What I read…….
Once upon a time there was a poor and lonely carpenter. His name was Gepetto. He lived all by himself in a small room with one tiny window to let in the light. The carpenter decided to make a puppet to keep him company. He named the puppet Pinocchio and put so much love into making him, that he became more than just a regular wooden puppet. Pinocchio looked just like a real boy and could dance and jump without anyone pulling any strings. And that’s just what he wanted to be. But before he could become a real boy, Pinocchio had to learn many lessons.
This is a beautiful book.
Part of my Pinocchio reading for January, I fell in love with this version. The illustrations are simply gorgeous and the version of Pinocchio told is my favorite, at least for children.
A wonderful happy find!
“A fretful young mouse learns to live in the moment in this lovely picture book. Through lyrical language, Spinelli presents the youngster’s concerns (“Will spring ever come?/Will I hear the sleepy sound/of soft rain/pattering on the roof?”) and his mother’s reassurances (“Yes, there will be spring and rain./But now it is winter./Now sleet twinkles down/sprinkling the roof”). While his brothers and sisters frolic through the snow in the gorgeous acrylic and cut-paper illustrations, the little creature trails after his mother, asking when he will next experience his favorite springtime activities, foods, and animals. She opens his eyes to the joys of the present, and the last illustration shows him hanging up a drawing of the snowman he has made with her next to his picture of a springtime sun. Textured brush strokes capture the crisp beauty of winter and the warm coziness of the animals’ home. The gentle, intimate tone makes this book a natural bedtime story or a quietly compelling read-aloud for any time.”
For the anxious, for the reminder to look for the joy and beauty in the season, both literal and figurative.
Much needed reminder for all.
Alvin retells the traditional Ukrainian folktale in his most popular children’s book, The Mitten.
Deep in the woods on the coldest day of winter a little boy drops his mitten. And that lost mitten stretches and stretches—and stretches—to provide shelter for many woodland creatures.
Published in 1964 and adapted from E. Rachev’s version of the Ukrainian folktale, Yaroslava’s distinctly charming illustrations and Alvin Tresselt’s detailed text are as timeless and universal as the story itself.
Evgenii Rachev, having spent his early childhood Siberia’s wild hunting ground, was familiar with the region’s wild animals. From the late 1930s he energetically took part in creating picture books and, after World War II, continued to illustrate many stories, mainly folktales or fables featuring animal characters.
Mitten is a folktale that has been passed down in the Ukraine.
Yaroslava was born in the East Village to Ukranian immigrants in 1925. Her father, Myron Surmach, immigrated in 1910 and met her mother, Anastasia Surmach, in New York. After they were married, Myron and Anastasia opened Surma Book & Music Company on East 7th Street. Surma was a mainstay in the East Village for books, greeting cards, honey, Ukrainian folk sheet music, and more. It was here that Yaroslava first sold her drawings as greeting cards. Surma was the oldest Ukrainian bookstore in the United States until its closing in 2016.
A favorite I read every winter.
From the author :
I was born in 1952 and lived with my family on a homestead in the north Peace River region of British Columbia, Canada. Everyone rode horses on the trails between their houses until roads were built by making some of the trails wide enough for wagons and sleighs driven by teams of horses. The year before I started Grade One (we didn’t have kindergarten), a school bus was brought in to serve our small farming community. Before then, students rode horses to school but we lived too far away for a safe ride for me. My parents were thinking of buying land close to the school just so we could attend. But by 1957, there were enough passable roads for a bus and enough children to fill a two-room school. Still, our farm on the riverbanks was tucked between and behind three farms, well off any school bus route. (So she had to walk quite a way to a bus stop) I was just a six year old Grade One girl on a dark trail all by herself. So I took another deep breath and started singing as loudly as I could. I sang songs that my mother sang at home, like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Michael Row the Boat Ashore. I sang songs I’d heard on the radio, like O Susanna and Red River Valley. I sang songs we were learning in school, like Frere Jacques, all three rounds of it, in French and English. I cheered myself up because I liked singing very much and the songs did not reveal how afraid I was, to my own set of ears at least. The happy ending is that I survived the long dark stretch and I sang my way through it every time I walked to and from the school bus stop ever after.
I love this little book! It’s a wonderful read aloud.
Ahlan! My name is Amira, and I’m a kid just like you living in Egypt. Egypt is a country filled with big cities, beautiful deserts, and some of the coolest ancient monuments in the world! Have you ever wondered what Egypt is like? Come along with me to find out!
Reading aloud is one of the most important things parents and teachers can do with children. Reading aloud builds many important foundational skills, introduces vocabulary, provides a model of fluent, expressive reading, and helps children recognize what reading for pleasure is all about.
