What’s that noise?
by Tomas Christensen
First Melissa posted a sweet, sweet comment here about Tomas’ book, AND THEN (!) she posted a great review on her blog! (!!)
Aside from this rotten cold I’ve been battling, Life Is Good 
Henrietta, There’s No One Better
by Martine Murray
Before bed tonight, we read this great (really great!) book that had us all in stitches.
Little Henrietta has a baby brother. We have a baby brother. Henrietta is adventurous (sometimes naughty). We are, too! She has a lovely imagination. (!). She knows what she wants, and what she does not want. How could you not be drawn to a child who Does Not want to be a King because kings can’t fart? (!?).
The funniest similarity for us was getting to a page where she talks about her Dad and their dog both liking to lie out on the couch. The illustration has Dad lounged out across a big red couch, the dog curled by his knees, and Henrietta hanging over the end of the couch. I looked up from the book & there, on our big red couch, was Tomas fully stretched out with crossword in hand, dog curled up by his knees, and Miss M sprawled out at his feet, listening raptly to the story.
The illustrations are lovely and whimsical, and the story is told from the perspective of a precocious little girl. Both my olders (8 and 6) hung on to every word, and laughed their butts off at the silliness of it. We unanimously recommend this one
These past few weeks have been pretty busy for us. Miss M has signed on to do a school musical, her first ever, and rehearsals are three times a week for two hour stretches. My Man B has taken up piano lessons and spends most of his time practicing or learning as much as he can about his newfound passion — POKEMON. Little T has been napping constantly… which, honestly, has been giving me time to make a small dent in the housekeeping that I’m always behind on.
{update a few hours later: I just re-read that bit & I’m a little freaked out. I’ve only been home with the kids for 4.5 months after working full-time for about 20 years. This is what I wanted, but it’s still odd to read and know this person is me. Oh, and I’m wearing an apron! I’m totally in love with my apron. You should see my mini-van with all the kid crap stuff strewn about…}
Everyone is too wiped out for much crafting or much of anything else outside of that so I don’t have too many new projects to share just now.
Instead, I thought you might be interested to check out some of my all-time Favorite kid activity books. Let me know in the comments if there are others I should check out from the library.
I CAN MAKE A RAINBOW
The copy I have is one my Mom bought me when I was a kid and needed entertaining (it’s dated 1976!). I rediscovered this book when we visited her back East last summer and I have had such fun going though it again for ideas. At eight years old, Miss M is at the perfect age for a book like this. With 300 pages of fun ideas, she’s guaranteed to find a bit of inspiration on her own (leaving Mom a bit of time to chase the youngers).
I bought this one for the kids a year ago for Christmas. I find it fun to give a quick glance through before heading out on a leafy adventure. We’ve made several of the projects described in the book and they are treasured mementos.
This is one for parents and teachers. I find it a bit academic — not especially light-hearted as I like my muses to be. HOWEVER, it is full of very detailed instruction for introducing young ones to Art. My only regret with the edition I have is that the images are in black and white. Color is almost always what catches my attention.
Ever since mentioning my delight at having my Paumes books in hand, I’ve been trying to understand what about the experience was so familiar. After several days of ruminating this I finally figured it out — My Père Castor Books!
When I was little I had a boxed set of French word books, L’imagier du Père Castor published by Flammarion in 1952 (they were already old books when they got to me). I loved them. Really, truly loved them. I could easily browse through my eight little books for hours on end, and find something new and beautiful with each reading. (more…)
Sometimes you need to hear a complete stranger state the obvious.
Maggie & her friends share some of their favorites!
