A favorite Christmas picture book!

Every year, this book is my gentle & thoughtful reminder to break down holiday activities into happy and manageable pieces. And, of course, be generous to nature and wildlife! (Picture book!)

Poor Pamela!

Charming! This book is about Pamela, a cow, who LOVES pears. The situation is out of control so Amy, her young owner, decides to solve the problem by offering Pamela as many pears as she could possibly want. (This is along the lines of the theory that if you overdose on something you will get over your craving for it.) Poor Pamela gets very sick. And, yes, she is done with pears but onto something else perhaps? Hilarious. (This book is written in both English and Spanish.)

Thursday on Thursday!

This is the last day of picture book month. “Because of Thursday” c) 2016 by Patricia Polacco. “The Keeping Quilt” and “Rechenka’s Eggs” were her two big hits in 1988 and she has been creating and publishing ever since.  I was curious as to what this author/illustrator was up to lately. She is still offering up beautiful literature. In this story, Annie and Mario love each other and love to cook. When Mario dies, Annie suffers. One day, a kitten enters her life. And it reminds her of Mario. Annie is able to get to cooking and hostessing again. The disclaimer says likenesses are purely coincidental but I definitely see a cameo from GUY FIERI in this book!

Important history lesson

“Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up By Sitting Down” c)2010 By Andrea Davis Pinkney; Illustrated by Brian Pinkney. The author showed slides of this book at the Wisconsin Library Association Conference in October. I had to read the whole thing! What a beautiful and powerful book about important moments during the civil rights movement. We take so much for granted now but restaurants, schools, businesses, buses, parks, pools and even LIBRARIES in the southern United States were segregated. Thank goodness for the wisdom and courage of so many people who peacefully resisted these restrictions. As a result, President Kennedy asked the American people to consider a change in June of 1963. Then on July 2, 1964 President Lyndon B. Johnson made the Civil Rights Act of 1964 a law. This book teaches great lessons about peaceful protests and how much of a difference even the youngest among us can make.

The many worlds of the garden

Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt by Kate Messner with art by Christopher Silas Neal c) 2015

I checked this one out after my November 15 review. The book is gorgeous and just makes me long for my garden. I cannot wait for gardening season again!

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