Summer Evening

Southern California tends to have a long protracted summer and we’ve got quite a few warm evenings left, but we’re enjoying the last few unhurried days before the fall rhythms of bleary-eyed early mornings and long school days speed up life once more.

We’re great fans of Walter de la Mare’s poetry.  In Summer Evening, we join a farmer and his family as they have dinner outside on a golden evening with Carolina Rabei’s orange and yellow landscapes exuding beautiful warmth, conviviality and living in the moment.

Summer Evening was written by Walter de la Mare, illustrated by Carolina Rabei and published by Faber & Faber Children’s.

Summer Evening is the fourth title in this quartet of seasonal books celebrating Walter de la Mare’s poetry.  The others are Snow, Silver and The Ride-by-Nights.  I’d love to hear everyone’s favorite poet or book of poetry (old or new).

The Baby-Sitters Club Retro Set

What I’ll be reading all this long weekend.

For me, seeing the original covers of The Baby-Sitters Club evokes such nostalgia — the little cracking noise a new paperback would sometimes make when it was first opened, the wooden block chapter header illustrations (!) and the seemingly endless wait for the next installment in the series to come out.  And the unparalleled excitement on the day the monthly book order would arrive in class.  Anyone want to divulge their favorite babysitter of the five?  Happy long weekend, all.

The Baby-Sitters Club Retro Set, published by Scholastic, includes books 1-6 and was written by the one and only Ann M. Martin.

Mac B., Kid Spy #1: Mac Undercover

“Before Mac Barnett was an author, he was a kid.

And while he was a kid, he was a spy. 

Not just any spy. 

But a spy...for the Queen of England.”

Crown jewels + twelve corgis + paper dry biscuits + one kid spy = a formula for hilarity in Mac Barnett’s new chapter book illustrated by Mike Lowery.  The afternoon I sat down to read it, Avery and Nate saw the cover and rushed over to join me, looking over my shoulder, all of us reading quietly at the same time and for some chapters, taking turns reading aloud.  Their eyes were glued to the pages the whole time.  It’s got quick wit, absurd humor with a glorious dollop of English history to boot.

Mac Undercover is the first in the Mac B., Kid Spy series written by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Mike Lowery and published by Orchard Books.  Book two entitled The Impossible Crime publishes on December 26.

Ode to an Onion

Ode to the Onion was part of a series of poems that Pablo Neruda wrote in praise of humble ordinary objects.  Ones that are present throughout our quotidian lives and quietly populate our days.  This poem was inspired by an onion, its sharpness and sweetness reminding Neruda that “even though there is sadness in the world, there is so much happiness.”  This story is lovely and layered, like the poem to which it pays homage.

Ode to an Onion was written by Alexandra Giardino, illustrated by Felicita Sala and published by Cameron Kids.  It’ll be out soon on October 9.

The Dog that Ate the World

It’s heartening to have a band of friends to make merry with when things go dark — especially when that dark, abysmal place is the belly of a gigantic dog who’s just devoured you.  A hopeful story about community and friendship in unfortunate circumstances.

The Dog that Ate the World was written and illustrated by Sandra Dieckmann and published by Flying Eye Books.