BACK TO THE GRIND

Tis the end of a great summer.  My husband Steve goes back to work and I, um, go right on being a mom this year.

Our family has a sweet little bedtime ritual.  I do pajamas, brush teeth, and read three books to Mirette.  We share a family hug.  Then I wait while Mirette picks out a book for Steve to read to her before he puts her to bed.  If she picks out a book he hates, I laugh at him (all in good fun of course).

You see, so many kids' books are really horrible.  The rhymes are boring and trite: Couplets like "Did you go to the butterfly ball?  Let's go together in the fall."  So when there is a good book – one that sings, one that flows, one that has stunning pictures – I notice.

When I am reading a book to Mirette, I always look at the publishing date and read the bios of the author and illustrator aloud.  I think about how old I was when the book was published and sometimes I am instantly transported right back to the age I was when I first read the book.  This concept I shall officially call INP—instant nostalgia picture or prose.

I started to wonder—What does it take to make a quality picture book?  Who are the personalities behind the words and pictures?  Why are some books so fun and others so boring?  Why do some characters jump off the page, becoming dear friends to Mirette, and others slip into anonymity?

I did a little bit of research, read Margaret Wise Brown's autobiography; looked up websites on children's literature; Wikipediaed Ludwig Bemelmans, the author of the Madeline books, began to place holds on books at the library, and came to the realization that the topic is very interesting.

I also noticed that both Steve and I are wordsmiths.  We love words.  We play with words, embrace them, and are silly with them.  We have imparted this love to Mirette.  Our little two year old plays with language and is making up crazy words for everything these days.  (For example, we just went on a carousal ride and Mirette named our horses Lono, Lonu, and Nonu.)

So I decided to write a blog about our year of reading.  How we use language, books that turn us on, illustrators and authors, interesting links and, well, wherever our journey of reading takes us.  I hope that you have fun with us and find some interesting books along the way!