If Your Kid Eats This Book, Everything Will Still Be Okay

by Lara Zibners

I won this book from another blogger, a giveaway at Worducopia. It sat on my shelf unread far too long. I wish now I'd picked it up sooner! Written by an ER pediatrician, the book methodically goes through all the illness, accidents and just plain strange-looking things (on newborns, in particular) that might alarm parents. It tells you what to expect, what to worry about, when to call your pediatrician, when to head for the hospital, and when to just calm down and treat your kid at home. It's very informative, plus written in a friendly, straightforward style that makes it easy to understand. There's a bit of humor thrown in there as well, to lighten up what might otherwise be a stressful read. I don't know if I'd recommend reading straight through the entire thing like I did, as a bit too much knowledge on all the dangers facing your kid can make your head swim! But I learned quite a bit in the process: babies are sometimes born with a few teeth. The idea that you have to keep someone who hit their head awake is a myth. Pet reptiles (especially turtles) often carry salmonella. And much, much more. This is a book I'm definitely keeping around for reference, it's got a thorough index so you can flip quickly to any topic when you need to know something urgently. Also in the back there's a useful little section that tells you what to expect when you do have to visit the emergency room, and what procedures you might face there. I'd recommend this book to anyone with infants or young children. An invaluable resource.

rating: 4/5 ........ 305 pages, 2009

more opinions:
First-Time Mommy.com
Mama Latina

Junie B. Jones

and a Little Monkey Business

by Barbara Park

My first-grader keeps bringing Junie B. Jones home from the school library, and I keep sneaking them off her bed at night to read! They're easy to get through in one sitting, and make me chuckle. In Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business, Junie is delighted when her parents announce they have a surprise for her, and upset when it turns out not to be a present. I thought the story would be about how Junie adjusted to the new baby's homecoming, or felt jealous, or something like that. But it turned out to be about how kids can misunderstand simple metaphors. In this case, due to a comment her grandmother makes, along with remarks about the amount of his hair and length of his toes, Junie becomes convinced that her baby brother is really a monkey. She's even more sure when she notices that the baby's bed looks like a cage and his room is decorated in a jungle theme. So she announces to her classmates that her brother is a monkey, and her two best friends start vying to see who gets to view the monkey brother first. Junie takes this too far when she starts collecting gifts from her friends, but a quick march to the principal and an explanation in class of common metaphors straightens things out. Quick, amusing read. My daughter got a real kick out of it, too.

rating: 3/5 ........ 68 pages, 1993

more opinions:
Becky's Lit Blog
Under the Covers

At the Farm

by Salina Yoon

This board book is just the right size for little hands, and pretty entertaining for my baby! It's a simple book, each page just has an object found on a farm- milk can, watermelon slice, sheep, tractor, etc.- one word to name it, and a bold, bright picture. What really entertains my daughter about this book is that some of the pages have shapes cut out- on one page an owl has some tear-drop shaped feathers as cut shapes, when you turn the page it's a watermelon and the cut shapes are the seeds. First the baby liked just touching the shapes, then she discovered if the page is held open a bit she can put her finger through, and then the whole thing turns into a game with her and I wiggling our fingers through the holes. It's so much fun when the book is done she wants to start all over again, several times! I think this little book is going to rival Happy Baby Colors now in her esteem.

Borrowed from the public library. Going to see if I can find more similar books by this author, but that's always hard in the baby section!

rating: 4/5 ........ 12 pages, 2011

1 Teddy Bear

by Bernette Ford

This is a cute counting book: one to ten. It features charming little teddy bears that do things together like talk on the phone, go for a hike, dance in the rain (the first page, 1 TEDDY BEAR all alone, shows a teddy reading a book, of course!). And finally on the page with ten teddies, they all climb into bed. What's better than a baby book ending with sleepy time? It's got some nice, gentle rhymes and the teddies are painted with a bit of texture, which I like. And the baby sits through it, which is even better.

rating: 3/5 ........ 18 pages, 2008

The Dragonbards

by Shirley Rousseau Murphy

I don't know why I slogged so long through this book before finally realizing it was never going to enthrall me like its predecessors.  The Dragonbards is the third in a trilogy I discovered long ago. I read the first book,  Nightpool, probably twenty years ago and loved it. I found the second book, The Ivory Lyre, some ten years later as a complete surprise (not knowing there were any sequels) and liked it, though not as much as the first. I should have known the third would be a dud, especially coming to it as an adult. This isn't the first time I've had such an experience.

It feels awkward to write about this book when I haven't said anything about the first two, but here goes. A fantasty story about good battling evil, set in a world called Tirror where dragons have recently been rediscovered along with the people who can bond with them, called bards. When the bards and dragons sing they reawaken people's memories and awareness of their history. Evil forces in this world are enslaving city after city to take over the world, using drugs to dull people's minds and make them forget their identities. The hero of the story, Tebriel, and his dragon are leading the forces of good in a battle to drive the evil out of their world. This has all the makings of a great story- wonderful dragons, intelligent talking animals (mainly otters and large cats), a love interest between two close friends who don't realize what they feel for each other until nearly the last page, plenty of action and some magic. There's even a journey through other worlds that connect through mysterious Doors (made me think of C.S. Lewis' pools) But it all fell flat for me. I just couldn't muster up any interest in the story or even the characters, although I remember loving them so well long ago. Even the interesting themes running through the story- how important memories are to identity, or how drug abuse dulls the mind, or how the hero has to battle his own pride and allows himself to be influenced by the Dark side- just didn't work for me. I kept going back to it hoping I'd find it lively again, but no. I was even afraid I'd lost my interest in reading for the time being, what with current stresses- but the book I'm reading now is going swimmingly, so it's not that at all.

No, this book is just lame. It might work for a kid, and I do hope when I go back to read the first two I still like them, but otherwise I'd say skip it. I did end up skimming the last few chapters just to find out what happened in the end, but even that wasn't very satisfying.

Abandoned ......... 249 pages, 1988

Mirror Me

I have just not been reading much lately. The one book I am reading is going slow; I'm not much interested in it, but it's the final in a series I read long ago so I do want to finish just to see how it all closes. More on that later. I've mostly been busy gardening, and the baby is still sick (going on a week now of this miserable cold). Hopefully the blog will pick up again soon!

So I looked around for one of the baby books I haven't mentioned here yet. I bought this one back when the baby was just four or five months old, to entertain her on a plane trip. I thought she would like it because of the mirrors. Turns out it didn't entertain her then, at all. But now it's her favorite book to read when she's sitting on the potty. I sit behind her and she can see my face next to her in the little mirrors- each page has one. It's cute enough- all about imitating gestures and facial expressions. Smile, stick out your tongue, make your eyes go wide. The baby's favorite is the page where a cow puffs her cheeks full of air- I always blow on her hair when I make the puff noise, and she giggles. Some of the characters are just named by their identity- Frog, Gecko, etc. But others have names- Violet the mouse, for example. I'm assuming they're characters from other Baby Einstein products, but I'm not sure.

The Solace of Open Spaces

by Gretel Ehrlich

This is a collection of essays about Wyoming. Similar to The Secret Life of Cowboys, its author was a city girl who moved to the wide open spaces and found she loved the life there. But this one doesn't focus on her journey or her personal story so much as on the landscape, the way of life, the animals, the personalities she encounters. Several essays are about sheepherding- about the work, the lonely remote camps, the eccentric herders. Other essays focus on rodeo, man's relationship with animals, the codes of conduct ranchers live by, the weather that sweeps over the land, the cattle and wildlife... She writes about several Native American communities around her- Crow and Arapaho, Cheynne and Shoshone. She attends several of their important ceremonies and describes it in detail. It's all very interesting. I was thrown off at first; the character sketches in one of the early sheepherding essays unsettled me a bit- but then I found myself enjoying her writing more and more. It's beautiful and evocative. Just this line alone in the introduction made me eager to cherish the rest of the book: The truest art I would strive for in any work would be to give the page the same qualities as earth: weather would land on it harshly; light would elucidate the most difficult truths; wind would sweep away obtuse padding. Her words are lovely and thoughtful, harsh and piercing and grand. It was a book I read through slowly, carefully and appreciatively. May you do the same.

rating: 4/5 ......... 131 pages, 1985

more opinions:
Buddies in the Saddle
Oldwoman's Books
Sarah Sans Terre

under water

I went to a garden show this weekend. (You can see the plants I bought here on my garden blog). Loved walking through the garden displays, and I wondered how much time/work it took for people to create these elaborate setups of paths, raised beds, flowers, shrubs and even trees all growing in the exhibit space.

But this blog is about books. And I saw some there. And I involuntarily cringed. It was a display made by a company that does fountains to decorate people's yards- most incorporated into a stream or pond of some kind- and this one had a sculpture of a stack of books with water pouring over it. Very realistic-looking lovely books, with a film of water pooling at the top and cascading down the sides. I'm not kidding you, I literally flinched and quickly walked away (thus failing to get a photo to show you, I didn't even think of it). All I could think was: horrors! Those books are getting soaked! They'll be ruined. Albeit fake.

I could never imagine putting such a feature in my yard. I think it would make me uneasy every time I looked at it. What about you? Would you shrink from such a sight? or laugh at the absurdity of it?

My Mom

by Debbie Bailey

This board book that celebrates moms doing things with their children is not full of beautiful photos or adorable illustrations. Instead, the images look just like ordinary everyday snapshots you might take with your own camera. I don't know if that's because the photos are older per se, or if the photographer was going for a candid look, but I like it because it's different. It feels like anyone you could know, your friend or neighbor. It's a simple collection of pictures showing moms playing with, reading to, cooking for their children. Pushing them on the swings. Helping them get dressed. Giving a hug to a crying child. The simple text is narrated by the child: My mom is very special, We do lots of things together etc etc but the child also points out My mom lets me do things for myself, but she helps me when I need it. I like that message. And my daughter's favorite picture is of the little boy doing something for himself: a toddler standing inside the fridge to reach something. Cute.

Of course, My Mom is part of a series that includes books about grandparents, fathers and siblings which I would like to see more of. But this is the only one I've found at my library and they don't catalog the board books so I can't search for more, I just have to look on the shelf each time and take my luck.

rating: 3/5 ....... 14 pages, 1991

BIG Little

by Leslie Patricelli

I usually don't like illustrated books for the baby yet. She just doesn't seem as interested in drawings as in photos of real things, especially if they have faces. This one is just so cute, though, and the rhythm of comparisons makes it easy to adopt a little sing-song as you read aloud. It's all about similar items that are large and small: Elephants are BIG, Mice are little etc. My favorites are Ladies are BIG, Ladybugs are little and The moon is BIG, My nightlight is little. It's a bit different from the usual opposite kind of books. If you've got a little one who likes bright, simple pictures and learning about similarities between objects, BIG Little might be a good choice!

rating: 3/5 ........ 26 pages, 2003

The Secret Life of Cowboys

by Tom Groneberg

This book is one that grew on me. Don't judge The Secret Life of Cowboys by its cover or its title, because neither seem a good fit to me. It's a thoughtful, frank memoir of a man searching for a new life, trying to live his dream. Groneberg has always wanted to be a cowboy, to live close to cattle and horses, to love the land. He gets a job leading trail rides for tourists, then works as a hired hand on a ranch, and finally gets his dream- a ranch of his very own. But all along he struggles to fit in, to learn skills kids around him have mastered, to understand simple things that no one bothers to explain because they assume it's common knowledge. He struggles at managing the ranch. The ending surprised me. It's not all happy. Love for the big open skies, wide fields and animals shines through the pages, but so does the heartache at difficulties and failings. I kept thinking of Jenna as I read this book; she's another person who had a dream to live a life different than the one she was raised with, and just went for it. In some ways their stories are quite similar.

rated: 3/5 ........ 257 pages, 2003

more opinions at:
Buddies in the Saddle
Cataloger's Reading List

Junie B. Jones

and her Big Fat Mouth

by Barbara Park

This one was pretty good. In Junie B. Jones and her Big Fat Mouth, our little protagonist can't decide what she wants to be when she grows up. All her classmates have picked things like artist, superhero, guard, princess, fireman, etc. Junie B. wants a job that uses all the things she finds attractive- paintbrushes are cool, so are rings of keys, and she'd love to help save people. Can she figure out a job that encompasses all her passions? I really liked how Junie B. highlighted a blue-collar job that the kids at first laughed at, but in the end they recognized how important it was to the normal functioning of their very own school. And in the meantime Junie B. has a new grown-up friend and role model. Sure she has a smart mouth and says things like "stupid" and "hate" but kids can be like that. As long as yours recognizes that Junie is misbehaving, I think they can see the humor in the book and this one happens to have a really good message too. I wonder if the title could be more appropriate, though. It doesn't quite seem to fit what the story is actually about.

rating: 4/5 ........ 69 pages, 1993

Junie B. Jones

and the Stupid Smelly Bus

by Barbara Park

I believe this is the first book in the Junie B. Jones series. Another one my daughter brought home from school and I sneaked off her bed to read (in one sitting) later at night. I didn't find it as funny as Sneaky Peeky Spying, that one made me laugh out loud a lot, this one I think I only really chuckled once. But it did get lots of smiles, a quick little fun read. So, in  Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus the little girl is nervous about her first day of kindergarten. She's afraid to get on that yellow bus. And when she does ride it to school, it's miserably hot, uncomfortable and the girl with curly hair doesn't want to share a seat. At school she hears more about big meanies who do things to little kids on the bus, so she decides she's simply not going to ride it home. She hides in a supply closet instead, and when everyone leaves has a little fun playing in the classroom. But then an emergency arises (of the bathroom kind) and Junie B. realizes all the doors are locked! She's alone in the empty school. What will she do?

Of course, her parents are frantic with worry but Junie B. is a smart little cookie and she finds some quick help. Roundly scolded for giving everyone a scare, and comes to terms with that big yellow bus- especially when a new friend named Grace promises to share her seat. I think we'll see more of Grace in books to come.

rating: 3/5 ....... 69 pages, 1992

The Peacock Spring

by Rumer Godden

Another book which has been quietly languishing on my shelf. The Peacock Spring was slow to get into, but the more I read the more curious I got about it. The story is of two girls in their early teens who get abruptly pulled out of boarding school to go live with their diplomat father in India. It soon becomes clear to them that their governess is incompetent at teaching, and is in fact their father's mistress. The older girl, Una, is indignant at the sham, while the younger one, Hal, couldn't care less. Hal is thrilled with the sightseeing and parties the governess is trying to distract them with; Una is frustrated at being denied her studies. The better part of the first half of the book is about this subtle battle going on between the girls and the governess, made more interesting by the fact that all the servants resent the woman too, and the girls' father is pretty much oblivious to it all. But then something curious happens. Una meets a gardener who also happens to be a poet, and whose friend is an accomplished mathematician. Suddenly she finds a way to circumvent her governess and continue her studies. What she doesn't really expect is to fall in love...

While this story is not exactly tender, nor are most of the characters extremely likable, there was something about it that kept me intrigued. The further I got the more tangled it all became, until in the end Una was in quite a sticky situation. The ending was quite sad. I found myself feeling sympathy for characters I really didn't like in the beginning, and getting furious at others that I had previously admired. They're all quite deep characters, with layers and ulterior motives and secret thoughts and dumb moments, just like real people... This is not one of my favorite Rumer Godden books, but one I'm certainly hanging onto regardless. I wonder when I'll pick it up again, what new things I might see in its pages.

rating: 3/5 ........ 243 pages, 1975

more opinions at:
Jenny's Books
Miss Darcy's Library
Golgonooza

Brum! and Vroom!

by Leo Timmers

Brum! and  Vroom! are two more little board books that feature silly animals driving vehicles with various sound effects. Only I didn't like these two as much as Toot! There is only one sound for each book, that of the title, repeated on every page. I preferred Toot! which had a different sound for each vehicle. I had to make up little phrases to go with each picture, in singsong, to keep my child's interest. Regardless, the pictures are still adorable- there's a rhino driving a sports car, a forklift carrying a hippo, a front-loader carrying a heap of soil and earthworms, etc. It's charming, but just not quite as engaging as the previous book.

rating: 2/5 ........ 14 pages each, 2009

Produce

A Fruit and Vegetable Lover's Guide

by Bruce Beck

This is another one of those coffee-table books that's been sitting around my house forever. It's too awkward to read while nursing the baby (my prime reading time these days) so I've only been getting to it in snatches here and there. You'd think that a book about foodstuffs isn't that interesting, but Produce was quite a good read, considering.

It is a large, heavy book full of stunning photographs by Andrew Unagst, all featuring vegetables, fruits and greens. Each item gets a good description, including different varieties, their origins and curious things about their culinary history, what foods they pair well with or how they are often prepared, how to choose the best ones from the market, how to keep them fresh at home, and at what season they are most readily available. It's got every single produce item you could think of, from plain old bananas and apples to arugula, watercress and a huge assortment of herbs, to unfamiliar exotics like cherimoya or starfruit. I even learned quite a few things about produce, such as that cantaloupe is (supposedly) good eaten sprinkled with salt and pepper, lettuce can be put into soup (!), melons are often carved into decorative bowls (look at this amazing watermelon turtle), and the Greeks and Romans use to wear parsley garlands at parties, because they believed it would keep them from getting drunk. There are charming, whimsical little line drawings illustrating each page, as well. And a sprinkling of humor to boot.

One thing I didn't understand was why most of the herbs were combined into a crowded two-page spread, while parsley, basil and watercress each got their own spot. Also, I couldn't find olives. I looked in the index, thinking maybe I'd missed it somehow, as a few of the items were on a page with relatives (plantains with bananas, for example). Nope, no olives. The book does show its age a little, as the author makes comments on some exotic produce items being almost completely unavailable, whereas I've seen them frequently in the supermarket. Anyhow, if you're interested in the history of produce, or want a few hints on how to use certain veggie items, or just like to drool over wonderful photographs, this is a pretty good book!

rating: 4/5 ........ 213 pages, 1984

An Episode of Sparrows

by Rumer Godden

I'm glad that I finally read this book. It was lovely, and one I kept wanting to go back to, eager to open the pages again and find out what was happening to those characters. Even though their edges are somewhat prickly, they were characters I came to feel for in just a short space of time. It's been a while since I felt that way about a book.

An Episode of Sparrows is about a poor girl in post-war England. Her mother, a traveling singer, has pretty much abandoned her to the care of a couple who run a restaurant. She is feeling lonely, yet has her own kind of pride and stubbornly insists on doing things for herself. She swipes a packet of flower seed from another child in the street and out of curiosity decides to plant them. After several failed attempts, she finds a spot in the rubble behind an old church to make a little hidden garden, enlisting the help of Tip, a local gang leader, and questioning a recalcitrant gardener she finds in the neighborhood to learn how to grow plants and care for them. It was quite wonderful to watch her little garden unfold, although she had to fight for it every step of the way. Her hopes kept getting set higher and higher, as she kept finding better things to grow, and finally coveted a small rosebush. Stealing soil from the gardens of a public square for her rose, she and the other children finally get caught and have to face some dire consequences. My heart wrung for this plucky little girl. I couldn't help feel for the man Vincent who ran the restaurant she lived in, too. He had lofty dreams as well, riddled with unlucky circumstances but undiscouraged. It's really a quite tender story, about connections and people finding they do care for each other, in spite of all their wrongs. It made me eager to find another Rumer Godden to read. I think I have the Peacock Spring on my shelf as well, must go look for it now...

rating: 4/5 ........ 247 pages, 1955

more opinions at:
Harriet Devine's Blog
Literary Afterthought
a pile of leaves

In the Garden with Van Gogh

by Julie Merberg and Suzanne Bober

I was delighted to find another one of the Mini Masters series shelved among the board books at the library. Snatched up In the Garden with Van Gogh to bring home and share with my baby. Unfortunately, she wasn't quite as thrilled as I was. Like Quiet Time with Cassatt, each spread pairs a famous painting with gentle, rhyming text that describes it. I thought it was lovely, I'm not quite sure why the baby didn't like it (and hers is the opinion that really counts, as I won't check out books again if I think she won't enjoy them. Many are the ones we've checked out numerous times, met with recognition, little happy clapping hands.) Maybe I just sat down at the wrong moments with her, and she was distracted. Maybe she's just not interested in wavery, textured pictures of plants, flowers and landscapes. I did think it would be an even stronger book if the paintings were arranged in a more chronological order: the one about sowing seeds comes after the ones about gathering fruit, for example. Not that a child would notice, though. I did love the painting of a child just learning to walk, toddling through a garden guided by its mother's hands.

rating: 2/5 ........ 22 pages, 2002

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Eye Level Books
A Class of Her Own

The Adventures of Johnny Chuck

by Thornton W. Burgess

In The Adventures of Johnny Chuck we meet a stout little woodchuck who has been struck with a sudden fit of wanderlust in the springtime. He encounters an older chuck with whom he fights, then another younger chuck- who turns out to be a female. The two make an acquaintance, Johnny Chuck impresses Polly, and they search for a place to make a new home together. This turns out to be in a remote corner of the orchard, for Johnny Chuck wants his privacy now. Meanwhile, as Johnny has been having adventures and finding love, his friends back home are wondering what became of him. Sammy Jay discovers his new home, and intends to make mischief for Johnny Chuck. But he's burning with curiosity to know why Johnny is being so secretive. When he finally finds out, Sammy has a sudden change of heart...

Another delightful Burgess story that uses real wildlife behavior and interactions to teach lessons of friendship and kindness.

rating: 4/5 ....... 88 pages, 1913

The Adventures of Buster Bear

by Thornton W. Burgess

There is a new animal in the forest: Buster Bear. All the smaller animals are afraid of him, especially after they see how he bullies little Joe Otter to get his fish for breakfast. Thus they are quite gleeful to discover that Buster is afraid of the farmer's boy, and shocked to discover that the boy is likewise afraid of Buster! What happens when bear and boy encounter each other in the blueberry patch is quite comical.  I enjoyed this story quite as much as the previous one. The animals all like to pull pranks on each other and tease, but in the end it turns out they're quite good-hearted.

rating: 4/5 ........ 80 pages, 1916

The Adventures of Chatterer the Red Squirrel

by Thornton W. Burgess

Some time ago I saw another blogger (I can't remember who now nor find it in my google reader, so if it's you let me know!) discussed one of Burgess' Bedtime Stories, a tale of a woodchuck wandering from home. It immediately reminded me of some stories my father shared with us, that I think he used to read as a child- a collection of stories about animals in the forest who talk to each other yet behave in many ways as their real wild counterparts do.

 Well, it made me look for more of these books, and I've found them quite delightful. In The Adventures of Chatterer the Red Squirrel, the squirrel gets himself into trouble with a weasel, because of his saucy tongue. He quits his home for a while, but in looking for a new place to live only lands in more difficulties. Chatterer finds himself trapped by the farmer's boy, and although his cage is quite comfortable and free of dangers he pines for his freedom. By the end of his stay in the farmer's shed, the little squirrel has realized the value of freedom, who his friends really are, and that first impressions aren't always accurate. I really liked this little story. It's got an old-fashioned voice which I enjoy. The morals come across clearly but don't feel too heavy-handed either. The illustrations, while charming in their own way, don't really appeal to me. I'm still not sure if this author is the same as the one my father used to read to us, and I know for sure the book of animal stories we read way back when had different pictures...

I've already got two more of these Bugress books at hand, and have ordered several more through Book Mooch (the library having only three of his seventy-odd published stories). I'm looking forward to reading more of the animal adventures.

rating: 4/5 ....... 190 pages, 1915

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Our Family Book Reviews

Junie B. Jones

and some Sneaky Peeky Spying

by Barbara Park

This is a really cute book that my first-grader brought home from her school library. I started reading it to her at bedtime, then went back and snuck the book off her bed after she fell asleep, so I could finish it myself! It's pretty funny, I was laughing out loud. Enjoyed it so much that if my daughter doesn't bring more Junie B. Jones home from school, I just might seek them out at our public library for some light reading when I need a laugh.

Junie B. Jones and Some Sneaky Peeky Spying is about a mischievous little kindergartener who likes to spy on people. In her own words, she tells how spying gets her in trouble, but she's dying of curiosity to find out where her teacher lives (because teachers are not regular people, you know). Everyone tells her to leave the issue alone, but when she sees her teacher at the grocery store, June B. Jones just has to find out what she's up to! She follows her around and sees her teacher do something she thinks is wrong. But she doesn't tell because she's worried her teacher will be punished. Next day at school, her friend says if she doesn't tell her secret, her head will blow up. Junie B. runs to the school nurse in a panic, and accidentally blurts out her secret... the fallout, you'll have to read the book to discover!

Part of the humor in this book is from Junie B.'s very kid-specific perspective on things, and part is from her poor grammar and frequent mixing-up of words, which makes it fun to figure out what she really means. She tells things just as they are, as she sees them- nobody can tell if you're really sorry even when you're made to apologize, for example. Some parents might want to make sure their kids understand that Junie B. is really being naughty but I think it comes across pretty clear that this is all in fun, plus various adults' opinions are shared in the book that show she really does need to face consequences. It's refreshing to hear the kid's voice, though, pointing out that even grownups make mistakes, among other things.

rating: 4/5 ........ 66 pages, 1994

more opinions at:
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Nicole's Literature Blog
Library Queue

Rabbit Hill

by Robet Lawson

Famous story that I had never read before, but it was sitting on my shelf. It's a children's classic about a community of wild animals that live on a hillside near a rundown farmhouse. They're all anxious when news arrives that New Folks are moving in- will they be friendly to wildlife? will they plant the garden? or bring the threat of traps and dogs? The star of the book is Little Georgie, a spunky young rabbit who lives with his worrying mother and long-winded father who takes a leadership role among the animals. Georgie is sent alone on a trip to get his uncle to come visit, with a few small adventures, and when they come back preparations for the New Folks' arrival are well under way. The animals are quite anxious about what kind of character their new people have, but after a few serious misunderstandings they come to understand that these Folks are true friends and champions of wildlife.

Rabbit Hill is a nice enough story, but it didn't really do much for me. I was unable to feel passionate about any of the characters, nor even admire them, really. They all felt rather one-dimensional. I was annoyed to find a few characters mentioned only once, at the very end of the story- why include them at all? The book gives a nice message about compassion for little creatures and sharing your garden bounty with wildlife, but it's one of those I probably would have appreciated more reading it as a kid for the first time.

I did love the illustrations. They have a wonderful texture and are full of character.

rating: 3/5 ........ 128 pages, 1944

more opinions:
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Book4YourKids
East Line Books
A Book A Day

Robbut

a Tale of Tails

by Robert Lawson

This one also on my shelf, picked up at a library sale somewhere no doubt. I thought it was a sequel to Rabbit Hill, but no. It features talking woodland animals and rabbits inhabiting a similar world, that's all. Robbut is a charming moralizing story about a young rabbit who is dissatisfied with his tail. He thinks all the other animals have more useful or attractive tails and longs to change his. When a sudden opportunity comes, Robbut is eager to try wearing some other animals' tails. He tries out a cat's tail, a snake's and a fox's. Each time his experience is marvelous in the beginning, but soon turns to inconvenience and even disaster. In the end he learns that a rabbit's little fluffy cotton tail is perfectly suited for a rabbit, and is content with his lot.

Against my expectations, I really enjoyed this little story. I was curious each time to see what kind of trouble Robbut's new tail would get him into. After the first two attempts at new finery he wanted his rabbit tail back and I was disappointed, I wanted to see more adventures! but luckily for the reader, he hadn't quite learned his lesson and went back one final time to try the fox tail. The endpapers are wonderfully decorated and lead you to think he tried a great many more tails: cow, posssum, skunk, etc, but it was really only three. The illustrations by the author really add a lot to the story. I don't think I've ever seen such a cute rabbit face so cross and glaring as Robbut could be! and the little man who worked the spells reminded me of the little man who hid behind the curtain in the original Wizard of Oz illustrations- the round opaque glasses were rather creepy. Overall it was really charming, and made me want to look for more of this author's work.

rating: 4/5 ....... 94 pages, 1979

here we go again

The list piles up and up. Thanks to all the bloggers noted below, I will never run out of things to read!

Among Others by Jo Walton- You Can Never Have Too Many Books
Unlikely Friendships by Jennifer Holland- Bermudaonion's Weblog
The Truth About Garden Remedies- Jeff Gillman- Garden Rant
The Truth About Organic Gardening- Jeff Gillman- Garden Rant
The Puppy Diaries by Jill Abramson- Shannon's Book Bag
Island of Wings by Karin Altenberg- The Lost Entwife
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green- Stuff as Dreams Are Made On
The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey - The Book Lady's Blog
An Available Man by Hilma Wolitzer- Caroline Bookbinder
The Rabbi's Cat by Joann Sfar from Opinions of a Wolf
Lily Renee by Trina Robbins- Diary of an Eccentric
Rainwater by Sandra Brown from Life is Short Read Fast
Dark Life by Kat Falls- Opinions of a Wolf
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater's- books i done read
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion- Books Under Skin
The Outlaw Album by Daniel Woodrell- Bermudaonion
Dear Bully edited by Carrie Jones and Megan Hall- Life is Short. Read Fast.

The following books are not found in my public library, so I don't know when, if ever, I'll read them:

Death Island by Joan Conning Afman- Opinions of a Wolf
What Looks Like and Elephant by Edward Nudelman- Diary of an Eccentric
Grip: a Memoir by Nina Hamberg- the Black Sheep Dances
The Moment edited by Larry Smith- Bookfoolery and Babble
Autobiography of A.A. Milne- Captive Reader
Walkabout by James Vance Marshall- Ready When You Are, C.B.
Between Interruptions by Cori Howard- Musings of a Bookish Kitty
Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer - So Many Books
Onward and Upward in the Garden by Katherine White- Captive Reader
The Laskett by Sir Roy Strong- Captive Reader
The Invisible Garden by Dorothy Sucher- Captive Reader

And this last one isn't even out in print yet, so I'm not sure if I'll find it or not, but I'll certainly be looking:

Greenhorns edited Zoe Bradbury- Cold Antler Farm

Plant Life

A Gardener's Guide

by Susan Berry and Steve Bradley

A gardening book I picked up at a library sale once. Plant Life is a bit different from the other gardening books I've read. Instead of dispensing a lot of gardening advice and how-to's, it explains the biology of plants so that you can understand why certain things are done in the garden. It goes over things like soil structure and chemistry, how roots function, how plants use water, what is going on when seeds are lying dormant, how to prune and shape plants, recycle nutrients through the garden, control weeds, etc etc. All of it hand-in-hand describing the reasons behind gardening knowledge, which I appreciate very much. I also liked that the entire book's focus was on understanding the inner workings of nature, so that you can work with it instead of fight a loosing battle and make things harder for yourself.

I only wish some sections had been longer, often the passages were very brief. The book ended rather abruptly, too, without any kind of concluding chapter or passage. It is is based on a tv series, so perhaps that has something to do with it, but still. It's also based on gardening in Britain, so some of the plants are unfamiliar to me, also the climate and advice thereof did not always quite match with what I'm dealing with in my own yard. I still found it useful, though. Another problem was that the plant lists are sometimes given only with scientific names, other times with common names. I only know a few of the latin names, so usually I was left guessing as to what plants were actually on the list. When I came across a list that included common names I was pleased to recognize many, and wished the other lists were as clear. The inconsistency puzzled me. As always, it pleased me to recognize things in this book that I've learned elsewhere or from my own experience: feed your garden compost, recycled containers make great pots, how to save your own seed, comfrey makes an excellent green manure (I want to add it to my garden next year). The diagrams and photos are excellent, by the way. Very clear.

Some of the fascinating new things I learned: in a field, the weight of earthworms below the ground can equal that of a herd of dairy cattle above! A giant sequoia tree can transpire hundreds of gallons of water in an hour. There is a plant that mimics rocks, it is called, appropriately, the living stone plant. Crazy.

rating: 3/5 ........ 160 pages, 1993

Touch and Feel Pets

by D.K. Publishing

This is one of the Touch and Feel books I hadn't seen it before; we found it at the library today. It has a variety of familiar pets featured in bright, clear photographs on the few pages. Each with a texture for small hands to feel: fuzzy dog (spaniel of some kind, so it was kinda curly), shimmery fish scales, soft rabbit fur (body and tail), smooth bird feathers. The baby was absolutely intrigued by the page of kitty whiskers. She could not get enough of tugging on those wiry whiskers. I like the fish page. So pretty. Nice little book, good to engage a restless child (I used it already when a distraction was needed!)

rating: 3/5 ........ 12 pages, 2001

David McPhail's Animals A to Z

by David McPhail

This fun and engaging ABC book is the kind where each page is full of things beginning with the featured letter. The main animal or two are named on the page, and the rest are left up to the reader to find and discover- sometimes as many as six or seven animals or objects. If you think you've missed one, there's a little list in the back. When I read the book with my baby, I just name the few most prominent animals or objects, but my older daughter likes to look for every single thing and count them all. My favorite is the page for T, which has a tiger on top of a turtle, holding a telephone. The hard letters and/or unusual animals? This book features a bird called xenops for X, and a unicorn and upside-down catfish for U. I thought at first that the fish was a cop-out, a catfish that just happened to be swimming upside-down. But no, this fish habitually swims upside-down, thus its name. Wonderful, what the books will teach you.

This book came into our house as a gift from my sister to the baby.

rating: 4/5 ........ 32 pages, 1993

Touch and Feel Baby Animals

by D.K. Publishing

This book gets a lot of wear at our house. It is short and sweet, simply showing different animals on each page and inviting the child to feel the different textures. Soft rabbit fur, fuzzy ducklings, smooth calf hide. The page of baby elephants is charming, with a different, bumpy skin texture- although the pieces to feel are kinda small, on their ears. The last page has a baby gorilla and invites tickling- its "fur" has longer hair than the rabbit. My baby always likes to tug on the long black fibers. I like to turn the end of the book into a tickling game!

rating: 3/5 ........ 12 pages, 1999

Bring Me a Unicorn

by Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Letters and diary entries by Anne Morrow Lindbergh, spanning her college years up to the time she met and became engaged to Charles Lindbergh. It's been a while since I read any diaries, but Danielle has been discussing reading diaries lately, so I thought of this one when looking for my next TBR read. I was curious about it because in college I read quite a few books about Charles Lindbergh (I had to paint a portrait of him) it was quite interesting. Also I've recently read her inspirational book Gift of the Sea. So I was looking forward to this.

Bring Me a Unicorn didn't quite wow me, though. I suppose it's to be expected that her early diary entries will be unfocused, self-depreciatory, and lack the insights I hoped for. Most of the time I had no idea what people she was talking about, even when little footnotes informed me of their identity it really added nothing for me. Events passed in a blur. Lots of stuff is just alluded to, while she talks mostly about her emotional reactions to them (again, probably typical of a diary but not the best for reading, in my opinion). When she gets to the college years I did enjoy it more, hearing about the difficulties of classes and thrills of reading (her family was big on books). And when Lindbergh himself came into the picture, it was even more interesting to see how her family perceived him, how they came to be on friendly terms, how she experienced the repercussions of his fame, how she fell in love with flying (aviation in its early form seemed pretty frightening, to me!) etc. I liked seeing how her closeness to him developed as a friendship and feeling of being at ease, that's how I felt when I met my husband. I kept waiting to come across a passage describing a proposal, but instead she just at one point says Apparently I am going to marry Charles Lindbergh as if there was just no questioning it any longer. It made me laugh because that's how it was with me and my husband- we were very very good friends, completely comfortable with each other immediately, and just felt like we belonged together. Don't get me wrong, there was romance- and Anne Morrow certainly did plenty of mooning over him- but it wasn't mostly romance, it was mostly a strong friendship....

Aside from the relationship and seeing the figure of Lindbergh through her eyes, I also really like her descriptive passages. When she talks about visiting Mexico, travelling through the countryside, simple things like trees in a fog, birds flying over the sea, flowers in a garden, etc. it was so vivid I could see it. Her thrill and depictions of flying and viewing the landscape from up high- such a novel experience in her day- are sharp with excitement and joy.

Anyway, it turns out this is not a book I'm going to keep. I don't love it that much. But I am quite glad I read it. And I do want to read more of her diaries and other writings now.

rating: 3/5 ........ 259 pages, 1971

more opinions at:
Escaping Infinities
Gotta Have Vintage Books
anyone else?

Sounds

by Liesbet Slegers

A short board book for little ones, Sounds is about some everyday noises. Each page starts with the sound, asks What's that sound? identifies it, and then gives a little information. The ambulance drives very fast, the vacuum cleaner sucks up dirt, the airplane flies in the sky, etc. Other sounds are a ticking clock, ringing telephone and chirping bird. The pictures are simple and colorful, showing a toddler either looking at or holding the object making the sound. On the last page, the airplane noise is represented with a Rrroarrr! Unfortunately, my airplane roar sounds pretty much like my lion roar so the baby always turns around and looks at me with surprise. Older daughter was listening to us read this book and she suggested a plane sounds more like a big whooosh! or rumble. But I always forget and do the roar anyways. It's funny to see the baby look astonished as if she's thinking: what are you doing mommy? that's the lion noise.

rating: 3/5 ....... 12 pages, 2011

Hugs and Kisses

by Rachel Hale

A beautiful little board book, Hugs and Kisses is full of  sweet, soft photos of babies snuggling up to various animal friends. Gentle pastel colors, beautiful baby eyes, wonderful little smiles and of course, the furry companions! Babies cuddle with puppies and kittens, also bunnies, ducks, a half dozen adorable chicks, and a few different kinds of birds. My favorite is of the grinning baby with a green frog on her hat: Here's how a froggy hugs! Sometimes the babies look surprised, or shocked- there's an adorable picture of a baby and kitten nose-to-nose, both very wide-eyed. Mostly they're laughing and smiling. It's really cute.  In a few places the text is rather awkward and my tongue stumbles over the repeated furry, fuzzy kissable stuff, but that's okay. I thought at first that Rachel Hale was an individual photographer; turns out it's a company. Does not diminish my enjoyment of this little book, though.

rating: 4/5 ........ 20 pages, 2012

Swampwalker's Journal

A Wetlands Year

by David M. Carroll

So far the Burroughs list has been hit or miss for me; out of the three books I've read specifically from the list, one was great, one was just okay and one was blah. This was another fantastic one, though! I've really been taking my time reading it, it's the kind of book you have to slow down and just carefully, methodically absorb every page. I don't think I ever read more than five or six pages in a sitting.

Swampwalker's Journal is full of the writings of a man who likes to walk through all kinds of wetlands. He makes the same rounds every year and keeps a beautiful notebook (sample pages included) recording his observations. Makes the most delicate, wonderful drawings of the plants and animals he finds. Sees how nature is playing itself out, how the habitats shift and change, how the creatures go about their lives. Things like noticing which tree species are overtaking a certain area, at what date the first salamanders emerge in spring to mate, how the water level has changed in a certain pool and what that does to the life around. His particular passion seems to be turtles; he makes notes of every one he finds and rejoices at coming across the same turtle again- usually just once every few years. Most of the book is a description of places. I had no idea what the difference was between a marsh and a swamp before, but there is a particular difference. Also fens and bogs, I though the terms were interchangeable but they're not. He also wanders the flood zones of rivers, searches for vernal pools (in many different habitats) and wades across wet meadowlands. He writes so eloquently about these places- it's almost like poetry. And such a deep concern for the wildlife. His stance, quite often repeated, is that man would do better to just leave nature alone- even the efforts of various groups to protect or restore threatened areas often do more harm than good (in his opinion).

I really enjoyed reading this book, it opened my eyes to a lot of animal life and places I hardly knew existed, much less wondered about before. It's not likely I'll ever go wading up to my hips through a swamp to find out myself, so it's wonderful to read about someone else's forays into these places, especially when its written so beautifully. Upon turning the last page I was immediately eager to find more of Carroll's works; this is just one volume of his "wet-sneaker trilogy." I'm glad to find that his Year of the Turtle is at my library, so I'll be reading that one as soon as the dare is over!

rating: 4/5 ......... 292 pages, 1999

more opinions at:
Willowhouse Chronicles
A Good Stopping Point

How Loud is a Lion?

by Clare Beaton

By far the outstanding thing about this little board book is the illustrations. They're made out of fabrics and stitches and little beads all put together in shapes and patterns to make pictures of animals. It's just amazing and full of wonderful textures. The story itself describes different attributes of animals in pairs: Antelopes are elegant, elephants are enormous and each phrase ends with But how loud is a lion? you turn the page and find more animals, still wondering about the lion... If you look closely there are signs of the lion among the romping chimpanzees and running gazelle: a tail here, pawprints there, eyes peeking through a bush. You're going along with a nice rhythm, meeting familiar hippos and exotic-sounding zorillas when you turn the page and suddenly ROARR!!! (all the animals flee in panic). Then on the very last page is a big happy lion, looking very pleased with himself for having scared everyone, ha ha. My kid always jumps at the roar, it's so funny. She's not old enough to look for the lion hiding on each page, but it entertains me while I'm reading for the umpteenth time.

My only little quibble is that where is says Cheetahs are spotty, the animal pictured looks like a leopard, and it's reclining in a tree! I know this is an easy mistake- my older daughter's school makes it, for example. Their mascot is a jaguar, yet the huge rubber entrance mat features a sprinting cheetah. I've also seen cheetahs on their letterhead! It annoys me a little bit, but oh well.

I do really love this book. I know I saw another one with same style of illustrations when my first daughter was small, but now I can't recall the title or even what it was about...

rating: 4/5 ........ 24 pages, 2002

more opinions at:
My Mummy Reviews

NFL Big & Small

A Book of Opposites 

by DK Publishing

This is my husband's favorite board book in the house.  NFL Big and Small features football players in various poses to demonstrate opposites such as big and small, over and under, up and down. The page for happy and sad shows the painted faces of fans. Not all the spreads have famous figures; off and on features a scoreboard, empty and full a box of players' gear. Of course, hubby likes the book because his team is in here (the Niners) and I like it for the bright, bold colors and clear illustrations of the word concepts. I think my kid likes the faces, especially the one where a player is sitting on his rear laughing with his tongue sticking out! The initial big and small page is cute, too- it shows a large beefy football player standing next to a toddler in a football shirt. I can't tell you who the famous faces are in this book; I'm pretty clueless when it comes to sports, but the fan in our house loves it, and so does the child!

rating: 4/5 ........ 24 pages, 1999

reading moments

the baby is almost too big for her sister's lap!
here they're reading the numbers book

Sonja insists on turning the pages herself

she also likes stories on the potty

unless, the floor suddenly becomes more interesting

catalog

I just spent my evening quiet time (one of the few nights the kid and baby actually get to bed on time) reading a seed catalog. And I'm writing about it here because it feels more like an enjoyable reading experience than anything else, plus it's not much to note of on my garden blog since I won't be ordering seeds from this company. But I would, if I lived in the Pacific Northwest. Here's the deal.

I once bought my mother some flower seed for her garden from Uprising Seeds. I thought what better way to have varieties that will do well in your climate, than to buy from a company that grows the very seed right there in your home state? Not only that, but their plants are old heirloom varieties, many that are in danger of going extinct. I was happy to get my mom some of their seed, but when their catalog arrived at my door this winter thought meh: I love them, but they probably won't grow for me over here, in a different climate zone. But I started thumbing through the catalog anyway, just curious.

And found it was such fun to read. It was heartening to read the little intro page about the local farms that produce the seed and all the integrity these people put into their work. You can tell by reading the words that they love plants. And the descriptions next to the variety names not only all sound very enticing, but also quite honest: some of them just say crop failed next to it. Others mention that the crop is small, or that it was so lovely they couldn't help eating the produce in the field instead letting it mature into seed (I'm hoping that's a joke, mostly)! Most tell something about the history of the plant, or extol its virtues, but all in a way that's utterly charming, engaging, and sometimes downright funny. There's a tomato with soft, fuzzy leaves, a lettuce variety that dates back to 1799. Have you ever read a produce description before that said oh-my-god-these-are-so-cute? And listen to this about the pumpkins: There are some people in the house who believe pumpkin pie is not reserved for special occasions. The occasion is the pie and every day is open for celebration. If this describes you or who you'd like to be or be around, you will thank yourself for growing this pie pumpkin.... there will be enough to share. Sharing is good. Eat. More. Pie. 

So I just kept reading, because it was fun. Usually I linger over all the pictures in seed catalogs but this one doesn't need them, the writing is so good. It made me long for some of their plants, and feel sad that I didn't live in the vicinity of Uprising Seeds anymore. I need to find me a seed company like this in Virginia. Anybody know of one?