PUBLIC DOMAIN MONDAY: THE 3 LITTLE KITTENS

Published in 1980, McLoughlin Bros.
Digitized from original source held at University of Florida Libraries.

A "DO UNTO OTHERS" KIND OF STORY

A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip and Erin Stead is a love of a book about faithful friends. As the debut project for this husband and wife team, it won the 2011 Caldecott Medal!  And I'm sure it will win over you and your child. 



Though the story has the timelessness of an old classic, the muted woodblock print and pencil illustrations bring a freshness that perfectly complement this gentle, yet rather quirky, sweetly told tale.

We meet Amos, an elderly gentleman, and observe his early morning routine as he gets ready for work:  he wakes up to his alarm, swings his legs out of bed, puts on his freshly pressed uniform, winds his watch, and sets a pot of water to boil.

Nothing out of the ordinary -- until he arrives at his job via the number five bus. He works at the City Zoo, where (among other things) he lovingly plays chess with the elephant, wipes the rhinoceros' runny nose, and reads stories to the owl (who's afraid of the dark). 

But one day Amos wakes up with the sniffles, and realizes he is too sick to make it to his job at the zoo... 

He swung his achy legs out of bed, curled them back again and said, "Ugh.  I don't think I'll be going to work today."  

So the animals catch the city bus to visit him. 

They spend the whole lovely day keeping him company...the rhinoceros is even ready with a handkerchief.

Because that's what faithful friends do.

PUBLIC DOMAIN MONDAY: THE STORY OF DR. DOLITTLE!

Cover from first edition, 1920

Inside page.  Click here to peruse the entire book, then go find it
at your local library, or children's bookstore!  Also look for
THE VOYAGES OF DR. DOLITTLE.

THE STORY OF DOCTOR DOLITTLE, by Hugh Lofting
Excerpt:  First Chapter - PUDDLEBY

ONCE upon a time, many years ago when our grandfathers were little children—there was a doctor; and his name was Dolittle—John Dolittle, M.D. "M.D." means that he was a proper doctor and knew a whole lot.

He lived in a little town called, Puddleby-on-the-Marsh. All the folks, young and old, knew him well by sight. And whenever he walked down the street in his high hat everyone would say, "There goes the Doctor!—He's a clever man." And the dogs and the children would all run up and follow behind him; and even the crows that lived in the church-tower would caw and nod their heads.

The house he lived in, on the edge of the town, was quite small; but his garden was very large and had a wide lawn and stone seats and weeping-willows hanging over. His sister, Sarah Dolittle, was housekeeper for him; but the Doctor looked after the garden himself.

He was very fond of animals and kept many kinds of pets. Besides the gold-fish in the pond at the bottom of his garden, he had rabbits in the pantry, white mice in his piano, a squirrel in the linen closet and a hedgehog in the cellar. He had a cow with a calf too, and an old lame horse-twenty-five years of age—and chickens, and pigeons, and two lambs, and many other animals. But his favorite pets were Dab-Dab the duck, Jip the dog, Gub-Gub the baby pig, Polynesia the parrot, and the owl Too-Too.

His sister used to grumble about all these animals and said they made the house untidy. And one day when an old lady with rheumatism came to see the Doctor, she sat on the hedgehog who was sleeping on the sofa and never came to see him any more, but drove every Saturday all the way to Oxenthorpe, another town ten miles off, to see a different doctor.

Then his sister, Sarah Dolittle, came to him and said,

"John, how can you expect sick people to come and see you when you keep all these animals in the house? It's a fine doctor would have his parlor full of hedgehogs and mice! That's the fourth personage these animals have driven away. Squire Jenkins and the Parson say they wouldn't come near your house again—no matter how sick they are. We are getting poorer every day. If you go on like this, none of the best people will have you for a doctor."

"But I like the animals better than the 'best people'," said the Doctor.

"You are ridiculous," said his sister, and walked out of the room.

So, as time went on, the Doctor got more and more animals; and the people who came to see him got less and less. Till at last he had no one left—except the Cat's-meat-Man, who didn't mind any kind of animals. But the Cat's-meat Man wasn't very rich and he only got sick once a year—at Christmas-time, when he used to give the Doctor sixpence for a bottle of medicine.

Sixpence a year wasn't enough to live on—even in those days, long ago; and if the Doctor hadn't had some money saved up in his money-box, no one knows what would have happened.

And he kept on getting still more pets; and of course it cost a lot to feed them. And the money he had saved up grew littler and littler.

Then he sold his piano, and let the mice live in a bureau-drawer. But the money he got for that too began to go, so he sold the brown suit he wore on Sundays and went on becoming poorer and poorer.

And now, when he walked down the street in his high hat, people would say to one another, "There goes John Dolittle, M.D.! There was a time when he was the best known doctor in the West Country—Look at him now—He hasn't any money and his stockings are full of holes!"

But the dogs and the cats and the children still ran up and followed him through the town—the same as they had done when he was rich.

  

MARCHING ALONG WITH PENGUINS

Adélie Penguins look like they're wearing tuxedo tails!

How much do you know about penguins? According to Anita Silvey's CHILDREN'S BOOK-A-DAY ALMANAC, yesterday - January 20th - was "Penguin Appreciation/Awareness Day".  I took that information to heart and tried to recall some penguin books we've enjoyed reading, and did some research in order to help you better appreciate these flightless birds (be sure to check out Anita Silvey's book recommendation, 365 Penguins, if you're interested in a fun story that also teaches math concepts).

CHAPTER AND PICTURE BOOKS:
MR. POPPER'S PENGUINS by Richard and Florence Atwater (I've show the edition with illustrations by Robert Lawson).  Mr. Popper is a house painter in the 1930s in Stillwater, USA.  He only works from the spring through fall seasons.  During the winter, he reads National Geographic and listens to radio shows about world explorers, such as Admiral Drake and his Antarctic Adventures.  The Admiral surprisingly responds to a fan letter from Mr. Popper by sending him a live penguin (who they name "Captain Cook"). The adventures start with one, but soon the Popper family grows to include 12 penguins - all of whom must be fed!  So Mr. Popper, his wife, and their two kids take the penguins on the road.  They're billed as "Popper's Performing Penguins, First Time on Any Stage, Direct from the South Pole". The act eventually gets old and they have a run-in with the law - only to be bailed out by the Admiral.  Mr. Popper is then faced with a moral dilemma about the penguins' future. The adventures while on tour are hilarious, as the penguins disrupt other acts and invade hotels.  This classic read-aloud is perfect as a bedtime "chapter-a-night" book for ages 7 and up.

LITTLE PIP...you'll love these cute picture books (for ages 4-8), illustrated by Jane Chapman, and written by talented author Karma Wilson, about a little Adélie Penguin named "Pip". These reassuring stories about Pip and her family were introduced to me by my sweet pre-school aged god-daughter, Emma:
WHERE IS HOME, LITTLE PIP?

DON'T BE AFRAID, LITTLE PIP

WHAT'S IN THE EGG, LITTLE PIP?


FILM:
Hopefully, many of you have seen MARCH OF THE PENGUINS - an incredibly enjoyable and beautifully filmed 2005 documentary, narrated by Morgan Freeman (if you haven't, try to see it soon!)  It's about a colony of hundreds of Emperor Penguins as they return, in a single-file march of 70 miles or more, to their frozen breeding ground, far inland from the cold oceans where they thrive. Most of the other creatures leave, and the Emperor Penguins, are the only animals to spend the long winters on Antarctica's open ice (unlike the Adélie Penguins, who spend their winters in the cold seas surrounding the offshore Arctic ice pack).  Click here to read more (and watch video) about both of these types of penguins on the National Geographic KIDS website.  


CRAFTS AND MORE...
Family Fun Magazine Online is a great resource for party and craft ideas.  Want to have a penguin party?  Click here to see lots of fun penguin craft ideas and recipes from FAMILY FUN.


WANT TO GO SEE PENGUINS?
These social animals are not only superb swimmers, but world-class divers - and fun to watch!
The website Nothing But Penguins has information about penguin exhibits and webcams from arount the world.  You'll find additional exhibit sites here.  

EDUCATION THROUGH ADVENTURE!

PADDLE-TO-THE-SEA is also a film.

Kids love books full of adventure. The genius of Holling C. Holling was that he knew how to teach through adventure, by filling his entertaining tales with well-researched historical, geographical, and scientific data that might otherwise be boring to children had it not been presented in an exciting work of fiction.

This author/artist/naturalist was born in Jackson County, Michigan, in 1900.   His father was superintendent of schools, so as a boy, Holling had access to all the books he could want at home (but his mother would also make trips to the library to find books that he especially liked about animals and Indians.)

He not only loved reading, he loved being in the outdoors - roaming the woods, camping and exploring. “At three, he was an avid artist, drawing very advanced pictures of horses, cows, and other animals. In his youth, his father once brought him a dead owl. The investigative boy became fascinated with it, making an Indian headdress from the feathers and a belt with the claws. His love of Indian customs and ways was a constant throughout his life.” (as noted in Major Authors and Illustrators for Children and Young Adults, 2nd ed., Gale Group, 2002)


Holling Clancy Holling graduated from the Art Institute of Chicago in 1923. He then worked in a taxidermy department of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago and spent time working in anthropology.  He married Lucille Webster and within a year of their marriage they had both accepted positions as art instructors for a year (1926-1927) on the first University World Cruise, sponsored by New York University.

For many years of his life, Holling C. Holling dedicated much of his time and interest to creating books for children.  I'd like to focus on a set of large format books he started in the 1940's.  Much of the material he wrote about was known to him firsthand through field and library research. His wife worked with him on many of the illustrations.  Each story is rooted in the natural world: set on the sea, rivers, the coast, and inland trails. Each story involves a journey.

"The story lines of these books are well-complemented by their art. Of special interest are the sidebars that make a reader linger. They may be a detailed, hand-lettered pen and ink of a ship’s rigging in Seabird or the Great Lakes displayed “like bowls on a hillside” in Paddle-to-the-Sea. Learning new information was never more inviting and entertaining. Holling was a writer/illustrator who tapped into children’s secret consciousness and curiosity.  Such richness in storytelling and illustration still makes for classical favorites, which says much about this master of children’s literature." -Walter Giersbach, (Grinnell College Book Review).

These stories are especially loved by homeschooling families.  Click here to see Beautiful Feet Books wonderful "Geography Through Literature Pack" that uses these books.

PADDLE-TO-THE-SEA the four year journey of a miniature wood carving of an Indian boy in a canoe from its starting point in Lake Nipigon, Canada, through the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River to its final destination in the Atlantic Ocean.  Paddle receives help staying on course from people who read the message carved on his canoe: "Put me back in the water. I am Paddle-to-the-Sea".  Middle readers will learn about the history, industry, geography, seasons, tides, currents, locks, inhabitants, animals of the region.


TREE IN THE TRAIL the story of the passing of history as seen by a stationary cottonwood tree, located on what eventually becomes the Santa Fe Trail. (The wood from the tree is eventually made into an ox yoke and ultimately makes a journey to the end of the trail.)


SEABIRD - Through the travels of Seabird - an ivory gull carved by a cabin boy from a walrus tusk - the history of America at sea is traced. Your child will delight in this story of sailing, whaling, ships and ship building, while they learn world geography and much more!


MINN OF THE MISSISSIPPI Minn (a snapping turtle) travels over many seasons and years from Lake Superior to the Gulf of Mexico.  Children will learn about the history of the Mississippi River Valley and its fascinating world of bayou's, steamboats, river pirates, flatboats and keelboats, French and Spanish explorers, plantations, floods, and even Mark Twain.


PAGOO studies life in a tidal pool through the story of a hermit crab named Pagoo.  Every detail of tide pool life is presented. Holling's wonderful illustrations bring to light the many microscopic forms of life found in the sea, and the habits and methods of survival are clearly explained.

NEW BEGINNINGS

January always gets me thinking about New Beginnings - a chance for assessment and resolutions, a time to appreciate the past year in retrospect and to anticipate the upcoming year and the change we will strive for in our lives.

Perhaps because we have also just celebrated Nativity, the New Year brings to mind new birth and hope.

These two children's books reflect that appreciation and anticipation of new beginnings - in the birth of babies...

JANUARY'S CHILD by Andrea Alban Gosline, illustrated by Lisa Burnett Bossi. 

"You were born in your very own month of the year and the world was waiting to welcome you here with daydreams and wishes and circles of love and in turn you brought a gift from above...." 

Every day is someone's birthday, which January's Child celebrates with creative attributes for each month of the year. More positive than the traditional "Monday's Child" rhyme, and geared for families to share among youngest and oldest members, this is a beautifully illustrated treasury, perfect as a gift for birthdays or new babies.

ON THE NIGHT YOU WERE BORN by Nancy Tillman.

On the night you were born, the moon smiled with such wonder that the stars peeked in to see you and the night wind whispered, "Life will never be the same..."

The sweet rhyming text of this book celebrates and praises the uniqueness of a newborn.  Creation - polar bears, giraffes, geese, the moon, the wind - is shown as jubilant in the poetry and rich illustrations of this beautiful book (also a wonderful baby shower or birthday gift)!