Next, I discovered Ladybird Prints ~ a website containing over 4,000 prints from the Ladybird Books, available to purchase as prints and canvasses. There are prints available in such diverse categories as Adventure, History, Hobbies & Crafts, Religion, Science & Space, The Natural World, and so on. I can easily picture prints from the science books in the twins' bedroom, while the nature prints would be well-suited to our school room.




The products can be found at Mulberry Hall, as well as other online British retailers.

I seriously need to step *away* from the computer tonight because I keep finding ways to spend money, yikes! My newest discovery was this gorgeous Enid Blyton Nature Lover's Book. A peek inside the book can be found at The Blueberry Patch.

While I'm not personally familiar with Enid Blyton's work, I've heard so much about her, both good and bad. Naturally, out of sheer curiosity, I then also had to order a "Best of Blyton" boxed set (at a great price!). Since we're studying British children's literature this year, I think I can kind of justify this.

Here's a book that is going on my wish list promptly: Pennies for Elephants by Lita Judge (author of another phenomenal book, One Thousand Tracings). Pennies for Elephants tells the true story of two children who, in 1914, helped to raise $6,000 in 2 months to help the local zoo buy three retired circus elephants. View the trailer here:

The author's website is also a valuable source of information, featuring period photos and an activity guide for teachers.

As I've been browsing for fun new books, just because, I came across a few titles about Emily Dickinson that captured my immediate attention.

The first of these is entitled A Voice of Her Own: Becoming Emily Dickinson by Barbara Dana, a well-researched YA novel written in the voice of Emily Dickinson from the ages of 9 to 24. It has already garnered some excellent reviews and looks delightfully promising! A generous preview of the book can be found here, at HarperTeen.

The next selection is a children's book containing seven poems by Emily Dickinson. Entitled, My Letter to the World and Other Poems, it's real charm lays in the beauty of Isabelle Arsenault's stunning illustrations. The book may be previewed here.


Lastly, no study of Emily Dickinson would be complete without the following, which are especially (but not exclusively!) for younger children: My Uncle Emily by Jan Yolen and Emily Carpenter and Emily by Michael Bedard and Barbara Cooney.


Whether included in a formal study of the poet, read in celebration of her birthday (on December 10th!), or just because, any of these titles are sure to be loved.

This past week I've been on a journey to discover notable new-to-me children's books that have been released in the past few years. It seems I'm always buying books for one purpose or another (on a given topic), but seldom do I buy any just for fun now that we're homeschooling. I'm not sure why that is, especially when you consider that I've been passionate about children's books and illustration for most of my life. These days my book budget has been rather staggering, so why on earth shouldn't it include a few titles simply because they're lovely to behold?

I set to work browsing children's literature and illustration blogs, on a quest to discover some new gems...The results were quite worthwhile, I must say. I'm thrilled with my discoveries and can't wait for our new books to arrive!

Lastly, there's this...an out-of-print, but new-to-me title that looks wonderful:

After stumbling across this post about Neil Gaiman's wonderful "Instructions" being turned into a picture book (available in 2010!), I immediately decided that we should plan an in-depth Neil Gaiman author study at some point in the very near future. He is, after all, one of my favorite authors and the kids enjoyed Coraline so much (both the book and the movie), I suspect they'll love his other work as well. Fortunately, because he's such a prolific writer, there's no dearth of material to explore, and I expect we shall have lots of fun with this!

I am tentatively planning a month-long study (likely in October, so that we can include "Odd and the Frost Giants") in which we'll read one of his novels, "The Graveyard Book", and one of his picture books each week - we'll also be listening to him read his work, which is truly a marvelous experience! Lastly, I'll include a few short stories from M is for Magic. We may wrap up the month with another viewing of Coraline, this time in 3D. :-) Stardust would be another fabulous option, though I think I'll be saving it for a fairy tale unit later in the year.

Already, I'm imagining all of the potential 'rabbit trails' that might be inspired by this study - at the very least, a unit on fairy tales (I believe I'll borrow this idea and use "Instructions" as an introduction to our fairy tale unit). Browsing the author's blog led me to this post about "Grimble" by Sir Clement Freud, republished in Noisy Outlaws, Unfriendly Blobs and Some Other Things... - this looks like a book the boys would love! Oh, and an Edward Gorey study would also be so. much. fun! Perhaps later in the year we could explore Lewis Carroll (just in time for the release of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, which I'm oh-so-anxiously awaiting), and Edward Lear. Hmm...the "literary nonsense" genre, actually. I could have entirely too much fun with this!

Thus far, I haven't come up with any wonderfully creative art projects to tie in to our study (I'm working on it!), though I did enjoy this mural project inspired by "The Graveyard Book." Here are some other resources I've collected:

About the Author

• Official Biography
• Neil Gaiman's Blog
• The Quotable Neil
• A Conversation with Neil Gaiman
• Neil Gaiman Interview

Works by the Author

Children's Novels:

• The Graveyard Book (2009 Newberry Winner)
• Neil Gaiman discussing "The Graveyard Book"
• "The Graveyard Book" Video Tour Readings
• Official website for "The Graveyard Book"
• A Brief (Or Not So Brief) History of "The Graveyard Book"
• "The Graveyard Book" Reading Guide from HarperCollins

• Coraline
• "Coraline" Reading Guide from HarperCollins
• "Coraline" Study Guide from the LA State Library
• Coraline: The Graphic Novel

Picture Books:

• Blueberry Girl
• Odd and the Frost Giants (Available 09/22/09)
• Crazy Hair
• The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish
• The Dangerous Alphabet
• The Wolves in the Walls
• The Wolves Are Coming Out of the Walls! (.PDF)
• "The Wolves in the Walls" Study Guide (.PDF)

Short Stories:

• M is for Magic (Read the disclaimer here)

Audio/Video:

• The Neil Gaiman Audio Collection: Includes the following stories - "Crazy Hair," "The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish," "The Wolves in the Walls," and "Cinnamon."
• Coraline DVD

For April we're keeping our book basket selections simple since it's such a busy month! The books are as follows:

Easter

• Rechenka's Eggs by Patricia Polacco [Pysanky]
• The Tale of Three Trees: A Traditional Folktale by Angela Elwell Hunt
• Little Rose of Sharon by Nan Gurley
• Petook: An Easter Story by Caryll Houselander and Tomie dePaola
• The Very First Easter by Paul L. Maier

April 15: Leonardo da Vinci by Diane Stanley; Leonardo da Vinci born April 15, 1452.

April 20: The Flower Hunter: William Bartram, America's First Naturalist by Deborah Kogan Ray; William Bartram born April 20, 1739.

April 21: Glass Town: The Secret World of the Bront' Children by Michael Bedard; Charlotte Bronte born April 21, 1816. Earth Day: Squirrel and John Muir by Emily Arnold McCully and

Our book basket for March will include many of the Books for St. Patrick's Day and a few of the following:

March 2: The Boy on Fairfield Street by Kathleen Krull; Theodore Geisel (Dr. Seuss) born March 2, 1904.

March 3: Alexander Graham Bell by Victoria Sherrow; Alexander Graham Bell born March 3, 1847

March 6: Michelangelo by Diane Stanley; Michelangelo born March 6, 1475

March 6: Susanna of the Alamo: A True Story by John Jakes; Battle of the Alamo - March 6, 1836

March 14: Odd Boy Out: Young Albert Einstein by Don Brown; Albert Einstein born March 14, 1879

March 17: Franklin & Eleanor by Cheryl Harness; Franklin & Eleanor Roosevelt married March 17, 1905

March 19: Cowboy Charlie: The Story of Charles M. Russell by Jeanette Winter; Charles Russell born March 19, 1864

March 21: Sebastian: A Book about Bach by Jeanette Winter; Sebastian Bach March 21, 1685

March 23: Fannie in the Kitchen: The Whole Story from Soup to Nuts of How Fannie Farmer Invented Recipes with Precise Measurements by Deborah Hopkinson; Fannie Farmer born March 23, 1857

March 24: The Secret of the Great Houdini by Robert Burleigh; Houdini born March 24, 1874

March 31: Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez by Kathleen Krull; Cesar Chavez born March 31, 1927

Our book basket for February will include:

February 3: Rockwell: A Boy and his Dog by Loren Spiotta DiMare; Norman Rockwell born February 3, 1894

February 7: Pioneer Girl: The Story of Laura Ingalls Wilder by William Anderson; Laura Ingalls Wilder born February 7, 1865

February 9: Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs; Wilson A. Bentley born February 9, 1865

February 11: Thomas Edison: Inventor, Scientist, and Genius by Lori Mortensen; Thomas A. Edison born February 11, 1847

February 12: Abe Lincoln the Boy Who Loved Books by Kay Winters, Abe Lincoln Remembers by Ann Turner; Abraham Lincoln born February 12, 1809

February 14: Saint Valentine by Robert Sabuda

February 17: The Story of the H.L. Hunley and Queenie's Coin by Fran Hank; Event February 17, 1864 (more info here and here)

February 19: Nicolaus Copernicus: The Earth is a Planet by Dennis B. Fraden; Nicolaus Copernicus born February 19, 1473

February 22: George Washington by James Giblin, George Washington's Teeth by Deborah Chandra; George Washington born February 22, 1732

February 26: The Sweetwater Run by Andrew Glass; Buffalo Bill Cody born February 26, 1845

February 27: When Marian Sang: The True Recital of Marian Anderson by Pam Munoz Ryan; Marian Anderson born February 27, 1897

February 28: Mr. Williams by Karen Barbour; J.W. Williams born February 28, 1929

Other Books for February:

• Cupid and Psyche by M. Charlotte Craft
• William Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale by Bruce Coville
• Katie's Trunk by Ann Turner
• A New Coat for Anna by Harriet Ziefert
• Rain Makes Applesauce by Julian Schneer
• The Travels of Benjamin of Tudela: Through Three Continents in the Twelfth Century by Uri Shulevitz