FEBRUARY: A PRESIDENTIAL MONTH

If you're looking for some captivating children's picture books about our two U.S. presidents born in February - Abraham Lincoln on the 12th and George Washington on the 22nd - you won't be disappointed with the choices available from BEAUTIFUL FEET BOOKS!  These books and their authors (who also happen to be the illustrators) are exceptional! 

EDGAR AND INGRI D'AULAIRE BOOKS

George Washington

Abraham Lincoln

The D'Aulaires (husband and wife) began writing and illustrating picture book biographies that were first published for young children in the 1930's. The figures in their colorful folkart style drawings almost have a paper-doll look, which appeals greatly to kids. (In fact their illustrations of George Washington are intentionally supposed to help children conjure up images of rocking horses and toy soldiers!)  All their books are historically accurate and full of authentic detail, a result of the couple's countless hours of research at libraries and their travel to historic sites for each of their books.  And the results are breathtakingly beautiful books! (1st - 6th grade)


  
GENEVIEVE FOSTER BOOKS

George Washington's World

Abraham Lincoln's World

Genevieve Foster's books present a cross-section of history. Her historical figures are introduced and explored amidst the interconnecting events going on around the world at that time in the areas of politics, science, art, literature, and medicine. In the 1940's, her new approach to historical literature, versus just showing biographical subjects in isolation, really brought their stories to life for her young readers. She developed this style of writing from struggling herself, as a student, to better learn and understand history. Her own vivid line drawings, detailed maps, and timelines wonderfully complete these books. (4th grade and up)

BEAUTIFUL FEET BOOKS is a publisher and curriculum source especially loved by homeschooling families.  You can learn more about these titles, and order from their online catalog, here on their website. 

EDUCATION THROUGH ADVENTURE!

PADDLE-TO-THE-SEA is also a film.

Kids love books full of adventure. The genius of Holling C. Holling was that he knew how to teach through adventure, by filling his entertaining tales with well-researched historical, geographical, and scientific data that might otherwise be boring to children had it not been presented in an exciting work of fiction.

This author/artist/naturalist was born in Jackson County, Michigan, in 1900.   His father was superintendent of schools, so as a boy, Holling had access to all the books he could want at home (but his mother would also make trips to the library to find books that he especially liked about animals and Indians.)

He not only loved reading, he loved being in the outdoors - roaming the woods, camping and exploring. “At three, he was an avid artist, drawing very advanced pictures of horses, cows, and other animals. In his youth, his father once brought him a dead owl. The investigative boy became fascinated with it, making an Indian headdress from the feathers and a belt with the claws. His love of Indian customs and ways was a constant throughout his life.” (as noted in Major Authors and Illustrators for Children and Young Adults, 2nd ed., Gale Group, 2002)


Holling Clancy Holling graduated from the Art Institute of Chicago in 1923. He then worked in a taxidermy department of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago and spent time working in anthropology.  He married Lucille Webster and within a year of their marriage they had both accepted positions as art instructors for a year (1926-1927) on the first University World Cruise, sponsored by New York University.

For many years of his life, Holling C. Holling dedicated much of his time and interest to creating books for children.  I'd like to focus on a set of large format books he started in the 1940's.  Much of the material he wrote about was known to him firsthand through field and library research. His wife worked with him on many of the illustrations.  Each story is rooted in the natural world: set on the sea, rivers, the coast, and inland trails. Each story involves a journey.

"The story lines of these books are well-complemented by their art. Of special interest are the sidebars that make a reader linger. They may be a detailed, hand-lettered pen and ink of a ship’s rigging in Seabird or the Great Lakes displayed “like bowls on a hillside” in Paddle-to-the-Sea. Learning new information was never more inviting and entertaining. Holling was a writer/illustrator who tapped into children’s secret consciousness and curiosity.  Such richness in storytelling and illustration still makes for classical favorites, which says much about this master of children’s literature." -Walter Giersbach, (Grinnell College Book Review).

These stories are especially loved by homeschooling families.  Click here to see Beautiful Feet Books wonderful "Geography Through Literature Pack" that uses these books.

PADDLE-TO-THE-SEA the four year journey of a miniature wood carving of an Indian boy in a canoe from its starting point in Lake Nipigon, Canada, through the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River to its final destination in the Atlantic Ocean.  Paddle receives help staying on course from people who read the message carved on his canoe: "Put me back in the water. I am Paddle-to-the-Sea".  Middle readers will learn about the history, industry, geography, seasons, tides, currents, locks, inhabitants, animals of the region.


TREE IN THE TRAIL the story of the passing of history as seen by a stationary cottonwood tree, located on what eventually becomes the Santa Fe Trail. (The wood from the tree is eventually made into an ox yoke and ultimately makes a journey to the end of the trail.)


SEABIRD - Through the travels of Seabird - an ivory gull carved by a cabin boy from a walrus tusk - the history of America at sea is traced. Your child will delight in this story of sailing, whaling, ships and ship building, while they learn world geography and much more!


MINN OF THE MISSISSIPPI Minn (a snapping turtle) travels over many seasons and years from Lake Superior to the Gulf of Mexico.  Children will learn about the history of the Mississippi River Valley and its fascinating world of bayou's, steamboats, river pirates, flatboats and keelboats, French and Spanish explorers, plantations, floods, and even Mark Twain.


PAGOO studies life in a tidal pool through the story of a hermit crab named Pagoo.  Every detail of tide pool life is presented. Holling's wonderful illustrations bring to light the many microscopic forms of life found in the sea, and the habits and methods of survival are clearly explained.

CALLING ALL COWBOYS AND COWGIRLS...

I thought it would be fun to do a post on Western Themed Books this week!  As a child, I really wasn't exposed to much of the "Wild West" other than through Hollywood.  I remember watching The Lone Ranger on television and movies, like Annie Get Your Gun, with Betty Hutton and Howard Keel, and True Grit, starring John Wayne.   Now, as an adult, I live in the West, and when I walk on the horse trails in the hills behind my home, I try to imagine what life would have been like back then...I hear the grit of sand and dirt beneath my feet, feel the warm breeze and hot sun on my face, and smell the earthy scent of the orchid rockrose; but my mind more often wanders to the world of author Jessamyn West, (who grew up very close to my home) than to that of the Wild WEST!
"Landscape foams up around me like a painted picture where every brush stroke's got meaning. Meaning bursting out of weeds and fence rails"    -from THE FRIENDLY PERSUASION, by Jessamyn West

YEE-HAW, PARTNER!  I FOUND SOME GREAT WILD WEST-THEMED BOOKS TO HELP GET US THERE:

THE BRAVE COWBOY, by Joan Walsh Anglund (ages 4-8)  Anglund's charming line drawings bring this little Cowboy to life!  (The black line illustrations are what is happening in the boy's everyday life.  The red line illustrations show what he is imagining is going on.)
COWBOY SMALL, by Losi Lenski (ages 4-8).  Such a classic and I'm so glad it's in print!  Cowboy Small and his horse, Cactus, take care of each other!
COWBOYS AND COWGIRLS: YippeeYay! by Gail Gibbons (ages 4-8)  I really like Gail Gibbons' books.  Her colorful watercolor illustrations make the details so interesting in all her books.
CINDY ELLEN: A Wild Western Cinderella by Susan Lowell, illustrated by Jane Manning (ages 4-8).  Fun retelling has Cindy Ellen going to bbq's and rodeos, instead of the ball!
WESTWARD HO!: An Activity Guide to the Wild West (A Kid's Guide series) (ages 8-12) Fun activities and recipes for all things Western!
THE INDIAN IN THE CUPBOARD by Lynn Reid Banks (series for ages 8-12) See my post from 6/3/10 "Books That Transport Us..."
BY THE GREAT HORN SPOON! by Sid Fleischman (ages 8-12) Wild West adventure during the California Gold Rush.
BUFFALO BILL by Ingri Parin D'Aulaire. (ages 8-12)  Your child will meet William F. Cody in this beautiful picture book by the D'Aulaires.

STORIES THAT CELEBRATE EARLY AMERICA FOR YOUNG READERS

Stories help us make sense of our lives: they give meaning to the facts of our history, help us understand why we are here, and bring perspective to what we need to pay attention to. These books are all appropriate for 4-8 year olds (but you'll like them too!)


PICTURE BOOKS:
Thy Friend, Obadiah, by Brinton Turkle. This story is set in 19th Century Nantucket Island and it is about a simple Quaker community - in particular about a little boy named Obadiah, who is being followed around everywhere by a seagull! His father teases him about having a "new friend", which embarrasses Obadiah, until the gull suddenly disappears and Obadiah learns a lesson of friendship.
Wagon Wheels, by Barabara Brenner. This book is based on the true story of a pioneer African American family who is searching for freedom by moving West. Read about how three young boys courageously embark on a journey of over 150 miles to join their father, who sends for them after he pushes ahead to find better sheltered land than what they have found in Kansas.
Yonder, by Tony Johnston, illustrated by Lloyd Bloom. A simple story of joy and beauty about a 19th Century farmer and his wife, who plant a tree, not only to signal the beginning of their new life together, but also for each child that is born. Gorgeous illustrations!
Ox-Cart Man, by Donald Hall, illustrated by Barbara Cooney. This story evokes the feeling of historical America as the reader takes a journey through the seasons and passing years of a mid- 19th Century New Englander's family. (1980 Caldecott Medal).


FOLKTALES:
Jump On Over, The Adventures of Brer Rabbit and His Family, collected by Joel Chandler Harris, illustrated by Barry Moser. These stories were originally told and retold by slaves in the American South. Brer Rabbit's tribulations - though filled with fun and games - were intended to be a reflection of those times.
Johnny Appleseed, by Reeve Lindbergh, illustrated by Kathy Jakobsen. This folktale is one of America's oldest and it's based on a true story! John Chapman spent his adult life planting apple trees and maintaining orchards between his home in Massachusetts and the western frontier of Indiana. My kids loved this book (maybe partly because we have a "Jonny"!) The illustrations are done in a beautiful folk style, reminiscent of early American samplers.
John Henry: An American Legend, by Ezra Jack Keats. This modern industrial age tall tale is familiar to most of us..."born with a hammer in his hand", John Henry and his massive strength symbolize the huge amount of labor that African Americans, both as slaves and freemen, put into the building of our nation. Powerful illustrations match the powerful story about the dignity of hard work and importance of human life.


BIOGRAPHY:
Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie, by Peter and Connie Roop, illustrated by Peter E. Hanson. This simple but true story brings new meaning to the concept of duty. It's about a courageous young girl - Abbie - who is determined to keep her father's lighthouse lights burning while he is away on the mainland, despite of the fact that a terrific storm threatens to sweep her family's little house into the sea, the fact that her mother is in bed sick and must be kept warm, and that even the fate of their chickens is in her hands.
The Story of William Penn, by Aliki. Your children will learn about the peaceful founding of Pennsylvania by William Penn, a Quaker and wealthy Englishman, in this delicately illustrated book, with period pictures in colonial colors, by Aliki.

BOOKS THAT TRANSPORT US AND HELP US LEARN MORE ABOUT OURSELVES...

"But in reading great literature I become a thousand men and yet remain myself. Like the night sky in the Greek poem, I see with myriad eyes, but it is still I who see. Here, as in worship, in love, in moral action, and in knowing, I transcend myself; and am never more myself than when I do." -C.S. Lewis

My children and I really enjoyed traveling through books to far off lands and different centuries and meeting the people (and humanized animals!) who inhabited them, while coming back to ourselves at the same time by sharing with the characters not only their adventures, but also finding a common boundary of ideas and feelings about family and friendship, loyalties and truths. We would always return with a new perspective on others and a renewed perspective of ourselves...

FOLKTALE/MYTHOLOGY:

TALES OF A CHINESE GRANDMOTHER, by Frances Carpenter. (Ages 9-12) Wonderful folktales of the Chinese culture, told by an old grandmother. Each chapter is a different tale.

THE CHILDREN'S HOMER, by Padraic Colum. Exquisite pen and ink illustrations by Willy Pogany. (Ages 9-12) My kids were entranced by this telling of Greek mythology because it allowed us to see the Greeks through their own eyes.

FANTASY:

THE INDIAN IN THE CUPBOARD (series), by Lynne Reid Banks. (Ages 8-12) Exciting, absorbing, and thought provoking story, alive with magic as two boys discover they can bring their toys to life by putting them in an old medicine cabinet that one of them receives - along with a small plastic Indian - for his birthday. They are faced with the responsibility of this tiny person and the consequences of their actions. Gives new meaning to the phrase, "the dignity of human life".

THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA (series), by C.S. Lewis, illustrated by Pauline Baynes (Ages 8-12). It is so evident in these stories that Lewis respects children's imaginations - he does not dumb-down evil or sugar-coat goodness. At the same time, there is a wonderful sense of the everyday in these incredible fantasy books - hearth and home and the honest decency of ordinary characters who are movtivated by love!!! The children, talking animals and creatures, and especially the great Lion, Aslan, will become endearing companions that your children will never forget.

REDWALL (series), by Brian Jacques, illustrated by Gary Chalk. (ages 8-12). This series was read to my children by their father and I'm not sure who enjoyed the reading more, him or them! All the characters are animals, mostly mice and mostly heroic, with the exception of the villian, Cluny the one-eyed rat, and his horde. Matthias, a novice monk (mouse) at Redwall Abbey, has dedicated himself to the service of peace. But he slowly learns that, sometimes, it is virtuous to defend oneself and those one loves. (Many children have been known to read this under the covers at night with a flashlight, after read aloud time is over and dad and mom have gone to bed). Go to http://www.redwall.org/ for Brian Jacques' fun website and a list of all the books!

HISTORICAL NOVELS:

THE BRONZE BOW, by Elizabeth Speare. (Ages 9-12) Beautifully told story of a boy living in Jerusalem at the time of Christ. 1962 Newbery Medal winner. A family favorite of ours!

THE HOUSE OF SIXTY FATHERS, by Meindert DeJong, illustrated by Maurice Sendak. (Ages 9-12). The Japanese invasion of China during World War II is the backdrop for this touching story of a little boy named Tien Pao, who becomes separated from his parents. He is eventually helped by American soldiers and airmen. Throughout the search for his parents, he is determined not to despair.

BIOGRAPHY:

THE ENDLESS STEPPE, by Esther Hautzig. (Ages 10 and up). This book made a huge impression on us, probably because it is a true story and the heroine, only ten years old, never loses courage or perserverance in the face of extreme hardship after being forced to leave her beautiful home in Poland in 1942 and live in Siberia with her family because they are Jewish.