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Electric Ben: The Amazing Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin

By Robert Byrd

If you’ve only thought of Ben Franklin as a bespectacled white-haired colonist, flying a kite with a key attached, then you and your young reader are in for some ride.

But, I must warn you, just as the virtues espoused and exhibited by Ben included patience, you may need a bit of it as you navigate this book.

It’s lengthy and loaded with facts. But do not let its length deter you or young reader. It’s dense and compels you to delve deeper into the depths of Ben Franklin. But I can tell you that his life is presented in such a way that though it may be non-fiction, it is quite the page turner.

In his Author’s Note, Robert Byrd says to his readers:

                  With a figure as famous as

                  Franklin, there is an abundance

                  of information about his life. I

                  wasn’t going to discover any-

                  thing about him that wasn’t

                  already known, so I had to pick

                  and choose what I thought

                  was informative and visually

                  interesting…..I tried to present

                  events in Franklin’s life in the

                  most intriguing, yet respectful

                  way, and also providing excite-

                  ment and graphic variation with

                  each page turn.

Electric Ben is packed with information on Franklin’s hunger for knowledge, and one can feel the excitement as the book delineates and describes the amazing number of hats this man wore in his rich and varied life.

Do not underestimate the worth of the word “packed”, in Robert Byrd’s extraordinary picture book feat in Electric Ben. The art alone is worth the purchase of this picture book.

But, if you have the patience to plumb its depths with your young reader, both of you will come away in awe of this man among men. Are any of his like still around? I wonder.

Robert Byrd has managed to hone from dry historical facts, a Ben Franklin from youth to old age that is real and robust; a flesh and blood person whose authenticity, far-sightedness and insatiable curiosity was very hard to sate. And thank, heavens it wasn’t. For we are the beneficiaries.

You’ll hear of the Leather Apron Men in Boston who were craftsman and:

    Ben would always hold these artisans

    in high regard. They worked hard and

    were very skilled.

Even from the outset, on the front and rear covers of Electric Ben, the reader will find quotes from this innovator with such a keen mind, he was not content to merely grasp  knowledge, but he had a thirst to disseminate it to others.

Perhaps, one might not think sibling rivalry  an essential topic as regards Robert Byrd’s bio on Ben, but it’s there early on…with a brother that happens to be in the same line of work, as a writer and printer.

You can just hear the howls from brother James, eldest of Josiah and Abiah Folger Franklin’s brood of fourteen children.

Ben, as the youngest, was apprenticed to his brother for nine years, at James’ paper called the New England Courant.

It provided Ben writing opportunities as a 16 year-old; some not to older brother’s liking. For he quickly developed a following all his own under the pen name, Silence Dogood.

And James was furious as Silence champions “women’s right to education and criticized everything from bad poetry to Harvard students.” A brotherly brouhaha ensues and Ben leaves with the quote:

             I had already made myself

obnoxious to the governing

party.

Sailing to Philadelphia, brother James saw to it that Ben was “banned in Boston.” And there he thrives. Writing in the Gazette, a paper owned by a friend, it gives Ben a job, but ever a striver, he soon owns the paper.

And this is just the start of a life that included inventions including the lightning rod, Franklin stove, the famous bifocals and the discovery that lightning WAS electricity.

Not satisfied, there is his political participation as one of the Founding Fathers of a new nation and someone that helped write the Declaration of Independence and a framer of the Constitution no less!

Ben was also the United States Ambassador to France with a voracious and consuming knowledge of science, music, mathematics, history and more.

This book prompted me to get a copy of Poor Richard’s Almanac, selling at that time, some 10,000 copies a year, equal to perhaps two million today!

Mr. Byrd has even reprinted a page from the 1733 copy. Here are three quotes from it:

           People who are wrapped up in

          themselves make small packages.

 

Fish and visitors stink in three days.

 

          If you would know the value of money

          try to borrow some.

It was printed for some twenty-five years and made Ben rich, and its readers richer still… in knowledge.

I have to find a copy.

In the meantime, please read Electric Ben by Richard Byrd.

It’s electrifying!

Cinderella or The Little Glass Slipper

Translated and illustrated by Marcia Brown

Picture book author Tomie de Paola tweaked my memory bank recently with his art-mail on the birthday of Charles Perrault.

Many of you may know the contributions of this author and member of the Academie Francaise. He basically set the stage for the modern telling of fairy tales taken from his retelling of folk tales.

Perhaps the most famous would be “Cendrillon” or Cinderella.

Even the Grimm Brothers got into the act, retelling his tales some 200 years after Charles Perrault lived and wrote.

Remember, too, that the famous Broadway creative team of Rogers and Hammerstein got into the Cinderella act with a musical version in 1957 of this transformative tale based on Perrault’s Cendrillon ou la Petite Pantoufle de verre. Starring Julie Andrews, and seen on TV, it was seen by millions of viewers. Wonder what Monsieur Perrault would have thought of that? And since then, there have been several more recent TV versions in 1963 and 1997.

Perrault’s legacy to the picture book genre, and even derivatively to movies, is huge.

Please share with your children that, perhaps in their innocence, they truly believe that Walt Disney conceived the idea of Cinderella. Monsieur Perrault, were he here, would beg to differ!

Mais non! Please set them straight as you sit and enjoy this wonderful picture book, precipitated by Charles Perrault’s tales.

Which is a convenient circle back to this 1955 Caldecott Award winning picture book classic by Marcia Brown entitled, what else, Cinderella. Her book is a free translation from the French of Charles Perrault’s story of a girl literally confined, at times, to the cinders of a fireplace.

Ms. Brown’s translation misses none of the essentials of this gentleman’s daughter whose second wife is, shall we say, less than generous to our heroine? The new wife’s own two daughters inherit her sour and bitter disposition as well. But Cinderella is goodness itself:

       The husband had a young daughter

       of his own, but she was sweet and

       good. She took after her mother,

       who had been the best in the world.

Alas, as the fairy tale goes, things are not roses and daffodils in this particular blended family! Not one to complain of her treatment to her papa at the hands of her new family members, I wonder that he must have been absent most of the time or near-sighted not to have seen his daughter’s ill treatment! Thank heavens we have many blended families and step moms in particular today, in sharp contradiction to this one:

         She gave her the vilest household

         tasks; it was Cinderella who scoured

         the pots and scrubbed the stairs,

         Cinderella who polished the bed

         chamber of madame and also those

         of her daughters.

And yes, all the glorious transformations are here in softly tinted pastel drawings that make it all the more dreamlike.

A moonlike pumpkin morphs into “a gilded coach of pure gold.” Meandering mice are transformed by Cinderella’s godmother, who just happened to be a fairy as well. In a twinkling they are changed into “dappled greys.” Rats are reimagined into coachmen and lizards are dragooned in a trice, into footmen.

And what might this tale be without a description of the famous ball gown:

         Her fairy godmother had scarcely

         touched Cinderella with her wand

         when her rags changed into a gown

         of gold and silver, embroidered with

         rubies, pearls and diamonds.

With the midnight admonition in her ears, Cinderella is off to the royal ball. And her future life awaits…. with a few bumpy turns in the road before a royal wedding ensues.

But, here’s the loveliest part, to my mind, of Marcia Brown’s classic picture book tale.

Cinderella forgives her stepsisters for their treatment of her, and even, get this, gives them a home in her palace!

And, what is even more generous, on the same day that Cinderella marries the prince, she finds her stepsisters husbands!

And they are married on the same day as Cinderella, to “two great lords of the court.”

Now that is a true princess worthy of emulation, not for mere physical beauty, but for her generosity of spirit and forgiving nature.

Cinderella’s sense of noblesse oblige is off the charts.

And as the New Yorker stated in its review:

       The pages sparkle with Marcia

       Brown’s exquisite artwork and

       lovely colors.

Please allow the magic of Marcia Brown’s Charles Perrault translation of Cinderella, to weave its magic with your young reader.

It will be a vivid literary reminder of what the transformative melding of both outer and inner beauty in a person can do.

Through this Caldecott winner, it allows  young readers to see a huge change wrought first by magic in one life, but beyond that, in the lives of others. And those changes are not brought about by magic, but solely by the simple humanity of Cinderella, and her treatment of those step sisters, lucky enough to be in her sphere of influence. Beautiful!

And, to my mind, that is the real magic of this classic picture book read. It is one not to be missed.

Little Tree

By Loren Long

Loren Long’s Little Tree gave me a great idea for a “two fer” for young readers; back to back readings of two “tree” themed books.

The first is Hans Christian Andersen’s classic, called The Fir Tree, and the second, is Loren Long’s Little Tree.

Both are stories with a surface tale to tell, but with deeper meanings both you and your young reader may want to talk over, or they may simply intuit on their own.

Trees have always appeared to me as symbols of strength, growth and adaptability to change. They go with the flow, so to speak.  Most change with the seasons and take what comes…gently.

These two authors appear to depict opposite ways of a tree looking at adaptability to change. And there are truly wonderful lessons to be learned in both books!

In The Fir Tree, readers meet a small fir tree in a fresh forest awash with stately firs,  towering tall over him. He can’t wait to be as they are. But their fate, and use, is to be chopped down and carted off to be the masts of tall ships.

The sun and wind admonish him to rejoice in his youth, his fresh growth and in the young life in him. Does the tree listen? Nope! He wants more… the next big thing. Perhaps, Mr. Andersen was keying in to the impatience of youth? Can’t you hear those voices?

      I’ll be happy when… I can stay up late…have a two wheeler…have a sleepover… go to the mall or the movies alone… drive a car… go to high school… go to college… live on my own!

Sound familiar, parents? Well, some maybe not quite yet.

Yet, a passing bird tells the fir tree of a glorious future awaiting decorated trees in a households that he has seen.

The tale unfolds of the fir tree experiencing being felled as a Christmas tree, the excitement and moment of splendor on Christmas Eve as candles glow on his branches, and later he is pillaged of the gifts that fill his branches.

He sadly thinks there are more moments such as these to come, as he ponders his future, and unceremoniously stuffed in a garret.

Yet even here, he is hopeful entertaining the passing parades of mice and rats that listen to his retelling of the tale of Humpty Dumpty, he first heard on Christmas Eve.

What’s next? That seems to be his constant topic of conversation, and sadly the reader knows what’s next for all Christmas trees past their expiration dates!

Savor the moment seems to be the message here; revel in it, bathe in its beauty, and do not wish it too soon gone. For it will never come again. How do we teach our children to embrace and value the now? Just maybe with books such as these!

These are pretty sobering thoughts for a picture book, no? But then, the truly great authors both entertain and enlighten.

Loren Long’s Little Tree takes an entirely different tack:

        “Life is perfect just the way it is.”

He loves those leaves that cool him in the summer’s heat, and as the autumn winds ruffle his leaves, and those of the towering trees in the forest that surround him, he will not let go of his browned and dried up leaves.

The other trees surrender effortlessly to the harsher winds of the coming winter that strip the leaves bare. But not Little Tree.

        Then one by one, the trees began to

        drop their leaves. But not Little Tree.

        He just hugged his leaves tighter.

A squirrel, passing doe and red fox query Little Tree as to “What are you doing with your leaves still on you?” His answer is a tighter grip on what he knows. And the pattern continues as the seasons come and go.

All around him, trees of his original height are now burgeoning with new altitudes and lofty with leaves. But not Little Tree. He is safe and …stuck where is in his comfort zone, clinging tighter as successive  season pass.

At last, one winter, with snow falling in buckets, he looks at the trees, bare limbed that were once his size, now dwarfing him. And he gets it and lets go of his leaves.

Loren Long has written a simple parable about a number of things, and perhaps among them are:

         Let nature take its course. She’s a great teacher.

 

         Don’t be afraid of the unknown.

 

         Too much stubbornness stunts growth.

 

         It takes courage to let go of what

         we know.. to find what we need. 

Time, acceptance and love can be the great healers and facilitators of growth in us as well.

Even though Little Tree feels the harshness of winter minus his leaves, over time

            …something happened.

And hopefully, that something will resonate through the growth cycles of young readers in your own life, as it does wonderfully in the life lessons taught by Loren Long’s Little Tree and The Fir Tree by Hans Christian Andersen.

Growing, whether in child or tree, is a journey and a gift. Sometimes we want to stay where we are because it’s safe.

Children need to sense and savor that fully as it fills them with security, to be sure. And maybe it even works for us for a time.

But, we will never know how far we can journey, if we stay where we are.

Who Will See Their Shadows This Year?

By Jerry Pallotta and David Biedrzycki

As February 2nd approaches, the focus on the popularity of the groundhog skyrockets and his folkloric history as weather prognosticator extraordinaire comes to the fore. Namely, if he comes out of his burrow and sees his shadow, we’re in for six more weeks of Ole Man Winter and if not, the zephyrs of spring breezes will come early.

But what if the sudden once a year celebrity of the groundhog causes jealousy to rear its petulant head in the animals of the forest? Such is the result of animal competition in “Who Will See Their Shadows This Spring?” “Their” is definitely the operative word with this group of groundhog wanna bees.  Hey, they’re in a grumpy mood to begin with as winter drags on…and on. The fed up faces of these denizens of the forest in the midst of the winter doldrums are very funny. They’ve had it and are heavy lidded and harried! Check out the beleaguered buffalo in the initial gathering of this winter weary lot. He’s beat and ready to bellow.

Leave it to the chicken to start the green eye of envy rolling with the quote, “But…why should   groundhog get all the attention?” “What about us”? The chicken throws down the gauntlet to groundhogs everywhere with, “Let me try my shadow!” Her attempt is met with a driving rainstorm, followed quickly by a succession of other animals attempting to bring spring. The polar bear’s shadow causes a blizzard with the dog’s outline leading to a sudden influx of dense fog. The shadow of the pig causes a hurricane to ensue and the buffalo fares not much better with sleet pelting the forest folk as his shadow hits the ground!

Frustration is beginning to settle heavily on the shoulders of the animals as they try to cajole and conjure spring into appearing. Maybe if they try a panda shadow, he might be able to wield a little extra clout with Mother Nature. HAIL STONES appear in buckets. A koala, camel, butterfly and even a ring-tailed lemur and peacock’s attempts are variously met with mist, gale-force winds, tornadoes and hot, muggy weather. Not exactly the spring they had in mind.

Are they ready to say “Uncle” and let the groundhog do what he does best and will he awaken in time for February 2^nd?

This is a perfect read aloud for the younger set that may identify with the feelings of animals tired of the groundhog getting the American Idol-like spotlight every 2^nd of February. For a culture that thrives on celebrity, this book is a humorous take on the light shown, even in the animal world, on the 15 minutes of fame given every February 2^nd to a groundhog.

Punxsutawney Phil, get ready for the flash bulbs and your photo op. Smile for the camera, please! And this picture book is apt to put a smile on any young reader’s face.

Yertle the Turtle

By Dr. Seuss

Guess that famous turtle named Yertle hasn’t heard that there is a turtle soup shortage! Or maybe he has!

Yertle who longs to be King of the Turtles uses underling turtles to put himself above the rest. Higher and higher Yertle stacks these poor things, with Mack the turtle in the basement, so to speak. Imagine the pain and hunger imposed on the bottom rung turtles of this turtle tower?

I was recently listening to a news report while on vacation that mentioned a dearth of turtle soup on store shelves.

And why has this happened? Turtles are in short order, rare supply, and scarcely to be found. At least since they have been put on the endangered list, they can no longer be hunted, captured and cooked. Coastal developments, fisheries, pollution and climate change, all have a played a part in the depletion of the numbers of turtles. Turtle protection habitats for helping and recovery of these terrapins are in the news if you look for them. And that is good news for the Yertles and Macks of the world. Well, maybe just the Macks of the turtle tribe deserve the good news. Yertle has a ways to go in his redemption as this picture book tale reveals. As the adage goes, “Pride goeth before the fall.”

As an interesting  sidebar, did you know that during the Great Depression, turtles were consumed, and referred to as “Hoover’s Chickens” in the south? Wonder how President Herbert Hoover felt about that appellation? They must have been plentiful and tasty in a time of food lines across a country reeling from its economic woes.

But, back to Dr. Seuss’s Yertle, as the classic picture tale reveals rebellion rearing its head in the turtle tower among the ranks of those squished at the bottom of the heap. Will Yertle continue his ascent? Will Mack and the other terrapin tower partners rebel?

When finally “the moon dares to be higher than Yertle the King,” something has got to give, and Yertle’s collapsing tower is quick and calamitous, as he soon devolves into “King of the Mud.”

It’s a classic picture book read for young ones. For some it could be seen as a morality tale of building ones ascent on the literal “backs” of others. Or maybe a scientifically gentle reminder that “what goes up must come down.”

But my bet is on kids that may intuit from this classic read that how we ascend, or do better in the world, is just as, or much more important than, where we rise to.

Back of the Bus

By Aaron Reynolds, illustrated by Floyd Cooper

It may seem strange perhaps to post a book on Rosa Parks’ act of defiance on December 1, 1955, to honor Martin Luther King on his national holiday, but as so many other events in history, they are interlinked. When Rosa Parks defied the Montgomery, Alabama city code that required them to not only sit in a separate section of the city buses, but to give up their seats if white passengers boarding, could not find seating in the all white section! Young readers need to be reminded how life was for many of our citizens in the not too distant past. And that is what “Back of the Bus” helps to achieve in telling the Rosa Parks event through the eyes of a fictional black child and his mother seated on the bus that day.

Aaron Reynolds fills his book with small events to portray the small boy as just a child riding the bus with his mom as an everyday event in his life; a day just like any other except it turned out to be a defining moment in history he chances upon. He takes out his bright, shiny marble, a tiger’s eye, and rolls it. As the bus slows, it follows the law of gravity away from him and rolls right into the hand of Rosa Parks who rolls it back with a grin. More passengers get on.

Then it happens. Mr. Blake, the driver growls out, “Y’all gotta move, now.” Some people do get up and move, but the bus is at a dead standstill. Somebody is speaking up. But the words of the bus driver carry to the back of the bus, “I’m gonna call the police, now.”

Whispers fill the halted bus and the boy can see from his perch at the back of the bus that the speaker was Rosa Parks.

She doesn’t belong up front like that,

and them folks know it.

But she’s sittin’ right there,

her eyes all fierce like a lightnin’ storm,

like maybe she does belong up there.

And I start thinkin’ maybe she does too.

Words may be instructive as we parents know, but I still think example is the strongest teacher. And in Ms. Parks her subsequent arrest and fine because of the violation of Montgomery’s city code was a watershed event.

The boy’s mother placates him with the words, “Tomorrow all this’ll be forgot.” Though his mother says the words, he too takes note of the new “lightning” storm” in her eyes. And instead of feeling afraid, he feels a new strength.

Taking out his tiger’s eye marble from the tightly closed fist, instead he holds it up to the light with a new pride. I love the illustrations that seem a bit out of focus and muted until Rosa Parks takes her stand. The defining lines and shapes seem dim with everything hazy and unclear, including the people on the bus. Mr. Cooper’s artistic technique changes with Ms. Parks’ refusal. Images are sharp and clear. People, including the young boy’s mother are drawn with clear and delineated thoughtful feelings of emotion at what has happened. Art and narrative blend beautifully to display the change that is afoot. 

Where does Martin Luther King’s life intersect with Rosa Parks? Following this event, the Mt. Zion Church of Montgomery spurs the formation of the Montgomery Improvement Association, lead by Martin Luther King. Their initial goal is to effect change starting with the very segregation bus code effecting Ms. Parks. The MIA organizes a very successful boycott of the buses for 382 days with some 40,000 black riders cobbling together alternate means of transportation to get to work. They included walking, carpooling, riding in African-American operated cabs. Martin Luther King’s home was attacked in the ensuing violence the boycott began.

Rosa Parks single act of defiance with the words, “I don’t think I should have to stand up,” was the catalyst for change. Books and the ideas they foster have done the same thing for people with each turn of the page. And for your young readers, “Back of the Bus” may not only provide a look back in history at a single and seminal act of defiance that changed an unjust law, but a model for a way to stand up for something they believe in when the still, small voice in each of us tells us to do so.

Paul Bunyan : A Tall Tale

retold and illustrated by Stephen Kellogg

As fall descends with its leaves and longer nights, perhaps there might just be more family time for young ones that includes a lap and a book.

Sometimes, in the flurry of picture books out there, the folk, fairy and fables might get slighted a tad.

So… enter Stephen Kellogg with a collection of folk tales to whet the appetite for larger than life heroes.

Seems our culture today could do with a bit of hero modeling for our young ones as today’s heroes tend to be rock stars and  sports figures, with its inference that mere celebrity is good enough to pass for true achievement.

I’m always interested in seeing how folk tales or “tall tales” sort of explain to young readers, in a most charming way, the natural world and how it evolved.

Was there truly a Paul Bunyan, or are his exploits stretching the truth from Maine to Alaska?

Even if folk tales stretch and spin the truth to tell a story, Stephen Kellogg has rendered young readers a “huge” service in retelling this tall tale of Paul Bunyan, that very large folk hero, and a woven together series of yarns of a giant, yet gentle man, putting down his pretty big footprint in the wilderness!

Everything about Paul is BIG, from his birth as the “largest, smartest, and strongest baby ever born in the state of Maine” and his early interest in the family logging business. Kids will be goggle eyed at this “diapered dynamo” literally hauling whole trees out of the ground, single-handedly!

And Paul’s parents are literally forced to anchor his ginormous cradle in the harbor as the complaints mount of his exploits. But, as Paul rocks, so too, do waves that mount perilously in the harbor. And the Bunyan family quickly decamps to the wilderness!

Kellogg has illustrated to perfection the simple text of “All was well until Paul started rocking the cradle and stirring up waves.”  Boats and houses awash from Paul’s wave making is illustrated to hilarious effect.

As they head west, kids will particularly love his adoption of Babe, the “blue ox”, that Paul rescues from a snowdrift. Why, you may ask, is Babe a true blue ox?

   “Both Paul and Babe began growing

   at an astonishing rate, but the ox never

   lost the color of the snow from which

   he’d been rescued.”

As Paul heads west, young readers will meet in turn, Ole, a celebrated blacksmith, the two famous cooks Sourdough Slim and Creampuff Fatty, lumbermen Big Tim Burr and Hardjaw Murphy, plus the seven Hackett brothers.

And, in those Appalachian Mountains, beware a pack of underground ogres called the Gumberoos that attack Paul’s logging camp. All I can say is….feel sorry for those pesky Gumberoos!!! There is quite a rollicking rumpus of a rowdy dow; in plain English – a whale of a fisticuffs fight.

Kids will marvel at Paul’s clearing of the “heavily forested” midwest and the huge flapjack griddle constructed to feed his busy crew. Kitchen helpers skating on slabs of bacon “laced to their feet” like ice skates is imagined by Kellogg as broom hockey on a griddle with an orange as the puck. That scene is wild and wonderfully imagined by the author.

I could go on, but that would deprive you of Kellogg’s compilation of the “tale tales” involved in Paul’s  reaching California and then on to his new adventures in Alaska.

Bet you wonder just how the Grand Canyon was formed. Maybe, as this Reading Rainbow selected picture book intimates, it was something like:

    “Paul’s great ax fell from his shoulder,

gouging a trench, which today is known

as the Grand Canyon.”

Glory be and fiddle dee dee! Paul Bunyan and his tale tales are a grand read, and Stephen Kellogg’s take is just the book to introduce your young reader to this “mountain of a man.”

The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey

By Susan Wojciechowski; illustrated by PJ. Lynch

Okay, here’s an honest take on this season. I am feeling not a bit of the happy holiday ho ho ho this year.

Maybe it’s the state of the world, but then again, the world has always seemed in a state of a huge kerfuffle in some place or another every year.

It just seems that this year, the kerfuffles are more random, more unreasoning and more relentless.

Then..this picture book appeared in the mail. And, I sat with it for what seemed like more than minutes, leafing through the pages and its pictures…. and the portrait of a man.

His name is Jonathan. He’s a woodcarver and that is about all anyone in the small town knows of him – or cares to. He’s called “Mr. Gloomy,” because of his downcast look and gruff manner. Jonathan mumbles, mutters, complains and cavils about the noise of the church bells and the sound of children playing.

Our first instinct is to say, “What a grump,” and let it go at that. But the author doesn’t let it go – or us.

Ms. Wojciechowski, in this 20th Anniversary edition of her picture book which won the Kate Greenaway Medal, gives us a closer look at the mysteries of love and the human heart, and won’t let us look away – like the town.

For she lets the reader know early on the reason why Jonathan Toomey has put a band-like vise around his ability to care or love. And we are the only ones that do.

And it takes a widow, Mrs. McDowell, and her young son, Thomas, and their honest request for help, to release its hold.

They know nothing of his past. They only know and accept the person that they see.

And through their small acts of kindness, without intrusion into his private pain, they find a way in, through his only means of communication that matters to him – his woodcarving.

Requesting a replacement of a lost and carved wooden nativity set, the McDowells ask Mr. Toomey, the “best wood-carver in the whole valley,” to take on the job.

He does, and what follows is the gradual thaw of a solitary human heart, as piece by carved piece, amid their daily quiet visits and proffered small baked goods, Jonathan Toomey re-engages with life – and hope. And so do we.

Rarely have I seen a picture book where word and image meld so masterfully in P.J. Lynch’s paintings, evoking a visceral sense of the struggle it takes for one person to reconnect with life, and the simple ease with which a mother and son understand, and allow someone to be who he is, where he is, and still not click off, as we so often do with “the prickly people,” as I call them.

The New York Times Book Review said of this picture book:

         The tale is unfolded with such

         mastery, humor and emotional

         force that we are entirely in its

 power.

And for the time I encourage both you and your young reader to spend this Christmas season with “The Miracle of Jonathan Toomey,” you too will be renewed, revived and reawakened to the possibility of hope in a world that needs it as much as the despairing woodcarver. And maybe more.

There a lesson for me in this picture book, and for anyone that cares to listen.

The question is subtly asked of each of us : In the face of life’s unfairness and sometimes unbearable realities, do we break – or do we break open, to create newness in life.

And here’s the rub: often the answer to the question is not solely in our own hands, but in someone else’s – that helps us “carve” out a new way for us to be.

We are the carvers – for each other!

Merry Christmas Mr. Mouse

Caralyn Buehner and Mark Buehner

For those of you who wonder if the legend of animals talking at midnight on Christmas Eve is true, here’s another “what if” question for you. What if mice celebrate Christmas?

Caralyn and Mark Buehner of those delightful “Snowmen” books have picture book imagined that exact scenario. And it’s sugar plum sweet.

Picture a “raggedy alley mouse” and family,  discovering a warm spot beneath a house stove, that just “came on the market”, so to speak. And in they move, just before Christmas.

It’s a sort of Upstairs/Downstairs for mice as they discover some grand excitement going on above floor.

There’s an enormous tree, twinkling lights, the smell of cookies baking and they want to know “What makes this night special?”

Creeping above, Mouse learns the story of the shepherds and wise men seeking a child. And he hears of the angels and the birth of the “Lord of the earth” and that the lights, songs, and giving of gifts are in celebration of His birth!

You can learn a lot when you just listen, and this Mouse does. He hears tell of Santa’s naughty/nice list, and he relays to his Mrs. M what has prompted all the joy, love and celebration.

So, isn’t it sort of natural that she’d reply:

 Then Mrs. Mouse smiled. I’ve a grand idea!

 And this is just what we’ll do:

 We’ll put up a tree in our little nook

 And celebrate Christmas too!

And in nook #24, the Christmas prep begins, mouse style! But first they must “bell the cat.” No sense in being a feast for a furry black and white feline, just before the big day!

Every detail of the upstairs Christmas is duplicated – mouse style. Games ensue, brightly wrapped packages passed, stockings are hung (just in case) and the ancient story is retold of the first Christmas.

But a question still looms in the air. Will Santa appear in a mouse domicile? Relax! Santa forgets nobody – even the cute rodents will be rewarded for their efforts on Christmas.

I knew mice liked cheese! But Santa  deduces that chocolate chips also make great stocking stuffers for the small celebrating vermin. Who knew?

The Buehners make #24 a mouse nook that will be a family favorite this, and every Christmas hence!

And as a special treat, see if you can help kids find the cat, rabbit and T-Rex, hidden on each page of the story of this movable mouse family.

I must candidly admit that I am terrible at these sorts of things, but kids will inevitably squeal, “I found them ALL!”

“The Reindeer Wish” and “The Tiny Wish”

by Lori Evert

       Just be kind and brave.

That’s all you need ever be.

These words are a sort of mantra for the previous journey of young Anja in “The Christmas Wish.” And, as a matter of fact, they serve her, and any young reader, in pretty good stead for life in general.

So, if your young reader enjoyed Anja’s adventures in “The Christmas Wish,” then perhaps the added “The Reindeer Wish” and “The Tiny Wish” may also interest them.

The first finds Anja and a reindeer bonding as close friends. But what happens as the reindeer grows, and she realizes his best future involves being set free? Or is there another more wonderful choice and solution to letting go of a pet? Hint: The answer involves Santa and his sleigh!

Next, think of the famous and tiny Thumbelina, “no bigger than a thumb,” or even “Alice in Wonderland,” at times.

Here, readers will at first meet an older, and surrounded in summertime, Anja.

But, will she stay that way? Think height as a disadvantage involving a game of hide- and-seek with cousins. Will it cause Anja to wish for elfin smallness that will lead the maturing Anja on another adventure, not solely of self-discovery, but including a beautiful world of animal friends that help her? What do you think?

Anja’s real parents, designer Lori Evert and photographer, Per Breiehagen, help make their daughter’s Christmas and summertime adventures come alive both in word and some beautifully realistic images for your young reader.

The Christmas Wish

Story by Lori Evert

Photographs by Per Breiehagen

What if your name was Anja, and you lived in Norway, loving, among other things, adventures, reading, and her dog called Moby?

Just as an added plus, you just also happen to be a terrific skier – even if you are a little blond and braided bit of a thing. And what if your dad was an award winning photographer?

And what if your mom, who is a prop, set and wardrobe stylist, sees you with a reindeer one day, prompting a picture book idea to pop into her head?

So started a “four year family project” that ends in this stylish picture book called “The Christmas Wish.”

Trust me, every little girl that loves “American Girl” dolls will be in love with Anja, her northern home, and her hope of being one of Santa’s Elves on Christmas.

Per Breiehagen has brought all his wonderful photographic skills to bear (and there is even one of those here, too), in this “You have to believe book” of a Christmas wish come true.

From the first photo of Anja peering, and  glumly wishing, out the wooden, glass paned window of her cozy home, kids of all ages will be on board to see if her wish is granted.

Can I say right now that I want one present for Christmas – one of Anja’s outfits.

From her Dale of Norway-like sweater to her bibbed plaid pinafore, to an adorable red woolen cone shaped hat, Anja is a girl on a mission. And those curled-up-at-the-toe furred snow shoes, may just start a fashion trend.

I tell myself they are faux, and my conscience is quieted.

Before you think Anja is merely a self serving type, and definitely before her own quest commences, she is seen sweeping, a la Old Befana, at the doorway of an older neighbor, clearing drifts away, and lugging in deep snow, a “small tree for her to enjoy.”

Delivering gifts to family and friends is her first step before setting out, a quick study of the positioning of the North Star, and Anja is off on this fanciful photographic journey to see Santa.

And what sights Anja, and you, will see along the way, aided by dad’s breathtaking photos of her winter white Norwegian landscape.

Nature, with an array of decidedly large animals of all sorts, like a giant horse, musk ox, (huge) and a enormous polar bear, provide transport and encouragement for her along the way.

Oops! Forgot the tiny red cardinal at the start and end of the story. It does stand out in all that snow!

How did her dad get those pictures of Anja perched atop a perfectly huge polar bear? Trick photography? Or perhaps, they found a very Gentle Ben of a bear!

When a reindeer bell jingles, young readers, parents and Anja will just feel her goal is in sight.

And what child could not imagine the joy of being in the company of a reindeer escort, as a small, single reindeer sleigh, pulls her through the night sky and right to Santa in his sleigh, all fitted out for their journey.

And with an “I have been waiting for you,” Santa assures the reader and Anja, that both are on the brink of seeing a dream come true.

Parents will surely nod at the reasoning behind her wish being granted, as Santa informs her that it is being done solely because “You bring kindness and joy to those around you all year.” Nice touch!

And that is a good message for kids to hear this time – or any time of year.

And lest you doubt Anja’s story, she is gifted with a magical bell at her journey’s end, to summon Santa if she is in need, and also to prove her journey was not a dream. Or was it?

Why not read “The Christmas Wish” and have you and your young reader determine its veracity for yourselves.

And dear Santa, all I want for Christmas is an outfit like Anja’s – and a heart as good!

The Story of Hanukkah

by David Adler; illustrated by Jill Weber

While writing this post, and turning to the back of this picture book, I saw a review from “School Library Journal.” In part it said:

     With so much hoopla focusing

     on less historical, more celebratory

     aspects of Hanukkah, it is good to

     have a book that tells it like it was.

And I thought to myself, how similar this ancient story leading to the celebration of Hanukkah, can get equally underplayed, in much same way that the story of Christmas can sometimes be, if we let it, by the secular celebrations that surround it. Interesting!

David Adler provides a very thorough and interesting introduction to young readers to the celebration of Hanukkah by the telling of its origins in Judea in the Israel of long  ago, and the bold story of the Maccabees.

Kids will learn of the ancient temple, high on a mount called The House of God, and there shone a light called the “ner tamid” that burned always.

Enter the Greek King called Antiochus IV who tears down the walls of Jerusalem and forbids the lighting of Sabbath candles or the study of Jewish law.

And a Jewish leader/ fighter arises among the people named Mattathias that, along with groups made up of shepherds and farmers, battles the oppressive forces.

His son is called Judah the Maccabee or “hammer” and those people that fight with him, are called Maccabees.

In the final battle, against overwhelming 6-1odds, Antiochus and his army are finally routed.

Kids love when the odds are stacked and the “good guys win” and they do here.

Young readers will follow the cleaning of Jerusalem from the rebuilding of its new altar, to its redone gates and doors.

And they find, the “ner tamid, with a small bit of oil left in a jar; just enough for one day, still aglow, after eight!”

So, Judah declares on the anniversary of that date every year, an eight day celebration will occur. And it is called Hanukkah meaning dedication, as it is the day celebrating the rededication of the Temple.

Jill Weber’s warmth of colored acrylic drawings enhances this particular telling of an ancient story, and she even includes her recipe for “latkes.”

It seems when she was a young one, it was her job to grate the potato and onions for the recipe, and she offers the remembrance of this quote: “My hands smelled like onions for what seemed like a week.”

Oh, and Jill, you have my sympathy here, as I had many a skinned knuckle as a kid making potato pancakes!

At the back are also directions for the spinning “dreidel” game, with its use of the Hanukkah gelt of “chocolate gold coins,” raisins, nuts and pennies.

I loved Publishers Weekly take on this book when it opined:

 

 A family-oriented book designed

        to impart traditions.

This is a great read aloud for young  families striving to emphasize why a tradition such as Hanukkah continues its importance in Jewish households today, and the historical perspective of why it is commemorated in many family traditions that are remembered each year – and upheld.

Happy Hanukkah! 

Christmas in the Barn

By Margaret Wise Brown; Illustrated by Diane Goode

We have a barn, so this book is really relatable and imaginative territory for me as I wonder what it was really like on that Christmas Eve thousands of years ago.

Some have said this blessed event occurred in a stable, some say a cave or, even here, written by the author of the famous “Good night Moon,” and illustrated by Caldecott Award winning illustrator Diane Goode, it occurs in a barn.

Somehow, I think Mary and Joseph did not have the cozy comfort of this idyllic setting for the birth of their baby. Ms. Goode’s images are of a snowy wind whipped day, with a couple, on the cusp of a birth, trying to find shelter for the night.

But no matter, the setting here is an “ancient barn”, set apart from the main house where the owners, apparently kindly though unseen, take in two out-of-towners on a bitterly cold, snow drifted night, as they await the birth of their child.

The couple are drawn by Ms. Goode as ordinary folk, caught unawares in a defining moment in their lives.  And Ms. Wise Brown makes the nativity story fresh, accessible and real to readers. This could be any couple, awaiting the birth of their baby.

Was it that way more than 2,000 years ago in Bethlehem? Maybe. But I think the freshly new straw laden ancient barn with its coziness is what we may all hope it could have been in an ideal world and in our imaginations.

But, all the truly essential elements are there in this re-imagining of this seminal moment in Christian history.

The “ancient barn,” for that is the one thing that defines the measure of age, and its ability to sustain against the onslaught of time, is set in a huge, snow covered field. Its lintels house the couple-in-waiting who “had lost their way,” plus a host of out-of-door curious creatures, including rabbits, a black and white herd dog, horses, and even field mice, escaping the frigid temperatures.

And, also, all the traditionals are here: the sheep, cow, cattle, oxen and donkey are present front and center. Did I miss the “doves in the rafters high?”

And there they were all safe and warm

All together in that ancient barn.

Young readers will love how the positioning of the shepherds, a stones throw away in a nearby pasture, come running with one  small cry:

 When hail – the first wail of a newborn babe reached the night

 Where one great star was burning bright

Where are the wise men, kids may ask? Not to worry. They arrive at the dawn of Christmas Day.

And interestingly enough, their look is not defined in any way, as if it were not important, as they are just there in shadow, a trio to bear witness and manifest that moment in time to a wider world.

All together

In that ancient barn

Margaret Wise Brown’s re-imagining of the story is wonderful in setting, in tone, and in the texture of its simplicity in the farm-like images of Diane Goode’s pastoral art.

Maybe what young readers may glean from this ancient story, positioned in an “ancient barn”, is that a miracle occurring some 2,000 years ago is still possible to reverberate today, in the kindness we make visible in the world, as this centuries old event continues to echo its tidings of joy to young readers of today, and down the ages.

Dear Santa, Love, Rachel Rosenstein

By Amanda Peet and Andrea Troyer; illustrated by Christine Davenier

The heart wants what it wants –

or else it does not care.

 

Emily Dickinson

This quote popped into my head after finishing Dear Santa, Love, Rachel Rosenstein.

It’s probably one of my favorite picture books of this season – though I do have some reservations. More on that to come.

The story centers on the very human and headstrong Rachel intent on the absolute and unequivocal certainty of what she wants.

And what she wants is a taste of Christmas. But, the fly in the poetic ointment of that desire is that Rachel happens to be Jewish.

Amanda Peet and Andrea Troyer have written a very realistic take on young Rachel’s determination to share in the traditions and culture of the Christmas season. And here’s why Rachel feels what she feels:

She loved the thousand twinkly lights

that went up in her neighborhood, the               

ginormous tree in the town square, and

the store windows crowded with Santas,        

elves, candy canes, glittery tinsel, and piles of presents wrapped in shiny, beautiful paper.

Rachel is in love with the entire idea of the secular Christmas that inundates our culture each year. Truth be told; no matter what your faith belief, it’s pretty hard to ignore all of this, and, if you’re a kid, nigh on impossible.

I do get that this is part of the point being made here; that, along with the importance of individual faith traditions needing to be respected.

But what I don’t get is the impermeable line in the Christmas snow that is unquestionably drawn for Rachel.

Admittedly, Rachel represents probably a host of many faiths that are not part of the Christmas season. Its secular messages are trumpeted everywhere AND OFTEN this time of year.

They’re pretty hard to ignore, even for Christian families that are trying to coexist with another “reason for the season.”

But our young Rachel is goal oriented, as relates to Christmas getting and giving, and, through a series of clever and elusive plots, endeavors to show that she will not be left behind in the Santa season.

She is a girl on a mission, and her objective is to find a way to be part of it – and she leaves no stone unturned in her pursuit of making Santa aware that she is there and eager to be part of the festivities. Her door is wide open, leave no doubt of it, Mr. Claus!

Patient parental explanations of the traditions of Passover, Rosh Hashanah and Hanukkah along with all the other wonderful foods, and religious and cultural heritage of her own faith, fall on deaf ears as Rachel ratchets up her quest for Christmas.

So, she resorts to a special ops operation of a sortie to Santa – the Big Man himself – in person! She visits a department store Santa when a neighborhood family invites her along as their guest.

Department store Santas have probably heard it all in the pleas of panicked kiddies in the thrall of Christmas gift getting.

But the look on this Santa as Rachel explains her dilemma is priceless – and so human that you cheer for Rachel’s spirit, tenacity, and her desire to be part of something she so desperately wants.

Rachel is a Christmas decorator nonpareil, as she secretly floods her house Christmas Eve with a flurry of last minute proper welcomes for Santa, all in the trusting hope, he will not pass her by.

She spares no known gesture, big or small, as even the cookies (latkes pressed into service and reimagined with chocolate chips pressed in ) and milk with a note for Santa, are placed with great care.

I am reminded of our Jewish next door neighbors growing up as a kid in New Jersey. Every Christmas, my friend, Sharon, would be invited over to help decorate our Christmas tree. She came, and had, I think, a good time and a peek at another tradition, other than her own.

What never occurred to me was whether she had one of her own, though I did enjoy delicious suppers at her home over time. We enjoyed one another’s homes and hearts that were open to each other.

But, the inevitable happens for Rachel. No Santa and no present. The reader can see it coming a mile away. And your heart breaks a bit, too, for Rachel’s disappointment – for a bit.

Her mom is a pretty sage and practical woman, as she says to her daughter:

              Sometimes, no matter how

              badly we want something

              we want, we just have to accept

              what is.

Those are indeed true and wise words, in the main, but I wonder….

What I do remember from my friend Sharon’s and my secular and faith traditions, was that they were no better, one than the other, just different. And we were the richer for sharing them. We could each be what we were, and not compromise the other person’s belief system, by enjoying, learning and participating in the other.

What was important was our shared friendship and the other 364 days of the year that we played games together, acted in neighborhood plays, laughed as we popped tar bubbles on the street and roller skated on the fast hill that ran past her house.

I guess I am going out on a PC improper limb here, when I choose to opine: Would Rachel be a better or worse person for even a fraction of participation in any of the traditions involved in Christmas? It’s an interesting premise.

And while her family’s meeting at the local restaurant; the only one open on Christmas, involves a communal get together of other non Christmas celebrators of Chinese New Years and Diwali, another festival of lights, as Hanukkah is, it does beg the question.

All of these children: the Rachels,  Aminas, plus young Mike Rashid and Lucy Deng, are all growing up in an incredibly diverse world of religions and cultures.

Would they be better served sharing the richness of who and what we all have in common, as long as it involves a growing respect of what we each hold dear – and a willingness to find out what each tradition means –  to them?

Sometimes kid’s insights are so pure and devoid of any past prologues to their future, that, even if her mom says no, I am rooting a bit for Rachel.

I couldn’t have said it any better than the simple sincerity of Rachel’s letter to Santa as she asks him to allow her to be part of Christmas:

      Dear Santa,

         I live in the brick house on Huntley

      Drive. Yes the one with NO holiday

      decorations. It does have a chimney

      and there will be cookies waiting if you

      come down it.

          I have been really good all year and I

      know that you are a fair person and will

not mind that I am Jewish. After all so

      was Jesus, at least on his mother’s

      side.

Check with mom first, Rachel, but you are invited to share a bit of Christmas with us – ANYTIME!  And, just for the record, I will come to Huntley Drive for Hanukkah. Just say the word!

I can’t make latkes, but I sure am willing to learn.

Happy Hanukkah, sweetie! You are one special young woman.

It’s getting to be that time of year again; the time of the Christmas crunch. Six weeks to go and the countdown begins to the big day.

We are unintentionally, at times, consumed with our daily 24/7 lives, lived at warp speed, attached to devices that keep us plugged in continuously.

And time, that most prized of possessions, seems more elusive than ever, when we look at the perhaps smaller amounts of it spent with the ones we love, because of job demands, and a whole host of other attention getter things.

What do we want our children to “Believe” and “Remember” this Christmas season?

I hope we want to reinforce the belief in the goodness that surrounds them, even in the face of evils that have been present, in one form or another, always.

I hope we encourage them to believe in the gift of self; that Christmas is not merely about “getting”, but “giving”.

For most of us, if we are honest, have many “luxuries,” that are now looked on as “necessities,” in a world that is continually upgrading to the next new thing; sometimes referred to as the “latest model”.

And those “luxuries” are acquired with the use of that most precious commodity in anyone’s life – time. It does come in finite amounts in any life.

I hope we ask them to believe that they can “be in the world what they want to see in the world.” For if we want kindness, justice, and peace to flourish in the world, it will have to be modeled in the everyday – to one another – at home, at school, in the everyday relationships we enjoy with those nice ones we encounter, but also and with those “prickly personality people” that come our way as well. Kids are like sponges. They absorb what they hear and see and do the same.

Commercial here: If reading is important to you and they see you doing it, they’ll figure its important too, for the most part.

Pile their bed stands high with selections of books this time of year. They’ll pick and poke and find what piques their interest.

Now, we come to the “Remembering” part. What do we want our kids to remember about this Christmas?

Do we want them to remember the “stuff”? I would be less than candid or even near the realm of reality, if I said “no”.

For presents are an essential part of the giving spirit of Christmas. But, perhaps in some way, they are merely a symbol of what we hope to give family and friends this Christmas.

And just maybe, in some corner of our minds, we truly believe that we are “wrapping up a part of ourselves,” in those packages selected with such care and wrapped with ribbons.

And yes, our young ones will surely squeal with delight when the tissue is torn from what they longed for all year.

But that too passes.

What they will remember over time from Christmas 2015, and trust me on this, is the time you spent with them.

It could be cookie baking you shared of a time honored family recipe, with the kitchen covered wall-to-wall in flour, a quiet walk in the snow, a sled hurtling down a hill with you and a child aboard, or a lap that holds them, plus a book, for a quiet read.

All these are moments they will return to you, years later, as they look at you and say, “Remember when….

And they are the gifts that last a lifetime!

The Baker’s Dozen: A Saint Nicholas Tale

Told by Aaron Shepherd; pictures by Wendy Edelson

Have you ever been in a bakery and received “a baker’s dozen?” It’s one more than twelve. I haven’t received that number in quite a while, so I may just bring this book with me to the proprietor for a read!

But, have you ever wondered about the origin of the term, baker’s dozen?

Well, if you have, as St. Nicholas Day approaches on December 6th, you and your young reader are in for a tasty treat of a picture book read, plus a lesson in “giving more than you get”, via this picture book tale of colonial times, told by Aaron Shepherd, with richly detailed paintings in sumptuous colors, provided by way of Wendy Edelson.

This is a book that cries out for a lap and a read aloud with a child on a quiet afternoon or evening in December. And its reviewers felt the same way, as evidenced by just one that I picked:

       A lush new version of a traditional

       tale….Well chosen words and nicely

       paced text that begs to be told aloud.

       A treat for the holiday season.

 

School Library Journal

The story is recounted of the successful Albany baker named Van Amsterdam who has a booming bakery business. And especially on December 6th, his store is awash in baked cookies shaped and iced as replicas of the red and white robed St. Nicholas. They’re fairly flying out his bakery door that day.

Enter an elderly, shawled woman asking for a dozen of the cookies. But, when Van Amsterdam immediately packs up the exact number count, her response is, to say the least, not run of the mill, as she asks for thirteen! And as he declines, it does not bode well for the successful baker, as the woman intones:

       “Van Amsterdam! However honest

you may be, your heart is small and

your fist is tight. Fall again, mount        

again, learn how to count again!”

“The Baker’s Dozen” perfectly portrays this Old World baker, seemingly a success, yet on the cusp of a learning curve that comes at a cost.

Will his success continue unabated? Will he learn to give a bit more than is asked? It’s a terrific lesson in generosity that young readers will ask for again and again, come holiday time. And the art work is stunning in its rich tapestry-like hues. I have not seen Wendy Edelson’s work before, but she achieves perfection as she elucidates Mr. Shepherd’s text with charm and cheeriness.

I know one thing. If an apple cheeked woman with a shawl wrapped about her, asks me for a dozen apples at the farm stand, you can bet the farm, that I will gladly give her an extra one.

And no questions asked!

For who knows when St. Nicholas may visit us in some disguise to monitor how generous we are?

Happy 50th Anniversary  to “A Charlie Brown Christmas”

It’s been a holiday staple in millions of American households since December 9, 1965. And it’s called “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” This December, it celebrates a 50-year run on TV. That’s pretty impressive for this cartoon featuring the Peanuts Gang, Charlie Brown and Snoopy. And, even more than that, it remains pretty counter culture, if religion can be termed counter culture today.

Centering around the perennial late-to-the dance, sad sack Charlie Brown, asking the question, “What is Christmas all about?,”  he struggles with an unsettling sadness come holiday time, when all about him, society says that he’s supposed to be joyful – and he’s not. Charlie Brown was a perceptive kid, even 50 years ago!

That is a pretty existential question that cartoonist Charles M. Schulz of the Peanuts Comic strip fame had the courage to ask, via this simple cartoon, with longevity and heft.

And a sponsor, Coca Cola to be exact, a huge corporation then and now, was open  to “commissioning and supporting” the production of this type of programming some 50 years ago.

A profound answer finally is given to Charlie’s subliminal question of “What is Christmas all about?,” and it’s provided by the blue-blanket-loving Linus, on a spotlit stage, in his unapologetic recitation of the oft repeated description of Christmas night, quoted from the Bible.

There were obvious concerns about the use of religious material even in 1965 on a Christmas special. Yet, Director Bill Melendez recalls that Charles M. Schulz was adamant about including the Linus reading from the Bible with his famous quote, “If we don’t do it, who will?”

But, before the cartoon’s denouement hitting the perfect mark in its utter simplicity, “A Charlie Brown Christmas” offers a series of scenes showing what Christmas tends to mean in the secular culture.

And The Peanuts Gang are all in – save Linus – who is a great listener to the qualms of Charlie Brown, about the modern themes surrounding the celebration of Christmas.

Charlie starts his quest for the meaning of Christmas by consulting experts that give psychological answers to his glumness in the guise of instant-psychiatrist-for-a-nickel, Lucy, his sister, Sally, with her “long list of gifts” gives small comfort, and even Snoopy, the beagle, is “buying” in big time.

But a play seems to be one thing that may capture the essence of the holy day.

But even that is co opted by the group’s definition of what the mood-play-provider Christmas tree should look like.

Seeking and finding leads the group ultimately to the Peanuts Gang fashioning themselves a perfect tree from a little bedraggled fir that simply needs a lot of love.

And that leads to a hushed moment and a realization, in Linus’s childlike reading, of ancient words that are pretty profound.

For it is in that still, small moment, and also, as the Peanuts Gang gather about Charlie’s fouled up, previously deadened, single red-balled fir tree, that this small gem hits home.

They have all finally, and lovingly, tended and been tended, and renewed, with Linus providing the final love wrap via his Widow’s Mite of a blanket at the fir tree’s base.

The small, simple tree dispels and warms the growing darkness that settles around the tiny group. Beautiful!

I find myself wanting to belt out “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” right along with the group as they carol amid larger-than-life snow flakes, as the credits roll.

It seems Coca Cola was looking for “a special for advertising during the holidays.” It provided the dollars necessary for the shoot, and sponsored it, originally. I just found that out. It seems they were looking for a holiday production to air in early December.

So, Charles Schulz, creator of the Peanuts comic strip, and TV producer Lee Mendelson, began preparing to pitch their ideas for this special to Coke.

After hearing jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi’s Trio play their wonderful, “Cast Your Fate to the Wind” on the radio, Lee Mendelson called and hired Mr. Guaraldi to provide background music to fit the show. It’s hard to imagine this special without his jaunty, jazzy piano themes, including “Christmas Time is Here” that helped enlarge and define the cartoon and its participants, with a series of unforgettable piano riffs. His soundtrack music also filled many of the Charlie Brown specials

The concept of Charles M. Schulz and Lee Mendelson was accepted by Coke, after a wary wait of several days, as Coke eventually confirmed they were in.

The team was given six months to deliver. And they did. And we are the happy recipients of that 50 year-old decision by Coca Cola. That was a pretty bold move, even then.

But I have to ask myself this question. And it is something to ponder.

Would Coke have the courage to do something so simple, yet so definitive today, in a world that is so consumed with not offending anyone, that it forgets to stand for anything? I wonder.

Kids love the skating scene early on in the cartoon that’s supposedly based on memories of places in the St. Paul, Minnesota winters of Schulz’s childhood.

Do kids still play “Whip” on the ice, as the last person in a long line gets snapped across it? I used to love that – as long as I was not on the end.

The United States Post Office has even gotten onboard this 50th Anniversary homage, with the issuance on October 1st 2015, of a special booklet of 20 Peanuts stamps featuring 10 still frames from “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”

Each one features an iconic scene from the show that you may use on a holiday card. Featured among them are the skating scene, Charlie checking out his empty, echoing mailbox, Snoopy’s overly decorated doghouse, as he strives to win a contest, the simple wooden tree wrapped in Linus’s blanket, and, of course, The Peanuts Gang, in chorus, at the end.

I already have bought the stamps and am rereading the picture book issued from the cartoon, plus Lee Mendelson’s book, “A Charlie Brown Christmas: The Making of a Tradition.”

Why not reintroduce your young reader to the book and cartoon, if they have not yet seen it – and even if they have.

It is a timeless message of peace and love that the world desperately needs today.

Funny how kids continue to ask the really pointed questions, and their ability to seek and find, and see through artifice, hopefully, will never change.

That really is what “Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.” It’s a very simple story whose message has lasted over 2,000 years.

Happy 50th Anniversary to “A Charlie Brown Christmas!”

*********************************************************

Notes:

*Be sure to check out the 50th Anniversary airing of “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” tonight, November 30, on ABC.  It will be re-aired on ABC on Christmas Eve as well.

*Here are three of Vince Guaraldi’s piano pieces that made “A Charlie Brown Christmas” an essential classic, including the skating scene music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PzetPqepXA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kn4Y3sHyfsg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1LUXQWzCno

Thanksgiving is…

By Gail Gibbons

Yams or sweet potatoes? Chestnut or sausage dressing? Sweet potato pie, apple or the traditional pumpkin?

All across America, come the fourth Thursday in November, families of all configurations will gather to celebrate with rituals of food and family to give thanks. And School Library Journal’s take on Ms. Gibbons picture book is true enough, when it said:

             This cornucopia of all things

Thanksgiving has abundant enough

 information for young readers

 without overwhelming them.

That is a perfect predictor of what your young reader will find in the pages of Ms. Gibbons Thanksgiving treasure with a beribboned, plump and fully feathered turkey gracing the cover of this wonderful Thanksgiving reading treat. It’s a perfect read either before or after the feast, plus a great addition to a story hour or classroom library.

Just how did all this tradition of a harvest holiday start?

Gail Gibbons has provided young readers with a historical and colorful collection of the cavalcade of harvest feasts starting with the Egyptians honoring Min, the god of plants and fertility. Moon cakes were even served as the moon was at its fullest then.

The Greeks had their own Demeter, the goddess of agriculture, while the Romans had their own version in Ceres who was offered the first fruits of the harvest.

And the ancient Jewish harvest festival of Sukkoth, celebrated under a hand made tent is a harvest festival of thankfulness to God for his protection and for their food.

Not to be outdone, in the Middle Ages farmers in England held festivals to mark the end of the harvest, as well.

I’m feeling pretty thankful myself right about now now that the harvest from our farm is in. Grapes picked, apple trees are bare of those red and golden beauties, and the only veggies that remain are the cauliflower, broccoli and the brussels sprouts. Cruciferous veggie lovers rejoice!

But, what about that American tradition called Thanksgiving Day?

Kids can probably tell you a thing or two themselves about those brave 101 passengers that sailed from England, landing at Plymouth, Massachusetts who called themselves Pilgrims.

Though, as I recall, there were some aboard the Mayflower who were not.

It was a cold and harsh winter where there was a scarcity of food and many died.

Young readers will be fascinated seeing famous Indians such as Massasoit and Squanto teach the Pilgrims how to plant when spring arrived.

I love the detail Gail Gibbons adds in her images as the Indians give the Pilgrims a tutorial in corn planting, plunking a fish in the hole ahead of the corn, as a wide eyed Pilgrim looks on.

Fish? Very good fertilizer, sir!

The harvest feast that fall was a three day affair. These Pilgrims and Indians knew how to party.

Her beautifully harvest hued picture book also points out the differences in dates between the Canadian and American Thanksgiving celebrations. Theirs is on the second Monday of October and, of course, as decreed by Abraham Lincoln in 1863, the American Thanksgiving is on the fourth Thursday in November.

Gail Gibbons has done a wonderful job of putting Thanksgiving into a historical perspective.

Her treatment of an American Thanksgiving is full of the symbols of the celebration; families decorating doorways with corn shocks and pumpkins, pictures of families and friends gathering for the Thanksgiving Feast at a table loaded with many of the same foods the Pilgrims and their guests, the Indians, feasted on.

Nothing is left out in her treatment of all the things that make this American holiday what it is – football games held that day, plays about the Pilgrims put on at schools, and those long awaited floats, balloons and bands of the traditional Thanksgiving Day Parade.

The sharing and remembering is a big part of all family traditions, and Gail Gibbons has remembered the best till last in her Thanksgiving picture book for young readers:

                Thanksgiving is…

Giving thanks for many blessings. 

Couldn’t have said it better, Gail!

Johnny Appleseed: A Poem

by Reeve Lindbergh; paintings by Kathy Jacobsen

As the growing season comes to a close on the farm, I am in awe of nature. Living close to the land and the immediacy of its rhythms and seasons, it certainly gives one a new respect for how we find and feed a nation and a world.

We are awash in apples right now. Macoun, Honey Crisp, Gala, Fuji, Golden and Red Delicious, Dandee Red and Granny Smith have been harvested, first, in woven baskets plunked up and down the rows, and later, tumbled and topped off, into larger bins.

Each time I bite into one, either unadorned, slathered with peanut butter, or baked into Gram’s apple cake recipe, I am reminded of the real life folk hero, John Chapman, affectionately known as Johnny Appleseed.

“Who Was Johnny Appleseed?” by Joan Holub from the entertaining, educational and enriching “Who Was..” series has been reviewed at The Snuggery.

But there are others that also deserve a read and a listen.

First, there is a beautifully poetic version of his life by Reeve Lindbergh, daughter of famed aviator Charles Lindbergh and author, Anne Morrow Lindbergh.

Her poem wanders through the seasons of John Chapman’s life from Leominster, Massachusetts to his death in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

It is a joyous celebration not only of the seasons of his wanderings and plantings of apple orchards ahead of settlers as they both headed west, but it also echoes the seasons and rhythms of the pioneer life and spirit in its commitment to growth, seen in the plantings and harvest of many springs, summers, falls and winters.

       These apple trees were planted here

   A century ago-

       A hundred years of springtime bloom,

  A hundred years of snow.

Images and words are wonderfully matched and caught in a timeless way in Kathy Jacobsen’s folk art paintings detailing and chronicling in a quiet way, the integrity of this man called John Chapman, who, in perhaps many ways, came to signify other pioneers that planted and harvested right alongside his wanderings.

Let your child wander too with Johnny Appleseed this fall and his pioneer families that risked and offered much to us and to each other to fuel our country’s growth.

         Old Hannah Goodwin talked of him

      In apple time each year

         When the orchard came to harvest

And the air was crisp and clear.

 

 

 She’d ask children to remember

         And to thank the Lord indeed

For apples sharp and apples sweet

And Johnny Appleseed.

Johnny Appleseed

by Jane Yolen; illustrated by Jim Burke

Sometimes to flesh out a figure takes many  points of view on the very same subject. For it is in the compilation of the sensibilities of each author’s individual mood and telling, that a truer image of a person emerges for a young reader. While details may overlap in some picture book tellings of Johnny Appleseed, I have found the more the merrier – and the better. For in each picture book tale of this remarkable man, you and your young reader will have a truer, richer, more resonant picture of John Chapman.

Famed picture book author, Jane Yolen, contributes her own take on this subject on this “individual who forever changed the landscape of America.

She concisely organizes her picture book  with each page depicting a parchment-like scrolled inset, called “The History,” where she summarizes, in prose, a particular event in Johnny Appleseed’s life. And, at the bottom of the page, she inserts, “The Fact” which gives a clear, concise historically based note, that gives authenticity to her prose.

Jim Burke’s paintings fit the mood and mystery surrounding this young man that some say traveled with a mush pot atop his head, as it doubled both for a head covering and cooking utensil!

Young readers will love Jim Burke’s young, impish Johnny, sitting at a table loaded with apples, taking a big, satisfying bite of a crunchy red apple, with a warm and cozy quilt as backdrop.

As families wander through apple orchards this fall, it’s the perfect time to introduce  young readers to the wanderings and wonder of this young man from Leominster, Massachusetts called Johnny Appleseed.

The Veteran’s Day Visitor

Words and Pictures by Peter Catalanotto and Pamela Schembri

November 11^th is Veteran’s Day. How will our country come together to honor the men and women who are veterans? How will our children?

A holiday is a day set aside for remembrance and celebration and in the case of Veteran’s Day, to recognize with respect those who served in all of the Armed Forces in peacetime and in time of war.

Children for the most part know there is a military component to our government and that it is the duty of the Navy, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, Air Force and Army to protect our country.

Whether it is serving in military operations abroad or helping people in our own country during times of devastation, it seems more than appropriate to put a face, via picture books, and there are many of them, to those individuals and their families who over time have put service to their country front and center, sometimes at great cost.

It is not unusual for many young children today to have a dad, mom or both serving in the military. Certainly most children have a grandparent or other relative who was or is a veteran.

Children may ask how do we celebrate Veteran’s Day? How do we honor a grandparent, parent, brother, sister or for that matter, any relative or friend who “stood and served” at home or abroad either today or in the past?

There are as many ways as there are veterans. It may be with a simple “thank you,” attending Veteran’s Day parades, visiting forgotten veterans or a more simple and local version of the ritual of remembering those who have died in service to their country which the President of the United States does each November 11 as he visits The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery with the laying of a wreath honoring veterans everywhere.

The most important lesson I think we impart to our children, as they grow and mature, is that freedom is a tremendous gift, and as with all gifts, it comes with a price.

I think that when we model something as valuable to our children, whether it is the importance of reading or an acknowledgement of the veteran on November 11th, it signals to our children the importance of these men and women and their contribution to our country’s past and future, which can set a lasting legacy of example for each future generation of young Americans.

And so, to my father, my own two brothers and to all veterans past and present, thank you for your service to our country!

***************

In the beginning reader series called, 2^nd Grade Friends, this particular chapter book is appropriately called The Veterans Day Visitor for in it young Emily’s grandfather or Pop Pop as he is called, is a bit surprised to learn neither Emily nor her best friend Vinni have any idea of what Veteran’s Day is! Being a veteran himself he is eager to remedy the situation. He begins by explaining that people are different and as such will choose to celebrate the federal holiday in different ways. Some may hang a flag outside their home, others may attend a Veteran’s Day parade, while still others will opt to spend it quietly at home remembering their family members who served.

Initially, Vinni offers her take on the word “veteran”, believing a veteran is someone who is a “doctor for dogs!” Good guess, but Emily’s Pop Pop is quick to rectify the honest mistake.

Volunteering to come to Emily’s class on Veterans Day as a sort of live show and tell, Emily’s initial excitement is tempered by her concern over Pop Pop’s tendency to fall asleep mid sentence!

The big “What If” immediately enters Emily’s mind as she pictures what the class reaction would be if this occurred in the middle of Pop Pop’s story? Will her classmates understand?

Most children of this age can relate to the conflict between the obvious love and respect for an older relative and the fear of being embarrassed by someone we love in front of ones peers.

Will this happen to Emily or will the lesson of respect for heroes cause Emily to extend that same courtesy to her Pop Pop? It’s a lesson worth learning not only for Emily and her classmates, but also for early readers who may find this chapter book just the ticket for Veterans Day reading infused with not just a primer of facts on a holiday, but interspersed with lessons of tolerance and respect.

***************

By the way, if you or your family knows an older veteran, here is an opportunity for your child to become involved in getting these aging war veterans to tell their stories. No less than the Library of Congress wants to hear their voices!

If you go to the following web site – www.loc.gov/vets it will provide tips for conducting interviews, provide a field kit with biographical data to gather and release forms.

This is the perfect Veterans Day family project and a chance for each of you to help “The Greatest Generation” tell their stories. Statistics say they are passing away at the rate of 1,000 a day so the window of opportunity to hear from this amazing group of people is rapidly closing and 11/11/15 is the teachable moment!

The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus

By Jen Bryant; illustrated by Melissa Sweet

Here’s a line from J.M. Barrie in his Peter Pan tongue in cheek description of the bane of children everywhere; the pirate, Captain Hook:

     “The man is not wholly evil – He has a Thesaurus in his cabin.”

Okay, so he’s a literate pirate with a taste for words. I’ll give him that much.

For any budding small authors you may know, they may gain much encouragement from the telling of Peter Roget’s life who began his first book at age eight, calling it: Peter. Mark. Roget. His Book.

Here is a picture book that may intrigue many young readers – and parents as well, for the authors have won a well deserved Caldecott Honor Book Award and The Robert Sibert Medal given for its freshness and ability to make the complex available to young minds. Called “a wonder, a marvel, a surprise” of a book, it was awarded the Sibert Medal in 2015 as “the most distinguished informational book published in English in the preceding year.”

Making Roget’s life available to the youngest readers is no mean task, for he started by fashioning lists of Latin words with their meanings written next to the word.

Melissa Sweet has illustrated his initial lists with a charming, and childlike simplicity in mixed media, that brings the word, its meaning and accompanying picture, alive to the reader.

To illustrate the look of his lists, even some of Ms. Bryant’s text is written in rows as in:

                   But

Peter’s

word

lists

were

not

just

scribbles.

Words

Peter

learned

were

powerful

things.

And

when

he

put

them

in

long,

neat

rows,

he

felt

as if

the

world

itself

clicked

into

order.

Just who was Peter Mark Roget, born in 1779, that compiled plethoras of lists from a very early age?

Well, moving often at a very early age made it difficult for young Peter to form friendships. But he did find fast ones – in books!  And those books had plenty of words!

And science books by the Swedish scientist, Linnaeus, were a particular  favorite of the teenage Peter. Linnaeus made lists as Peter did. Peter wandered through London parks compiling lists of all plants and insects.

His mother had just a smidgen, of “worry” over all these lists and wanderings of Peter’s.  But was “worry” the right word? Why not fret, badger, annoy, plague, provoke or even harass? The choices were endless.

Finding the right word was wonderful!

But what if there were a book, Peter imagined, “one book where one could find the best word that really fit.”

Medical school in Edinburgh, Scotland, followed, working later among the factory poor in London, and always, the lists were his passion.

In 1805, came his first big book of word lists called “Collections of English Synonyms Classified and Arranged.”

He was soon lecturing and inventing everything from portable chess sets to a new math tool.

In 1852, he published his “Thesaurus” from a Greek word meaning “treasure house” and quickly sold 1000 copies.

And today, thanks to this young list maker, EVERYONE has the ability to find just the right word and its meaning.

And it has remained in continuous print to this day!

Ms. Bryant’s text, along with Ms. Sweet’s vibrant, mixed media art, together bring Roget’s story of collective lists and their immense subject trove, alive to a young reader’s picture book sensibility.

A Listing of Principal Events at the end of the book, gives a timeline of his other achievements, as well as what was happening concurrently in similar fields of study.

How’s this for fascinating? In 1824, after casually observing the spokes on the wheel of a passing carriage that appear to bend when seen through vertical window blinds, Roget wrote a scientific paper on optical illusion. And THAT is considered to be one of the founding underpinnings of modern cinematography.

Who knew, realized, perceived, sensed, recognized, or noticed any of this? Not I.

I will now; every time I reach for my Thesaurus!

The Grasshopper & the Ants

By Jerry Pinkney

As fall silently and soulfully descends with its riot of foliage and scattering of larger than usual acorns, it’s also a reminder of not only the change of seasons …but of things to come.

Winter with its blowing snow, howling winds and scarcity of above ground food for the tenderest of creatures is just around the ant hill.

And Caldecott medalist, Jerry Pinkney, has previously delved richly and artistically into the world of Aesop’s fables in his picture books of “The Lion and the Mouse” and “The Tortoise and the Hare.”

Here, in his rendering of Aesop’s “The Grasshopper & the Ants,” prompted by Mr. Pinkney’s wanderings in his own woods, he relates the familiar story of the ant colonies that toil, store and prepare for the onset of bleaker days, while their fellow creature, the grasshopper, just fiddles away his time as a one grasshopper band!

Mr. Pinkney’s art beautifully captures the dogged determination and work ethic of the Ants, versus the rollicking rhythms of the freewheeling  Grasshopper, as the seasons pass.

The tale opens with spring. The joyful and just-in-the-moment Grasshopper beckons his pals, the ants, to join him in a frolic and go fishing.

               “No time to relax”

Said the Ants.

The Grasshopper pleads playfully again, come summer, and tempts them with the enticement of a picnic of feasting on “fresh, yummy leaves.”

               “No summer light to waste,”

                replied the Ants.

 

                Autumn will be here soon.”

Though the Grasshopper points out “the world is a playground of leaves,” the Ants toil on eschewing singing and dancing in Jerry Pinkney’s riot of fall color.

And as the inevitability of winter and its harder realities descend for animals, the Grasshopper is not deterred. He instead pleads:

 

“Wintertime is for making snow angels

and snow-hoppers.”

 

          And oh, how I love the sparkle

          of first snow. Come see!”

 

Alas, as the Grasshopper continues to beg:

           “If only someone would join me!”

But, heis left shivering in a winter white world!

Harsh reality does indeed set in for the Grasshopper, as below ground the Ants are snug as the proverbial bugs in a rug. Will they be oblivious to the Grasshopper that fiddled, while they toiled?

Or, is there a balance to be found between fiddling nonstop and foraging at the same tempo? Will these work horse Ants share what they have stored, and come to see that it is the infectious enthusiasm of the Grasshopper and his joyful music that will also FEED them through the winter with HIS gifts of song and story…or not?

Jerry Pinkney’s take on this timeless Aesop fable tale is wonderfully done. His picture book, has a neat fold out page allowing a view of Grasshopper freezing above ground, while below ground are the cozy Ants, lounging in leafy comfort amid the storehouses of food they have labored so hard to attain. This simultaneous view lends itself to a reader’s “What would you do?” query.

And this picture book’s lively back and forth reality of the practical and the poetic in life, perhaps allows that BOTH feed us, getting us through those “winters” in our lives.

It will be very interesting to see what your young reader takes from this classic Aesop tale brought to such vibrancy by Jerry Pinkney, and continues down the centuries to beg the question, “With what do we continually need to feed ourselves?”

Maybe Aesop is subtlety hinting that it not by mere food consumption that we are truly fed, but by a whole host of other things like nature, art, music….and the shared connection to others. And that this is how we make it through the seasons of life.

Do we also work hard? Parents reading this book to their young readers are living proof of that fact. But perhaps, as Mr. Pinkney, via Aesop points out, taking some balanced time to notice what is going on around us should be one of the reasons why we work so hard. And that is to enjoy our life journey through the seasons….of our lives. Each is unique and not to be missed.

Aesop’s tales always had morals. And the usual moral of this fable is:

 

     “Don’t put off till tomorrow,

what you can do today.”

Maybe the Grasshopper is not meant to be seen as such an indolent sloth after all, but someone who sees what needs feeding is the heart and soul, every bit as much as the body.

Just maybe Aesop continues today to say to parents and young readers, “Don’t put off  tomorrow’s responsibilities and joys too long, as the perfect time and season to do both, is now.”

Who Was Johnny Appleseed?

By Joan Holub; illustrated by Anna DeVito

There are many legends and facts surrounding the folk hero named John Chapman, also known as Johnny Appleseed.

My blog was prompted by our apple harvest of Dandee Reds, Macoun, Honey Crisp, Gala, Fuji, Golden and Red Delicious apples.

Was this man called “Johnny Appleseed” a country dreamer that traveled in a burlap sack with a metal mush pot on his head scattering apple seeds willy nilly….or was he a whole lot more than the legend? Young readers will be very interested in a man that had a dream and a practical side that made it happen.

I wanted to delve a bit deeper into the life of this extraordinary man, born in Leominster, Massachusetts, who traveled west with settlers, as far as Indiana. And all the while, he was planting apples and creating orchards with seeds harvested from cider mills. In fact Mr. Chapman was a pretty savvy business man.

Selecting spots for his apple orchards, he fenced them in with wood from fallen trees. Thus deer and other animals were prevented from helping themselves to his trees. And, apparently he came back regularly to check on them to see how they were fairing.

And he was a sort of door to door salesman, selling his seeds and seedlings to settlers that he came upon as he headed west.

Did you know that most of his trees were wild apple trees? Honey crisp and Fuji, that we grow, and are found in local grocery stores, would have been very unlike his wild fruit variety.

Ms. Holub has done a great job of fleshing out the real John Chapman from the storybook legend. And, it seems the reality of his life was as adventurous as the legend.

Reaching into Pennsylvania and on into Ohio, he had, according to Ms. Holub’s book, an uncanny knack of figuring out the next spot that settlers would head…and arriving before them. And he planted his apple trees there.

Stories filled his head and he relayed them to settlers where he was always welcomed for a tale or two. And he always traveled barefoot! Even in the cold of winter, it was said that the skin at the bottom of his feet was so thick that it was said a rattlesnake couldn’t even bite through it. One did though, while he was clearing a new orchard. Unthinking, he killed the snake and it was said he “felt terrible about it” as he loved all living things.

A popular story said he entered a hollow log in winter to find shelter only to find a mother bear and her cubs ensconced. Rather than remove them, he preferred to sleep in the snow, so they could keep warm. Now that is hospitality!

Coffee burlap sacks were his clothing as fashion was not high on his priority list. He was a “good apple”, helping settlers that needed a hand. And did you know that he was a vegetarian? Berries, grain and potatoes cooked in a pot of pure creek water sufficed for a meal. He refused to kill animals.

He hated fighting and instead of fisticuffs, Johnny  would challenge the man to a tree chopping contest. By the time they were done felling the tree, the man was probably too tired to waste much energy on anger.

By the time he died, there were 27 states and John Chapman had planted apple trees in three of them – Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana.

And apples must have run in the Chapman family’s blood, as his great great great grandparents also grew them in the 1670’s.

If you want to have your young reader enjoy a fully fleshed out portrait of a man in love with nature and the apple; who has books, songs and stories written about him, and even an official Johnny Appleseed Trail in northern Massachusetts, plus a festival in his honor, then “Who Was Johnny Appleseed?” by Joan Holub is a winner.

I was sad to read that many of the trees he planted would be dead now, but seedlings from some of his trees are still growing outside the Johnny Appleseed Museum in Urbana, Ohio.

Sure would like to plant one of those in our orchard!

**********************************************************************************

The entire “Who Is?” and “Who Was?” series is well worth investing in for your young reader. These are chapter books full of facts and fun stories about real people that will both entertain and enlighten. Even parents and grandparents will be charmed by the easy accessibility of information. Listed is a sampling of the more recent names featured in the books:

Bob Dylan

Helen Keller

Barack Obama

Michelle Obama

J.K. Rowling

Steven Spielberg

Bill Gates

Sally Ride

Henry Ford

Rosa Parks

Maurice Sendak

Walt Disney

George Lucas

Steve Jobs

The Beatles

Neil Armstrong

April’s Kitten

By Clare Turlay Newberry

I love these Way Back Wednesday classic picture books featured on The Snuggery. This particular one was given to me as a gift when my brother visited a favorite book store “haunt” of his in Florida. I asked him to browse the classic picture book section, and voila, he came up with this gem.

It won Caldecott Honor designation in 1940, and ALA Notable Children’s Book inclusion in books spanning 1940-1944. And it’s easy to see why, even in 2015. And if you think a book from 1942 is out of touch, listen to this line from the opening page as young April, living in a New York apartment with her parents and a cat has to find new digs for her cat’s offspring with this quote:

 

“Nobody has much room in

New York because so many

people are trying to live there

at the same time. So April and her

mother and father and Sheba live

all crowded up together in a very

small apartment.”

 

Still pretty true long after it was written, right?

Plus, its art and narrative hold up over time. It is not “dated” in the least. In fact, its story of a black kitten named Sheba, seemed a “purr fect” Way Back Wednesday fit for this season leading up to Halloween.

Imagine the reading worth of a picture book that can hold up for over 50 plus years, and has a reissued edition to boot.

That is pretty impressive, and just one of the reasons that I keep bringing books like “April’s Kitten” forward for new generations of readers, whose parents or grandparents might have missed them.

Their art and narrative with great vocabulary, sentence structure and imagery, both entertain children and show them what “great” looks and sounds like, as compared to mediocre.

Mediocre is okay, but maybe not as a steady diet, as unbridled candy consumption may be okay for a day come Halloween; but not everyday. There is nourishment of the mind to be found in these classics. So come and enjoy.

Young April is faced with a dilemma. Her cat, Sheba, has delivered three kittens. They are all different, and are named Charcoal, Butch and Brenda.

How young April finds a solution to finding adoptive homes for Sheba’s sweet cats living in a small apartment, is a wonderful book for cat lovers, animal lovers – or just about anyone.

Will she find all three homes or will a new apartment be the solution for at least some of April’s cat coterie?

I loved reading about Ms. Turlay Newberry’s  childhood in Enterpise, Oregon, and her innovative idea of drawing on small strips of  papers found between Shredded Wheat Biscuit boxes back then, as paper was scarce. Now that was enterprising.

Studying at the California School of the Arts and Grand Academie de la Chaumiere in Paris, among other places, she also wrote three additional Caldecott Honor picture books, and they are:

 

Barkis  – “Will go straight to the hearts of dog lovers of all ages – The New York Times.  Relates the story of a sister jealous of a brother’s new dog.

 

Marshmallow –  Tells of a relationship between a cat and a baby rabbit.

 

          T-Bone the Babysitter – Meet a cat with spring fever. 

 

All four are classic picture book reads!

Why not try one…. or all four?

The Graves Family

By Patricia Polacco

Patricia Polacco has written beautifully in her picture books about what it means to be an “outsider.”

Many of her books were based, it seems, on her hometown of Union City, Michigan.

And “The Graves Family” is no exception as there appears to be a real “Graves” house in Union City, and Ms. Polacco invites “visitors from all over the country to a Haunted House there every fall.”

The cover flap of “The Graves Family”  truncates the message of her book quite nicely when it suggests, “Don’t fear differences…celebrate them,” coupled with a quote tucked away that states:

 

 

“Those who march to a different

    drum are in a magnificent band indeed!

 

And Ms. Polacco very nicely intersperses this message into her lively tale of the Graves family who move into “the creaky old house on the hill.” They don’t quite fit into the neighborhood. In fact they move in under cover of night. The Graves are, well, a mite different to say the least; some might even venture to offer the opinion, creepy different.

And so might young neighbors Seth and Sara Miller have said, had they not taken the time to get to know and befriend Hieronymus Graves, son of  Dr. Doug and Shalleaux Graves, scientist/inventor and gourmet cook, respectively.

Hieronymus, plus four carrot topped siblings named Billicent, Cintilla, Congolia and Tondileo are new to the neighborhood and getting the leery once-over from the locals who are loathe to get acquainted.  Great name choice for the kids, by the way.

The Miller kids easily nickname Hieronymus, Ronnie, and both find, through a series of adventures, that the Graves are quite the likable lot – and oddly interesting, too.

But, they are anything but run of the mill, as Dr. Doug Graves counts entomology or the study of insects as one of his hobbies, and spiders in particular.

And, as it turns out that very characteristic of “far from the everyday” turns to the Graves family’s advantage as it helps snatch triumph from the jaws of disaster with the arrival of the famous Christopher Joel.

Sent from the magazine, Ladies Lovely Home Companion, he also just happens to have “the most popular television show on home decorating.”

And the snooty matrons of the Union City Auxiliary Ladies Garden Club fairly salivate at the odd chance their house might be picked for his Fall Home Show.

Whatever could stand in the way? Young picture book readers can probably sense a plethora of potential pitfalls a page away. And they’d be right!

Will the Graves family ever win town acceptance, or dare they even hope, approval? Will their house make the grade in the contest, or will disaster ensue?

Patricia Polacco’s “The Graves Family” proves not only a fine and festive hauntingly lively Halloween read, but skillfully makes the point that it’s great to have flavors in life; be it food…or people.

And so much the better if they happen to be served at a Graves’ dinner table filled with:

 

Great New Zealand Land Vipers with

Capers and Clotted Cream

 

Boiled Blistered Variegated Turnip

Root

 

Pureed Lampfish Fins with Bees’

Knees and Guppy Fillets

Life, and dinner at the Graves house may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it is uniquely their own and most certainly worth a try, which is Ms. Polacco’s very convincing, and hilariously hidden point.

Please pass those Indonesian Snarling Knishes au Gratin, if you please, and I’ll have seconds on the Octopus Knuckles from Tibet, thank you very much.

This is a picture book young readers will devour.

And if you’re smart, please remember to feed Phoebe, the family Venus flytrap first. She adores Beetle Leg Jell-O with Fly Carcass!

*******************************************************

And here’s the perfect soundtrack to get you in the mood for a Haunted House!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBFNEAT_HIQ&app=desktop