Some Vintage Goodies On My October Bookshelf!

I spent yesterday gathering some October/Fall themed books off my shelf; and today I'm trying to decide which volumes to put in a book basket I'm assembling for our church's annual Oktoberfest Silent Auction.

This year some of the proceeds from our annual fundraiser will go to IOCC's Syrian Relief Fund.  Our church youth group and women's group are also making emergency kits to send in for Syrian Refugees.  (For more information about how to donate, go here.)

About the fabulous fall line-up of books you see pictured.  Most are vintage, but I'll start with the new ones first...

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, the new illustrated edition from Jim Kay!

I can't tell you how excited I've been to see this book in person.  It will not disappoint, and will be such a great read aloud for fall (or anytime).

Jim Kay's illustration of "the Boy Who Lived".

Inside cover endpaper loveliness - Hogwarts.

One of my favorite illustrations - Hagrid and Harry.

Murder at Mansfield Park (2010), by Lynn Shepard.  I'm having a bit of trouble getting into and excited about this one.  I enjoyed Death Comes to Pemberly (2013) by P.D. James more, but maybe that's because I liked Pride and Prejudice more than Mansfield Park in the first place?  (Young adult)

Whoo's There: A Bedtime Shadow Book (2005), by Heather Zschock, illustrated by Martha Day Zschock.  This is such a fun and unique book!  You read it with the aid of a flashlight, which you shine through the page ''windows'' to cast pictures on the wall as you read with your child at night.

Sarah, Plain, and Tall (1985), by Patricia MacLachlan.  2015 marks Sarah's 30th Anniversary of publication, so I couldn't leave out this classic Newbery Medal winner! Sarah, Plain and Tall gently explores themes of abandonment, loss, and love. It's a surprisingly short book that delves deeply into the characters of Sarah and the family she joins to wife and mother.  Below is the edition I grew up with...

Pumpkin, Pumpkin (1986), by Jeanne Titherington.  Simple story in a sweetly illustrated picture book for fall: A young boy named Jamie plants a pumpkin seed in the spring and, after watching it grow all summer, carves a face in it for Halloween! But best of all, he saves some seeds that he will plant again next spring. (ages 2-4)

Costumes for Nursery Tale Characters, (1975), by Jean Greenhowe.  Let's hear it for Literary Costumes! (go here for my previous post)  I found this fun vintage book at my library bookstore, and couldn't pass it up.  Starting with a basic one-piece tunic and pants pattern, some of the character costumes include Cinderella, Robin Hood, Friar Tuck, Little Miss Muffet, and Little Red Riding Hood.

  

Now all I need to do is make a final decision about how to pack my basket of books for the silent auction.  And if I have time, I might put together a centerpiece basket of fall foliage to auction off as well, like the one pictured below that I saw at my sister's church over the weekend!  Happy October!

LITERARY COSTUMES IN FILM

Today I visited the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, California, so that I could see their new exhibit, "Maurice Sendak: 50 Year, 50 Works, 50 Reasons".  It's the first stop for this touring exhibition that posthumously celebrates Sendak and the 50th Anniversary of his picture book, Where The Wild Things Are.  But more on that in a later post...

This post is about another exhibit at the Bowers: "CUT! Costume and the Cinema".  I was lucky enough to make it to see this exhibition before it leaves.  (March 10, 2013 is the last day - so hurry if you live in Orange County.)

All the costumes were GOR-GEOUS, but I was most excited to see the gowns designed for films based on some of my favorite classic literature.  Take a look (and don't miss the children's book at the end of this post)...

Kate Winslet wore this dressing gown in Finding Neverland,
a movie based on the life of J.M. Barrie, author of Peter Pan.

Here's a view of the back (and you can barely see the
exhibit hall we just came from with the Maurice Sendak art!)

The lovely taupe colored gown in the middle with all the ruching is from
Miss Potter, a film about Beatrix Potter, starring Renee Zellweger.

Left: hat and gown worn by Kate Winslet as Marianne Dashwood,
in the film based on Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility (1995).
Center: hat and gown worn by Sarah Pickering as Charles Dickens' Little Dorrit (1988)
 Right: The wedding gown and veiled hat worn by Charlotte Gainsbourg
 in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Erye (1996)

Look at these quaint "underpinnings".

See more costumes that were on exhibit, HERE.

We ended our day at the Museum Gift Shop, full of great books...history and art books, picture books, pop-up books, and sticker books...

Children's section of the giftshop.

Here's a fun sticker book about costumes I found on the bookshelves.  It's from Usborne, a publishing company that specializes in non-fiction books that are fun and fact-filled.  This book, Clothes & Fashion Sticker Book, would be sure to delight any child who is interested in costumes, design, or paper dolls (for ages 5 and up).

Illustrated with photographs of clothes and accessories, this fun book includes paintings as well as photos and illustrations to bring the fashions of the past to life. It features lively text and fascinating facts that look at fashions through the ages from ancient times right up to the modern age. It offers over 100 stickers.

Well, I hope you liked my little tour.  And check back soon for my post about the Maurice Sendak exhibit at the Bowers (it will be there until April 28, 2013).