As a Children’s Librarian for over 30 years, my passion has been for the sound of language. I want children to hear rhythmic, joyful language that will make them fall in love with words. My own career as a storyteller and author continues this same love of language. I try to write my own picture books in such a way that any adult who picks them up will read them out with the same kind of verve and joy that I put into them.
A great Thanksgiving treat. “Dancin’ in the kitchen. The family’s packed in tight. I think we may be dancin’ in the kitchin’ all night!” The family cooks, sets the table, and eats…all while dancing and chanting along. Get your beat going. Hand out spoons to beat on pans and rock along with this joyful picture book. All the way to the end, “Grandpa does the washin’. We all pitch in to dry. We’re still dancin’ in the kitchen, with the radio way up high!”
Dinner time is dancin' at Grandma's house while the chicken and dumplings simmer on the stove and all three generations of the family groove to the music on the kitchen radio, working up generous appetites.
This old classic still holds its charm. Sing along all the way and enjoy the autumn farmland illustrations as a fox runs through a tobacco barn and across the moonlit countryside bringing the farmer’s grey goose back to his young ones for dinner. Spoiler alert, they do pick the bones clean.
This Caldecott Honor book from beloved illustrator Peter Spier is a spirited take on a classic American folk song.
"[Spier's] finely detailed, action-packed New England autumn vistas are almost startlingly beautiful."—The New York Times
Over fifty years after he won a Caldecott Honor for The Fox Went Out on a Chilly Night, legendary illustrator Peter Spier went back to this time-honored favorite in 2014 to paint the half of the book that was originally printed in black and white. In this glowing, restored vision of Spier’s beloved classic, follow the wily fox as he roams a sleepy New England town…
“Mommy, buy me a China Doll, Do, Mommy Do,” but, “What could I buy it with, Eliza Lou?” Eliza Lou has many suggestions…trade our Daddy’s feather bed…"Then where would Daddy sleep”…He could sleep in the horsey’s bed. “Then where would horsey sleep”…and on and on until Eliza ends up asleep herself…on Mommy’s lap. A soothing lullaby with or without the evocative illustrations by the Zemach team.
"When Mommy wonders how to get a china doll for Eliza Lou, Eliza suggests they trade Daddy's featherbed...The ridiculous swapping of sleeping places is aptly portrayed in strong, boldly drawn, colored illustrations which underline the humor and folk quality of the lilting cumulative verses. A deliciously funny picture book for small children."-Booklist
This is a perfect, soothing lullaby. “Bears are sleeping, deer are sleeping, snow is piling high. Even hungry wolves are sleeping…hush and bye you bye..” Soft, blurry illustrations of sleeping animals in a snowy Russian countryside. Notes for the lullaby run along the bottom of the pages. My daughters loved this gentle bedtime book, a last…quiet book before kissing them goodnight.
This tale is one long, rousty chant. “Big Black Bear came out of the woods. Stuck his nose in the air and smelled something good!” Just keep that chanting going as Big Black Bear threatens Little Girl and creates havoc in her house, then is caught by Momma Bear and made to apologize. “I’m very sorry, please excuse me. I’m a little black bear, who just turned three.”
Big Black Bear learns his manners after he barges in on Little Girl at the Brown Brick House on Sycamore Street. By the author of Eek! There's a Mouse in the House.
“Pickin’ Peas! Put ‘em in my pail!” Little Girl sings in her garden. But Mr. Rabbit wants those peas too. “Pickin’ Peas! Landin’ on my knees!” he jumps along behind her. Be sure your listeners sing along with them as they duel over those peas. This Alabama folktale always leaves my listeners going out the door singing.
For more singing tales see Conejito!, Mabela the Clever, Tuck-Me-In Tales, Farmyard Jamboree, The Old Woman and Her Pig, and The Wishing Foxes also by Margaret Read MacDonald.
I am a child sexual abuse survivor who struggled for years with the help of therapy to become the person I am today. My sister, my mother, and I suffered years of emotional abuse by my father. When I was a child, my best friend (who also suffered abuse by her brother) and I made up stories that helped us navigate the situations in our families. I read, hiked, backpacked, and traveled alone for years in order to take
risks and develop strength before attempting to write at age sixty-one. I love books that put me solidly in time and place and deeply empathize with characters who struggle and grow to become their genuine selves.
Secrets, misunderstandings, and a plethora of family conflicts abound in this historical novel set along the Brazos River in antebellum Washington County, East Texas.
It is a compelling story of two neighboring plantation families and a few of the enslaved people who serve them. These two plantations are a microcosm of a country on the brink of war, encompassing a variety of issues: love and friendship between men, relationships between fathers and sons, sibling rivalry, slavery, and the position of women in society.
Adrien Villere suspects he is not like other boys. For years, he desperately locks away his feelings and fears-but eventually, tragedy and loss drive him to seeking solace from his mentor, a young neighbor Jacob Hart. Jacob's betrayal of Adrien's trust, however, results in secret abuse, setting off a chain of actions from which neither Adrien's wise sister, Bernadette, nor his closest friend, Isaac, can turn him.
At What Cost, Silence presents two contrasting plantation families in a society where strict rules of belief and behavior are clear, and public opinion can shape an entire life. Centerstage are the Villeres,…
