Some Great Little Books

I've spent a lot of time reading, thinking about and making books for children.  My love and enjoyment of picture books has expanded in the past six years, as I've had the pleasure of field-testing some old and new favorites with my three little book-lovers.  I put a lot of thought into choosing books for this list, with the aim of selecting those that could be enjoyed by boys and girls (and their adults) with a broad range of interests and backgrounds.  Now, go read someone a story!

THE PICTURE BOOKS THAT MAIZ WISHES THAT ALL CHILDREN EVERYWHERE COULD HAVE IN THEIR LIBRARIES:

Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans
The Story About Ping by Marjorie Flack & Kurt Wiese
Ferdinand by Munro Leaf / Robert Lawson, illus.
The Frog and Toad books by Arnold Lobel
Blueberries For Sal by Robert McCloskey
Make Way For Ducklings by Robert McCloskey
Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne / Ernest Shepard, illus.
When We Were Very Young by A.A. Milne / Ernest Shepard, illus.
The Little Bear books by Else Holmelund Minarik / Maurice Sendak, illus.
Beatrix Potter books, especially: The Tale of Peter Rabbit, The Tale of Two Bad Mice, The Tale of Jeremy Fisher, The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck and The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin
The Complete Adventures of Curious George by Margaret & H.A. Rey
Richard Scarry's Cars and Trucks and Things That Go
Richard Scarry's Best Storybook Ever
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss
One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss
The Sneeches and Other Tales by Dr. Seuss
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig
Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion / Margaret Bloy Graham, illus.

Okay, so those are what I consider to be the CLASSICS.  My taste in kids' books may seem a little old fashioned, but those are all beautifully written and illustrated.  They have a wide appeal, and introduce readers to a great variety of words, ideas and lifestyles.  Here are some more that I am also crazy about:

MORE BOOKS THAT MAIZ IS CRAZY ABOUT:

In the Town All Year 'Round by Rotraut Susanne Berner
Up, Up, Up! It's Apple-Picking Time by Jody Fickes Shapiro / Kitty Harvill, illus.
Traction Man is Here! by Mini Grey
Kitten's First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes
The Seven Silly Eaters by Mary Ann Hoberman / Marla Frazee, illus.
Martha Speaks by Susan Meddaugh
The Day the Babies Crawled Away by Peggy Rathmann
Wild About Books by Judy Sierra / Marc Brown, illus.
Doctor De Soto by William Steig
Shrek! by William Steig
Joseph Had a Little Overcoat by Simms Taback
Owl Moon by Jane Yolen / John Schoenherr illus.

What, there are more?!  And...

SOME OTHER GREAT BOOKS FOR TODDLERS and BOOK BEGINNERS:

Hug by Jez Alborough
Ten, Nine, Eight by Molly Bang
Little Fur Family by Margaret Wise Brown / Garth Williams, illus.
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown / Clement Hurd, illus.
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Go, Dog, Go! by P.D. Eastman 
The Everything Book by Denise Fleming
Barnyard Banter by Denise Fleming
Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb by Al Perkins / Eric Gurney, illus.
Goodnight, Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann
The Nutshell Library by Maurice Sendak
"More, More, More" Said the Baby by Vera B. Williams

Some notes on finding more: Many of these authors have more great books out there, especially Steig, Sendak, Taback, Henkes, Rathmann, Potter, Scarry and Seuss.  Look for the originals, as there are many not-so-good derivations of some of these classics, especially of Curious George, Winnie-the-Pooh and Richard Scarry.  

There are lots of places to find these books.  If you can shop at an independent children's bookstore, lucky you!  (There is a great one in LA called Children's Book World.)  I hope you can also find them all for free at your local library.

Detail of illustration by Ernest H. Shepard from Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne, 2006 Dutton Children's Books ed.

Small Canvas

A great artist can paint a great picture on a small canvas.
                                                                      -Charles Dudley Warner

                                                                                                          Ballpoint on brother, 2011

Playdough Plus

The boys got very enthusiastic when we added some feathers, sticks and beads to our playdough.

This is Argus Panoptes or Argos, according to Diego.  (For those of you who don't happen to live with a 6 year old, Argus is a mythological Greek monster with 100 eyes):

I loved this creature that Ruben was making:

It just kept getting better...

...and better!

House Bookshelf

Here's a bookshelf that I made a few years ago to house our picture books.  It is made out of 3/4" plywood, and is very sturdy.  One of my favorite features is the sideways shelf on the right, which holds all of our long books that stick out too far if we put them on the other shelves.

I imagined that we would occasionally empty it and use it like a toy house, but that has yet to happen.  It also has a chimney tissue holder that holds a regular square tissue box.  Here's a closer look:

I want to show you some more of my home made projects, and I was having so much fun taking pictures around the house that I left Julio happily entertaining himself at the dining table.  From the other room, I heard him say, "Cow milk.  Want it!"  And then his big brother call out, "I'll get it for you, Julio!"  I got back just in time to see this near-disaster:

Play Kitchen Stove

We had a lot of fun making this play stove today:

A while ago, I salvaged an old burner grate and put it in our play kitchen, but I always wanted to mount it on a board and give it a knob.  Today, I found an old wood scrap and then we got to work!  We used bent nails to hold it in place, and screwed down a piece of an old dowel with a hole drilled in it for the knob.  Ruben got to use the hammer and the hand drill, so he was thrilled.  He used watercolor paints to make red flames, but when he saw me cooking on the blue gas flame of our real stove, he asked me to paint some blue on top of the red.

A play kitchen is a great thing to have in or near your real kitchen.  The kids love to pretend cook when they are not participating in the real cooking.  You don't need much, even just a low counter space or a box, or some floor space and some small real or toy pots, pans, utensils or dishes.  Ours is an old piano bench in the laundry area between our real stove and the back door.  I hung some hooks on the wall over it, and we've accumulated a lot of accessories over the years.  Sometimes I think it would be fun to mount a faucet on the table or wall, or add a cupboard with a door on it.  I still might, but already this area gets so much play just as it is.

Even without doors and knobs, there are all sorts of delicacies prepared here.  Somebody made me some Apple-orange-radish pudding today, and did you notice the blue play dough pancakes going into the "oven" in the top picture?

Brrr!

I'm not one of those gloating-about-the-weather Californians.  I know you're cold out there!  I've spent many a bundled winter hiking over icy plow mounds and stepping into slush-covered puddles, and I still don't think you should move here just for the weather.  Snowy winters can be so beautiful, and sometimes (but not always) I miss them.

I was thinking about you out there in the blizzards when I noticed this tangerine peel on my breakfast table, the perfect symbol for the Californian daydreaming about winter:

Kissing Thaumatrope

A few years ago, I thought that it would be so fun to make Joe a kissing thaumatrope for Valentine's Day.  Like so many of my BRILLIANT ideas, I promptly forgot all about it.

Until recently, when I saw this thaumatrope-on-a-stick on Made by Joel, and it reminded me that I had to try it.  Even though they're not done, I'm showing you my work in progress now, just in case you want to use this idea to make your very own thaumatrope valentines.

Are you wondering what I am talking about?

On one side it looks like this:

On the other side it looks like this:

When you spin the stick, it looks like this:

Movie magic!  Persistence of vision!!!  Kissing!!!!!  Does it get any better than this?

I'm making some for my three little Valentinos, too.  Isn't it funny that no one in my family even asked what I was doing when I said, "Here, stand against the wall and let me take a picture of you kissing something."  They all just did it.

If you do make your own, please send me a picture!  Wouldn't they make sweet wedding invitations or favors?

Materials:  Paper, cardboard, double-stick tape or glue, round chopstick or kebab stick, photo prints or drawings of kissers in profile.  Line them up carefully so that they work together when you spin the stick, and test it out before you glue!