Santa left a book basket

Santa's one smart cookie. He knows that books are meant to be shared, so he leaves a large basket on the hearth, full of books for all ages. I'd love to say that the ladies and gents drop everything in rapture over the new books, but even brand new books can't always compete with breakfast cereal (#3, here), pink girlie stuff or Hot Wheels. The ladies and gents oohed over the books between stockings before breakfast and presents after breakfast, but pretty soon the entire basket disappeared under all the discarded wrapping paper. Every year the basket sits on the hearth for a few days. Pretty soon it's nearly empty. The books have migrated to chair arms, the floor next to the couch, the foot of a bed (or even under it). Eventually they end up on the shelves with all of the rest, with fingerprints and bent-cornered pages, patiently waiting to be pulled off the shelf again.

Astronaut Living in Space (an Eyewitness Reader), Kate Hayden.
Fine young gent, 6, has decided that he's going to Mars someday. He might even live there. He wants to be an astronaut-explorer-scientist. If they'll let him carry a sword while he's at it his every dream will have come true.


I'll admit it. I didn't get Frog Went A-Courtin' (John Langstaff) because I thought the gents would enjoy this one, although they certainly do, I bought it because I remember reading this one when I was a little frog. I love these old-fashioned illustrations. Based on an old nonsense ballad the rhythms make it fun to read aloud, and even more fun to sing. (Tune is at the back of the book for those who aren't already familiar with the song.) Last night I was trying to figure out how to play along on my new guitar while we sang, "Froggie went a-courtin' and he did ride, uh-huh, Sword and pistol by his side..."

For the youngest gent. When lovely lady with autism was obsessed with hearing the same stories over and over and over, The Runaway Bunny, another Margaret Wise Brown charmer, was one of the most bearable. We read our first copy literally to shreds. The image of the baby bunny bird flying home to the momma tree is my favorite; the gents like the baby bunny sailboat. It's a perfect snuggle book, and I'm enjoying snuggling the not-so-baby baby while we read about the little boy bunny who always comes back to his momma.

Howl's Moving Castle Picture Book adapted from a novel by Diana Wynne Jones, with artwork by Hayao Miyazaki. The Hayao Miyazaki movie, Howl's Moving Castle, is a movie night favorite. Actaully just about any Miyazaki film is a hit in our house. We're longtime Miyazaki fans, beginning with our absolute favorite children's movie, My Neighbor Totoro. Lovely lady, 13, had a Miyazaki slumber party about 6 months ago. We had several chattering young ladies watching film after film while they ate pizza and chips and drank soda.


Max Found Two Sticks by Brian Pinkney has found a permanent home on 6-year-old gent's bedtime reading shelf. He really likes this one. I skimmed it but I haven't even had a chance to read it yet, so I'm not sure exactly how the story unfolds, but in a very sketchy nutshell, it's the story of Max, who finds two sticks.
(Yeah, that's helpful. Oh well. Read it yourself.)


Oh Yuck! The Encyclopedia of Everything Nasty (Joy Masoff) found its way home with us from the library every time one of the ladies or gents found it on the shelf. Santa finally took pity on the other library patrons interested in disgusting stuff. Wanna know all the gory details about boogers, farts, bugs, spit? This is the book. All but the youngest are fascinated by this book. I'll bet he'd be fascinated too if only he knew just how gross all that stuff is.

We've already got Boynton's Philadelphia Chickens, and it's hysterical. Santa decided we need to add Rhinoceros Tap to the collection. The gents have listened to the CD, but I have not. We're heading out for a nice long car trip in two weeks, and I'm sure I'll get to hear it plenty. But hearing this, say, ten times is way better than hearing Philadelphia Chickens twenty, no matter how charming.

The Girls' Spa Book: 20 Dreamy Ways to Relax and Feel Great (Mary Wallace, Jessica Wallace, and Claudia Dávilawas) was the first book to disappear from the basket. Lovely lady, 11, wants to have a spa day one weekend when she and her sister are both home. I can't wait. Maybe we can send all the boys golfing, although the gents probably wouldn't object to a fruit mask or foot soak.


Pirates, by John Matthews. The fine young pirates--Ironhand Jack, Two-Eyed Curly, and Tolly who is only Tolly even for pretend-- love the new Playmobile pirate ship and this book. Aarrggh! (Except for Tolly, who doesn't like "Aarrggh!" either.)


Lovely lady, 13, read the first of Jonathon Stroud's Bartemaeus trilogy, The Amulet of Samarkand, last summer as a part of her summer reading list. We're racing through our current books to see who'll finish and move on to The Golem's Eye first. When it comes to preteen/teen fantasy, I prefer Cornelia Funke, Phillip Pullman, and Christopher Paolini's Eragon (though I had a hard time with Eldest) to the first book in the Bartemaeus trilogy, but it's good solid magical fantasy and I'm looking forward to reading The Golem's Eye. Another good fun if-you-like-Harry-Potter fantasy that lovely lady and I have both enjoyed: Jenny Nimmo's Children of the Red King series, beginning with Midnight for Charlie Bone.