The Overall Boys

This is a sweet little Primer I found at a thrift store. The Overall Boys and the Sunbonnet Girls were quite popular in the 1900's and far beyond. In fact, in the 1960's, my grandmother made a Sunbonnet Girl quilt for my baby sister who, sadly died at 6 weeks old.  I have that quilt now and it is precious to me.  I tucked each of my babies with it. The original copyright on my book is 1905, with a later copyright date of 1915.

The Overall Boys follows Jack, Joe, Tim and Ted as they explore their world. The text is not dumbed down and the Boys have REAL adventures!

Like the Sunbonnet Girls, their faces are hidden by their hats much of the time. 

Don't you just love the bodysuit swimwear?

Boys will be boys and have FUN!

My copy included this precious inscription, which documents my copy as being given as a birthday gift in 1919.

What a great find!  I love visiting thrift stores and discovering treasures.

C is for Barbara Cooney

Today's author and illustrator is Caldecott award winning Barbara Cooney.  She's one of my favorites (I say that often, don't I?).  Pastels of the softest hues or delicate pen and ink details combine in her illustrations. She adapted and illustrated many old folk tales, so I read her often to my younger children.  

She was a born artist. Her mother was also an artist, so from her earliset days, she had access to the materials she needed. Her mother was a wise teacher: "She gave me all the materials I could wish for and then left me alone, didn’t smother me with instruction. Not that I ever took instruction very easily. My favorite days were when I had a cold and could stay home from school and draw all day long.... She was an enthusiastic painter of oils and watercolors. She was also very generous. I could mess with her paints and brushes all I wanted. On one condition: that I kept my brushes clean. The only art lesson my mother gave me was how to wash my brushes. Otherwise, she left me alone.". 

She's well known for Chanticleer and the Fox and Oxcart Man, her Caldecott books, but has over 200 books to her name!  Only Opal is one that touched my heart, and is based on a real girl's story.  I'd never heard of her story before reading Mrs. Cooney's book.

Miss Rumphius is a title that no one should live life without reading numerous times.  I love it.

Please go get a few of her beautiful titles from the library this week. You won't be disappointed! Also, make sure to visit Veee at Acknowledging Him. She's profiling an author whom I had never heard of before she told me of him.  I have all of his non-twaddle books now, on her recommendation. (Edited to add: Veee's blog host folded, so her blog is gone.  I'm truly sorry. It was a gem of a blog.  She posts on Instagram under Bibliobites. The author she had profiled was Bruce Colville)

B is for Hilda Boswell

Hilda Boswell had an enormous impact on my childhood daydreams.  My mother bought me a book in a thrift store when I was but 4 or 5.  It was called "Hilda Boswell's Treasury of Children's Stories". It quickly became my very favorite book. I still have my beloved, worn out copy. They were published only in the UK, and everyone who has one loves it, so copies are scarce. I watch Amazon regularly for a better copy, but they run around $40 minimum and I, so far, I haven't clicked BUY.   Her illustrations in this book are incredible.

I have several other fairy tale and nursery rhyme books of hers as well, that I bought as an adult. They are also beautiful, but don't touch the quality of the drawings in "Children's Stories".

This illustration is from "Through the Fire" by Mary de Morgan.  I just read this to my Littles as I prepared this blogpost. They loved it as much as I do.   The link is to the text of the original story, which was abridged somewhat in Hilda Boswell's version.

This awesome illustration is from the first story in the book, "The Story of Fairyfoot" from "Granny's Wonderful Chair" by Frances Browne. This was my first-favorite story of all time.  The detailing in the fairies faces, the carving of the chair, even the breeze ruffling the curtain....ah, dreamland for a young Mommaofmany!  

This is from my second-favorite story, The Selfish Giant by Oscar Wilde.  Even when I was young I recognized the eternal meaning of this story.  What a picture of love!

The Pied Piper got its turn being graced by her watercolors, along with other favorite characters. Don't you want to join the children in their frolic in Fairytale Land?

She also did many nursery stories with which I was not familiar. Have you met The Naughty Elf? I never had before getting this book.

You can read a chapter of C. S. Lewis' beloved "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe", illustrated by Ms. Boswell here.  She called it "Lucy's Adventure in Narnia". I don't have a printed copy of this, so I am thrilled to have found this online scan!

You can never go wrong by adding Hilda Boswell's works to your library.  I hope I've introduced you to a new favorite! Make sure to go over to Acknowledging Him for Veee's favorite "B" author or illustrator!

A is for Ardizzone

My friend Veee is also profiling her favorite authors or illustrators, so after reading here, pop over to find out her pick at Acknowledging Him! 

My choice for the "A" post is Edward Ardizzone. I've posted a little about his works before.  I am always struck by the beauty of his watercolors.  The fuzzy edges and wiggly lines make me feel that even *I* could draw like him, if I tried. It just looks so homey and natural.  Of course, he was a master illustrator, winning the Kate Greenaway Medal for Tim All Alone and numerous other awards.  No one could REALLY draw like he did!

He was able to capture the spirit of childhood in his drawings.  The emotions that emanates from his work are warm, comfortable and inviting.  I love the old fashioned styles and stories that he illustrated and feel like I *dream* in Ardizzone at times.   

Wouldn't it be great to have your child content at pulling a wagon full of babies around and be satisfied? Our children have so much technology around them at all times and are not content any longer. I miss the days of Tim.

Let's give out children a view of childhood that they haven't had and is HARD to get in our time.  Simplicity. Contentment. Adventurousness. Wide open for dreaming and doing.  Go to your library or Amazon and start enjoying Mr. Ardizzone's world today! 

A New Series Announcement

My friend Veee over at Acknowledging Him and I are beginning a new series of posts together. We're each going to blog about a favorite author or illustrator.  We're going to start with an "A" name and continue through the alphabet, until we've each introduced you to 26 of our favorites.  We're not telling each other who we chose to profile each time, so I'll be as eager as you are to read her posts!  We'll have our first posts up later this week, so watch for it!  (Edited to add: Her blog platform folded, so this series did not go far, sadly. She posts at Instagram now.) 

Edward Ardizzone

Missy, Troubles and I are reading through our Edward Ardizzone books. We love his sketchy watercolors with their soft colors. Having visited the ocean recently, the children are quite taken with the Little Tim series. I have found all of ours at library sales, but some are available for fairly reasonable prices online. We've already enjoyed "The Little..." series, written by Graham Greene and when we finish the Tim books that we have, we'll read "Nurse Matilda" or the beautiful "A Child's Christmas in Wales".

Maurice Sendak

I have a large collection of Maurice Sendak's books. Everyone knows and most folks love "Where the Wild Things Are" (book only, skip the movie!). Many folks have seen and enjoyed "Seven Little Monsters", "In the Night Kitchen" and "The Nutshell Library". Some were even familiar with "Higglety Pigglety Pop!" before they made the short for the Wild Things movie.

Having written and/or illustrated over 90 books, some are bound to be out of print and/or lesser known. I recently found out from Little Lamb Books that Maurice Sendak made a pop-up book. It's called "Mommy?". As soon as I read about it's existence, I ordered one from Amazon. It came yesterday. It's classic Sendak, with slightly creepy but cuddly monsters and a simple storyline that lends itself to imagination. It's been in one child or another's hands since we got it. Troubles rolled out of bed this morning, layed on the couch for about five minutes, then stretched out on the floor with it, naming the various monsters and watching the mechanics of the book as he slowly opened and closed it.

"Outside Over There" was Mr. Sendak's last book, written in 1981. He has finally written and illustrated a new book! It's called "Bumble-Ardy" and it's due to be released in September. I can't wait! I have it in my Amazon cart even now.

Whatever the title, you can't go wrong with a Maurice Sendak book. Go get one today and READ with your children!

Shakespeare Books

We've read a bit of Shakespeare around here in the past, but The Bard has been newly discovered lately. Last year, we read several selections from "Beautiful Stories From Shakespeare" by Edith Nesbit. Ambleside Online introduced us to this great book. After reading a play from Beautiful Stories, we re-read it from "Lamb's Tales of Shakespeare". The Lambies got the main ideas and didn't get exposed to the more adult themes in some of the plays. However, they didn't LOVE any of the stories.

Recently, my friend Veee introduced me to the Bruce Colville adaptations. Hooray! Beautiful pictures to go along with well written, simplified stories! So far we have A Mid-Summer's Night Dream, The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet, Winter's Tale and MacBeth. I'll certainly be watching for the remaining ones. Get them soon, as several seem to be out of print.

A few other favorite Shakespeare books for varying ages....

The Bard of Avon by Diane Stanley
The Shakespeare Stealer by Gary Blackwood (there are others in the series, but I haven't read them)
William Shakespeare and the Globe by Aliki
Welcome to the Globe by Peter Chrisp

My Favorite Children's Fiction Authors

Favorite Children's Authors is the next topic Veee and I are writing on. What a topic! I have so very many favorite authors. I took the camera into the library and just chose a few. Some that I considered will be featured in a later post about Favorite Children's Illustrators, since they also illustrate stories for other authors. In no particular order....

We'll start with the great Marguerite de Angeli. Her most known books are Door in the Wall and Yonie Wondernose, but she has many other gems. I grab them every and any time I see one at a sale. Her tales and illustrations are always gentle and soft, even when dealing with tender topics. She seemed to love the Amish, the Mennonite, the Quakers and other hardy, simple folk. Her illustrations are luscious and I can look at them and dream of simpler times. You can find her first works, The Ted and Nina Storybooks, online, with illustrations included. Not as good as a paper copy, but better than not seeing them at all!



One of the newer series in my library, the Hairy Maclary books are Lambie favorites. I blogged about them already once. I love, love, love the complex, but readable rhymes. Poetry is not my strong suit, and I often struggle to get the meter of the words correct. These I can read aloud with confidence.



Next up is Patricia Polacco. I found my first one, Babushka's Doll, about three years ago at a book sale. I liked the look of her illustrations, so I grabbed it. It was a cute little story. I liked that she wrote a lot about family stories and historical topics. When I learned that she couldn't read until the age of 14, I really liked her! I love when an author brings personal stories into their books. Pink and Say is my favorite Polacco story so far. It actually made me cry, and HAS every time I read it. If you hurry, I saw that there are two copies of Thundercake available on Paperback Swap!



Finally in tonight's reviews is Bill Peet. Bill Peet worked with Walt Disney on many of the early cartoon movies we know so well: Pinocchio, Fantasia, Cinderella. He didn't really enjoy the work, though, and began writing and illustrating his won books. I'm so glad he did!

Now his books are not great literature. They may even be considered twaddle by some. I, however, appreciate his unusually stories and rich vocabulary. How could you go wrong with titles like "How Droofus the Dragon Lost His Head"? Bill Peet died several years ago. He left many unfinished stories. I'm so glad that he finished as many as he did!

Who are your favorite children's fiction authors? Who do you think I should have included in this post? Who would you like to see featured in the future?

Book Collections Part Two

Part Two begins with the Dr. DoLittle series. What delightful, fun little stories! Our collection was hiding beside and behind Susan Cooper's "The Dark is Rising" series. It's an excellent acquisition, itself. I bought "The Grey King", read and enjoyed it. I didn't realize it was the middle book of a series! I have been collecting them ever since. When I get all of them, I will be reading them. I'm still missing one. Back to Dr. DoLittle.....I have read the first one to most of the kids for school. It is a free read selection in Year Two of AO. A few months ago, I snagged all of these titles at the Friends of the Library sale. Yay! I don't think that any of the Lambies have pulled these down, yet, but I will be pointing them out as possibilities when they ask what they should read next.




Black Beauty is a classic, but did you know that Walter Farley wrote many more stories in the series? Nineteen in all. I grabbed these all at one shot at a library sale. I haven't read any but the first, but I think they are worth the shelf space. One of the Lambies will be enthralled by it one day.



For the younger readers, Paddington Bear can't be beat. I have many more to find. Polly likes Paddington very much. I am running out of time, so I will simply link to other favorites. There are so many...but I will limit it to five series and favorite authors:

The Kingdom Series by Chuck Black
The Greene Knowe series by L. M. Boston
Jean Fritz
Robert Lawson
Rosemary Sutcliff

I hope you have enjoyed this topic. Next up will be a post on Treasuries.

Book Collections Part One

I am teaming up with my friend, Veee (Veee, not Zeee) to talk about books. The hows', whys' and whos' of our collections, more specifically.

We were asked by a mutual friend: "What books do you collect? What have you gotten the most mileage out of? When you are somewhere where there is a vast quantity of used books available cheap, what is your criteria for choosing what you choose? What do you NOT buy? Where do you get books to fill in your collections? When do you just go with what the library has? When do you give in and buy new?

That's a lot of questions. We are starting with the first: What books do you collect?

You can see read Veee's first post here. I own every one of the collections she listed (except the Francine Rivers, of which I have no knowledge). I won't be duplicating her list, but if I had posted first, her most of her choices would be here.

Narrowing my focus down to longer stories and chapter books, I will begin with The Grandma's Attic Series by Arleta Richardson.



My parents bought me the first book in the series when we were driving from my home-town in Oregon to Whidbey Island, WA for a visit with family. I remember choosing the book off a rotating rack in a gas station and begging for it. I remember sitting in the back seat and beginning to read, then I remember finishing it, closing it with a contented sigh, looking up and realizing that we were waiting in line at the ferries. I had read the entire trip! When I was an adult, I learned that there were more books in the series, and of course, I had to own them all!

Here's the list of titles in the series:

1. In Grandma's Attic
2. More Stories From Grandma's Attic
3. Still More Stories From Grandma's Attic
4. Treasures from Grandma
5. Away From Home
6. A School of Her Own
7. Wedding Bells Ahead
8. At Home in North Branch
9. New Faces, New Friends
10. Stories From the Growing Years

I have a daughter who is a horse lover. This next collection was obtained with her in mind. C. W. Anderson wrote The "Billy and Blaze" books that are so great for beginning readers. He also wrote many, many chapter books about children and their horses. She enjoys them very much. In fact, there are quite a few missing titles in this picture. They are on her bedroom shelf. You can get a full list of his works by clicking his name above.



Hans Christian Anderson is another that I have made a point to collect. What wonderful stories he told! How he sparks a childs imagination! One of the first 'big' books my daughter Polly read was "The Little Mermaid" She has read it several more times, too. With 168 works, there's a lot of collecting to do still. I have more of his work on other shelves, but this is the bulk of it. I like to use his books to show the Lambies how different illustrators can make a story 'feel' so differently.



Lloyd Alexander is another of my favorites. His "Chronicles of Prydain" are included in the Ambleside Online curriculum. They are excellent. He also wrote many other series' and stand alone books. I have read half or more of the ones I have collected, and enjoyed them all!

I will be sharing a few more favorites in my next post. My friend Veee is already onto Treasuries, so I am behind. Watch for Part Two soon!

Author-Illustrator Lois Lenski

I have been asked to expound on why I collect Lois Lenski's books. How to express why I like her work? Well, who could resist art like this?

Her "Small Family" series is cute and the stories are short. They are just right to read to toddlers. Her illustrations capture a folksy simplicity that I adore.

I think her historical books are a great way to teach. I can set a child down with one of her books and not have to worry about anything inappropriate. They are very accurate in their details. "Puritan Adventure" was one of, if not the very first Lois Lenski books I purchased. I have read it to every one of my children when they were studying that time period. "Indian Captive" is another one that I have read several times. It also enthralled one of my daughters. She read it, then almost every other 'child-taken-captive-by-Indians" book I had on the shelves.

I so appreciate that for her American Regional and the Roundabout America series she traveled to the places she wrote about and actually lived with local families. Their real-life experiences, as a whole, are the books, with names changed. I had only a few until recently and had read only a couple. I am looking forward to becoming more familiar with this series during the upcoming winter. Here's a list of all of Lenski's books by series.



You can learn much more about Lois in her autobiography: "Journey Into Childhood". She wrote it at the request of librarians and teachers.

As an aside, I came across this neat story while reading up about Ms. Lenski: "Sometimes It Pays To Ask The Right Questions."



Here's another list of all the books she wrote and/or illustrated, with some cover images included: Lois Lenski's Books and another, easier to print version, is here.

Wanda Ga'g

Today I'd like to introduce you to Wanda Ga'g. She's a lesser known author and illustrator, but I hope you will come to know her!



My first Wanda Ga'g book was The ABC Bunny. It's a recommendation in the BFIAR curriculum. It's a very sweet little story, very folksy, and a good way to reinforce the alphabet. Wanda wrote the story and her sister set it to a little tune. Her brother did the hand-lettering of the book.

Here's a link to a good biography of Wanda. She had an interesting life, with lots of challenges, and even all-out difficulties.

Here is a list of her books:

• The ABC Bunny, 1933.
• The Day of Doom by Michael Wigglesworth; illustrated by Wanda Gág, 1929.
• The Funny Thing, 1929.
• Gone is Gone; or, the Story of a Man Who Wanted to Do Housework, 1935.
• Growing Pains: Diaries and Drawings for the Years 1908-1917
• Millions of Cats, 1928.
• More Tales from Grimm, 1947.
• Nothing At All, 1941.
• Snippy and Snappy, 1931.
• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Translator), 1938.
• Tales from Grimm, 1936.
• Three Gay Tales from Grimm, 1943.
• Wanda Gag’s Storybook (includes Millions of Cats, The Funny Thing, and Snippy and Snappy), 1932.

We have all but Growing Pains and The Day of Doom. You can also get several of Wanda's Grimm stories illustrated by Margot Tomes.

Tasha Tudor

Tasha Tudor is one of my favorite author/illustrators. I love her gentle, warm pictures, the lovely, intricate borders and the homey, simple lifestyles portrayed.



I love the manner of life she lived, though I wish she had known Jesus Christ.



I yearn for a simple, beautiful, wholesome life such is portrayed in her lovely books. Make sure not to pass up any chance you have to add her delicately illustrated books to your home library.