Wintry book basket...

Warm, cozy moments curled up with good books seem to be the order of the day around here. Here are some well-loved titles from our kindergarten book basket right now.

Ola, by Ingri and Edgar Parin D'aulaire

This thrift store find is a treasure trove of Norwegian culture. Our copy is from 1934...I beleive the first edition is 1932, so that gives you some idea about the tone of this book; it is not only from another land, but another time. Ola lives on a mountain so far north that "the sun is afraid to show his pale face in the winter". He wakes up to the flair of the Northern Lights and sets out on his skis for an adventure one morning.

The story takes him down the mountain, to a wedding at a farm, to the company of a traveling peddler, to a visit with Lapplanders and their herd of reindeer, to a fishing village where he hears strange tales of the ocean, to an island where eiderducks nest, and on and on! The story ends with Ola heading home laden with riches from his travels. The drawings are amazing.
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Winter Poems , illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman

Ok...Does it even matter what the text of a book is if the illustrations are by Trina Schart Hyman? I am a huge fan of A Child's Calendar and was so delighted to see the same family of characters appear in Winter Poems . It is explains in the front pages of the book that the illustrations are based on real people, places & things: the mother, father, and children depicted are Trina Schart's daughter, son-in-law, and two grandsons! The poems, selected by Barbara Rogasky, are not the usual juvenile fare...these are wonderful, evocative, valid pieces. Toucie loves "The Germ" by Ogden Nash and the conversation between a mistress and her cat in "Cat on a Night of Snow" by Elizabeth Coatsworth. We have used other poems from this book as our inspiration for our winter watercolor paintings.
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Winter , by Gerda Muller

This is a Waldorf staple...most likely you have seen this before, but I can't help singing its praises again and again. This is a board book that is part of a 4-book series - one for each season. The images within are so charming, wholesome, inspiring, and engaging...these books have fascinated Toucie for all her life so far! (I began sharing them with her when she was 9 months old). I have seen a volume that combines all 4 books, titled Circle of Seasons and I do not recommend it...it re-arranges the illustrations and adds text which completely ruins the special nature of these books, in my opinion. Their wordless full-spread pages are precisely what make them so magical. I think every household with children should have these books.
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Winter Days in the Big Woods , adapted from Laura Ingalls Wilder

Sweet, old fashioned, and prettily illustrated in the style of Garth Williams. I enjoy sharing these "My First Little House Books" with Toucie as a way to help me be patient until the time is right to launch into the Little House chapter books...I am chomping at the bit to bring to her some of that experience which was so delightful to me as a child.
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Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening , Robert Frost, illustrated by Susan Jeffers

One thing I love about Waldorf education is the presence of recitation in the curriculum. Mado, in 3rd grade, recited the 94 line extract, Hiawatha's Childhood,  from Longfellow's The Song of Hiawatha. I suspect that the repeated readings of this winter poem by Frost, with the stunning and supportive illustrations by Jeffers, will soak into Toucie's memory and that one day she will realize she can recite it to herself (that is what happened to me over the course of the years reading it to her!) To have poems that imprint themselves on one's heart is pure joy to me.
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Anna and the Flowers of Winter , by Nettie Lowenstein

A softly illustrated fairy tale...very much along the lines of Mother Holle. A mistreated stepdaughter is sent out in the dead of winter to bring back violets by the order of the haughty stepsister. In despair at the impossibility if the task, she stumbles through the snowy woods and encounters 12 strange figures. These turn out to be the months of the year and they help her with her dilemma. Upon her return home, the stepmother and stepsister become greedy for other things and set out to find the 12 strange figures. Of course they get what is coming to them and the young stepdaughter is rewarded for her goodness.
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Annie and the Wild Animals , by Jan Brett

My copy of this book is autographed by Ms. Brett and was a gift from my mama in 1985 when i was still in high school...its been a long love affair that I've had with this one! I try to reserve it until the very end of winter...it is perfect for Imbolc/Candlemas season as it reflects the thawing of winter and the promise of spring. Annie's cat disappears and, in an effort to attract a new pet, she begins baking corn cakes for the animals in the frozen, snowy forest. She attracts all kinds of hungry creatures, none of which are quite the right fit, and then runs out of corn. Luckily, the seasons begin to turn and nature puts everything right again. Lots and lots to look at in Jan Brett's gorgeous illustrations.

Pumpkin Soup...for eating and reading

This is an autumn favorite of mine...I'll be so sad when Toucie outgrows this book! Pumpkin Soup is written and illustrated by Helen Cooper. It is the story of a cat, a squirrel, and a duck - three friends who live together, make music together, and cook pumpkin soup together, each contributing their special talents to the work.

Cat always peels and chops the pumpkin, squirrel always stirs in the water, and Duck always adds a pipkin of salt...what happens when their peaceful rhythm gets shaken up?

The magical illustrations plus the recipe at the end of the story make us want to run into the kitchen and stir up some soup!

Mado did the all the chopping.

Toucie found a tiny doll's teacup (it held a scant teaspoon) to use as a "pipkin" for our salt.

We all took turns stirring :)

Here is our own recipe for Pumpkin Soup:

1 medium onion chopped
3 Tbs. butter
1/2 of a jack-o-lantern pumpkin (because that's what we had), peeled and chopped (about 6 cups)
6 cups of water or broth
1 scant tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
milk or cream to taste

-In a stockpot, saute onion in the butter until soft
-Add pumpkin and water or broth and salt
-Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer gently until pumpkin is soft (about 30 minutes)
-In a blender, puree soup in batches, adding milk or cream to get desired consistancy, and returning soup to the pot when all is smooth
-Stir in black pepper to taste and adjust salt
-Serve immediately (serves 6-8)

(PS) we baked the other half of the pumpkin and refrigerated it to use next week for Pumpkin Muffins...it is much easier to scoop baked pumpkin out of the shell than it is to peel and chop a raw pumpkin!)

October moon...

A big, round Shepherd's Pie for dinner...

...and a big, round Apple Pie for dessert :)

We texted this toast to Naya and Sodie away at college...cheers!

...and went for a night-hike through the fields with these two "monsters"...

...and enjoyed this favorite book, The Rainbabies, by Laura Krauss Melmed, to cap our evening.

Beautiful, luminous illustrations by Jim LaMarche....happy moon!

Our Favorite May Day Book...

We've been reading this book for a few days in anticipation of May Day.
On the Morn of Mayfest is written by Erica Silverman and illustrated by Marla Frazee (one of our family favorites...maybe you know her hilarious The Seven Silly Eaters or her stunning All the World ) The illustrations in this book will make you want to adorn yourself with blossoms and descend upon the nearest town square with a flowering branch of may and some bagpipes.

It begins:
"This is the lass
with hair like a nest
who walked in her sleep
on the morn of Mayfest"

It is written in that snowballing, cumulative style of  rhyme that is in the tradition of "The House that Jack Built". Next there is a "dove who flew after the lass with hair like a nest who walked in her sleep", etc, etc, so that it ends with not only the lass, but 14 other characters, all in a grand procession... I love to see children chanting along with the repetitive, familiar verse after just a couple of pages. I think this repetitive type of book is important for a pre-reading child...especially from my own personalized Waldorf perspective. A child who is in love with a story such as this can (and will!) quickly memorize the verse, then pick up the book on their own and "read" it themselves...mimicking what their parent (or whoever) has modeled for them. This, to me, is accomplishing all kinds of wonderful goals: bringing beauty and richness to the child, instilling a love for the literary experience, and allowing a natural, child-lead step toward literacy to take place without awakening them or forcing them "into their head".  (I have some pretty strong ideas about reading and writing and how to marry Waldorf precepts about these things with other un-traditional education philosophies...I think a child might be best served learning to read and write in the same way they learned to speak...but we can talk about that some other time!)

I'd love to hear about any other stories or books that you all have found to celebrate May Day...do share!

From my long list of favorite illustrators....

Do you recognize the artwork of this talented, but little-praised illustrator?

 This is an image from Lunch with Milly, illustrated by Robin Spowart and written by his wife, Jeanne Modesitt. It is the first book of Spowart's that I found...in a thrift store bin. What a prize.

These illustrations feel like the beautiful crayon art that one readily associates with Waldorf, but never have I seen Spowart's name listed as a resource or suggested reading on any Waldorf-y list. I think it should be!



Look at this lovely:

This one is titled Sometimes I Feel Like a Mouse and the illustrations depict different emotions as represented by animals

 So very pretty.

This one is my favorite right now...

The Star Grazers...it is by Christine Widman and tells the story of a little shepherd whose sheep can't resist leaping into the sky to graze on stars. The boy must follow and bring them safely back home.

The illustrations are luminous and dreamy and, well...just stunning. My senses soar when I look at them.

Toucie and I have lately been thinking alot about the sheep in our lives (at my mom and dad's farm). It is their season of celebrity after all! We are expecting to meet lambs soon and are also anticipating wool-shearing time. This slim little book is just right for us in this moment.

I hope you will love these glimpses of Robin Spowart's work enough to get your hands on a real live piece of it for your own. There are many, many others...possibly largely out of print. I have To Rabbittown and The Night Call   on the way...I watch my mailbox like a hawk! 

I want every mama and child to see these pretty pictures and read some of these lovely stories. I think Spowart's illustrations would be right at home on any young child's Waldorf bookshelf, don't you?