Sweet, Sweet Sleep

I'm very fussy about my pillows, and when I saw this giveaway for these snowy white organic pillows by Savvy Rest, I was sold!

You can choose synthetic or wool, and they even offer different shapes. For those who have neck troubles like I do, the contour pillow would be just the thing.

If you're interested in entering this giveway, take a trip to The Suburban Jungle and enter for your chance to pick one of these comfy pillows. Good luck!

A Daughter's Perspective

Last night, my kids' bedtime story was  The Extraordinary Mark Twain (According to Susy) by Barbara Kerley. What I think makes this book appealing for children (otherwise--would they really be interested in a 19th century author?) is that the book is told from Mark Twain's daughter Susy's perspective.

Susy was thirteen when, all on her own, she got the idea to write a biography of her father. She wanted others to see him as he was: a complex man who could be more serious than humorous. This biography was her secret until her mother discovered her journal in her bedroom. Her father was delighted that she not only came up with the idea on her own, but that she also approached his life in a systematic, journalistic way. The author/illustrator include mini journals throughout the book, lending to that sense of her personal investment in her loving, yet honest, study of her father .

My children liked the illustrations of Twain and his cats, and I think were intrigued by the notion that kids can be writers, too. What gets in the way between the story and the younger readers (my youngest are six and eight) is some of the vocabulary; I found myself defining a number of words throughout the book.

If you like children's books about historical figures, the same author/illustrator team also produced this book about Alice Roosevelt.

Of the two, I preferred What to Do About Alice--it has a greater readability, and I think her misadventures were of more interest to my kids. Both books led me to do more research about both girls' lives, and sadly both went on to have troubled adult lives, although Susy was only given a few years to be an adult--sadly she died of spinal meningitis at the age of 24. Her early death makes her childhood ambition (she was a "busy bee" her father said), much more poignant.

Steamship Illustration

My second YA novel, The Birdcatcher, is set on a 19th century transatlantic passenger steamship, and while I never thought I would be researching the history and structures of these ships, well, here I am!

I just found this ship illustration and wanted to save a copy of it for myself. The details are whimsical, and even if you didn't know what year it was painted (by Cal Sacks RR2 of Westport, Conn), you can tell by the scrolled black lines and the candy pink and mustard yellow shades that this is a product of the '60s. 

 

On Another Note

Christmas kept me busy, and recovering from said Christmas, but now I'm ready to get back in the swing of things!

Now that I'm back in the land of the living, I revisited one of my favorite mom blogs--MommyMandy. She manages to raise two daughters, hold a job, AND maintain her blog about mothering and giveaways, so there's always something to appreciate at her site.

Today I entered in one of her giveaways for a pair of Pottery Barn Teen Tune-In headphones, which I'm really crossing my fingers I will win, because now ALL THREE of my kids walk around with headphones on, attached either to their MP3 players, portable DVD players, or their DSs. Our focus is still on books, but my kids, like most kids, even though we don't watch cable TV, still manage to know all about the latest gadgets!

I think my kids would love these headphones simply because of the colors and designs. If you're interested in checking out the giveaway, visit MommyMandy's site. But don't wait, the giveaway ends January 2nd!

Happy New Year!

Books Are Like Bees

"Books are the bees which carry the quickening pollen from one to another mind."

 James Russell Lowell

If books are like bees, then our house is like a giant hive. We have books everywhere--on every flat surface of our house (along with laundry, junk mail, and lego)--and I suspect we have half of our library's collection on our shelves.

Since we don't follow a pre-designed homeschool curriculum, we let the books we love, and the ones we come to love, drive what we study. In the process, my kids have learned to appreciate the artistry of children's book illustrations and the importance of a good story.

I was really thrilled when I found this at the library this week: Illustrating Children's Picture Books by Steven Withrow and Lesley Breen Withrow. It includes some beautiful illustrations and interviews with successful illustrators. Since I'm not an illustrator, but I appreciate good book art, I liked the tutorials that I can use later on to show my children how the illustrations are made and how they work.

Another book that we found during our last trip to the library (it's like treasure hunting!), was 1 2 3 I can Build! by Irene Luxbacher.

We've already tried a few crafts ideas from this book, and while they were a little challenging for my six year old, it was something fun we could do together.  We also had everything we needed on hand to craft a paper house (including images from magazines), so it was an instantly gratifying, affordable project.