Earthly Joyride

After Christmas

2012-01-24T07:20:00.002+11:00

Well, my Christmas posting every day did not really happen. Too many birthdays, end of year celebrations, Christmas preparations, Christmas sewing and cooking. I really should know myself - and my usual Decembers - better! So here are a few random photos of the Christmas Advent activities we did, with future posts to discuss all manner of wonderful picture books!

Christmas lanterns and Santa sacks - days 7 and 8

2011-12-08T17:41:00.001+11:00

Oops, missed yesterday - too much going on! Yesterday we were going to make Christmas lanterns like these ones but there was too much basketball and playdough happening. Another day. But our willow branches are starting to look lovely with the Advent stars hanging on them.

Today we pulled out the Santa sacks, one for each of us. I bought the plain bags a few years ago from Andrea at Flora and Ceres and embroidered our initials.

Setting up the nativity - day 6

2011-12-06T20:18:00.001+11:00

Today we read Martin Waddell's "Room for a little one", one of my favourite Christmas stories. The story and the illustrations are gentle, and my kids enjoy hearing the traditional story of the nativity told from the animals' viewpoint. We are always repeating the title, "There's always room for a little one here!" as someone tries to squeeze in on the couch or find a spare knee!

The Christmas star in the Advent calendar for today suggested we should set up our nativity. When my Grandad died about eight years ago, Mum gave me his old nativity set. We set it up for a few years but each year another piece would literally crumble in our hands. So a couple of years ago we bought a beautiful wooden set from Honeybee Toys. We use the kids' farmhouse as the stable, and today they pulled out the fairy/farm playmat I made for them a couple of years ago. (Not really sure how many fairy flower rings there were in Bethlehem!) Tom found our farmhouse animals and aded them to the stable too, even the wonky sheep.

When we chose our wooden nativity set, I wanted one that the kids could play with, one that wasn't precious or just for looking at on a high shelf. Annalise made up her own nativity story - Mary, Joseph and Jesus were lost by our windowsill - but, wait, wait for it - their guardian angel came flying, flying, flying all over the family room until she found them and showed them the way to the stable.

I hope Grandad would approve of this modern version ...

Little Christmas tree - day 5

2011-12-05T23:07:00.001+11:00

Keeping it simple today - we found a place for the little Christmas tree.

Christmas carols - day 4

2011-12-04T17:20:00.001+11:00

Twenty minutes last night searching for the Christmas CD. One minute to put it in the CD player. Thirty seconds for the kids to open the fourth window in the Advent calendar this morning. One second for me to press play. Voila - our Christmas carols!

Christmas wreath - day 3

2011-12-03T20:55:00.001+11:00

Our Christmas wreath is very simple - a green one with a big red bow and a stem of red berries wrapped around it. We had good intentions to hang it on the door today, but a family birthday kept us busy. So here leans our wreath, on the hall table, about three feet away from the front door. Maybe tomorrow ...

Lighting the Christmas candle - day 2

2011-12-02T06:28:00.001+11:00

Annalise opened the Advent calendar window this morning - and there was an invitation to light the Christmas candle. We did light it for breakfast this morning but we will light it for dinner every night and perhaps for bedtime stories. The scent is divine!

Christmas Advent calendar - day 1

2011-12-01T06:28:00.001+11:00

Last year we did something a little different with our Advent calendar. Instead of filling it with the usual lollies, chocolates and small treats, I placed a cardboard Christmas shape with a string for hanging and a message. The message gave the kids an idea for doing something Christmasy.

This year, we're going to do the same, and I'm going to blog about it each day. (Is that a little ambitious - a blog post every day in December? A December which already seems to be filled to the brim with family birthdays and end-of-year gatherings?) Wish me luck!

I have already cut out star shapes using a Christmas biscuit cutter, and hole-punched them with a string for hanging. My three kids will take it in turns to open a box in the Advent Calendar each day (thank goodness 24 is divisible by 3!) and can then hang the star on our willow branches in a vase. I have written all the Christmas ideas on the stars, with a few blanks for flexibility. Some of the ideas are very simple, so we can do them in five minutes before school. Other ideas are for more leisurely weekend crafting.

I am hoping this will spread out the Christmas cooking, decorating, eating, crafting and giving, and build up - in a gentle way - the Christmas excitement.

This was all inspired by Madeleine L'Engle's "The twenty-four days before Christmas". I loved her book "A wrinkle in time" and have recently read her wonderful series for young teenagers about the Austin family. This Christmas book is about the Austin family but can be read as a story alone and is suitable for younger readers. Vicky, the main character who tells the story, is seven. I'm planning on reading the first chapter to my bunch tonight - although it might turn out to be a book just for Tom (nearly eight).

I'd love to hear what you are doing for Advent!

The Qantas strike as explained by a picture book

2011-11-01T14:17:00.000+11:00

The Qantas strike has meant we are still on holidays in sunny Queensland, unable to fly home. Isn't that devastating - another day or two or three of holidays?

At the fabulous local bookshop here, I bought a picture book called "Click Clack Moo, Cows that Type" by Doreen Cronin. Intriguing title, isn't it? Farmer Brown has a problem - he has cows that can type demanding letters. And they have threatened to hold back their milk if their demands for electric blankets aren't met. And the cows are typing letters for the hens as well - the hens are witholding their eggs. Farmer Brown calls on Duck, a neutral party. There are more typed letters and negotiation until the terms are settled.

Can you guess where I'm going with this? Yes, you can use this story to explain the Qantas strike to kids! Unhappy workers (3 unions/cows and hens), demands (equal pay/electric blankets), strike action (cancelled flights/no milk or eggs) and neutral party (Duck aka Fair Work)... You can see the similiarities, can't you?

And after all that, it is just such a fun book to read aloud - Click clack moo, Click clack moo, Clickety clack moo!

Meanwhile, I'm just going to sit by the pool, read this story again to any of my kids who aren't in the water and wait for the cows and Farmer Brown to stop typing letters and sort our flights out ...

BIG kids magazine

2011-10-17T00:15:00.001+11:00

BIG kids magazine is here - a fabulous magazine for kids which values the art of children alongside that of artists. I have been lucky enough to be involved with BIG as a copy editor - a wonderfully creative collaboration with Jo and Lilly. But even though my kids have seen the magazine in draft form and enjoyed some of the activities when they were still in proof form, they were so thrilled to see and hold the 'real' magazine!

So far we have built boat parts, cooked artcakes, coloured in the artprint, shown our bird's nest photo featured in the miniature art gallery, painted birds outside and read the 'First Flight' story over and over again! And there is still a lot more to discover!

One of my favourite things about BIG is that for every copy sold, another copy is provided to a child who may not usually have access to such a resource.

I am also enjoying our conversations about exactly what bravery, imagination and generosity means ...

The second issue will be available in February.

Jo and Lilly interviewed me on their BIG blog - please go and visit!

Our awesome books

2011-09-29T22:15:00.001+10:00

I had heard about this book by Dallas Clayton, "An Awesome Book" but had never been able to track it down. Bookshops told me it would be available in March 2012. But I knew that it had actually been published! It wasn't until Katie and Lou at We heart books explained to me that Dallas had self-published his book, but had subsequently signed a contract with Harper Collins to publish "An Awesome Book" with them. A-ha!

Luckily for me, Katie and Lou have limited copies at their online bookshop, We heart books. They also have a wonderful selection of really unique and special books. Such good quality and so many books I had never heard of - and I do spend a fair bit of time in the children's section of bookshops! I bought a couple of fabulous books for Annalise's birthday from them - that's for a later post - and they arrived immediately, beautifully presented.

Once Tom, Annalise and I had read "Awesome", we dreamed a dream as big as big could ever dream to be ... and we made our own awesome books! I spent an hour one night, writing the prompts for their blank books, based on the ideas in Dallas' book, and left them out on the table for them to discover in the morning. The photos tell the rest of the story. (The food in the last photos were to make magic watermelon boats ... maybe ours weren't magical but they were certainly edible!)

Tom's dream is to be a fabulous basketball player. I would suspect Annalise dreams of being a princess. When I was small, I told Dad my dream was to be a Mummy and an Avon lady ... so far, I've only achieved one of my childhood dreams ...!

If anyone would like a list of the awesome prompts I wrote for our books, please contact me and I can email you the list. You can also go into a draw to win a copy of "An Awesome Book" by responding to the launch issue of BIG magazine - more on this wonderful new magazine soon!

Silhouette pictures for Father's Day

2011-09-05T21:08:00.000+10:00

My husband received a pair of slippers for Father's Day from the kids because his old pair were nearly trotting themselves off to the rubbish bin - too many holes even for ventilation purposes! But we also made him a present that was just for him - three silhouette pictures of the kids.

Brooke at Inchmark has made beautiful silhouettes in many different forms and her instructions are clear to follow and inspiring. I took an individual, profile photo of the kids - not easy when the two-year-old wants to wriggle and look in every other direction! I printed the photos, cut around the heads, then traced them onto black cardboard, cut them out and framed them.

Lots of wonderful Dads in these picture books. Dads who build cubby houses, carry small boys on their shoulders to provide a different viewpoint of the world, look for lost toys, care for injured birds, realise the importance of bedtime kisses, put up with grumpy behaviour ... The wonderful character of Dads represented in these picture books, just as in real life, are far more unique and individual than a pair of slippers!

Book Week in Australia

2011-08-23T20:32:00.000+10:00

It is the Children's Book Council of Australia Annual Book Week! Lots of events going on - I have already visited a fabulous bookshop, a new (to me) local online bookshop, a school book fair and am looking forward to kinder duty later in the week with a 'come as your favourite book character' theme!

The books in the photos below were purchased at Books Illustrated, a beautiful Melbourne bookshop in Middle Park. I did buy most of them as presents for my kids' birthdays - I hope I can keep them hidden for that long ...

As you can see, a couple of them were signed by the author or illustrator, which always makes a book feel more personal to me.

Books Illustrated was open to the public last Saturday for National Bookshop Day. Usually, they are open by appointment only, as they focus now on travelling exhibitions. They specialise in Australian children's books, and are a wonderful showcase for picture book illustrations - you can buy many original and limited illustrations there. Lots of wonderful stories, beautiful illustrations - and I was met at the door by two dogs and offered a cup of tea (not by the dogs!) - what more can you ask for in a bookshop?

Alphabet Glue and Monet

2011-08-18T08:08:00.000+10:00

I recently came across an art and literature magazine for kids - via BIG Kids magazine - which just made my heart sing! Alphabet Glue is created by Annie Riechmann, of Bird and Little Bird blog. It's an affordable, downloadable magazine which you can print out - there are two issues available now. We made three activities within three days of reading them!

Alphabet Glue includes suggested reading lists for kids, print-outs for library catalogue cards, bookmarks, reading records and story cards, as well as instructions for book-making projects and detective activities.

Our story lanterns were based on Laurence Anholt's "The Magical Garden of Claude Monet". We loved the idea of a circular studio room. Monet tells Julie, his young visitor that he is trying to paint the most enormous water garden in the world. When you stand in the middle, you will feel as if you have dived into a pool.

There is factual information about Monet at the end of the book. Annalise's favourite page - below - opens out to present Monet's pond. The brush marks glowed like flowers in a garden. This picture book is quite long - more for younger primary school students than kinder kids - you might need to turn it into a "chapter" book and read it in two or three sections for small ones.

Laurence Anholt has written a series about famous artists and his books tell a lovely story, while giving seemingly incidental snippets about the artists. Anholt illustrated all of these artist books - imagine being able to imitate the artistic style of not only Monet but Picasso, van Gogh, Degas and Matisse as well!

Tom used a jungle theme for his lantern, Annalise a garden. Annie's instructions were simple to follow, and the kids feel really proud of their lanterns, especially as we leave them on the table and light them for dinner.

Thinking these might make fabulous Christmas gifts for those special grandparents and teachers ...

Zoo art

2011-08-09T21:30:00.000+10:00

Sometimes literature and art just need to be simple. Less is best. "My heart is like a zoo" is one of Joe's favourite books. One of his party tricks is to imitate all the animal noises - such a rite of passage for a two-year-old!

The short amount of text on each page is just enough to hold his attention. The similes are unique and imaginative - rugged as a moose or bothered as a bull with a hornet in its hair or peaceful as a portly walrus lounging on a towel.

The illustrations are made of heart shapes - Michael Hall used hundred of hearts to create his zoo animals. The last page is gorgeous - one of those "a-ha" moments for adult and child readers alike. Won't spoil it for you! Annalise just had to have a go at creating her own heart collages.

I traced around our set of heart-shaped biscuit cutters on construction paper, cut them out and then Annalise glued them on scrap paper.

I'm not sure that her animals are anatomically correct - they are her "made-up animals, you know" but they're as wonderfully bright as Michael Hall's animals.

More zoo books here and here.

Melbourne outings

2011-07-22T11:42:00.003+10:00

It's been a while since I've posted. But even though I've been busy with editing projects and writing courses, we've still been reading, of course!

Pamela Allen's book, 'Alexander's Outing', is set in Sydney but here in Melbourne, we have taken it to heart. During our own outings in the recent school holidays, we have quoted extensively from Alexander's mother, "Stay close, take care!" Most of the time it was a gentle reminder to my kids - but sometimes it was a rather loud or anxious quack!

Alexander and his mother and four brothers and sisters set out in search of adventure. But unlike his brothers and sisters, Alexander did not stay close or take care. So of course he gets into trouble, and it takes many interested onlookers and a brilliant idea to rescue him.

There are gorgeous, active illustrations which show all the drama and fun and problem-solving. Lots of white space so the flapping wings really stand out.

My two-year-old loves ducks, and loves this book because of all the "quacks". Remember this post? We might have to make some yellow playdough again. Or perhaps see whether Alexander has meandered down to a local Melbourne park?

The best blueberry recipe

2011-03-01T10:01:00.000+11:00

On this first day of Autumn, I am looking back wistfully to summer's blueberry bounty to bring you our favourite blueberry recipe and our favourite blueberry book. Yes, of course, there is a blueberry book - 'Blueberry Girl' by Neil Gaiman!

It is the perfect present for a baby girl, or a girl of any age really. Who doesn't need to be blessed like this: Grant her the wisdom to choose her path right, free from unkindness and fear.

Or perhaps like this: Truth is a thing she must find for herself, precious and rare as a pearl. Give her all these and a little bit more ... gifts for a blueberry girl.

I love how the blueberry girl - a different looking girl throughout the illustrations - is watched over by ladies of light and ladies of darkness and ladies of never you mind. (Annalise and I love to say that line aloud - go on, say it aloud for yourself!)

The story is a prayer, a wish for the unborn daughter of the author. One of the first illustrations by Charles Vess is of a pregnant woman.

Whether you picture your daughter or your six-year-old neighbour or your sixteen year-old niece, this is a beautiful book to read aloud to a special girl.

And this is a beautiful recipe to share! This scone is meant to look rustic and to be devoured within minutes. We have cooked it twice this week for friends - it is best served immediately so I tend to cook it when I invite friends and family to our place. It is also a child-friendly recipe - both in the cooking and eating! And while my daughter is the one most interested in cooking, it is my two blueberry sons who always ask for second helpings of this dish!

Blueberry Scone (adapted from a recipe by Bill Granger from an old Delicious magazine)

Ingredients
250g plain flour
1 tbs caster sugar
2.5 tsp baking powder
100g unsalted butter, chopped
2 eggs, lightly beaten
125 ml cream
100g blueberries, tossed in a little bit of flour
an extra egg, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Line a baking tray with baking paper.

Add the sifted flour, sugar, baking powder and a pinch of salt to the food processor and pulse briefly. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture becomes coarse crumbs.

Tip the mixture into a bowl and carefully mix in the 2 eggs and cream - don't overmix the batter. Gently stir in the blueberries.

Turn the dough onto the baking tray and mound into a circle, about an inch and a half high. (It is better to go flatter rather than taller so your scone doesn't burn on the outside while still gooey inside).

Divide the scone into 8 wedges with a knife but don't cut all the way to the bottom. Brush with the extra beaten egg. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden. Serve immediately with butter. Enjoy!

"Come over to play at the Childhood 101 We Play link up."

Castle stories

2011-02-15T09:30:00.000+11:00

Knights, princesses and dragons - it doesn't matter how old you are, castle playing is always fun. Our wooden castle has seen several jousts, medieval quests and rescues. Many a dragon has been spotted flying overhead or sneakily lurking around the turrets. The king and queen have told their stories and been entertained in turn. The valiant knights have shown remarkable chivalry. Horses have galloped through the drawbridge, just before it has been pulled up. Occasionally a lego figure or a zoo animal finds its way along the musty corridors, and the knights merely nod in passing.

One of our favourite knight stories is "Small Knight and George" by Ronda Armitage. Small Knight is told by his dad:

that it is time for Small Knight to have his first suit of armour and his first horse and his first shield and his first sword and to go out to fight his first fierce dragon.

But Small Knight doesn't even know what a dragon looks like, let alone how to fight one. Small Knight didn't feel big and brave; he felt little and frightened.

On his journey he meets several people who answer his request for a fierce dragon sighting with the same phrase - "Don't talk to me about fierce dragons ... are you sure you want to fight a very fierce dragon?"

Of course, our small hero's confidence wanes with every negative conversation. Finally he meets a small displaced creature whose home has been taken over by fierce dragons. Together they turn back home to the castle, to be met by frightened shrieks. Can you guess why?

Lots to love about this book - fabulous repetitive phrases, encouraging story of feeling brave and facing your fear and detailed pictures of castle life by Arthur Robins.

It doesn't matter how many stories of brave knights or fierce dragons you have heard - kids are very good at imagining their own tales of quests and adventures!

"Come over to play at the Childhood 101 We Play link up."

Dreaming BIG

2011-02-11T06:43:00.002+11:00

Our family nest of five is flying haphazardly through February - new routines for school, kinder and work. There is a little bit of nudging, shoving, pecking, some very excited flapping and singing, and yet quite a bit of soothing ruffled feathers, as everyone adjusts to their new rhythm.

We did manage to find time in the last week of the school holidays to make our family collage - inspired by BIG.

BIG is a brand new magazine, coming out later this year. It's about art and creativity and kids - three of my favourite things! The bird gallery there looks amazing - it's very inspiring to see the creative work of kids presented beautifully next to an artist's interpretation of the same theme. Tom, Annalise and I spent two afternoons crafting our birds and their nest, and they feel very proud that their work is featured on the BIG blog.

There's still time for kids to draw, paint, sculpt or write about the theme of birds - any photos sent in by Monday February 14th will be posted on Jo and Lilly's BIG blog.

Seven steps to create your own art gallery

2011-02-06T22:01:00.001+11:00

Your own art gallery might sound ambitious but with a few children, twenty minutes before dinner, a couple of hot weather days (or rainy days), you will be charging admission prices before you know it!

1. Visit a gallery
During the school holidays, we visited the Heide Museum of Modern Art. We were all impressed by an exhibition called Freehand: Recent Australian Drawing.

2. Clear the walls
Then we came home to our empty pinboard, emptied of school and kinder artwork, of Christmas cards and homemade decorations. Can you guess what happened?

3. Find small pockets of time

Our drawing wall evolved day by day. Fifteen minutes here to fill in the grumpy time before dinner. Half an hour after lunch to settle us down. An hour on a hot day with books and paints and pens spread all over the table. Five minutes to quickly catch an idea. One evening I laid out paper and pens on the table, ready to start drawing before breakfast the next day. Sometimes I sat down with Tom and Annalise and drew with them, other times I left them to it.

4. Limit your materials - less is best!

To make it look more cohesive, we stuck to brown artist pens with cream, white or brown paper. We did add watercolour paints for some experimenting towards the end. We imitated Heide and used dressmaking pins to tack our art to the wall. I pinned our pictures to the wall every day, so we could admire our growing gallery.

5. Turn to books for inspiration

One of the most useful books we turned to was the 'Usborne art book - Big book of things to draw'. The suggestion for doodling was wonderful. I laid out a huge piece of paper from a cheap roll, splattered paint all over it, painted a few shapes, lines and squiggles and then we spent three rainy days on and off drawing around the table. I had forgotten how relaxing it is to NOT have an agenda, to NOT do something for the sake of being productive. It's so relaxing - you just sit and draw whatever you feel like. And the splodges and splatters do invite you to be more imaginative, more inventive, more creative.

We also followed the Usborne book for drawing city buildings and painting them with watercolour, and Annalise really enjoyed looking at Stephen Michael King's 'Leaf' and splashing green paint over her figures.

6. Themes are fun
Sometimes one of us would suggest a theme - animals, weather etc. I was inspired by Jean at Artful Parent and drew lots of different frames to fill in. (Jean has some amazing art ideas!)

7. Enjoy the gallery!

Once you have filled your wall, it is time for the launch - yes, with a glass of wine and a cheese platter! If you are lucky you may find a local artist to talk you through their work...

"Come over to play at the Childhood 101 We Play link up."

CEO princesses

2011-01-31T21:25:00.000+11:00

If you've read this previous post about princess stories, you'll know I'm not a big fan of the sickly sweet, one-dimensional, sit in a castle and look pretty kind of princess. But if you venture past your part of the forest surrounding the castle and push past the brambles and thorns, you'll find there are many fabulous princess stories to be found.

This one came from the library - "Princesses are not quitters!" by Kate Lum, illustrated by Sue Hellard. Well, I had to read it after glancing at the title!

This is the story of three bored princesses, Princess Allie, Princess Mellie and Princess Libby, who decide that "Servants have all the fun!"

"Now, Mrs Blue," said Allie to the housekeeper, "today we princesses are going to be servants. From now until midnight, we want to be treated just like servants."

This is what they do:

"They had to SWEEP the floors and
WHITEWASH the walls and
DUST the ceiling free of webs and
POLISH the windows and
SCRUB the pots and then go outside and
SWEEP the path and WEED the garden and
SCRUB the fountain and
FEED the hens and
PICK the cabbages for lunch and ....

As you can imagine, the princesses are very tired. But they didn't want anyone to say that princesses are quitters so they kept on working.

My favourite illustration is the kitchen page. Compare the servants' cupboard on the left to the cupboard for the princesses on the right!

The moral of the story? You guessed it - the princesses feel proud of their efforts despite their aching bodies.

Princess Allie declared: "There will now be new rules for servants in this land. Things cannot go on as they are!"

The servants now must sleep in, rest, sit in the garden for an hour and eat whenever they're hungry.

Imagine an organisation where the three bosses are willing to do the work of the lowest paid employee, write a manifesto to ensure all employees have holidays, start work at 9am and rest whenever they need!

Maybe every small girl with either corporate or regal aspirations should read this book - wouldn't you like Princess Allie, Mellie or Libby as your CEO?

How to make an alphabet tree

2011-01-26T21:44:00.000+11:00

This is another fabulous library find - "The alphabet tree" by Leo Lionni. An oldie - published in 1968 - but a goodie.

The alphabet tree is full of letters, living a happy life, hopping from leaf to leaf on the highest twigs. However, when the wind blows, some letters are blown away and the remaining letters are frightened.

Luckily, the word-bug visits and explains that if the letters stick together and form words, they will be strong enough to resist the wind's force. He is right, and the letters, or words, are safe.

A wandering caterpillar sees the words and is confused by their apparent randomness. "Why don't you get together and make sentences - and mean something?"

The caterpillar is pleased with the sentences formed by the letters but encourages them further. "You must say something important." said the caterpillar. Their message - I won't spoil it for you! - is one that is still relevant today.

I love the gentle teaching philosophy behind this book, the slow beginning of understanding letters, then words, then sentences, all building up to the importance of communication and making your words count. This book lends itself beautifully to teaching the alphabet, as well as all the wonderful artwork it could inspire.

So we just had to make our own alphabet tree! And after creating our small version, I've decided that when Annalise is ready to learn the alphabet, I am going to make a huge, moveable one that will not only inspire her learning but be a thing of beauty and joy! Stay tuned, my friends!

Meanwhile, to make our small tree, I painted a cheap canvas with a blue sky and brown earth and added a tree. Then I used a white wax crayon on watercolour paper to draw tiny leaf veins, painted over them with green paint in rough leaf shapes and cut them out. (Note the use of "I" - we were going to do it together but then the kids' distraction grew in direct correlation to my focus!). However, Annalise was back at my side to help stamp the letters. She stamped random letters on the leaves but contributed the word 'peace' to our ideas. We used a spray adhesive to attach the leaves, and added the word-bug and caterpillar as well.

Here's hoping the letters on our alphabet tree live a happy life too!

Paint and paper ladybugs

2011-01-24T17:18:00.001+11:00

A library book and an inspirational blog led to this rainy day art activity last week. Annalise borrowed David Soman's "Ladybug Girl at the beach" from our local library and I found this fabulous idea from Sharilyn's blog at lovely designs.

Following Sharilyn's activity, we used a potato half dipped in red paint to create the ladybug bodies, and then experimented until we found the right ingredient for the black spots. A blueberry! And let me assure you, only one blueberry was used in creating these black spots - eating is a much better use for blueberries, I think!

Annalise did the potato and blueberry stamping, and I painted the black antennae. Then to add some 'floatiness' to our bugs, I cut out red tissue paper into rough wing shapes and Annalise 'blueberried' them and glued them on. We might cut them out to use as cards.

After reading "Ladybug Girl at the beach", I'd like to hunt down the first book in this series. Lulu, the ladybug girl, and her dog, Bingo, explore all that the beach has to offer - except the water. My favourite page is when Lulu lists her top eleven favourite flavours for ice-cream: Chocolate Marshmellow, Cherry Vanilla, Pistachio, Butter Pecan, Peppermint Bon Bon, Peanut Butter Chip, Raspberry Swirl, Peach Pie, Almond Fudge, Royal Banana Surprise, and ... Vanilla. Mmm, yum!

Lulu eventually does go in the sea - to rescue her floating pail.

The water is past her knees, and she isn't afraid at all! "Ladybug Girl isn't afraid of anything!"

Love the spirited affirmation!

Melbourne Museum exhibition

2011-01-18T07:38:00.000+11:00

It’s been a while since I’ve had time to write a post – two editing jobs, Christmas and a 7yo birthday party does take up a little time. But we have certainly been out and about, and of course, doing lots of reading. The influx of books in our home at the moment from the library and Christmas has led to lots of ideas and excursions.

I am a big fan of the author/illustrator Jennie Baker – her long list of picture books includes 'Window', 'The Story of Rosy Dock', 'Home in the Sky', 'The Hidden Forest', among others. Her latest book, 'Mirror', is a wordless picture book, and the original artwork is currently exhibited at the Melbourne Museum.

We were allowed to take photos there, but my photos don’t do justice to Jennie’s collages. Tom and I were in awe at the detail. While we have read 'Mirror' quite a few times (thanks to Grandma for such a wonderful birthday present for Tom!) there is a difference between the photographed pages of the book and the original collages.

'Mirror' is the story of two boys, one living in Sydney, Australia and one living in Morocco, North Africa. The introduction states: The lives of the two boys and their families look very different from each other and they are different. But some things connect them … just as some things are the same for all families no matter where they live.

I have been thinking about making some collages with the kids for a while. I thought I would explain that collages use different materials, natural and artificial. I thought I would offer the idea of making a collaborative collage of our backyard. I thought I would suggest that we draw a picture of our backyard first, then decide which area we could turn into a collage. I thought we would include a figure to represent all of us outside – Brett and Tom playing cricket, Annalise riding her bike, Joe crawling in the dirt and me gardening. I thought we would go outside and collect natural materials, such as twigs, leaves, grass, petals, tiny stones and other odds and ends. I thought we would then go inside and gather up bits of string, fabric, glue, cardboard, paint, paper and other bits and pieces. I thought I had an old canvas we could paint over.

And while I was thinking all of this – Tom just did it. No mucking about, no idle daydreaming, just straight into the creating. He used corrugated cardboard, string, paper, sticky tape and glue to make a figure of himself playing cricket. There, done!

I still have plans to make that backyard collage. Jennie can take up to three years to create her masterpieces – we have the remaining three weeks of the school holidays! I’d also love to mimic the idea of two books in tandem – have a look in a bookstore for 'Mirror' to see the clever design for two individual stories to be read together.

Book borders

2010-11-09T21:35:00.000+11:00

Often it’s only after the 85th reading of a picture book (because we do read them 85 times, don’t we?) that you notice the small details. Like the borders. We hunted down a few fabulous border books and found a whole array of styles.

We found Beatrix Potter’s neat squares, the curling ribbon around a nursery rhyme book, the tattered and torn paged look for a pirate book, an intricate border with highlights and shading, sequins and rick-rack for a felt-illustrated book and a border which included captions.

Tom, Annalise and I had a go at a few borders ourselves. Tom understood the pattern concept and decorated a menu with a squiggly border. I’d like to do this again, in particular with Annalise, as it’s a great way to practise patterns. And while technically I know that patterns are an important mathematical concept, I think it’s just good fun to swish a few paint brushes around!

By the way, Nicole at Planning with Kids asked me to write a guest post for her. I’ve started my Christmas preparations early this year and have written a post on our ten favourite Christmas books – have a look! Nicole has a brilliant blog about organising every aspect of your life so that there is more time to be spent with your kids. There is something for everyone there!

ABC learning with Alison Lester – and so much more

2010-10-20T21:38:00.000+11:00

I attended a workshop with Alison Lester a week or so ago. Alison is a well-known Australian author and illustrator, and very generously shared her experience and knowledge of writing and illustrating children’s picture books. Inspiring is an understatement! She talked us through her various books and explained the ideas behind them, as well as the art techniques. We also saw many examples of the books she makes with children from remote indigenous communities – I’m really looking forward to exploring some of these ideas with my kids. Alison taught us to plan a storyboard and even let us loose with paints, crayons, stencils and watercolour paper!

While our family has many favourite books by Alison, I’ll write about just one today – ‘Alison Lester’s ABC’. This is perfect for Annalise at the moment – at four, she is beginning to recognise letters. Alison’s alphabet book has plenty of detail to keep her interested in the pictures, which of course, are all linked to a particular letter. Even though it is an alphabet book, the story behind it of Alice and Aldo’s day is a lovely thread holding everything together. It's also a fabulous opportunity to introduce the concept of alliteration! It's as simple as this - look, I can see lots of words together that start with the letter G!

Inspired by Jennifer’s post at the write start, Tom and Annalise painted these wooden letters I found at a craft shop. Not surprisingly, it was all about family for Annalise. She painted a letter K blue for me – “because your name starts with a K and blue is your favourite colour!” She also found a J for baby Joe – I didn’t know she could even recognise the letter J.

Such baby steps towards reading and writing, but so very important. Inspiration can start from anywhere ...

Frizzy hair day

2010-10-13T21:12:00.000+11:00

Today was a frizzy hair day. I thought it was just me, but no, I had three random conversations today with other girls who bemoaned the wet weather. And it’s not just ordinary rain, but spring rain, which has a little warmth in the air which just adds to the frizz.

After the first frizzy hair conversation, I knew I wasn’t alone. After the second chat, I realised there were other girls out there who had also washed their hair – what a wasted effort! After the third dialogue, I thought of Ella Kazoo.

Just have a look at her hair! (It would be wonderful to paint a picture of Ella Kazoo, using finger painting to create those amazing locks. The illustrator, Cathy Wilcox, must have really had fun!)

"Ella Kaoo will not brush her hair" is a wonderful rhyming story by Lee Fox. If you have a daughter, who is even slightly reluctant to have her hair brushed, this will make you smile. For Ella refuses to have her hair brushed.

Ella Kazoo will not brush her locks.
She stashes the brush in the drawer with her socks.
She covers it well in the garden with rocks.
Her mother has called her a cunning wee fox,
But Ella Kazoo will not brush her locks!

The rhyming is really clever. It’s not a book with obvious, annoying, clichéd rhyming words – the rhymes enhance the story and offer fabulous vocabulary extension. Your three or four-year-old will now be able to refer to their hair as locks, mane, mop, curls, frizz or tresses!

MasterChef learning

2010-10-05T22:11:00.000+11:00

Gentle readers, be warned, this is not a post about a book. Nevertheless, it is a story, the story of a boy and his sister, a sponge cake, a television show and that old adage, 'Practice makes perfect.'

Let me set the scene. The television show is Junior MasterChef. The sponge cake recipe is from Lucy, one of the young contestants. The action takes place in our kitchen, with the peeling cupboard doors and Scarlet, our red kitchen mixer. The boy, is of course, Tom, with his able assistant, Annalise. And gosh, did we practise this cake.

We cooked it three times in a week - the first time, just for fun. The second time, we baked it for Pop and Nana to say thank you. The third time, we cooked it for Uncle SP - it has to be the most feminine cake my brother has ever eaten for his birthday!

Each time we cooked it, the kids contributed a little more. This is what we learnt:

* Tom read the list of ingredients, Annalise put them on the bench - sibling communication and teamwork - got to love it!
* We mentioned fractions - 1/3 of a cup - I did say mention, way too early to explain them!
* Tom turned the oven on - 175 degrees is halfway between 150 degrees and 200 degrees.
* Annalise was mainly responsible for turning Scarlet on, which meant reading the numbers on the speed dial - pre-school numeracy.
* By the third cake, Tom had learnt to separate eggs, slice strawberries and turn a cake out of a tin. He also assembled this one with Annalise, while I washed the dishes.

And as for me, I learnt to let go of my perfectionist tendencies. I certainly added the strawberry coulis swirls around the first plate as delicately as I could, but Tom decorated the next two plates. I sifted the icing sugar evenly over the first cake, but Annalise was in charge of the next two sprinklings.

And the moral of this story, gentle readers, is that a solo-baked cake in a clean kitchen is not as much fun as two proud kids with strawberry-stained clothes and cream around their mouths in a messy kitchen! Practice does make the imperfect perfect ...

Zoo activities

2010-09-23T21:43:00.000+10:00

“Mummy’s taking us to the zoo today …” I heard this refrain sung over and over and over again yesterday. The singing wore me out, but the trip to the zoo itself was great fun. Before we went, there was a lot of preparation.

- Tom wrote a list of must-see animals.
- Annalise imitated Tom and ‘scribbled’ her list, and then read it to me.
- Tom, Annalise and Joe played with the zoo duplo, building homes for the animals.
- We made butterfly cakes for morning tea to take to the zoo.

At the zoo, we saw our favourites – the elephants, tigers, butterflies, meerkats, seals and many more. Tom was quite good with following the map, (unlike his geographically dyslexic mother!) and drew his own version when we came home.

After we came home, all of us exhausted, we flopped on the couch with a pile of zoo books. This one is a great zoo book for toddlers. I’ll post about other zoo books later in the week for preschoolers.

Rod Campbell’s “Dear Zoo” is a lift-the-flap book, with lots of white background and bright, strong colours. The repetition is fun for toddlers and the different types of flaps to open make it interesting. The adjectives to describe each animal will extend vocabulary. We’ve been lucky enough to receive a couple of “Dear Zoo” books – and we have needed them as they have been well loved here! Joe at fifteen months is at just the right age to really enjoy opening the flaps and learning the animal sounds, so this is a perfect book for him.

Dancing girl

2010-09-20T21:21:00.000+10:00

My dancing girl turned four last week and requested the ballerina cake from Grandma’s Women’s Weekly Cookbook, the birthday one that I use to love looking at when I was a kid. We had a small family gathering on the weekend, and Annalise was very excited by a gorgeous ballet outfit, chosen by her kind Nana and Auntie L.

Josephine is a kangaroo who loves to dance. Jackie French’s book, “Josephine wants to dance”, is filled with beautiful language that makes you want to jump up and twirl. It makes you want to soar to the music of the wind and whirl like the clouds across the gully.

Josephine is a kangaroo with determination and vision. She manages to ignore her brother’s insistent voice that kangaroos aren’t able to dance, and dreams of finding another way to dance. Josephine’s voice is always strong and certain – “I’m going to… I am …”

Bruce Whatley is the illustrator – lots of lovely clear white background so Josephine can jump and leap through the page. Notice how the text is placed – the surprised comments from the other characters are at an angle shooting up to the right of the page and the text describing Josephine’s dance movements is set in a wave-like motion. Clever! Something else to talk about to your listeners.

If you are a fan of this talented duo, you might notice Wombat and the shearers from their earlier books in the last few pages. Another talking point!

This book is a blend of the comical and lyrical, the hysterical and the beautiful. Exactly the emotions I feel when I watch my small ballerina twirl and fall over and laugh at herself.

It’s all about the shoes …

2010-09-15T21:26:00.000+10:00

Today is Annalise’s 4th birthday. But the book I want to share with you today is mine! When I bought this one, I couldn’t even pretend it was for one of the kids. Sometimes I do that, you know, buy a book that I just love and tell myself that really, it is just right for this particular child of mine because of this developmental reason or because the theme is so perfect for them.

This book, “The Red Shoes” I bought for me. Well, the girl in the story is called Karen. And I do own a beautiful pair of red peep-toes with heels so high that I can only wear them in a restaurant when I sit down for most of the evening!

Back to the book. This is a new version of the Hans Christian Anderson story, written in 1845. The original is a little dark, but this one written by Gloria Fowler is more positive. After the death of her mother, Karen wears the red handmade shoes her mother lovingly sewed for her. A spoilt princess demands Karen’s shoes but Karen is unable to take them off, and her feet will be cut off by an executioner unless she hands them over in three days. Karen must use her “own imagination, creativity, and hard work” to overcome this obstacle.

Well, that was the line for me. I repeat it to myself often these days, as I balance baking a ballerina birthday cake with editing projects, sewing a small pair of ballet shoes with getting up 85 times in the middle of the night to a sick child, playing grade one maths games while making dentist appointments.

The beautiful pen and ink illustrations are by Sun Young Yoo. It’s really refreshing to look at a book that uses only black and white. The style is so distinctive, and the pictures remain in my mind, long after the book is closed. The shoe pictures are so detailed - such a different way of depicting shoes to Sujean Rim but equally gorgeous.

I sewed a pair of “ballet shoes” for Annalise’s birthday, using the pattern for Mary Jane slippers in Sandi Henderson’s book, “Sewing Bits and Pieces.” The pattern was really easy to follow, and there are lots of other great ideas, which I’m sure I’ll eventually make. The Fabric-Covered Journal looked lovely, as does the Growing Tree Wall Hanging, and there’s also a fabulous patchwork skirt I’d love to make for Annalise.

My red shoes might be too uncomfortable to wear for more than a couple of hours but Annalise wore her ballet shoes with a big smile all day.

Literacy in Junior Master Chef

2010-09-13T22:55:00.000+10:00

As many of you will know, Junior MasterChef started last night. Way too late for my little ones to watch it all, so I taped it for Tom and Annalise to watch this morning.

We don’t watch much television at our place – hence our thirteen-year-old rather chunky television. But as Tom is so interested in this MasterChef series, and it is a big topic of conversation at school, I don’t mind him following it. I found the adult version earlier this year really inspiring, and I hope that my kids will have a sense of what is possible for a kid to create in a kitchen. I loved the sense of family tradition that some of the contestants exhibited on last night’s show.

So as we are likely to be fully immersed in MasterChef for a little while, I gave both Tom and Annalise a new notebook and asked them to draw and write down any great cooking ideas they had as they were watching the show. Annalise drew a couple of plates with cheese on them. Annalise has never met a cheese she didn’t like – her favourite cheese is blue cheese. I’ve said it before, this girl has taste!

Tom, no doubt inspired by the bubbling chocolate fountain, drew and labelled a plate with strawberries, chocolate and ice-cream, and was very particular when explaining the way the chocolate was to be drizzled over the strawberries. He also had plans for a fruit kebab, based on one of the contestant’s vegetable dish.

My idea is for the kids to use these notebooks for culinary inspiration, and then to build on this in the kitchen. The kitchen is such a fabulous place for learning – reading recipes, measuring with spoons, cups and scales, writing a menu or a shopping list, taking turns to do the fun stuff like cracking eggs and of course, sharing the final product.

Thanks to my generous brother SP, we have in our possession a genuine MasterChef mystery box. It's empty at the moment, but I'm looking forward to filling it with some surprise ingredients for my aspiring chefs.

I’m also keen to increase their food vocabulary, talking about food texture, presentation and flavour, but my first priority is just to find a more polite way of saying “Yuk!”

Painting rainbows

2010-09-10T10:48:00.000+10:00

This book is a similar format to “Puff, the Magic Dragon”. The CD is not just a bonus – it is an essential component of the book. The traditional song from “The Wizard of Oz” is sung by Judy Collins. She explains that she “went to see The Wizard of Oz when I was a little girl, with my pigtails tied on top of my head, with my Aunt Betty in Los Angeles. I felt so grown up, and so free, and the song has followed me, like a bluebird, all my life.” You can really hear the connection Judy has with the lyrics in her singing. There are also a couple of extra songs on the CD, including our favourite bedtime song, “I see the moon”.

The book is illustrated by Eric Puybaret with acrylic paint on linen. Eric writes in his note at the end of the book that he saw “tenderness, hopefulness, reverie, and a little melancholy … What an inspiring song!”

Well, we had to have a go at painting some of these whimsical birds, and of course, a rainbow or two. I think a rainbow has to be one of the most satisfying objects a child can draw or paint. It ticks all the boxes – colourful and instantly recognisable. And even though a rainbow might seem a little prescriptive to some budding artists, you can follow Eric’s lead and play with the possibilities of stars, clouds, dancing children, birds, music notes and smiling moons.

By the way, I am starting a new editing project, so will be posting here two or three times a week instead of every weekday. Thank you again to all those who are reading my blog and leaving comments. Have a lovely weekend!

A book of possibilities

2010-09-07T21:35:00.000+10:00

One of my favourite words is “imagine”. Anything is possible. There are no boundaries. There’s lots of dreaming. Lots of challenges, but in a good way. Anything can be created. No limits. Authenticity is the key. Imagine. I have the word written above the fireplace on the room where I write, edit, sew, blog, read, and gather (a fancy word for 'unfile') all the household papers.

Norman Messenger’s “Imagine” is full of all sorts of possibilities. This book deserves to be explored again and again. Each page has many hidden elements, and once you have discovered that last giant or found the witch’s cat, there is still much pleasure to be had in admiring the way the illustration has been put together.

This is a book with minimal text and maximum impact from the illustrations. There are also small puzzles on the corner of each page, which means you need to find pen and paper to work them out. Another bonus.

It was difficult to know where to start. Where exactly would this fascinating book lead us, artwise? We started with this page.

And then we made our own versions, using paper, scissors, pencils and a split pin. (Next time, I would use cardboard as the paper circle stops lying flat after a few spins.) Annalise had a go – after all, anything with a split pin and a spinning circle in it has to be pretty cool. Tom really got the hang of it, and understood how each individual person had to be lined up exactly to match. Who knows, this could be something he does every day for the next month or it could be a one-off creation. But I would love to see what they both do with this activity in another twelve months, and even another five years. Imagine the possibilities – ballerinas, robots, animals, monsters, people, babies, superheroes, dinosaurs, fairies, sports stars, people in uniforms, families. You could use family photos, magazine pictures, newspaper photos … just imagine!

Many thanks to my friend and neighbour J for lending this book to us!

Book vs. film

2010-09-06T21:05:00.000+10:00

On the weekend, my cousin J invited me to see the film of John Marsden’s “Tomorrow, when the war began.” I hadn’t read any of the Tomorrow series for young adults, (the first book was originally published in 1993) but I quickly read the book over three days, because I wanted to experience the original story first. Not surprisingly, my local library’s copy was reserved for probably the next six months, so I ended up by buying a copy. Not surprisingly, the only copy of the book had a scene from the movie on the cover. I am probably just being a purist, but I would prefer a book that is just about the book, rather than being used to market a particular film.

I finished the book about three hours before I saw the movie, became immersed in the movie, then listened to a panel discussion about the merits of book versus film. I think this is the “engaging with text” my English teachers used to talk about!

The story focuses on a group of seventeen-year-old teenagers from a small Australian country town and its rural surroundings. Their parents agree they can go camping in a remote area for a few days, and it’s only when they arrive back, that they realise something is wrong. Australia has been invaded by a foreign army, their parents, families and most of the town have been imprisoned in the Showgrounds during the annual show day, the town has been looted, burned, and people have been killed.

Ellie and her friends face a different world, where they must look out for each other, think strategically, act like guerillas, learn new survival skills and find courage within themselves.

After the movie, there was a panel discussion on the book and film, with contributions from the audience. There was a general consensus that the movie was good and reasonably faithful to the book.

I can understand that movies need to change the events in order to keep the pace flowing. I don’t mind when circumstances change slightly, when tiny parts are left out or the order rearranged slightly. But I don’t like it when they change the characters! One of the panellists didn’t like the way one of the teenagers had been typecast, and made weaker. Another panellist commented on a movie scene where a character had almost destroyed a defensive attack – this didn’t happen in the book.

Audience members noted that the film had been given a reasonably large budget for an Australian film, and that there were great hopes for its success in the international market. Hence the characters’ use of “second grade” instead of Grade 2, and “vacation” instead of “holiday.”

There are plans for another two movies, and I certainly have plans to read the remaining six books in the series. Here's hoping they aren't on the library reserve list!

A book for Dads

2010-09-03T19:20:00.000+10:00

Warning – this book may leave the average Dad feeling rather inadequate. The Dad in “My Dad” by Anthony Browne

isn’t afraid of anything, even the Big Bad Wolf
[and can] win the fathers’ race on sports day, easily.

This is a great book for toddlers, especially with the repetitive line, "He's all right, my Dad." It reminds me of my lovely grandmother-in-law - she would say the same about anyone in her family.

My favourite double page shows the Dad “as wise as an owl, and daft as a brush.” Such a fabulous contrast, because there are many Dads out there who are both perceptive, knowledgeable – and daggy in their dressing gowns!

Happy Father’s Day!

Flat

2010-09-02T22:19:00.000+10:00

Flat is sleek and sophisticated. Flat is the latest in technology. Flat is the stomach you have after months of gym work. Flat is the satisfying snap of cardboard once the boxes have been collapsed.

Flat is Stanley, Flat Stanley. Flat Stanley wasn’t always flat, oh no. He was a regular kid, until his bulletin board fell on him during the night and squashed him flat. Just like that. Flat as a pancake.

When Stanley Lampbchop is flat, his younger brother can fly him as a kite. His parents can post him in the mail from their home in New York to a friend’s house in California. He even helps the police to solve a crime.

But after a while, Stanley admits to his brother Arthur,

“I’m just not happy any more. I’m tired of being flat. I want to be a proper shape again, like other people.”

Arthur has a brilliant idea, and uses an old bicycle pump to pump Stanley full of air. It works!

Although this book was first published in 1968, the adventures are still fresh and original. I think it’s fabulous for kids to hear language styles from decades ago. I can remember hearing something similar to this from my parents –

“Hey! Come and look! Hey!”
Mr and Mrs Lambchop were both very much in favour of politeness and careful speech. “Hay is for horses, Arthur, not people,” Mr Lambchop said.

The slight sibling rivalry between Stanley and Arthur is not out of place today. Of course you would be jealous of a flat brother who had marvelous adventures, wouldn’t you?

You can grab a Flat Stanley colouring card from your local bookshop. Once it has been coloured in, you can take a photo and email it to www.FlatStanleyDownUnder.com

Thanks to Grandma for the large Stanley who now resides with us. Apparently he looks after Annalise's dolls when she's not here!

Thanks to my youngest brother whose old copy of “Flat Stanley’s Fantastic Adventures” by Jeff Brown we are now reading. This includes the first story, “Flat Stanley”, as well as “Stanley and the Magic Lamp” and “Stanley in Space”. You can also buy “Flat Stanley” as a picture book.

Turning nothing into something

2010-08-31T21:03:00.000+10:00

Grandma bought this book, “Milli, Jack and the Dancing Cat” for Tom, but really, I know she bought it for me too! You might think me unsophisticated when I confess this, but I can really identify with Milli. Now what does that say about me, that I feel a strong affinity with a character in a children’s picture book? Hmm ….

Stephen Michael King uses glorious watercolours to paint the story of Milli, a shoemaker, who spends her days making boring brown and black shoes for the people in her town. What she really wants to do is to make different things, for

Milli could take a thing that was a nothing… and make it … a something!

It is only when Jack and his dancing cat come into town and offer to teach Milli how to dance in exchange for new shoes, that something changes for Milli. A beautiful friendship begins, for the

dancing made Milli feel brave and free.

In return, she made her new friends wonderful things, made out of objects, old and forgotten. And she made things for herself, so

her shop was so spectacular that people came from far and wide to see it.

And nothing, after that, was ever the same as before.

In the beginning of the story, the colours are predominantly subdued browns, oranges, greys and greens, with splashes of colour around Milli. By the end of the story, there are brilliant yellows, blues, reds, greens and purples. I love how the illustrations create a sense of movement around Milli and Jack, of things happening. And I love how the text creates a sense of possibility, of imagining a different reality.

Tom made a fantastic ‘junk sculpture’ in his art class at a local centre. Because there is no glue or tape, he can take it apart and put it back together in new ways as often as he likes, adding bits and pieces as he finds them. Hmm, perhaps Grandma knew that Milli’s character might be reflected in both mother and son …

Bugs and their looks

2010-08-30T19:25:00.000+10:00

This book, "Bugs in a Blanket" is a wonderful combination of beautiful story, gorgeous illustrations and valuable life lessons. The little bugs who live in a blanket in the garden have never met, until Little Fat Bug invites them all to his party. They are all very surprised to discover that even though they are all bugs, they don’t look the same.

Italian author and illustrator, Beatrice Alemagna, has made the pictures look so tactile – linen, wool, buttons, fabric, sequins, beads – you really want to touch each little bug.

It’s a pretty simple lesson for kids, that

in the blanket, just as in the rest of the world, we can’t choose what we look like – we are all born the way we are, and we’re all different.

Imagine what we adults would let go of if we embraced our “brightly speckled” coat or delighted in having “always been yellow all over”?

A Book About Books

2010-08-27T19:03:00.000+10:00

Sometimes it’s just a given that kids will learn the ins and outs of a book. We spend so much time reading them the actual story, that we forget about how a book is actually constructed. I thought I knew the basics of a book – years at uni. taught me how to find the information I needed to put together a reference list at the end of every essay. It was only when I began to work as an editor and studied a postgraduate course in publishing that I realised how much goes into the ‘other’ sections of a book besides the main story or text.

Let me introduce you to Parsley Rabbit – our guide to book parts! Parsley has put together a book for us (with the help of author Frances Watts and illustrator David Legge!), appropriately called “Parsley Rabbit’s Book About Books”.

Parsley introduces us to endpapers, the title page and the imprint page. With the help of a carrot trail, he teaches us to read from left to right (something we often assume, but forget to point out to our small listeners). He discusses page numbers, flaps, fiction and non-fiction. He talks about sharing books, places to read books and giving books as presents.

Wish I had met Parsley in my early editing days – he would have taught me a lot!

Making a Mem Book

2010-08-26T22:10:00.000+10:00

Tom and I are on a roll with our book-making. We created our own accordion books, based on Susan Kapuscinski Gaylord's instructions from her website. She has heaps of other ideas for making your own books - the photos of her book-making workshops are very inspiring.

As it's Book Week, we had to look at one of Mem Fox's books. But which one to choose? What to say about it that hasn’t already been said? So this is a brief list, my best attempt at conveying to you why we love this book, “The Magic Hat.”

- A magic hat – who wouldn’t want one?
- It’s funny – people changing into animals – hilarious!
- The anticipation – wait for it, wait for it – which animal will it be? Can
we guess the rhyme? Do we have any clues from the picture?
- The illustrations are joyful watercolours, with lots of detail by Tricia Tusa
- And the rhyme is wonderful -

Oh, the magic hat, the magic hat!
It moved like this, it moved like that!
It spun through the air and over a road
And sat on the head of a warty old …. Toad!

We used watercolour paints and had a go at painting the hat, the people and the wizard. Imitating the style of the illustrator gave us an appreciation into the correlation between the text and the pictures - you start to notice all the clues in the pictures which hint at the text on the next page. The magic blue hat with its ability to spin through the air was a perfect choice to illustrate our accordian books - which stretched out to accommodate the dancing antics of the hat!

Making books

2010-08-25T18:55:00.000+10:00

We make quite a few of our own books – Tom is especially keen to have his own blank books to create in. Sometimes our books are completely made from scrap or recycled paper. Other books are made from whatever cardboard or stiff paper is lying around for the cover, and whatever blank paper is lying around for the pages. For this book, Tom was inspired by another of Gregory Roger’s books, this time, “The Boy, The Bear, The Baron, The Bard”. Isn’t that a fabulous title?

To make the books, we use my small scrapbook guillotine to cut the pages, and then cut a cardboard cover slightly larger. Sometimes we use a stapler to put them together, but usually I use my sewing machine to sew down the middle.

Tom’s story involved the 3D figure of wire and paper that he is making in his art class. “3D Tom” went on an adventure to have an ice-cream and only just made it back in time to the art class before “real Tom” discovered he was missing! Tom really loved following the comic book style of Gregory Roger’s books and using only pictures to tell his story.

Reading aloud

2010-08-24T20:25:00.000+10:00

One of the most important elements of reading aloud is how the words actually sound when reading them aloud. Because that’s what we do, isn’t it? We read the words aloud to our kids, because they can’t read them for themselves. (And because even when they can read for themselves, it's still lovely to listen to a story.) If the words don’t sound wonderful and interesting and entertaining to us, then we are not going to convey that excitement to our audience.

So this is an example of one of my favourite read-aloud books - “Tiger Can’t Sleep” by S. J. Fore. It makes me laugh so I exaggerate the frustrated voice of the little boy and the repentant voice of the tiger. This book calls out for loud, noisy shouts as well as quiet, soft whispers. Tom found this book at the library a few years ago, and we bought it for his birthday because he requested it so frequently.

The little boy in the story has just settled down to sleep in his comfortable bed but he

… can’t sleep because there’s a tiger in my closet … a tiger in my closet eating potato chips!

Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!

The tiger is most apologetic when the little boy tells him he is making too much noise, but this excitable tiger forgets to be quiet, so the noises continue all night – cartwheel spinning, tuba playing, bouncing a ball and so on.

It makes us smile to observe the way the little boy takes on the role of the adult –

And no more cartwheels! You are going to hurt yourself.

The tiger is the mischievous kid, full of good intentions but just unable to stop having fun and making noise.

Oops! Tiger is sorry. Tiger won’t make another sound.

Now, here’s a fancy word for you – onomatopoeia. (I did have to check my dictionary for the correct spelling, and I'm not entirely sure I know how to pronounce it!) Onomatopoeic words are formed by imitating sounds. So in our tiger book, we have the tiger eating chips – “Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!” He also does “Tap–tap! Tap-tap! Tap-tap!” as he tap dances in the closet.

So, you can explain the meaning of onomatopoeia to your kids if you want to or you can just use lots of emphasis and exaggeration when reading out these sounds!

Choosing books

2010-08-23T19:49:00.000+10:00

It’s Book Week in Australia, and there are many literary events around the place. To celebrate Book Week at Earthly Joyride, I thought I would spend the week talking generally about children's books. Why should we read them to our children? How do you choose the right book for your child? What are the best books to read aloud? How can you make your own book?

First of all, how do you choose a good book for your child or any child, for that matter? My Mum always bought me books for my birthday and for Christmas. She still does. My kids always receive books for birthdays and for Christmas. And I tend to buy books for my nieces and nephews, as well as other children whose parties my kids are invited to. I figure that if those kids are in a family who love books, the book will be appreciated. And if that particular family is not into books, well it’s my responsibility to provide a quality book for them!

Seven steps for choosing a good book

1. If you can, read it all the way through from cover to cover. As the kids grow, the books become longer, but you can read a picture book all the way through while you’re in the bookshop. Read it aloud if you like. I have made one mistake in buying a book that I only flicked through at the bookshop. Once I read it to Tom at home, I haven’t read it since. Poor language, silly story.

2. Do you like it? You’re probably going to be the main person to read it aloud, so if you’re not enthusiastic at the first reading, you probably won’t be at the 117th reading.

3. Do you like the illustrations? Are the characters expressive? Do the pictures help to tell the story? Are there extra details in the pictures that aren’t mentioned in the story?

4. Is this book memorable? Does it make you think a little differently about the world? Does it have a unique viewpoint? Does it make you smile? Have you instantly thought about the child who will read it?

5. The language – is it funny? Joyful? Fluent? Enjoyable to read aloud? Beautiful? Evocative? Stirring?

6. Ask for help. The bookseller should be able to tell you the best dinosaur books, the most popular books for a four-year-old girl, the most recent releases and the books which have been nominated or have won an award.

7. If you have a particular book in mind, borrow it from the library. Read it with your child and see whether they like it. I can still remember Mum borrowing “A Little Bush Maid” by Mary Grant Bruce from the library for me. I loved it. A few weeks later, on my birthday, the whole set, all 15 of the Billabong books, were there on a bookshelf in the study for me. I still have them.

Being fancy

2010-08-20T10:24:00.000+10:00

The first Fancy Nancy book

Meet Nancy. Nancy has introduced our family to an amazing array of descriptive words. She also taught us about “being fancy”. Annalise and I are quite fond of … “what is that fancy word? Oh, yes! – some accessories.” We gasp and say, “Ooo-la-la!” We drive in a limousine, not a car. When I ferry kids to school and kinder, I am no longer a driver but a chauffeur. We add the occasional French word in conversation because “everything in French sounds fancy.”

Note how the illustrations extend the story

Nancy is a sensation. She stands out in all her glitter, feathers, lace, bows and frills from her plain family. If you don’t know Nancy, you might think from this description that she might not be role model material. But Nancy isn’t pretentious. Oh no! She uses a mop and broom to create a canopy bed for herself. Sticky-tape is evident among the fanciness. This is not designer fancy but homemade fancy. Her parents and younger sister keep her well-grounded. There’s a disaster or two, with a lesson to be learnt. You would be more than happy for your daughter to visit their house, with such sensible parents. Your daughter would come home, though, thoroughly glittered, sparkled, frilled and speaking French. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

Hand-me-down boots for Annalise, with a broken zip that was 'fixed' using sticky-tape, so she could be fancy!

I love how Nancy lingo has extended our family vocabulary – “My favourite colour is fuchsia. That’s a fancy way of saying purple.” We are always finding a fancy way to say something. My sisters-in-law introduce their small daughters to a new ‘fancy’ word a day, thanks to Nancy. It’s wonderful to think that two-year-olds can use the word “splendiferous” in conversation!

Jilly's cot, comfortable but perhaps a bit plain

I love how the gorgeous, detailed pictures by Robin Preiss Glasser capture Nancy’s spirit. There is something new to discover on every page, even after the hundredth reading.

I love how my son at four and five found Nancy quite humorous and liked quoting her.

And I love being fancy with my girl!

Jilly's 'fancy' cot - paintbrushes and hairbands make a wonderful makeshift canopy bed!

PS. There are other Fancy Nancy books to be reviewed here. I’m just introducing you slowly, lest you feel too “understated” in her presence. Let me know if you have any Fancy Nancy stories to share.

Potion potential

2010-08-18T21:38:00.000+10:00

There were a lot of arguments in our house between the two older ones. Typical sibling stuff. I tried to block my ears so I could concentrate on cooking dinner. Then it became quiet, too quiet.

Annalise had started mixing glue with water to try a little painting. Tom decided it was worth joining in. Then the small cups of gluey water with sequins, pipe cleaners, feathers and staples were taken outside so that grass, chalk, leaves and twigs could be mixed in. More water was added so it would “grow”. It had become a potion!

The potion in this green bucket does not have quite the same magical power as the potion in this witch’s cauldron. Lucky – I don’t really have the storage room for a witch’s broom…

Julia Donaldson’s books are made for reading aloud – the rhyme and repetition are fabulous. We have used them as a reader for Tom because there is such satisfaction in saying the lines aloud.

How the cat purred
and how the witch grinned,
As they sat on their broomstick
and flew through the wind.

But how the witch wailed
and how the cat spat
When the wind blew so wildly
it blew off the hat.

The witch in “Room on the Broom” is a bona fide witch because she has a long hooked nose with a wart. But she is quite a kind witch and very hospitable to the animal friends she meets on her travels. Which is just as well really, because she needs their help when she bumps into a dragon.

Even a reluctant reader would feel satisfaction at saying this line aloud –

“Buzz off! –
That’s my witch!”

Windy night here in Melbourne. Wonder whether there are any witches flying around, looking for a pre-made potion? Wonder whether you can make a potion to promote sibling peace and harmony?

An "ahh..." book

2010-08-17T21:15:00.002+10:00

This book, "On the Night You Were Born" is one of those “ahh…” books. It gave me shivers the first time I read it to Baby Joe. I bought it for his first birthday, and really, every single baby should be given this book, by Nancy Tillman, in their first year.

Read this aloud to yourself now –

On the night you were born,
the moon smiled with such wonder
that the stars peeked in to see you
and the night wind whispered,
‘Life will never be the same.’

Because there had never been anyone like you …
ever in the world.

Every single baby deserves to have this passage read to them lovingly.
Every single child needs to feel that the world welcomes them for their individuality.
Every adult needs to be reminded that

…never before in story or rhyme
(not even once upon a time)
has the world ever known a you, my friend,
And it never will, not ever again …

A soft, stretchy, slightly straight scarf

2010-08-16T19:59:00.000+10:00

After I cleaned up the lunch dishes, tucked Baby Joe into his cot, discovered (and then dismissed) the mess in the family room, I really needed a cup of tea. In peace. So Annalise and I sat on the couch, with a pile of books, our own individual pile of books, and read. Except of course, that Annalise found my book more interesting than hers. And then the man from the bank called. And then Joe needed to be settled again.

But then, Annalise found this project for herself in Kelly Doust’s “The Crafty Kid”. And I thought, why not?

Kelly’s suggestion for a new, recycled scarf is an old t-shirt, but we found an old bunny rug instead. Stained but soft and stretchy. I cut a slightly straight scarf, avoiding the stains, then cut out a gorgeous red circle from Saffron Craig’s owl panel. (I have framed another of her owls in a wooden hoop - love them!) I blanket-stitched it onto the end of the scarf (you can also use overcasting stitches). Ta-dah!

Only took half an hour. Time for another cup of tea.

I think we will be creating a few more things from this book – there are patterns for an apron, a wonderful tablecloth, a little girl pinafore, a beanbag, a library bag. The emphasis is on recycling materials, and creating projects with and for children.

It’s my birthday …

2010-08-13T21:21:00.000+10:00

Yes, it’s my birthday today! My gorgeous children and husband have spoilt me with homemade cards, hugs and lovely, thoughtful presents. I had a fancy lunch out with friends, and my family came over for pizza tonight. Perfect.

While the anticipation for an adult birthday does not match that of a child’s excitement for their own birthday, it’s still absolutely a day worth celebrating. I think as an adult, birthdays can become just as much of a measuring tool as a milestone. A bit like New Year’s Eve but without the fireworks. Time for a stocktake. Time to count your blessings. And there is plenty to be grateful for.

In this book by Helen Oxenbury, the little boy tells all his friends that:

It’s my birthday, and I’m going to make a cake.

Beautiful watercolour illustrations from Helen Oxenbury. Lovely story about everyone contributing. A funny, hold-your-breath ending. And it does end with cake, so all’s well in the world.

Lucky me, look at the cake my clever brother-in-law made! Would you like the last piece?

Laundry inspiration

2010-08-12T22:11:00.000+10:00

I'm not really sure that there is such a thing as laundry inspiration! Washing that needs to be soaked. Clothes that need to be ironed. Washing that needs to be re-washed because the strawberry stains didn't come out the first time. Clothes that need to be handwashed. Clothes that absolutely cannot, must never go in the dryer but accidentally did. Clothes that were nearly dry from hanging on the line which are now wet because of a sudden shower.

So today, in the midst of a wet winter washing day, I’m focusing on four washing books, well chosen by Grandma for Annalise, to make me smile.

“Washing Line” by Jez Alborough - this is “a flip-flap book’, with bright, humorous pictures of animals waiting to put on their clothes which are hanging on the line.

“What are we going to do now we’re all wearing our dry clothes?” asked the flamingo, the orang-utan, the mouse and the giraffe.

Just guess what the elephant decides to do next!

“Mrs McNosh Hangs up her Wash” by Sarah Weeks – Mrs McNosh not only hangs up all of her clothes but

She hangs up the dog
And his dish and his bone.
She gets a wrong number
And hangs up the phone.

I think toddlers will find the odd things hanging on the line very amusing.

“Miss Llewellyn-Jones” by Elaine Forrestal – the repetition in this book makes it appealing for little ones.

Miss Llewellyn-Jones hung her jeans out to dry. The wind blew. The pegs snapped. Her jeans flew … flip flap.

The humour lies in the illustrations which show just exactly where her jeans flew.

“Zippity Zebra and the Windy Day” by Claire Henley – this book has ‘fuzzy’ black and white striped clothes to find on every page – it’s nice to read a book where kids are encourage to point and touch.

We made our own washing line picture, because somehow a miniature washing line and tiny clothes and pegs just seem like a lot more fun than a grown-up laundry basket full of ironing! We used the back of a large cereal box, and glued on our painted picture. A holepunch made a hole on the two short sides, and we threaded a string through, using sticky tape at the back. Two icy-pole sticks for the supports. Thanks to Grandma for the tiny clothes and pegs!

Soup night

2010-08-11T21:16:00.001+10:00

Soup for dinner. This version of lamb shank soup, really hearty and nourishing, was adapted from a Notebook magazine recipe.

Lamb shank soup
1 tablespoon of olive oil
2 lamb shanks
2 carrots, finely chopped
2 celery sticks, finely chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
1 fennel bulb, green fronds removed, finely chopped – use half if you think the flavour might be too strong
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1L beef stock
2 tablespoons tomato paste
Serves a family of five

Heat olive oil in a large, deep pot. Add lamb shanks and brown on all sides for about five minutes. Remove from the saucepan.
Add carrots, celery, onion, fennel and garlic and cook for three to four minutes, until the onion is soft.
Add the lamb shanks back into the pot. Add the stock and tomato paste.
Bring to the boil, then cover and simmer for two hours.
When the meat is falling off the bones, remove lamb shanks from the pot. Shred the meat and add back to the pot. Season with salt and pepper. Enjoy!

Like lamb shank soup, there are quite a few versions of this traditional story, “Stone Soup.” We have the Zen version by Jon J Muth, but there is also one where the fox makes the soup with the help of other animals and another which has a traveller as the soup maker and an old woman who finds all the vegetables. This Zen version doesn’t focus on the stone soup maker, out to gain some food, but rather tells the story of three Buddhist monks who wish to spread enlightenment. The author’s note provides a lot of detail about the origins of the story and the symbols he explored using a Buddhist story tradition.

Hok, Lok and Siew travel to a remote village in China, where the villagers are fearful and selfish.

“These people do not know happiness,” they all agreed.
“But today,” said Siew, his face as bright as the moon,” we will show them how to make stone soup.”

The soup begins with a stone, until the curious villagers begin to appear and gradually offer a vegetable or spice.

Siew took a taste. “The last time we had soup stones of this size and colour, carrots made the broth very sweet.”
“Carrots?” said a woman from the back. “I may have a few carrots! But just a few.”

Of course, the soup becomes more and more delicious as the villagers become more and more giving.

“And to think,” said the monks, “to be happy is as simple as making stone soup.”

Eggs with hats and eggs with flutes

2010-08-10T20:48:00.000+10:00

Everyone knows the story of Humpty Dumpty. Not so many know the story of his little sister, Dimity. Now her story can be told …

What an epic opener for a story about an egg! “Dimity Dumpty, the Story of Humpty’s Little Sister” by Bob Graham balances evocative, lyrical writing with an original, exciting, funny plot.

Dimity’s parents and her brother Humpty are part of a travelling circus. They perform on the trapeze, no mean feat for a family of eggs. Dimity, however, is more retiring, and prefers to play

her silver flute –
soft as a snail on a cabbage leaf,
quiet as the grass growing on the hill,
gentle as a beetle’s breath,
making sounds known only to birds
and things that slide in the night.

No light had ever caught Dimity in its bright glare.

However, when she is needed, Dimity finds her voice and her courage.

The illustrations are a great discussion point for perspective and size – you can see the wonderful contrast between Humpty and the soldiers and their horses – yes, “all the king’s horses and all the king’s men” do get a mention!

Our own eggs for dinner were not quite as adventurous as Humpty or as musical as Dimity. However, they did look pretty! The instructions for the hats came from “Usborne Activities – Easter things to make and do”. The hats were made in the time it took for the eggs to boil!

Painting fruit

2010-08-09T20:25:00.000+10:00

We have some new watercolour paints, and looking around for a few models, I found this book, “Orange Pear Apple Bear” by Emily Gravett. After all, if fruit has been the subject for many a fine artist, it is surely good enough for us!

The simplicity of this book makes it perfect for toddlers. Easy to read, easy to understand and beautiful to look at. And once you look at the pictures in order to recreate them, you start to realise that the simplicity is actually very clever. A bear that looks like a pear? How unusual! But how apt!

My kids have enjoyed this book as babies, toddlers, early readers, and now, we're using it as an example for art. Excellent value.

Family life - the good, the bad and the sleepless

2010-08-06T20:11:00.001+10:00

There was not a lot of sleeping last night. Four of the five of us are sick, in varying degrees of miserableness. Family life is just like that sometimes.

Some days are good,
Some days are bad,
Some days are neither,
Only so-so.
Some days we’re sad.
Some days we’re glad,
Ups,
downs,
It’s like a family yo-yo.

Catherine and Laurence Anholt’s “Big Book of Families” has this poem and many others, all about families. The poems in this collection run the full gamut of family life – holidays, moods, sibling quarrels, grandparents, fussy eaters and too much noise. I chose this book because I could relate to all those themes!

Little poems like these ones are a great introduction to poetry. They’re fun to say aloud, they’re humorous and they portray real family life. The illustrations are also very real and depict a range of family circumstances, family sizes and family lifestyles.

Out of bed

2010-08-05T21:30:00.000+10:00

As I write this at a late hour, there is one little one out of bed. Not well. Needs cuddles. Needs a drink. Fingers crossed for a peaceful, sleep-filled night!

However, Penny Dale’s book has not one but ten mischievous little ones out of bed. It follows the classic rhyme but with a difference –

There were ten out of bed… and the little one said, “Let’s play!”
And Hedgehog said, “Let’s play trains!” So they all played trains until Hedgehog fell asleep.

This is a fantastic book for toddlers because the rhyme is fun to say aloud, and there is plenty to look at in the pictures. It’s a great book to point at, because there is the little one and his friends to find on every page. The detailed illustrations offer lots to discuss, especially as there are different 'themes' on each page - the little one and his friends play at camping, flying, dancing, pirates and so on. It also works indirectly as a counting book, as you need to count backwards from ten.

This is also a performance book – we needed to rope in the famous ones to help – Teddy, Monkey Magoo, a couple of elephants and a few other friends. The couch is a perfect stage, and there are many small hands to help with all the rolling over (for the traditional version).

Perhaps I need to put on a show now for my little one out of bed –

There was one out of bed and the little one said, “I’m sleepy now!”

A word-free picture book

2010-08-04T22:20:00.000+10:00

This book has no words. But it’s not for babies. It’s aimed at 4-8 year-old children, and can even be used with secondary school students. Gregory Rogers’ book, “The Hero of Little Street” is the third in his series about a boy who travels back in time to have all sorts of adventures. It’s almost like a comic book, but there are no speech bubbles. The action, and there is plenty of action, happens when a boy escapes from a few bullies into the London National Gallery and ends up in a Dutch Masters painting.

I love this book because:

- it is a fabulous way to engage reluctant readers
- it could be used with older students in an art or history class to look at
the Dutch Masters or seventeenth-century Holland
- you can talk about dealing with bullies
- it depicts a ‘little’ hero, who is a bit mischievous
- it shows kids that pictures tell a thousand words
- if you photocopy a page or two, you can add speech bubbles for kids to create their own version of the story
- there are lots of suggested activities on the Allen and Unwin website
- it has been shortlisted for the Children’s Book Council of Australia Awards in the Picture Book section.

Thank you!

2010-08-03T11:00:00.000+10:00

Thank you to everyone who has looked at this blog and especially to those who have left comments over the past month – they have been very encouraging!

It takes this Bear a while to find someone who will give him an encouraging comment. Greg Foley’s “Thank you Bear” tells the story, with minimal text and illustrations, of Bear who finds a box which he thinks will be perfect for his friend Mouse. But other friends are a little critical of his find.

Owl said, “I’ve seen those before.”

Elephant said, “I think it’s too small.”

Bunny said, “I don’t have time to look right now.”

(Every time I read Bunny’s comment, I wonder how many times I’ve said that to my own kids when they have something important to show me!)

Luckily for Bear, Mouse is very grateful.

“It’s the greatest thing ever! Thank you, Bear!”

Greg has a website with more information about other Bear books, plus some great online games.

Master Chef, family style

2010-08-02T21:02:00.000+10:00

Sometimes it’s fabulous to spend a couple of hours on the weekend cooking. Sometimes there just isn’t enough time. Sometimes you still want dessert, even when there isn’t enough time.

We cooked “Peta’s apple betties with cream” – quick, children-in-the-kitchen-friendly and most importantly, delicious. Apples, brown sugar, butter, rolled oats – a wonderful combination. The recipe comes from Stephanie Alexander’s “Kitchen Garden Cooking with Kids”. We have made so many of her recipes – Cauliflower with cheese sauce and crusty topping, Lemon delicious pudding, Baked potatoes with grilled cheese and spring onion, Rhubarb and scented geranium crumble tart, Zucchini slice, Chargrilled Middle Eastern lamb burgers with pita breads … mmm. Definitely a feast for a family, but without too many fancy ingredients or fussy techniques.

The recipes are written for children to follow, with adult supervision. There are clear lists for equipment and ingredients, and the instructions are easy to follow. Stephanie explains how the first school kitchen garden started, and writes very passionately about the connection between garden and kitchen. You can find out about her subsequent school kitchen gardens here. This book helped to inspire us to create our own vegetable garden.

I always thought that Master Chef should have had a pressure test with three children in the kitchen – follow a new recipe while simultaneously listening to a six-year-old practice reading, preventing a three-year-old from chopping her fingers off and dancing around a crawling one-year-old getting into cupboards. I might have nearly ‘plated up’ with this apple bettie!

What are you 'plating up' in your kitchen at the moment?

Necessary and fashionable

2010-07-30T11:27:00.001+10:00

I’m talking about shoes, of course.

One of Annalise’s all-time favourite books is "Birdie’s Big-Girl Shoes" by Sujean Rims. Birdie -

… longed to wear her mother’s shoes. She loved her crocodile pumps and her summer peep-toes and all her strappy sandals …

When her mother allows Birdie to wear her shoes, Birdie

felt beautiful. She felt glamorous.
… She felt like a movie star.

However, it doesn’t take long before she realises she can’t do all her usual activities in heels. The moral of the story is clear and Birdie comes to love her

beautiful barefoot shoes most of all.

The illustrations are gorgeous. They are a combination of exquisite watercolours and brightly coloured collage and the result is stunning.

Annalise (and I!) are mesmerised by the double page spread of Birdie’s mother’s shoe closet. I’m sure there are Jimmy Choos and Manolo Blaniks there! Every time we read it, we spend a long time looking at that page and decide which pair of shoes we would like to wear that day. I always try to match whatever I’m wearing to a pair. A bit cooler – perhaps a pair of boots? If I’m wearing a skirt, maybe a pair of peep-toes or sling-backs? Maybe an elegant black or maybe a burst of contrasting colour? So much fun, this window shopping in books! Annalise, however, never deviates. No matter what the day, weather, outfit or occasion, Annalise chooses the pink mules with the floral lining. I tell you, the girl has taste.

A duck hero

2010-07-28T12:09:00.000+10:00

Most children have a special soft toy friend, and the boy in this story, “Duck”, is no exception. This is how the story begins -

This is Duck. Duck lives at my house. Duck thinks I’m the greatest. I’m Duck’s hero.

Of course, Duck goes everywhere with this little boy, until he is lost. When he is eventually found, this is how the little boy views his friend –

This is Duck. Duck lives at my house. I think Duck’s the greatest. Duck’s my hero.

Note the confident swagger of the little boy on the first page – he’s taller than Duck and he’s wearing the red hero cape around his neck. Now look at Duck on the last page – the little boy is nowhere in sight, and Duck is wearing the red hero cape! A classic example of how the illustrator, in this case, Jonathan Bentley, has imagined what the writer, Janet A. Holmes, has not said but implied.

Thanks to Grandma for this activity – suitable for everyone! We followed the recipe for playdough on the cream of tartar tin. Because it is made using edible products, I didn’t worry too much when some of Joe’s lump of playdough mysteriously disappeared!

We drew duck feet and a beak on yellow cardboard and cut them out. The kids shaped two yellow playdough balls to make a duck body and head, then added the feet and beak, and then a yellow feather for the tail.

Singing “Three little ducks went out one day” seemed to be a mandatory part of the activity too!

A dragon lives forever ...

2010-07-26T19:43:00.001+10:00

Everyone knows this one – “Puff the Magic Dragon”. It began as a poem written by Lenny Lipton, who passed it on to Peter Yarrow from the folk group Peter, Paul and Mary. They made it into a hit song in the sixties. Now it is a beautiful book, with illustrations by French artist Eric Puybaret and a CD sung by Peter with his daughter Bethany and accompanied by Rufus Cappadocia with his cello.

Peter describes Puff as – both childlike and wise, a king but also a willing follower of just about any bright spirit that inspired him. Puff gives his whole heart and soul to one special friend, Jackie Paper. And though it is terribly painful when Jackie grows up and has to leave, Puff has given Jackie the strength and courage he needs to believe in himself when he goes back to the real world.

You can really sense this through both the illustrations and the music. The pictures are gorgeous – acrylic paint on linen - Puff’s expression is so eloquent. The CD is lovely and gentle, and there are three other tracks, including “Froggie went a-courting”.

Tom’s interest in knights and therefore dragons led me to Puff. And then I found a great magical dragon felt kit from The Craft Circle. And then I found Puff’s cave at The Friendship Tree (which can also double as a mermaid cave!).

There is just something so whimsical about the combination of a frolicking dragon, an autumn mist, a billowed sail, painted wings and a cherry lane. Jackie Paper, why did you choose to grow up? You were on to such a good thing!

Carrot soup

2010-07-23T10:19:00.001+10:00

A Melbourne winter day yesterday. Drizzly rain. Out and about in the morning. Ducking for cover between shops. Culinary inspiration hits at the supermarket. Let’s make carrot soup!

We borrowed “Carrot Soup” written and illustrated by John Segal from the library. The illustrations were done in pencil and watercolour – the watercolour makes the carrots look so real, as they show the graduations in colour. The story is about Rabbit, who plans his carrot crop, plants the seeds, watches and waits – all so he can make carrot soup. However, when he goes to harvest the carrots - something was terribly wrong at the carrot patch. No carrots! Discouraged and disappointed, Rabbit went home. But there is a surprise for Rabbit - I think preschoolers will love the anticipation.

I really like the link between gardening and cooking. The story is bookended at the beginning with a picture of different types of carrots to grow or buy and finishes with a simple recipe for carrot soup. We made it yesterday – sauté your chopped onion and celery, add 5-6 grated carrots, a litre and a half of chicken stock and simmer for half an hour. Add salt and pepper, and some parsley or dill. I blended it a little but not too much – Baby Joe finds it easier to eat chunkier soup.

This book worked beautifully for us – a lovely new story from the library, Annalise felt proud of her carrot peeling achievements, Joe and Tom devoured it for dinner, and there’s enough left over for a freezer dinner. Everyone’s a winner!

Monkey Magoo and Annalise

2010-07-21T19:55:00.003+10:00

Grandma gave Annalise a book when she was eighteen months old which quickly became her favourite. “Monkey and Me” by Emily Gravett tells the story of a little girl and her toy monkey visiting the zoo. The language is simple, rhythmic – I find myself almost singing it to the kids –

Monkey and me,

We went to see,

We went to see some ….

Bats!

It’s lovely and repetitive for toddlers to say. The little girl leaps from the page with enthusiasm, as there’s no background to distract the eye.

Annalise loved this book so much that I decided she needed a monkey of her own. I used the pattern Monkey Magoo from Melly and Me – Magoo looked so much like Emily Gravett’s monkey! It was my first attempt at sewing a softie, but the instructions were so clear that it was easy to follow. The only change I made was to leave out the boxer shorts and add a tail to make Magoo match the monkey in the story. Magoo has been much loved by Annalise.

There's a lovely door plate on Emily's website featuring the little girl and her monkey which you can print out, colour in, cut out and stick to a bedroom door.

How to decorate an elephant's ear

2010-07-20T22:27:00.001+10:00

During the school holidays, Tom and Annalise made a couple of cute elephants at a craft class at Mill & Mia. They had great fun in stuffing their elephants, sewing them shut (with a little help), and then decorating the ears.

I had no idea that elephant ear decorating could be so character revealing! Tom glued one sequin on each ear and was finished. Done. No need for anything else. Less is best. Annalise foraged around in the amazing bead and ribbon container, searching for just the right elephant accessories, adding more and more, including a ribbon for the trunk. She then had the foresight to ask Melissa if she could take some beads home, because, well, a girl can never have too many beads.

I think Annalise will be back for more craft classes and story time, which also includes morning tea and an activity.

In stark contrast to these soft elephants, I bring you “Elephants, a Book for Children” by Steve Bloom. This is a fabulous non-fiction book – the outstanding feature is the photography. Close-ups of elephant toes, skin, tusks. Amazing shots of elephants playing with each other, interacting with humans and swimming. This book could be enjoyed by little ones for the photography, and then used as a reader for early readers, particularly for kids who prefer fact to fiction. There’s not a lot of text on each page, and as it is divided into sections, it would feel satisfactory to attempt to read one section or one page at a time.

The language is straightforward –

Elephants have funny feet. You can’t see their toes. All you can see are their toenails peeping out from a thick cushion of flesh. The cushion helps them walk safely on all kinds of ground, and it also makes them move very quietly. They’re so quiet that you never even heard the one that just walked down your street. Take a look through the window. Is he still there?

I think it’s fascinating how children identify with or adore a particular type of animal, for a reason we can’t fathom. Tom has always loved elephants. This description of elephants could almost be applied to my Tom!

Elephants are very intelligent and usually very gentle. They have long memories, deep feelings, and lots of love for their family and friends.

Men on the Moon

2010-07-19T06:06:00.001+10:00

I suspect that an interest in space is a rite of passage for most small boys. Tom will make a space helmet out of a cereal box, draw 20 rockets over the course of a week, complete his solar system jigsaw puzzle and sleep contentedly in his handmade rocket pyjamas. Here are two of his favourite moon books.

Reading "Man on the Moon (a day in the life of Bob)" by Simon Bartram always makes me smile. The language is very matter-of-fact which contrasts with the idea of an ordinary man called Bob working an extraordinary job – as man on the moon.

He must make sure he leaves by a quarter to nine, otherwise he wouldn’t make it to the moon by nine. On the way he reads the newspaper and does the crossword.

The story describes a typical day for Bob, and behind all the ordinariness is the question of whether there really are aliens on the moon. Are there?

‘The Sea of Tranquility’ by Mark Haddon is a nice contrast to the previous book. Tom was lucky enough to receive this book as a birthday present from a school friend. It’s about a little boy, fascinated by the moon – he got an atlas of the moon for Christmas and he read it like a storybook. The boy watches two astronauts on television, the first two humans to stand on the moon, and dreams of walking with them.

And there they were, on the flickery screen, bouncing slowly through the dust in the Sea of Tranquility, like giants in slow motion.

The text is very detailed, naming craters and seas but it also has a wonderful dreamy quality about it, which is matched beautifully with the illustrations.

Life lessons with chocolate

2010-07-18T19:25:00.001+10:00

We made chocolate chip cookies today to take to a friend’s house. It’s a pretty easy recipe, and it only takes eight or nine minutes in the oven. If you hurry, you can just about clean everyone’s sticky hands, wash the dishes and put the kettle on before they’re ready.

Chocolate chip cookies
This recipe, with a few minor adjustments, comes from an old Delicious magazine recipe by Jill Dupliex.

125g unsalted butter
125g caster sugar
125g brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
250g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
100g good quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), finely chopped

Preheat the oven to 190°C. (I set it at 180°C as my oven is fan-forced).
In a food processor or electric mixer, mix the butter with the caster sugar and brown sugar until creamy.
Add the beaten eggs and vanilla extract and mix again.
Fold in the sifted flour, baking powder and half a teaspoon of salt until a stiff batter forms.
Stir the chopped chocolate into the mixture.
Using your hands, form little balls (about a tablespoon or so) of mixture onto lined baking trays. Allow about 2cm between each ball for spreading.
Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes or until lightly golden, but not browned, then remove from the oven.
Leave cookies on the tray for five minutes to firm before transferring to a wire rack to cool. Store in an airtight container.
Makes about 20.

Grandma gave us a book called ‘Cookies – Bite-Size Life Lessons’ by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. The text and illustrations depict various children and animals learning valuable lessons – all with the help of a chocolate chip cookie. It’s not a moralistic type of book – how could it be, with a chocolate chip cookie featured on every page?

Modest means you don’t run around telling everyone you make the best cookies, even if you know it to be true.

Trustworthy means, if you ask me to hold your cookie until you come back, when you come back, I will still be holding your cookie.

Now that’s a tough lesson to master!

My favourite would have to be –

Wise means, I used to think I knew everything about cookies, but now I realize I know about one teeny chip’s worth.

Hmm… something in there for everyone, I think …

The Princess and the Pea

2010-07-17T15:32:00.004+10:00

I’m not really sure what I think about princesses. When Annalise began her interest in girls with crowns and long flowing dresses, I panicked. What sort of role model were princesses to the modern three-year-old? What exactly did they represent? What would they inspire in her? What characteristics would she try to imitate?

I decided that it was up to me to provide good, inspiring, courageous, kind-of-out-there princess examples. We started with the princess from “The Princess and the Pea” story. For Christmas last year, I gave Annalise three different versions of the story, as well as a small princess figure and a wooden bed with ten mini quilts. I sewed the quilts with leftover fabric scraps and bought the princess and bed from the lovely toyshop Honeybee Toys. And, of course, we needed a pea – not a real one, just a felt one!

“The Princess and the Pea” by Rachel Isadora is the stock standard version, so that Annalise would know the original story. The illustrations, made with oil paints, printed paper and palette paper, are vibrant and vivid, and I love the African princesses. The story also uses some African words, which are defined at the back of the book. Thanks to Honeybee Toys for finding that book for me.

“The Princess and the Packet of Frozen Peas” by Tony Wilson is about a prince called Henrik who wants to find a princess to marry.

She didn’t have to be beautiful or sensitive. She just had to like hockey and camping and have a nice smile.

Prince Henrik’s test involves not a canopy bed with 20 mattresses and one pea, but a thin camping mattress, an old sleeping bag and a whole packet of frozen peas. You’ve got to love a down-to-earth, practical prince!

“The Princess and the Pea” by Lauren Child is an amazing piece of artwork. Lauren painted cornflake packets for the paneled rooms and set up the paper-dressed characters inside with tweezers, before Polly Borland, the photographer, took the photos. The language used is just as wonderful –

“You see,” said the king, “a real princess is not only mesmerisingly beautiful and fascinatingly interesting but, most important of all –"
“She has manners,” said the queen.
“No one should ever travel without them,” said the king.
“No, never, never go anywhere without your manners,” agreed the queen, taking her elbows off the table.

And now I am ready for Annalise to embrace her inner princess – she can be as mesmerisingly beautiful and fascinatingly interesting as she likes – as long as she remembers her manners!

One of the best baby books

2010-07-16T19:07:00.006+10:00

‘Owl Babies’ by Martin Waddell would have to be one of my favourite baby books. I bought our first copy for Tom when he was only four months old, and this board book has been replaced only once, despite being chewed by all three of our babies.

‘Owl Babies’ tells the story of three baby owls who wake up one night to an absent mother. I love the repetitive discussion between the three owl siblings, as they try to reassure each other. The repetitive dialogue makes it perfect for toddlers.

“She’ll be back,” said Sarah.
“Back soon!” said Percy.
“I want my mummy!” said Bill.

I looked after my one year-old niece once when she was a little concerned about the absence of her Mum. Whenever she asked, “Mummy?” I found myself saying, “She’ll be back!” “Back soon!” Annalise would say to her younger cousin. “Just like Owl Babies,” Tom added.

This snippet of dialogue has become firmly entrenched in our family conversations, and I think it could be used to comfort a little one. Because, of course, their Owl Mother does come back!

As this book has been loved so well, I decided to use Kristen Doran’s gorgeous owl panel to make up our own owl babies. It was fairly simple to cut around the owls, cut out the backing material, sew them together, turn them inside out, and help the kids to stuff them. The owls definitely needed a home, and there was definitely more gorgeous owl material left over, so I made a bag to keep them in. Annalise has loved acting out the Owl Babies story with our own owls, and it’s great for really little ones to have something to hold while reading the story.

The lion roars tonight …

2010-07-13T22:39:00.004+10:00

Baby Joe received a new lion book recently, which started us off on a lion drawing afternoon. We hunted down (excuse the pun) all our lion books:

‘Library lion’ by Michelle Knudsen
‘The lion who wanted to love’ by Giles Andreae
‘Tawny scrawny lion’ by Kathryn Jackson
‘The happy lion’ by Louise Fatio
‘How to draw a lion’ by Adam Wallace

The wonderful thing about drawing animals is that there are so many different poses. So it’s easy to find a simple picture which a young artist can attempt. It’s all about having a go. So I wasn’t offended at all when Tom told me my version of a lion looked more like a sheepdog!

With a big heap of books on lions in front of you, it’s an ideal way for kids to see the many possibilities there are to create the same object. One lion book published in 1954 used mainly black and white, with an occasional splash of yellow and red. Another used soft, muted acrylics. One book was illustrated with bright acrylics.

The stories themselves are as much a contrast as the illustrations. Lions in jungles, zoos, cities. Fierce lions, kind lions, hungry lions, helpful lions. Lions who roar and lions who politely say, “Bonjour!” Lions who interact with other animals, lions who engage with people.

Drawing lions was a fabulous wet afternoon activity. I’m also thinking of making lion manes and cakes, and I’ll review some of these lion books later too.

Elmer and Mali

2010-07-12T22:49:00.002+10:00

In our family, in the school holidays, it’s almost mandatory to go to the zoo. The kids were keen to see Mali, the baby elephant. Tom has always loved elephants, and so we have a range of elephant books at home. Mum bought Tom a little set of five Elmer books when he was two, and he has loved them almost literally to bits.

‘Elmer’ by David McKee
Elmer is a patchwork elephant so he stands out from the other grey elephants in the jungle. When Elmer decides he doesn’t want to be different any more, he finds a way to colour himself grey so he can blend in. Elmer is so pleased when he isn’t recognised by the other animals in the jungle – he is simply called elephant, rather than Elmer. However, Elmer’s colourful personality soon bursts through his grey exterior.

“Oh Elmer,” gasped an old elephant. “You’ve played some good jokes but this has been the biggest laugh of all. It didn’t take you long to show your true colours.”

Elmer is a really likeable character – he has a good sense of humour, he appreciates family and he’s happy to help out. The small size of these books make them fabulous to tuck into handbags to entertain little ones. There is a reasonable amount of text on each page so they might be a bit long for the more wriggly two year-olds, but the stories will appeal to that age group. And because the stories are funny – Elmer’s cousin Wilbur is a ventriloquist who likes to play tricks – Tom at 6 years still enjoys them.

So after we had seen Mali, and read Elmer and some other elephant books, we had to make our own version of a patchwork elephant! I drew a rough outline of Elmer on paper and cut out small squares of coloured and patterned paper. Annalise used heaps and heaps and heaps of glue to stick the squares on her picture. Then I cut out the elephant shape and she glued it on cardboard.

I drew another Elmer outline for Tom on brown paper but cut his elephant out, leaving the brown paper intact. Then I ruled some lines on some red cardboard, 2cm apart, folded the cardboard in half and cut on the lines. (This is the same method for making a paper lantern.) Tom used long strips of paper to weave in and out of the red cardboard, and then he stuck it behind the brown paper Elmer outline. Two different, but equally effective, patchwork elephants!

Why books matter

2010-07-11T21:09:00.004+10:00

I have been lucky enough to be surrounded by books my whole life. My Mum read picture books to me as a child and has bought me beautiful books for every birthday and Christmas. My Dad read Roald Dahl’s books to us in the school holidays. I have worked in educational publishing. I do a small amount of work now as a freelance editor. But the most important work I do now is read to my three small children.

I read about superheroes and pirates and dinosaurs to my six-year-old son. We talk about the different methods the illustrator has used – is it watercolour or acrylic paint? I read stories about monkeys and shoes and frogs to my three-year-old daughter. Sometimes, she tells me to read the blurb first so we know what the story is about – even though we have read it eighty-five times already. I read rhymes and point at simple pictures with my 12-month-old son – sometimes I have to read really, really quickly before he flicks the page over!

Reading to my kids is one of the best gifts I can give to them – I’m giving them my time, my attention. And if I’m reading something wonderful, their language is richer, their view of the world is expanding and our connection is stronger.

Through this blog, I hope to offer some reviews of picture books and some ideas for connected craft and playing.

Happy reading!