It's Monday, Mrs. Jolly Bones! by Warren Hanson

It's Monday, Mrs. Jolly Bones! by Warren Hanson, illustrated by Tricia Tusa

Rating: 5 stars

Heaps of people have told me the same thing: "Kate, you think too much."  It's true.  I'm always wondering and analyzing and planning and trying to maximize whatever it is I'm doing.  When Lorelei was born with a furrowed brow of concentration, I worried she inherited the think-too-much gene.  She is so very thoughtful, so content to sit with a book for hours, so happy to concentrate on anything and everything.

Luckily, we girls have Ben and Kiefer in our lives.  They are little kings of silly.  They keep us laughing, like it or not!  Take yesterday: Their nightly ritual of racing around a loop within our house (every house with small children has to have some circular pattern) somehow happened sans clothes.  They first took their shirts off, and then Kiefer wanted to take everything off.  Ben followed his lead.  So, for 15 minutes, I laughed until I cried at the sight of noody-loody joy blurring past me every few seconds.  Hilarious!

What does this parade of skin have to do with books?  Well, I'll tell you!

I'm always up for maximizing time spent reading.  If I'm going to read, either for pleasure myself or with my children, I want to learn something, too!  I'm all for nonfiction, fact-filled books or thought-provoking, lesson-packed books.

But sometimes, it's good to just laugh.  Take a break from all that seriousness and be in the moment and appreciate something that is downright silly (like two little boys running around naked in my house).  It's Monday, Mrs. Jolly Bones! hits that need-for-funny nail right on the head.  Warren Hanson simply gets it RIGHT.  He knows what is funny to kids (and this mom) and he delivers, page after page, with a pattern: normal-suspense-then-funny, normal-suspense-then-funny.

Mrs. Jolly Bones is a woman who, like Hanson's mom, has a set pattern on how she does her housework.  Monday is laundry, Tuesday is weeding, Wednesday is cleaning the house, Thursday is grocery shopping, Friday is baking.  After introducing each new task, Warren explains how she does it in two rhyming lines, and then in the final line of that day's stanza he throws an unexpected flip of silly into the mix, and Mrs. Jones does something hilarious with her housework.  For example:

It's Wednesday, Mrs. Jolly Bones.  It's time to clean the house.
So wear your worn-out overalls.  Put on your oldest blouse.
Sweep all the floors, shake all the rugs, and shine the sing and tub.
Then step into the toilet bowl and give yourself a scrub!

See what I mean?  It's cute and normal but then WHAM she's taking a bath in the toilet (ewwwww!  grosss!)!  The illustrations by Tricia Tusa are fantastic, delightful, and spot-on.

I have to share Saturday; it's my favorite:
It's Saturday, a day for Mrs. Jolly Bones to play.
The food and clothes and tools and brooms have all been put away.
Invite the ladies over.  Share gossip and some tea.
Then clear away the furniture...and wrestle recklessly!

Lorelei especially loved the idea of me inviting my mom-friends over to have tea and then, still in our necklaces and fancy shoes and hats, wrestle!

A delightful book that is a delightful reminder of the healing aspects of a good laugh!

The Most Thankful Thing by Lisa McCourt, illustrated by Cyd Moore

The Most Thankful Thing by Lisa McCourt, illustrated by Cyd Moore

Rating: 4 stars

I read this book at 4 AM this morning, just a few hours ago.

Lorelei is starting camp today, but it's really like her first day of kindergarten--she is riding the bus to her new school.  WOW!  What a big day.  I've not made a huge deal of it, but of course we have talked about it; I've made sure she has what she needs in her backpack and reassured her that she'll have fun.  Two of her preschool friends will be there, one on the bus alongside her.  She has been nothing but excited.

But, clearly, she's been hiding her nerves a little, because at 3:30 AM she walked into our room, sobbing: "I can't sleep!"  She reported that there was a funny noise in her room and she couldn't figure out what it was.  I lay down with her, telling her stories of when she was a baby and what I used to sing to her and do with her to help her sleep.  That didn't work so well, so I suggested we do our bedtime routine so to remind her body of what it was supposed to be doing right now.  She got up and went to the bathroom and chose a book.  It was this one.

The Most Thankful Thing is a little cheesy and definitely predictable.  A girl finds her mom sitting and "giving thanks" in a rare moment of quiet (I can relate!).  "What are you most thankful for?" asks her daughter.  "Guess," is the reply.  So the girl gets her mom's scrapbooks and guesses: your time on a winning soccer team?  Being the editor of the yearbook?  Having your first job?  Getting married to Daddy?

She's close on the last one, but of course it's having her daughter, holding her for the first time.  It's cheesy and predictable...and I've gotten a little misty every time I've read the book.  I was really touched that thoughtful, thought-filled Lorelei chose it--in the middle of the night--before a day that held actual, real-life stress for her little mind and body.

She fell back to sleep around 5 (when Kiefer woke up!).  When I woke her up at 7, she bounced out of bed, giggling and smiling, thrilled to go to camp today.  That's my girl.  She's ready, even though a tiny part of her mind is probably a little bit scared.  If she learns how to act--and act boldly, confidently, and cheerfully--while a little bit scared, I'll have done my job.

I'm thankful for this book.  Because I can leave a note like this (see below) in Lorelei's lunch and she'll really get what I mean.

Owl Babies by Martin Waddell, illustrated by Patrick Benson

Owl Babies by Martin Waddell, illustrated by Patrick Benson

Rating: 4.5 stars

I was practicing the art of saying no the other day to my kids, and then I said yes to myself.  Please don't tell them!  It'll be our little secret.


Yesterday was pretty hot around here, and the afternoon found all of us restless for our varied reasons, tired of being inside our house, needing Something Else.  Having called the usual suspects (aka my closest mom friends) and determined that their houses were not available for raiding and plunging, we headed to the bookstore.

"Remember!" I said to the kids in my kind-but-mean voice. "We're no going to buy ANYTHING for ourselves!  Just three books for your cousin for his birthday!"  I think I said this 200 times, knowing that nothing sinks in with them until you hit three digits.

In case you're wondering, yes, we clean up after ourselves.

So we strolled around, reading this and that, Kiefer screeching at all the animal pictures.  Each kid found a book with a million buttons on it--these books are a favorite to play with at bookstores because I sure don't let them come home...  Everyone was happy reading or looking through something, though Kiefer found my big ol' purse more interesting than any books.  Fine!  No problem!  We weren't at home, and I was happy.  We all were.  Amazing what a little change of scenery can do.

But, I lied to my kids.  I actually bought two books in addition to the birthday books.  I bought Summer, one of my all-time favorite books.  The words and pictures make me happy, and I deserve to have something in my shelf that makes me happy should I need a little pick-me-up.  And if all that is is a children's book, why not?!  And tomorrow is the first official day of summer, so...  I just couldn't resist.

My favorite page.

The second was the great Owl Babies.  Kiefer has about three brand new things in his entire room--everything else is a hand-me-down from somebody.  I bought a copy of this book for Ben, but he destroyed it (not shocking). I love it because the whole thing could take place a few feet outside our house.

Three baby owls--Sarah, Percy, Bill--wake up to find their mom missing.  They think about what to do, trying to be brave despite being afraid.  They huddle together and then their mom comes home.  "Soft and silent she swooped through the night, to Sarah and Percy and Bill.  'Mommy!'  They cried and they flapped and they danced..."  The book reminds me of how much I love coming home to my kids.  The excitement over me--just me!--is so sweet and touching.

Therefore, thanks to a hot, restless afternoon, Kiefer has one new book in his room.  Don't want to go crazy and spoil the little guy.  Just one.

My Mother is So Smart! by Tomie DePaola

My Mother is So Smart! by Tomie DePaola

Rating: 3 stars

This is the best book ever!  All kids should read it and believe it!  Because we moms ARE the smartest!

Actually, though we adore Tomie DePaola in this house, this is not one of my favorite books of his.  It is a very cute ode to his own mother (it's written in the first person; like so many of his books, the little boy in the picture is like a little Tomie), and I trust it will sell pretty well because a) it's a Tomie DePaola book and b) there are lots of moms who need gifts at least three times a year.

DePaola points out why his mother is so smart, starting at the time he was a baby: "She always knew when to change my diaper" and "she always knew I was hungry before I cried."  And then when he was older: "My mother is so smart that when it's cold out, she gives us breakfast that makes us warm" and "she can dance the polka." 

No doubt this is a cute book, but I just wonder if I'd like it more if DePaola used "wonderful" instead of "smart?"  Smart makes me think of business meetings and math problems, creative ideas and genius solutions.  But maybe I'm the one who needs to redefine smart.  That would definitely help me during the days when I think "This is it?"  Not that I don't love being a stay-at-home mom, but...like everyone out there, sometimes I wonder what it'd be like if I had a different job.  But then I glance over at Lorelei and Ben and realize any other job just isn't worth it.  There's time for Other.  Right now I have Them.

If I do my job right, maybe they'll buy this book for me in 20 or 30 years!

Koala Lou by Mem Fox

Koala Lou by Mem Fox, illustrated by Pamela Lofts

Rating: 4.5 stars

During the recent Winter Olympics we searched high and low for some children's books to explain what the games were. We came up empty-handed...and figured that the Olympics Committee had copyrighted everything to the extent that they'd be officially un-thrilled with me using the O-word in this posting! Anyway, with that search and after I read Mem Fox's book Reading Magic (I'll blog on that later; amazingly I paused to read a book for my own age group), I found Koala Lou What a gem!

Little Koala Lou is the oldest koala in the family, and after all her little brothers and sisters are born, she seeks to regain the attention and love of her mother by participating in the "Bush Olympics." Of course, her mother loved her all along and, not of course, she doesn't win the gum tree climbing event. I think that losing--well--is a great little lesson for kids. Some of my friends would disagree heartily--but who in this world wins every time? Certainly not me in Scrabble, I must report sadly. In almost all other books, the main character achieves the objective and wins the gold and reaches the top...but in this one, little Koala Lou is sad--and Lorelei definitely feels sad for her--but when her mother throws her arms around her and reaffirms her love... I admit that a) I'm a sap and b) tears came to my eyes the first time I read it. And no, I wasn't pregnant when that happened.

The book has a great sing-songy rhythm to it--my daughter loves to read the part "Koala Lou, I do love you!" which appears on half of the pages. The illustrations (thanks to Pamela Lofts) are beautiful and there's a lot to look at and discuss. It'd be a fine book to bring on a plane, for example, because there are all sorts of crazy animals from Australia and a great scene where all the animals wear fabulous hats.