Five things - Stacks of Books

Our house is full of books.

There are piles of them everywhere; on bookcases and coffee tables, beside our beds and under them, on our desks and on the floor. We love books and I love having a home surrounded by them. They offer us a world of infinite possibility. We can immerse ourselves in worlds full of wizards (Harry Potter of course and Earthsea), the life and times of Shakespeare (1599) or that of a Roman Gladiator (Horrible Histories, You wouldn't want to be a Roman Gladiator).

We can laugh ourselves silly at the strange things we all might wish for and later regret (Five Children and It) or the antics of animals (James Herriot - makes for a brilliant audiobook). We can be brought to tears over Welsh Sheep (Gillian Clarke's collected works) or feel like jetting to New York and walking her streets (Frank O'Hara's) or be reduced to giggles reading about a strange case of hysteria (Carol Ann Duffy's). A good book is a marvellous thing that takes us on a journey and fills us with delight.
 

Back to the stacks, there are now so many of them that we have big plans for new book housing this year. Once we've finished decorating... hum let's hope we manage to get through that quicker than last the time, at least before more of these wonderful friends find there way here. 

 

Four of the Best Books about Spring

So following on on the previous autumn and winter posts, here are our favourite spring books. A bit late but here none the less. As you may remember these are books that only come out the time of the season to which they're attached and tend to have something more or less obvious to do with said season. Rotating these books has given them a special place in our family's reading as we look forward to their coming and treasure their time on our coffee table. They encourage us to look again at the season we find ourselves in and the special things it has to offer us and for that I am deeply grateful.

 
Fruhling (Eva Maria Ott-Heidmann)

The beautiful watercolour paintings delight me everytime, they seem to capture the springing up of spring - flowers, leaves, birds and beasts. There are no words but so much to see on each page that we find a different story each time we open the book. The delicate depictions of spring also inspire us to try new things in our own paintings.
 

Rechenka's Eggs (Patricia Polacco)

A good friend of ours introduced us to this book and it's been a firm favourite ever since. Patricia Polacco's illustrations are exquisite and the simple tale of generosity and workmanship a classic. It always encourages us to get egg decorating for Easter.


Pelle's New Suit (Elsa Beskow)

We love Elsa Beskow books, the stories are magical and gentle and her illustrations beautiful and fresh. We have quite a few and as so many of them have seasonal themes they tend to be on rotation. Pelle's new suit is the product of so much generosity, hard work, fair trading and creativity that it is an inspiration to all of us to look for these things in our own lives. And I love that it enables my children to see the process of turning a beloved sheep's gift of wool into clothing from the shearing to the sewing.



A New Beginning (Wendy Pfeffer and Linda Bleck)

A book about how the spring equinox has been and continues to be celebrated throughout the world. My children love hearing about all the fun things people do to welcome the renewal of life that is the promise of spring. Reading this reminds and encourages us to create our own spring traditions and seize every opportunity to celebrate the beauty all around us.

What do you read in spring time and what do you do to celebrate this lovely season?

Winter Reading : Our favourite Winter Books

Reading is a favourite passtime in the Winter. Rainy or cold days encourage nesting beside the fire or under the covers and we love to grab a stack of books and work our way through them. Here are some of our favourites from our Winter box.
 

Owl Moon (Jane Yolen, illustrated by John Schoenherr)We have read this many many times and I never stop feeling the wonder and awe that this simple story of bird watching inspires. I wish I could be the little girl, I wish I could be the dad, after reading this I wish I lived in a snowy paradise. Lovely.



Snow (Uri Shulevitz)This book artfully captures the wonder of snow for children and their will to believe. 'It's only a snowflake' says the grandfather. 'No snow' insists the radio, the television, but the boy sees more and 'Snowflakes don't listen to radio, snowflakes don't watch television'... The town and its inhabitants are transformed in this magical story.

 
 Winter (Gerda Muller)A delightful board book with no words just wintry pictures of children enjoying the season.



Lundi (Anne Herbauts) I love this Belgian author's poetic style and imagination. All her books and exquisitely illustrated and some of the most beautiful we own with their mix of collage, water colour and printing> The world they inhabit is marvellously 'farfelu' a French word for crazy, strange. Lundi is in French and has a fair bit of text. If you don't read French try Petite Météoroligies which has no text just delightful little windows to open or De Quelle Colour est le Vent. 



The Big Snow (Berta and Elmer Hader) We love books about animals and this is no exception. The line drawings and watercolour paintings are very realistic and pretty and we all love hearing about how the different birds and animals prepare for winter. When the Big Snow finally comes the little old couple's actions are heart warming and inspiring.