Tom in the Middle by Berthe Amoss

This is another vintage little book. And vintage little books always get my attention. 

This one is all about siblings.

Tom is in the middle. 

His little brother John annoys him by following him everywhere and wanting to do whatever he does. 

Brothers!

He copies and stands in the way of the swing. 

And he flushes important pieces of games and sets down the toilet. 

John has spunk! 

So Tom left John in the dust and began to play with Mark. His older brother. Who is super cool. 

Except he calls Tom "stupid."

Tom decides that brothers are not worth the bother.

And has some alone time. 

However, alone time feels ever-so-much-more-so alone after dark. 

And brothers are okay to eat bread and butter with. 

Really, who else would you rather sleep in a blanket fort with than your brothers? 

Brothers have redeeming features. 

Berthe Amos (the authors) real life Mark, Tom and John. 

Horrible Bear! by Ame Dyckman & Illus by Zachariah OHora

This book has an unreasonable and feisty redhead as a main character, so it is pretty awesome! 

Here she is, flying her little kite. I think we can assume she is unreasonable at this point, but we just don't know it yet. 

Her kite flew onto bear's tummy. She walks in to retrieve it, but not before bear rolls over and breaks it. 

(Do you see bear's teddy bear?)

She reacts in all her unreasonableness glory. 

She maintains her unreasonableness the whole way home, ruining people's day in the process. Poor Goat just trying to have a picnic! 

She has a cute clothesline! 

I have a thing for clotheslines and I am not sure why. They are just so super!

The dazed bear began to come to. He reviewed his grievances. 

And got an idea....

First he practiced being horrible.

I love this bear and his Froggy Hollow t-shirt. 

They are both charging stompers. 

Annnnnd in all her huff and annoyance, she manages to break her favorite listener. 

All the starch goes out of her. 

Buuuut Bear is still being horrible on his way to see her. 

Poor goat. And squirrel! Do you see the little squirrel with a teacup? She is wearing a dress! So cute! 

He takes that cute clothesline to bits.

And then she apologizes and bear becomes a dear. 

(hahaaha)

And they repair all their horrible behavior damage.

And became friends together. Friends capable of horribleness. But aren't we all? 

(His book titles, in case you need to know these things are as follows:

Blueberries

The Goldilocks Myth

1,000 Ways to Cook Porridge) 

Grasshopper Green by Nancy Dingman Walsh & Illus by Erik Blegvad

Grasshopper Green

Grasshopper Green 

 Too quick to be seen

                        Jump like a Mexican jumpity bean

Grasshopper high 

Grasshopper low  

                           Over my basket of berries you go! 

Grasshopper low 

Grasshopper high

                              Watch it or you will end up in a pie!

Favorite Nursery Songs by Phyllis Brown Ohanian & Illus by Marjorie Torrey

This is a book that has been loved to pieces. 

Literally. 

I don't know where the cover went to. 

Gilbert has a thing for song books. He used to get piano books and ask people to sing them to him. 

And this book not only has familiar, lovely songs that I can sing to him without making up a random tune that always peters out about the third verse, but it also has adorable little illustrations. 

Isn't this a sweet little woodland scene? 

Lazy Mary--I wouldn't want to get out of a bed that had such a cute quilt either. 

Every other page has minimal, black and white illustrations.

Bobby Shafto

I love these little geese!

Appalachia

This was one of my favorite pictures! Isn't it too impossibly sweet? I think my mom and dad used an illustration like this to announce one of our births. I seem to remember seeing it at some point. 

Jingle Bells

I love all of these busy little girls! 

Charlotte and the Rock by Stephen W. Martin & Illus by Samantha Cotterill

This is one of those books that I had to read because... well, cute red plaid and a beret. AND she has a rock? With a matching beret?! Why? I needed to find out. 

Stuffed rabbits are disappointing pets.

Pet hopes and dreams!

And pet hopes and dreams crushed. 

The rock wasn't a very satisfactory pet, but it had it's good points.

I love the ridiculousness of this book!

Further disappointments.

But you can do anything if you set your mind to it! Including enjoying a pet rock! 

I want their blankets.

But all those pet hopes and dreams were about to come true...

Much to the surprise of her family!

I didn't tell you want Dennis the rock turned into! Aren't I being restrained and mysterious?! 

Ha!