“What is sanctuary?”
“A place of asylum and immunity.”
“A place of peace and unconditional love.”
“A place to escape from the everyday stressors of life.”
“An attainable retreat accomplished through intentional living.”
~Joanne Miller
Category: books
Setting: River Road Books, Fair Haven, NJ
Date: February 12, 2017
Event: Bunny’s Book Club Launch Party
I need to be honest. When I first heard about the new book The Danish Way of Parenting by Jessica Joelle Alexander and Iben Dissing Sandahl, my back went up. Did I need to read yet another lecture about how a different culture parents better than mine does? From The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mom to Bringing up Bébé, it seems that every year someone exposes the plethora of mistakes American moms and dads make daily and espouses a parenting philosophy from another country where parents are calmer and kinder and children are more obedient and creative, far smarter and practically picture perfect. While both of the aforementioned books gave me much food for thought, I felt frustrated by their underlying critical tone. As a professor of Romance Languages and Literatures, I deeply value learning about and from other cultures and people, but the mother in me who is doing her very best to bring up three children in an increasingly complicated world felt chastised.
Categories
Reindeer Christmas
To tide you over while I work on my next post about our visit to the Holiday Train Show at the New York Botanical Garden, I thought I would share a sweet way to bring some reindeer magic into your homes this year.
I recently purchased Reindeer Christmas by Mark Kimball Moulton for my children, but after reading it, I decided it was the perfect gift for our Elf on the Shelf to deposit on their breakfast dishes on December 1st.
“A December snow is falling, lightly dusting all the trees,blanketing the forest in a crystal filigree.”
Categories
Arrivederci Picture Book Month …
Today we shall bit a fond farewell to Picture Book Month 2011. Let’s show it out in style with a (nearly) wordless post and allow pictures to speak instead.
Short and sweet is the order of the hour. Two days remain until December, and that means two final opportunities to share a title in honor of Picture Book Month. Today’s selection:
Yes, Virginia: There Is a Santa Claus
by Chris Plehal
illustrated by James Bernardin
Lovers of Tomie dePaola may first want to visit my post on picture books for budding Italophiles in which I praise his Strega Nona series. And, of course, I am not telling you anything you don’t already know when I rave about his much-beloved Christmas book Merry Christmas, Strega Nona:
My second holiday-themed selection for Picture Book Month is:
Christmas in the Country
by Cynthia Ryland
illustrated by Diane Goode
“Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness received. Thankfulness is the natural impulse to express that feeling. Thanksgiving is the following of that impulse.” ~ Henry Van Dyke
Thanksgiving and its merriment are behind us, but do let the gratitude for life’s simple blessings fill your heart in the days to come. As we enter the holiday rush today, I am reminded of favorite Christmas books that grace our shelves but once a year. We treasure them, drinking in their magic for so short a time, but their temporary visit makes them all the more special. And so, for the final six days of November, I will select holiday-themed books in celebration of Picture Book Month. What books bring you back to your childhood feasts? Which do your children cherish most?
A number of years ago, my husband presented me with a book and a stuffed blue Santa Claus at Christmas. Having never seen a smurf-colored Claus, I was perplexed, but the tale that unfolded in the pages of the book enchanted both me and my children.
The Magic Sceptre: The Legend of Blue Santa Claus
by Joan Klatil Creamer
Happy Thanksgiving to one and all.
Like most of you, I will spend my day surrounded by my family, sampling dishes prepared lovingly, and tucking away memories of this special time to recall as the year progresses. One simple tradition I have with my children is to read Lydia Maria Child’s poem Over the River and Through the Wood on Thanksgiving morning. My most beloved version is a board book illustrated by Christopher Manson, replete with woodcut images that bring alive a boy’s snowy journey to Grandfather’s house:
