It’s fall! Although I’ll be the first to tell you that I love spring, summer, and fall equally well throughout the year (I could do without winter and the month of August), once the leaves start falling and crunching under my feet and the weather gets cool enough to pull out my sweaters, I consider
I’ve said many times I’m not a fan of horror or ghost stories, but the gentle spookiness of the stories in my ghost story collection has been wonderfully fun. This week’s stories, “The Friends of the Friends” by Henry James (1896) and “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs (1902) were very different, but both of
Having finished my third epic-length Anthony Trollope novel (the third in the Palliser series), I’m beginning to think I’m not really a fan of Mr. Trollope’s writing style. His novels have wonderfully constructed and carefully developed plots. The characters are well rounded and personable; I feel I know them upon finishing a novel, and therefore
Here’s a wonderful birthday book! A Birthday for Bear by Bonnie Becker and illustrated by Katie MacDonald Denton (Candlewick, September 2009) tells the story of Bear, who is not a fan of birthdays and is determined to be grouchy and clean his house all day. It’s a very busy day. His friend Mouse keeps trying
Bear’s Birthday by Stella Blackstone and illustrated by Debbie Harter (Barefoot Books, June 2011) lets us celebrate Bear’s birthday with all of his friends. Apparently, this is part of a series about Bear and his bear friends; I’ll be first to admit this is the first I’ve found. I’ll have to keep an eye out
Baby Says “Moo” by JoAnn Early Macken and illustrated by David Walker (Hyperion, March 2011) is a humorous story of a young baby who cannot yet distinguish between the different animal sounds, but rather insists that each animal says “Moo.” As a family drives toward their picnic destination, they see different animals from the car
This is the kind of book that I don’t like to review (because I didn’t really like it and many others in the blogosphere do), so I’ll keep this post short. I liked bits of Woman: An Intimate Geography by Natalie Angier (1999), and then the author started really irritating me. My main issue was
Tomorrow is Nigerian Independence Day, and to celebrate, another blogger has challenged us to read and post about literature by a Nigerian born author (or an author of Nigerian heritage). The story I chose to read for this project was “Cell One,” the first story in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s collection The Thing Around Your Neck. Here
The Goodnight Train by June Sobel (illustrated by Laura Heiliska-Beith; Harcourt Children’s Books, 2006) is a perfect goodnight book for the train lover in our house. With bright detailed paintings on each page, there are plenty of amusing tidbits to observe. My preschooler loved the cookie coal and we pretended to eat it. The steam
Good Night, Baby Ruby by Rohan Henry (Abrams Books, 2009) tells of a young baby’s bedtime routine. Since my son is eager to become a big brother next year, he enjoyed helping put the young girl to bed by reading this story and giggling over her escape from her parents. I love the simple illustrations
My preschooler’s favorite in-the-car game is “I spy” which usually ends up being “something green” (grass and trees). Needless to say, then, when I spied I Spy with My Little Eye by Edward Gibbs (Templar, 2011) on the new books shelf at the library, I had to check it out. Using bright colors and a
My Heart is Like a Zoo by Michael Hall (Greenwillow Books, 2009) became an interactive picture book for us. Graphic designer Michael Hall has designed a zoo full of animals, each one created by hearts. The text provides similes comparing one’s heart to the animals (such as “eager as a beaver”). My preschooler loved counting
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