Tag: momblog

worlds of color: book picks for the littles

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Detail of two rainbows on a stormy day. drawing by my five-year-old daughter, May 2016

My oldest daughter is really into drawing rainbows right now. She seeks color in everything. Clothes must be bright and if it sparkles, it’s a bonus. The best flowers in her opinion are ones saturated in the colors of pink, yellow, or purple. Her drawings must contain a minimum of three colors but more is always better. And lately, the pages of her library finds must be filled with a riot of color.

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Snow White and the 77 Dwarfs by Davide Cali and illustrated by Raphaëlle Barbanégre is a retooling of the classic fairy tale we all know.  An evil witch, a forest, and dwarfs. This time around there are a whole lot more dwarfs, seventy-seven.  They are willing to protect Snow White from the witch but there is a catch. Chores, chores and more chores! Things pile up fast with so many dwarfs to tend to. By the end, Snow White is left wondering if she was better off with the witch.

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The pages are end to end with rainbow-ordered color. My daughter’s favorite part of the story is when Snow White contemplates life with seventy-seven dwarfs:

“Snow White could see right away that life with the dwarfs might be difficult. For starters, how was she going to learn all their names?—Rufus, Kerfuffle, Dudley, Popsicle, Poodle, Bacon, Kiki, Blorp….”

Well, you get the idea.

When I read this page I recite each and every name of the dwarf in an increasingly exasperated voice for full effect. Snow White’ face is equally exasperated by story’s end.

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Our next pick, Maybe Something Beautiful: How Art Transformed a Neighborhood by F. Isabel Campy and Theresa Howell and illustrated by Rafael López, is a book that swirls with color and inspiration. The book is about a young girl who loved to draw and paint. She fills her room with color but her world outside is dull and gray.  One day a muralist arrives and together the young girl and the artist paint the walls of her neighborhood and transform it into something beautiful.

Mira, the young girl reminds me so much of my own daughter. I will often catch my daughter in a quiet moment to herself with her blank piece of paper, markers, pencils and crayons creating.

“In the heart of a gray city, there lived a girl who loved to doodle, draw, color and paint. Every time she saw a blank piece of paper, Mira thought to herself, Hmm, maybe…And because of this, her room was filled with color and her heart was filled with joy.”

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The fluidity of colors will inspire young artists. Maybe Something Beautiful is based on a true story of how Rafael López, the illustrator of the book, and his wife brought together a community in San Diego, California and transformed their mundane neighborhood into a bright, bold and beautiful place filled with large-scale murals.

Snow White and the 77 Dwarfs and Maybe Something Beautiful are full of vivid imagery that excite the reader’s imagination. The former offers a story with lots of chuckles from rainbow-colored, mischievous dwarfs and the latter encourages a young girl to turn her colorful dreams into a reality.

Now off to make my own rainbows with my daughter.

 

spring ends with summer’s awakening

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An early spring hike with my daughter making observations in her Field Notes journal.
“And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.” ― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

At spring’s closing and with summer nipping at its heels, the flora and fauna of the Hudson Valley have rushed in.  This will be our third spring here and I can’t say I remember there being such an abundance of life awakening around us.

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The Dogwoods have become a favorite feature on our property.
The trees are taller; an unfortunate circumstance for my garden bed as that means one less hour of sun for the plants but we will welcome the extra shade come summer’s heat. The blooms of our Dogwood trees budded in April and have only now lost their flowers. We discovered a new hiking trail this year populated with wild Honeysuckle; the intoxicating scent arrested our noses before we spotted them along the water’s edge.

Our youngest on her father’s shoulders on an early spring hike.
We had to take a few cuttings of Honeysuckle home to enjoy its fleeting scent for a day or two longer.
Those along with a few other wildflowers we ended up pressing in our flower press kit.

Could it be our mild winter here on the East coast that has all  animals thriving? The snakes stretch themselves out during the heat of the day on our stone paths and in our creeping ivy along the hill.  The frogs, toads and even baby Box turtles are unabashedly making themselves known by creeping out of their winter homes and into our yard. And back on the trail, we have found newts, unusual fungi, evidence of beaver, and birds aplenty.

I spy a Garter snake in the Pachysandra!
This is an Eastern Newt. They can live for 12-15 years!
The Pickerel frogs have started singing keeping the woods humming at night.

Birding. Can I take a moment to tell you about my new found “hobby” since moving out to the country? When I lived in the city, I loved to sit on a park bench or look out my window and people watch. With very little people watching in the country, I naturally gravitated to birdwatching.  And there are SO MANY birds of all types. From your run of the mill—Robins, Crows, Blue Jays, to your winter birds—Chickadees, Cardinals, Grey-Slated Juncos, to my spring and summertime favorites—Eastern Bluebirds, Scarlet Tanagers and lastly, (but no where near complete) my daughter’s favorite the hummingbirds.

Nerding, I mean birding out (pic courtesy of my daughter).
My birding essentials.

But I’ve steered off topic. Birding will often have me do that as I spot a new bird from my window, drop whatever I’m doing and reach for the binoculars in hopes of identifying said bird. I’m digressing again.

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Summer begins.
What I’m mean to say is that everything is abuzz—trees creak, leaves ruffle, birds sing, chipmunks chirp, my daughters giggle in the sun-soaked yard. Nature awakens with a spirited renewal and I can’t help but be struck by the placidity of it all.