In January, it's so nice

I forgot to mention that the Christmas singing is half carols and half murder ballads. Also there were pierogies and vodka. What more can you ask for, really? We all had a blast.

Though we won't be living in the land of real winter until next year, and are instead marking our seasons by the difference between wanting a sweater before dark and not wanting it until after dark, there are some real season-oriented books in heavy rotation here. One is Chicken Soup with Rice. 

Jane loves all the Nutshell Library books, because they are tiny and fascinating, and because I sing them to the tunes from Really Rosie.

Anything that combines reading with singing is a big hit right now. This includes a little board book in which "You Are My Sunshine" is about a teddy bear (rather than the woman who left me and "shattered all my dreams," and why exactly is this a favorite song to sing to one's children, anyway?) and Tweedle Dee Dee by Charlotte Voake, which is a take on "The Green Grass Grew All Around."

The music is in the back. 

We love all of Charlotte Voake's books, especially this one, the two about a cat named Ginger, and the unfortunately out of print First Things First. Her quick and expressive pen-and-ink line reminds me of Quentin Blake's enviable looseness, without feeling like imitation Blake. Look at those birds on the cover!

The other seasonal book we have been reading a lot (Tweedle Dee Dee is not particularly about the seasons) is The Year at Maple Hill Farm, by Alice and Martin Provensen. Somehow I missed it in my own childhood, though I had seen the Provensens' illustrations in Nancy Willard's A Visit to William Blake's Inn. Steve's cousin sent it as a Christmas present for Jane, but the grown-ups have been enjoying it too.

It has so much packed into every page, but it never feels busy or cramped. For shorter attention spans, you can read the overview from the top of the page, or you can delve into the smaller details below. It is gentle but totally unsentimental, and often funny, too, and the art is of course fantastic.

You probably can't read it from here, but the picture of a cuckoo in the middle row says "This big bird is laying her egg in a little bird's nest. She must be cuckoo." Ho ho! The next picture is a sequel: "This little bird is feeding her babies. She must wonder why one baby is so big."

There is a companion book, Our Animal Friends at Maple Hill Farm, and I want it, too.

All of these make me want to get back to drawing more. I am terribly out of the habit. My quick cartoonish owl is well honed from many instances of Jane shoving a pen and notebook in my face and saying "OWL PEASE" but everything else is just piles of rust.

How are you?

Comments

[kmkat]

One of the joys of having children is discovering exceptional children's books... and rediscovering one's own favorites from bygone years. Your post makes me look forward (a bit) to being a grandparent so I can read to little kids again.

[Matt Jacobs]

I'm good. I'm in India and it's wonderful. I've thought about our trip to Vik's in Berkeley at least twice while here.

[redfox]

Oh, Matty, I am super jealous. And hungry! I'm going to Berkeley in a couple of weeks, at least, so I can stuff myself silly then.

kmkat, I so agree. I was also realizing recently that I am very happy to read poetry recreationally when it is in the form of a children's book (and lots of picture books really are poems, even lots that don't immediately feel like it) but hardly ever do it otherwise -- I don't know why that should be. Maybe it's the lack of pictures and loving individual presentation. Poetry picture books for adults: I want 'em.

[Chloe]

Our Animal Friends is even better; all of the animals' personalities and good and bad habits are described! I only discovered these with Gabriel, although my mom insists we had them for Karl and Stefan, and they are favorites and frequently given as gifts by us too.

In the meanwhile, Gabriel and I are enjoying The Spiderwick Chronicles which he was given as a gift this Christmas. They are recently written but a series in the style of our beloved British children in a house type books, and with great illustrations. You and Jane will enjoy them in due course, I'm sure.