5/5- Loved It Archives - Page 3 of 7

Katy No-Pocket

by Emmy Payne and H.A. Rey

This has got to be one of my favorite picture books, ever. It\’s a charming story about a mother kangaroo who inexplicably has no pouch to carry her baby in. She sobs and frets about the inconvenience and then decides to find a solution. First she asks other mother animals how they carry their babies, and tries a few different methods. Nothing works for her and her little joey. In despair she goes to the owl who tells her to find a pocket in the city. The kangaroo travels to the city where she happens to meet a handyman wearing an apron simply full of pockets in all sizes. She is so amazed and he is so surprised to meet a kangaroo asking for help that he kindly gives her the apron. Delighted, the mother kangaroo hops back home where she proudly becomes the local babysitter, because now she has more pockets than any kangaroo, and can tend to all the other baby animals!

I knew this story from my childhood, and read it to my older daughter when she was little. Now, some six years later, I\’m reading it again. I had forgotten how much the mama kangaroo cries about her predicament, and also how lengthy the text can seem to a listening toddler. I left out probably half the words when reading this to my two-year-old, and she enjoyed it anyways. The pictures really tell the story well (done by the same man who illustrated the original Curious George books, with a very signature style). I\’m sure eventually I\’ll be reading the entire text to her, and then hopefully she\’ll be reading it someday on her own!

Rating: 5/5 …….. 32 pages, 1944

more opinions:
Mom Always Finds Out
Vintage Kids\’ Books My Kid Loves

Theophilus

Semicolon

Tags: 5/5- Loved It, Current Reads, Picture Books, Re-reads

Noah\’s Garden

Restoring the Ecology of Our Own Back Yards
by Sara Stein

This is one of those books so awesome I don\’t quite know how to describe it all. Even though it\’s not really what I expected upon first reading the back cover. It\’s more, and better, than I had imagined. It\’s informative and descriptive about plants and wildlife ecosystems in one person\’s yard, how she tried to improve that- but it\’s also written with a sense of humor. If you chuckle aloud at how someone describes the growth habits of plants, you know that\’s a darn good writer!

The book is about how the author quit trying to control her land with gardening and landscaping but instead thinking of what habitats the animals need, let things grow up their own way and planted native foliage and took out exotic or invasive trees and weeds. Sounds straightforward perhaps, but she details precisely how complicated it is. Discusses so many things. How out of balance things get in nature when we get involved. How un-inviting to wildlife and birds the open spaces and empty, uniform lawns we like are. How problematic -on many levels- alien species are in the ecosystem. How important and scare open water like ponds are, and their efforts to build and dredge one. How varied the trees of the forest are, their stages of growth, their needs. How the land and plants will take care of themselves if you have the right ones in the right place. How marvelous the return of living wild things to the places you make welcoming for them. How childhood memories of certain birds, insects, frogs and other living things came back when she restructured and left alone the landscape for them. How to make things look appealing (appeasing neighbors who don\’t like messy or neglected-looking yards) and yet have the foliage, food sources and cover the wild things need. How communities could interlink the plant cover in their yards to create the \”corridors\” animals need to travel and disperse. And on and on and on.

Most of all, it makes me realize how wrong my own ways of going about gardening and plant tending are (if I want to be nature-friendly and stress-free, that is). Why all my gardening efforts fall prey to insects and diseases- because the plants aren\’t native or are varieties cultivated for beauty and food value, which of course means they\’ve lost the natural means to fend for themselves. We tend to breed the bitter taste and stomach-cramping factors out of plants we want to eat, of course- the very thing those plants use to ward off insects! I now feel guilty for having dug up and harbored in pots hibiscus and mimosa from seedlings that sprouted in my old yard, just because they were pretty, when they are strangers introduced here…

And I know she\’s just mentioned a few of the things her reading and research and delving educated herself to, so I wish I could hear the all of it. She\’s published another book prior to this one, about her gardening before she went the ecology route, and another volume continuing where this one lets off, and I want to read them both but of course my library has none of her works so it\’s another name/title combo stored in my head for those lovely hours spent poking and browsing through used bookstores in the hopes of coming across a treasure.

I just learned that I will have to enjoy whatever books of hers are extant, and this having only now discovered the author! This post at Sphere about her property informs me that she passed on in 2005. I wonder what has become of her land now.

Rating: 5/5 …….. 294 pages, 1993

more opinions:
Writing and Healing Year 2
What all the cool kids are reading
Town Mouse and Country Mouse

Tags: 5/5- Loved It, Current Reads, Gardening / Food

Bunny Cakes

by Rosemary Wells

This Max and Ruby book is one of my favorites. Max and his big sister Ruby are each preparing a cake for their grandmother\’s birthday: Max is making a mud-pie cake with earthworms in it outside, and Ruby is methodically baking a cake in the kitchen. Max wants to help her, but keeps accidentally knocking things off the table. Each time Ruby sends Max with a written note to the grocery store to replace the item. Max wants a special ingredient to top off his earthworm cake, but he can\’t quite communicate that to the grocer. Finally he is inspired by one of Ruby\’s own notes to himself, and finds a way to get his treat.

I love so many things about this book. First, it\’s so darn cute. The bunnies determined to make something special for their grandma. Each doing something on their own: Ruby\’s lopsided pink-frosted cake has a close contender in Max\’s mud-and-earthworm cake. Grandma appropriately looks thrilled with both, and when I ask my toddler at the end which cake she would like to eat she always says \”the brown one!\” She doesn\’t quite get the yucky factor in that yet, but it does make my older daughter giggle. The story has a very realistic dynamic between siblings: the bossy older sister, younger one trying to help but messing things up, doing his best to make up for his mistakes and determined to get what he wants as well. Of course my favorite element is the role drawing takes as a communication vector. Wonderful story!

Rating: 5/5 ……. 32 pages, 1977

more opinions:
Brenna\’s Books
Kindergarten Reads
The Toy Bag

Tags: 5/5- Loved It, Current Reads, Picture Books, Re-reads

Secrets of the Nest

by Joan Dunning

This is a beautiful book. I stumbled across it browsing library shelves once, and now it\’s one I dream to own someday. The exquisite illustrations drew me in, but the writing is just as fantastic. It\’s all about the different types of nests birds build: how they do it, where they make them, how they raise and defend their young. You learn a lot more about birds and their habits than just their nests in the course of the book, but it all revolves around their homes. I found it fascinating and delightful. A wonderful book that any nature-lover would treasure.

Rating: 5/5 …….. 198 pages, 1994

Tags: 5/5- Loved It, Animals Nonfiction, Art, Past Reads

Baby Be Kind

by Jane Cowen-Fletcher

This is one of my favorite board books we have in the house. It has beautiful, soft illustrations showing little children doing various activities together, always accompanied by a puppy. The gentle words tell of ways even young children can be kind and compassionate to others, and the pictures show a simple storyline of the kids playing together, with little events that call for offering help, sharing, taking turns, forgiveness, handling anger and so forth. It\’s absolutely adorable and has a wonderful message as well, including not only other people in acts of kindness but also our animal friends. I always enjoy reading this book to my little one. The words have a nice, gentle rhythm and the pictures are a joy to look at.

Rating 5/5 …… 18 pages, 2012

Tags: 5/5- Loved It, Baby books

A Beast the Color of Winter

by Douglas H. Chadwick

I still remember this book vividly, even though it\’s been years and years since I read it. It\’s all about mountain goats, relating the experiences a wildlife biologist has on the high slopes of Montana while studying them. In the best style of nature writing, the narrative describes his experiences in finding the animals, learning to identify them, puzzling out their behavior, and speculating on many things. There are wonderful descriptions of both the landscape, the author\’s personal experiences and the animals\’ activities themselves. It\’s scientific and detailed but easily accessible to the curious reader and altogether intriguing. I never knew mountain goats could be so interesting. This is one of those books that I would immediately snatch up anywhere I found it, to add to my collection. Just thinking about it makes me want to go out and read more by the same author- I see he\’s also written about elephants, wolves and the elusive wolverine.

I love the title, too. Borrowed this one from the public library, once many years ago.

Rating: 5/5 …….. 224 pages, 1983

Tags: 5/5- Loved It, Animals Nonfiction, Past Reads

Apple Farmer Annie

by Monica Wellington

We found this one at random browsing in the public library, and it\’s currently a favorite- both with my daughter and myself. The book seems quite simple, but has a lot going on. With simple text and bright-colored pictures, it shows how Annie tends to her orchard, picks and sorts the produce, turns the apples into salable goods, drives them to a farmer\’s market in the city, and sells them for her living. There are so many things I find attractive about this book. First of all, it has a female business-owner as the main character. It shows a sequence of events, where apples and their products come from, and how (via the illustrations) many of those are made. The text doesn\’t address this, but if you look carefully at the pictures you can see all the tools and deduce the basic process in making the cider, applesauce, baked goods, etc. My daughter is too young to appreciate this part, but with an older child I can imagine talking about the pictures in more detail to explain how those things are done. Each page also has a little dog and cat somewhere- this pleases my toddler, who loves to point out where \”puppy!\” and \”cat!\” are at each turn- except for the pages where Annie takes her apples into the city, when the cat sensibly stays at home!

Rating: 5/5 …….. 32 pages, 2004

Tags: 5/5- Loved It, Baby books, Current Reads

Garden Anywhere

by Alys Fowler

This is my favorite book right now. It has galvanized me into doing new things for my little garden. I was kind of dismayed at first at the lack of space and open ground I now have, living in an apartment. But I do have big windows with lots of southern light, and a decent-sized balcony. And suddenly I am excited about the prospects of spring again, I have all kinds of plans. Thanks to the inspiration that is Garden Anywhere.

I used to always kind of ignore the advice in gardening books about container and small-space gardening, but now that\’s what I need to learn, so this book was perfect. It\’s all about gardening in a city environment, in a rental unit or small space, when you don\’t have permanence to put a lot of effort into the soil, for instance. She talks about choosing containers, utilizing space, understanding the needs of your plants- light, soil, moisture, etc. Discusses aesthetics, recommends easy plants, pretty ones and tasty ones. Stresses the importance of being environmental-friendly, of saving your own seed, of growing organically, of learning to deal with the pests in ways that don\’t hurt others. She gave me enough info on making a worm bin that I am hoping to create my own plant food again, and taught me some new stuff about composting as well. Introduced me to a whole slew of new favorite websites. And even better than all that, she discusses all kinds of ways to re-use or find materials you need for your garden, or make it yourself. She calls it \”scrap crafting\” and this is my kind of thing! I got a lot of new ideas on things to use and make, and hers are usually attractive-looking to boot. I took tons of notes; if you\’re interested in the details they\’re over here.

rating: 5/5 ……… 192 pages, 2008

more opinions:
Eco-Library blog
apartment therapy
Folkways Notebook
Velvet nectar

Tags: 5/5- Loved It, Current Reads, Gardening / Food

Bambi

A Life in the Woods

by Felix Salten

This is one of my most favorite books ever. I read it many times in my childhood, but it\’s been years since I last visited its pages. I happened across a beautifully illustrated edition at the library and borrowed it (even though I have my own copy) to enjoy again with these new images. The paintings by Michael J. Woods really make the forest setting and animals come alive. They are so lifelike, and so expressive at the same time. I paged through the book several times after reading it, just to look at the pictures again. (click on images to view them larger)

Bambi tells the story of the life a deer leads in the forest. It begins with his birth and follows him through the unfolding of his understanding, from the first questions he asks his mother- reminiscent of any toddlers incessant why is the sky blue? but why? – to his playful explorations in the meadow to his youthful feelings of invulnerability. He soon learns that the forest isn\’t safe at all, often full of dangers. For some time the exact nature of danger is unclear as his mother is unwilling to speak of it and he speculates with his playmates what it could be. But soon enough he learns about the threat of man, who seems to be an inescapable and incomprehensible horror. This combined with the hardships of his first winter make Bambi realize that life is a very serious thing indeed.

In fact, a lot of the book deals with themes of facing mortality and the constant threats to life. Bambi sees plenty of other creatures die, from his mother to other deer they associate with; a squirrel gets its throat torn out by a predator, crows attack smaller creatures, a dog relentlessly tracks down an injured fox, etc. And yet he finds plenty to delight in as well. His first experience of the mating season is a time of giddy passion, surging emotions that culminate in fights with the other bucks (although there\’s nothing \”twitterpated\” here at all). He also takes simple joy in his surroundings, the colorful flowers, birdsong, warm sunshine etc. The nature writing is wonderful, beautifully evoking the seasons and surroundings of lush plant life and bird voices. As Bambi moves into adulthood his life becomes more solitary and then he begins to associate closely with an older stag of the forest, who mentors him and shares his wisdom.

One of the most interesting parts of the books is about another deer named Gobo whom Bambi grew up with. During their first winter Gobo collapses in the snow and is rescued by a hunter. The other deer are all shocked and amazed when he reappears healthy and well later on. But even though Gobo survived at the hands of Man, he is now unfit for life in the forest and his inability to live as a wild deer is painfully illustrated. Another part of the book also shows how the animals interact with mankind: when the fox is tracked by a hound they end up arguing about their relationships to man. The fox sneers at the dog for being a traitor to animals by serving man; the dog asserts that man is good to those who work for him. Other parts of the story that also show how humans affect wildlife, as in when a massive tree is chopped down and many small creatures are suddenly homeless.

I could go on and on, but I won\’t tell you more because I want you to read the book! I think most people are only familiar with the Disney film version of Bambi, and that\’s a shame. There are few similarities, namely the early death of Bambi\’s mother. There are no giggling bunny and skunk friends; the Hare Bambi meets is a serious creature and the Owl he knows is a little screech owl who delights in trying to frighten others with his shrieks. There is no fire in the book, and the threat of human hunters is much more prominent. This story is so different, much deeper and so beautifully written. I wish more people would read it, especially to their children.

Rating: 5/5 …….. 158 pages, 1928

more opinions at:
Eyrie
jonathanandme

Tags: 5/5- Loved It, Animals Fiction, Classics, Current Reads, Juvenile Fic, Re-reads

catalog

I just spent my evening quiet time (one of the few nights the kid and baby actually get to bed on time) reading a seed catalog. And I\’m writing about it here because it feels more like an enjoyable reading experience than anything else, plus it\’s not much to note of on my garden blog since I won\’t be ordering seeds from this company. But I would, if I lived in the Pacific Northwest. Here\’s the deal.

I once bought my mother some flower seed for her garden from Uprising Seeds. I thought what better way to have varieties that will do well in your climate, than to buy from a company that grows the very seed right there in your home state? Not only that, but their plants are old heirloom varieties, many that are in danger of going extinct. I was happy to get my mom some of their seed, but when their catalog arrived at my door this winter thought meh: I love them, but they probably won\’t grow for me over here, in a different climate zone. But I started thumbing through the catalog anyway, just curious.

And found it was such fun to read. It was heartening to read the little intro page about the local farms that produce the seed and all the integrity these people put into their work. You can tell by reading the words that they love plants. And the descriptions next to the variety names not only all sound very enticing, but also quite honest: some of them just say crop failed next to it. Others mention that the crop is small, or that it was so lovely they couldn\’t help eating the produce in the field instead letting it mature into seed (I\’m hoping that\’s a joke, mostly)! Most tell something about the history of the plant, or extol its virtues, but all in a way that\’s utterly charming, engaging, and sometimes downright funny. There\’s a tomato with soft, fuzzy leaves, a lettuce variety that dates back to 1799. Have you ever read a produce description before that said oh-my-god-these-are-so-cute? And listen to this about the pumpkins: There are some people in the house who believe pumpkin pie is not reserved for special occasions. The occasion is the pie and every day is open for celebration. If this describes you or who you\’d like to be or be around, you will thank yourself for growing this pie pumpkin…. there will be enough to share. Sharing is good. Eat. More. Pie.

So I just kept reading, because it was fun. Usually I linger over all the pictures in seed catalogs but this one doesn\’t need them, the writing is so good. It made me long for some of their plants, and feel sad that I didn\’t live in the vicinity of Uprising Seeds anymore. I need to find me a seed company like this in Virginia. Anybody know of one?

Tags: 5/5- Loved It, Current Reads, Gardening / Food

Tag: 5/5- Loved It

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