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Friday, September 18, 2009

Fall Reading List



I'm all for new varieties, and Chad's into the traditional flavors - so together our family enjoyed "The Donut Chef" in the pursuit of daring flavors and yet the comfort from the familiar! The book by Bob Staake is in rhyme, and is well crafted. Since my dad was a baker, I'm thinking he may need it for his limited collection of children's books! (perhaps to read to our three)

"A Foot in the Mouth: Poems to Speak, Sing and Shout" selected by Paul Janeczko captured our new love for Origami with mixed media
illustrations using scraps of the colorful patterned paper! Chris Raschka was responsible for the oriental flair. The "Home Poem" was a rhyming collection of homes, such as, "Home of the mole: hole. Home of the ants: pants," and introduced a few new locations in a kid-friendly way. My favorite in the collection was "Squirrel
and Acorn," by Beverly McLoughland, loving its simplicity and how my children followed the drama line by line.

Mary Ann Hoberman's "The Llama who had no Pajama" was a wonderful collection, over 40 years mind you, of unique observations and creative uses of names of animals and bugs. It is definitely a book to read, and read again.

For the Prairie Pasque book Tuttle's Red Barn: The Story of America's Oldest Family Farm we chronicled the lives of several families. In 1632, John Tuttle set sail from England to Dover, New Hampshire. There he set up a farm on s
even acres of land. From those humble beginnings the Tuttle family story became America's story. As the Tuttles passed down the farm, along the way they witnessed the sett
lement and expansion of New England; they fought in the American Revolution; they helped runaway slaves along the Underground Railroad and sold maple syrup to Abraham Lincoln; they bought the first Model T in that Dover; and they transformed the old barn into the thriving country store it is today. My initial guess is that this is a christian family based on the choice of names seen through the generations. I'd like to do
some follow-up research to learn more about them. But - as far as the Prairie Pasque books go, we've discu
ssed all but two of them for the 3rd-5th grade selections! That's been a fun assignment!

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