Time Out for a Prague Blog

Happy St. Nicholas Day! Well, I took a little break from blogging to travel with my family to Prague.  After our last trip in 2011 (our son was at school there), you may have read my post about the Strahov Monastery Libraries.  

On this trip we not only re-visited those libraries, but amidst the Christmas markets, cathedrals, a castle, incredible music and architecture, we discovered some English bookstores!

At Shakespeare & Sons (just around the corner from the Charles Bridge in Malá Strana), I immediately gravitated to the back room full of children's books and found several by the very talented Czech-born American author and illustrator Peter Sis.

Can you spot his picture book, Madlenka?  Madlenka's tooth is loose, and she wants everyone to know! Talk about an international city block! Her neighbors are -- a French baker, an Indian news vendor, an Italian ice-cream man, a Latin American grocer, a retired opera singer from Germany, an African American school friend, and an Asian shopkeeper.  As we look through die-cut windows to the images and memories they have carried from old country to new, we can see that Madlenka's block is as richly varied as its inhabitants.  (ages 4-8)

I was beyond excited about the second book I found by Peter Sis - The Pilot and the Little Prince.  My grandson is going to LOVE it!  Did you know that Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was a pilot before he was an author??  This fascinating biography is beautifully written and illustrated by Sis.  A must read for aspiring little pilots! (ages 5-8)

We also found an Expat bookstore - the largest English-language bookstore in Prague, with a cafe that serves an "American Style Weekend Brunch" and good coffee (yay!) - The Globe Bookstore and Cafe.

This bookstore caters to students, but on Sundays they offer a Storytime for Kids! 

They have a great children's section and I was super excited to find this brand new edition of P.L. Travers Mary Poppins illustrated by one of my favorites: Lauren Child!!!

Take a peek at my photos from the Christmas Market in Prague's Old Town Square...it was lovely!

Such a sight! Stay tuned: I found a beautiful used Christmas picture book (from 1931) at Shakespeare & Sons that I'll post about later, along with a favorite book about the Bohemian Good King Wenceslas!  

Czech? Check!

Following my previous post about Czech composer Antonin Dvorak's poignant musical composition, "Goin' Home", I think I'll continue on with my admiration for Czech artists by sharing a fun children's book by a talented author/illustrator from Prague! 

The book is The Mouse Who Ate the Moon, by Petr Horacek.

When my daughter brought this charming book home from the library for her son, she astutely observed, "The story and illustrations are like Eric-Carle-meets-Krtek".  

Not surprisingly, the author/illustrator Petr Horacek relates (here) that growing up in the Czech Republic, he loved the cartoon character Krtek ("Little Mole"), created by Zdenek Miler.  

Krtek

Our family knows about Krtek because my oldest son David studied film in Prague, where the Little Mole has been a beloved character since the mid-1950's.  (Sadly Zdenek Miler, Krtek's creator, died while our son was there in 2011. We're so happy David brought home a little stuffed Krtek and a couple of cute Krtek books, which my grandson loves.)

Back to Petr Horacek: he also said in an interview that Eric Carle is a favorite illustrator of his [source].  The drawings and storyline in Horacek's The Mouse Who Ate the Moon do remind me a lot of Eric Carle's Papa, Please Get the Moon For Me.

Eric Carle's Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me.

I love the bright and colorful Eric-Carle-style images that Horacek painted for his Mouse book, which also involves two other very Krtek-like characters: a mole, and a rabbit...

One evening, a mouse, peering out of her hole, looks at the moon and wishes she could have a piece for her very own.

The next morning, when she sees something she has never seen before - a yellow banana - she thinks a piece of the moon has fallen from the sky and that her wish has come true!

Before she knows it, she's eaten half of it and is regretful, thinking the moon won't be round anymore.

His friends, Rabbit and Mole assure the Mouse, "Nobody can eat the moon,"  and they take her to the top of a hill and show her -- "slowly, something shiny appeared behind the trees."

It was, of course, the moon. Relieved, they go and sit under the stars and eat the other half of Little Mouse's "moon", while the real moon lights up the sky behind them.

This sweet story is a great way to introduce the concept of moon phases to young children.  Great for ages 2-5.

Go here to see other picture books by Petr Horacek. 

How A Monastery in Prague Led Me to Learn More About the History of Libraries...

Strahov Monastery

Two Decembers ago, my husband and I were being shown the sites of the charming Czech city of Prague by our oldest son, David, who was there doing a couple of semesters abroad at FAMU (the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts).

View looking down on the city of Prague, from the Monastery.

Before our travels I had come across photos on the Internet of the Strahov Monastery and its library, high on a hilltop overlooking the city, and I put it down as a must see for our trip...

Strahov Monastery Library

"Peace, awe, order, and curiosity". Those are the words that came to mind as I stood staring into the doorways of two of the most beautiful rooms I had ever seen!

Philosophical Hall

Walls lined with shelves, full of old books, above which were gilded wood carved decorations and ceilings splashed with frescoes: The Halls of Philosophy and Theology at Prague's Strahov Monastery Library.

Theological Hall

The library collections contain approximately 200,000 volumes, stored in the halls and adjacent depositories.  Many of the works were printed between 1501 and 1800.

Our visit to the monastery library that day left me wanting to explore more about the history of libraries. They've certainly come a long way over the centuries, these days often looking more municipal than museum-like, but they will always be an integral part of our history, culture, and communities.

Our view upon leaving Strahov Monastery. 

Here's what I found...

EARLY HISTORY OF BOOKS AND LIBRARIES:

From the start, civilizations needed some some type of repository for their written works. The first "books" (mainly public records) were inscribed with a stylus onto clay tablets by the ancient Mesopotamians.  Some of the ancient library archives had shelves built in the walls to stack the tablets; others employed the use of baskets or earthenware jars.

  

In time, literature developed - epics, myths, science, and history.  I’m sure most of us were assigned in school to read the Epic of Gilgamesh, the ancient Babylonian creation story, which was originally recorded on clay tablets! 

In ancient Egypt, papyrus scrolls were used to write on. These were most often stored with labels attached, so the whole scroll wouldn’t have to be unrolled in order to identify its contents. 

By 600 BC in ancient Greece, the first public libraries (in beautiful structures built by leading citizens) - as well as private and personal libraries - were beginning to flourish, with large collections of both fiction and non-fiction works inscribed onto parchment rolls. 

The Chinese imperial library has a history dating back to the Qin Dynasty (221-201 BC). The first library classification system in China was established during the Han Dynasty.   The library catalog during this time was written on scrolls of fine silk and stored in silk bags.

SOMETHING NEW:  CODEX

Beginning in the second century in Rome, literature, science, and technical information began to be recorded onto wax coated wooden boards, which were stacked and then bound. These bound tablets became known as "codex", with parchment eventually replacing the boards.

New libraries emerged in monasteries of Europe during the Middle Ages, concentrating on acquiring and copying manuscripts in the codex form only (as opposed to on scrolls).  

With the invention of the printing press by the German, Johannes Gutenberg, around 1440, mass-produced books in codex form became widely available to everyone - not just royalty, the church, and scholars.

SOMETHING NEWER: THE DIGITAL AGE

In recent years, with the increased use of the Internet to gather and retrieve data, we are now witnessing the birth of books in electronic digital format on a glowing computer screen - “virtual” books.  As we advance forward into this digital age, let’s not leave behind our past!

You can be sure that the gradual shift to e-books and digital libraries will greatly impact our culture and communities.  Traditional book lovers and library enthusiasts like me can't help but wonder how e-books will transform our physical experience with real books and our visits to libraries.  After all, these original archives were “physically communal” places, not “digitally communal” files or websites. 

I am sure time will work out the balance of "e-books" and traditional “real” books (and the library structures that house them).  Through the digital world we have so much information at our fingertips, but how can we possibly resist the physical aspects of books: the touch and feel of pages to be turned, the smell of ink and paper, and the shelves where these friends are neatly stacked?

PLEASE SUPPORT AND VISIT LOCAL AND HISTORICAL LIBRARIES!
Whether you frequent modern libraries in order to borrow books, do research, have a quiet place to read, or so your kids can enjoy story time and use the Internet (for free!), don't forget to also visit historical libraries - both in the U.S. and around the globe.  They are beautiful preservations of art and architecture, as well as "home" to books.  I plan to visit libraries for the rest of my life.  How about you?  

Source for the historical information in this post: The Library: An Illustrated History, by A.P. Murray.

Detailed information about the history of the Strahov Monastery Library can be found here.

A Good King and the Feast of St. Stephen

One of the statues we came across of Wenceslas
 in Prague, Czech Republic.

John M. Neale, an Anglican priest, wrote the words to "Good King Wenceslas" in 1853 to inspire children to be generous on St. Stephen's Day (today - Dec. 27). The lyrics of the song are based on events that occurred in the tenth century... about a kind-hearted king and his page who set out to help a poor man on a cold winter's night and how they experienced a miracle along the way. (If the incident is merely legend, the hero most certainly is not.)

Wenceslas was born into a royal family in Bohemia, which is now part of the Czech Republic.  My husband and I just had the pleasure of taking a trip to the city of Prague to see our son, who is on a student exchange program there.  We saw statues and tributes to Wenceslas all over the city.

Wenceslas was raised by his grandmother to be a devout Christian.  Since his father was killed in battle when Wenceslas was only thirteen years old, he became Prince of Bohemia just five years later, at the young age of 18.  He ruled the land fairly, as he sought to spread Christianity throughout Bohemia and give aid to those in need.  

In 935 he was killed by his brother in a political coup. As a result of his pious life and untimely death, Wenceslas is venerated by the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches as a martyr and a saint. (The Holy Roman Emperor Otto I posthumously conferred the title of King to Wenceslas.)

At the suggestion of one of my readers, I'd like to add a third picture book about  Good King Wenceslas to the two I posted about last year.  This particular book has wonderful pictures by Tim Ladwig that help introduce the story and illustrate the text of the song.  There is also a historical note at the back of the book.

To read my previous about this Good King, GO HERE.