Books to Read: Middlemarch

Emily is a genius right?  She's so great at playing with her kids and coming up with fun activities for them.  I probably shouldn't admit this is a public forum, but I'm not always great at playing with my kids.  Sometimes I get so caught up in taking care of my children (and keeping our home running) that I don't take the time to sit down and play with them.  My four-year old especially craves and asks for this.  Recently he's been asking me why I spend so much time on the computer.  As a result of him calling me out like that, I've been trying hard to spend less time online and more time on the floor building lego spaceships (he's a four-year old boy remember).  This is part of the reason it might seem like I've dropped off the face of the earth, but I'm sure you understand.

I don't know about you, but when I was a little kid, I was a capital "R" Reader.  I didn't have many friends at school (again with the public confessions, but it was a really small school and I had some rough kids my age), and so I filled my afternoons reading.  I read less in junior high and high school (I finally made some good friends), but I was often found reading a book late into the night.  During college, I read so much for my classes that I got out of the habit of reading for myself.

For the last two years I've been part of a really amazing book group.  My group is made up mostly of ladies from my church family, but also a few others from the neighbourhood.  I feel pretty lucky to be part of this group for a number of reasons.  First, it motivates me to read a really great book every month.  For me the hardest part is deciding what book to read, so it's nice that I don't have to worry about this part.  We don't have a hard and fast rule about what we are reading, but it's mostly consisted of classic or newer award-winning books.  The other great thing about my group is that the other ladies are all really bright.  Several have doctorates, a few more master's degrees, and all are women that I admire.  Our discussions are always intellectually rewarding, and since some days I fill all my time building lego spaceships, potty training, and keeping house, I crave this opportunity for my brain to get some practice.   

One of the books we read recently was Middlemarch, by George Eliot.  This book wasn't on my radar before hand, but I'm so glad I read it.  It's not a fast read, my edition was 924 pages, but it's the kind of book that you savour as you go along.  The story is interesting, but it's not exactly a page-turning plot.  Her language is beautiful and so insightful.  George is a man's name of course, but was written by a women publishing under a man's name like many other's did when she was writing in 1871 and 1872. 

My very favourite quote from the book is the last paragraph:

But the effort of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.

Reading this has really made me reflect on why I do what I do.  I think most of you know, but I stay home with my three kids.  As a teenager and college student, I didn't always anticipate that I would make this choice.  I felt like I was bright and had much to offer the world, and I didn't want to waste it on something so ordinary as taking care of kids.  But after my first son was born, I knew that I wanted to stop getting a regular paycheque, and spend my time taking care of him and his future siblings.  What I love so much about the Middlemarch quote is that I think it really captures the positive value of smart people caring for others (and particularly their children).  I don't think you need to be a stay-at-home parent to do this, but I completely agree that some of the people that do the most good are those performing quiet "unhistoric" acts.    

Are you part of a book group?  If not, you should start one.  Need help knowing what to read?  Here are a few books we've read that I highly recommend:

• Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
• Angle of Repose, Wallace Stegner
• The Brother's Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoyevsky 
• David Copperfield, Charles Dickens

Do you have any recommendations of books to add to our queue?

Best Books for Toddlers

Earlier this week, a friend wrote to ask for some good book recommendations for her little ones.  She said that she would go to the library, not know which books to get, and then often come home with books that were disappointing.  I think that this is a common problem.  There are a lot of good books out there, but not every book is a good one.  I emailed my friend a list of my family's favourites. 

Here is the list, as I am sure many of you have a little one in your life who could would appreciate a few more good books. 

Book Lists
The New York City Public Library has a great list of 100 Picture Books Everyone Should Know.  This list is a great starting place.  Not every book on the list is great for the littlest of readers, but it is a great starting point.  When I was in University, I printed off the list, and worked my way through it.  (Mr. Carlee will remember fondly how I supplied him with good bathroom reading material when he and Carlee were engaged.)

Family Education also has a pretty comprehensive list of Best Books for Babies and Toddlers. 

Great Authors

In my experience, the following authors have published lots of books that are all good, and all appropriate for kids 5 and under. 

Byron Barton
John Birmingham
Margaret Wise Brown
Lucy Cousins
Donald Crews
Mem Fox
Kevin Henkes
Ezra Jack Keats
Todd Parr
Leslie Patricelli
Peggy Rathmann
Richard Scary
David Shannon
Peter Sis
Don/Audrey Wood
Jane Yolen

More Great Books

The book Red Is Best by Kathy Stinson is a favourite.

This list is by no means complete.  Here are a few books that our family has enjoyed recently. 

The Tiger Who Came to Tea - Judith Kerr
Red is Best - Kathy Stinson
Caps for Sale - Esphyr Slobodkina
The Carrot Seed - Ruth Krauss
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom - Bill Martin Jr.
Corduroy - Don Freeman
(The New) Adventures of Curious George - H.A. and Margaret Rey
Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus - Mo Willems
Harry the Dirty Dog - Gene Zion
Ten Nine Eight - Molly Bang
Jesse Bear What Will you Wear? - Nancy Carlstrom
Sheep in a Jeep - Nancy Shaw
Mr. Cookie Baker - Monica Wellington
Pigs to the Rescue - John Himmelman
Hugless Douglas - David Melling
Jamberry - Bruce Degen
More, More, More, Said the Baby - Vera Williams
Dear Zoo - Rod Campbell
Pete's A Pizza - William Steig
Where's Spot - Eric Hill
I Love you Stinkyface - Lisa McCourt

I hope you can find a few new book ideas from this list.  Which favourites would you add to the list?

The Hemingway Book Club of Kosovo

I just finished devouring a wonderful book.  I enjoyed it so much I thought I would share. 

Image from openlibrary.org

In this book, the author - Paula Huntley - recounts her experiences living and teaching English in Kosovo in 2000-2001.  Paula accompanies her husband to the capital city, Prishtina, where he is working to rebuild the legal system after the Albanian-Serbian conflict and years of communism.  Paula bonds with the people of Kosovo, and especially her students, with whom she forms the Hemingway Book Club of Kosovo.  Together they read Hemingway's The Old Man and The Sea.  This story is, as the book jacket reads "a compelling tribute to the resilience of the human spirit."  I loved it.

I have a dear, dear friend who is from Albania but now lives in Canada. Paula Huntley's description of Albanian culture matches exactly to how my friend has described Albania and the Albanian people.  In my experience, Albanians are incredibly warm, extremely generous, and hold fiercely to their beliefs.

Reading about war-torn Kosovo has made me think a lot about my own life, and has helped me to see life through a more appreciative lens.  Despite my problems (crazy kids, starting a new business, and piles of student loans to pay off), I know that I am immensely lucky.  I am also reminded of a Babble post entitled "Be Thankful You Have First World Problems."  The post is pretty tongue-in-cheek, but I think some of the entries are scarily true.  (As a side note: I prefer the terms Developing and Developed to First and Third World.)

Has anyone read The Hemingway Book Club of Kosovo?  Do you have any other read book suggestions?

Birthday Fail

Mr. Carlee had a birthday.  He is pretty relaxed about birthdays, and doesn't have high expectations, but even with the bar set low, it didn't go as planned.  After a busy day at school/work (he's a grad student) he came home to two crying children.  I don't know about you, but 4-6 is the hardest time of day at our house.  Kid 2 is up from his nap, everyone is hungry, tired, and sick of each other, and I'm busy trying to get supper on the table.  We usually all cry a little.

The requested dinner of quiche was a success thanks to my awesome pie crust recipe (I promise I'll be sharing soon), but then it was downhill.  For my birthday, a few months ago, Mr. Carlee made me the most delicious chocolate cake.  He had some issues getting it out of the bunt pan, but it wasn't a disaster.  For the record, we have the worlds most annoying bunt pan.  It would be great for making rice krispy squares or buttery rolls, but it is horrible for cakes.  There are way too many sharp points and no matter how we grease, spray, or flour it, the cake always gets stuck.  I will be hunting for a new one at the thrift stores.  My attempt, while still delicious, was much, much worse.  Shame on me. Mr. Carlee is a saint, and he says he didn't mind.

I wish it had stopped with the cake, but the gift I made also was a fail.  I actually first made these mittens for a gift last Christmas using this pattern, but I didn't think to account for leather's complete lack of stretch.  The liners (made from a soft felted wool sweater) were perfect, but I needed to do something about the main mittens.

Nearly a year later, I finally got around to 'fixing' them.   I added a gusset all the way around the side seam, and this helped a lot, but they were still too tight around the thumbs and the thumb wasn't quite in the right spot.  At first he didn't complain, but he started pulling and talking about how they were tight on this thumb and kept twisting.  So I did what every 9 month pregnant lady that had just worked on a handmade gift would do, and threw them on the floor and cried a little.

Once I pulled myself together, I got out he sissors and set to work at cutting a new thumb hole, and drafting a new thumb piece.  Mr. Carlee can look forward to recieving this gift again, possibly next Christmas.  I hope by then I will have it right.

For the record, I have a nice evening planned for us in the near future, so I'm not a complete failure, and he's really happy with the book I picked up for him.     

Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies

A few weeks ago, Emily and I did a guest post over at The Mother Huddle as part of their Story Book Recipe series.  The Mother Huddle is a great blog that we have lots in common with.  The ladies over there are also sewing, crafting, and doing plenty of kid-friendly activities, so please pop over and see what else they are up to.

As you know, both Emily and I love reading good books to our kids, and one way to make story time even more exciting is to bake something related to our favourite books.  Monster Mama by Liz Rosenberg, illustrated by Stephen Gammell is among our very favourite books.  The story is clever and the illustrations are so fun.  I just love the messy illustrations in all of Gammell's work.

When we found out about the Storybook Recipe series, Emily knew that this would be the perfect book to highlight.  We immediately thought of making 'messy' sugar cookies with the kids, since the pictures are full of life, colour, and look a little 'messy' as well.  Sweet sugar cookies with drippy and goopy icing are just the thing for a couple of preschool aged children.

While his cousin enjoyed the story (in Alberta), my son helped with making and mixing the cookie dough (here in New England).



We used my best sugar cookie recipe.  My husband, who usually complains that sugar cookies aren't nearly as sweet as you would think based on how much sugar goes into them, loves this recipe.  I love it too, and it is always the one I make despite the fact that it takes a little extra time to properly chill the dough.  After it had chilled, I rolled it out, and he cut out our shapes.

After our cookies were baked and cool, the fun began!  I had some leftover cream cheese icing in my fridge, so I spooned a little into several small ziplock bags with a couple of drops of food colouring in each bag.  You could mix the icing yourself, but this part is fun for kids and doesn't make a mess (win-win).



My son and his friend had a great time squishing the bags to mix the icing.



Once the icing was all mixed together, they decorated their cookies.  I clipped one corner from each bag and let them squeeze the icing all over their cookies.  The cookies were drippy and goopy looking, a lot like the illustrations, and they tasted just as sweet as the book.  This part was pretty fun! 



Oh, and of course they liked eating them too!  And so did I, since I'm not one to say no to a cream cheese cookie with cream cheese icing.     



Here is the recipe for your cookie making, decorating, and eating enjoyment:

Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies

1 cup white sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla (or 1/2 almond and 1/2 vanilla)
1 egg yolk
2 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1. Combine everything except for flour in a large mixing bowl.  Beat until smooth.
2. Stir in flour until combined.  At this point, the dough will be very soft.
3. Chill in refrigerator for at least 8 hours.
4. Remove dough from refrigerator and preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
5. Roll out 1/3 of dough at a time to 1/8" thickness onto a floured surface.  The dough will still be soft, so be sure your hands and rolling pin are covered with flour as well.  Cut out shapes with lightly floured cookie cutters. 
6. Bake on cookie sheets (I like to use my silpat) for 7-10 minutes, or until lightly golden brown.
7. Wait until cookies are completely cooled to decorate (I used a simple cream cheese frosting, but any kind would work).

The You and I Book

This Father's Week post is recycled from a project I did as an elementary school teacher in 2007.  It was still a good idea, so I thought it was worth posting.

I originally came up with and made "The You and I" Father's Day book for the grade one art class I taught when I was pregnant with my daughter.  I made the one pictured for my husband on his "first" Father's Day ever.

It's a sweet little handmade book that overviews how a father and child are different, but most importantly alike they are because they both love each other.





In making this project, I provided my students with blank paper, a title to use and a bunch of starter sentences.  Of course each book had to end with "You love me.  I love you!"

Some example starters include:

You have...   I have...

You like...     I like...

You wear...   I wear...

You go...       I go...

You never...   I never...

You can...      I can...

I was really impressed with what my six and seven year old students came up with.  The pictures they added were adorable too.  This is when I wish I would have taken pictures of those projects!  I think this book could be adapted to any age level, adding more or less detail or complexity.

I hope you'll forgive the quality of my artwork.  I am a teacher, not an artist!

To finish the book, I laminated the title pages, added two hole puches on each page, and tied them together with yarn.

Spring Fun List

This month's list will focus on Spring, things from the natural world, books, and Easter.  I'm giving you enough activities to last all the way to June, so I'm calling it my Spring Fun List.  Go here to check out and print off the full list.  I'd love it if you leave a comment saying that you are using my list so I know how many people are using it.
Here are some examples of what you'll find in the Spring Fun List:
Cornmeal Spelling

My daughter has had so much fun playing with cornmeal and drawing letters using her fingers.  "Look Mom!  I made another 'O'!"

Easy Art Projects

My daughter loves experimenting with glue and paint, but sometimes I want a new twist on her favorite art work.  In the Spring Fun List I give you lots of new and simple ideas that require very little (if any) prep. work.

We had fun making "track art" earlier this week.

Book Lists

I can't say enough about how much I love children's books.  We bring home a huge stack of new books from the library every week.  In the spring fun list I share favorite books, great activites to do with them, and a challenge to read with your child the New York Public Library's 100 Picture Books Everyone Should Know.

This week's library stack.

 Mini Book

Not only does the Spring Fun List include lots of ideas for books to read, it also gives a few ideas about making your own books.  I want to share with you a quick tutorial on how to make your own simple mini book without glue, tape or staples. 




This is a trick that I learned in University (see Elementary Education majors do learn something!), and I use it all the time. 

1. Start with two sheets of paper.  In my pictures, I use two different colors, but the book can be all the same color. 

2. Fold each sheet in fours, and cut each sheet in half so you have four sheets, each folded in half.  You can set aside one of the sheets for now.

3. Choose one sheet (the blue one in my image) to be the base.  Unfold the paper, and loosely fold it in half the long way (hotdog style).  Cut along the middle of your original fold, but not all the way to to ends (as shown in my image.  Cut only where the white line is.)

4. The other two sheets will be your add-ins. On these sheets (red in my image), unfold the paper, and then loosely fold in half the long way.  Cut the two sides of your original fold, leaving the middle uncut (cut where the white line is on my image).  

5. So now you will have your base cut in the middle of the fold, and your add-ins cut along the outsides.

6. Now, take an add-in sheet (red) and roll it up.  Open up the base, and slide the add-in sheet inside.
Repeat this with as many add-in sheets as you want.  The more you add in, the more pages your book will have.

7. You are ready to write a book!

There you have it!  There are lots more ideas in the Spring Fun List so be sure to check it out.  Now get off your computer, and starting having fun with your little ones.  Please let me know if you've downloaded and used this Fun List.  I hope you enjoy it!

I Need A (Leather) Snake

A while back, I picked up a book from the thrift store that has become a favourite story around our house.  It's called, I Need a Snake, by Lynne Jonell and is illustrated by Petra Mathers.  I'm not quite willing to call it a classic, but it's a perfect book for a three year old boy.  The illustrations are fun, and the interaction between the mother and son is spot on.

The basic premise of the book, is that the boy really wants a snake.  The mother tries to appease him by first reading books about snakes, then taking him to see stuffed snakes at the museum, and finally to a pet store to visit real live snakes.  When she tells him he will have to wait until he "is all grown up" and "has a house of his own" before he can have his own snake, he decides to find one around the house.  I completely empathize with the mother that is not interested in getting a pet snake, despite her son's protest.  Luckily, he finds a sparkly green snake (skipping rope), wiggly white snakes (shoe lace) and dangerous black snake with a gold head (belt). 

Last year our town held a sweet harvest festival in a local farm turned park.  There were lots of booths, crafts, farm animals, but the real hit was the snakes.  The local high school Reptile Club volunteered to bring their animal collection to show to the community.  They had tons of snakes, a few turtles, and lizards, and they were all kept in clear Rubbermaid bins in a fairly small room.  It was a little crazy, and a bit creepy, but my son loved it.  One of the teenagers from church is in the club, and helped my three year old hold this pretty little red snake.

 

Since we had read, I Need a Snake, about a million times, and he actually got to hold a real snake, my son REALLY wanted a snake.  Lucky for him, I have a huge bag of leather scraps just waiting for a project like this, and even the right colours to replicate his favourite red snake.

This project would also work well with fleece or felt (basically anything that won't fray since I didn't finish the edges of the stripes). 

I started by cutting out several strips from red leather for the front of the snake.  I cut pieces that were 2 3/4" wide, and pieced them together until my strip was 32 1/2" long.  I didn't want my finished snake to be long enough to be a choking hazard, but still wanted it to look real.

For the stripes, I cut pieces of white and gold that were about 1 1/4" wide, and lots of smaller black pieces that were about 3/8" wide.   I didn't worry about making anything perfect since it was just going to be a child's toy, but I did use a rotary cutter for most of my cutting because it makes straight lines, and is faster than scissors. 

From start to finish, this took me about 2 hours.  Keep in mind I was also helping to make lego spaceships, getting snacks, changing diapers, and reading a few short books.  You could make your own snake faster if you have some time to work without interruptions. 

After we took these pictures, my darling boy proceeded to whip his snake around, and slapped me on the leg with it.  Maybe a leather snake wasn't my best idea after all?  But then again, he has brought it with him to preschool, and on several playdates already, so I'm happy I made something he loves. 

I like to think that if Mr. Snake got the wish of his heart, he would be outside basking in the warm sun.

But, since we had several inches of fresh snow on the ground this morning, he might do better inside.  The bathtub might be just the place for a nice little snake...

...or maybe he might like the freedom to slither around on the floor.

Whichever place he likes best, I'm just glad he is only made of leather and not a real snake.

Don't Throw It, Grow It!

A few years ago, everyone in my husband's family had the same idea for Christmas.  Quite a few different members of the family independently stumbled across an awesome book, and then surprised each other with it for a Christmas gift.  We were one of the lucky many to receive this present.  The book was called Don't Throw It, Grow It: 68 windowsill plants from kitchen scraps, and it has rocked my world.  (Just like Carlee, and her bread book, I'm a bit of an evangelist.)

The premise of this book is that you can take the seeds, pits, or cuttings from fruits, vegetables, and spices, and actually grow them in your own house.  I'd certainly tried planting planting beans or avocado before, but kiwi or papaya? Wow!  Planting these was a totally new concept to me.  (Not to mention the new plants that the book introduced me to like malanga and loquat.)

Now I'm not going to lie to you.  My husband and I have been planting our "kitchen scraps" for over two years now, and we have yet to harvest and eat something.  We've also had our fair share of total planting failures (read: no-show plants, and even a rotten seed or two).  However, it's been fun!  It is so rewarding to plant something from seed , and watch it grow into a mini-tree.

Papaya - planted from seed early 2009.

The Don't Throw It, Grow It! book gives you details on how exactly to get your seed, plant it, and treat it right for optimum growing, but don't think that you need this book to tell you how to experiment with seeds, dirt, sunlight  and water.  That's what the internet is for, right?

You also don't need a lot of supplies to grow things in your home.  Dirt is essential for most plants, and of course water and sunlight in varying degrees are too, depending on the plant.  Pots are helpful, but yogurt containers will work nicely, too.

Pomegranates, grown by my Mother-in-law.

We have been truly surprised by the look of plants whose fruits are familiar.  I live in Canada, so most tropical plants are a rare sight to me, especially in their seedling form.

The mango plant has ridiculously large leaves.  Grown by my brother-in-law and his wife.

You will also be amazed at the tenacity of some plants - the sheer volume of leaves and roots that some plants put out are incredible!

This sweet potato, shown in early and later stages,

was also grown by my brother-in-law and his wife.  Isn't it amazing?

If you've got kids around, growing plants from the seeds of food you actually eat is a great way to teach the life-cycle.  I'm sure many kids do that think food just magically appears in the grocery store or in the fridge at home.  Any of you have husbands that think this way, too?  Early this week, I planted beans and wheat with my three-year old daughter.  When we discovered the teeny green plants poking through the dirt, the look on her face was priceless.  She acted like her own child had just been born.

Can you see the "babies"?  Two wheat and one bean sprout.

I hope I've inspired you to plant a few seeds today.  Have you had any success planting seeds from "scratch"?  Please tell us about what green things are growing at your house.

Make Your Own Kids Book

My daughter loves books.  We often sit down together with a pile of story books and read them all.  We both have many of her favorites memorized.  These favorites have simple, predictable text, and pictures that help to tell the story.  One of her favorite "books" to look at, however, is the photo album.  Like most kids, she loves seeing and hearing about things that are familiar.   I decided to take this love of the familiar and combine it with a simple, predictable text to make a personalized story book that is just for her.

Meet Daphne, the well-loved baby doll.

I created a picture book about Daphne.  The story is in a simple day-in-the-life format.  Each page has a picture of Daphne, and one short sentence.  Daphne wakes up, eats, dresses, and goes about her day.  My daughter and I planned and took the pictures together, and I edited the pictures using a free, online photo editor called Picnik.  My editing was basic: I upped the contrast and brightness, and added some text.  Finally, I printed the pictures at Walmart (for free - I had some free prints) and popped the pictures into a dollar store photo album.  The total cost for my project was $1 plus tax.

Here are some tips for those who are interested in making their own personalized picture book:

• Plan to take all of your pictures vertical.  You don't want to keep turning the book around when reading.
• Use a simple background.  Especially when text is placed on top, you don't want a lot interfering with the focus.  I used a white fleece blanket and propped it up against my daughter's bed. 
• When placing text, leave lots of room on the sides.  Photocenters often crop your picture slightly.  You don't want the first letters or punctuation to be cut off.
•  Write the story in your child's language.  Even if your child is pre-literate, he or she can still "read" the story by describing the pictures.  Use words that your child uses, or even phrases that he or she says often.  For example, we call books "stories," so at the end of the day when baby Daphne reads a book, the text says, "She reads a story."

Have fun!  We'd love to feature any similar books in a future Monday post where our readers show-off.

PS - Daphne's clothes and bedding were made by Carlee - aren't they sweet?