Children's Books Take Five: A Hush Baby Comparison

When I first had Sofia, I had so much trouble thinking of anything to sing her. I was far enough away from my childhood or my baby-sitting days for any lullaby's to be front of mind. So when someone gifted us with a board book of Hush Little Baby I breathed a big sigh of relief and then said, "duh!"

And then I read the book a time or two, and realized how it models this parenting approach of materialism. The Papa spends the whole song trying to buy lots of presents to keep a baby from crying. Fresh out of my baby-registry craziness, I was feeling like that philosophy had already been sufficiently thrown in my face by all the baby stores of the world. And none of these supposedly fool proof sleep-toys did a thing to soothe my own baby. I kept thinking, "someone should really re-write the words to this song!"

Turns out, someone did! Nearly a decade before I had the thought. Way to go Sylvia Long! I saw this new version of Hush Little Baby in my mother-in-law's children's book collection [she's been preparing for grand-babies with great excitement for a while!]. These new lyrics portray such a sweet, patient, nature-inspired relationship between a mother and child. The illustrations are also beautiful, just as Sylvia's other books. I was so thrilled by this book that I stole it from my mother-in-law (with permission) and brought it home with us.

 

And yet, as much as I prefer the message of the above Hush Baby, the illustrations of the original board book we had seem to be far and away Sofia's preference. The illustrations do feel clever, I must admit. And in fact, I appreciate that in these illustrations, it is not just one mama comforting the child. The baby looks to be much more of a terror than the "blue hush baby," as Sofia calls it. This baby is really screaming his head off. But his WHOLE family, big sister included, is there working to the brink of utter exhaustion to help calm and comfort him. The story told through those pictures, of all that family does for that baby, make the last line "you'll still be the sweetest baby in town" so much more sweet. They communicate, "no matter how crazy you make me, I will still love you." The pictures almost overwhelm the materialistic message of the song. Good work, Marla Frazee!

So, torn between good aspects of each, we hardly ever read one without also reading the other. 

P.S. The other Sylvia Long book we own and enjoy is Ten Little Rabbits, a sweet counting rhyme with beautiful Native American style.

Children's Books Take Four: Madlenka

Madlenka ~ Peter Sis

Madlenka's tooth is loose, and she has to tell everyone. She runs around her city block in New York to share the exciting news. Through her journey, she encounters friends from several countries, and in the end, announces to her parents that she's been around the world, and she lost her tooth. It is a sweet story of our globally integrated society and the diverse nation we live in. And I personally feel that the illustrations are what really make this book so magical. The graphic layout that illustrates her run "around" the world and the fantastical pictures that show her exploring each friend's unique universe really enhance the beauty of the story.

Right this minute, I really love books that provide natural teaching opportunities that jump off the page. The more we read this book to Sofia, the more she wanted to read it. And the more that she read it, the more fun she had talking about how "Mommy went around the world" or "Sofia went around the world." We read in a library that's on one corner of a bit of a circle around our stairway, so as she kept laughing over this one phrase, I realized, we could really go "around the world!" So I quickly scratched out some little signs with the names of each continent and posted them up in the different spaces around our stairway. I grabbed Sofia's hand and announced, "This is Africa," ran to the next spot, "Now we're in Europe, let's fly to Asia" and so forth. When I came full circle, I could announce, "Sofia! We ran around the world! Just like Madlenka!" and her mind pretty much exploded with happiness. We run alot of laps now, which is great as we've been having alot of rainy days lately and need a way to get energy out indoors. It's not that I think a child under two needs to know her continents, but it has been a really fun way to act out a story she loves and get physical with our imaginations. And it is pretty cute hearing her try to say "Antarctica." Thank you, Madlenka, and Peter Sis, for inviting us into this beautiful adventure!

Sabbath Sunday: Children's Books Take Two: Perfect Square

Perfect Square ~ Michael Hall

Why am I bothering to recommend a children's book on a Sunday, you ask? Because I believe this book is a beautiful illustration of Sabbath. Much along the lines of another great new children's book, Beautiful Oops! by Barney Saltzberg, perfect square shows that sometimes mistakes or injuries can be transformed into something beautiful. It's a valuable lesson to learn in art, and it is a beautiful lesson to learn in life.

Hall's book is simple and creative with a story of a square whose sides become less than perfect day after day. But what makes it a great Sabbath book, is that after restoring imperfection to beauty Monday through Saturday, on Sunday, nothing bad happens to the squares perfect sides. He comes to feel even bored by the lack of activity or challenge. But he realizes that he can sit back, and become a window, through which to view the beauty that he's created the rest of the days of the week.

I think of how God sat back, on that first Sabbath day, surveying the work of His week, and He said, "It is good." It was so good, it took Him as long to take in the joy of it, as it did for Him to create each thing. Isn't that a beautiful thought? I have no idea what Hall's intentions were, but I enjoy and recommend reading this book on a Sunday, and use it as a prompt to look back, and see what good God has been up to, transforming you this week! (and feel free to share in the comments!)

Children's Books Take One: Clorinda the Cow

Sofia is finally entering into the world of picture books, by which I mean she does not instantly consume everything we read with her teeth. We are going a bit hog-wild at the library and spending hours at home tearing through books, some of them over and over, now that I can trust that we can return them safely in one piece.

Before I was a mom, I had this idea that children's books were all golden classics that would give me warm fuzzy feelings and beautiful ideas to ponder. Turns out that's not the case. There is a shocking amount of stupid stuff out there. And frankly, there is a surprising amount of material I really do not want Sofia to be exposed to. It's just plain bad. But when you're confronted with a large room filled with shelves, it's a bit overwhelming to sort through it all.

I find myself comparing notes with other moms about good books to keep an eye out for, so I figure, why not share them here, where perhaps more people can benefit. I'll post some suggestions as they come. If you have some tips to share, please do comment! Small note: if you click on the images of the books, it'll link you to Amazon. If you purchase these books from there, Amazon will send Emily and I a little cut. Thanks in advance ;)

I don't want to rail on all the bad books or become a censorship police. My hope is to steer you towards books that are edifying so you don't have to waste your time, or your child's attention span on things that are not.

Without further ado, here is one of my new, two-claws-up, favorites:

Clorinda Takes Flight ~Robert Kinerk, illustrated by Steven Kellogg

I have loved Steven Kellogg's illustrations since I was a kid, The Mysterious Tadpole remains one of my favorite children's books.












He continues to do a fantastic job illustrating the Clorinda books. Very colorful and imaginative, with creative little details hiding here and there.

In this and the other Clorinda book we've read, Robert Kinerk writes thoroughly uplifting poems whose lines are fun to read. (I am looking forward to reading Clorinda Plays Ball, because it's more Clorinda, but I'm not huge on baseball, so I'm a bit nervous.) 


Clorinda has big dreams. Being a cow, she also has big limitations. But she pursues her dreams, she turns to her friends for help. Even when she faces failure, she acknowledges what she can and can't do, adjusts her dreams, and finds beautiful ways to be happy and share her happiness. I love Clorinda and her pal Len! You can just sense that these stories were written from a place of great love. It's hard not to love them in return. 

Well there you go, four tips on one. I hope you find this little series helpful. Happy reading, Lobsters!

books, books, books

Lobsters, how do you keep up with our blog? Do you visit the website? Do you wait for us to post on facebook? Are you an email subscriber [see the right hand side of our home page, scroll down a bit, "Follow us by email"]? Blogger follower? Or do you follow through Google Reader?


I follow my blogs using Google Reader. It's a great way to have all the posts I want to read gathered into one place in a way that shows me only the posts I haven't read yet. So efficient, I love it. Thing is, I apparently follow a ton of prolific writers, because I am well over 200 posts behind in my blog reading. Yikes! That might also have something to do with the fact that I've been pretty sucked into some interesting reading lately. In case you're looking for your next good read, here's a quick recap of the past handful of books I've read this winter (some of which I've already mentioned in previous posts).


One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. Getting lots of good attention lately. I started by following her blog and had to read her book. She is a very poetic writer who digs in deep both into her own story and experience as well as a rich history of theologians who have wrestled with her questions around the problem of pain. Reading this was good for my soul.






Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer. Ugh. This book is graphic and dark and in my opinion, manipulatively written to attempt to use narcissistic murders as a case against all religion. Unfortunately, it was a total page turner. Reading this book was not good for my soul, but it was rather informative (though heavily biased) regarding the history of Mormonism.




 A Walk Through the Bible by Leslie Newbigin. I needed to cleanse my pallet after the above. For all my years in Sunday School, it was really helpful to get one clear overview of the whole story told throughout the bible. This is such a quick read, and so helpful. If you have ever felt curious about Christian scriptures, this is a useful tool!







Surprised by Hope by N. T. Wright. This is its own kind of page turner. His writing style isn't poetic or even what I would call "beautiful," but simply put, the content has changed my life in a big way. Too big to recap here, so just keep an eye out for a slew of blog posts with the label "surprised by hope" to follow all the thoughts this book has been spurring in me. 





Meals with Jesus by Tim Chester. I was so excited by the premise of this books: food + Jesus. Unfortunately, I was a bit disappointed in the end. He tries so hard to get a broadly comprehensive collection of all the meals remotely related to Jesus, that he doesn't end up getting as deep and clear into the material as I was hoping. That said, I retrospectively realized that after reading it, I accidentally arranged to host 5 meals in 14 days for a total of almost 40 people, so apparently it spurred me to action [or lunacy?], which is a valuable accomplishment for any book, getting people to actually change their behavior. 



Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. I know this book is so last-last-season, but I finally got around to it. Better late than never. Gladwell is a great story-teller and this was great fuel for my research synopsis addiction. I love his project of shifting us from thinking of "self made men" to understanding the power of the community that surrounds any greatness. I was also pleasantly surprised by how personal he made this collection in the end. I wasn't totally satisfied with his discussion around "concerted cultivation" as I don't believe parenting truly comes down to so simple a dichotomy. But, it has me looking around my own life to wonder what project I'd want to invest 10,000 hours of my time into (assuming I ever had 10,000 hours to spare - does mothering a child count? Can that be my expertise?), or what history is leading up to and ready for that I might have to offer. 


What have you been reading this winter, Lobsters? Any recommendations? Any thoughts on these books above? 

Dear Emily,

Dear Emily,

Why thank you for your blog-letter! I loved hearing all about your life. There is so much that falls between the cracks, even as much as we try to stay in touch. It is a relief to know some of these delightful tidbits can be salvaged.

Do you ever just wonder what is going through Eiley’s mind as you read to and play with her? What do you sing with her? Does she have a favorite song? Sofia has always been a surprising fan of the ABC’s, and Manny has a magical ability to put her asleep with “Hush Little Baby.” I hear the later so often that I meditate on its meaning and implications way too much.  I’ll probably have to write a blog post about it some day.

Sofia is saying “Mama” a lot lately and it is the highlight of my life.

Instead of plants and flamingos, you should just focus on what you already do so well and build your gnome collection. Did you ever see that Gnomeo and Juliet movie?

I remember random things and use those memories to develop an odd list of life-goals/dreams. One of them is for you to have a white picket fence some day. I’m sure I probably made awkward threats to Jeff while y’all were engaged that involved him promising to make this happen for you. I’m glad you are getting closer, who knows, I could die at any moment, what with the wild meese and falling snow and fire-red clawed creatures roaming all about around here.

I am very sorry that Jennifer Johnson didn’t do it for you. I also judge books by their covers. This often means I purchase pretty ones, but I apparently do not have such luck as you, and so there are a lot of pretty books on my shelves, but a whole different collection of books I have actually enjoyed. What is going to happen to cover design in a world of iTunes and eReaders?!?! Tragic.

I am in a book club for the first time in my life. I hated the first two books we read, but rather enjoyed the most recent one we discussed. It was called The Imperfectionists. It was about a newspaper in Rome or more thematically, about the evolution of journalism over the past several decades. My family never subscribed the paper when I was growing up, so I find journalism and newsprint to be an exotic art form, not in the least bit discouraged by Dave Eggers The Panoramic. Are you familiar with that? I texted you the night I heard him speak about it at Berkeley, fascinating. But I’m getting carried away on this topic so I should move on.

Please do away with your shame because I LOVED Drop Dead Diva. I believe I may have recommended it to you several months ago? Lol. I also recently discovered a male version of the show with the love interest from the movie version of Mansfield park. It is called “Eli Stone” and it is available on Netflix Watch Instant.  It has the dad from Alias doing lots of song and dance numbers. Eat your heart out.

I can only imagine how amazing Jenna is with Eiley. Y’all are so blessed to have each other and get to be close by. Jenna is just an amazing human being! I am so anxious for Thanksgiving because that means my sister is coming to visit. I keep getting so excited at the thought of her seeing Sofia for the first time since July, because I feel like EVERYTHING has changed for Sofia since then. Lauren is not going to recognize her.

I have indeed played Bananagrams and when I did I thought, “Emily would love this!” I, as you know, am a horrendous speller, therefore I am not a huge fan but enjoy playing it for the sake of the people I play with.

Bah! No diaper bag?!? Disasterous! I kind of hate my diaper bag and wouldn’t mind an opportunity to change things up, but would totally freak if I lost all its contents. I hope you didn’t lose anything too valuable.

Um, wow. Christian swingers party?!?! You and your parties, amazing. This should be an ongoing series on our blog because you are part of the most creative parties I ever hear of. Also, you as Olive Oyl iis just so perfect. I love it! And the fact that you can pull that off so soon post-pregnancy deserves a big kudos, way to go!

I haven’t been to any parties that come close to that one lately. But we did participate in this town Halloween parade. It was so awesome. It took me back to my own childhood when we would decorate our bikes for Fourth of July and have a city-wide parade around the entire city. [the “city” I lived in was about eight blocks deep and one block wide] Here, all the kids in town [and several more brave parents] dressed up, gathered in the town green, and followed the high school marching band a few blocks around to the Rec center. We saw most people we know in town and I got to meet the dads of all these mommy/baby pairs I’m getting to know. So much cute stimulation. It wore us all out, but it was great fun!

I was checking out Sandy Kay Salsbury’s blog [http://viewfromtheroadsofar.blogspot.com/] and am playing around with the idea of doing the Nanowrimo [http://www.nanowrimo.org/]. Didn’t you do that a few years back? I should probably be more committed from day one, but we’ll see. Anyways – thanks for giving me lots to write about with your lovely post!

Talk to you soon! Lahve!

Playing the Justice Card

Crowds occupy Wall Street crying out for justice. I am excited for this energy, accountability, and cooperation. I think the groups that keep joining the effort are wise to combine their energies instead of competing against one another to have their lone voice heard above the competition. And who can argue against justice? I heard a journalist say yesterday that the "99%" are actually the "100%" because even the investment bankers and corporate tycoons sympathize with this cause. 


Right now, Justice is a big buzz word, and it is also a powerful trump card. The ace of spades, if you will. And yet, I recently came the understand through some reading, that playing that ace is trickier than it seems. I think these groups may experience more trouble than they anticipate in spelling out just what they mean by "justice." I recently finished two books that speak to this theme in interesting ways. 

 

First off, Generous Justice by Tim Keller. Keller gets quite a bit of praise, bordering on idolatry, in certain circles. So I  avoided reading him for as long as I could. Thing is, he is good and really worth reading. The other thing is, he doesn't necessarily have all that many original ideas, but he is great at synthesizing key philosophers/thinkers/theologians/etc. Therefore, for a good, current day relevant synthesis on how to be challenged to consider why justice matters, and how to start figuring out what justice actually is, you really should check this out. 


I considered myself someone who had the right ideas and right behavior with regards to justice before reading it, and was both encouraged and challenged to consider things more carefully and figure out how to act more consistently. In case you don't have a chance to read it yourself [it's a nice quick read, so stop making excuses ;) ], one key point he makes that I think is particularly relevant to Occupy Wall Street, is that the roots of our ideas of what justice is are necessarily moral [and therefore religious in at least some sense]. We can not throw around the term "justice" like a sledge hammer or an ace card that lets us win any argument. Justice means differing and often conflicting things to different people. And in a secular society that outlaws public discourse on religious ideas, we can not have a real, resolvable conversation about justice until we start admitting our moral/religious beliefs. I should stop trying to say what he has already spelled out more clearly, so just go read it.


The second book is slightly less direct than Kellers, but I was surprised by how relevant I found it to be. It presents some challenging questions about justice, morality, and integrity in the form of a story. Have you read Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beacher Stowe? It is a classic I had obviously heard of, and pretended to know about more than once, but I had never read it and I've never heard of it being part of any standard curriculums. But when I found out that Harriet moved to the town I live in because her husband was a professor at the college where my husband is now a professor, I felt an affinity with her and wanted to know more about her and her work. 

Wow. While it may have taken me a little while to get into, it really caught me up once I did. Turns out, it is a collection of real stories Stowe had either witnessed or heard about slaves, slave owners, and northerners who refused to dirty their hands with slave ownership on moral grounds. And while it may not really make for a terribly cohesive overall narrative, the stories are compelling and engaging, and at times tear provoking. While the character development pulls your heart in, these people who come to life before you hold these fascinating conversations. 


It doesn't seem like we need to read a book today to convince us that American plantation slavery is bad (though I realize that modern day slavery is a serious and pervasive problem), but Stowe gets into these subtle particularities of humans engaging with this old problem. She does this in such a way as to challenge my morality today, making me realize that while slavery isn't a moral issue I feel any ambiguity about (perhaps thanks to her - Lincoln credited her as the "the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war."), I have some important questions to consider about what justice really is and how I am living that out. For any christians reading this post, you might be interested to realize how Christ centered the book is. She has some challenging points regarding foreign missions. She also points out that moral issues can not be so simply resolved by deferring to the opinion of your local church, or by playing a trump card like, "the bible says . . . " as there can really be so much division even underneath these seemingly authoritative claims. [watching the God in America documentary series while I read this really enhanced both experiences by the way!] Also, the incredible love for scripture that is woven throughout the book is really beautifully displayed. 


If you have to pick only one of these books, I might actually steer you towards Uncle Tom's Cabin. I think it will get into your heart in a way that might hopefully spur you towards positive change (if you are willing to use some imagination to consider how to apply old points to modern day) in a way that Keller's smart, rational, well articulated arguments won't necessarily do the trick. Also, classics like that are easy to find for free or for cheap, so that's cool. But both are certainly worthwhile if you have the bandwidth. 


Have you read either of these books, Lobsters? What have you thought?

What should I read next?

What are your greatest fears? Public speaking? Showing up in public naked on accident? Death? 


You know what I'm really afraid of? Being stuck somewhere without paper and pen to write with and a book to read. Seriously. My husband always makes fun of me for how I pack. Even if we're just going somewhere overnight, I have to pack multiple books - so I have a book I'm actually in the mood to read. Sometimes you want a beautiful thought provoker, sometimes you want some silly brainless fun, but then there's always the random wild card. 


Maybe you can understand that having to put all my books away into boxes in preparation for our move, I'm feelin' pretty anxious. Granted I've got enough pages on my current book to last me probably until and through the move - just the thought that I could finish and not have enough books available makes me start to grind my teeth.


I used to be a compulsive book buyer. I currently have multiple boxes of books in three different cities. That's after several sessions of trying to go through them and take as many as possible to used book stores. 


[sidebar: One of my favorite literary passages is in Italo Calvino's If On a Winter's Night a Traveler, where the author walks you through a book store, not categorized by genres, but organized instead according to your experiences with books - probably inspired High Fidelity's autobiographical organization of albums. I can't do it justice, you should check it out for yourself.] 


Recognizing that I had a problem, I made a rule for myself a while ago that I had to read three books before I was allowed to buy another one, and that helped me curb the habit. I hardly ever buy books anymore, but that means that when I do, they really better be worth it. 


If you can remotely identify with me on any of this, you can perhaps share my excitement when I read Joanna Goddard's tip on this website that helps you figure out what to read next. It's like getting lost in a rabbit trail of movie trailers, checking out potential books to dive into. This is doing wonders to calm some of my weird anxieties. 


But here's the thing, I can't just trust a website, I need some testimonials to help me out. So while I'm dreaming about the day when I'll let myself buy my next book, you can help me make a good choice by giving me some input. 


Some recent books I've read and enjoyed lead to some potential suggestions:



1) Divisadero by Michael Ondaatje. One of my favorite authors, Ondaatje's background as a poet clearly comes through in his prose. He's from Sri Lanka, where I studied abroad, and a good portion of the book takes place in the Bay Area, my most recent home. He pays beautiful homage to place while spinning riveting character development throughout an unconventional plot structure. 


Out of the recommended list, Saturday by Ian McEwan interests me. I enjoyed Atonement [thanks for lending that to me Emily!]. Is this one worth checking out?




2) Bossypants by Tina Fey. For my thoughts on that, see our conversational review post if you missed it. 


mmm . . . weird list of rec's. Possible website fail. Looking for hysterically funny here people. Not sure how Jane Eyre makes that list - good - but not quite what I'm going for with this one. Maybe Goodnight Nobody by Jennifer Weiner? 








3) The Philosophical Baby by Alison Gopnik. It's full of research from all sorts of fields from Psychology to Computer Science, and it's woven together by great philosophical questions, and it's about babies. This woman foresaw my pregnant-waddle-entry into that Pegasus bookstore the day I found that book and wrote it just for me. I wasn't 100% satisfied, but I was quite stimulated and entertained. 


This one only yields a singular recommendation: Richard Wiseman's 59 Seconds. In reading about it I feel both intrigued and skeptical. Any input?

Hmmm . . . looks like I really need some back up. Have any Lobsters out there read these books? Got any thoughts? Should I check them out or stay away? Anyone else have fun with this "What to read next" website, or found it useful? 

My Dream Job

My dream job is to be a regular on Saturday Night Live. I don't plan on doing anything about that. Stand up and improv - skills that are required to wiggle your way onto the show - terrify me, and I couldn't do a recognizable celebrity impersonation if my life depended on it. I still think I'd be pretty great at scripted sketches though. Maybe. Who knows.


Anyway, my only slightly more attainable dream job is to write novels for preteens. I see the books in the Young Adult section at Barnes and Noble, and I seriously feel ill. They all seem to have sex, drugs, and rampant cursing. And when they don't have those things, they are just poorly written. The majority also have vampires, but I am not totally opposed to vampires - they just tend to fall into the two prior categories of smuttitude or sad examples of "literature." My dream is to write good, moral Young Adult Fiction.


So now you're either thinking "Why not just do it?" or "Screw you, Twilight is awesome." 


To the first group of people, I'll tell you why. I struggle with plot and ending. I can build fairly strong characters, but then I don't know what they should do. I have come up with several stories, but I don't know how any of them end. I know the best remedy for this is to sit down and write, write, write and see what comes out of my fingers, but I don't know how to find the energy to do that. I love to write when I know what I'm writing. But writing nothingness to get to somethingness is exhausting. Does anyone relate to this? I also wonder if it's even possible to entertain today's young adults with anything other than sex, drugs, cursing, and poorly written vampires. I hope it's possible - I just don't know. They don't even sell Babysitter's Club in stores anymore. And apparently the twins from Sweet Valley High are all grown up, and they're kind of hussies. Not cool.


To the second group of people, I read all four Twilight books. While reading, I constantly cringed at the cliches and the multitude of ways she described Edward's hotness and the amount of times Bella was sullen and melancholy. And yet I could not put the stupid books down. However, just because it was addictive does not mean it was well-written.


I've also dreamed of owning a small business - a book store or art shop or a candy store. Anyone want to finance me?


What's your dream job, Lobsters?