Halloween Books II

I've had a request to do another Halloween Book round up and I'm happy to oblige!

The first book "The Dangerous Alphabet" is not so much a Halloween book as it is a creepy tale by one of my favorite authors Neil Gaiman. Follow along as two children and their pet gazelle travel on a journey underground with plenty of trolls, zombies, ghosts and many other strange creatures.

I haven't read these next two, but loved flipping through the pages and just looking at them.

"The Halloween Kid" I love the simplistic color pallet and graphics. It mimics a retro screen print look and evokes memories of days gone by. It is absolutely adorable.

"Ghosts in the House" Again few colors are used and the graphics are fairly simple. This one looks like wood cuts or etchings with tissue paper overlay.

If you have children, then no doubt you are familiar with "Good Night Moon." "Good Night Goon" is a delightfully hilarious spin-off using the same simple rhyme style. But the sweet little room is now a tomb and other fun changes like three little bears sitting on chairs are now three little mummies rubbing their tummies. I couldn't help but chuckle as read through. It's a perfect addition to the Halloween library.

"A Vampire is coming to dinner!" is a fun contradictory book where each page tells you a "rule" for how to handle Vampires. Like "put out the welcome mat" which everyone knows very well NOT to do - (if you don't invite a Vampire in, he can't get past the threshold). But when you open up page to reveal the illustration it's a fun twist on the rule and more appropriate to how we expect to handle Vampires (through recent Vampire lore anyway). In the " put out the welcome mat" scene there is a welcome mat at the front door for sure, but a bucket of paint (or holy water?) hanging above it, so when he comes in he gets doused. The illustrations are charming and the adventure through the book is sure to get lots of giggles.

"Scardy Cat Splat" is a fun new day in the life of Scardy Cat. My son has been fascinated with Scardy Cat since pre-school and this time he is trying to come up with the spookiest costume for the school Halloween party. It is a fun ride with all the silly, Scardy Cat antics.

There you have it! The Halloween book round up. I'd love to hear what you think about these books! Happy Halloween!

Halloween Books

A dear friend gave me this book last weekend because he thought it "looked like something I'd like". There is no way he could have known exactly how much it would mean to me! This is one of my all-time favorite poems called "The Spider and the Fly" by Mary Howitt, written in the 1800's. The illustrations by Tony DiTerlizzi (love, love, love) are superb and the black and white, dark and dusty, victorian look matches the subject matter nicely. It always spooked me, yet the rhyming lines sucked me in again and again. =) It's a wonderful cautionary tale that has been given new life with it's own beautifully illustrated, hard bound book. No more will I have to dig through the pages of an old tattered book of poems. Thanks so much D.M.!

And since I'm still hung up on Halloween here are a few more fun books to celebrate the season. "Skelly the Skeleton Girl" written and illustrated by Jimmy Pickering. The story is quite cute and the illustrations are fantastic! The next book was a fun find. My dad cleaned out the basement and found lots of old books that belonged to me and my cousins. This version of "Little Witch" was published in 1973 and was a Scholastic school book for 50¢. Those were the good ol' days. I haven't read it yet, but I thought the cover illustration was so charming.

The last are books that have been recommend or have great art. I haven't had a chance to check them out either, but now they are on the radar to find. Happy Halloween reading!

Frank was a Monster Who Wanted to Dance by Keith Graves
Everything I Know about Monsters by Tom Lichtenheld
Boris and Bella by Carolyn Crimi Illustrated by Gris Grimly
Three Little Ghosts by Pippa Goodhart Illustrated by AnnaLaura Cantone
Cinderella Skeleton by Robert D. San Souci Illustrated by David Catrow
I'm Going to Eat You by Matt Mitter illustrated by Jimmy Pickering

Green efforts

Going green is not a new topic, but wow! It's a very hot topic in the media these days. I couldn't be happier. I love reading about all the green efforts and seeing what others post on their blogs to help save the planet. I have been a diligent recycler for years and have recently discovered the world of thrifting and repurposing... well, come to think of it maybe I was on to something at age 8 when I would use cardboard boxes to build barbie houses then decorate using toothpaste and mouthwash caps for lamp shades and deconstructing milk cartons into couches, chairs and beds... I found this book in a thrift spree many months back, writing this post reminded me. Wish I'd had this book way back when. Alas, I digress.

I was really going for showing off my beautiful cherry tomato plant! I ate the first ripe one yesterday and it was delicious. Best of all it was grown right here, on my very own porch (*sigh* and wishes for a real backyard)! I can hardly wait for the 18 or so new little green balls to turn red. Don't laugh. I've never considered myself much of a green-thumb but a friend has turned me on to the wonderful world of hydroponics and aquaponics. Neither of which are new concepts, but with going green and organic topics being all the rage they have been popping up as well, and I am fascinated. The porch really isn't conducive to hydroponic growing... or any kind of growing. I am doing well to have the tomato plant in it's sad pot. So for now I'll keep reading up on hydroponic gardening and continue to visit the local farmers market. This week we scored with some beautiful kale, fennel, sugar snap peas and scallions.

I'll have to check into the local CSA's as well. Here is a great link with list of CSA's and other food sharing programs around the country listed by state.

He's ready for this... I am not

Z starts his first day of pre-school tomorrow. We've all been looking forward to this day and Z is very excited. The extra commotion of the day (my car broke down) detracted from the excitement and build-up a bit, though I did manage to hit the library and pick up "Curious George's First Day of School" which we read before bed. Poor George always gets into some kind of trouble, but he means well. Z enjoys George stories.

For Z, the lunch is planned, backpack is almost ready to go and clothes have been laid out.

For Mom, camera will be charged and a pack of tissues will be in the purse.

Here's to a fun new adventure!

Early Father's Day

We aren't very big about Father's Day (or Mother's Day) at our house. Typically the day goes by much as any other, with the possible exception of eating out and calling it "X"-day meal. But this year, thanks to a post from www.designmom.com, I couldn't resist getting this book for M.

I thought it would be a great, practical gift combing two of his favorite subjects as of late. He has really been enjoying experimenting with the camera and taking picture of everything imaginable. He has a very keen eye and even makes chipped paint look good. Once he masters all the settings and variables watch out Leibovitz! =) Z presented the book to him tonight. (I couldn't resist, and wasn't sure if Z would keep it a secret anyway.) I think he appreciated it, even though it is analog ;)