tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-44102885618402616052024-03-19T02:30:02.330-07:00Bibliophile's LunchKillerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04397831873763648606noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4410288561840261605.post-16857881591553488192009-12-15T18:10:00.000-08:002009-12-15T18:36:13.256-08:00More Chirstimas Stories for Family Read AloudHere are more Christmas stories including one of my all time favorites!<br /><strong><em></em></strong><br /><strong><em>The Christmas Tree Tangle</em></strong> by Margaret Mahy<br />This title has been a smash hit in our house for three years ever since Muffin was four years old. Mahy writes wonderful novels especially <em>The Pirates Mixed up Voyage</em> which cites the Pirates Who's Who in hilarious footnotes. But I digress. The Christmas Tree Tangle like her newly released picture book Bubble Trouble is written with terrific rhyming verse, that is a delight to read: <br /><br />"Goodness gracious, what do I see?<br />The Kitten has climbed the Christmas tree!<br />Climbed so high and climbed so far<br />To cling with her claws to the Christmas star."<br /><br />The cat and other animals try to rescue the kitten from her perch on top of the tree. This one is great to read and doesn't include any of those painful rhymes that make you wince and swear never to read another children's story in verse.<br /><br /><strong><em>Dragon's Merry Christmas</em></strong> by Dav Pilkey<br />This has been another smash hit in our house. You cannot go wrong with any of the Dragon books. This one is sweet and charming with as always great art.<br /><br /><em><strong>Christmas in July</strong></em> by Arthur Yorinks<br />My all time favorite Christmas story ever. In this book Santa's Christmas pants are sent to the cleaners. The cleaner accidentally delivers them to Rich Rump (an obvious Donald Trump caricature). Rump won't give back the pants, causing poor Santa (wearing boxers with green polka dots) to take the streets saying: "Hi. I'm Santa, got any pants?" Naturally he is arrested and Christmas doesn't take place until July. This is one of the few Christmas stories that feels truly modern, and up to date, and urban. It is not the only story set in New York City, but it really feels very New York. I find this a nice change from the many stories that make it seem as if Christmas weren't complete without snow and cookie baking grandmas in the country.<br /><br /><strong><em>Big Bob and the Winter Holiday Potato</em></strong> by Daniel Pinkwater<br />When I brought this one out Muffin wanted to hear the other stories: L<em>etters from Father Christmas</em>, second run through, <em>Christmas in July</em> and <em>Dragon's Merry Christmas</em>. I love Daniel Pinkwater, but this story is definitely weird and I thin kthe humor in it will seem more amusing to Muffin in another year...Killerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04397831873763648606noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4410288561840261605.post-57216301767237966822009-12-01T13:42:00.000-08:002009-12-15T18:36:40.760-08:00The Christmas Crocodile by Bonnie Becker<em><strong>The Christmas Crocodile</strong></em> by Bonnie Becker, illustrated by David Small. A very funny picture book about a family who receive a crocodile as a gift. Mayhem ensues as the crocodile eats everything. "The Christmas Crocodile didn't mean to be bad, not really." Merry enjoyed this one.Killerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04397831873763648606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4410288561840261605.post-80305479275355682932009-11-29T17:13:00.000-08:002009-12-15T18:43:50.839-08:00Christmas Stories To Read AloudI am always looking for good Christmas stories to read during December so that the Christmas season fills the month. Of course we also watch The Rudolph Christmas special, and A year Without a Santa Claus, and the Peanuts Christmas special, along with the original Grinch. But books have to be part of the celebration.<br /><br />What I look for in a Christmas story is that it be not overtly religious, and preferably not tied in to any licensed character. And of course I like a good story. Some of the Highlights of our past and future Christmas reading are listed below.<br /><br /><em><strong>Father Christmas and the Donkey</strong></em> by Elizabeth Clark, illustrated by Jan <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">Ormerod</span>. This is my favorite Christmas story that we have read thus far. It is a sweet story, and has an animal in it which always goes over well with my audience.<br /><br /><em><strong>Who Will Guide My Sleigh Tonight?</strong></em> by Jerry <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">Palotta</span>, illustrated by David <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">Biedrzycki</span>.<br />This is very simple, but has great illustrations showing Santa's sleigh being guided by dolphins, giraffes, tigers, etc. Merry loved this book and asked for it again and again!<br /><br /><em>The <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">Peterkins</span>' Christmas</em> adapted by Elizabeth <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">Spurr</span> from Lucretia P. Hale's original 19<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">th</span> century story. Went over all right, but was not loved by my audience. This year she enjoyed the Thanksgiving one in which their dinner gets stuck in the dumbwaiter. So I have hopes that she will like the Christmas one, but only time will tell. Reading these books had given me hope that she was ready for the original stories, but since they are adapted, I suspect that a lot is cut out.<br /><br /><em><strong>Letters from Father Christmas</strong></em> by J. R.R. Tolkien illustrated by the author. This is a wonderful collection of letters that Tolkien wrote to his children each year around Christmas, sometimes exchanging several letters with them. The letters tell of Father Christmas's adventures getting ready to deliver Christmas presents every year. He is helped by his bumbling friend the North Polar Bear and by his elves. There are dangerous goblins, and Norse writing, and lovely pictures. This is really a not to be missed Christmas story!<br /><br /><em><strong>Christmas Mice</strong></em> by Bethany Roberts, illustrated by Doug <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-error">Cushman</span>. A simple sweet picture book for the very young. I keep thinking that she is getting too old for this one, but we always do it, so we always have to do it again. It's a tradition. So we will probably do it again this year!<br /><br /><em><strong><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" class="blsp-spelling-error">T'was</span> the Night Before Christmas</strong></em> by Clement C. Moore. We read several edition, but the favorite one has mice in the illustrations. I will have to look for the book to find out who the illustrator is as I cannot recall and cannot find it on Amazon. It's not Christmas without this story. And usually we get several editions out of the library.<br /><br /><em><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" class="blsp-spelling-error"><strong>Tyranoclaus</strong></span></em> by Janet <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_9" class="blsp-spelling-error">Lawler</span>. Dinosaurs can do no wrong in our house. This was a hit when I read it aloud. I am not yet sure if it will be asked for again or not.<br /><br /><em><strong>Christmas in the Country</strong></em> by Cynthia <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_10" class="blsp-spelling-error">Rylant</span>, illustrated by Diane <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_11" class="blsp-spelling-error">Goode</span>. Cynthia <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_12" class="blsp-spelling-error">Rylant</span> is just wonderful. A lovely old fashioned Christmas in the Country<br /><br />Books I plan to Read this year for the first time:<br /><br /><em><strong>Fair's Fair</strong></em> by Leon Garfield, illustrated by S. D. Schindler. This is an exciting story of orphans, mansions, cold winters, and a happy ending set in London in perhaps the 19<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_13" class="blsp-spelling-error">th</span> century.<br /><br /><em><strong>Christmas Day in the Morning</strong></em> by Pearl S. Buck, illustrated by Mark <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_14" class="blsp-spelling-error">Buehner</span>. This is a sweet story about a boy who gets up very early in the morning to milk the cows a chore he usually dislikes, in order to let his father sleep in the morning and save him some work. It brings tears to my eyes when I read it.<br /><br /><em><strong>A Christmas Memory</strong></em> by Truman Capote<br /><br /><em><strong>A Child's Christmas in Wales</strong></em> by Dylan Thomas<br /><br />I am wondering if she is ready for the E. <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_15" class="blsp-spelling-error">Nesbit</span>, <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_16" class="blsp-spelling-error">Bastable</span> story <strong><em>The</em> </strong><em><strong>Conscience Pudding</strong>,</em> which I have published by itself. It starts with a bit about how their mother has died, and I am afraid it might be too upsetting. However, I am desperate to start reading E. <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_17" class="blsp-spelling-error">Nesbit</span> to Merry, so I am tempted. It will probably be best to wait. Also, I have always preferred the stories with the sarcastic magic creatures and all the funny things that happen because of the magic.<br /><br />Perhaps I will begin reading Some non-Christmas E. <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_18" class="blsp-spelling-error">Nesbit</span> stories. Merry, is probably ready for <em>The Book of Dragons</em>. And I have two of the stories from it bound as picture books so that might be the best way to start. If I can find them! They may be packed in a box waiting for us to move a month from now. We are so ready to go it's insane! Also there is a lot of packing and we don't want to leave it for the last minute... Still we are packing and we haven't even had the closing. yet.Killerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04397831873763648606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4410288561840261605.post-29193559266886955422009-11-28T19:06:00.001-08:002009-11-28T19:31:13.325-08:00What I am reading to Muffin in November 2009This has been a month of picture books. Last month and September we read most of the Henry Huggins/<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">Ribsy</span> books by Beverly <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">Cleary</span>, this month it has been almost all shorter things to the best of my recollection. But the Picture Books have been wonderful.<br /><br /><em>Guess Again</em> by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Adam Rex<br /><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">Hillarious</span> picture book of rhyming clues in which you are lead to guess ordinary cute picture book answers like bunny and mouse, and instead the real answers are absurd things.<br /><br /><em>Billy Twitters and his Blue Whale Problem</em> by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Adam Rex. More unexpected craziness. Billy's parents buy him a blue whale to punish him for his bad behavior. He is forced to care for the whale and take it everywhere with him, absurd antics result.<br /><br />We have just begun reading a novel, <em>The Magical Monarch of Mo</em> by L. Frank Baum. This is not an Oz book. It is a less well known work that shares the wild <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">imaginings</span> of the Oz universe. Mo is a country where the people are always happy and everything they want grows on trees: shoes, rings, food, etc. There is a lake made of sugar syrup that the inhabitants of Mo can skate on when the top forms a solid sugar crust. Whimsical things happen, in chapters which are called surprises rather than chapters.<br /><br />Muffin is enjoying the book very much. Each chapter is a short story with so far no overarching plot, , but lots of charm and silliness. I think I will try the Oz books next. Unfortunately I feel compelled to read them in order, and the first one is my least favorite of the series. I wanted to read it aloud a year ago, but she said it looked too scary. I think that knowing that they are by the man who wrote The Magical Monarch will be a proper enticement.Killerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04397831873763648606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4410288561840261605.post-84711169557829597132009-11-28T19:00:00.001-08:002009-11-28T19:06:08.188-08:00What I am Reading in November 2009<em>The Serial Garden: The Complete Armitage Family Stories</em><br />by Joan Aiken<br /><br /><em>Mothstorm: The Horror from Beyond Uranus Georgium Sidus!</em> by Phillip Reeve, illustrated by David Wyatt<br /><br /><em>I Coriander</em> by Sally GardnerKillerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04397831873763648606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4410288561840261605.post-84818851055404027892009-11-01T18:47:00.000-08:002009-11-02T19:35:37.380-08:00Reading Aloud to MuffinIt has been a year of great read-<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">alouds</span>! And some less exiting, ones that Merry loved and I just enjoyed watching her reaction to the stories. The Geronimo Stilton and Magic Tree House books have been loved by her more than me, but she gives crows of delight at the witticisms aimed directly at her six year <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">old's</span> sense of humor. I love the way that she thrills at each plot development and loves the happy endings, always reacting with relief, as if she didn't quite trust that Mary Pope Osborn would be able to rescue her characters and tie up all the loose ends by the time the book finishes.<br /><br />Of the books we have read this year that I have delighted in equally with her, the Beverly <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">Cleary</span> Henry Huggins books stand out. The stories come back to me from my own youth, as I read them aloud, or listen while my husband reads them. I am a little shocked at how often Henry thinks that someone is crying just like a girl, or that <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">Beezus</span> has "good ideas for a girl." However, the first Henry Huggins book was written in 1950, and considering how much life has changed since then the books have held up remarkably well. Beverly <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">Cleary</span> is wonderful at entering the minds of children, and giving life to their struggles.<br /><br /><br />Right now we are reading <em>Owl's in The Family</em> by Farley <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">Mowat</span> which she is enjoying. How could an animal lover like her dislike a true story of a boy and his animal pets, and the funny things that happened to him?<br /><br /><br />She enjoys fiction, but also is strongly pulled to nonfiction. She especially loves books about dinosaurs, animals, and nature. One smash hit that we read was called Evolving Planet: Four Billion Years of Life on Earth by Erica Kelly and Richard <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-error">Kissel</span>. This beautiful book provided an overview of life on earth from the very beginning, to the present age of mammals, a topic above all others that is dear to her heart. I find that the vast number of books on evolution that we have read together cover the same ground, again and again. This book provided the same basic information as many others, but was very <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">beautiful</span>, and had fascinating descriptions of various ancient extinct <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">creatures</span>.Killerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04397831873763648606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4410288561840261605.post-74185351186785390732008-02-06T13:18:00.000-08:002008-02-06T13:21:57.342-08:00It's All Advertising!Update to the pumpkin muffin fiasco. A friend brought over some pumpkin muffins (unfrosted) which she called cupcakes. My daughter happily ate one!<br /><br />Forget truth in advertising it doesn't pay...Killerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04397831873763648606noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4410288561840261605.post-61393852757257534392008-02-03T17:38:00.000-08:002008-02-03T18:13:28.608-08:00Yikes Another Reading Challenge!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8-Ry8-ojqV1lfkHZjGfAxxfs5q1NIlDz1yzsvKaESt2XwXhRcZb27oRTKD6zip93trXuHsIRKcymhRNsAfLegn3S5FDJ3SyGJP2rq6jiPl2W-vmm3fSFpR8zdWHeF7h8uO7RTdHWgGkdl/s1600-h/eponymous_green.gif"></a><br /><div>I know it's only the second one, but the first one is so ambitious that adding another seems kind of crazy. This one is the Eponymous Reading Challenge. Read four books whose title's are the names or titles of one or more characters. My only hope of success is to choose works that are short, and overlap with my other reading challenge. My list is as follows:<br /><br />Miss Marjoribanks by Margaret Oliphant<br />Lady Susan by Jane Austen<br />Catharine: or the Bower by Jane Austen<br />Prince Prigio by Andrew Lang<br /><br /><p>Only Miss Marjoribanks is at all long, and it is part of my other reading challenge.<br /></p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf6XKx0hjf4Bq1ZQjGlUkFDMbTXj2aaZ3pCO2Tqab587eF0SaYiVxA9niz0j-rcbj7a3u0WqfzbMb54SbTXbqs0t_m55PdnFCmIwJs5nUPw4OYupNnkNswm_kxwgpesIVKFPkDT7BLb6dM/s1600-h/eponymous_blue.gif"></a></div>Killerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04397831873763648606noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4410288561840261605.post-65366121209889163482008-02-02T18:57:00.000-08:002008-02-03T18:12:04.640-08:00More Reading ChallengesI really wanted to join in on the decades reading challenge, but I also wanted to limit myself to a realistic amount of reading. I thought that I would be able to do that by reading short "fairy tales" written in the 19th century with a then contemporary setting. They are charming light reads, and funny, and most conveniently relatively brief. But the ones I have in mind were published too close together, or are impossible to find a publication date for.<br /><br />I'll have to find a new challenge that my list will suit.<br /><br />The Rose and the Ring by William Makepeace Thackeray - 1855<br />The Magic Fishbone by Charles Dickens - 1868<br />Petsetilla's Poesy by Tom Hood - 1870<br />Prince Perigio by Andrew Lang - 1889<br /><br />The Light Princess by George Macdonald -?<br />Uncle James or the Purple Stranger by E. Nesbit 19??<br /><br />Update. Hooray! I have gotten hold of some of the missing pub dates.Killerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04397831873763648606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4410288561840261605.post-48878336550394097842008-02-02T18:32:00.000-08:002008-02-03T05:20:39.746-08:00The Pumpkin Muffin FiascoAs a child I was a picky eater and now it's payback time. My child is quite particular about what she will eat. Alas, I am always trying to find ways to slip a vegetable past her food censor. Mostly with little success.<br /><br />A friend of mine made some yummy pumpkin bread. It was fantastic, like carrot cake only smoother. I begged her to send me the recipe. Which she very generously did. At last I thought I can slip some beta carotene into my Little Muffin and it will go undetected!<br /><br />Muffin loves to help in the kitchen and was very happy to mix up the batter, spoon it into muffin cups, and add chocolate chips (which were my four-year-old attraction insurance). Once the muffins and the loaf of pumpkin bread had baked up she took a bite that was smaller than a mouse bite and refused to eat any more. My husband won't eat anything pumpkin flavored, and would not try them, and they had three cups of sugar which gives me migranes. So I had to take them to work where my lovely coworkers ate them up.<br /><br />To add insult to injury two days later Muffin was discovered to have eaten a bunch of crayons.Killerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04397831873763648606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4410288561840261605.post-71949831249586681252008-02-02T17:47:00.001-08:002008-02-03T05:16:23.010-08:00Reading ChallengesSo many reading challenges out there on the internet and so little time to read!<br /><br />I really want to sign up for a dozen of them, but a realistic look at my free time compels me to be selective. The 19th Century Women Writers Reading Challenge for 2008 looks fantastic and would allow me to combine rereading old favorites with actually getting to some titles that have been on my must read list for well over a decade perhaps even two decades. So really high time I read them.<br /><br />At the moment I am considering the following titles:<br /><br />Middlemarch by George Eliot<br />Wives and Daughters by Mrs. Gaskell<br />Villette by Charlotte Bronte<br />Miss Marjoribanks by Margaret Oliphant*<br />Cranford by Mrs. Gaskell<br />Persuasion by Jane Austen*<br /><br />*These two titles will be rereads for me.<br /><br />I have attempted to read Middlemarch before and not gotten very far, Wives and Daughters I once bought with the idea that I would read it in my copious free time during my maternity leave. Hah!<br /><br />I am not the biggest Bronte fan, but somehow have always felt that I ought to read Villette, so fingers crossed that I can get through it... Cranford looks short being under 250 pages!<br /><br />I really loved Miss Marjoribanks when I read it almost 20 years ago, so time for a reread to see if it holds up.Killerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04397831873763648606noreply@blogger.com0