a row). So I decided not to fight it any longer... if Bee wanted to love princesses and dress up in pink sequins, so be it.

But I did want to show her that there are different versions of these classic princess stories. We've started checking out more of these old stories from the library... Rapunzel, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White. There are some beautifully illustrated versions at our library, and Bee loves to look through them. So this week's library book is Beauty and the Beast, illustrated by Jan Brett.

Beauty's father picks a rose from the Beast's rosebush for his daughter, and is taken as his prisoner. Upon hearing the news, Beauty bravely takes her father's place as prisoner.

Over time Beauty starts to see the good in the Beast, she begins to look forward to their dinnertime conversations and she sees his kind and thoughtful deeds. He asks Beauty to marry him each night, and Beauty always replies "Pray don't ask me".

Beauty asks to take a trip to visit her home and see her sisters and her father again. While she is away, she has a dream that the Beast is dying and realizes that she loves him. Beauty rushes back to the castle just in time to save him... which breaks the spell and magically transfoms him back into a handsome prince.

Can I share one more little secret? I've figured out how to avoid the morning tears while combing the tangles out of Bee's hair. I used to dread combing Bee's hair in the morning, she would cry and whimper about every little tangle or snarl. Now I've turned that time into story time, and it has saved us so many tears. Bee will happily hand me her comb and remind me where we left off. I try to stretch each story out, so it takes a week or so to tell it and I don't limit myself to just princess stories. I've told my version of Red Riding Hood and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.. The Three Little Pigs and Charlotte's Web and anything else I can vaguely remember. I love that my son C is always peeking his head in so he can hear the story too.

I have great memories of my dad telling us stories when I was a kid. He would make them up when we went on long car rides, and they kept all six of us children entertained for hours at a time. Unfortunately I am not as good a storyteller as my father... but lucky for me, my daughter doesn't know any better.

this week's library book

If you aren't familiar with Frances the Badger, you really should get to know her. I can't say Bedtime for Frances is my favorite in the series (I would vote for A Bargain for Frances) but I was excited when I saw it at the library last week, I remember these books so well from my childhood. The series is written by Russell Hoban, and I love Garth Williams' illustrations.

"The big hand of the clock is at 12. The little hand is at 7. It is seven o'clock. It is bedtime for Frances."

Frances is not at all tired. She tries to sing a song about the alphabet, she looks around her big, dark room and starts to wonder about tigers and giants and bugs and spiders. Each time she goes to visit her parents and they send her back to bed.

Frances notices the curtains on her window moving in the wind. When she asks her father about it, he says "That is the wind's job. Every night the wind has to go around and blow all the curtains... Everybody has a job... You have to go to sleep so that you can be wide awake for school tomorrow. That is your job." (I should mention that Frances' dad does tell Frances that she will get a spanking at the end of the book if she gets out of bed one more time. I tend to skip over that part.)

Frances hears a moth bump the window, she thinks to herself, "There were so many giants and tigers and scary and exciting things before, that I am pretty tired now. That is just a moth, and he is only doing his job, the same as the wind. His job is bumping and thumping, and my job is to sleep." Goodnight little Frances.

this week's library book

Library books! Oh, how we love them! Especially new ones we have never seen before, like this one.. A Tree is Nice by Janice May Udry with illustrations by Marc Simont. Winner of the Caldecott Award in 1956.

The book alternates between black and white and color illustrations and explains all the reasons why trees are nice. They fill up the sky and make everything beautiful. You can have a picnic in their shade, or jump in the leaves when they fall.

"A tree is nice because it has a trunk and limbs. We can climb the tree and see over all the yards. We can sit on a limb and think about things. Or play pirate ship up in the tree."

I found this lovely quote from the author, which only makes me like her more. "Someone has said that not all readers are writers, but all writers are readers. I believe this is true. And a lot of reading in childhood often leads to a life time of writing. I love good books for children today as much as I did when I was a child. I probably appreciate them more now." I couldn't agree more.

my favorite library books

The lovely ladies over at Small magazine asked me to contribute to the Winter issue, sharing my favorite library finds over the years. I was only too happy to help as I am a big fan of everything they do over there. Check out my favorite library books here.

this week's library book

If you haven't discovered Virgina Lee Burton yet, you are sadly missing out. I adore everything she ever illustrated including Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel, Maybelle the Cable Car, and Katy and the Big Snow. But my favorite of all her lovely books is The Little House (winner of the Caldecott medal in 1942) when Virginia was 33 years old.

This sweet book tells the story of a happy little house who lives out in the country. She watches the seasons change and the trees grow and takes care of the little family that lives inside. There is a city far off on the horizon and sometimes she wonders what it would be like to live in the city.

Over time, the little house notices that more and more cars are driving by and soon a steam shovel is widening the road so more and more cars can get to the big city. The little house misses her quiet meadows. The city that was once far away seems to be getting closer and closer.

And before she knows it, the meadows and fields by the little house have been replaced with tall buildings and city streets. Now that she lives in the big city, she realizes she does not like it one bit. One day a woman walks by the little house and says "This looks just like the house my grandfather lived in, but it was way out in the country." Upon further research she realizes that the little house is indeed the same.

So they rescue the little house, still sturdy as ever, and drive her back out to the country. "As the little house settled down on her new foundation, she smiled happily. Once again she could watch the sun and moon and stars. Once again she could watch Spring and Summer and Fall and Winter come and go."

this week's library book

We just returned from our first Back to School night, so this week's library book seems especially appropriate for this time of year. Miss Nelson is Missing! by Harry Allard and James Marshall. (And I just realized that Mr. Marshall is also the creator of another favorite series of mine, George and Martha.)

Miss Nelson is a sweet soft spoken teacher who has lost control of her classroom. The children don't obey any of the rules, they shout in class and won't sit in their seats, so Miss Nelson does not come back to school the next day.

"Great!" say the children. "Now we can really be terrible!" They wad up their spit balls and start making paper airplanes. But then their new substitute teacher arrives.

Miss Viola Swamp is a different kind of teacher, mean and impatient. She barks orders at the children. "Where is Miss Nelson?" they ask. "Never mind that," yells Miss Swamp. "Open those arithmetic books!"

After a few days of Miss Swamp's harsh tutelage, the children are desperate for Miss Nelson. They try to find out what has happened to their sweet teacher. And a few days later, she returns. Happy to have their teacher back, the children are now perfectly behaved. Only Miss Nelson knows the real identity of Miss Viola Swamp, but smart kids who read this book sometimes figure it out as well.

I read in this interview that the character of Miss Viola Swamp is based on a teacher that illustrator James Marshall had as a child. Mr. Marshall recalls... "When Harry (the author) and I were doing Miss Nelson is Missing, we devised the scenario so that a wicked substitute arrives on the scene. And Harry said, “I want you to draw the most awful teacher you ever had.” Well, it took me five seconds to get Viola Swamp down. She’s the spitting image of my second grade teacher, who is still alive in San Antonio, Texas. In April I saw her in the supermarket in San Antonio. I was pushing a cart and around the corner came Viola Swamp! And I felt my knees weaken. There she is! She has seen the book and she finds it very amusing, so I don’t feel too terrible." So teachers, watch out!