Saturday, July 19, 2008

Books to Share . . .

If you're looking for a good book for a grandchild, Violet Comes to Stay might be just what you're looking for. Published by Viking's Penguin Group in 2006, the story is written by Melanie Cecka, illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully, and presented by Jan Karon, the author of The Mitford Series of books. In those books, her character Cynthia Coppersmith, a popular author of the Violet series of books about Violet, a little white cat, marries Father Tim, an Episcopalian priest with sturdy faith and a loving heart.
Did you follow all that?
The book itself isn't that complicated – it's a delightful story about how Violet finds a home, and is suitable for reading to a pre-schooler, while an older child will enjoy reading it for herself. The illustrations invite inspection; you'll have fun looking at them, noticing details. Be sure to keep an eye out for the mouse!

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Another book we've enjoyed around here lately is one of the Sterling Publishing Company's Poetry for Young People series, The Seasons. This series of books includes collections like American Poetry or Animal Poems, as well as books for individual poets like Langston Hughes, William Shakespeare, and Emily Dickinson.
The Seasons, a lovely book edited by John N. Serio, includes poems for summer, autumn, winter, and spring, including poets Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Nikki Giovanni, and Elinor Wylie, among others. Robert Crockett's illustrations are as evocative as the poems they illustrate.
Reading poetry to grandkids is fun; they have fun with language, and are able to make the imaginative leaps that bring a poem to life. Memorizing a favorite poem together creates a special bond between you! Choose something age appropriate, something you both enjoy, and work together to commit it to memory. You'll be sharing something special with your grandchild!
A poem is a good gift!

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