10 Little Rubber Ducks

Dear Readers,

Life has gotten in the way of this blog lately. It's been four months since I posted last. I've never been away from this blog for that long! Emmy and I have continued to read wonderful books and I have a nice pile of books on my desk which I've been meaning to write about and share. SIGH! I have added two jobs (playgroup instructor and curriculum writer at Play Makers Family Enrichment Center and substitute teacher/floater at my daughter's school) to my life which has taken away a lot of my time to blog.

I hope to carve out some time for blogging each week. I really enjoy sharing the books we read and writing about them. Emmy and I have gone to three book signings in the past couple of months and we are both excited to share these experiences with you.

Forgive me for my absence from the blogging world! I hope you will continue to read Emmy's Book of the Day and share it with your friends!

All my best,

Amy

Now onto the post:

Emmy and I recently received a wonderful gift from my best friend and Emmy's "fairy" godmother. The gift was presented in a book bag from Strand Book Store in New York City where my friend recently visited at my suggestion. Emmy and I were both delighted at what we found inside the book bag!

For Emmy, the book 10 Little Rubber Ducks

written and illustrated by Eric Carle.

Emmy's favorite illustration is of the rubber duck with the whale.

Eric Carle continues to amaze us with his unique illustrations!

Thanks to this book's focus on ordinal numbers,

Emmy can be found lining things up and counting them

first, second, third, fourth, etc.

For me, the book Moby-Duck written by Donovan Hohn.

Hohn tells the true story of what happened to a large number of rubber ducks when they mysteriously start showing up on several beaches. Eric Carle's book is based on this incident.

Emmy loves "reading" my grown up books.

She enjoys marking her place with a bookmark.

Here she is reading Moby Duck.

For more about the book Moby Duck, check out this book trailer:

And for both of us...rubber ducks!

This was just the perfect gift for the two of us! Themed gifts are such a wonderful idea. It's a way to showcase your own personality and that of the intended recipient or in our case recipients.

Here are a few of our gift ideas using a book theme:

The Art Series Books along with colored pencils and a sketch pad all tucked inside a zippered portfolio type of bag (add a beautiful coffee table book by a favorite artist for the adult).

Tuck the book Bridget's Beret into a basket with a beret, sidewalk chalk or watercolor paints and paper (add a beret for the grown up and a travel book about France or a loaf of french bread and a bottle of Beaujolais).

Ballerina Books tucked inside a cloth bag with ballet slippers and a tutu (for the adult, add a framed print of one of Degas' works such as Dancer With a Bouquet of Flowers and a CD of music from a favorite ballet such as Swan Lake).

Beach Books tucked inside a pail with a shovel and a beach towel - if it's too chilly to visit the beach, add a small bag of sand and some seashells for some fun indoor play (add a pair of silver starfish earrings or a pretty seashell necklace for the adult).

Tuck a few Night-Night Books inside a pillowcase with a stuffed animal and a nightlight (for the grown up, lavender hand/foot lotion with a pair of comfy socks).

Put this Gardening Book or one of these Gardening Books in a gardening tool bag with kid sized gardening gloves and tools as well as a couple packets of seeds or bulbs - if the weather is not suitable for gardening, pack the book into a pot with soil and seeds for planting indoors (add a potted plant or a few grown up tools as well as a flower or vegetable planting guide).

For someone who lives far away, place this book about sending a letter into a large mailing envelope with paper, envelopes, stamps and colored pens (include a box of blank cards and a nice pen for the adult).

I hope these ideas spark some wonderful book themed gifts for the upcoming holidays!

Pancakes, Pancakes!

As mentioned in my last post, Emmy LOVES pancakes for breakfast, lunch or dinner. This photograph shows the particular way that Emmy wants her pancake to be served - cut into triangles with 100% maple syrup on the side for dipping.

With our recent move, I have been finding the most amazing books that I had completely forgotten about. Pancakes, Pancakes! by Eric Carle is one of those books. With bright collage illustrations, the story allows the reader to tag along with Jack as he gathers all of the things that his mother will need to make his requested breakfast of pancakes: flour, an egg, milk, and butter. What delights Emmy and me about this story is that it shows the process by which the flour, egg, milk and butter must be obtained. Jack must go to the wheat field and cut the wheat then take it to the miller where he has to thresh the wheat to separate the grain from the chaff and then grind the grain into flour. Jack must go to the hen house to gather the egg and find the cow in order to milk her. The cream from the milk needs to be churned to make it into butter.

This process is a bit foreign to this family of boxed mixes so being able to show Emmy where each ingredient of her pancake batter came from is intriguing to all of us. It's also great to see the old fashioned tools and supplies that are used. And the best surprise of all is a photograph of Eric Carle on the inside of the back cover wearing a chef's outfit. Apparently, Mr. Carle's secret wish (if not writing and illustrating books for children) is to be an executive chef at a large, renowned hotel kitchen. He admits to not being a great cook, but can prepare a few dishes when called upon like his delicious pancakes that his mother showed him how to make when he was a boy. The recipe is included with a few tips to make the pancakes the best ever. Emmy loves to help in the kitchen and always mixes the pancake batter herself. She will be delighted to try this recipe by one of her favorite authors and illustrators. Bon appetit!

The Moon

Emmy is fascinated by the moon. She loves to look up into the night sky and find out what phase it is in or in her words "What shape is the moon today?" She laughs and laughs when the moon can be seen in the morning. "Mommy, the moon is supposed to be sleeping right now. Silly moon. Time for night-night!"

One of our favorite books about the moon is Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me by Eric Carle. It is an absolutely delightful story about a little girl and her daddy. I am always drawn to a father/daughter book as there aren't many of them out there. As a long time follower of Eric Carle's work, I am always very excited to share his books with Emmy. With fold out pages and a pop out moon, Emmy just loves reading "Papa get the moon." Using tissue paper to create collages which are then glued to paper board, Eric Carle's illustrations seem to jump off the pages. Having tissue paper in your child's art area at home is a must. Given many oppotunities to cut and paste, your child will soon be creating wonderful creatures that he or she can write about just like Eric Carle. If you haven't included Eric Carle books in your child's book collection, please do so as they will be treasured for years and years to come. For more information on Eric Carle and his books check out his official website and if picture book art is something you'd like to see more of, plan a trip to The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Massachusetts. Click here to find out more.

Another wonderful book about the moon is I Took the Moon for a Walk by Carolyn Curtis with illustrations by Allison Jay. With poetic charm, Curtis allows the reader to step into a boy's imaginative outing with the moon. "I took the Moon for a walk last night/It followed behind like a still summer kite,/Though there wasn't a string or a tail in sight/when I took the Moon for a walk."

Allison Jay is an artist who truly understands the fun that can be had in a book for children. Jay's trademark oil paintings with their crackled finish reveal charming details not mentioned in the verse. For instance, the illustration for "I warned the Moon to rise a bit higher/ so it wouldn't get hooked on a church's tall spire." shows the moon losing one of its red slippers, when it bumps into the church's steeple, which the boy recovers in the next spread. Each verse ends dependably with the same eight words "When I took the moon for a walk." Adding to the appeal of this book are the notes at the end of the story containing facts about the moon's phases as well as nocturnal animals. Children truly are fanciful and imaginative beings and it is important to honor that, but just as important is to honor their 'here and now' personality by immersing them in what they can see, hear, smell, taste and feel in the world around them. When choosing books for your child, be sure to include pieces of non-fiction that display what your child can find in his or her own backyard.

An additional plug for Allison Jay! ABC: A Child's First Alphabet Book and Picture This are two of Emmy's earliest books and are still favorites today. I just love the way Jay's illustrations tell a complete story. Each time we reread these books, we discover something new and exciting to talk about. Another one of Jay's books, If Kisses Were Colors, I bought awhile ago and need to take off of the shelf and share with Emmy. I also keep meaning to add 1,2,3: A Child's First Counting Book to Emmy's collection. If I haven't mentioned before, I am a collector of children's books and love to collect many books by a single author or illustrator and Allison Jay is a definite must for me!

Cookie's Week

Emmy is very interested in the days of the week. She keeps track of the weekdays by noting what special activity will be happening at school (Mondays - gymnastics, Wednesdays - yoga, Fridays - sing-song, etc.) and she knows weekends because Mommy sleepily enters her bedroom still dressed in pajamas with thoughts of coffee floating in her head.

Cookie's Week is a wonderful book to help reinforce the concept of the days of the week. Emmy is delighted by the cat's antics in the story especially when Cookie falls into the toilet. "Silly cat!" she exclaims each time we read that page. Tomie dePaola's watercolor illustrations compliment Cindy Ward's simple text wonderfully. The book leaves you wondering if Cookie really will rest on Sunday?


Another terrific (and very silly) book about the days of the week is Eric Carle's version of the traditional song Today is Monday. Emmy's favorite page is Wednesday when soup (Zoooooop) is on the menu. Here is a great video of a class of children singing the song with motions. Emmy and I will have so much fun performing this song.



It's always fun to include music in the daily routine. Emmy and I are often singing at the top of our lungs in the car. Here are two songs to help with learning the days of the week.

Days of the Week (to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star")
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday too.
Wednesday, Thursday just for you.
Friday, Saturday that's the end .
Now let's say those days again!
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday!

---

Days of the Week (to the tune of "The Adams Family")
Days of the week, (snap snap)
Days of the week, (snap snap)
Days of the week,
Days of the week,
Days of the week. (snap snap)

There's Sunday and there's Monday,
There's Tuesday and there's Wednesday,
There's Thursday and there's Friday,
And then there's Saturday.

Days of the week, (snap snap)
Days of the week, (snap snap)
Days of the week,
Days of the week,
Days of the week. (snap snap)