FEBRUARY: A PRESIDENTIAL MONTH

If you're looking for some captivating children's picture books about our two U.S. presidents born in February - Abraham Lincoln on the 12th and George Washington on the 22nd - you won't be disappointed with the choices available from BEAUTIFUL FEET BOOKS!  These books and their authors (who also happen to be the illustrators) are exceptional! 

EDGAR AND INGRI D'AULAIRE BOOKS

George Washington

Abraham Lincoln

The D'Aulaires (husband and wife) began writing and illustrating picture book biographies that were first published for young children in the 1930's. The figures in their colorful folkart style drawings almost have a paper-doll look, which appeals greatly to kids. (In fact their illustrations of George Washington are intentionally supposed to help children conjure up images of rocking horses and toy soldiers!)  All their books are historically accurate and full of authentic detail, a result of the couple's countless hours of research at libraries and their travel to historic sites for each of their books.  And the results are breathtakingly beautiful books! (1st - 6th grade)


  
GENEVIEVE FOSTER BOOKS

George Washington's World

Abraham Lincoln's World

Genevieve Foster's books present a cross-section of history. Her historical figures are introduced and explored amidst the interconnecting events going on around the world at that time in the areas of politics, science, art, literature, and medicine. In the 1940's, her new approach to historical literature, versus just showing biographical subjects in isolation, really brought their stories to life for her young readers. She developed this style of writing from struggling herself, as a student, to better learn and understand history. Her own vivid line drawings, detailed maps, and timelines wonderfully complete these books. (4th grade and up)

BEAUTIFUL FEET BOOKS is a publisher and curriculum source especially loved by homeschooling families.  You can learn more about these titles, and order from their online catalog, here on their website. 

DIANE STANLEY: COMBINING ART, WRITING, AND DESIGN

Diane Stanley really takes the research process of her illustrated biographies for children seriously - and has fun in the process!  Her husband, Peter Vennema is co-author of many of her books because he does much of the preliminary library research for the material most pertinent to her chosen subject.  They then read the material, with Peter giving his input and later helping with editing. This husband and wife team travel together and visit different countries as part of Diane's research for her latest upcoming book. She enjoys visiting where her subjects lived and walking where they walked (if possible!)

Diane got interested in writing for children after receiving her Masters Degree in 1970, getting married, and becoming a mother.  She says:
Suddenly everything changed.  Though I continued to work as a freelance medical illustrator, my heart began to move in a different direction. As I spent hour after hour, cuddling with my kids on the couch, turning the pages of a book, I kept thinking: "This is what I’d really like to do. This is important." Children’s books combined art, writing, and design, all things I liked to do. More important, they opened the minds of young readers and helped bring families together. I wanted to be a part of something like that.

Diane's picture book biographies make great read aloud stories for children ages 7 and up.  Her illustrations are full-color  Gouache paintings.  Here's a sampling of some of her beautiful work...

PETER THE GREAT  Peter was ten when he became the crowned tsar of Russia.  He eventually achieved his goal of bringing modern change to Russia (not all welcome) that he learned from visiting Western Europe.  He also built a naval port and a new glittering capital city, St. Petersburg, on what had been a swampy wilderness.  Detailed illustrations of the people and countryside of Russia.



BARD OF AVON:  THE STORY OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE Using the few facts actually known about William Shakespeare, Diane has done a wonderful job of drawing us into Shakespeare's Elizabethan world of theater, actors, politics, and his plays.




CHARLES DICKENS:  THE MAN WHO HAD GREAT EXPECTATIONS Gorgeously illustrated book about one of the world's best loved writers, with accurate portrayals of 19th Century fashion, architecture, and design.





Go to Diane Stanley's website to learn more about her and see more of her wonderful books.

BOOKS THAT TRANSPORT US AND HELP US LEARN MORE ABOUT OURSELVES...

"But in reading great literature I become a thousand men and yet remain myself. Like the night sky in the Greek poem, I see with myriad eyes, but it is still I who see. Here, as in worship, in love, in moral action, and in knowing, I transcend myself; and am never more myself than when I do." -C.S. Lewis

My children and I really enjoyed traveling through books to far off lands and different centuries and meeting the people (and humanized animals!) who inhabited them, while coming back to ourselves at the same time by sharing with the characters not only their adventures, but also finding a common boundary of ideas and feelings about family and friendship, loyalties and truths. We would always return with a new perspective on others and a renewed perspective of ourselves...

FOLKTALE/MYTHOLOGY:

TALES OF A CHINESE GRANDMOTHER, by Frances Carpenter. (Ages 9-12) Wonderful folktales of the Chinese culture, told by an old grandmother. Each chapter is a different tale.

THE CHILDREN'S HOMER, by Padraic Colum. Exquisite pen and ink illustrations by Willy Pogany. (Ages 9-12) My kids were entranced by this telling of Greek mythology because it allowed us to see the Greeks through their own eyes.

FANTASY:

THE INDIAN IN THE CUPBOARD (series), by Lynne Reid Banks. (Ages 8-12) Exciting, absorbing, and thought provoking story, alive with magic as two boys discover they can bring their toys to life by putting them in an old medicine cabinet that one of them receives - along with a small plastic Indian - for his birthday. They are faced with the responsibility of this tiny person and the consequences of their actions. Gives new meaning to the phrase, "the dignity of human life".

THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA (series), by C.S. Lewis, illustrated by Pauline Baynes (Ages 8-12). It is so evident in these stories that Lewis respects children's imaginations - he does not dumb-down evil or sugar-coat goodness. At the same time, there is a wonderful sense of the everyday in these incredible fantasy books - hearth and home and the honest decency of ordinary characters who are movtivated by love!!! The children, talking animals and creatures, and especially the great Lion, Aslan, will become endearing companions that your children will never forget.

REDWALL (series), by Brian Jacques, illustrated by Gary Chalk. (ages 8-12). This series was read to my children by their father and I'm not sure who enjoyed the reading more, him or them! All the characters are animals, mostly mice and mostly heroic, with the exception of the villian, Cluny the one-eyed rat, and his horde. Matthias, a novice monk (mouse) at Redwall Abbey, has dedicated himself to the service of peace. But he slowly learns that, sometimes, it is virtuous to defend oneself and those one loves. (Many children have been known to read this under the covers at night with a flashlight, after read aloud time is over and dad and mom have gone to bed). Go to http://www.redwall.org/ for Brian Jacques' fun website and a list of all the books!

HISTORICAL NOVELS:

THE BRONZE BOW, by Elizabeth Speare. (Ages 9-12) Beautifully told story of a boy living in Jerusalem at the time of Christ. 1962 Newbery Medal winner. A family favorite of ours!

THE HOUSE OF SIXTY FATHERS, by Meindert DeJong, illustrated by Maurice Sendak. (Ages 9-12). The Japanese invasion of China during World War II is the backdrop for this touching story of a little boy named Tien Pao, who becomes separated from his parents. He is eventually helped by American soldiers and airmen. Throughout the search for his parents, he is determined not to despair.

BIOGRAPHY:

THE ENDLESS STEPPE, by Esther Hautzig. (Ages 10 and up). This book made a huge impression on us, probably because it is a true story and the heroine, only ten years old, never loses courage or perserverance in the face of extreme hardship after being forced to leave her beautiful home in Poland in 1942 and live in Siberia with her family because they are Jewish.