I imagined my friend’s baby chewing on the corner of a board book–this friend once wrote, “She loves books. Especially the corners.”

I imagined scratch-and-sniff turned lick-and-taste.

Hey, you like what you like; I like what I like. Leave me alone.

Then I imagined this list:

My Reading Tastes

• Picture Books = peanut butter
• Middle Grade = strawberry rhubarb (yummy, sweet, beginning to get complex)
• Young Adult = sour lemon (I make the same face when I eat sour lemon and when I read teen angst.)
• Puzzle Books = Thanksgiving dinner (A complete meal, nutritious, delicious. They make you want to overindulge.)
• History = sharp cheese
• Literature = orange spice
• Romance = chocolate
• Mystery = bubblegum (Something to chew on, I guess.)
• Memoir = chai (Huh. Go figure.)
• Fantasy = mashed potatoes (They’re kind of all the same–a la LOTR–and, for me, most stories are clear soup compared to mashed potato fantasy. I cannot see my way through them. What can I say? I’m not a fantasy person.)
• Adventure = curry
• Horror = brussel sprouts (Just…ew.)
• Erotica = cinnamon

Now you’re all wondering how much erotica I read. Ha! Wouldn’t you like to know!

What I did not imagine: a good embroidery design.

Dive right in!

Your turn. Tell us your reading tastes in the comments. You can use fewer, more, or different categories.

If you prefer to write your reading tastes on your own blog, I hope you’ll link back here so I can come read them. Or e-mail me. My address is in the sidebar, you know.

That line, “Parents don’t frame pictures of their kid playing video games” struck me the way a great line, phrase, or passage in a book does.

It’s true.
It’s simple and fairly universal within this culture.
It’s obvious, though it’s not something I’ve ever stopped to notice or contemplate.
It implies much.

I suppose that’s good advertising, isn’t it?

Note: I mention the title of this book three times. Each time, I link to a different review of it. The last link is to NPR and includes an excerpt of the book.

I recently read Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture, by Ellen Ruppel Shell. It’s a book I continue to think about weeks after I’ve read it and even while I read other books, and it’s a book that alters my behavior. I don’t think I need to explain the significance of that.

Today, I read an article at Publishers Weekly on whether children’s publishers are destroying rainforests. This goes hand-in-hand with the Cheap book. Books have incredibly low profit margins, much lower than other products, and full-color children’s books are expensive to produce. There is a tug-o-war between keeping costs down and being environmentally responsible.

Now let’s jump to the business of embroidery. We’ve watched our local needlework shops close one after another these past several years, and it seems we hear about another designer calling it quits every day. At the same time, we are overwhelmed with free patterns and tutorials on the Internet and Discount! Discount! Sale! Sale! Sale!

In the end, it all comes down to one simple question: What do we value enough to pay for?

We are not powerless to change things. In fact, as consumers, we hold all the power. Let’s wield it well.

I highly recommend Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture. While the subject matter could be depressing and the tone preachy and accusatory, it’s not. It felt like an adventure of exploration and discovery. Ellen’s got a somewhat dry sense of humor, and she respects and understands her audience because she’s one of us. It’s her adventure, and she takes us along. She made me laugh, and she made me glad I read her book.

Here are two from Suzanne Berne’s A Perfect Arrangement.

“But I’ve always imagined having a big family. You know, a car full of kids. Big table at Thanksgiving. It’s just something I’ve always pictured.” Her voice trailed off.

In spite of himself, he nodded. A big family was what Mirella had always pictured, probably because she came from such a small one—father always traveling, the mother going with him, Mirella home with a housekeeper. Just for a moment he stepped into her picture himself and was surrounded by a fluster of voices right before dinner, children running up and down the stairs, dogs barking, a grandparent dozing in a rocking chair, while music played from different radios in different rooms, shoes scattered everywhere, and coats of all sizes fell off the coat tree.

I probably wouldn’t have picked this one out, but I know Shelly, and I can see why this would stand out and resonate for her. This is the life she dreamed of having, even back when I met her in seventh grade. No doubt she dreamed it before then, too. It is now the life she lives.

And from the same book:

It had always seemed to Mirella that her parents were completely mismatched, and yet she found herself wondering if her parents’ marriage had lasted—in fact prospered—because each had perceived the other as a mild lunatic, which allowed them to forgive all sorts of habits and tendencies that should have driven them both crazy.

Crack me up! Beautifully stated and oh-so-true. This is a line I might have singled out as well.

I know some couples like this. Do you? Are you part of a couple like this?

When you come across a line or passage in your reading that makes you stop and smile, think, nod in agreement, or shout out loud, please share it with us. My email address is in the sidebar, you know.

The Squirrel’s Birthday and Other Parties
Written by Toon Tellegen
Illustrated by Jessica Ahlberg
Translated by Martin Cleaver

“Be cheerful” proclaims a note posted on the squirrel’s wall. Our forgetful title character has scattered reminders in every nook and cranny of his cozy home. The delicate illustration shows us a wall covered in tiny, treasured notes with the squirrel (looking a bit perplexed) pondering their content. Beechnuts. A favorite food. The Ant. A call to visit his best friend. And most exciting of all: My Birthday. A special day. This out-of-the-way note spurs the action of the first story from this extraordinary collection of animal fantasy tales.

The squirrel immediately begins to write invitations to all his friends – every creature from the sky, land and sea. He is careful not to forget anyone, and then, a magical wind appears and swirls the letters around depositing them with the proper recipients. But his labors are not complete. Next, he makes the perfect cake for each of his guests (salt cakes for the sea creatures, a water cake for the dragonfly, a honey cake for the bear). The celebration is a success with thoughtful presents, a dancing parade and, naturally, overindulging in cake. Ahlberg’s exquisite drawings enhance the humor by presenting a post-feast sleepy bunny with an extremely full tummy.

Tellegen’s stories exude charm. They follow in the spirit of A.A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh, Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit, and Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows. I half expected Mole, Ratty, and impetuous Toad to appear at the birthday festivities! Each independent tale rambles along, focusing more on the journey than the destination. We discover adventure in the small moments of quiet wonder, reflection, and (of course) friendship.

I recommend the collection as a perfect shared bedtime read. It would serve as a nice bridge from picture books to longer chapter books. The whimsical storytelling structure appeals to readers (and listeners) of all ages. I particularly enjoyed Tellegen’s mirthful and uncommon language usage (as translated by Martin Cleaver), which included treats like gleaming, scrumptious and delicacy. Finally, Ahlberg’s beautiful watercolors create an illuminated storybook, which invites the viewer to look and re-look at all the delightful details.

Did I mention the squirrel and friends are utterly charming? Not that I am obsessed, but each day finds me cheerfully meandering off to my mailbox, and hoping – hoping – hoping…for a special birthday invitation.

Suzy Wilson has been a Bookseller and Children’s Book Buyer for a decade plus a few bonus years. She is a constant reader, resulting in numerous tripping-over-curb injuries.

Max’s Words
Written by Kate Banks
Illustrated by Boris Kulikov

Max wants to collect something just like his brothers do. (He’d also love it if they’d share a stamp and a coin with him from their collections, but they always say no.) But what to collect? Max decides on words, much to his brothers’ amusement and scorn. But as Max’s collection grows, it’s clear he’s onto something. He starts small (a, and) and with words close to his heart (baseball, hugs), but soon he’s perusing the dictionary for new words (iguana, slithered). And before long, his words are expressing thoughts, because, unlike stamps or coins, when words are arranged in different ways, they can express different ideas. Pretty soon a story emerges, and that grabs the attention of his skeptical brothers, and the magic of words is discovered.

That this book didn’t get wider recognition, that it won no awards or even mentions the year it came out (2006), is a crying shame. I can’t say enough about how marvelous Max’s Words is. Banks’ pitch-perfect story of discovering the magic of words and how they’re the building blocks of the expression of thoughts, ideas, creativity, making them tangible, as it were, is brought to vivid life through Kulikov’s marvelously expressive illustrations. Like the all-time great classic of words and the imagination, Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson, this is no less than creativity illustrated. Perfect for joyfully inspiring kids to put their own words together to express themselves and their ideas, and even to coax those hesitant creative souls to try putting a few words together.

Barb Weber has been a fan of children’s books all her life (she still has her copy of her favorite Golden Book, The Little Yellow Taxi, torn page and all, and it still chokes her up), and has been a children’s bookseller for over ten years. She likes nothing better than to share her enthusiasm and bring terrific books to people’s attention. And her sister-in-law, Jen, is finally making her do something about it for a wider audience.

It’s the week we’ve been stitching for: Children’s Book Week.

Official events are planned all over the country. Check with your local schools and libraries to see what they might have planned. And if, like me, you live far away from such celebrations, plan your own DIY celebration. I’m celebrating this week by designating an hour every day to just read. Not a before-bed hour, not a give-up-sleep-to-get-up-early hour, but a smack-dab-middle-of-the-day just-for-fun hour. Today, I spent that hour reading on the warm, sunny deck.

What are you doing to celebrate Children’s Book Week?

A home without books is like a body without soul. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero

Here is where people,
One frequently finds,
Lower their voices
And raise their minds.
~Richard Armour, “Library”

There is no substitute for books in the life of a child. ~ Mary Ellen Chase

My childhood library was small enough not to be intimidating. And yet I felt the whole world was contained in those two rooms. I could walk any aisle and smell wisdom. ~ U.S. Poet Laureate Rita Dove

When I got my library card, that’s when my life began. — Author Rita Mae Brown

This Weekend Book Quotes post is brought to us by Linda Covella. A writer for 25 years, Linda boasts a background in art, computers, business and restaurant reviewing. Covella holds degrees in Art, Mechanical Drafting, Manufacturing Management and a Certificate for Professional Technical Writing. She has been published in the Santa Cruz GoodTimes, Zootles and Learning Through History children’s magazines, and is represented by Betsy Amster Literary Enterprises.

Scranimals

Written by Jack Prelutsky
Illustrated by Peter Sis

As well as flowers enticing showers, April brings poetry. During National Poetry Month I have enjoyed a torrent of wonderful words, which included revisiting some of my favorite children’s poetry collections. At the top of that list would be Jack Prelutsky’s, “Scranimals”. Peter Sis crafts the extraordinary illustrations.

The action takes place on mythical Scranimal Island, where the book’s intrepid travelers discover inhabitants are a hodgepodge of mammal, vegetable, reptile, bird and flower. The Rhinocerose. The Potatoad. The Mangorilla. The Pandaffodil. And my favorite: the Radishark, described by Mr. Prelutsky in the following manner:

“In the middle of the ocean,
In the deep deep dark,
Dwells a monstrous apparition,
The detested RADISHARK.
It’s an underwater nightmare
That you hope you never meet,
For it eats what it wants,
And it always wants to eat.

Its appalling, bulbous body
Is astonishingly red,
And its fangs are sharp and gleaming
In its huge and horrid head,
And the only thought it harbors
In its small but frightful mind,
Is to catch you and to bite you
On your belly and behind. …”

The poems inspire imagination. Reader’s will be transported to a magical land and quickly be adding their own fanciful combo-creatures. Mr. Prelutsky’s hilarious (genius silliness) rhyme interspersed with exotic words (that sound wonderful when read aloud, i.e. bulbous) will generate tons of laughter. And what brilliant illustrations! Mr. Sis’s highly detailed, delicate illustrations closely resemble scientific journal drawings, which perfectly enhances the exploration spirit of the project.

A voyage to Scranimal Island will be a journey that adventurers and language lovers of all ages will enjoy.

Suzy Wilson has been a Bookseller and Children’s Book Buyer for a decade plus a few bonus years. She is a constant reader, resulting in numerous tripping-over-curb injuries.

You may have tangible wealth untold;
Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.
Richer than I you can never be -
I had a mother who read to me.
~Strickland Gillilan

Regarding a library: I love the place; the magnificent books; I require books as I require air. ~Sholem Asch

There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate’s loot on Treasure Island. ~ Walt Disney

Never judge a book by its movie. ~J.W. Eagan

The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more you learn, the more places you’ll go. ~ Dr. Seuss

This Weekend Book Quotes post is brought to us by Linda Covella. A writer for 25 years, Linda boasts a background in art, computers, business and restaurant reviewing. Covella holds degrees in Art, Mechanical Drafting, Manufacturing Management and a Certificate for Professional Technical Writing. She has been published in the Santa Cruz GoodTimes, Zootles and Learning Through History children’s magazines, and is represented by Betsy Amster Literary Enterprises.