I must admit that I get giddy when a new issue of The Horn Book magazine arrives in my mail box. With each issue, my wish list of books grows and I learn a little something more about the fascinating world of children’s literature.

This month, I was struck most by a column called “Chicken, Interrupted: The Art of David Ezra Stein”, written by Leonard Marcus detailing the work of David Ezra Stein.

Stein won the2011 Caldecott Honor for his picture book Interrupting Chicken

 

but has also created our most loved

Pouch and

 

 Leaves.

Marcus’ article got me thinking a lot about Stein’s artwork and the way he uses art to tell his story. More importantly though, this article got me thinking about the read aloud. In Interrupting Chicken, a young chicken continually interrupts her father’s reading of a collection of fairy tales . Right in the midst of this story, is the struggle that we, as parents, often feel to finish the book in the face of our child’s desire to interact with the story.

Marcus writes,

“It’s really a book about the experience of reading a story aloud: what can and often does happen when a parent and a child share a book at bedtime and nearly come to blows over their clashing agendas. The little red chicken wants a bedtime story. The father wants his daughter not to interrupt. The dad wants to be a good dad, but he also wants bedtime to be over and done. The child wants to postpone lights-out- but what she wants above all is to get inside the story: be the hero, not the listener, be in charge.”

How many times have I struggled with just this very opposition? I watch the clock tick knowing that overtired girls do not fall asleep quickly. I find myself reading faster and faster and have been known to sigh out loud when someone asks a question or shares a thought about the story. I hope that I catch myself and stop this everytime but I’m sure I don’t.

After reading Marcus’ article, I sure am paying closer attention during bedtime but I am also reminded why I read to the girls througout the day. Sometimes at meal time, sometimes when the bickering starts and every one needs to sit and sift gears, sometimes when it’s raining, sometimes just because it seems like a good time to read.

These are the times when we can all have the same agenda. And having the same agenda sure turns reading into a fun adventure.

 

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I’ve adopted a parenting philosophy without realizing I had done so… When it comes to milestones, fads and trends, my girls will not be the first but they will also not be the last. Now that I’ve stumbled upon it, the whole thing seems pretty wise, if I do say so myself.

Caroline has been begging for pierced ears since she could link two words together. And the child is persistent. I truly couldn’t even begin to imagine the number of times I’ve said no.

 I had originally planned on letting Caroline get her ears pierced when she turned twelve. I was a full blown teenager and certainly the last of my friends so twelve seemed more than fair. And then I started to see all the little girl ears with earrings in them. I dialed down to ten. And then this summer, we counted friends with and without earrings. Caroline was one of only three girls in her group who did not have her ears pierced. And one of the girls didn’t want them done.

Decision made. Not the first, not the last.

First there were smiles all around because Caroline looked so darn pretty.

Then the smiles came when I said, “So, what are you going to start asking for now?”

And Caroline replied, without missing a beat, “A cellphone.”

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Early yesterday morning, we drove up the Garden State Parkway, our feet still full of sand, tired from our annual beach trip with Rob’s parents and his sister’s family. We had taken a short break from a riveting game of 20 questions when Rob’s cell phone rang. He was glad to see that it was the kennel calling as we had been playing phone tag with them for the past day trying to arrange Jenny’s pick up time.

I zoned out as I listened to Rob telling the kennel that he rarely brings the phone with him to the beach, sorry for missing your calls but can we come get Jenny after lunch. There was a pause that I paid no attention to until Rob shouted, “Jenny died!”

I was driving 80 miles an hour in the express lane without an exit in sight. I cried and cried trying to make sense of what happened, trying to hold the girls hands as they sat dazed in the back seat. Katherine cried with me, Caroline begged for me to get off the highway, sensing wisely that I shouldn’t be driving. Finally a few miles later, we were able to pull off and hug each other and cry and listen and beg for understanding.

For all the deaths I’ve experienced, including that of my father, none have been sudden or shocking and this was wholy both.

Our sweet dog, while nine years old, was always mistaken for a puppy. Only those of us who lived with her could tell that she was beginning to slow down, just a bit. She bounded with energy and love. She drooled, she romped, she got fur all over our favorite chair and dirt all over our favorite duvet. But more than anything else she loved and was loved.

Friday night, at the kennel, within an hour, she died of bloat. And just like that she was gone.

Rob and I saw her at the animal hospital when we got home to say goodbye but it wasn’t right. It wasn’t what I had pictured. She wasn’t the old and tired dog I imagined saying our goodbyes to years from now.

She was still the bounding, loving puppy that now, she will always be.

Good bye sweet Jenny. Good bye.

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The other day, Katherine found “My Bedtime Book” nestled among the other titles on her shelf. My mom or dad read this book to me every night of my life until I was much too old to admit in this public space. Before opening it I said, “I think I could recite this right now without looking at any of the words.”

Of course, Katherine challenged me to do just that.

And I could…

Any books that you know by heart?

Please share!

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For a week or so, posting to my blog has been painfully, turtly slow. I thought it was my computer so I’ve been trying to tweak things that might be troublesome. Then last night, Rob told me he hasn’t read my blog in awhile because it was just too slow.

What!?

Here I am, finally writing regularly again, begininng to get comments again. And even my husband has just stopped reading!!

I now have an e-mail out to Warren, my fearless and wonderful tech guy. He is on it and I should be up and running again (like the hare, not the tortoise this time) in no time.

While your waiting (with bated breath!), check out Warren’s blog. He and his wife Betsy sold all their earthly possessions (except their computers obviously) and are traveling the world. Seriously.

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I love my summer reading list.

I love the books I’ve read and I love the sense of accomplishment. I have a habit of buying or borrowing new books before I read the books that I already have. While this leads to pleasant reading, it also leads to a sense of frustration. My pile of books grows and grows and I’ll often catch a glimpse of a book that I meant to read and then ignored. This summer, books have jumped ahead of the list to be sure but I’ve also come back to my list again and again.

And because of this list, look what I’ve read since the girls got out of school…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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After ten days full of smiles and tears (both Caroline’s and mine), she’s back!

Caroline is overwhelmed by the moments of pure bliss tinged with intense sadness that filled her last ten days. She’s struggling to find the words to describe her experience, joyful as she starts a sentence and teary as she finishes it. Her long arms and legs fight to find space on my lap as if she can’t get close enough.

Only time will tell if she will be a camp girl, but for now I know for sure that she is our girl and she is home!!

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Along with being shocked by how much I miss Caroline, this week has been filled with another surprise.

Katherine has watched television once. All week.

I have fairly strict rules (ok, quite strict rules) regarding the number of shows the girls watch each week but I tend to be more lenient when Katherine is without Caroline, her most favorite playmate. It wasn’t until  yesterday that I realized the television has sat quiet. It is right in the middle of the living room in our cottage. Katherine must walk by it dozens of times a day but she hasn’t asked to watch since the first day we arrived.

I decided that when you go to the beach any minute you wish, television becomes pretty unimportant.

And then this morning, as if reading my mind, one of my favorite bloggers,Greg from Gotta Book, posted this poem:

At the Beach
by
Greg Pincus

Tide pools. Shell walks. Drippy sand.
White capped breakers hitting land.
Body surfing. Miles to walk.
Joining in as seabirds talk.
Cooling breeze. Bright warm sun.
Nothing here that must be done.
Toys and tech inside, ignored.
On the beach I’m never bored.

Looks like Greg is right.

When this

 is available, television is not so popular…

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My friend Lindsey used just the right word to describe the week I am having, bittersweet. 

Katherine and I see this sunset every night before we snuggle in for bedtime books. I take one step from my deck and land on the beach. I sit and read a book, toes in the sand, with my mom while Katherine plays at a day camp she describes as “the best camp ever!” I can look down the beach aways and know that Caroline is having the most wonderful adventure. I see pictures of her on the camp website smiling a gigantic and genuine smile. I see her sailing and running and creating gorgeous art work.

And then I call a friend who works at camp, just to check in and learn that Caroline despite all the big smiles is really quite homesick.

I knew this would be a week full of growth for Caroline. Little did I realize how much I would grow during our time apart. Grow to know we made the right decision in sending her away. Grow to know that others can help Caroline when she is sad. Grow to know that she can help herself when I am not there. Grow to know that she will look back on these ten days as wonderful ones even through some tears.

Grow to know that with the smiles come tears. And that is ok.

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Katherine headed off to Day Camp this morning. Do you think her backpack is big enough?

Katherine will be on the same campus as Caroline. I’m not sure if they will see each other or how they will react if they do. Just last night I asked Katherine if she hoped to see Caroline and she told me she didn’t. I was shocked as she’s been talking about her big sister pretty much non-stop since we dropped Caroline off at camp last Thursday. Upon seeing my surprise she said, “Well, Caroline said she didn’t want to see me.”

I’m pretty sure this comment was uttered during those same weeks leading up to camp when Caroline was embarrassed by the fact that Katherine and I would staying on the Cape, very close, in fact, to camp. I’ve now talked to Caroline’s counselors twice and have learned that she is making tons of good friends and loving all her activities but is feeling pretty homesick, especially at night. Something makes me think if Caroline happened to see Katherine this week, it might not be such a bad thing.

Then again, there’s the story my aunt likes to tell about her summer at this same camp when she was so homesick she ended up in the infirmary. When her big sister, my mom, was called in to help her feel better the only comfort she got was a disgusted look followed by an adamant request to stop all the nonsense and get up as she was very embarrassing.

So I guess only time will tell if stumbling upon a sister will be a welcome surprise or a terrible embarrassment… knowing my girls I’m betting on the former…Let’s hope I’m right!

And a special note for those of you who come here looking for literacy information…So often I feel like I can’t separate my ‘book life’ from my ‘real life’, that they are intertwined. But somehow sending my big girl off to sleep away camp has dominated my thoughts and my writing. Literacy to come- I promise!

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