Pretzel

Pretzel

Aren’t these Jonathan Adler book ends gorgeous. Nothing like a long dog to hold up your books. 

Comical and cute; Dachshunds are great little characters for children’s literature. The quintessential Dachshund character being Pretzel by H. A. and Margaret Rey the creators of that other quintessential little animal character Curious George.

Pretzel is a love story that begins and ends with puppies (if you know what I mean!).  First published in 1944, the story is by no means out of date but still has that lovely innocence of books from that era. 

My Heart Is Like a Zoo

It’s really, really hot here today and we are trapped inside. Ned and I have enjoyed this little book trailer immensely and we will probably watch it a couple more times before the day is out. It looks gorgeous animated so it will be really interesting to see the book.

The author/illustrator, award winning designer, Michael Hall includes 300 hearts in his stunning illustrations and readers are encouraged to try and count all of the hearts at the end of the book. It is due to be published in Australia next month and you can see inside the book more on the Harper Collins website.

Also have a look at some deleted scenes from the book on the newly created blog Under the Greenwillow devoted to celebrating the publishers 35th birthday – this will be a blog to watch.

Thanks to Fuse #8 for pointing me in the direction of this great book trailer. Also check out their review of Cosmic, an intermediate novel by Frank Cottrell Boyce – one of my all time favorite authors.

Also discovered today is this awesome new blog, this is definitely going to be one that I am going to be addicted to. A whole blog devoted meticulously to ‘recommended inappropriate books for kids’. The research, the writing and the images are just incredible and will give you a giggle as well as providing some incredible info.

The Terrible Plop

 Our great friend Nicci directed us towards this hilarious clip on Youtube… 

The Terrible Plop is definitely one of my favourite picture books this year.

When We Were Little…

When We Were Little…

A guest post by one of our favourite bloggers, Scribbler, founder and writer extraordinaire of the utterly fabulous blog called Vintage Kids’ Books My Kid Loves. She is mum to a 4-year-old aficianado of vintage kids’ books.

Molly Brett Goodnight Time Tales

I’ve loved books my whole life. Children’s picture books in particular, and if you read my blog, you know I sort of went nuts after I had my son… obsessively collecting books for him that I’d had as a child and ones I wished I’d had. I don’t remember exactly which Molly Brett title was my first… I just remember an American childhood filled with her books and illustrations. Wonderful little worlds inhabited by cuddly animals and fairies. Adorable wooded scenes with teddy bears and squirrel babies. A moss-covered wonderland where salamanders lead pet snails around on leashes. Owls wear top hats. Where children’s toys are in cahoots with sparrows. And frogs shop for sausage links. All the sorts of things little girls imagine to be happening right outside their bedroom windows when they are just out of ear shot.

Molly Brett beach illustration

A native of Surrey, England, Molly’s mother was a painter of animals, so although Molly had no training, she was a natural at creating the stories so many children around the world came to love. Under her publisher, The Medici Society of London, she produced 21 books and countless illustrations for greeting cards and prints before her death at 88 years old in 1990.

Molly Brett tea party

I spent hours and hours of my youth, poring over these intriguing tales, then would close my eyes at night and wish and pray they were real. Oh, what I would have given to be invited to an animal tea party! One of my favorite stories from this book in particular is called “The New Policeman” and involves a mess of sweet forest animals driving around in toy cars:

Fuzzy Hedgehog felt rather lonely as he scuttled through the wood, for the other animals found him too prickly to play with, although he longed for friends and to join in all that went on around him. Just then he saw a notice on an oak tree which said—‘Nest Builders and Hole Holders are asked to a Meeting to discuss the Dangers of Traffic on Winding Way.’

Well, one thing leads to another, and one can only imagine how proud Fuzzy must’ve felt when he received his policeman’s helmet and set to work making the traffic right. Delightful! If I remember correctly, most of her books were made up of a series of stories, each with one illustration in color and then sketches on the type-page in black and white.

Molly Brett Fuzzy Hedgehog

There is lots of Beatrix Potter on these pages, and one has to assume Molly grew up studying her books. There’s just something about the English countryside that breeds this sort of enchantment. Brett… Potter… Milne. The landscapes and gardens are ripe for one’s imagination to pick. A medley of trickling brooks and sparkling skies. Shadows and toadstools and beds of leaves hidden beneath shady branches. Really, I could wax poetic for a lifetime about these amazing people who brought the magic of England all the way across the pond to my own little bewitching corner of the globe. South Carolina might be a world away from Surrey, but to my childish heart, we were all living in the same hundred-acre wood.

Molly Brett illustration


A Visitor For Bear

A Visitor For Bear

Reading aloud is such a joy when you have the right book and recently I bought one that has even won an award for being ‘terrific’ to read aloud.

visitor-for-bear

A Visitor For Bear won the E.B. White Read Aloud Award this year and deservedly so. Written by Bonnie Becker, the story is a whole lot of fun. Bear is comfortable being by himself, he has never had any visitors to his house and even has a sign to discourage any arriving in the future. Although bears feature quite heavily in children’s literature I think this bear is definitely one of my favorites.

No one ever came to Bear’s house.
It has always been that way,
and Bear was quite sure he didn’t like visitors.
He even had a sign.

imgp1991

There is so much comedy in this story and it is great fun to play up while reading it aloud. A very persistent little grey mouse turns up to visit bear – much to his disgust – and hilarity ensues as the mouse continues to pop up causing the bear great anguish.

‘…there was the mouse! (Small and grey and bright-eyed of course.) “BEGONE!” roared Bear.’

imgp1993

The illustrations match the text perfectly. Illustrator Kady MacDonald Denton captures the humour in the text by making the big brown bear exaggerated in his movements as he tries to make the mouse leave his house; he points to the door furiously, he jumps up and down and finally drops the floor with tears of frustration.

“I give up”, he blubbered. “You win, I am done”.’

Eventually they do a deal and the mouse agrees to leave after they have one cup of tea together.

The stunning format that the publisher Walker Books has used is a long paperback, with beautiful paper and MacDonald Denton makes use of all the space. The spreads are beautiful, one in particular as the mouse and bear kick back and have a cup of tea together, warming their feet by the fire.

imgp1995

It is then that bear realises that maybe having a friend is not so bad after all. Not preachy, this is a fantastic story about friendship and letting people in, themes that affect both children and adults.

Elmer cake

Elmer cake

elmer-cake

This time last year I posted about a very cool birthday cake for a special two-year-old we know.

Well, another fabulous book-themed cake was prepared this year – Elmer the elephant!

Elmer is such a lovely book character, and the book conveys a really valuable message. You can read more about it here in our store.

We’ve just got copies of Elmer back in stock, as well as a gorgeous Elmer Sigg drink bottle.

Fox and Hens

Fox and Hens

fox_hens

I think this bag would make a gorgeous library/book bag. It is part of the Clothkit range distributed in Australia by Lark Handmade.  The beauty of Cothkits is that  all the cutting lines are printed directly on the fabric so you don’t have to worry about pinning a paper pattern.

The kits contain everything you need, the fabric, thread buttons etc.  The fabric is called Fox and Hens and instantly reminded me of Rosie’s Walk. After finding the designers website, Katrin Moyle, I indeed discovered that she based the design on Rosie’s Walk by Pat Hutchins. Moyle is actually a ceramic designer and has a beautiful tea cup set on her site in the Fox and Hens design.

If you’d like some more books on chooks Katie wrote a wonderful post here about Chook Books!