Fairy Tale Haiku -- 47

Misfortune  

A man survives fire,  

pack of wolves, raging river,  

but falls to a wall.  

Fairy Tale Haiku -- 46

The Pea Test  

A fairy tale called  

The Pea Test? -- Those Grimm boys!.  It’s  

Princess and THREE Peas.  

Fairy Tale Haiku -- 45

The Lion and the Frog  

Brother turned lion  

His girlfriend became a frog  

Sister saves them both  

Book 109

Book 109: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star and other bedtime lullabies

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star and Other Bedtime Lullabies, Grandreams Limited, 1989 

Two weeks ago I broke my left leg, and, yes, last May, I shattered my right. So, once again I am hobbling around the downstairs on crutches. And once again, my choice of books is pretty limited. In fact all the ones my son brought downstairs have been reviewed. This one was sitting by the computer so I could look up the tunes. Now that I have looked up a few a the tunes forTwinkle, Twinkle, Little Star and Other Bedtime Lullabies, I do like it better. I thought at three-and-a-half, my little boy might have outgrown lullabies, but at least once a day he climbs into my lap and wants me to sing to him. Awww. It is good to have a choice of songs. 

The reason I picked this book up in the first place was because of the illustrations. They have a bit of the Joan Walsh Anglund quality that I grew up with, and so, to my was comforting and familiar. I swear I had a pink robe just like the one a girl is wearing in one of the illustrations. Not only do I have a stash of new songs for my son, but also, I can share with him some of the features of my childhood.

Fairy Tale Haiku -- 44

Love Triangle  

Finn, Diarmait, Grainne    

Could just as well be King Marc,   

Tristan and Iseult

Fairy Tale Haiku -- 43

Two Finns and a Salmon   

Salmon of Knowledge:   

Seven years sought by elder,   

Caught by younger Finn  

Book 108

Dog Train, Words and Illustrations by Sandra Boynton, Workman Publishing Company 2005

Yet another of Sandra Boynton's brilliant book/CD combinations. Michael Ford wrote the music for this one, again; and, again, the music is brilliant. And the recording artists for this collaboration are phenomenal: Alison Krauss and Blues Traveler to just name two. So we have Sandra Boynton's silly illustrations and lyrics, great music and some stellar performers: What's not to like? 

This is my little boy's fourth Boynton book/CD. What is really wonderful them is that I keep a couple of the CDs in the car and when he starts to get fussy, I can just pop one into the player and he calms right down. Even better, the music is quite sophisticated -- even if the lyrics are ridiculous -- so I don't feel compelled to jump out of the car when I should in fact be driving. 

Everybody's happy!