Pretty Pages, v. 6

Princess Miserella was a beautiful princess if you counted her eyes and nose and mouth and all the way down to her toes. But inside, where it was hard to see, she was the meanesst, wickedest, and most worthless princess around. She liked stepping on dogs. She kicked kittens. She threw pies in the cook’s face. And she never — not even once — said thank you or please. And besides, she told lies.

In that very same kingdom, in the middle of the woods, lived a poor orphan named Plain Jane. She certainly was. Her hair was short and turned down. Her nose was long and turned up. And even if they had been the other way ’round,  the would not have been a great beauty. But she loved animals, and she was always kind to strange old ladies.

In this re-telling of the classic story of “Sleeping Beauty,” a beautiful but mean princess, a disguised fairy and a plan but kind commoner are all put under a sleeping spell. A prince (by title only – he has no money or land or power) finds them by accident after 100 years, and kisses the fairy and Plain Jane as practice for the princess. Just before awakening the princess, he remembers that the princesses he knows who look as beautiful as her were ugly on the inside. So he realizes (quite suddenly and inexplicably, but that’s part of the deal in children’s books) that he loves Jane. They live happily ever after because they are plain and devoid of wealth, not in spite of it. “Sleeping Ugly” was written by Diane Stanley and published in 1981.

It pretty much goes without saying that I adore this book, right? I mean, the tagline for this blog is “a rich heart may be under a poor coat.” I was absolutely thrilled when I found it at the thrift store; finding any book that doesn’t end with the beautiful princess getting everything she wants after learning absolutely nothing is really fantastic. Also, it’s one of the only good children’s books I’ve ever read that passes the Bechdel test.

The prose of the book is also just really sweet. I love reading it aloud.

You can find this book on amazon; it looks like in the newer printings the illustrations have been updated and fanci-fied, but I really recommend trying to get an old copy. Mine is from the original printing, I’m pretty sure, and the illustrations are so great.

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Do you have any recommendations for books to highlight in Pretty Pages? Would you like to write a post as a guest? Let me know in the comments!

Pretty pages, v.5

(Hey everyone! Sorry I haven’t posted a Pretty Pages in almost a month. Bad Blogger Award.)

Christopher Columbus was born in 1451 in Genoa, Italy. When he was a young boy, he helped in his father’s wool weaving shop. Every day, he watched the ships sail in and out of the busy seaport. And he dreamed of being a sailor.

This book, published in 1979, gives a pretty detailed biography of Christopher Columbus. It’s nice in that it’s fairly historically accurate, without being traumatic. The book goes into how much work and waiting Columbus had to do before sailing, where he landed, his trials and victories … pretty straightforward and interesting stuff.

My favorite thing about this book is that it doesn’t tiptoe around the truth like every book about Colombus did when I was a child. There’s no nonsense about people thinking the world was flat (humanity had figured that out long before Columbus was born) and the book mentions that Colombus and his men treated the indigenous people poorly. I really like the way the book mentions this, because it doesn’t go into detail but opens a door for discussion of that awful part of Colombus’ history.

I also really have a thing for spot-color printing, or printing in black and white with only one other color.

You can find this book here for mere pennies. I’d really recommend it, it’s a great addition to our library.

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Do you have any recommendations for books to highlight in Pretty Pages? Would you like to write a post as a guest? Let me know in the comments!

Pretty pages, v.4

On Halloween I wore a skeleton costume. I used to think skeletons were just made up to scare people. Now I know that skeletons are real. They are not scary. I would not be me without a skeleton. You would not be you.

This book, published in 1971, answers all the questions a child could have about skeletons. It covers broken bones, joints, cartilage, marrow, and the purpose of bones. And it does this all in 33 pages. Super awesome.

The Skeleton Inside You is now my favorite non-fiction children’s book. It’s informative, entertaining and clear. And the illustrations are golden. Also, skeletons are just a cool subject to cover.

Do you have any recommendations for books to highlight in Pretty Pages? Would you like to write a post as a guest? Let me know in the comments! 

 

Pretty pages, v.3

One day a letter came for the Great Big Elephant from his cousin in Paris.
“I have the mumps,” it said. “Can you come and take my place in the Circus Maximus until I am better?”
The Great Big Elephant ran right over to the Very Small Elephant’s house to tell his best friend the news.

This book, published in 1977, is a sweet tale of friendship. In the first chapter, Great Big Elephant must go to the circus to help his cousin, and Very Small Elephant doesn’t want him to go. But, despite Very Small’s attempts, Great Big leaves to perform in Paris. After only 8 days, Great Big is home. The second chapter is about Very Small’s aunt visiting, and in the third the two elephants play games and meet a grumpy rhinoceros.

I like this book because while it is tender, it’s not a tearjerker. It’s just sweet and simple. And Very Small’s aunt Matilda is a firecracker. Seuling is really experienced in children’s books. She’s not only an author (of over 60 books!) but an illustrator, teacher and editor as well.

You can find The Great Big Elephant and the Very Small Elephant for – really – a mere penny on Amazon. I think it’s lovely and can’t wait until Grady is old enough to sit through the whole book.

Do you have any recommendations for books to highlight in Pretty Pages? Would you like to write a post as a guest? Let me know in the comments!

Pretty pages, v.2

Some people are right-handed. Some people are left-handed. If you write and draw, eat with a fork or spoon, sew or throw a ball with your left hand, then you are left-handed. If you do all these things with your right hand, then you are right-handed. Some people can use both hands equally well. They are ambidextrous.

This is another lovely vintage non-fiction children’s book, this time discussing left-handedness. The author uses a fictional boy nicknamed “Lefty” to carry the narrative, covering how hand-preference develops, difficulties of left-handedness, left-handedness through history and what was known about why some people are left-handed when the book was published. It’s all pretty straight forward, but still Lerner makes Lefty likeable and endearing. There is one weird page-long tangent about the minute details of American Civil War-era rifles, which is kind of strange.

To me, the most interesting part of the book is when the author talks about the equivalence of left-handedness in animals and even in plants. Pretty interesting.

I like this book partially because the author seems like such a badass lady. The book was published in 1960, so it was interesting and awesome to see that Lerner was not only a mother of 4, but a medical doctor and professor.

This awesome book is available for dirt cheap on Amazon. I’d seriously recommend it; even if your child isn’t left-handed, this book is a great example of a child having questions about a topic, and doing real-world research (going to a museum, talking to specialists, asking questions and not being embarrassed) to sate their curiosity. It’s just all-around smart.

Do you have any recommendations for books to highlight in Pretty Pages? Would you like to write a post as a guest? Let me know in the comments!

Pretty pages, v.1

Alright lovelies! I’ve decided to add a new weekly feature to the blog and I’m outrageously excited about it. Grady and I have collected quite a bevy of vintage children’s books, and I want to spotlight the best of them here. So each week I’ll be writing about a different book. Have I mentioned that I’m excited about this? Because I am. Seriously excited.

In choosing books to be featured, I’ll be looking for titles that are unexpected, beautifully illustrated, and with a healthy message. Not every book will be likely to meet these categories, but I promise to be very discerning and only share my favorites.

Anyway, to spread out the weekly feature posts, I’m changing the schedule a bit. Not that it matters even one ounce, really, but the “10 cool” posts will move to Wednesdays, “Pretty pages” (my name for this book feature) will post on Fridays, and “Imaginary shopping spree” will remain on Sundays. So long as I remember to write them in time.

So! Let’s get on to it, shall we? For the first installment of “Pretty pages,” I’ve chosen a recent purchase; “The Great Moon Hoax,” written by Franklyn M. Branley and illustrated by Richard E. Brown.

In 1835  New York City newspaper printed some stories about flying animals that lived on the moon. Later these stories became the Great Moon Hoax. A hoax is a sort of trick or joke. So you could call these stories the Great Moon Joke. Here’s the way it happened. …

“The Great Moon Hoax” is the true story of the public believing false fantastical stories about the moon. I really love non-fiction children’s books, and good ones are hard to find. So this one is appreciated.

This book kind of reminds me of the stories used to test reading comprehension in standardized testing. Remember when they made you read those stories, and once in a while you’d come across one that was actually really interesting? This book is like that. The phrasing is simple and terse, but the subject is really awesome. And the illustrations? Well, they’re incredible.

“The Great Moon Hoax” is pretty hard to find. It’s more of a pamphlet than a book; it’s only 16 pages, and is bound with staples. But you can find a crazy expensive copy here, or some cheap used copies here. I got my copy at a thrift store.

Do you have any recommendations for books to highlight in Pretty Pages? Would you like to write a post as a guest? Let me know in the comments!