Lucy's Summer

Based on a true story, Donald Hall weaves Lucy's Summer (c. 1995) from the stories he heard as a child.  Michael McCurdy crafts his sketchboard illustrations to look like woodcuts.  Here are the opening lines:
   Lucy Wells lived on a farm in New Hampshire with her mother Kate, her father Wesley, and her little sister Caroline.
   The spring of 1910, when Lucy was seven, her mother turned the front parlor into a millinery shop, to sell hats to her neighbors in the backcountry.

Coming On Home Soon

Oh, this book is just simply beautiful!  

Beautiful to read, 

beautiful to look at, 

beautiful to experience.  

It puts new meaning to the expression breathakingly beautiful.

Check out: Coming On Home Soon (c. 2004) by Jacqueline Woodson and illustrated by E. B. Lewis.  Here's the Publisher's (G. P. Putnam's Sons) summary on the inside cover jacket:

Ada Ruth, Mama said.  Do you know I love you more than anything in the world?
Yes, ma'am, I whispered.  More than rain.
More than snow, Mama whispered back, the way we'd done a hundred times before.
Or maybe a hundred thousand. 

   It's wartime, and women have to go to work while the men are off fighting.  Ada Ruth's mama has a job in Chicago, and she must leave Ada Ruth and Grandma behind.
   Now Ada Ruth and Grandma are missing Mama and trying to keep each other strong.  But some days, it feels like nothing can fill the emptiness in their hearts.  Then a surprise comes to their door and gives them something to fuss over while they wait for the letter that will say Mama's coming home soon.
   In this timeless story, Woodson's evocative text and Lewis's captivating artwork capture all that comes with missing and waiting -- the sadness, the everyday living, the small surprises, and most of all, the hope.

The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree

If you read no other book recommendation from my blog this year, be sure to check out The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree (c. 1988), by Gloria Houston and illustrated by Barbara Cooney, to read to the kids!  It's a timeless story that sings the spirit of Christmas.

Barbara Cooney is not only one of our family's favorite illustrators, she's America's beloved illustrator, illustrator of over one hundred childrens' books and recipient of two Cladecott Medals.  So glance over the illustrations, and you'll find that they speak for themselves.

In addition, acclaimed author Gloria Houston retells this heartwarming Appalachian story as it was passed down from her grandmother and mother.

So what's this perfect tale about?  Let's read what the publishers have to say: "The Armistice has been declared, but still there is no sign of Ruthie's father in their little Appalachian town. So, in accordance with the traditions of Pine Grove, it falls to Ruthie and her mother to bring home the perfect Christmas tree to donate to the town. Ruthie had accompanied her father to the rocky cliff where he marked a tree in the spring, so she and her mother set out to find it again, and haul it home. Their trip becomes the basis overnight of a new town legend; [meanwhile] Ruthie [is] chosen for the role of the heavenly angel in the the church Christmas play . . ."

However, while Ruthie's father is away at war, many of the income earning responsibilities cannot be accomplished by Ruthie or her mother.  So they scrimp where they can, leaving the question of an angel's costume and a Christmas gift for Ruthie an unattainable wish.  Find out what happens to all these dilemmas in the story's joy filled ending.  Just be sure have a tissue ready to wipe those tears.

The Most Perfect Spot

Make sure you check out The Most Perfect Spot (c. 2006) by Diane Goode.  Dear son, Jack, sets out with his mama to find "the most perfect spot for a picnic."  Unfortunately, various mishaps seem to accompany them.  Be sure to look for the spotted dog on each page, for Goode always tells her stories as much with her illustrations as her text.

Mama Loves

Mama Loves (c. 2004) by Rebecca Kai Dotlich and illustrated by Kathryn Brown subtly (and nostalgically) chronicles the different seasons through a child's point-of-view.  Since Botlich and Brown randomly disperse the various seasons throughout the pages, it also presents a learning activity in identifying each two-page spread's particular season.

The rhymes weave the story of a mother's time spent with her young, spinning memories into their hearts.  Our worn cover gives testament that this remains one of the kids' very favorite books.  I think they find comfort in having it read and re-read to them every night.  It's a cozy book, radiating warmth in both illustrations and text, that's almost as good as a hug from Mom.  Here's an excerpt:

Mama loves
apples in autumn.
Sidewalks and leaves.
Sweaters and pumpkins
and walking
with me.





Note: Mama Loves makes a wonderful Mother's Day gift to mothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers.  My own mother gave this to me for my very first Mother's Day.

p.s.  The Mister says, "That's one of my all-time favorite books."