THE BEST READ ALOUDS... a list

As long as I'm talking about "summer reading" it would be a shame not to include a list of some of my favorite picture books. The kids never tire of these. Whether you're a mother or grandmother these are amazing books to read to children!

Petite Rouge by Mike Artell illustrated by Jim Harris

This is a delightful Cajun version of Little Red Riding Hood. You will need to practice your accent!

Art and Max  by David Wiesner

Art takes his art seriously and Max takes it literally... a funny combination!

Anansi and the Talking Melon  retold by Eric A. Kimmel

All the Anansi books are "must reads" How could one little African spider play so many tricks? You should also read, Anansi and the Moss Covered Rock.

Sheep in a Jeep by Nancy Shaw

This series was written for the very young but don't let that stop you.  These sheep are hilarious!

Joseph Had a Little Overcoat by Simms Taback

Joseph proves "you can always make something from nothing"

Enemy Pie by Derek Munson 

A book every child should read. It includes the "recipe" on how to lose your best enemy!

Heckedy Peg by Audrey and Don Wood

The illustrations are rich and the story is clever. You will need to practice your "witch" voice... don't miss this one.

Caps for Sale by  Esphyr Slobodkina

A delightful tale of "monkey see monkey do"  A perfect interactive read.

The Library Lion  by Michelle Knudsen
When the lion breaks the "rules" for a good reason everyone learns a lesson.                  "NO RUNNING"

Princess Bess Gets Dressed by Margery Cuyler
With a wardrobe befitting a princess, Bess's favorite outfit just might surprise you.

Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins by Eric Kimmel
Of all the books on the list, this is in the top three of my favorites. A clever tale steeped in Jewish tradition and sprinkled with delicious goblins. 

It's a Book by Lane Smith  A very clever play on words in our fast paced "techie" world. This book will make you laugh!

Tops & Bottoms by Janet Stevens
"OK Bear... you get the tops and I get the bottoms"  Quick witted Rabbit outsmarts lazy Bear.

City Dog, Country Frog  by Mo Willems
A beautiful tale of friendship, loss, and moving on. The illustrations are gorgeous.

Press Here  by Herve Tullet
From the very young to the kid at heart, this interactive book makes everyone squeal!

The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn
A sweet tender tale, perfect for sending your little one off for the first day of school. 

Gator Gumbo by Candace Fleming
"Now that's just like Maman use to make."  A scrumptious Cajun  re-telling of the Little Red Hen.

Chester the Worldly Pig by Bill Peet
When Chester sets out to become famous he has no idea just how "worldly" he really is.  Bill Peet was one of Disney original eight animators and his illustration are wonderful.

Owl Moon  by Jane Yolen
This is one of my favorite books... sweet, gentle  illustrations befitting the tender relationship between father and daughter.

King Bidgood's in the Bathtub by Audrey and Don Wood
"Tonight we dine in the bathtub"  Beautiful illustrations and a great ending!

A Bad Case of Stripes by  David Shannon
Self discovery and finding one's voice even at a tender age, this book delivers an important message. 



ENJOY Sean Astin reading 
A Bad Case of Stripes 

SUMMER READING ... 

"There is no friend as loyal as a book."

Ernest Hemingway 

School is out in six days and summer beckons. I look forward to doing things I never seem to have time for, like painting walls, digging in the dirt and reading some good books. 

I use to read actual books but now days I buy the audio version and listen while I get something accomplished. Last summer I listened to, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn , To Kill a Mockingbird and Jack Gantos' Dead End in Norvelt.  It's like filling my house or car with interesting people... there's never a dull moment and I'm never lonely.

A book can be a friend, a companion and very often a mirror. I remember the summer I read  The Secret Life of Bees, and heard the voice in Lily's head say... "Your jar is open."  

I dropped the book and began to cry. That was the year my mother passed away and I began to discover who I was. I felt such freedom.

I was in the third grade when I read Beverly Cleary's Otis Spofford  I laughed right out loud at Stewy and Otis's antics as the "bull"  That began my love of literature. 

It is satisfying, as I close the library for the year, to watch our students come to pick up their "summer read"  Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt. I know they will be in good company!

Fall in love with a good book this summer!

... YOU'RE NOT GOING THAT WAY! 

talking to my "ex"

I've been single for a while now. It was rough at first but good friends and time brought me through it. I can honestly say I'm in a good place, a place, however, that does not include men. Yesterday a rather handsome older gentlemen approached me and struck up a conversation. I smiled, I was pleasant and then I fled. Twenty-four hours later I realized he was flirting... I'm not only rusty, I'm dense! I might need to work on this.

I got a pleasant surprise last night when I spent over an hour talking to my ex-husband on the phone about a family situation  and I managed it without "drama" 

... no anger, no hurt, no thoughts of revenge. (Poor man, for years I've fantasized about a "fiery" crash.) I'm not sure when it happened but I think I'm over "the divorce" 

Its true, forgiveness is as much for me as it is for him and being angry just got too heavy to carry around.  It feels like I lost ten pounds!

ANGELINA and SARAH GRIMKE: Abolitionist Sisters

Remarkable women in history!

Angelina Grimke and her sister Sarah were born and raised in South Carolina in the pre-civil war era when women had NO legal rights to property, education, or opinions. From a wealthy southern family whose lifestyle was supported by numerous slaves they could have looked forward to a life of ease that would have included balls, dinner parties and eventually good marriages with elegant southern homes of their own. 

Instead, Angelina and Sarah chose to speak against the inequality of the times, publishing some of the most powerful anti-slavery tracts of the antebellum era, even testifying before the state legislator on African American rights. What made them unique was that they could speak first hand about the horrors and injustices of slavery. 

 They left their privileged life in the South and devoted themselves to racial and gender equality, becoming legends in their own lifetimes.

Now Sue Monk Kidd, one of my favorite authors (The Secret Life of

Bees) has written a powerful novel based on their lives. 

 
 

The Invention of Wings 

available from Amazon.com

 

Amazon.com Read the Review...

In the early 1830s, Sarah Grimké and her younger sister, Angelina, were the most infamous women in America. They had rebelled so vocally against their family, society, and their religion that they were reviled, pursued, and exiled from their home city of Charleston, South Carolina, under threat of death. Their crime was speaking out in favor of liberty and equality and for African American slaves and women, arguments too radically humanist even for the abolitionists of their time. Their lectures drew crowds of thousands, even  men, and their most popular pamphlet directly inspired Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom's Cabin--published 15 years later. These women took many of the first brutal backlashes against feminists and abolitionists, but even their names are barely known now. Sue Monk Kidd became fascinated by these sisters, and the question of what compelled them to risk certain fury and say with the full force of their convictions what others had not (or could not). She discovered that in 1803, when Sarah turned 11, her parents gave her the “human present” of 10-year-old Hetty to be her handmaid, and Sarah taught Hetty to read, an act of rebellion met with punishment so severe that the slave girl died of "an unspecified disease" shortly after her beating. Kidd knew then that she had to try to bring Hetty back to life (“I would imagine what might have been," she tells us), and she starts these girls' stories here, both cast in roles they despise.

Follow the link below and listen to her 30 minute interview with Oprah. 

http://www.oprah.com/own-super-soul-sunday/Online-Exclusive-Author-Sue-Monk-Kidd-Takes-Readers-Questions

Here is a short five minute clip...

"CONSIDER THE LILLIES"

Have a beautiful and blessed Sunday!

"EYEBROWS SHOULD BE SISTERS NOT TWINS..."

That's an interesting thought.  Tricia owner and creator of LOOK FABULOUS FOREVER shows how to create natural looking eyebrows even if you have none and how to to fill in and darken eyebrows that have lightened with age. 

This is brilliant... enjoy!

HEAVEN

... is under our feet as well as over our heads  

Henry David Thoreau

As a kid summer vacation meant water. I couldn't get to the pool fast enough. Now, a little older, I've been bitten by the "travel bug." I want to see this great big beautiful world first hand. School will be out in two weeks and I have made a mental list of things I want to do. 

I'm going camping the first week of June in the beautiful Heber Valley (hope I see a moose) 

I will also spend some time with the grandkids at the "cabin"  We need to continue our game of "slap jack" (hope I see a moose)

 

Beyond that I plan to ...  "float" down the Snake River at Jenny Lake ...

This is my kind of camping!!

and spend a week on Nantucket. I am bringing back a Peter Beaton hat!



Got to squeeze the most out of every day!!!  All you Easterners... what's a "must" on the island of Nantucket?

Summer's Coming!