I lovelovelove these illustrations by Ruth Ruhman. This book is one I salvaged from my grandmother's attic. It is pretty beaten up - scribbled on, missing some pages, and the remaining pages are a bit loose. I really like A Child's Garden of Verses and I would like to collect some more editions of it by different illustrators - I have my eye on the one by Gyo Fujikawa- I have quite a few of her books but not that one yet- and the one by the Provensens, for example. I framed a page from this book that is so cute and reminds me of my daughters, and I also made a decoupage frame that included some pics from this book.
HEYYYY YOU GUUUUYYYYYSSS!!! (If you have never watched the show before then just ignore that!) My 6-year-old has been watching the episodes of the modern re-make of The Electric Company on Netflix. Once she saw the first episode, she was hooked. It's about 4 kids who have super powers with words. I really like it too- the bad guys, known as 'The Pranksters', are funny and the songs are really catchy. The show has had star appearances from Wyclef Jean, Whoopi Goldberg, Jimmy Fallon, Ne-Yo, Mario, Pete Wentz, Jack McBrayer, and more. A good choice as far as children's programming goes! And of course it's great for helping kids with practising their reading, spelling, and new vocabulary too! The new version is very different from the old version from the 70's. I bought a 'best of' from the original version on dvd for my daughter's recent birthday. I was a little bit worried she wouldn't like it - I explained to her beforehand that it was very different from the show she was used to. But she likes the old one too - yay! She laughs at the sketches and likes the songs and animations. The old series ran from 1971-1977. It was designed for kids who had 'graduated' from Sesame Street. Some of its well-known cast members were Bill Coby, Rita Moreno, and Morgan Freeman. It has guest appearances from celebrities such as Carol Burnett, Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, Carroll O'Connor, and Lily Tomlin. Enjoy these clips below from the 'old' and 'new' versions of the show.
"Baby Dear" reminds me of how we bought my older daughter Keira a baby Cabbage Patch doll not too long before our younger daughter Tegan was going to be born. She adjusted quite well - we only really dealt with a small amount of jealousy and acting out from her. But she was 4 and a half already so she really was ready to be a big sister. Now that Tegan is almost a year and a half now, Keira gets more frustrated with her now as they sometimes fight over toys or Tegan wrecks something that Keira has been making. Seeing the page about writing in the baby's memory book is filling me with guilt.... I have not been keeping up with Tegan's baby book! Such a typical thing to do with the second child - everyone I knew with more than one child said that this was the case with them, and I didn't want it to happen with me but it has - I really need to get some things written down before I forget them! It's not that I never have any free time to do it, it's more that by the time I get both girls down to bed I just want to relax and I keep procrastinating. Anyway, enjoy these illustrations by Eloise Wilkin - I especially love the second-to-last one here from "Birds" - just gorgeous.
"Shopping With Mother", a Ladybird book, depicts a day of shopping at various places. The family goes to the fish shop, greengrocer's, ironmonger's shop (What?? I had to look this up - it basically means hardware store, in Britain.) , the chemist's shop, the baker, the flower shop, the draper's shop, the butcher, and the toy shop. Wow! Not like nowadays when we just go to Walmart and be done with it, haha! "Let's Go Shopping", a Wonder Book published in 1958, tells the tale of Sally Snappit (what a great name!) as she asks her mother about all the different foods in the supermarket and where they came from. Love her cute little outfit.
Two books illustrated by Lilian Obligado for you today. The cover of the first one, the Golden Sturdy Shape book, reminded me of something that I still have from childhood. Check out these pictures I took of my Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe piggy bank. As you can see from the bottom of the 'shoe' - my aunt Vicki made it in 1981 for me. Isn't it adorable? I don't have a ton of things still from my childhood but this managed to to make it unscathed. It now resides in my 1-year-old's room on her shelf.
I love Whitman Tell-a-Tale books- I remember always looking for the cute little Whitman 'W' person up in the top corner. :) 2 of these 3 books are about pets- the other day my daughter was saying she felt left out because she doesn't have any pets and most of her friends do. Mommy Guilt Trip!!! She has wanted a dog for the longest time but now she is saying she might even like a cat. When she was 2 years old and we were out for walks and we would see someone with a dog, she would run like crazy until we caught up with them and she could see the dog up close. She has a vast collection of stuffed animal doggies - for a couple years she insisted on sleeping with ALL of them - we have since weaned her down to just a few in her actual bed and the rest in various other places in her room. :) My husband and I reaaaaallly don't want to get a pet. Too much work!! I never had a pet when I was a kid either. (Am I sounding like a Grinch? Call me the Pet Grinch. :) )
I lovelovelove these illustrations by Ruth Ruhman. This book is one I salvaged from my grandmother's attic. It is pretty beaten up - scribbled on, missing some pages, and the remaining pages are a bit loose. I really like A Child's Garden of Verses and I would like to collect some more editions of it by different illustrators - I have my eye on the one by Gyo Fujikawa- I have quite a few of her books but not that one yet- and the one by the Provensens, for example. I framed a page from this book that is so cute and reminds me of my daughters, and I also made a decoupage frame that included some pics from this book. 
