The Selfish Giant by Oscar Wilde, illustrated by Lisbeth Zwerger

How can you help a child understand about the beauty of sharing? Here is a short story that teaches this life lesson in a fairy-tale format. A giant returns from a 7-year stay with his ogre friend to find that children have overtaken his garden. He banishes them from his garden, only to find that winter overtakes it permanently. One morning, the giant awakes to the sound of spring. He discovers that the children, who found a whole in the wall, have gotten back into the garden. Spring has returned in their wake. One little boy, however, wants to climb a tree in a corner of the garden where it is still winter. When the giant sees the little boy crying, what do you think he will do? You will have to read the story to find out how and what causes the giant to change. 

This book combines one of my favorite stories with one of my favorite illustrators! The quote above my kitchen window comes from this story: "I have many beautiful flowers, but the children are the most beautiful flowers of all." 

I especially love the imagery of the little boy, who symbolizes the Savior. From this story, it is easy to understand how we can change when our understanding changes first. The Savior helps our understanding change to a correct perception (such as how sharing, and not selfishness, brings joy) our behavior can follow. This story illustrates that magical moment of heart and mind united in understanding. 

Note: You can read the text of this story on the internet. I grew up listening to this story as a book on tape, with Edvard Grieg's Peer Gynt Morning Mood playing in the background.

(London: Neugebauer Press Publishing Ltd., 1984)

 

Thank You, Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco

If you haven't "met" Patricia Polacco via her books, this is a great place to start! This story is the autobiographical recounting of how Patricia, who struggled with dyslexia, was blessed with a teacher who recognized her difficulty and helped her bridge the gaps between her desire and her reading skills.

I love this book (aside from the fact that it moves me to tears!) because it is based on a TRUE story (my favorite kind of story), and it helps children to understand some of the frustrations that someone with dyslexia (or other learning challenges) might experience. It is also one of those "Why I Want to Be a Teacher" books.

This book has got to be one of my all-time, favorite children's books. You will especially love (or be amazed at, or both) how Patricia's grandfather shares his love of reading with her when she is five. Don't miss this story!

(New York: Philomel Books, 1998)

Joseph Had a Little Overcoat by Simms Taback

Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without! This pioneer proverb is exemplified in this Yiddish tale about Joseph, a poor farmer, who has an overcoat that becomes too well-worn to keep wearing. So, he makes a vest. The vest then is transformed into a tie, and so forth, until the piece of fabric is so small that all he can make is....

You'll have to read it to find out!

The best part of the story is the humorous moral at the end, that is, next to the ultra clever illustrations (which won him a Caldecott Medal in 2000). You will love it!

This is also a singing book, i.e. a book with printed music at the end that you can sing, but I have never caught on to the tune, so it is still just read aloud in our home. Perhaps you would like to sing it for us and email us your mp3 file?

(New York: Viking Press, 1999)

It Could Always Be Worse: A Yiddish folktale retold and with pictures by Margot Zemach

Feeling like you live in a house that is too small? Too many people in a tight space? Life too stressful? Reminiscent of Meshka the Kvetch, this Yiddish tale offers a perspective we can use. A father with these problems runs in desperation to the Rabbi, who tells him to bring some animals into the house. Discover how the resulting chaos actually helps this stressed out father!

(New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1976)

Ox-Cart Man by Donald Hall, pictures by Barbara Cooney

If you want to feel grateful for our modern-day ease, just read this book! The wonderful illustrations help young and old readers alike to glimpse the time and labor involved in living in earlier days. Families relied on each other to survive! No wonder more families stuck together! We see a bag of wool sheared from his sheep in April, and how his wife "wove the wool on a loom from yarn spun at the spinning wheel from sheep sheared in April." We also learn how the daughter helps with the family income by knitting 5 pair of mittens from the sheep's wool, as well. 

With charming photos, this is a book to help grow your gratitude and appreciate how those whose lives we've built upon were so filled with hard work!

(New York: The Viking Press, 1979)

An Early American Christmas by Tomie de Paola

In the author's note, Tomie de Paola tells how he lives in a New Hampshire town and how New Englanders were not always Christmas-friendly. He researched and imagined how the transformation of these early folk might have been influenced by one family from the Old World who joyfully celebrated with their family traditions.

I love how you get a picture of how a German family might have celebrated Christmas. What wonderful, family-centered activities to build excitement for the Magical Day! Making candles, growing and storing apples, baking cookies, cutting out paper decorations, painting nuts, finding a tree...So many ways for a family to join together to prepare. 

I discovered this book at the library this year! This book reminds me of two other books that I will now have to review shortly:  The Story of the Von Trapp Family Singers and The Oxcart Man. I love Tomie de Paola's illustrations, too, which reminds me of another Christmas story illustrated by him....

(New York: Holiday House, 1987).

The Quarreling Book by Charlotte Zolotow, pictures by Arnold Lobel

My sister's blog (http://dailygrapefruit.blogspot.com) from Monday (11/18/2008) reminded me of this book when I saw it tonight. The James family has a rough start to their day, starting with the rainy gray weather and Mr. James forgetting to kiss Mrs. James good-bye. Mrs. James is cross and contention carries on through the ranks. What turns things around so that by the end of the day, the sun is shining again? 

You'll have to read it to find out!

A very short, cute read, for even the active, non-sitting-still child.

(New York: Harper Trophy, 1963/1991)

The Tale of Meshka the Kvetch by Carol Chapman, ill. by Arnold Lobel

Meshka is a mother with problems: her son reads too much, her daughter never comes to visit her, her health is not perfect, and her husband built her home TOO small. "Oy vey!" While she complains about her problems, she finds herself (and her son) in quite a pickle. When the rabbi discovers her pinned under the wall of Jericho, he gives her the secret to lifting her burdens: praising the good!

This marvelous story teaches the great power in being positive. It is especially fun if you read it with your best Yiddish accent, which, of course, I am not very good at, but still enjoy attempting! Or if you have a daughter who sometimes smells a bit like pickle juice....

(New York: E.P. Dutton, 1980)

Eating the Alphabet by Lois Ehlert

I collect ABC books, and this is one of my favorites! I still want to go to the grocery store with this book in hand to show the real food to the marvelous illustrations that Ms. Ehlert has made. I learned a few new foods when I first read this book, such as Xigua and Ugli fruit. This book might inspire a child (or parent!) to even try a new food! WOW!

It has been a while since I read the hardback/paperback version, but I think that it had more information/pages than the board book version of this title.

(New York: Red Wagon Books, 1989)

Fish Eyes: A Book You Can Count On by Lois Ehlert

Lois Ehlert does wonderful illustrations in her books. I love the way she put holes in the pages where the eyes are: they are just the right size for a tiny finger to touch each fish while counting aloud. The colors are bright and energizing! The fun fish swim through the pages! The reader will enjoy the little charcoal fish that narrates as well. 

(New York: Red Wagon Books, 1990)

Thank You, Sarah: the Woman Who Saved Thanksgiving, by Laurie Halse Anderson, illustrated by Matt Faulkner

"You think you know everything about Thanksgiving, don't you?"

We found out that we didn't when we found this story! We had no idea about Sarah Hale and the role she played in our American (U.S.) Thanksgiving holiday! She dedicated a major portion of her life to promoting this special day. You will be surprised as you and your child(ren) learn about tenacity from this hidden historical figure who raised her family and the eyebrows of a few U.S. presidents. 

My favorite line is, 

"Never underestimate dainty little ladies."

(New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2002)

Mandy Sue Day by Roberta Karim, illustrated by Karen Ritz

Morning wind tickles my ear.

My eyes blink open. 

Down in the cornfield, crows caw and caw.

I sing along:

Today's the day

Yahoo hooray

Mandy Sue Day

today!

In Mandy Sue's family, each child gets a special day to choose what they do, a special meal with a special dessert included. Mandy Sue decides to spend the day riding her horse, enjoying her special dinner, and then sleeping in the hayloft in the barn. 

Besides the lovely prose, I love this book because you don't realize you are reading about a blind child until the very end. It was such a wonderful surprise the first time I read it that I reread it with the child at hand to see how Mandy Sue managed and to appreciate all that she could do independently. What a great book to help children learn more about blindness and how children with disabilities adapt!

Also a good book to celebrate fall, since this farming family celebrates the harvest season and hard work with their special individual days off.

(New York: Clarion Books, 1994)

Too Many Tamales by Gary Soto, illus. by Ed Martinez

Feliz Navidad! I hope you will agree that November 1 is not too soon for me to begin sharing my Christmas books! Today I thought of Too Many Tamales because my daughter is sampling some tamales at a Day of the Dead party.

This charming story tells about Maria, a little girl who helps her mother make tamales for their family Christmas party. The daughter, who had tried on her mother's wedding ring in the cooking process, discovers (after the tamales are all prepared) that the ring is missing! What will she do? Enlisting her young cousins' help, the children begin eating the tamales, one by one. Do they find the ring in the tamales? Find out when you read this charming tale about loving family tradition, the innocence of childhood mistakes, and the gentleness with which a mother handles the problem. I love this story!

(New York: PaperStar/Putnam & Grosset, 1996)