Aspiring artists and picture book fans alike will enjoy Art and Soul, the blog of illustrator Janee Trasler. Right now she is sharing a behind-the-scenes look at her first book sale. Fun!
Monthly Archives: March 2006
Fairy Houses in the Cottage Garden
See why I want to move into Alice’s cottage?
Bet I know what my girls will be doing tomorrow.
That’s One Busy Sidewalk
The Poetry of Walls
Round Buildings, Square Buildings, and Buildings that Wiggle Like a Fish
Isaacson takes the reader on a leisurely, respectful tour of buildings around the world: churches, houses, museums, lighthouses, all kinds of structures, from the humble to the magnificent. In simple, straightforward prose he discusses various architectural concepts such as the impact of building materials, the interplay of light and color, and the significance of roof shape. His stunning photographs turn even the roughest earthen hut into a work of art. His lyrical text helps us see in the pictures what we might otherwise have missed:
“These buildings are part of the Shaker Village at Sabbathday, Maine. On an afternoon in late winter they are warm and creamy, but in December, shadows thrown at them make them look haunted. A building only a few yards away fades into the land on a hazy morning.”
Isaacson is also the author of A Short Walk Around the Pyramids & Through the World of Art
Tags: children’s literature, kidlit, children’s books, books
It’s a Nesting Thing
Yesterday really and truly felt like spring. Great friend Lisa came over and helped me clean up my front flower border; now I can just sit back and watch it bloom. Okay, so the “just sit back” part is meaningless cliche: I have tons of other work to do in the next few weeks, before the baby arrives. But let’s not go there right now…
Anyway, this springtime urge to spruce and tidy is the reason for the blog makeover. I needed to see some green inside the house as well as out.
I Have Told This Story Before
But it’s one of my favorites. Beanie’s current Beatrix Potter kick brought it to mind yesterday.
When Rose was two-going-on-three, our beloved Alice gave us a "Bunny Bowling Set." The bowling balls were little plastic cabbages with which you attempted to knock down plastic rabbit-shaped pins. Jane set the game up and played it for a while, then wandered off. I was in the next room, fixing dinner, and heard Rose playing with the game. But she sounded frustrated. I kept hearing her knock the bunnies over with the ball, and then she’d cry out in dismay.
Finally she hollered, "Mommy! It no WORK!"
I went to watch her try again. She rolled the cabbage and knocked down half the bunnies. I cheered.
"There you go! You’ve got the hang of it now."
She looked at me incredulously. "No! It no work," she said, through gritted teeth.
"Sure it worked!" I said. "Look how many bunnies you hit."
Her glare was steely with pity and forced patience. "It—no—work," she repeated, slowly, as if she were the adult and I the child. "Bunny won’t catch cabbage!"
Bucket o’ Rice
Looking for ways to keep the little ones occupied while you’re working with your older kids? Here’s a great suggestion from a homeschooling mom of eight.
One modification that has kept my girls entertained for stretches of time is a rice table or bucket. We use a plastic storage box, filled halfway with uncooked rice and add kitchen utensils, cars, small toys, or anything else that catches our fancy. All this goes on the kitchen floor atop an old tablecloth for easier cleanup.
Whenever I drag out the rice bucket, I am greeted by squeals of delight. I tell myself they are engaging in science experiments to keep myself from worrying about some of the more creative things they find to do with rice. After a couple bites, they decide it isn’t worth eating and get back to sifting, digging and pouring. I can count on this activity giving me a half hour or so to spend instructing the older kids without interruption.
HT: Daryl
When Jane and Rose were little, I used to keep a little baggie of cut-out construction paper fish for them to stick on a big blue pond (also construction paper, with wave lines drawn on and some clear contact paper slapped over it). Haven’t thought of that in years…poor Beanie, she’d have loved that game at age three. Heck, she might still love it now. And this time around I could put Jane and Rose on fish-cutting duty. Little loops of tape on the back of each fish heighten the fun—because, you know, ANYTHING having to do with tape is magical for the preschool set.
Plenty to Read
Slept late this morning and Wonderboy has PT soon, so just a quickie for now. More later; until then, there is loads of good stuff to read at this week’s Carnivals. There’s Homeschooling, hosted by Palmtree Pundit, and Education, hosted by Mathandtext. And if you haven’t yet made it over to Chicken Spaghetti to see the second edition of the Carnival of Children’s Literature, you’re missing out!
Speaking of the latter, we have hosts lined up for the April and May editions. If you’re interested in hosting a future edition, just drop me a note.
Recommended Reading
The Catholic Homeschool Companion, edited by Maureen Wittman and Rachel Mackson. The editors of A Catholic Homeschool Treasury bring us this fat and informative collection of essays about every facet of the home-schooling life, and it’s a gem.
The word ‘companion’ in a book title implies a book you’ll turn to for support and inspiration time and time again. The Catholic Homeschool Companion is well named indeed. There are essays on every academic subject area from art appreciation and geography to math and phonics, and that’s just the beginning. Other sections include:
• High School
• Homeschooling Styles and Strategies
• Children with Special Needs
• Homeschooling in Unique Circumstances
• The Father’s Perspective
• Finding Inspiration
• Homeschooling Community and Support
• Home Management
• Homeschool Students and Graduates
Each of these sections contains several essays. There are a number of appendices as well, chock-full of useful information.
Contributors include: Holly Pierlot, Cay Gibson, Steve Wood, Alicia Van Hecke, Joan Stromberg, and Nancy Carpentier Brown.
More about the Book Brouhaha
As a followup to my post about a school board’s decision to remove certain titles from an elementary school’s to-purchase list, here are some links worth looking at:
Becky of Farm School has thoughts both humorous and insightful about the issue. I too have considered this issue from the Charlotte Mason anti-twaddle angle…it seems to me that the school library could find a far better use for its money than Disney’s Christmas Storybook. (Becky’s suggestion, for example: much better choice.)
Roger Sutton, the editor in chief of The Horn Book, offered some fascinating behind-the-scenes information about library purchasing. (Scroll down to the comments section.) I’d like to learn more about the ALA Bill of Rights, especially in regard to how it applies to public school libraries.
The original news report about the matter gave the impression that parents were equally upset over the removal of twaddly titles and books featuring what the trustees deemed “bad role models.” Mr. Sutton’s concern is over the latter. “NOT purchasing a book ‘because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval,’ ” he writes, “is just as much censorship as removing a book for those same reasons later.”
I’d love to hear from more readers about this.