"Journey," by Aaron Becker

 Starboy just received the most wonderful book from our neighbors. It's "Journey," by Aaron Becker. Our neighbor went to school with him and has been eagerly awaiting the release of his book. The cover is inviting, and the hardcover under the dust jacket is beautifully embossed with a symbol of journey from the book.

 Part "Where the Wild Things Are," part "Calvin and Hobbes," and part "Harold and the Purple Crayon," this wonderful story is told through stunning illustrations and one's own imagination. I think even the youngest children can relate to the disappointment that starts the story, and the wonder the girl creates to escape it.

 Becker offers lush worlds for his character to explore that are both intimate and infinite.

He draws details that are fantastic and meticulous—while also vague enough to stimulate your own dreaming.

The story is filled with courage and drama, but ultimately is about connection.

I don't want to give away too much here, but this book is worth an impulse buy right now, and will be a great holiday gift if you're someone who thinks ahead. Starboy made me read it to him twice, immediately, which is the same as saying "Two thumbs up!" for a nearly-four-year-old.

There's a wonderful trailer on Becker's (amazing) website. The NYT Book Review is calling it a "masterpiece," and it's receiving starred reviews from pretty much anyone who sees it.  I completely agree.

What a wonderful surprise!

On: the joys of learning to read

Starboy is checking out his kids' meal at the San Diego Zoo. The mac and cheese came with several bags of not-great, but not-too-terrible, over-processed snacky things. (Including already-sliced apples with a sell-by date at least a week away. Yech.)

"What are these, Mama?" he asks, holding up a very kid-friendly black package.

"What do you think they are?"

"I think they are animal cookies!" Big smile.

"Why do you think they are animal cookies?"

"Well," he reasons. "The picture is animals, and I see here a /k/ for 'cookies.'" He points to the "c" at the beginning of the word.

We're doomed.

Reading tent

 I'm just smitten with all of the ideas for play tents that are going around. I made one last fall for Starboy's fairy party (then forgot to photograph it), with the purpose of bringing it inside for reading. But there's a dresser and a mountain of outgrown clothes in that back corner, that I haven't been able to resolve. Long story for another day.

 But Starboy requested a "fort coming down from the ceiling," and I've been under the weather for a few days so he's been feeling a little neglected. So: The fort goes in front of the dresser and the mountain of outgrown clothes. And the Beatrix Potter festival begins.

Butterfly fairies flutter around inside. You know you want a tent like this.

Sparkle Stories has an ebook, a contest and a free story!

We don't do electric books with Starboy (though I enjoy reading them), but for those of you who do, Sparkle Stories now has a line of Kindle stories! Plus crafts by Annie Reichmann, of Alphabet Glue and Rhythm of the Home fame! It's a can't-miss combination. Check it out!

Sand writing

 Starboy has been expressing an interest in letter names and how they are formed. He is hesitant to learn how to write the letters; I think he is worried that they will not be formed as perfectly as what mama makes.

So I created a chance for him to make some imperfect letters, using fine colored sand. (Michaels, $1.99)
I brought out some Montessori letters for him to copy, but that lasted about two minutes, and then he just started drawing.

He had a blast with it. I think this one will come out frequently.

From the mind of a toddler

Here are some things I discovered while Starboy was playing on his own.

Starboy loves the little plastic tiles from the Rummikub game. It looks like he discovered that they are the same width as the notches in the playmat.

Starboy is into matching lately. I noticed he ransacked the Velveteen Rabbit story bag, and matched up the characters with the picture on the endsheet of the book.

Ummm...? It turns out the Squinkies bubbles fit exactly on the cabinet knobs.

 Lego crane transporter with ramp.

Zoo animal transporter. Vehicles figure prominently on a daily basis.

Song of the Snowdrop Fairy

We've been reading seasonal fairy stories to calm down at bedtime and fight the cortisol surge when we miss the time target (which apparently is 6:30 pm. How we are supposed to manage that, I don't know.). Starboy likes reading with the headlamp.

After just a couple of days of this, Starboy opened the book and said in a careful, tiny voice,

"Deep sleeps the winter!

Spring is far away...

Fair maids of February

Stand in the snow."

Another favorite is the Spindleberry Fairy, with her red berries, but he has not learned her song yet.

Nature Images on Your Bookshelf

The New York Times recently commented on a study of Caldecott books that featured a natural setting or wild animals. KJ Dell'Antonia writes:

"What they found probably doesn’t surprise any parent or child for whom the world of “Blueberries for Sal” is completely alien: where once children’s books offered essentially equal illustrative doses of built and natural environments, natural environments 'have all but disappeared' in the last two decades."

Take a look at your own bookshelves—what images are you offering your children? It's an interesting thing to think about, isn't it. Starboy's favorite books feature trains and cars. He loves to read a model airplane magazine. Although I'm glad to say that new interests include a tomten who guards a farm, a hedgehog and a knit hat, and flower fairies.

I would guess that maybe 40 percent of our current shelf features strong nature images, but some of those also have buildings and "development." And do we read those books 40-50 percent of the time? Sometimes yes—sometimes no.

I do look for books with beautiful illustrations, preferably those created by hand, rather than computer. They are getting harder and harder to find. Nikki McClure's "Mama, Is it Summer Yet?" uses a beautiful scherenschnitte technique, but those bold paper cuts are scanned and color is added digitally.

I think it's important to balance kids' reading experiences with what they are interested in, what is familiar, and what they need to see and learn about – or, in the case of fairies and tomten, just wonder about. Are we, as a society, limiting our children's reading experiences only to the familiar? Or is that just a symptom of urban sprawl overall? How has the decrease in family farming as a lifestyle contributed to what we see and imagine in stories?

Families that embrace Waldorf philosophies at home often host a seasonal Nature Table, to bring the outdoors inside. To some extent this seemed silly to me: We have plenty of the outdoors outdoors, why should we have it indoors as well? Ah, to keep in touch. To feel its texture. To remember the sweet scents. To be inspired by life's rhythms and cycles.

And so it should be with reading. Or we will sterilize ourselves with the unmindful wandering that obligations and "progress" enticingly encourage.

Can you recommend books that your family enjoys, whose stories touch on nature?