Secret Sequel? A Child's Book of Prayer in Art

One of my favorite book treasures is A Child's Book of Art by Lucy Micklethwait. It's fairly popular amongst homeschoolers, I believe because it's recommended by the Sonlight curriculum. Anyway, imagine my joy when I eventually discovered there was a "sequel," also done by Micklethwait, called A Child's Book of Play in Art. For some reason, the second book is much less celebrated than the first, despite being equally ideal for talking to little kids about a variety of concepts, not to mention exposing them to a wide array of art styles. 

Anyway, I always thought the second book had a rather odd title, because according to marketing law, the sequel should have been named something like A Child's Book of More Art. Well, I just found another book by the same publisher (Dorling Kindersley) from the same era (early 1990s) called A Child's Book of Prayer in Art, devised by Sister Wendy, and I think the mystery of the odd title is solved. 

I suspect there was a DK editor out there who saw a possible series idea in these A Child's Book of X in Art, but for some reason, the concept never really took off. Anyway, the Prayer book is organized differently than the other two, but it is just...I swear it's made me cry it's so beautifully presented and written, and I am a grinch. Reading this book gives me the same feeling I got watching Archbishop Desmond Tutu on The Daily Show: Everybody is wonderful, and everything is gonna be all right.

Sister Wendy says that looking at art is one way of keeping in touch with god.

The book is fiercely non-denominational while still being deeply spiritual. There are Christian images in the book, but for the pages on Choosing Heaven, Sister Wendy chose a picture of Charon crossing the Styx, rather than something about Jesus, which might have been the obvious choice.

Sensory and Discovery Bottles for Toddlers and Preschoolers - Recycling Craft Project

SAHM + Pinterest = Craftmania!

I've been "upcycling" lots of plastic bottles into sensory bottles for Jackson lately, and I must admit, it's pretty fun, not least because it involves a hot glue gun. These may or may not just be overblown rattles, but he seems to find them at least moderately interesting, and I've been having fun. Here's what I've done so far:

Dice Discovery Bottle (DRY): When Jackson was "helping" me "clean out" my office supply drawer, I found five dice (two red, two white, one green) that seemed like they would be educational but deadly. I solved the choking-hazard problem by putting them in a bottle of expired Trader Joe's Harvest Grains Blend, which is a nice textural mix of couscous, quinoa, orzo and baby garbanzo beans. The bottle is a single-serving Arrowhead bottle of the type distributed at the in-laws' house.

Button Jar (DRY): A mix of colorful buttons that sat in my sewing kit for about five years finally has a purpose. These buttons rattle nicely against the glass of the baby-food jar, and the iridescent colors are a pretty blend.

Confetti Prism (WET): This one is colorful confetti in a Nyquil bottle. The water was not supposed to be pink like that, but the confetti dye has bled into the water. The triangle shape of the Nyquil bottle is great for increasingly the "visibility" of the objects inside. (I now have my eye on a three-sided Peptobismol bottle in the medicine cabinet.) I love this confetti mix from Target ($2) because it has a lot of butterfly shapes in it and when you turn it over, it looks a bit like the butterflies are fluttering through the bottle.

Silver Rattle (DRY): Silver balls, which went unused during another recent craft project, found a new home in a sturdy Martinelli's apple juice bottle. These balls are pretty light, but I make sure to put anything that might be hard or that's going to be fiercely rattled into a bottle that can definitely hold up to it. We don't want balls bearing to shatter a glass jar, for example. This bottle is J's fave right now. He likes shaking it and announcing, "Loud! Loud! Noisy!"

Straw Shaker (DRY): These are cut-up colorful Big Lots bendy straws in a Pepsi bottle. This one is a good shaker, and it's interesting to contrast the sound from this bottle to the sound of the toothpicks bottle.

Magic Bottle (WET): This one is bouncy balls from the .99 cent store in a Voss bottle with water and lamp oil. The balls float on top of the water, but then the lamp oil floats above balls, so it allegedly looks like they are floating in the middle of the bottle. (Personally, I can see the margin, but maybe that's because I'm looking for it?) This bottle was inspired by this pin on Pinterest, and this bottle is actually my second attempt. The first version was too many balls (five) in too small and too textured a space (an old vegetable oil bottle), and the lamp oil immediately started discoloring, so that it was a light yellow, which sort of ruins the intended effect. I'm now questioning whether this needed to be lamp oil or if baby oil would provide the same effect for less money and without having to go to the hardware store to find lamp oil. Be aware, you need to find a wide-mouth bottle for this one, otherwise you can't get the bouncy balls inside!

Toothpick Shaker (DRY): Colorful toothpicks ("party picks" according to the box) in a Gatorade bottle make for another nice shaker. My version of this bottle was inspired by this pin on Pinterest, which suggested you could make a DIY rain stick with toothpicks and rice. I tried it with the rice, but it never seemed to work right (maybe I had the proportions wrong?). I eventually discovered that the toothpicks alone inside a relatively textured bottle like the Gatorade bottle provided roughly as much sound effect as did toothpicks plus rice, and I liked the look much better without the rice, so here we are. Making this bottle taught me that for certain bottle projects you do want to seek out different sizes and shapes of bottles for different projects with different goals.

Bead Bottle (WET): Pony beads and water in a mini Arrowhead bottle make for a simple, straightforward, inexpensive bottle that has a great swirling effect.

Hula Bottle (WET): I call this a hula bottle--it's a deconstructed plastic flower lei and purple glitter in a vegetable oil bottle. I'm strangely fond of this one for no particular reason.

Wave Bottle (WET): This is an all-time classic sensory bottle, and this is another one where the bottle itself seems to make a difference. I don't think this one would half as effective if it weren't in a tall, smooth bottle (this is a Smart Water bottle from my parents' recycling bin). This is just vegetable oil and water with blue food coloring (err strongly on the side of caution with food coloring--you can oversaturate very easily!), and when you rock it, can see the effect of wave in the ocean. Totally entertaining, for me at least. You could also put floaty little ocean animal toys in the bottle for added effect.


Sensory Bottle Tips

• If you have any objects are your house that are fun but dangerous (don't we all?), use the danger as inspiration. Encase the objects in a bottle and they suddenly it's safe! Beads, dice, balls, buttons, pins--basically everything you have to take away from toddlers--can be an inspiration for a bottle.
• Less is more. My least favorite bottles are the ones I overfill. My current rule of thumb is that the "featured item" should take up no more than 1/3 of the bottle.
• If you don't like the result of your first attempt to make a bottle, or if just goes wrong somehow, cut your bottle open over a colander, retrieve your treasures and try, try again. Sometimes it takes a few passes to get the mix right.
• Be careful not to put hard objects in glass, lest the bottle shatter under vigorous toddler examination.
• Go slow with the food coloring. Put it in one drop at a time, swirl it around, see what you think of that color, and then add another drop if you want a darker shade.
  

Sensory Bottle Supply List

• Collect cleaned, dried-out bottles in interesting shapes and sizes.
• Goo Gone and/or Goof Off are invaluable for getting off label-glue residue, but sometimes you can do it with just soap, hot water and elbow grease.
• Filler material, which can be anything you find around your house that seems intriguing, or something you find at a discount or craft-supply store.
• A funnel helps get tiny objects and/or gushy liquids into the bottle with less spillage; canning funnels can be used on wide-mouth bottles like the ones that contain applesauce.
• A hot-glue gun or a tube of superglue secures the caps; some people use tape, but a quick  swirl of glue inside the cap looks tidier.

You Say Mexican Bingo, I Say Spanish Language Vocabulary Cards!

I was shopping at the off-brand discount store today--they're not associated with a major chain so they have a unique array of slightly unusual junk!--when I spotted these "Mexican bingo" cards. Apparently lotería is very popular in Mexico, and the 54 cards are a generally standardized catalog of images, although this is a cheap rip-off deck, because it was .99, come on.

Still, with the exception of the NOT OK "El Negrito" and "El Apache" cards, which went straight in the trash, this is a nice introduction to the very concept that there are other languages and other ways of naming things. Everybody likes nouns, and this is a nice array of them for a beginner.

Now, tell me, should I also delete "El Borracho" (the drunk),"El Diablito" (the little devil), "La Calavera" (the skull) and "El Muerte" (death)? I can see keeping that as topics for discussion, but maybe it's just age-inappropriate and in poor taste, etc etc?

Rereading and Reviewing The Read-Aloud Handbook - Chapter 5: Sustained Silent Reading: Reading Aloud's Natural Partner

Here are some of the most interesting points in chapter five of Jim Trelease's Read-Aloud Handbook, which focuses on sustained silent reading, aka how most of us read most of the time until we have kids of our own!

• Powerful Praise: "The single most interesting and comprehensive study ever done of SSR is Stephen Krashen's The Power of Reading. It is inconceivable that anyone could read this book and not resolve to incorporate SSR into the school day. If I could require one professional book to be read by all teachers and librarians, The Power of Reading would be my choice."
• Words, I Need More Words! "By the third grade, SSR can be the student's most important vocabulary building, more so than basal textbooks or even daily oral language...Indeed, about half of the three thousand most commonly used words are not even included in the K-6 basals." Duh. Living books, living words. And remember, as we learned from Hart-Risley, vocabulary is part of the scaffolding on which intelligence testing is built, and possibly/probably, by extension, vocabulary size mimics intelligence!
• Stop the Summer Slump: "Jimmy Kim's study of 1,600 sixth-graders in eighteen schools showed that the reading of four to six books during the summer was enough to alleviate summer [skills] loss."
• Books, I Need More Books! If you're a book-list junkie like me, you might enjoy this 1979 list of read-alouds recommended by Arthur Schlesinger Jr., which Trelease references in defense of comics, specifically The Adventures of Tintin.
• Oh, Dammit: Love this point about the power of repetition in vocabulary acquisition: "I always tell my parent audiences that the only words children learn having heard them only once are the words you wish you had never said in front of them. The rest of the words we need to encounter multiple times. How many times, to be exact? The research shows that four encounters with an unknown word does little or no good, but twelve meanings enhances comprehension." Ah, so it's the power of 12 then, is it? Duly noted.

Toddler Trays - Holiday - Montessori

Last week's Montessori activity trays were such a hit I decided to go again!

Montessori toddler tray: Jingle bells and tongs

I'm so proud of my little guy! When I first demonstrated this tray, he was confounded by the tongs and couldn't quite grapple with them, but this morning he used them successfully and correctly! OK, well, to be fair, so far he's just using the tongs to drop them in the bottle below rather than putting the bells into the tray (LOL, Montessori might not approve of this tray cross-contamination), but he actually did the problem-solving and the work over the past two days to figure out a new skill. He likes to put the bells in the tray with his hands as well as trying with the tongs, and the bells jingle beautifully, so there's a nice sensory element to this tray as well. He both jiggles the smaller tray full of bells and swirls them around in the larger tray. The smaller tray once contained mochi ice cream, and I just want you all to know that eating that stuff so I could have this project for him is the kind of Great Sacrifice I am willing to make for my child. :)

Montessori toddler tray: Clothespin drop

The clothespin drop is a classic children's activity, and I made it "holiday" themed by picking out a red jar and using only red and green clips. So far he chucks in big handfuls of clips at a time (much the way he eats only big handfuls of food at a time), but I hope to refine his technique over the course of the week. This is also a very wide-mouth bottle, so I might dig around the house and see if I can find anything narrower and a little more challenging.

Books for Five-to-Eight-Year-Olds

Books for Five-to-Eight-Year-Olds

Recommended Books from Young Years Library: Mother's Guide to Children's Reading by Rachele Thomas, Parents' Magazine's Press, 1963. {LOC 63-15865}

Young Years Library was a five or 10-volume anthology of reading material for children. The product evolved over the years, but generally it was sold direct to parents who wanted to provide an educational or literary advantage to their children. Many of the great children's librarians of the day were involved, including the pioneering Augusta Braxton Baxter. My copy, published in 1963, includes a 72-page list of recommended books for various ages and stages. To my eye, many of these books have long since been forgotten, not least because of the revolution in children's literature that took place following the publication that year of Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are. I'll be transcribing the sections of the Mother's Guide to Children's Reading reading list, one by one, in hopes of providing a starting point for modern mamas looking to explore more unusual, likely out-of-print book suggestions, beyond those usually included in generally available contemporary reading prescriptions. Copyright, of course, remains with Home Library Press.

Aesop's Fables, selected and edited by Laura Harris, illustrated by Tony Palazzo. Garden City.

A retelling of 44 of the famous fables, written for little children.

All Around the Town, by Phyllis L. McGinley, illustrated by Helen Stone. Lippincott.

Delightful verses and pictures of things a child sees and hears in a city.

Anatole, by Eve Titus, illustrated by Paul Galdone. Whittlesey.

A French mouse gets himself a job as taster-in-chief in a cheese factory. Other titles in the Anatole series:

     Anatole and the Robot

     Anatole Over Paris

And To Think I Saw It on Mulberry Street, by Dr. Seuss. Vanguard.

Top-rate picture book about a small boy's imaginative wanderings when he sees a “plain horse on Mulberry Street.” For other Dr. Seuss books, see The Cat in the Hat.

Angelo, the Naughty One, by Helen Garrett, illustrated by Leo Politi. Viking.

The funny everyday adventures of a little Mexican boy.

A Bear Called Paddington, by Michael Bond, illustrated by Peggy Fortnum. Houghton.

Just as children can always get into mischief, so can Paddington the bear.

The Bears on Hemlock Mountain, by Alice Dalgliesh, illustrated by Helen Sewell. Scribner.

Eight-year-old Jonathan had to make his way over Hemlock Mountain after dark. Excellent reading-aloud story.

Belling the Tiger, by Mary Stolz, illustrated by Beni Montresor. Harper.

The fantastic escapades of two little mice. Sequel is:
     The Great Rebellion

The Biggest Bear, by Lynd Ward, illustrated by the author.

Picture-book story of a little boy who went looking for the biggest bear and brought home a cub bear that kept on growing. A Caldecott Medal winner.

Billy and Blaze, by C.W. Anderson, illustrated by the author. Macmillan.

A picture book about a pony and his little master. Sequels are:

     Blaze and the Gypsies

     Blaze Finds the Trail

Box With the Red Wheels, by Maud and Miska Petersham. Macmillan.

A baby in a cart piques the curiosity of barnyard animals in this pleasant picture book.

The Cat Club, by Esther Averill, illustrated by the author. Harper.

A charming tale set in Greenwich Village about Jenny's cat. Sequels are:

     Jenny's Bedside Book

     The Fire Cat

The Cat in the Hat, by Dr. Seuss, illustrated by the author. Random.

A wonderful nonsense tale of an amusing cat, intended for easy reading. The sequel is:

     The Cat in the Hat Comes Back

Other popular Dr. Seuss books are:

     And To Think I Saw It on Mulberry Street (see separate listing above)

     Bartholomew and the Oobeleck
     500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins (see separate listing below)

     If I Ran the Circus

     Happy Birthday to You!

     McElligot's Pool

     Scrambled Eggs Super!

     Horton Hears a Who!

     Horton Hatches the Egg

     If I Ran the Zoo

     Thidwick, the Big-Hearted Moose

     Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories

Chanticleer and the Fox, adapted and illustrated by Barbara Cooney. Crowell.

The wily fox who tries by flattery to entice the vain cock into becoming his dinner is a beautiful adaption of Chaucer's “Nun's Priest Tale.” A Caldecott Medal winner.

The Christ Child, as Told by Matthew and Luke, illustrated by Maud and Miska Petersham. Doubleday.

The Nativity with text from the King James Bible and lovely pictures.

The Cricket in Times Square, by George Selden, illustrated by Garth William. Ariel: Farrar.

The story of a cricket who joins a picnic and lands up in Times Square, New York.

Crow Boy, by Taro Yashima, illustrated by the author. Viking.

A shy little boy in a Japanese school has an odd talent but thereby gains recognition and approval from his schoolmates.

Curious George, by Hans A. Rey, illustrated by the author. Houghton.

The exciting adventures of a little jungle monkey on a boat trip to America. They become especially exciting when he lands in New York and gets loose. Sequels are:

     Curious George Rides a Bike

     Curious George Takes a Job

     Curious George Gets a Medal

Dash and Dart, by Mary and Conrad Buff. Viking.

A thoroughly enchanting tale of a year in the life of two fawns.

Down, Down the Mountain, by Ellis Credle, illustrated by the author. Nelson.

Picture story of Hetty and Hank who live in the Blue Ridge Mountains and dream of wearing squeaking shoes on their bare feet.

The Duchess Bakes a Cake, by Virginia Kahl, illustrated by the author. Scribner.

Too much yeast in a cake raises a medieval duchess to the heavens.

The Five Chinese Brothers, by Claire H. Bishop, illustrated by Kurt Wiese. Coward.

A thoroughly charming tale of the extraordinary attributes of five Chinese brothers.

The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins, by Dr. Seuss, illustrated by the author. Vanguard.

One of the very best of the popular Dr. Seuss stories. For other Dr. Seuss books, see The Cat in the Hat.

Fly High, Fly Low, by Don Freeman, illustrated by the author. Viking.

A pigeon family make their home atop a neon sign of a San Francisco hotel, and then the sign is removed.

The Fox Went Out on a Chilly Night, illustrated by Peter Spier. Doubleday.

Beautifully illustrated version of the old folk song in a New England setting.

Frog Went A-Courtin', retold by John Langstaff, illustrated by Feodor Rojankovsky. Harcourt.

An entrancing picture-book edition of the Scottish ballad. A Caldecott Medal winner.

Georgie, by Robert Bright, illustrated by the author. Doubleday.

A jolly little ghost haunts the Whittaker family every evening by swinging squeaky doors and doing other things generally expected of a ghost. Sequel:

     Georgie to the Rescue

The Happy Lion, by Louise Fatio, illustrated by Roger Duvoisin. Whittlesey.

Delightful picture book about a lion who is everyone's friend until one day he walks out of the zoo. Sequels are:

     The Happy Lion Roars

     The Three Happy Lions

     The Happy Lion's Quest

Hercules, by Hardie Gramatky, illustrated by the author. Putnam.

An oldtime fire engine drawn by a horse could do what a modern fire truck could not.

The Horse Who Lived Upstairs, by Phyllis McGinley, illustrated by Helen Stone. Lippincott.

A city horse wants nothing more than to live in the country, and then he wants nothing more than to get back to the city.

In My Mother's House, by Ann Nolan Clark, illustrated by Velino Herrera. Viking.

A lovely picture storybook of the everyday life of a Pueblo Indian child.

Lentil, by Robert McCloskey, illustrated by the author. Viking.

A little boy learns that although he is unable to carry a tune, he can play the harmonica.

Lion, by William Pène du Bois, illustrated by the author. Viking.

How the animal factory in the sky produced the King of the Beasts.

Little Bear, by Else Holmelund Minarik, illustrated by Maurice Sendak. Harper.

A lovable cub bear wants a warm coat; he has a surprise on his birthday; and he goes on a make-believe trip to the moon. Sequels are:

     Little Bear's Visit

     No Fighting, No Biting

The Little Carousel, by Marcia Brown, illustrated by the author.

The horse-drawn merry-go-round brings gaiety and excitement to children on a city street.

The Little House, by Virginia L. Burton, illustrated by the author. Houghton.

A house that stood for itself in the country becomes one among many houses in a city.

Little Tim and the Brave Sea Captain, by Edward Ardizzone, illustrated by the author. Oxford.

A big-format picture book about five-year-old Tim's heroic sea adventures. Sequel is:

     Tim to the Rescue

Little Toot, by Hardie Gramatky, illustrated by the author. Putnam.

Little Toot's father was the most powerful tug in the harbor, but Little Toot did not assume his responsibility until the coming of a great storm.

Madeline's Rescue, by Ludwig Bemelmans, illustrated by the author. Viking.

The best of the Madeline series and a Caldecott Medal winner. In this adventure Madeline is rescue from the river Seine in Paris by the dog. The dog is adopted by Madeline and her eleven schoolmates, and then trouble, fun, and humor confound them all. Other Madeline books:

     Madeline

     Madeline and the Bad Hat

     Madeline and the Gypsies

     Madeline in London

Make Way for Ducklings, by Robert McCloskey, illustrated by the author. Viking.

Mrs. Mallard and her ducklings create quite a stir when they leave their old home on an island and take a new residence in the Boston Public Gardens. A Caldecott Medal winner.

Mary Poppins, by P.L. Travers, illustrated by Mary Shepard. Harcourt.

A most unusual nursemaid is blown in to the lives of the Banks children with the East Wind, and after many astonishing episodes, she is unhappily blown out of their lives by the West Wind. Sequels are:

     Mary Poppins Comes Back

     Mary Poppins in the Park

     Mary Poppins Opens the Door

Mei Lei, by Thomas Handforth, illustrated by the author. Doubleday.

A little Chinese girl slips through the gate and goes to the New Year's Fair.

Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, by Virginia L. Burton, illustrated by the author. Houghton.

The action-packed story of a steam shovel who must dig a cellar in a hurry.

Millions of Cats, by Wanda Gag, illustrated by the author. Coward.

A very old man wants to make his very old wife happy, and he goes out to search for a cat. He brings home not just one cat, but “millions, billions and trillions” of cats. A modern classic.

Mr. Popper's Penguins, by Richard T. and Florence H. Atwater, illustrated by Robert Lawson. Little Brown.

A pet penguin is homesick, so its owner goes to the zoo and brings home a mate. And there are many penguins. A wonderfully humorous story, of special interest to many boys.

Mittens, by Clare Turlay Newberry, illustrated by the author. Harper.

A little boy's cat is lost and found again. More excellent stories about cats by the same author are:

     Marshmallow

     April's Kittens

Mokihana Lives in Hawaii, by Eugenie Soderberg, photographed by Anna Riwkin-Brick. Macmillan.

Hawaiian children share some of their island customs with boys and girls of other lands.

My Father's Dragon, by Ruth Stiles Gannett, illustrated by Ruth Chrisman Gannett. Random.

Whimsical story of a little boy armed to the teeth with bubble gum who journeys to Wild Island and rescues a baby dragon.

Ola, by Ingri and Edgar d'Aulaire, illustrated by the authors. Doubleday.

A delightful picture book about Norway and a little boy who skis to fascinating places.

Once a Mouse, by Marcia Brown. Woodcuts by the author. Scribner.

Classic story of the mouse and the hermit.

One Morning in Maine, by Robert McCloskey, illustrated by the author. Viking.

Marvelous tale of the day a little girl loses her first tooth.

The Painted Pig, by Elizabeth Morrow, illustrated by Ren[accent] d'Harnoncourt. Knopf.

Pita once owned a lovely painted pig, and little brother Pedro wanted one just like it.

Pelle's New Suit, by Elsa Beskow, illustrated by the author. Harper.

A little boy in Sweden earns money for a new suit and follows each step of its making from the raw product to the tailored garment.

Playtime in Africa, by Efua Sutherland, photographs by Willis E. Bell. Atheneum.

The songs, dances and games of happy children who live in Ghana.

The Poppy Seed Cakes, by Margery Clark, illustrated by Maud and Miska Petersham. Doubleday.

A fascinating series of short tales about Andrewshek, a little Russian boy, and his spirited aunt.

Rabbit Hill, by Robert Lawson, illustrated by the author. Viking.

Charming fanciful story of little animals in a New England setting.

A Roundabout Turn, by Robert H. Charles, illustrated by L. Leslie Brooke. Warne.

The humorous English picture story of the toad who went to see if the world was really round and came home as dizzy as could be.

Song of the Swallows, by Leo Politi, illustrated by the author. A Caldecott Medal winner.

Every year on St. Joseph's Day the swallows fly to the mission of San Juan Capistrano, and always there to greet them back are the old bell-ringer and his young friend, Juan.

The Story About Ping, by Marjorie Flack, illustrated by Kurt Wiese. Viking.

A duck, after one night's frightening experiences, discovered that there is no place like home aboard a Chinese houseboat.

The Story of Babar, the Little Elephant, by Jean de Brunhoff, illustrated by the author. Random.

A little elephant dons a business suit and visits the city, then returns to the jungle to be crowned king of the elephants. Others in the Babar series:
     The Travels of Babar

     Babar and Father Christmas

The Story of Ferdinand, by Munro Leaf, illustrated by Robert Lawson. Viking.

The wonderfully funny of the Spanish bull who much preferred the smell of flowers to fighitng.

Tell Me, Mr. Owl, by Doris VanLiew Foster, illustrated by Helen Stone. Lothrop.

Little Boy is not old enough to go trick-or-treating on Halloween, but along comes Mr. Owl to amuse him with scarey tales.

Time of Wonder, by Robert McCloskey, illustrated by the author. Viking.

A father and son live and work on an island in Penobscot Bay.

Timothy Turtle, by Al Graham, illustrated by Tony Palazzo. Viking.

A big picture book written in verse about a turtle who wants something more out of life than to just operate a ferryboat.

The Velveteen Rabbit, by Margery Williams, illustrated by William Nicholson. Doubleday.

A lovely tale of how stuffed animals can become real animals through the love of their young masters.

Wee Gillis, by Munro Leaf, illustrated by Robert Lawson. Viking.

A Scotch lad must choose between life in the Lowlands and life in the Highlands.

What Do You Say, Dear? by Sesyle Joslin, illustrated by Maurice Sendak. Scott.

A hilarious guide to good manners. Sequel:

     What Do You Do, Dear?

Winnie-the-Pooh, by A.A. Milne, illustrated by E.H. Shepard. Dutton.

The much-loved story about Christopher Robin and his funny old teddy bear. Sequel:

     The House at Pooh Corner

Go Kiddo!

• All three of the Montessori-inspired play baskets were a huge hit, and so far he hasn't eaten any of the coins or the batteries. He can't quite figure out the flashlight assembly past the batteries, but the other two baskets were developmentally on target and he loves them. He actually likes piling the half-dollars in a jam jar that's just the right size and carrying them around the house, in addition to doing the "proper" lid matching and coin-dropping.
• He's mastered the nesting bowls after doing it just a couple of times. He's figured out how unstack and restack the whole pile, adjusting for incorrect size placement. I can see his little gears whirring as he does it: "Oh, that's a big one on top of a small one, so better remove the small one and put in the big one. Ah, that's better..."
• I was fishing around in a drawer for an Emery board to fix a hang-nail and the kid swiped it from me. He pondered it for a while and then went over to his pile of texture boards. He held up the sandpaper board next to the Emery board and announced, "Rough." You get on with your bad self, kid. Inspired by this Infantino Colors and Shapes Matching Puzzle, I think I'm going to see if I can find any wallpaper or fabric scraps somewhere that would illustrate "polka dot" or "plaid" or something.