Books

We've had some wonderful book findings lately.
To my surprise, Sava has really taken to a book called Stone Soup, by Marcia Brown, which recounts the story of three soldiers who stop at a village to ask for food. The peasants see them coming, so they hide all their provisions away, and reply to the soldiers' requests for food with sad faces and shrugged shoulders. After they have been turned down by everyone, the soldiers declare that they have no choice but to make "stone soup," and they recruit the peasants' help in firing up a big pot, filling it with water, throwing in three large stones, and, gradually, adding carrots, potatoes, barley, meat, and spices, which they coax out of the peasants by saying things like, "carrots would be really nice but we know there is no use asking you since you don't have any..." The whole village ends up contributing to and feasting on the "stone soup," and everyone marvels at the soldiers' ability to make something so delicious out of nothing. Although we had to explain to Sava the subtle details--that the peasants are being stingy, and the soldiers effectively teach them a lesson--he seems mesmerized by the story. The pictures and people's clothing, drawn in brown, red, and white, recall a Russian landscape, and it is a lovely story to teach about giving in order to receive.
Another favorite with Sava, which we've read many nights now, is Lizzie Nonsense by Jan Ormerod. It's a book about a little girl's life in the Australian bush, and her ability to transform reality with her imagination. Sava loves to hear Lizzie's mom say, "Nonsense, Lizzie!", whenever Lizzie does or says something creative, and I think he enjoys the realistic pictures. He was intrigued by the idea of mom and Lizzie fetching water from the creek in order to water the vegetable garden and wash Lizzie's baby sister, and he understands now at some level the hardship of living in a remote place and having the father gone for long stretches of time as he travels to sell sandalwood fifty miles away. It's always a challenge and a joy to present books about foreign cultures and other eras, but the satisfaction of seeing our boy understand that other people live differently, and think about different things, is pretty much immeasurable. Along those lines, we've also enjoyed a few times Papa Do You Love Me? by Barbara Joosse, in which a little boy from Kenya interrogates his father in order to find out just how much his father loves him.
We all love Peggy Rathmann's The Day the Babies Crawled Away. It's one of those rare gems of rhymed (but not cheesy) contemporary books for kids, drawn in black and blue, as the action happens around dusk, and telling of five babies who crawl away while their parents engage in a pie-eating contest. A little boy follows them and eventually manages to bring them back, and the story is told from the viewpoint of his mother who reminisces about her son's courage and imagination. It's a delightful book with beautiful drawings and engaging rhymes.
We've reordered and have been enjoying The Curious Garden by Peter Brown, which was a big hit with Sava about a year ago and inspired us to create a container garden in our small yard. That book easily has some of the prettiest illustrations in a children's book that we have ever seen.
Leo the Late Bloomer by Robert Kraus is a book I was vaguely aware of but had never taken the trouble to check out carefully. I finally got it on the recommendation of the NEH from their Summer Favorites reading list for K-3, and Sava was mesmerized from the first page. It's a very simple story--an ideal book for a beginning reader--about a little tiger, Leo, who lags behind his friends (other animals) in everything: he doesn't read when they do, doesn't write when they do, doesn't eat properly like they do, etc. Leo's dad worries that he is "behind," but his mom wisely advises him to cultivate "patience," because Leo is just a "late bloomer." The father worries and frets, but sure enough, Leo learns to do everything in his own sweet time, after first observing his friends very carefully. I have no doubt that Sava likes this book because he relates to Leo and is comforted by it. I am seriously considering buying a copy for our home. It is never too early to learn that literature holds the answer to most of our questions and worries about human life.
Finally, we've recently taken out and hope to enjoy more of:
*Miss Nelson is Missing! by Harry Allard, about a class of children who learn to appreciate their wonderful teacher when she gets replaced by a mean witch, who turns out to be their wonderful teacher in disguise. Sava loves it when we get to the part of Detective McSmogg.
* Cliffor Celebrates the Year by Norman Bridwell is just a nice collection of all holiday Clifford stories. Sava goes through phases of loving Clifford, and this book is ideal when he is in the midst of such a phase.
* Chicka, Chicka 1, 2, 3 by Bill Martin is the numbers version of Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom,  and it has Sava counting flawlessly from 1 to 100
* Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton is long but well worth it for the vehicle enthusiasts out there; it tells the story of an old steam shovel, which gets replaced by electrical, gasoline, and diesel shovels, and ends up serving as a furnace in a city hall.
* Corduroy by Don Freeman is one of those stories which Sava embraces with the whole wonderfulness of his sensitive nature, sad lonely teddy bear in a department store, passionate little girl who spends her savings to buy him, and all...