Nest Eggs by Robert Louis Stevenson and Gyo Fujikawa

Birds all the sunny day
      Flutter and quarrel
Here in the arbour-like
      Tent of the laurel.

Here in the fork
      The brown nest is seated;
Four little blue eggs
      The mother keeps heated.

While we stand watching her
      Staring like gabies,
Safe in each egg are the
      Bird’s little babies.

Soon the frail eggs they shall
      Chip, and upspringing
Make all the April woods
      Merry with singing.

Younger than we are,
      O children, and frailer,
Soon in the blue air they’ll be,
      Singer and sailor.

We, so much older,
      Taller and stronger,
We shall look down on the
      Birdies no longer.

They shall go flying
      With musical speeches
High overhead in the
      Tops of the beeches.

In spite of our wisdom
      And sensible talking,
We on our feet must go
      Plodding and walking.

The Animal Book by Steve Jenkins

There are way too many pictures in this post. For real. But this is a long book and it is full of all kinds of delightful animal pictures! So it was hard to limit myself.

Steve Jenkins art is done using cut paper, which makes it all the more impressive! Actually I would still be impressed if he drew these, since I can't do either. But cut paper requires a lot of patience. All those itty bits!

Aren't the colors vibrant? 

This is a pretty big book and there are a lot of full page illustrations, so those animals are BIG. 

Isn't this a friendly looking bear? 

Beetles in all their beauty. 

Jenkins talks about different aspects of animal life on each two page spread. 

There is a lot of science and biology here, which delights my nerdy self! 

Do you see those eyelashes?!

Daddies and their babies!

Babies in general

Gestation periods--elephants always win. 

Animals fighting techniques

How cool is this here grasshopper? It is giant.

Animal superpowers

Food web

I love food webs! Such intricacy! 

These here animals acquire poison from the things they eat. And that blue frog can kill 20 people. So steer clear of blue frogs. 

Large, ugly animals that we don't hang out with anymore.

Tiger, Tiger burning bright...

Teeny things, life size

Who lives the longest?

Longevity

As if that wasn't enough information for you, you can turn to the back and Jenkins will tell you a bit more about the animals on every page. 

The things that can harm animals and how to avoid them harming animals.

And then a visual bibliogrpahy (mixed with biography) of Steve Jenkins. 

This is such an amazing book! If you like animals and facts, this book will delight you no end! 

Under Earth by Aleksandra Mizielinska and Daniel Mizielinska

I wanted to do this post before Earth Day, but I am still having trouble with adding pictures to my posts, so it didn't happen. 

This is such a cool book!! My biology loving self just geeked out over the whole thing. So much to look at and details to pore over on every page. 

This book takes you below the surface of the earth to discover all the intricacies of the earth. THEN you flip the book over and do the same thing, only with the water/oceans.They meet in the middle, at the core. 

Such an awesome book!

I love these hand drawn biology illustrations. Not sure why, but I just really do. 

Who hasn't wanted to visit an ant colony?

Burrowing creatures. What is so cozy and cute about burrowing creatures? (I was totally writing it as borrowing creatures. Spelling--not my strong suit!)

Garden plants! Which for the record, I would place before burrowing creatures. But maybe I took the picture out of order. Because I do that sometimes. And I would look at the book, but I don't have it right here, so that would require a lot of work. 

The day before going back to work after a week off is not that time to start making a lot of work for yourself. Or at least that is what I keep telling myself!

They even include underground utilities! 

Subways!

Archaeology digs!

Spelunking! 

Things we get from mining.

And.... the core!

So now you flip it over and start again! 

This time in water. 

We discuss bouyancy

Saltwater fish

A brief history of diving suits.

History and biology together--I knew there was a use for my double major somewhere! I just didn't know it would be only one page of one book.... Ha!

Oil platforms

And there are two more pictures I wanted to put in this post, but it IS SO COMPLICATED. So just go buy the book if you want to see the pictures. You will not be disappointed! I love this book. A lot. 

Fairy's Song by William Shakespeare and Anna Maria Magnana

Fairy's Song

Over hill, over dale,

                            Through bush, through brier,

Over park, over pale,

                               Through flood, through fire,

       I do wander everywhere,

                 Swifter than the moon's sphere;

            And I serve the dairy queen:

                  To dew her orbs upon the green:

                        The cowslips tall her pensioners be;

                    In their gold coats spots you see;

                Those be rubies, fairy favours,

                        In those freckles live their savours:

             I must go seek some dewdrops here,

                  And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear.

                                                     --William Shakespeare

Poppy's Babies by Jill Barklem

I am on vacation this week. And while I planned on being wildly accomplished this week (Take that college final projects!) I have so far accomplished nothing. I seriously mean nothing. I have meandered through the past three days, taking long walks, refreshing myself afterward with naps and a book a day. 

SO LOVELY.

But why? When school is in session, I am quite adept at getting every drop of time from the day used to the max. I have dreamed of this vacation--all I would get done when I had time to focus! And... nope. I think it is the busyness paradox--the busier you are, the more you get done. So weird.

Anyway, in all my not doing, I also haven't been doing anything with the blog. Not a single Easter book. Sad. 

I had some cute books! But they will keep until later. 

For now, Poppy's Babies! 

By now you probably know of my love affair with Jill Barklem's books. So cozy! So sweet! So detailed! Poppy's Babies was the last book of the set I needed to buy. So I bought it.

And do you see how perfectly adorable that bunny is? Last May I went to visit my sister in Fargo. Since my aunt and uncle were at home that week, we went to supper at their house. Twice. Because they are nice. The second night, I saw this bunny dish. I thought it was perfectly adorable, so I  gushed about it's cuteness to my aunt. "I thought you might like it!" she said. "I put it out here because it seemed like something you would use in your blog pictures. I decided if you said anything about it, I was going to give it to you. So here it is." Just like that, I was the possessor of a green bunny dish. 

I love it! But I also love that my aunt knows me so well. And supports my blog. 

Spring and flowers. Oh joy!

Last time we saw Poppy and Dusty in Summer Story they had just been married in the cutest wedding possible. They now are the proud parents of triplets living above Dusty's mill. 

Life is difficult with triplets and living in a 92 step walk up.

Neighbors pop in to see the cute babies

This page is why you should own these books! I love cross sections of houses. And an apple tree in bloom! Imagine apple blossoms as your roof!

In Brambly Hedge, they just happen to come across a dear little cottage that is used for storing random things. So they do it up for a surprise for Poppy. 

The first time I read this, when I was a teen, I thought how perfectly delightful to live in a place where a perfectly suitable house or two is quickly found. For free of course. 

I still am looking for that place.

Oh apple blossoms, handsewing, babies, poofy skirts. The happiness!

Back at Poppy and Dusty's house, things are crowded, covered in flour dust from the mill and a little stressed.

Jill Barklem does food pictures up proper. I just want to dive in there!

In order to keep the surpise, they send Poppy to stay with the Old Oak Palace so they could move all the Miller's belongings to their new home. 

I think part of the delight of this book is the sheer marvelousness of the surprise! Not having to move things! Having a perfect house provided without having to search for it and discuss unpleasant things like damp basements, mortgages, and commutes! 

Of course, if my husband pulled a trick like this I would be disconcerted because I WANT TO CHOOSE OUR HOUSE TOO. But still. If I was a mouse with triplets, I am sure I would be delighted by the entire thing. 

Nighttime at the palace

The babies christening is presided over by the old Vole. 

And then! The unveiling! The perfectness of the nursery! The convenient rainbow! 

Daisy chains on the ceiling! Friends by the boatload! Charming food! 

And best of all, three sleeping triplets!