In listening to E. Nesbit’s The Railway Children published in 1905 (audio available for free on Librivox), I noticed something very interesting. British children at the turn of the century, at least according to Nesbit, were not supposed to show emotions, and these emotions were on the whole very embarrassing. In modern American literature for…
What follows is the tale as I tell it to my children, perhaps just a smidgen influenced by my professional hat as a librarian. Once upon a time, there were three pigs who were setting out to make their way into the world. The first thing they needed to do was make homes for themselves….
This past Saturday, a tragedy almost happened in our family. We almost lost Ducky, my 3 year old’s lovey when she dropped out of the stroller unnoticed on our way to a friend’s house. That we found her again was fairly miraculous, and involved my retracing our route in the dark with a flashlight and…
Welcome to this week’s Brave Wednesday! Above you will see the sketch I’m sharing with you today. It is somewhat cropped by WordPress to fit the space allotted, so here is a link to the complete image. I believe I’ve spoken in the past about my propensity for sketching my right hand (I’m left handed,…
Books written for early readers are built with simple characters. This is good for emerging readers. They can come to appreciate running gags, as a character does the same thing in different scenes. The simple character can be described with few words, and takes does not take long to feel that the character is a…
It’s August, and the last week of the summer reading programming we run here at the library. Soon I’ll change all of our displays for back to school season. I’m a bit sad about the summer slipping away. Mostly, though, I’m proud of the kids. The children here in our community read terrifically this summer!…
Enjoy today’s edition of Library Moments! Child: One, two. I have two. Can I take another book? Adult: Two sounds like a good amount. Child: What about two more, because what about my brother? Adult: Can you share? Child: No, he needs his own. Adult: [gives child The Look.] Child: Ok, I can share mine…
A child, perhaps 4 or 5, came up to the desk to ask me a question. Here is the conversation that ensued. Child: Do you have any toys? Me: I have these blocks you may play with, if you’d like. Child: No…do you have toys you’re giving? Me: Not right now. We do sometimes have…
The Last Tree, written by Ingrid Chabbert and illustrated by Guridi, is a short picture book, elegant and concise, but don’t be fooled by its simplicity. This tale of a boy and his friend working hard to save a tree cuts to the quick. The stunning illustrations display the world the boy lives in, with “roads…