NCRegister Blog:10 Classic Children’s Authors and Illustrators and their Works

From The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang.

With Christmas coming, many parents tremble at the idea of adding more toys to the overflowing playrooms and bedrooms. A good book to give a child can solve the problem of too much clutter and benefit the child in many ways. It gives them hours of something worthwhile to do, adds to family community when read together, and teaches them to love beautiful things.

As a bibliophile, I have two criteria for what makes a book a “good” book for children. The first is that it must be good literature. This means that it has either stood the test of time and is still seen as a valuable book, or I have read it and found it to have great beauty and depth. The second criterion is that, if it is illustrated, the illustrations be beautiful. I do not like unrealistic, overly cartoony images, but simple line drawings with watercolor, painting, colored pencil, or woodcut prints do nicely.

My reason for being so picky is that the things that my children see and read at a young age will form and shape their minds for their whole lives...

Read the rest at the National Catholic Register...

Princesses In Fairy Tales

By H J Ford, L Speed - The Red Fairy Book, 1890., 10th impression 1907 Lang, Andrew, 1844-1912; Ford, H. J. (Henry Justice), 1860-1941; Speed, Lancelot, 1860-1931, ill. London : Longmans, Green, and Co. Copy held by Uni Toronto. Lib., scan made available at IA.org (online viewer). Convert to PNG, from JPG, and greyscale, with black and white point correction., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10836124

We do formal storytime twice a day: fairy tales at lunch time and the older two listen to a chapter book read by the professor at bedtime while the younger ones get a shorter story individually read by me.

Our lunchtime story has been from Andrew Lang's Fairy books.* Since September we have made our way through the Blue and Yellow fairy books and now we are in the Red fairy book.

As it happens most of the "fairy" stories involve princesses in addition to fairies, and the princesses that are heroines of fairy stories always are endowed with great beauty and the very best of virtues. They are all very good, despite their various upbringings.

Now, don't get me wrong, some of the nobility are evil. They are princes, princesses, kings, or queens and are very bad. It is always clear in the stories that these people are bad. Often a story will have it that the eldest two in a family of three brothers or three sisters will be more selfish or more foolish, and the third will be the most beautiful and most virtuous. And sometimes the oldest two in a family will be just bad.

One thing we have learned about princesses in fairy tales is that if she is married to a prince who is an unhuman creature by day, such as a pig, and a man at night, if she does anything to see him at night, which she most certainly will, then she will be separated from him forever, that is unless she embarks on an impossible quest which requires the aid of the sun and the moon and the west wind and the east wind and the north wind and the south wind to fulfill.

It should also be known that if a princess in a fairy story is told that she can do anything but one specific thing, then she will most certainly do the one thing which is forbidden, and then a consequence will ensue which will involve an impossible quest which requires the aid of the sun and the moon and the west wind and the east wind and the north wind and the south wind or perhaps the aid of a fairy.

Sometimes in the quest of a prince, he will help three animals out of various difficulties and they will come back to help him when he needs help to do whatever task he has to do to gain his freedom or his love. Often these tasks involve bringing a horse out to graze that runs away everyday, and if the prince cannot bring him home the witch or giant will eat him.

And while most princesses have happy endings, it does happen sometimes that the prince and princess will run out of magical resources at the end of the tale and the evil yellow dwarf who wants to marry her will slay both her and the prince with the prince's magic sword which he drops instead of listening to the advice of the dolphin who brought him to the island on which his princess was being help hostage.

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*Andrew Lang's Fairy Books:  
The Blue Fairy Book
The Red Fairy Book
The Green Fairy Book
The Yellow Fairy Book
The Pink Fairy Book
The Grey Fairy Book
The Violet Fairy Book
The Crimson Fairy Book
The Brown Fairy Book
The Orange Fairy Book
The Olive Fairy Book
The Lilac Fairy Book

listening, eating, reading, making-vol. 1

I am joining in Anna's linkup, because she is awesome.

//listening//

Bach's unaccompanied Cello suites have been my favorite music for de-stressing these days. And if I want to help the kids be calm, we listen to Audrey Assad's new album Inheritance.

 //eating// 

I think I have finally found a good dinner planning rhythm in which I get to make nice new recipes, but also have easy ones throughout the week as well. I plan longer, harder recipes for less busy days, and especially weekend dinners that I know the professor will be able to help. And do simple, but good most other nights. Like today we are having oven baked cheese "quesadillas: cheese and tortillas baked at 375 for 8 minutes on cookie sheets and served with salsa, sour cream, salad, and a frozen veggie.

This past Sunday I made steak tips with mushroom and onion gravy from our Cook's Illustrated Cookbook. The fun thing about having 1/4 beef in the deep freeze is that I get to work with cuts of beef that I don't normally use.

//reading// 

The Master of Hestvikin by Sigrid Undset. I am in volume two. What is it about Undset that makes her make all of her main characters make so many bad decisions? Her novels really are a study of sin, how it builds upon itself, how it affects marriages. I have to read this one in small doses because there is so much packed in there. She totally understood human failure and weakness, but also redemption and grace.

//making//

I made (washed and changed the sheets) all the beds on Monday. I should be making lunch. The kids have been making messes. Not much creatively, except for writing these days.

(The book links are through my Amazon affiliate. I will receive a small percentage of what is purchased through the links.)

Laura Ingalls Wilder on Freedom: God is America's King

The South Dakota Prairie. Photo by J. Stephen Conn. In the Creative Commons.

Last summer on the way home from our long summer road trip, we heard in Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder about an Independence Day celebration out on the prairie in Dakota Territory. The whole town gathered together for horse racing, but first a citizen gave a speech and then recited the Declaration of Independence. Laura, of course, already knew the Declaration, but listened with great attention taking to heart the founding of her country. After the Declaration, this is how she understood its meaning:

“Then Pa began to sing. All at once everyone was singing:

‘My country, ’tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing. …

‘Long may our land be bright
With Freedom’s holy light,
Protect us by Thy might,
Great God, our King!’

The crowd was scattering away then, but Laura stood stock still. Suddenly she had a completely new thought. The Declaration and the song came together in her mind, and she thought: God is America’s king.

She thought: Americans won’t obey any king on earth. Americans are free. That means they have to obey their own consciences. No king bosses Pa; he has to boss himself. Why (she thought), when I am a little older, Pa and Ma will stop telling me what to do, and there isn’t anyone else who has a right to give me orders. I will have to make myself be good.

Her whole mind seemed to be lighted up by that thought. This is what it means to be free. It means, you have to be good. “Our father’s God, to Thee, author of liberty…” The laws of Nature and of Nature’s God endow you with a right to life and liberty. Then you have to keep the laws of God, for God’s law is the only thing that gives you a right to be free.”

The book was published in 1941, but gave an account of the mind of a 15 year old girl in 1881. And the ideas are true. This is the kind of literature we all need to read, to remind us of the founding of our country, but also that our freedom is God-given. When we do not keep God’s laws, we are no longer free. We must remind our country that freedom is contained within God’s law, and when we do not live within His law, we are no longer free.

P.D. Eastman on Feeding Your Baby

I want to share this article from the blog Like Mother, Like Daughter about newborn feeding. It is really good, especially for new and nervous moms. But if you want a summary of it, I have a few lines from the children book author P.D. Eastman for you. (If you prefer a less practical work of his see the existential piece, Go, Dog! Go.)

The basic premise of the book Flap Your Wings is that a boy accidentally put an alligator egg in Mr. and Mrs. Bird's empty nest. They decide to hatch it because it is in their nest. When it hatches, they decide to raise it.

Then after the baby alligator's hunger seems insatiable:

"What kind of bird eats so much?" said Mrs. Bird.
"It doesn't matter," said Mr. Bird. 
"He's still hungry and we have to feed him."
Weeks went by. 
Junior never stopped eating. 
And he never stopped growing.

And that is what it is like to feed a newborn. It never stops, and you just do it.

Our Favorite Books of Nursery Rhymes, Myths, and Fairy Tales {SQT}

In case you missed it, I recently published an essay at Crisis Magazine on The Importance of Myths and Fairy Tales for Christian Children.

To compliment the essay, I am sharing seven of our favorite books/authors for pre-school and kindergarten aged children.

1. Nursery Rhymes, Illustrated by Douglas Gorsline. There are some beautiful collections of nursery rhymes, even at big book stores (if you can find one). We found this edition at our local library when we lived in Buffalo, NY. It is out of print, but the copies are really cheap, and if you are unsure about the conservative nature of this book just read the one review on Amazon by an Amy S.:

"This book on nursery rhymes contains some obscure ones (e.g.Elsie Marley, Little Miss Tucket, Cock Robin) along with the perennial favorites to wow fellow students at preschool. Alcoholism, bashing in of craniums, thievery, corporal punishment, birdicide, and giant, nosy insects are all here, just as they were in the last century, if not centuries ago. (I mean the rhymes, not the cited incidents.) Old-fashioned illustrations of all British classes at their best and worst adds charm and spirit to these rhymes. Not for the faint of heart."

This is the kind of book to prep your nursery aged children for the Greek myths.

2. Andrew Lang's Fairy Books:  
The Blue Fairy Book
The Red Fairy Book
The Green Fairy Book
The Yellow Fairy Book
The Pink Fairy Book
The Grey Fairy Book
The Violet Fairy Book
The Crimson Fairy Book
The Brown Fairy Book
The Orange Fairy Book
The Olive Fairy Book
The Lilac Fairy Book

These are collected tales from around the world. J.R.R. Tolkien criticizes them in being called "fairy" tales, since many of them do not in fact have magic or fairies. But they are a great exposure to folk tales around the world, and you know they are good because they were published from 1889-1910.

3. D'aulaires' Book of Greek Myths: This volume of the myths is edited just right for small children. It begins with the origins of the Greek gods, tells the myths about each one, and then goes into the myths about mortals. D'aulaire also did a book of Norse Myths (and many other interesting looking books) which we have yet to check out.

4. Bullfinch's Mythology: This collection of Greek, Roman, Arthurian Mythology and the Legends of Charlemagne and  we have not yet read to our children, but my husband spent hours reading it as a child. Bullfinch tells the story and then tells the allusions in British literature to each of the myths. The books are more appropriate for ages 10 and up. We have yet to find an version of the Roman myths that we really like for younger children.

5. Children's Book of Virtues edited by William J. Bennett is a collection of fully illustrated classic tales teaching children about virtue. He also has longer works with fewer illustrations but more great tales, The Book of Virtues and The Moral Compass.

6. Howard Pyle's works and illustrations: We especially like The Wonder Clock, a collection of silly and clever moral tales. And we are currently reading his King Arthur stories (in which are toned down very well for young ears): Story of King Arthur and His Knights, Story of the Champions of the Round table, Story of Sir Lancelot and his Champions, Story of the Grail and the Passing of Arthur. Pyle compiled and wrote many other volumes of stories that we have yet to read. 

7. Complete Beatrix Potter: I linked the box set of the individual little white books because for little kids and little hands I really like having the little books. We did not buy the box set all at once, but have been giving them individually for every birthday and Christmas since our eldest's first Christmas. We will have the complete set by this Christmas (which will be our eldest's seventh). You may wonder why I am ranking these newer books with the older, more traditional tales of Western culture. First of all, they are absolutely brilliant. Second of all, Potter draws from the English speaking tradition in her stories, referencing nursery rhymes and riddles that English speaking children should know, and if they do not yet, will learn through her tales. She is a great example of how nursery rhymes are an essential foundation for a complete literary education.

P.S. I would love to hear of any other great books of nursery rhymes, fairy tales, and myths, especially ones with beautiful illustrations!

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I am linking up with Kelly at This Ain't the Lyceum with these seven quick takes!

Getting Ready for Winter with Ma Ingalls

25 pounds or 1/2 bushel of ripening Georgia peaches.

Have you ever read through all of the Laura Ingalls Wilder books? After reading listening to The Long Winter in the car, I will not complain too much about winter ever again. The poor Ingalls family (and the whole town) nearly starve to death and their only source of fuel is straw twisted into sticks, because there is so much snow that the trains cannot get through.

After blanching, these freestone peaches were easily peeled and pitted.

Plus, it is as bitterly cold as last winter was. M's Uncle T, who has lived in Wisconsin for 20 years, thinks that long winter in South Dakota was exaggerated having never experienced blizzards like the ones described in the book. However, the Native American that warned Pa about the winter said that every 7 years is a bad winter and every 21 years is a 7 month awful winter.

The philosopher starts to lose his mind if he does too much manual labor.

So, my guess is that we are due for that awful winter with blizzards that blind you entirely and cold so bitter that last winter will seem warm. Or maybe, like Uncle T says, we won't even notice it is winter, and then it will be April.

Melt in your mouth peaches. Yum, yum!

At any rate, after all those polar vortexes, I am feeling a lot of camaraderie with Ma Ingalls as I store away summer fruits for the winter. I don't expect that there will be a lack of food in the cities, but I like the idea of having warm summer fruits canned or frozen and ready for eating this winter.

G says, "This is the most beautiful pie you have ever made Mom! It is like a pie from story books! It looks like a flower!"

After our 30 lbs of strawberries, I learned from a friend how to obtain 25 lbs of Georgia peaches and Michigan blueberries just across the border in Wisconsin. This company ships fruit in bulk in for us poor, sad Northerners that cannot grow our own peaches. The peaches were delicious and we canned 14 quarts, plus had enough to make a pie.

I can't wait... well, I can really.

This summer is so nice as it is slowly wiping away the memories of the cold. The children run around in sandals or barefoot, and we do not even think of sweaters or winter coats. It is absolutely lovely out and everything is green. We have fresh peaches to eat now, home canned peaches to look forward to, and better yet, a livelihood that cannot be eaten by a massive flock of blackbirds.

Review and GIVEAWAY: I'm Bernadette!

  When I was a girl, the library bookmobile used to park about a block away from my house on Saturday mornings. I would walk over with an old stack of books, return them, and spend an hour or so combing through the stacks to find a new set of reading fun. I tried very hard to pick good books, with worthwhile content, but it was often very difficult. If I had found I’m Bernadette! by Emily Grace Ortega, I am sure that I would have brought it home and read it quickly. I was always interested in stories about girls my age, and Bernadette is about a girl in the first grade. She goes to a Catholic school, and has two younger brothers, a four year old and one year old. Her mom stays at home with the kids and her dad goes to work, and it is clear that her parents are raising their family to be devoutly Catholic.

I was really excited when Emily Grace Ortega contacted me to review her book, especially when she sent a letter along with the review copy explaining her view on children’s literature: “I think it’s important for kids to have positive thoughts, ideals, and characters introduced in their reading. The current push in education to have kids “read” without offering high quality, thoughtfully produced literature infuriates me.” While my eldest is almost five, and still learning to read, I have had a lot of difficulty finding even worthwhile picture books. There certainly are a lot of good books out there, but it takes a lot of effort to find them amidst a sea of not so good ones. I have spoken to other Catholic parents who struggle to find good books for their young readers. And if you are searching for a new chapter book series, this one is definitely a gem!

The premise of the first Bernadette story (there are more coming!) is the approaching celebration for All Saints Day. Bernadette has been thinking about her Halloween costume only to hear that her school will be having a Saint parade. She has to figure out which saint she wants to dress as, and let go of her disappointment of not celebrating Halloween.

My almost five year old and three year old daughters loved listening to the story. They remembered their own experience on All Saints Day dressing up like saints, and were very eager to hear about Bernadette. The story was written simply enough for them to follow, but also, I think in a way that a child could read on his or her own. Within the telling of the story, bigger words and concepts are explained through Bernadette’s narration, and we even learn a little bit of Church teaching: some angelology (they have no genders) and how boys and men may not cover their heads in church.

Besides the wholesome and Catholic content, I think that Ortega captured the different ages of childhood well, which makes a lot of sense since she has six children of her own. There were a few scenes from the book about the four year old brother that reminded my husband and I of our own four year old, and even helped us understand that maybe that is just what four year olds are like. For example, they seem to be very good at destroying things. The illustrations by Meg Ross Whalen are very sweet, but my particular favorite is the one of the family at dinner where the baby is throwing noodles on his sister, and the mom is clutching her glass of wine.

I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a sweet book about childhood in a realistic, loving Catholic family. I think that children who are home schooled or those who go to school could relate to Bernadette and her family. Ortega did a wonderful job creating a world from a first grade point of view, that any Catholic family would delight in knowing.

Finally, I am happy to announce my first giveaway on my blog. You can enter twice:

1. Leave a comment.
2. Like my blog on Facebook. If you are already a Facebook fan, then that counts!
a Rafflecopter giveaway



Congratulations to Brandi M! I will be contacting you by email shortly. :)

P.S. If you did not win and would like to own a copy, you can order it on Amazon! 

Kuplink! Kuplank! Kuplunk!

The two girls each had a little tin pail as they eagerly ran to the blueberry bushes. Kuplink! One found a blueberry and dropped it in her pail. Kuplank! Her sister found a berry. Kuplunk! That is how it went as the girls ran amongst the bushes picking a berry here and a berry there, asking to try them, and looking for the bears.

Their excitement at picking blueberries was inspired by the Robert McCloskey's book, Blueberries for Sal. It is a sweet little book about a girl and her mother who go to Blueberry Hill to pick berries for canning and a bear and her cub who are also on the mountain. I love the simple story, and the depiction of a small child wandering about eating blueberries to her heart's content. The illustrations are really nice as well; my favorite drawing is the canning scene at the end of the book. I admire the mother in the story for canning with a toddler in the midst of her canning supplies.

We checked the book out of the library mid-July and, as we are with library books, held onto it for about three weeks. The girls asked to go blueberry picking, so we made a family outing of it the last week of the blueberry season. The whole week leading up to it they talked about how they each needed a little tin pail (I found these in the $1 section at Target!) and how the blueberries were going to sound as they dropped them into their pails. It was a lot of fun, and next year we hope to go at the height of the season so that we to can get some blueberries for canning.

Another highlight of the trip is that I reached a new level of mom-skills: nursing a baby who was in the baby carrier that I was wearing. It is definitely not my preference, but when the baby is fussing and we are out in a field picking berries there is not really any other option. Further, I had to point out to M what I was doing for him to be able to notice. :)

A Queen in This World: Fairy Tales

Rumpelstiltskin in the Blue Fairy Book.

Once upon a time I wrote a post about nursery rhymes as one of the best forms of first literature for children. Another category of good literature for children is fairy tales. There is something about the strange twists and turns of the world of fairies, princesses, and giants that draws in a child and her imagination. They are drawn up into the story and then they act them out. Children know that the fairy tales are not actually part of real life, but they love to think about them and imagine with them. Further, like nursery rhymes they are apart of the English speaking tradition. The stories also often contain great moral value, teaching children a lesson about how to be virtuous, manners, or simply what makes a person good or bad. Fairy tales do this better then a modern tale, since they tend to not water down consequences, but exaggerate them to make the point more clear. Children love this.

Some of our favorite collections are: The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang (and his other colors), Hans Christian Anderson (some of these are really wacky), various versions of the Grimm Brothers tales, The Wonder Clock by Howard Pyle, and the Children's Book of Virtue. I also look for picture fairy tales at the library, including the classic tales such as, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Little Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel, The Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf, The Three Billy Goats Gruff, and so on. I will read my kids any version that looks good, except for the over-commercialized Disney princess tales. They know who the princesses are by site, but I do not want that to be there only encounter with princess fairy tales.

And now G (4) is aware that princesses and queens are not just in fairy tales. Tonight as we were getting the girls ready for bed, my husband and I were discussing the new baby prince over in Great Britain causing all the hype in the media. We also said some about the queen.

G looked up at us with bright eyes and asked excitedly, "There is a queen in this world!?!"

Yes, there is sweet child, and there is now way you will ever really get to be royalty in our so-called democratic republic we have here on this side of the lake, but now you know that queens have and do really exist...

My Conservative American Girl Doll Experience

Have you seen this photo essay on American girls and their American Girl dolls? It is a commentary on American girl's and I think it is also one on our American consumerism. From the article:

 “I’ve noticed that girls do not really care as much about the books and stories that come with the dolls,” wrote [Ilona] Szwarc [the photographer]. “They are much more interested in clothes and accessories, so the educational message functions as a marketing tool for parents rather than as an inspiration for girls to learn.”

It is also a commentary on how when parents buy"educational" toys and don't follow through it does not really do anything for the kids, unless of course they were geeky like me.

I read all the American Girl books before I had my Molly doll. I am not really sure what got me started on the American Girls, but it probably was the library. My older sister, S, got her Samantha doll before I got my Molly doll. She asked for money for her First Communion so that she could get her doll. I got Molly for my birthday I think; it must have been my eighth birthday. My parents gathered the expected monetary gifts, I think I may have even put allowances toward it, and they made up the difference. I think it was the summer between second and third grade? I got glasses in third grade and I know I got Molly before I had glasses. I was so happy when I got glasses. I even picked out glasses to match Molly's. But rather than spend all my money accessorizing (though I spent hours looking at the catalogs longingly which was way better than the sappy website they have now), I just read the books over and over again.

I was the kid who spent all day everyday reading books. My parents begged me to go play outside, but I was content to have my nose in a book. What I loved about the American Girl books was how they really did give a look into the history of our country in an interesting way. I loved learning history through the books. My favorite books to read were always historical fiction; they still are! It is too bad that many American girls do not care about the history of our country and just want the doll and the accessories. Maybe that is the result of the fact that the American girl books are not good literature anyway.

So instead of reading the American Girl doll books, I am going to have my girl's read the classics about American children in history: Laura Ingalls Wilder, Mark Twain, Louisa May Alcott, and so on. I guess I should check out more the children's classic chapter books before my kids get to that age. The books that are still read that withstand the test of time are the ones that really will help our kids be better people. They teach our kids about virtue: friendship, perseverance, charity, obedience, patience, faith, etc. They teach our kids the importance of family and strong marriages. They teach our kids about those who came before us, and teach them how virtue, family, and friendship are essential for living the Good Life. The best thing about the classic books are that they were written by those who lived at the time they are describing. They don't fantasize about the past or put it down, but depict the author's experience of their present time which is our past. In this way we can really learn about our history.

As for the dolls, I doubt we will spend hundreds of dollars for American girl dolls for the kids. Clearly the dolls do not make the children happy, and my doll is not contributing to my happiness in anyway (except perhaps for the hours I spent with my best friend playing with our dolls as children). I will pass on my Molly doll when they are old enough to no destroy her. Or maybe I will just put her in a glass case and tell them stories about my childhood in reference to the doll.

New Mom-skill!

Today on the way home from Trader Joe's the big girls were happily sucking on the suckers they earned by finding the bunnies hidden in the store. These suckers are great because they are all-natural with no random weird dyes in them. When G finished her sucker she asked me to throw a wipe back to her since she was sticky. I first told her I could not since she was all the way in back of the mini-van (something I really miss about not driving a sedan is that I can't reach the kids from the front seat). Then we came to a red light and I thought, "Hey, why not?"

I pulled a wipe out of the diaper bag, scrunched it down into a ball, twisted around and did a weird sideways throw and hit G (who was directly two rows behind my seat) in the shoulder. Since wipes don't bounce it stayed on her shoulder and when she figured out where it was she used it and then let L have a turn with it.

Anyone else mastered the art of throwing things to kids at red lights?

Seven Quicktakes Friday-Nov. 30

1. Tomorrow we will no longer have a heathen baby dripping in her original sin. Hooray! Because of this event we are having many family members coming to town and I am throwing our first "real" Baptism party where I planned it in advance. The past two babies I was taken by surprise that we are supposed to have a cake and food for people afterwards. It does not help that G was baptised on the octave of her birth and I was still in shock of what it is like to have a newborn and be post-partum.

2. Three weeks is again my point of feeling like a normal person after having a baby. And by normal person, I suppose I have put myself in the category of normal for a nursing mother of a baby.

3. St. Paul is starting to feel like "home." You know that feeling you get when a place is familiar and comforting as you drive through it knowing where you are going? Moving is such a long transition. I expect that we will really know if it feels like home when we come back from our Christmas travels.

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4. M is complaining about my quicktakes being too short these days; these will be again. I wrote the first three on Friday and am finishing them Sunday, but backdating them to Friday because I discovered how to schedule posts this week.

5. I labeled all my posts this week and then added the gadget of a label cloud. My blog is all grown up now. Maybe some of the posts I wrote years ago before I shared it with people publicly might actually be read. :) And you really should check out why Beatrix Potter is awesome if you haven't yet. My children's book reviews are my favorite...

6. I am about to do this workout video. And I know you are saying, workout video at 3 weeks post-partum? I am just going to say it is the best thing one can do for a post-partum body. It stretches everything and helps one's core get back into being normal. Plus you do the whole thing laying on the floor...

7. We have ordered all of the Christmas gifts now and I just have to finish making the ones the girls are making for everyone... (I know, they did some fun artwork for them and I am laboring to make their artwork a gift...)

Why Beatrix Potter is Awesome (Good Picture Books Series)

One of the weirdest but most wonderful authors of children's stories was Beatrix Potter. We have been slowly collecting the entire 23 book set with every chance to give birthday or Christmas presents, and reading all the stories as we find them at the library. The most recent book we read is "The Tale of Timmy Tiptoes." This apparently was her book written for her American audience, featuring the gray squirrel, the chipmunk, and the black bear, though the scenery is still taken from her native English countryside. It also features birds whose natural songs are: "Whose-bin-diggin-up-my-nuts" and "A-little-bit-o-bread-and-no-cheese." It makes me wonder what the birds around St. Paul are really saying.

Photo of Potter's Hill Top Farm by Chris Brown

All of Potter's books are full of insights about animals, nature, and relationships, which she expresses in the personified animals of her stories. Accompanying her witty texts are beautiful watercolors. (I would love to share some here, but according to Wikipedia the images are not in the public domain in the UK or Europe and I don't want to violate any copyright laws since I don't really know anything about them.)

A great feature of her stories is that she often includes rhymes in the dialogue, which expand on the nursery rhymes that I have already been reading to my children. She even has two books of her own rhymes "Appley Dapply's Nursery Rhymes" and "Cecily Parsley's Nursery Rhymes."

She gives great life lessons in her stories: We learn in "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" the negative affects of gluttony and disobeying parents. In "The Tale of Jemima Puddle-duck" to not talk to predatory-like strangers even if they have sandy whiskers and that once again foxes are always bad. Another great tale is that of Ginger and Pickles in which we learn that giving credit, while it sells a lot of goods, does not always bode well for paying one's own bills. The tale about a tail, "The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin" teaches us to not pester our benefactors. From capitalism to parents to strangers, Potter presented helpful advice on living in the world.

The point is that Potter wrote some pretty great stories that kids and parents find entertaining and wonderful with every reading of the story. This I think is the essential element of good children's stories. I will say it again and again; if it is going to be great for the child it has to be great for the parent. And that is why Beatrix Potter is awesome. Go and read her to your kid now. :)

Good Picture Books: Russell Hoban's "Frances"

I read the Frances books as a kid and was reintroduced to them visiting M's grandparents over Thanksgiving last year. They had Bread and Jam for Frances (by Russell Hoban) which tells the story of a girl who only wants to eat bread and jam. Her amazing parents decide to only give her bread and jam to eat after that is what she chooses to eat for several meals anyway. Eventually Frances decided she would like to eat other foods and declares that it is wonderful to have so many options of foods to eat.

The other books by Hoban about Frances include: Bedtime for Frances, A Baby Sister for Frances, A Birthday for Frances, Best Friends for Frances, and A Bargain for Frances.  Two of those books I have not even read in at least 20 years since I am waiting to find them at the library. But I am pretty sure that they are as amazing as the others.

The parts that make them so good for kids and parents are that they are so relatable for both parents and kids and that Frances makes up random silly rhymes to express what she is feeling. This goes along with my ideas about nursery rhymes being really good for kids. If a kids is used to rhymes and then sees that one can use rhymes to work out one's problems or think things over, then this child has learned a lot about language and how to use it just from simple stories and books. I think this concept has been grasped by my three year old G. Most days I hear her narrating the actions of her play: "She dashed across the room and went under the table." Other times I hear her making up rhymes or songs that may or may not make any sense. A large part of this might have to do with her extroverted personality, but I think it also has to do with her exposure to stories and rhymes.

The topics of the books are also so everyday, but ones that many parent-child relationships experience. Bedtime, baby sisters, birthdays, friends, picky eating. We currently have Best Friends for Frances out from the library, and my favorite part is when Frances decides that sisters can be best friends and starts to realize how much fun she can have with her sister Gloria. The story also shows Frances working through a friendship with a boy who excludes her from more "boy-like" activities. The stories are so realistic about childhood, and provide clever, smart solutions to problems.

I forgot to mention that the stories take place in a world populated by badgers. The philosophical explanation of how this is possible is below:

G: Why are there only badgers in this book?

M: Because this book takes place in a possible world in which only badgers and not primates attained personhood.

What can be wrong with books that teach our children about possible worlds? Even philosophy can be learned by reading about Frances!

 ***I also want to warn that when looking for these books at the library or at the store watch out for the "I Can Read" versions which cut the significant parts of the text from the story and thus eliminate many of the best lines and rhymes. I personally do not understand why they feel the need to dumb down awesome children's stories. Let the kids read the good stuff!

The First Best Literature for Children: Nursery Rhymes

I love nursery rhymes. My children love nursery rhymes. I am not entirely sure why. Tradition loves nursery rhymes. For the record I have no background in education so this is all just my opinion supplemented with my belief that the traditions that have been preserved by society over time, the test of time, are good. My children speak English, or are at least learning to. I speak English, and no matter how many ancestries me or my children descend from by being Americans we are in the tradition of the English speaking world. So when it it comes to literary education, English nursery rhymes are the place where I start.

Little Miss Muffet,
Sat on a tuffet,
 eating some curds and whey. 
Along came a spider
who sat down beside her,
and frightened Miss Muffet away.

Things I have noticed/learned about children: they memorize things quickly and efficiently, what they memorize effects how they think and how they speak, rhymes and stories that are quirky are their favorites. The quirky ones are also my favorites. On a side note, I think that the best children's literature is that which intrigues the adult as well as the child. Nursery rhymes are so strange, often practical, and so wonderful.

Often the nursery rhymes are just plain fun.

Round about, round about, Gooseberry pie, 
My father loves good ale, and so do I.

Pat a cake, pat a cake, bakers man,
Bake me a cake as fast as you can,
Pat it and roll it and mark it with a "B"
Put it in the oven for baby and me. 

Another element of good children's literature is that which teaches a child about life, but in a way that makes them remember. A child may learn these rhymes as a child, and remember it is important to be responsible when they are older.

Elsie Marley's grown so fine, she won't get up to feed the swine,
but lays in bed 'till eight or nine,
Lazy Elsie Marley.

A dillar, a dollar, a ten o'clock scholar,
What makes you come so soon,
You used to come at ten o'clock, but now you come at noon.  

They also relate to children's lives, and explain the world to them. For example, some about going to market to buy things, a child who goes to the store to buy things can relate to.

To market to market to buy a fat pig,
Home again, home again jiggity jig.

Go to bed Tom, go to bed,
Tired or not, go to bed.

Wee Willie Winkie runs through the town,
Upstairs, downstairs in his nightgown,
Peering in the windows, Peaking through the lock,
Are all the children in their beds? 
For now it is eight o'clock.

Nursery rhymes are also very educational. My children have learned to count from them and also, the alphabet! Songs and rhymes are a very popular and effective way to teach.

One, two, three, four, five,
I caught a fish alive,
Six, seven, eight, nine, ten,
I let him go again,
Why did you let him go?
Because he bit my finger so.
Which finger did he bite?
The little finger on the right.  

How many days has my baby to play,
Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

Riddles are another way nursery rhymes teach, giving a child a chance to think critically and understand that words have multiple meanings.

Hickamore hackamore
on the king's kitchen door,
All the kings horse and all the kings men
couldn't drive Hickamore Hackamore
off the kings kitchen door.
(can you guess?)

Nursery rhymes are also used for soothing, and the familiar rhythms and rhymes are something that help a child feel comfortable and happy.

Twinkle, Twinkle, little star, 
How I wonder what you are,
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky,
Twinkle, Twinkle, little star, 
How I wonder what you are. 

These are just a few reasons that nursery rhymes are great for children. Educationally, they also help a child develop the skills of memorizing and expand vocabulary greatly. Children love repetition, and often I will hear my three year old reciting nursery rhymes to herself over and over again. She is processing the rhymes and applying them to her life. She also asks me to explain them, but mostly just memorizes them and applies them herself.

Rock a bye baby,
Your cradle is green,
Father's a nobleman,
Mother's a queen,
Betty's a lady who wears a gold ring,
And Johnny's a drummer who drums for the king. 
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If you are interested in a collection of rhymes, Nursery Rhymes by Douglas Gorsline is well illustrated and has a lot of good rhymes.  

Friday Quicktakes-Sept 7

1. These will probably not post until Saturday. Today was get the kids ready alone, quick pre-school activity, Mass for First Friday, playdate, naptime (workout video and shower), get ready for sitter, new faculty dinner at M's school, talking to my sister about labor, finishing Miss Marple episode. Now I am attempting to do a few quicktakes.

2. Speaking of First Friday Mass we went to a church near our home but not St. Agnes. After communion, G asked me "Why did they not use the kneeler?" pointing to the communion rail. Exactly. I love St. Agnes liturgies. They know how it is done.

3. I went to a women's Bible study at St. Agnes given by our pastor. I went to Mass alone without children, had a dinner with other ladies that I did not cook, and listened to a lecture on scripture. It is a monthly event, and I am really excited to participate in it. Plus, the other ladies in my small group seem very nice.

4. L is obsessed with bathtime because of the toy ducks and fish she plays with in the tub. So much so that she calls bathtime, "Duckfish". We have been imagining a creature that is a combination of a duck and fish. Today on Motherhood on a Dime's 20 Freebies list was this kindle book: DUCKFISH. This caused a fit of giggles for my husband and I at the end of the day, and we downloaded the book to a kindle app and discovered it was not even to be considered a work of literature. I will show L the picture of the duckfish at least.

5. Speaking of children's literature I plan to start a series on here reviewing worthwhile children's literature and why individual books/authors are awesome. I am tired of bad children's literature.

6. I need to tell you all that Cajetan and Garrigou-Lagrange are not evil, contrary to what I was taught in college. Further DeLubac demonized them unnecessarily or he was a bad scholar. If you want the evidence talk to my husband. I am still getting over the negative aversions instilled in me when I hear those names.

7. On a lighter note I have embarked this week on my goal to learn easy, pretty updos for long hair now that my hair has gotten long again. I am branching out from the ponytail. This blog seems to have some good tutorials.

Friday Quick Takes-Aug 31

1. L's favorite book these days is Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown. If you have read children's books at any point in the last 50 years, you have read this one. Though her method of "participating" in the book is to search aggressively for the "young mouse" on each page. As M or I read her the book, she shouts "MOUSE!" and points all over the page. When I put her to bed at nap or nighttime if I don't say "Goodnight Bears and Goodnight Chairs" to her bears and then "Goodnight Mouse" she throws a fit. Yesterday she started pointing to the words in the book and saying "Letters." I am certain that the mouse-hunt and letter recognition are signs of genius.

2. I encouraged G to look at her Bible during quiet time yesterday showing her all the pictures of the stories about Jesus which she is familiar with. I told her after her quiet time we could talk about the stories. The one she zeroed in on was the story of the beheading of St. John the Baptist. Maybe it is because we talked about how it had been the Gospel at Mass on Wednesday so she had heard the story there. But she asked for it in particular for her naptime story today. The priest at Mass on the Feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist spoke about how he died because he defended marriage. It seems that he would be a great saint to pray to for the preservation of traditional marriage in our society.

3. If you want a recommendation on a Bible for children and don't mind a blue eyed, blonde Jesus, the Golden Children's Bible is a really good one for being true to Biblical texts and not oversimplifying the content. G who is three seems to understand the stories in it as long as I explain some of the details to her, and she really enjoys the illustrations.

4. I know I said this on Facebook already, but we went to the Minnesota State Fair this week which was just about what one would expect from a state fair. There were farm animals, greasy foods, and rides! Though my favorite part was the draft root beer. Apparently I am making up for not being allowed to drink by drinking excessive (for me) amounts of root beer whenever I get the chance. Also, G stopped her princess play after the fair and decided to pretend she was a pig who won first prize at the fair. :)

5. I come to accept that going places with children takes time and it no longer bothers me. Maybe it is pregnancy fatigue, but maybe it is me finally getting used to being a mother.

6. Saw this linked the other day and it looks pretty cool. Toddler leggings made from knee high socks. Now I just need to find some cool looking socks for cheaper than the on-sale, clearanced leggings I usually purchase for G.

7. Earlier this week M and I were talking about why a sitz bath is called a "sitz" bath. M joked that it comes from German and means sitting in the bath. It turns out he was right. From dictionary.com:

Origin:
1840–50;  half adoption, half translation of German Sitzbad,  equivalent to sitz ( en ) to sit¹  + Bad bath¹

That's all folks!