Books

The books I ordered with my Christmas gift card arrived! I paid more for the shipping than any of the books, but I am so happy with them. Eamon seems to like them some what too.

1. The Brambly Hedge Season Stories by Jill Barklem: I receive the sailing story as a gift, and got the Secret Staircase around Christmas, so I am building our collection. These books, as well as Beatrice Potter, were very formative to my imagination.

When I was in Kindergarten, we had pictures of mice and squirrels to color, and I started to color them with clothes on like the Brambly Hedge pictures. But when my teacher saw my work in progress, she said, "Squirrels aren't yellow!" and not knowing how to explain myself, I colored black all over my squirrel to cover the clothes I had colored. Then those pictures where hung on the wall. Every time I saw them, I felt so misunderstood.

Then when I became a counselor at Camp, one night I heard mice running around the cabin, and it sounded like they were running on the beams right over my head. So I imagined the little mice of Brambly Hedge and the Tailor of Gloucestershire's mice, and I could easily fall asleep. (I am pretty sure I asked for mouse traps at some point though.)

2. Crash! Bang! Boom! by Peter Spier: Besides Thomas calling me "Crash Bang Boom" because of my graceful tendencies, I thought this book would be a great one for Eamon because he is so fascinated by sounds. Peter Spier writes sounds with letters and then illustrates the sounds being made. So much fun!

Other books: We went to the library and I checked out Wonderstruck by the guy who wrote the Invention of Hugo Cabret. It has the same illustration/storytelling style, but this time tells two stories that combine. It is beautiful to look at and good to read. Thanks to Anna for recommending it.

I also got some books out for Eamon. One is the Me Book, a sturdy golden book. Each page is about a different part of the body and what it is for, using animals to demonstrate the action. "My eyes are for looking, finding, winking, and closing when I go to sleep..." Grandma and Grandpa have it at their house and Eamon loves it, so he has been enjoying it here too.

Finally, this summer, I am going to try reading out loud to a group of kids from 1st to 6th grade. Daddy said some of these kids are resistant to being read out loud to. They don't like it! I can't imagine such a thing because it is one of my favorite things. So I am going to try it anyway, and see how they handle it. Maybe I can help them learn to love it as much as I do.