Children’s Book Monday: Yellow and Pink

Yellow and Pink
Written and illustrated by William Steig

Yellow and Pink is one of the most clever children’s books I have ever seen. The story is about two little wooden figures who find themselves lying in the sun on a piece of newspaper and begin to wonder. As they try to figure out how and why they got there, they get into a very interesting discussion.

One of the puppets (Pink) admires the workmanship in the other puppet and declares that someone must have made them. The other puppet (Yellow) insists that they must have just appeared there by accident and a lively debate ensues. As the story goes along, Yellow tries harder and harder to explain his origin in a tale that grows more amazing by the moment. Pink questions him every step of the way and both puppets finally come to a conclusion. Just as they do, however, a mysterious man comes along and stops the debaters in their tracks.

Yellow explains how his eyes may have been formed

This awesome book is simple enough for even a small child (age 3-4) to understand, but so profound that even Dan and I thoroughly enjoy it. Without even mentioning the idea of creation vs. evolution, the author gets everyone thinking about the topic in a simple, clear-cut manner.

This short book is very rare and therefore carries a ridiculously high price from used book sellers.  I wish that it would be republished, but I doubt there is much chance of that in this decade. So, if you EVER come across an inexpensive copy of it at a thrift store or garage sale, snatch it up! Otherwise, your library or inter-library loan system should have a copy for you to borrow.

Thanks for stopping by today for my children’s book review! For my previous reviews, click HERE.

Happy reading (and philosophizing) with your children!

Building a library for your child, Part 4 – Beginning reading

Part 1 HERE
Part 2 HERE
Part 3 HERE 

“A child has not begun his education until he has acquired the habit of reading to himself, with interest and pleasure, books fully on a level with his intelligence.”  - Charlotte Mason

Early readers

The following are our favorite books to pull out once a new reader has a firm grasp on phonics. Of course, most of the Dr. Seuss, P.D. Eastman and Berenstain Bears beginning readers are great, but these are our top picks:

Are You My Mother? – P.D. Eastman

Billy and Blaze books – C.W. Anderson

Fox in Socks – Dr. Seuss

Frog and Toad are Friends (all 4 books in the series) – Arnold Lobel

Inside, Outside, Upside Down – Stan and Jan Berenstain

Little Black, A Pony – Walter Farley

Mouse Soup – Arnold Lobel

Mouse Tales – Arnold Lobel

Octopus – Evelyn S. Shaw

Oscar Otter – Nathaniel Benchley

Owl at Home – Arnold Lobel

There Is a Carrot in My Ear – Alvin Schwartz

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Chapter books for child’s first individual reading
(Short chapters, easy to understand storylines)

**Pathway Readers – we love, love, love these readers! They are the only readers I’ve ever seen that actually have interesting stories.

Abraham Lincoln, Man of Courage – Bernadine Bailey (A Piper biography – all of these are great!)

Animals Do the Strangest Things – Leonora Hornblow (Any of these series is good – Reptiles, Insects, Birds, Fish)

Copper-Toed Boots – Marguerite De Angeli

Homer Price – Robert McCloskey

Sarah, Plain and Tall (and  sequels) – Patricia McLachlan

The Bears on Hemlock Mountain- Alice Dalgliesh

The Boxcar Children – Gertrude Chandler Warner

The Courage of Sarah Noble – Alice Dalgliesh

The Happy Hollisters – Jerry West

The Hundred Dresses – Eleanor Estes

The Matchlock Gun – Walter D. Edmonds

Thornton Burgess Animal Stories -Thornton Burgess

Tornado – Betsy Byars

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Final part of this series: Part 5 – Chapter books and non-fiction

My sick little bookworm

21-month old Grace fights the flu by taking a rest with a good book…

…or two!

By the time she was done, this pile had doubled ~

The comforts of home

As a woman, how do you make your home comfortable for your family and anyone you might serve within its walls?

Each woman’s home is kind of like an blank canvas that she can paint according to her own preferences and skills while at the same time, taking others’ enjoyment into consideration. The touches of love and comfort that she intentionally places in the home do indeed create a certain atmosphere for those who dwell in it. No matter what a woman’s budget is, with creativity she can make a lovely and comfortable home.

In the last few days, I’ve been looking around my home and noticing the ways that I’ve tried to create a comfortable environment for my family and ways in which I can improve in this area.

Some of the comforts that I’ve tried to put into place in my home…

Beautiful and cozy comforters

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Plenty of thoughtful activities for little ones

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Thrifted artwork that encourages strong family ties

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Quiet and imaginative toys (no batteries required)

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The gift of time to enjoy a big sister/little sister tea

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Homemade treats

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Lots of cozy spaces for sharing a book

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A home for everything and everything in its home

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Interesting things to look at and talk about

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Gifts created with love, even if the talent is lacking

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Fresh flowers on the table when in season

What are some ways in which you make your home comfortable for your family or guests?

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Two ladies who inspire me with the comfortable homes they make for their families as well as their Godly and humble thoughts on creating a peaceful home are:

Jewels at Eyes of Wonder

Julianne at Life at Providence Lodge

If you ever have the opportunity to pore over the blog archives of these two women (or even just look through their photos!), I know that you will come away inspired as well.

Grace

Our little Gracie-Lou joined the family ranks on October 3rd. Her whole delivery and birth were by far the easiest of my four children. I felt much more prepared mentally this time and I think that made a world of difference.

Grace Elizabeth is her real name, but soon after she came home I started to call her Gracie-Lou – don’t ask me why!

So now, she is lovingly called Gracie-Lou, Lou-Lou, or Little Lou by everybody in the house. The children are spoiling her like crazy. She has ongoing entertainment for her enjoyment courtesy of Abigail, Iliana and Jonathan. She smiles all the time and is so much fun!

After only 3 1/2 months, we have no idea how we ever got along without her!

Simple Thoughts

I don’t feel as though I have much to say of any importance, but in the interest of “keeping up” my blog, I find myself sitting here this afternoon in front of my computer.

I don’t have much to say about what I’ve been doing lately, because some days just seem to be the very same as the ones before. That’s a mom’s life, sometimes, isn’t it? Seemingly, everything that I do during the course of a day gets “undone” again and I find myself doing those same exact tasks again the next day. It’s easy for me to grow weary of the mundane tasks of wiping noses and picking up teeny weeny pieces of toy sets if I focus on those tasks alone.

My most important task as a mother is one that I cannot accomplish all at once. I can’t check it off of my “to-do” list at the end of the day. It is one that is laid down layer upon layer, hour upon hour, conversation upon conversation. It’s the weaving together of the small, teachable moments that will make up the finished product of my life’s work. (That sounds really corny,  I know,  but it’s true.)

The same goes for my marriage. I’m learning that marriage isn’t always about the big surprises, romantic dinners, or even gifts. While those things are fine, what really adds up to a lasting relationship are the small sacrifices that we make for each other each day. The times that I put my own interests or schedule aside to help Dan with something. The times that I just smile and have a forgiving attitude when an expectation of mine is not met. I’m learning to have a short memory when it comes to offences. All of these little things add up as the months and years go by.

So, that’s what I’ve been doing lately – learning to live more fully and love more fully. Simple? Yes. Boring? Well, not to me.

Praying…

Praying for God’s will to be done today in America.

Scissors in hand

If I thought that trying to cut Abigail’s hair was difficult, I should not have even attempted to try and trim Jonathan’s hair.

But I did.

I tell you, I give those people who work at Kidz Kutz lots of credit. I had no idea how to keep a wiggly baby boy still enough to even get the scissors near his head, much less cut any kind of straight lines. I tried, anyway. All I wanted to do was get rid of the ducktail in back and the curlies around his ears. After several failed attempts at making it look decent, I quit for the day. The next day, I searched on the Internet for tips on cutting toddler boys’ hair. (I guess that I should have done this FIRST. I just thought that it would be easy!) After watching a video on YouTube, I realized that I had gone about it all wrong. Oops.

So, I grabbed Jonathan and my scissors and had another go at it. The only problem is that this time, there was less hair to work with. I ended up cutting quite a bit above the hairline at the back of the neck and please don’t even look around his ears. Its scary.

I threw my hands up and bemoaned his haircut to Dan. Dan is so patient and loving. He said that he’s glad that I’m trying to learn how to cut the children’s hair, even with my mistakes. Everyone has to start somewhere, he said.  You’ll learn.

So, I’ll keep trying. But I give those stylists who work with children much more credit now. It isn’t as easy at it looks!

Do you give your children haircuts? How did it go when you were first starting out?