Posts tagged as:

books for boys

Father Christmas; Raymond Briggs (1973)

December 16, 2010

Oh, I love Raymond Brigg’s Father Christmas—a nice counterpoint to ‘Twas the night before… My kind of grumbling, irascible, oft-tippling, animal-loving, snow-hating, gourmand bachelor Santa Claus. In brightly colorful, detailed drawings and a few choice words Briggs takes us through Father Christmas’s long day and night leading up to Christmas, and sees him through his [...]

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The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey; Susan Wojciechowski, illustrated by P. J. Lynch (1995)

December 7, 2010

This one makes me cry every year. “The village children called him Mr. Gloomy. But, in fact, his name was Toomey, Mr. Jonathan Toomey,” it begins. Jonathan Toomey is a woodcarver, maybe the best in the valley, but all his skill can’t mend a heart broken by the loss of a beloved wife and baby. [...]

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Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins; story by Eric A. Kimmel, pictures by Trina Schart Hyman (1989)

December 3, 2010

On the third night of Hannukah I propose my favorite Hannukah tale, Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins. When Hershel of Ostropol’s steps lead him, on the first night of Hannukah, to a small snowy village, he is sure he will be greeted by crisp latkes and the gleam of candles burning in menorahs in a [...]

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Hurry, Hurry, Mary Dear; Bodecker & Blegvad (1975/1998)

October 18, 2010

There’s a sweet story inside the front cover of Hurry, Hurry, Mary Dear, by children’s book illustrator and author N. M. Bodecker, illustrated by Erik Blegvad. Blegvad tells of his friendship with Bodecker, whom he met at the Copenhagen Art School in 1941 and later shared a studio with in Westport, CT. Bodecker wrote the [...]

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The Carrot Seed; story by Ruth Krauss, pictures by Crockett Johnson (1945)

August 21, 2010

The Carrot Seed, by Ruth Krauss, with pictures by Crockett Johnson, is about faith, faith in the face of all evidence and faith when no one but you believes in what you’re doing. It’s about planting a seed, watering it, tending the soil, and waiting, with faith. All this, in just under a hundred words. [...]

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The right sort of books

May 30, 2010

The narrator—I will tell you, but you must let your children figure it out for themselves, that the “I” and Oswald are one and the same—of the second book about the Bastable Children explains:
It was very rough on Dora having her foot bad, but we took it in turns to stay in with her, and [...]

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