Preparing for the Preparation Days of Lent

Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, is Wednesday, March 2nd, this year. Easter Sunday falls on April 17th. One good thing to do for the Lenten days of fasting and preparation leading up to Resurrection Sunday is to choose a book (or two) to read, one that prepares your heart and leads you into repentance and celebration.

Julie at Happy Catholic has a list of fiction books that would help to form your heart and mind during this time of year.

Observing Lent, a Semicolon list. Not a book list, this post just gives some ideas for observing Lent as a family. It makes me nostalgic for the days when I had children at home with whom to observe these activities and reminders.

Inspirational Classics. This link goes to a set of posts that I set out to write in 2011. It was supposed to be 40 Inspirational Classics for Lent, but I only managed to write about 15 or so books. Still, the ones I did write about are some of the greats.

What are you reading for Lent? I’m continuing with my Cultivating Beauty and Truth study, re-reading The Hobbit and reading Hearts of Fire, a book of stories of modern day persecuted Christian women who are amazing in the courage they demonstrate. Only God.

It’s May!

May3

Merry, rollicking, frolicking May
Into the woods came skipping one day;
She teased the brook till he laughed outright.
And gurgled and scolded with all his might;
She chirped to the birds and bade them sing
A chorus of welcome to Lady Spring;
And the bees and butterflies she set
To waking the flowers that were sleeping yet.
She shook the trees till the buds looked out
To see what the trouble was all about,
And nothing in Nature escaped that day
The touch of the life-giving bright young May.

~George MacDonald

Miss Flora McFlimsey’s May Day by Mariana.

I’m a day or two late and a dollar short, as the saying goes, but this vintage picture book by the author who went by the one name Mariana (Marian Foster Curtiss) is a perfect pick for reading aloud anytime in May. “[T]he nineteenth-century poem by William Allen Butler about the original Miss Flora McFlimsey . . . was her inspiration for the Miss Flora stories.” The poem is worth reading in its own right, but it really has little to do with Mariana’s creation of a doll character, Miss Flora McFlimsey, who stars in her own series of nine mostly holiday-themed books:

Miss Flora McFlimsey and the Baby New Year
Miss Flora McFlimsey’s Birthday
Miss Flora McFlimsey’s Christmas Eve
Miss Flora McFlimsey’s Easter Bonnet
Miss Flora McFlimsey’s Halloween
Miss Flora McFlimsey and Little Laughing Water
Miss Flora McFlimsey and the Little Red Schoolhouse
Miss Flora McFlimsey’s May Day
Miss Flora McFlimsey’s Valentine

Miss Flora McFLimsey’s May Day tells the story of how Miss Flora wakes up on the first of May feeling ugly, unloved, and unwanted, and through a series events in which she is given opportunity to help others, improves her mood and has a happy day. The book isn’t preachy at all, and yet it teaches a lesson: we can gain contentment through serving others and forgetting about ourselves.

I haven’t actually read the other Miss Flora McFlimsey books, but I would think they would be worth seeking out, simply on the strength of this one May Day book alone. The lovely watercolor illustrations, also by Mariana, add to the book’s sense of classic delight and wonder.

Do you know of any other picture books or poems that specifically refer to the moth of May?

The Swing by Robert Louis Stevenson

Apr6

The Swing by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Julie Morstad. Simply Read Books, 2012.

This board book edition of Stevenson’s classic poem was recommended in the Reshelving Alexandria Facebook group in a discussion of picture book poetry books. I’m pleased to have found a copy to order for my own library.

The illustrations in this one, as you can see from the cover, are wistful, childlike, and enticing—just like the poem. The colors and natural landscape are spring-like, and the children, boys and girls, are multicultural and just sweet-looking. The poem is found in Stevenson’s A Child’s Garden of Verses and in many other children’s collections, but I’ll reproduce it here for your enjoyment and convenience.

The Swing
BY ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON

How do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do!

Up in the air and over the wall,
Till I can see so wide,
Rivers and trees and cattle and all
Over the countryside—

Till I look down on the garden green,
Down on the roof so brown—
Up in the air I go flying again,
Up in the air and down!

Now I want to go find a swing and celebrate the sixth day of poetry month by swinging and reciting.

I’m reviewing and highlighting poetry picture books this month on Semicolon in honor of Poetry Month. What’s your favorite poetry-related picture book?

From “Little Pictures of Japan”, My Travelship by Olive Beaupre Miller

Apr5

I think this would be a lovely idea for a spring celebration, perhaps sometime during April, poetry month:

“Of Poetry Picnics and Fireflies”

“In Japan they sometimes have poetry picnics. When Master Sogi has an especially fine flowering tree, a cherry perhaps, all pink and with a wealth of bloom, he invites his friends to a party. There they come in their holiday robes and little clattering wooden sandals. They walk about the tree and admire it, they drink in its fragrance, and tea is served to them under its branches. Then they sit down and begin to scribble narrow , little slips of paper. By and by each one has written a poem in pretty Japanese characters, and after he has read it to the others, he goes and fastens it to a branch of the tree in honor of which the party was given.
That is pleasure enough, certainly, for one afternoon, but if the guests stay until nightfall it is possible that Master Sogi will provide for them another lovely game, that they may enjoy the beauties of Nature still further. When it is quite dark, he will let loose hundreds of captive fireflies in the garden, and as the pretty things flit here and there, showing their airy, elfin lights in the dusk, the guests will chase them hither and yon, over little bridges, in among the flowers, around quaint stone statues, about the tea house. All the garden will be gay with flitting forms and silver laughter, till the fireflies lose themselves in the moon-beams.”

I would show you the pictures in the book of the poetry-tree and the children chasing fireflies, but I’m not good at photography or posting pictures. You will just have to find your own copy of this delightful book of Japanese poetry and stories to share with the children in your life under your own poetry tree.

Saint Valentine retold and illustrated by Robert Sabuda

Feb14

Although Saint Valentine was probably a real man, martyred sometime during the third century (c.269 AD), separating fact from legend in regard to his life and work is not likely to be successful. Primary, contemporary sources for his biography do not exist. So biographers of the man who came to be identified with the holiday celebrated on February 14th, Valentine’s Day, are more storytellers and makers of legend than anything else. Illustrator and author Robert Sabuda gives us his own version of the story of Saint Valentine in this beautiful picture book, suitable for all ages.

Sabuda chooses to portray Valentine as a Christian doctor whose treatment to attempt healing of his jailer friend’s blind daughter have been unsuccessful. Nevertheless, Valentine continues to apply healing ointment to the girl’s eyes, and the jailer, the daughter, and Valentine become good friends. When Christians are blamed for “an uprising in the streets”, Valentine is arrested and sentenced to die. He sends a note and a flower to his friend, the little blind girl, and the girl is healed and able to see the yellow flower that is Valentine’s dying gift.

That’s the essence of the story as Sabuda tells it, but of course, his text is much more vibrant than my summary. And the beautiful mosaic illustrations that accompany the story are both inspiring and evocative of the early Christian era in which the story takes place. Sabuda’s story of Saint Valentine would be a lovely addition to the holiday celebration for young and old alike.

For more Valentine’s Day celebration suggestions, check out these links:

A Slice of Life by Edgar A.Guest.

Real Romance for Grown-up Women.

Anatomy of a Marriage: Books about Love and Marriage.

NOTE: I’m writing a series of posts on some of my favorite picture book biographies. For more picture book biography suggestions, check out the following:
Read Aloud Revival: Picture Book Biographies We Love
Redeemed Reader: Picture Book Biographies Booklist
In addition, I have my own list of more than 100 picture book biographies that I am willing to share with you for a contribution of just $5.00 payable via PayPal. This list is currently in a Word document, unfinished and still under construction. If you are interested in purchasing a copy of the list, just email me at sherryDOTpray4youATgmailDOTcom.

Christmas in Philadelphia, PA, c.1962

Dec4

Carolyn Haywood’s Betsy books and her other books about Little Eddie and other children growing up in mid-twentieth century America are a breath of fresh air and a lovely look at the kind of childhood that I actually experienced back in the 1960’s.

In this excerpt from Snowbound with Betsy, Betsy and her friends decide to make a Christmas tree for feeding the birds:

“This is a good place for it,’ said Susan, “because we’ll be able to see it from the window.”

“Yes,” said Betsy. “We’ll be able to see the birds eating the peanut butter.”

“Lucky birds!” said Neddie. “They all get the peanut butter.”

“I love peanut butter,” said Star, longingly.

Susan and Betsy hung the orange cups on the branches of the tree. Neddie helped to hang the apple parings. Finally Betsy and Susan draped several garlands of popcorn from branch to branch, all the way from the top to the bottom of the tree.When they were finished, the children were pleased with the birds’ Christmas tree. They stood and admired it. The bright orange cups against the dark green branches made the tree very gay.

“It looks like a real Christmas tree,” said Susan.

Christmas in Sorrento, Italy, c. 1300

Dec2

“Whatever you do, work at it with your whole being, for the Lord and not for men, because you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as your reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”

The French legend of the little juggler is transplanted to Italy and set in the early Renaissance time period, told and illustrated by the talented Tomie dePaola in The Clown of God. This book is one of those suggested as a part of the Five in a Row picture book curriculum, volume 1. It is also included in the list of Biblioguides’ 25 Picture Books to Read this Christmas.

“Giovanni became very famous, and it wasn’t long before he said good-bye to the traveling troupe and set off on his own.

Up and down Italy he traveled, and although his costumes became more beautiful, he always kept the face of a clown.

Once he juggled for a duke.

Once for a prince!

And it was always the same. First the sticks, then plates, then the clubs, rings and burning torches.

Finally the rainbow of colored balls.

‘And now for the Sun in the Heavens,’ he would shout, and the golden ball would fly higher and higher and crowds would laugh and clap and cheer.”

Tomie DePaola writes beautiful books and illustrates them. Several of his books are about Catholic saints and stories: The Legend of the Poinsettia, The Clown of God, Patrick: Patron Saint of Ireland, Francis: The Poor Man of Assisi, The Lady of Guadalupe, and Mary: The Mother of Jesus. He also has written and published Bible story books including The Miracles of Jesus, and The Parables of Jesus.

Stay tuned tomorrow for another favorite and lovely version of this story.

Christmas on board the Susan Constant, Thames River, England, 1607

Dec1

Young David Warren, an orphan, is sailing before the mast on His Majesty’s Ship, the Susan Constant, bound for Virginia to start a new colony, Jamestown:

“Christmas Eve, they were still wind-bound in the Thames, but David had found his sea-legs. When the cook asked for his help, he swaggered to the galley.
‘Hungry, lad?’ the cook asked.
‘Yes!’ David declared. ‘And I can eat anything that holds still!’
The cook was roasting a pig for the gentlemen aft. Even the fo’c’s’le would have baked hash and steamed pudding with raisins.
From some hiding place the crews brought out holly and evergreens to decorate the ships. That night battle lanterns flared in the riggings and fiddlers played. The men on the Discovery began to sing ‘God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen.’ David heard Jem’s voice rise, high and clear. The others stopped singing, and Jem finished the song alone.
Captain Newport lifted his trumpet and hailed the pinnace. ‘Have that man sing again!’
Jem’s voice, with a more piercing sweetness than David had ever heard before, began ‘The Coventry Carol.’
‘Lul-lay, Thou little tiny Child . . .’
Blindly, David turned and edged his way aft to a place of hiding in the shadow of the high poop. He crouched there, shuddering. All the Christmas Eves he had ever known, all his memories of his father, tore at his throat. He heard footsteps, and fought to stifle his sobs. He bit his hand until he tasted blood.”

from This Dear-Bought Land by Jean Latham.

Christmas in Repulse Bay, Canada, 1955

Nov29

Baseball Bats for Christmas by Michael Arvaarluk Kusugak, illustrated by Vladyana Krykorka.

Arvaarluk, the narrator of this story, is a seven year old Inuit boy who lived in 1955 in the far north, “way up at the north end of Hudson Bay—smack dab on the Arctic Circle,” where there are no “standing-ups”, commonly known as trees. And then one day the supply helicopter brought something rather strange just in time for Christmas.

“But there were the things he had brought, sitting on the snowbank in front of Arvaaluk’s hut. They were green and had spindly branches all over.
‘What are they?’ Jack asked.
‘Standing-ups,’ Peter said, confidently. ‘I have seen them in books at the church. Father Didier showed them to us.’
‘What are they for?’ Yvo asked.
Peter shrugged his shoulders and replied, ‘I don’t know.’
They did not have too long to wonder about them, of course. Christmas was coming. There were things to be done.There was church to go to at midnight.”

I love this true (?) story from author Michael Arvaarluk Kusugak’s Canadian childhood memories of Christmas in the north of Canada. It gives children a way to see that not everyone celebrates Christmas in exactly the same way and that not everyone sees even the simple things we use and enjoy every day in exactly the same way. Creativity and thinking outside the box are valuable aspects of what we get from the stories we read. In fact, this one reminds me of the family stories of Patricia Polacco and Cynthia Rylant, except this one is set in a place that is entirely foreign to most American and even Canadian children.

Christmas in Mexico, 1960

Nov28

The Year of the Christmas Dragon by Ruth Sawyer.

At first glance, this Christmas story seems to be set in the mountains of China, home of many dragons, including the King Dragons. In fact, the story does begin with a boy named Chin Li in China:

“He could see dragons everywhere: immense, ancient dragons; lazy, fat dragons; small scrawny dragons. Except for size they all looked alike. They had shining green scales covering their bodies and tails. They had black spots here and there, and their noses and claws were black. The splendid part of them was their wings; these were a bright red, and when they spread their wings Chin Li could see they were lined with gold.”

However, Chin Li and a certain dragon with whom he becomes friendly are infected with wanderlust, and they travel together across the ocean to a new land, Mexico. And there the dragon falls asleep and sleeps for a very long time, only to awaken to another friendship with a Mexican boy named Pepe. And as Christmas approaches, Pepe tells the dragon about the wonderful true story of Christmas:

“For a number of days Pepe came to the barranca shouting with the joy of the Christmas. Many things had to be explained to the dragon. Angels, for instance. Pepe told about the shining light about their heads, about their wings, white as a dove’s, about the heavenly music they could make. Pepe’s eyes shone with some of the light as he told, and his voice caught some of the heavenly music. He had to tell about the star that shone the first Christmas Eve. No one had ever told him how large and bright it had been. ‘It must have been brighter than the moon,’ Pepe explained. ‘And truly it must have been larger than the largest rocket ever sent into the sky.'”

How Pepe’s dragon becomes the Christmas Dragon and how the year of the dragon’s wakening becomes The Year of the Christmas Dragon complete this tale that dragon lovers will find enchanting. The reading level and interest level of the story is about on par with other dragon tales such as My Father’s Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett or The Reluctant Dragon by Kenneth Grahame.

For Christmas giving, pair this book with a stuffed dragon toy or a dragon costume, and you will delight any dragon fan below the age of 10.

Semicolon

Books we must have though we lack bread.

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