Thursday, February 12, 2009

mini book babble

Max and I definitely enjoyed our latest cat reads for the Young Readers Challenge. Frankly, it's quite a treat for me to watch Max delight in these simple stories. We read chapter books together, and even on his own, he reads books at a much higher difficulty level than these simple picture books, but there is something so completely comforting, for both of us I believe, in sitting down and sharing these little treasures. I know I will certainly miss the day when he finally says, "Mom, these books are for babies." My fingers are crossed that that day is still a long way off.

Kitten's First Full Moon, written and illustrated by Kevin Henkes. Sweet little story about a kitten who sees her first full moon and mistakes it for a big bowl of milk. She tries one thing after another in an effort to reach that "bowl of milk" but of course, she fails. She eventually returns home to find a real bowl of milk waiting for her on the porch. The story is sweet, as is the artwork. In fact, this book won the 2005 Caldecott Medal.


Cat and Fish, written by Joan Grant and illustrated by Neil Curtis. Simple, amusing story of a cat and fish who meet and become friends, doing "normal" friend things and learning about the worlds they each live in. While the above book won the Caldecott Medal, I have to admit that it was the artwork in this book that really blew me away! I searched for other images to share, but unfortunately couldn't find any. Each layout contained a full-page bold, beautiful drawing, like the one seen on the cover. They are quite reminiscent of engravings. I can't count how many times I've picked up this book to look through the drawings. In fact, I think I'm going to try to find a copy of this book, just so I can frame a few of the drawings to hang in our bathroom. (Please don't hurt me for talking about cutting up a book, okay?)

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I won't hurt you! I once found (in an antique store) some flower illustrations that were obviously taken from an old book. I cringed thinking that a possibly rare old botany book may have destroyed, but I bought them, framed them and appreciate them often.

Literary Feline said...

This sounds like such a cute book!

Ana S. said...

lol! I won't hurt you either. In fact, there are books that make me want to do the same. Both of these sound completely adorable!

And you know, even if Max says "these books are for babies" some day, I bet that eventually he'll unsay it. After all, here we are now, still nuts about picture books :P

Melody said...

Both sounds good! Will keep a look out for them if I want to get some books for my daughter. :)

Eva said...

These both sound so cute! I've cut up art books for decoration before. ;) The bargain section of B&N is great for cheap dorm decorating!!

chrisa511 said...

I want both of these immediately!! Don't feel bad about wanting to cut out pictures :p I've been wanting to do the same thing with a certain book, but I just haven't been able to work up the nerve yet, lol. That book looks like it would have perfect drawings for a bathroom though!

Anonymous said...

those are so cute! i love them. charlotte (my wife) would REALLY love them! :D

Anonymous said...

Hmmm. SO ,I wonder why Kitten's First Full Moon was recommended to me as a "Pagan-y" book. Do you get that feel from it at all?

You should see my studio. I have mountains of books that are meant to be torn apart and used for somethign other than reading :P

Debi said...

Jupiter,
I have NO idea. I actually had your comment in mind when we read the book. I just figured I didn't know enough about paganism to know what they were referring to. But what I wrote there really does sum up what the whole book was about. I'd be really curious to hear your thoughts about it if you find the book.

valentina said...

oh wow I love the cover of the Cat and the Fish. I *have* to get it!