LOVE COMES DOWN

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!   

A bouquet of flowers I received for Valentine's Day from my young goddaughters are serving as the perfect backdrop for my highlighted picture book today. It's new from Ancient Faith Publishing...

Love Comes Down, is a song by Natasha Frasch, which she put into a sturdy board book form for little hands.  The sweet illustrations are by Avery Mefford.  

It's about the humble nature of God's love through the Incarnation of Christ. I'll start with a stanza from the end of the book:

For love always comes down, down, down

and cares for the very small!

And we can care for the least of these...

because Love came down and cares for us all.

Even young children will understand through the text and illustrations of the book how God cares for them everyday, and how He sent His Son to care for us that we may care for others in our world.  

There is even a QR code on the opening page of the book so you can listen to the song, beautifully sung by the author/composer!

Need a Hug?

Around this time of year (and especially this year), we all could use a warm, cuddly hug. With  Groundhog Day and Valentine's Day approaching, I thought I'd share a heartwarming book with you that features a hedgehog (hey, it's pretty close to a groundhog!)

"Why will no one hug me?" Hedgehog sniffed. 

"You're just a little bit tricky to hug," replied Owl, "with all your prickly prickles.  But don't worry, there's someone for everyone."

The Hug, written by Eoin McLaughlin, and illustrated by Polly Dunbar, is a unique format picture book that flips over, providing two narratives - and two characters - to love.

Book description: Both a hedgehog and a tortoise are feeling sad and looking for a hug.  They ask all the animals they come across, but for some reason, no one will hug them. Until a wise owl explains: Hedgehog is too spiky; Tortoise is too bony.  And that's when they find each other!

What your child will like about this book: The story read from the front cover to the middle is Hedgehog's story; you turn the book upside down and read from back to middle for Tortoise's story.  Both creatures have the same problem: no one wants to hug them and everyone has an excuse.  Both their stories collide - with a big hug - in the middle of the book.  These two just had to wait until they found their match. 

One more from this writer/illustrator duo: While We Can't Hug, a new picture book for kids in response to social distancing. Hedgehog and Tortoise find other things friends can do besides  hugging - they can wave at each other, write letters, make funny faces, and sing songs...all in a show of their friendship.

IT'S A BOOKISH LOVEFEST

Caught red-handed, reading:
Don't you love stories with main characters who are true book lovers? 
Below are some of my favorites - did I leave out yours?

1. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (Everyone knows Jo is crazy about books and writing.)

2. The Library by Sarah Stewart, pictures by David Small. Elizabeth Brown loves books.  A lot.  You'll love what she does with them all when she grows up...

3. Matilda by Roald Dahl - she teaches herself to read and by the age of 5 and 1/2, she's read all the children's books in the library...

4. The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling (Hermione is one book-smart girl!)

5. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen...“Miss Eliza Bennet,” said Miss Bingley, “despises cards. She is a great reader, and has no pleasure in anything else.”

6.  Anne of Green Gables by Elizabeth Montgomery.  Anne Shirley: "Don't you just love poetry that gives you a crinkly feeling up and down your back?"

7.  84 Charing Cross Road by Helen Hanff, is collection of correspondence, from 1949-1969, between Helene and a book buyer at an antiquarian bookseller in London.  It's basically a lovefest for out-of-print books, the bookstore Marks and Co., and British culture.

8.  Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Guy Montag goes from burning books to rescuing them.

This Valentine's Day show some Bookish Love...

Read a Book,

Give a Book,

or 

just 

Hug a Book!

A BALLOON RACE FOR VALENTINE'S DAY

Feelings of nostalgia rise (along with the hot-air balloons on the cover of this book) every time I look at this fun recommendation that I'm re-posting from last year: 

The Great Valentine's Day Balloon Race

Published in 1980, it is one of Adrienne Adams' stories involving The Easter Egg Artists (1976), about a Rabbit family by the name of Abbott.  They have a son named Orson (get it? "Orson Abbott"/Our son Rabbit.)

In this particular tale, the Abbotts return for another adventure: Orson is determined to enter the Valentine's Day balloon race, but first, he must figure out how to build a hot-air balloon....with help from his parents and his neighbor, a bunny named "Bonnie".

They know how to make a balloon fly..."You just fill it with
something lighter than air, and it must go up."  They even tie
a big clothes basket to the bottom of the balloon to ride in...
Father goes first, but does not have a successful flight.

After the mishap, Orson figures out they need to make some
changes, so the whole family works on the balloon -
Bonnie, too.

Spreading the balloon on the ground, they puff it up
with a big electric fan.

They finally get it up and flying.  Orson names it
"Bonnies Valentine".  But the balloon needs some color....

After decorating it with some red hearts and flowers, it's
all ready to go! You'll have to read the story to find out
if they've got the know-how to win the race!

Any boy or girl would love this picture book (and will learn something about the science of hot-air balloons at the same time). Adrienne Adams' clear, colorful art is a perfect accompaniment to the fun adventure - for Valentine's Day or any day!!

source

Adrienne Adams was a very prolific illustrator of children's books.  I especially love her stylized work of the 1960's. Her Snow White and Rose Red (1964) and Twelve Dancing Princesses (1966) - both Brothers Grimm fairytales - were childhood favorites of mine (click the titles to see her illustrations).  Another of my childhood favorites (published in 1968) is Mouse House, illustrated by Adams and written by Rumer Godden (they also teamed together for Holly and Ivy, 1958.)

You can read more about Adams and see some of her other books here and here.

You can read my previous Valentine's Day posts here.

Something else for Valentine's Day:  February 14th (here before you know it!) is also "International Book Giving Day"!  Consider "Leaving a Book, Giving a Book, or Donating a Book" for a child, a friend, a school - anyone! 

Go here for details.  Remember,

A Book is a Gift you can open again and again

-Garrison Keillor

Some Valentine Love for the Whole Family From Tasha Tudor!

This rich and varied collection compiled by beloved artist Tasha Tudor explores the beauty of all kinds of love through a combination of poems, letters, songs, and stories. 

Each eloquent expression of love is interpreted through Tasha's exquisite watercolors, from the sincerity of Yeats's enduring love to the passion of Cathy in Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights. 

Also included is a charming section about Tasha Tudor's own family traditions for that very special day of love -- Valentine's Day. 

You'll find directions for making valentine bouquets, delicious cakes, and even unique decorative cards, as well as descriptions of holiday projects and events for the whole family. 

Beautifully designed and lovingly illustrated, this distinctive treasury invites parents and children to explore together the meaning of love...every day of the year.

All For Love by Tasha Tudor was originally published in 1984.  This edition is a second printing, published in 2000.  

One of the first posts I wrote for my blog was about the life and work of Tasha Tudor and another favorite author/illustrator, Virginia Lee Burton.  If you care to read it,  go here.  You can read my post about Tasha Tudor's Christmas books here.

EVER BEEN ON A BLIND DATE...with a BOOK?

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Yesterday was Valentine's Day, and also "International Book Giving Day".  I wanted to donate some books, and decided to support my local library at the same time by donating some used children's books I knew I could buy from our library bookstore...  

With grandbaby in tow, my daughter and I went to one of our local libraries, where we were greeted by the cutest book display I've seen in a long time.  There was a sign that read, 

"HAVE A BLIND DATE WITH A BOOK!"

It seems that libraries (and high schools) all across the U.S. are getting into the act, trying to encourage people to read, and using Valentine's Day as their happy medium. 

Library card holders can check out a book from a shelf full of books wrapped in plain paper - their genre and title are hidden from the reader. 

Written directly across the wrapped book were words and phrases with hints telling library patrons a little about what’s inside; just enough to pique their interest! (The library barcode is on the back, for secretive check-out.) 

You unwrap your book when you get home, perhaps discovering a new favorite book or author. 

The best part? 

"If you don't enjoy the book, bring it back with no hurt feelings or awkward breakups."

So - what books did I end up with to donate on "International Book Giving Day"?  They were both chapter books. (I left them anonymously on a playground park bench with a note.)  Here are some hints:  

• Book #1: "Meet a Girl"; "American"; "Victorian"
• Book #2: "Bear"; "Orange Marmalade"; "Train Station"; "England"

Guesses?

How cute is this display? This library REALLY got into the Valentine spirit! [source]

Next year, inspired by the photo above, I think I'll wrap my books to donate as "Mystery Valentines" (kids don't go on blind dates!)

Even Maggie Smith has something to say about it! [source]

LAST MINUTE VALENTINE'S DAY...BUTTONS?

Button Hearts (for some reason, I called Candy Dots "buttons" when I was little):
These are the easiest homemade Valentines ever - make a bunch in a hurry!
From Martha Stewart [Source]

Try these cute last-minute Valentine's Day ideas I recently found on  (click the red "button" to follow me there, but I'm warning you: pinning all those ideas/recipes/crafts/books onto virtual bulletin boards can be addictive!).  Look what I found to make: Button Hearts,  Valentine Pretzel Buttons, Cute-As-A-Button Valentine Cards, and a Sorted Button Valentine Heart.

At the end of my post you'll also find some fun books about buttons (and about something else, that most of us can't resist!)

Valentine Pretzel Buttons - Lately, when I go and visit my sister's kids, we make some form of these.  It started when a friend gifted them to me for Christmas one year (using the square butter pretzels, Rolo candies, and red and green M&M's)  I can't wait to try this version!

Recipe found HERE

Cute-As-A-Button Valentine Cards - A great way to use all those extra buttons you've collected through the years. I think these are adorable, but to make them with kids, I would just glue or tie on any cute "extra" buttons you have (without first making them into earrings).  The dowloadable card template is free...

Download the cards and tutorial HERE 

Sorted Button Valentine Heart - Look at this little guy, sorting his buttons into a muffin tin and gluing them onto his red paper heart!  What could be more fun?

Check out the finished MASTERPIECE!
[Source - Hands On: As We Grow]

HERE ARE THE BOOKS:

Corduroy, by Don Freeman. Remember the teddy bear in green overalls who lives in a department store and wants a home? One day a little girl named Lisa comes and wants to buy him, but her mother tells her she's already spent enough money; and besides, the bear doesn't look new: he's missing a button. This fact sends him off in the middle of the night to search for it...maybe someone will buy him if he can find his button and fix his broken strap!

All at once he saw something small and round. "Why, here's my button," he cried. And he tried to pick it up. But, like all the other buttons on the mattress, it was tied down tight.

Will Corduroy ever find his button - or a home?

The Button Box, by Margaret S. Reid, Illustrated by Sarah Chamberlain.  This little book takes me back to a rainy day during my childhood, when I remember my mom getting out her Mason jar full of "extra buttons".  My siblings and I spent the afternoon counting and sorting all the colorful buttons. We eventually ended up threading one onto a sturdy, but thin piece of string or ribbon to play "Button Button, Who's Got the Button?" The colorful illustrations in this book show the buttons the boy discovers in his grandmother's button box - how they can be sorted, and where they may have originally come from.

The Belly Button Book, by Sandra Boynton. Okay, well I know this isn't really a book about "buttons", but who can resist bare-bellied hippos and reading aloud the word, "Bee-Bo"?

Did you know Sandra wrote and illustrated a book for us grown-ups, too:  New York Times bestseller Chocolate: The Consuming Passion (you knew I had to work chocolate in here somewhere for Valentine's Day!  That was for you, Carol B-McK!)  It's out of print now, but hopefully you can find it at the library.

From the book jacket: Boynton's apologia for chocolate misses nothing. Myths are debunked: "chocolate is not fattening", she argues, "especially when the caloric expenditure of carrying it home from the store and hiding it from company is factored in". Directions are supplied: "to remove stains, lick them". Plus, "how to grow chocolate at home", a foolproof method for determining if chocolate is in season (does the name of the month contain the letter A, E, or U?), and a recipe for Hippo Pot de Mousse.

AN UNLIKELY VALENTINE STORY

...about an old man, "tall and thin, who did not smile, and ate cheese and mustard sandwiches".  His name is "Mr. Hatch".  He learns a wonderful lesson, that we can all take to HEART (pun intended).

I have to thank talented author/artist Carol Baicker-McKee for mentioning this lovely book at the end of her hilarious post yesterday (read it here) on her blog, Doodles and Noodles.   She said Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch, by Eileen Spinelli, is her favorite Valentine's Day book (her kids all loved it too). I had never heard of it, so I googled the title and found this fun reading of it by actor Hector Elizondo (source here).  I'm still smiling, and I know you'll enjoy it.  The picture book would make a lovely gift (along with a box of chocolates!)

NEED CARDS FOR VALENTINE'S DAY? MAKE A HEART-Y DONATION...

Several children's book illustrators have partnered with Save the Children to help raise money for poverty stricken families.

If you donate $25, today, you will receive a set of 30 limited-edition Valentine’s Day Cards (6 cards of each design). It's all part of Save the Children's "VALENTINE'S DAY 2012: READ TO LOVE...LIVE TO READ" program.  Today is the last day to order, if you want the Valentine's by February 14th.

This limited-edition set includes cards designed by your child's favorite children's book authors and illustrators: Ian Falconer (Olivia!), Kevin Henkes (Kitten’s First Full Moon), Leuyen Pham (Freckleface Strawberry), Brian Selznick (Wonderstruck) and Mo Willems (Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!).


You'll find details HERE.  Remember, today, February 6, is the last day to place an order, if you want your Valentines to arrive by February 14th!