Books...

Finally, a spare half hour to note down the good books we have been reading lately. Up there on top of the list is Zin! Zin! Zin! a Violin by Lloyd Moss, which is a strange rhymed affair whose main purpose, it seems, is to introduce children to various musical instruments and the groups in which they perform together: duo, quartet, orchestra, etc. I don't particularly care for strange lines like, "With mournful moan and silken tone, / Itself alone comes one trombone," but one day when I came to get Sava from quiet time, I found him "reading" the book out loud, which in his case means that he has it fully memorized. While he can read simple words, and sound out the more complicated ones, knowing a book by heart, and then flipping through pages while reciting it, still constitutes his main practice of "reading." To which our responses is...whatever rocks his boat. Besides the lilting (if nonsensical) rhymes, the violin book also appeals, of course, because we continue to be in the throes of Suzuki violin. Our first semester of lessons is halfway through, and while practicing at home is a "bit" of a challenge--he melts down at being corrected and therefore balks at the idea of practicing--he looks forward to every class. And during class, he is, most amazingly, the most engaged and most outgoing of all three boys. He volunteers enthusiastically for every task, and sings loudest and speaks most confidently with the teacher. A most strange thing.
Another book we have come to love dearly is Peppe the Lamplighter by Elisa Bartone. It tells the story of a small boy in Little Italy in New York City, who takes on the job of lamplighter in order to help support his six sisters and his ailing father. The father repeatedly chastises him for taking up a street life, which crushes Peppe and discourages him from doing the job in order to avoid his father's anger. In the end, a small incident changes the father's mind, and he ends up praising Peppe for the good work that he is doing. It's a great book for introducing notions of poverty, work, and self-esteem, as well as the whole intricate ball that is woven when you put those three together.
The mark of a truly great book around here is Rado crying every time he reads it, and by this measure John Henry by Julius Lester leads the pack. Based on the legend of an African-American folk hero, the book employs wonderful vernacular images ("What he saw was a mountain as big as hurt feelings.") to narrate the story of John Henry's larger-than-life physical prowess, which culminates in his digging a tunnel on the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad right before he dies. John Henry's presumed last words, whispered or said or just "known" by everyone present at his death, made Rado and me gasp the first time we read them and could well be the most we'll ever learn about this strange thing that is life on our planet: "Dying ain't important. Everybody does that. What matters is how well you do your living." It is also the most we can ever learn from a work of art...really
There are so many other books we've enjoyed lately, that I'll have to list them briefly in order to include all:

** Grandfather's Journey by Allen Say: wonderfully insightful depiction of the immigrant experience in America, telling of a Japanese man's sadness for Japan while he lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, and his sadness for the Bay once he goes back to Japan. The book is written from the perspective of his grown-up grandson, whose experience, though the reverse of his grandfather's, mirrors its emotional intensity. Gave us yet another excuse to talk about the fact that mommy and daddy are, unlike Sava, strangers in this land.
** The Seven Silly Eaters by Mary Ann Hoberman: we got this book at Sava's insistence, because we had already taken it out once a few months ago, and it is worth every bit of rereading. It's the perfect book for our household, since its central characters are seven children who each like to eat a lot but they each eat only one thing and in the process drive their mother crazy. It has wonderful rhymes, and a lovely ending which is worth discovering on your own if that is your first time reading it.
** Mirette on the High Wire by Emily Arnold McCully is another nice iteration of the wire-walking theme, which we already encountered with another favorite, The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordecai Gerstein. We use the book to hammer home the message that everything difficult takes a lot of practice, and tonight while reading it Sava said that when he grows up he will make a special wire, "with walls around it," on which one can walk without practicing at all. Ahem.
** Raven by Gerald McDermott is just what it advertises itself to be, a trickster tale from the Pacific Northwest. With illustrations that feature the Native American aesthetic, it tells a lovely myth of the raven stealing the sun form the sky chiefs in order to give it to all other people.
Around Halloween, we also borrowed a bunch of books, some of which Sava liked more than others, and which I will list for future reference for those of you dear readers with little ones:
** The Little Scarecrow Boy by Margaret Wise Brown
**  Pumpkins by Ken Robbins
** Raccoons and Ripe Corn by Jim Arnosky
** The Scarecrow's Hat by Ken Brown
** The Fierce Yellow Pumpkin by Margaret Wise Brown
** The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams
I was going to write about our first encounters with real fairytales this week, but that will have to wait for another post.