Mary Blair Treasury of Golden Books, 2012.
I bought this book because I remember owning as a child a Golden Book collection that featured Mary Blair's "I Can Fly". All the stories in that book were very good, but I remember Blair's work the most of all. In the "Mary Blair Treasury of Golden Books", the illustrations are bigger, and, therefore, even better. I think parts of the Golden Book of Little Verses were also in my childhood book, because I remember some of the illustrations, but none of the text. Two of the stories in this collection are completely new to me.
Anyone who has been to Disney World or Land has seen Mary Blair's work. Yup, it's a small world. Really -- "It's a Small World"; which explains why the animatrons are so charming even if the song is so annoying. Also, her work heavily influenced Disney's "Alice in Wonderland", which probably explains why it is my favorite Disney animated film. And "Ichabod Crane", another film with intriguing illustration.
It wasn't until I flipped to the songs in the back of the book that I realized that I already owned something quite spectacular: The New Golden Song Book, illustrated by Mary Blair, from 1955. My copy was loved and used quite a bit before I inherited it, but still...!
Friday, November 16, 2012
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Book 130
Hello, Robots, by Bob Staake, Viking 2004
I heard "Hello, Robots" before I saw it, and because I was distracted, it didn't quite grab me like other Staake books did. My then three-and-a-half year old son, however, was immediately interested and wanted to check out the book. So we did. Then he didn't want to bring it back to the library, so we had to buy our own copy. Now whenever we read this book, i.e., every day and usually more than once a day, my son "reads" the refrain in a robot voice. I get it now. It's funny.
The illustrations are typical Bob Staake artwork, which is a shorthand way of saying that they are brilliant, funny, a bit twisted, and convey the unexpected. The two pages showing the robots in the rain so intrigue and worry my little boy that he has painted his own scene of robots in the rain. Good children's books entertain. Great children's books spark the imagination. Excellent children's books inspire. It's pretty clear to my young son what kind of books Mr. Staake creates.
I heard "Hello, Robots" before I saw it, and because I was distracted, it didn't quite grab me like other Staake books did. My then three-and-a-half year old son, however, was immediately interested and wanted to check out the book. So we did. Then he didn't want to bring it back to the library, so we had to buy our own copy. Now whenever we read this book, i.e., every day and usually more than once a day, my son "reads" the refrain in a robot voice. I get it now. It's funny.
The illustrations are typical Bob Staake artwork, which is a shorthand way of saying that they are brilliant, funny, a bit twisted, and convey the unexpected. The two pages showing the robots in the rain so intrigue and worry my little boy that he has painted his own scene of robots in the rain. Good children's books entertain. Great children's books spark the imagination. Excellent children's books inspire. It's pretty clear to my young son what kind of books Mr. Staake creates.
Sunday, November 11, 2012
My Miracle Baby
I wasn’t supposed to be able to have children.
I had struggled with endometriosis from the time I was fourteen, although I wasn’t diagnosed until I was twenty-seven. Two months after that first surgery for endometriosis, I was diagnosed with a congenital heart condition. The endo seemed to thrive with every hormone that was supposed to control it. Less than a year later, I had a second surgery and the endo was even worse than the first time. I had a third surgery for endo complications. After that, I was facing a hysterectomy -- nothing more could be done for the endometriosis, and the scar tissue was already extensive. I was not yet thirty.
A few times, the pain was so intense that I seriously considered the hysterectomy, but something stopped me. My head accepted that I could not have children, but my heart never did. I lost a few relationships to what I thought was my inability to have children. But my husband, whom I met when was 35, accepted me and all my flaws. We married on my 37th birthday.
About two years into our marriage, I became pregnant. We were elated. The pregnancy, however, only lasted about six weeks. Pretty much almost as soon as I realized I was pregnant, the pregnancy was over. I had four more very early term miscarriages over the next eighteen months. By now, we were well into a children’s home system and the county system to adopt a child. While taking the parenting courses to adopt, I had one more early term miscarriage. After completing the courses and two home visits, I was pregnant for the seventh time. I was three months along -- further than I had ever been.
Mine was a very high-risk pregnancy: I was forty, I had six miscarriages, I had scar tissue from the endometriosis and surgeries, and I had a heart condition. The pregnancy itself was not horrible for me. It wasn’t until the last six weeks that I lost my ankles and shoes were challenging because of the swelling. At around five months, I developed pain around my ribcage on the right side. None of the doctors at the high-risk hospital were concerned about it, so neither was I.
The morning I was scheduled for my C-section, I was bumped back a few hours because of an emergency delivery. By the time I was brought in for my delivery, I started having labor pains, but the pains on the right side were even worse. The standard epidural was ineffective for my pain by then, so the dose was doubled. My blood pressure bottomed out. During the procedure, the additional fluid was too much for my heart and I developed congestive heart failure. The epidural wore off before the end of the delivery and nothing more could be given to me.
I spent the first twenty-four hours after giving birth in ICU. I saw my son once, for about ten minutes. The next day I was moved to the critical care unit. My son could only be brought up to me if there was a guard on the floor, so again, I only saw him once, but this time for an hour. The third day, I could not see him at all. I was in the hospital two more days. Meanwhile, the pain from the C-section improved, but the pain in my right side never did. It wasn’t until a night-time trip to the ER three months later than I learned I had developed calcium gallstones during my pregnancy.
I don’t regret anything. My son is worth it all. And I do think, even now, he is something quite remarkable.
Book 129
The Ballad of the Pirate Queens, written by Jane Yolen, illustrated by David Shannon, Harcourt, Brace & Company, 1995.
Hallowe'en is quickly approaching and, trust me on this, not every girl wants to be a princess. Some would much rather be a pirate for a day. And if you plan to be a female pirate, you should be a Pirate Queen, like Anne Bonney or Mary Reade. I wish I knew about them when I was younger.
The Ballad of the Pirate Queens is a book that I picked up long before I ever planned to have a child or work as a children's librarian. It was just one of the books that are so stunning and so intriguing that I felt I had to have it for my own library. It was also my first encounter with Jane Yolen's writing. I have since become a huge fan of this amazingly prolific writer. Every book she writes, and she writes a staggering array, is pitch-perfect. The Ballad of the Pirate Queens with its mix of poetry and history reads like a troubadour's song. I dare you to not lilt as you read it out loud. What I love best about this book, however, is the spotlight on the female pirates.
This book also introduced me to David Shannon's work. Powerful and beautiful only just begin to describe the illustrations in this book. Some of the pieces of artwork in this book are so stand-alone-gorgeous that I would frame them and hang them on my wall if they were available as prints.
Hallowe'en is quickly approaching and, trust me on this, not every girl wants to be a princess. Some would much rather be a pirate for a day. And if you plan to be a female pirate, you should be a Pirate Queen, like Anne Bonney or Mary Reade. I wish I knew about them when I was younger.
The Ballad of the Pirate Queens is a book that I picked up long before I ever planned to have a child or work as a children's librarian. It was just one of the books that are so stunning and so intriguing that I felt I had to have it for my own library. It was also my first encounter with Jane Yolen's writing. I have since become a huge fan of this amazingly prolific writer. Every book she writes, and she writes a staggering array, is pitch-perfect. The Ballad of the Pirate Queens with its mix of poetry and history reads like a troubadour's song. I dare you to not lilt as you read it out loud. What I love best about this book, however, is the spotlight on the female pirates.
This book also introduced me to David Shannon's work. Powerful and beautiful only just begin to describe the illustrations in this book. Some of the pieces of artwork in this book are so stand-alone-gorgeous that I would frame them and hang them on my wall if they were available as prints.
Stream of consciousness poem -- part V
October 13, 2011 -- At Hospital Reception
“What do you mean
He’s not here?
He was brought in
Yesterday.
I spoke to his doctor.
I know he’s here.”
But in what sense
“He was here”
I did not know
And I so feared
That we
Already were
Too late.
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Stream of consciousness poem, part IV
October 13, 2011 -- Fayetteville
In Fayetteville
Cars come at us
From all directions
Like derailed bumper cars
Our adrenaline spikes
And mixes with the
Too strong coffee
Pulling us
Awake
We drive past
The hospital once
Past the entrance once
Past the parking garage twice
Until we find a sign
Of sorts
And here
We turn
We stumble
From the car
And wonder
Where to go now
An older man
Stops his golf cart
And offers to take us
To the entrance
His kindness moves us
To tears
In the golf cart
We don't speak
And the kind older man
Doesn't speak
Until he drops us off
At the main entrance
And he calls out
"I hope everything
Turns out well
For you."
In Fayetteville
Cars come at us
From all directions
Like derailed bumper cars
Our adrenaline spikes
And mixes with the
Too strong coffee
Pulling us
Awake
We drive past
The hospital once
Past the entrance once
Past the parking garage twice
Until we find a sign
Of sorts
And here
We turn
We stumble
From the car
And wonder
Where to go now
An older man
Stops his golf cart
And offers to take us
To the entrance
His kindness moves us
To tears
In the golf cart
We don't speak
And the kind older man
Doesn't speak
Until he drops us off
At the main entrance
And he calls out
"I hope everything
Turns out well
For you."
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Book 128
Scarlett Angelina Wolverton-Manning, written by Jacqueline K. Ogburn, illustrated by Brian Ajhar, Dial Books for Young Readers 1994.
Scarlett Angelina Wolverton-Manning is a beautiful Halloween book, which is what attracted me to it in the first place. It is also a very funny book, in rather a twisted way, which is why I bought it. I won't give any details because I don't want to give away the story, but the ending is well worth the buildup. I will say that this a wonderfully well-written book, which is not surprising, because Jacqueline K. Ogburn was a children's book editor before she became an author.
As I said, this is a beautiful book, and yet the illustration still seem to be properly sinister -- a delectable combination. Every page is stand-alone wonderful. I'm not sure what other books Brian Ajhar has illustrated, but I would like to find out.
Scarlett Angelina Wolverton-Manning is a beautiful Halloween book, which is what attracted me to it in the first place. It is also a very funny book, in rather a twisted way, which is why I bought it. I won't give any details because I don't want to give away the story, but the ending is well worth the buildup. I will say that this a wonderfully well-written book, which is not surprising, because Jacqueline K. Ogburn was a children's book editor before she became an author.
As I said, this is a beautiful book, and yet the illustration still seem to be properly sinister -- a delectable combination. Every page is stand-alone wonderful. I'm not sure what other books Brian Ajhar has illustrated, but I would like to find out.
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