birdsongs

By Betsy Franco and Steve Jenkins

I have a very active and precocious 4 year-old. If she is left with too much unstructured time, mayhem ensues. In order to combat this, I have taken to planning various activities at the start of the week. I also have a very active 15 month-old, so I have to plan these things and gather the supplies beforehand so I can just whip them out at strategic intervals in order to ward off chaos and destruction. Being a book nerd, I like to have books to supplement and support these activities. One of the things we did this week was to watch birds at our bird feeder (a favorite activity, as is evidenced by the quantity of face and finger prints on the window by the feeder...) and look up each bird in an old book I got from my parents. My 15 month-old pointed to each bird and shouted "quack, quack, quack!" and my 4 year-old got so interested in looking things up that she eventually abandoned the birds and looked through the entire Reader's Digest Guide to North American Wildlife (which is actually pretty cool). In both cases, I deem it a success.
I've read birdsongs to my oldest several times before and thought of it again as I was preparing the above activity. I love Jenkins's illustrations (I wonder if I am supposed to use a different word for them since they are made out of paper instead of drawn or painted?) and have read many of his books to my daughter. I am continually astounded by the intricacy and variations achieved by laying little bits of paper on top of one another. The story is great too--it exposes children to different birds, what they look like, and their calls (this part also provides a fun opportunity for some spirited reading aloud!). It also involves counting and ties it all together with a simple story of a day passing. In the back of the book there are some great facts about each species of bird mentioned. My daughter is always asking me if we can "check up on the computer" about various random topics, and this book provides a great starting point for such explorations. It was also a great supplement to our little birdwatching endeavor.

It's Snowing!

By Olivier Dunrea

This is another story to celebrate snow. It's text is shorter and simpler than some, making it perfect for younger children. The illustrations are lovely, providing plenty to amuse older children and adults!
A mom rocks her baby by the fire on a cold night. When she notices it is snowing, she seizes the moment and brings baby outside for some adventure. The story ends with them by the fire again--warm and toasty--but mom has more of a smile than she did in the opening illustration.
Simple. Charming. Worth reading.

The Blizzard

By Betty Ren Wright and Ronald Himler

After Christmas, there is still a lot of winter left where we live. I try to embrace each season and enjoy it while it lasts. I find reading season-appropriate books with my children helps me remember to do that (and hopefully it will help them to form a similar attitude!). I enjoy this book because it begins with one of the downfalls of a snowy winter--Billy's December birthday party is interfered with by a snowstorm. His cousins can't come because of the bad weather. The storm turns to Billy's advantage, however, as the snow falls so thickly that all of the children in the one-room schoolhouse and their teacher are forced to spend the night at Billy's house. The weather is too bad for them to walk to their own homes which are further away. Billy's birthday is better even than he had hoped as his parents open their home and offer hospitality to the stranded students.
This is a cozy Little House on the Prairie-esque book to read on a stormy day. Himler's illustrations of falling snow are excellent (the rest are pretty mediocre, but they don't detract from the text) The story teaches kindness--Billy shares his birthday cookie with his friend--and hospitality--Billy's mom is not even a little bit annoyed to find her house full of kids, but sets about immediately making provisions for feeding and housing them all. The unexpected guests add to the family's enjoyment and content rather than seeming a burden and a stress, thus illustrating very well the paradox "whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake will find it."

Bear's First Christmas

By Robert Kinerk and Jim LaMarche

We have another Christmas tradition at our house (I started this after hearing a story on NPR about a family who did something similar)--We have a box of Christmas books that we get out every year just after Thanksgiving. All other times of year, these books are packed away in order to keep them special and fresh. I try to add a few new ones each year (usually during post-Christmas sales at bookstores...). We read a few (or a lot) of these books each day between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day. It is a calm and cozy way to enjoy the season, and a great way to help kids form positive associations with reading.
I borrowed this book from the library last year and liked it so much we borrowed it again this year. (Hurray for libraries, by the way!) I love the illustrations--well, most of them. One of my two gripes with the book is that I think LaMarche goes to too much trouble in a few instances to make it look like the bear is smiling. What I like best about the other illustrations in the book is that the animals actually look like animals (aside from the bear's silly smile), and yet somehow still convey feeling. I also really like the font--I don't know if the artist had any influence there, but it goes nicely with the illustrations. My other annoyance with the story is that one of the characters--a small tree--is used rather heavy-handedly in a metaphor that strikes me as a bit trite...but I forgive this (and the bear's smiles) in light of the books many other strengths.
The story teaches the crux of Christ's teachings--"love one another." A bear is awoken from hibernation in mid-winter by a sound. He goes of in search of its source and is able to render many acts of service for his fellow creatures along the way. The animals then continue together until they discover a warm, lighted house wherein a family is singing around a Christmas tree. In an interesting nod to reality, the animals do not exactly understand what they are seeing. The house is described as "A lair or a burrow all lit by a glow." But, while the beasts do not comprehend all they observe, they do perceive its import--perhaps an excellent metaphor for our own experience in this life and in our search for meaning and truth?
All together, this is a charming book--very inviting illustrations, a somewhat fresh take on Christmas, and a very well-wrought rhyme and meter which flows very nicely and sets a fine tone for the story.

Mortimer's Christmas Manger

By Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman

It's rather late for Christmas books, but it's always good to plan for next year. I also read a neat idea somewhere--to have Christmas in February (or March...). Choose a day in February, play Christmas music, drag out your nativity set, read Christmas stories (like this one!), have a simplified Christmas dinner, and give each member of the family a small gift. Top it all off by reading the accounts of Christ's birth in the scriptures. This will create a bright, warm spot in an otherwise cold and dreary month. It will allow you to appreciate the spirit of Christmas without all the crazy schedule business usually attached to December, and it will help to illustrate how the real gift of Christmas is wonderful every day and every time of year, not just at Christmastime.
This year I borrowed Mortimer's Christmas Manger from the library, and we loved it. It is a cute story about a mouse named Mortimer who is looking for a cozy home. He finds what looks like the perfect thing on a table near the family's Christmas tree. Unfortunately, there are a bunch of statues in the way. Each night he drags them out and each day the family puts them back until Mortimer overhears them reading the story of Christ's birth in Luke. Then, he looks at the statue whose bed he had been stealing each night and realized, "You aren't just any statue. You are a statue of Jesus." This story teaches in a simple but moving way that we can each find ways of making room for Christ in our lives. Mortimer gives up his new found home in order for baby Jesus to have a place to sleep--and then he spies the family's gingerbread house. What more could a mouse want?
Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman also make a great team in Bear Snores On and the other books in that series. I recommend those as well. Chapman's illustrations are whimsical but expressive and interesting. There are some great details--for instance, the illustrations of the family's home don't look like they came out of a Pottery Barn catalog, they look like real people live there. Couch cushions are crooked, throw pillows are squenched, toys are on the floor, an abandoned cup is on the table, and there are stray pine needles and Christmas ornaments hiding in various nooks and crannies. The mom in the family also has some fantastic furry slippers.