Road Trip Sightseeing: Storybooks Around Every Corner (Well, Almost)!

Of course our road trip itinerary had to include stops at some libraries. We were pleasantly surprised to discover that storybooks and storybook characters are alive and well in the Mid-west - but not just in libraries...

Kansas City, Missouri - Storybook Parking? 
Check out the K.C. Public Library's awesome parking garage!  It is the highlight of the city's library district, situated across from the Central Library.  Each book spine is a 9-by-25-foot rectangle!

Historic St. Louis - Libraries and Pinnochio in a Park!
Loved this old branch library that we drove past.

We found some good St. Louis BBQ for dinner (thanks to my daughter and Yelp) and took it with us to Citygarden Park in downtown St. Louis. It's a fun place to have a picnic - lots of fountains and statues, including Pinocchio! 

I took this photo of the beautiful St. Louis Central Public Library after hours.  So sad we couldn't pop in for a visit!  (Go here for a virtual history tour.)

Fun in a Chicago library - A Storybook Dollhouse!
Downtown Chicago's grand old neoclassical style Public Library, located across from Millennium Park, no longer houses books - it is now the City Cultural Center.

The new Central Library is the impressive post-modernist style Harold Washington Library...

There is a beautiful winter garden on the 9th floor, but we only had time to check out the children's library with my grandson.

We discovered a fun Storybook Dollhouse, full of tiny characters, animals, and objects - clues to over 75 children's books, poems, and nursery rhymes!  If you're ever traveling through Chicago with children, make a quick rest stop at the library and play a fun game of "I Spy".  Here were some of our favorites...

See the shadow in the bureau drawer?

Who's this Crocodile in the tub?

See the Giant Peach? Collie? Wanted Poster of a "Dirty Dog"?

Recognize this bear in the yellow hat?  How about that Little Lamb?

Dorothy and Toto in Lincoln Park, IL?
Yes, along with the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, and Cowardly Lion. Where?  At Oz Park, of course!

Children's Library in Highland Park, IL - Storybooks and...Hampsters!

My daughter took some fun pictures of the inside the wonderful Highland Park Public Library (near her new home) for me when she visited the children's area with my grandson.

The library even has little hamster friends for the kids named "Yankee Doodle" and "Dandy".

Hope you enjoyed this little tour - get out there and explore libraries (you might be surprised at what you find along the way!)

Road Tripping Through Laura Ingalls Wilder Country...(or: "The Yellow Brick Road Trippers")

With the help of Roadtrippers.com, our daughter has planned some adventures and sightseeing for us as we make the looong drive from California in order deliver her and our grandson - and their "stuff" - safely to her husband near Chicago, Illinois.

Kansas, the "Sunflower State" - source

After traveling to Utah's Zion National Park and some sites in Grand Junction, Colorado, we're moving on to....Kansas!

Yes, we'll be road tripping through Dorothy Gale and Laura Ingalls Wilder country on our way across several Midwestern states to Illinois...

The Road to Oz...
I'm hoping we can visit the OZ Museum in Wamego, KS!

According to the Kansas Historical Society website,
Kansans have mixed feelings for Baum and his story. Dorothy, a little girl from Kansas, lives in a bleak, drab environment...The Kansas Baum describes was based on his experiences living in South Dakota in the 1880s.  Many Kansans found this description of Kansas unjust and untrue...but after having traveled through the colorful and exciting Land of Oz, Dorothy exclaims as she taps together the heels of her ruby slippers, "There's no place like home. There's no place like home." Many Kansans point to Dorothy's desire as the more important message of the work.

The "Real" Little House on the Prairie...

This map shows the Ingalls' family travels in Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.

Unfortunately our route won't take us as far south as Independence, Kansas, to see a replica of the real Little House on the Prairie...

  

...so we'll just have to settle for a tour in the video below from the awesome website about Laura Ingalls, Frontier Girl.

 

In 1869, the Ingalls' family moved to this location, 12 miles southwest of Independence, Kansas. They stayed here about a year before returning to their earlier home in Pepin, Wisconsin. Laura Ingalls Wilder was only 3 when the family lived in Kansas, but when she started writing the "Little House" books, she based Little House on the Prairie on memories of her older family members: Pa, Ma, and Mary. The Michael Landon television series Little House on the Prairie was not set at this location, but at Walnut Grove, Minnesota, where the family moved in 1874. The small Little House on the Prairie cabin at this location is a recreation [of the original home] based on the description found in the book. The foundation of a small house believed to have been the home of the Ingalls' family, was found at this location in 1977.  [source: kansastravel.org]

(Click here for my past post about Laura Ingalls Wilder.)

About as Close to The Emerald City as You Can Get: Hotel del Coronado!

We just returned from an idyllic family vacation at the Hotel del Coronado near San Diego, California. The weather was sublime.

The stunning Hotel del Coronado - The Emerald City?

And guess who else loved this place -- L. Frank Baum, who first visited the turn-of-the century seaside resort with his family in 1904.  He wrote at least three of his Oz books while staying at "The Del"...

Although L. Frank Baum hailed from the Midwest, he preferred to winter in the warm and welcoming sunshine of the picturesque community of Coronado, California, just across the bay from San Diego. 

Doesn't the Emerald City look familiar?

Some people think the author based his design of the bejeweled Emerald City on the Hotel del Coronado; but Baum had already written the first book which included the fictitious Emerald City (The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, published in1900), before ever visiting the hotel in 1904.

L. Frank Baum had storytime with children on the lawn at the
Hotel del Coronado. (photo 1904, source]

Still, you can see why Baum found the hotel so entrancing. With its whimsical design, vibrant red roofs, magical spires, and one-of-a-kind setting, the "Hotel Del" is as close to Emerald City as you'll ever get!  

And Baum is credited with designing the stunning chandeliers in the "Crown Room" of the hotel - don't you think they're fit for the Cowardly Lion? [From Material Dreams: Southern California Through the 1920's by Kevin Starr, source]

Chandeliers in the Crown Room, of the Hotel del Coronado,
designed by Baum [source]

L. Frank Baum - who suffered from a weak heart - usually resided at the hotel for months at a time; in later years he would sometimes rent a house nearby.  During his years in Coronado, Baum wrote the third, fourth, and fifth books of the Oz series: Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz (1908); The Road to Oz (1909); and The Emerald City (1910).

The house L. Frank Baum's would sometimes rent on Star Park Circle,
 just around the corner from the Hotel Del Coronado. [source]

Something else to see in Coronado: The children's area of the Coronado Public Library is home to nine beautiful glass panels (a permanent exhibit, by Brenda Smith) displaying Oz culture and featuring many of Baum's characters. 

Wizard of Oz Glass panels, Coronado Public Library [source]

Detail: Dorothy and the Munchkins [source] 

Baum moved to Hollywood in 1910, where he spent the last nine years of his life at his home, "Ozcot" (he was one of the community's earliest residents).  

He passed away in 1919, but his memory and his legacy in California cultural history live on. 

I hope you can "follow the yellow brick road" someday to Coronado Island, and the Hotel Del! You won't be disappointed.

• Source info: "The Hotel del Coronado and L. Frank Baum"; and "How Frank Baum Became the Wizard of Coronado".
• Scanned color illustrations of the first edition OZ books can be seen here.

Three Literary Themed Halloween Parties for 'tweens and teens (try thaying THAT 3 times!!)

1- Quothe the Raven Party
For a sophisticated party for teens, try this "Creative Raven" theme, using lines from Edgar Allen Poe's poem as your inspiration: you can find faux blackbirds and crows at most craft stores around this time of year. Better Homes and Gardens Halloween Issue 2012 has some great inspiration for an Edgar Allen Poe "Raven" themed party...

Dress up a large mirror with a feathery wreath and verses
from EDGAR ALLEN POE'S The Raven for a spooky dining room decoration.
Source  HERE

"But the Raven still beguiling all my fancy into smiling, 

Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird, and bust and door; 

Then upon the velvet sinking, 

I betook myself to linking 

Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore- 

What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt and ominous bird of yore 

Meant in croaking 'Nevermore'."

Birdcage pumpkin [source]

2- A Victorian Steampunk Party, Sherlock Holmes Style...

Get out your monocles, pipes, and capes...

Instead of using a magic wand, make a Cinderella Pumpkin using gears for the wheels,
a soap dish for the driver's seat, a drawer pull for the door, and a sink drain
for the window.  The little mice are mini white pumpkins with upholstery-tack
noses, wire whiskers, and nail feet. [source]

Easy to find Steampunk accessories (gears
and goggles), and costumes on Amazon.

I found a whole list of ideas on Squidoo, including using metallic paper goods, clocks, a fog machine, lanterns, and..."Mustache on a Stick"!

More free silhouette printables from bhg

3- Oz Pumpkinhead Party (with a little bit of Washington Irving's Sleepy Hollow, and The Nightmare Before Christmas thrown in.)

Before Jack Skellington - the main character in Tim Burton's animated film,The Nightmare Before Christmas - there was L. Frank Baum's storybook character, Jack Pumpkinhead.

"...in his first scene in The Nightmare Before Christmas, Jack Skellington does have a pumpkin on his head, and looks very much like Jack Pumpkinhead. Also, the director of Nightmare was Henry Sellick who, eight years earlier, had been a storyboard artist on Return to Oz, and therefore had several opportunities to draw Jack Pumpkinhead. From another perspective, similarities can also be seen between Scraps, the Patchwork Girl of the OZ books, and Sally in The Nightmare Before Christmas, so there may be another connection there, but it's also not terribly likely."(source: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz website).

Scarecrow Crunch 

4 cups crunchy oatmeal cereal squares or Chex cereal
4 cups tiny twist pretzels
1 can salted peanuts
1 bag of autumn mix honey candy
1 bag of candy corn
2 cups peaunut butter M&M’s
2 (6-ounce) boxes caramel popcorn with nuts

1 (6.6) bag chocolate graham Teddy bears

source

Jack Skellington Cupcakes [source: spoonful disney blog]

A hat tip to Washington Irving, at the Magic Kingdom. [source]

Listen to The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow Audio Book.  Or the radio archive on iTunes here.

Easy Decor/Activity/Party Favor

Miniature pumpkins can be colored in minutes with acrylic paints or permanent markers. The secret to their jewel-like sparkle is a finishing (polyurethane) glaze applied after the paint or ink has thoroughly dried.

source

A BEAUTIFUL SHORT FILM, INSPIRED BY BOOKS - AND A HURRICANE

Morris and Humpty Dumpty [source]

Have you seen the Oscar nominated short film, "The Fantastic Flying Books of Morris Lessmore"?  The animation is riveting, but so is the story. The first scene opens, with "Pop Goes the Weasel" playing in the background, and the camera shot panning down to Morris. He is sitting on his (New-Orleans-French-Quarter-looking) balcony, humming to himself and writing in his journal when, suddenly a strong wind kicks up, blowing his words right off the page.  Ultimately - in true Wizard of Oz style - he and all his books are swept away as well.  This occurrence, like the song accompanying it, seems nonsensical.

"Why" and "Where" are the questions that make you want to watch until the end.  And the engaging little Humpty Dumpty flip-book character, stylized animation, and Buster Keaton dance numbers (albeit with stick-leg books!), won't let you look away.

In doing some quick investigating, I discovered that the impetus for this film, all about Book Love, was born in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.  These words of author/creator/director William Joyce brought tears to my eyes:
"The main thing I guess," Joyce said, "was going into the shelters and seeing the displaced people and seeing the kids in these, usually a sports arena, with no privacy or any of the stuff they knew as home. But they had been given books -- there were different organizations to make sure kids had books to read while they were in the shelter. Seeing these kids reading these books and being able to shut out all the sadness and the uncertainty and lose themselves in a book..." [source]

I don't know how long the film will be available to view on YouTube, but here's the link - enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkJPMsWw6Z8
(And if you would like to give a book to a child in need, or support groups doing this, visit one of these sites: BookEnds, Better World Books, Reading Is Fundamental [RIF], or Save The Children.)