My Wilderness: An Alaskan Adventure by Claudia McGehee

This is the story of Rockwell Kent's year in Alaska, as told from the viewpoint of his nine year old son. 

Rockwell Kent is considered a local artist here in Northern New York, so it was fun to find this book in Alaska. I never knew he spent a winter in Alaska painting. 

Rocky and Rockwell spent a winter on Alaska's Fox Island in Resurrection Bay near Seward. The only other inhabitant of Fox Island was this man named Olson.

Rocky explored Fox Island, meeting the animal inhabitants.

Olson said they could use a run down old cabin, so they spent some time repairing the floor and stuffing moss in the gaps between logs. 

It is interesting to me that Rockwell Kent brought his nine year old son with him on this trip. A winter in Alaska where he was going to be focused on painting doesn't sound like a great father-son bonding idea. 

But clearly it worked! 

With his father busy, Rockwell had a lot of freedom, exploring the island and imagining all sorts of great adventures on his own. 

Was that a pirate ship he saw? 

Did he hear a wood troll coming along behind him?

But life was pretty safe and cozy on Fox Island. With Olson near by to drop in after supper with one of his goats and Seward only 14 miles by rowboat, they had as much society as they wanted. 

And the father-son bonding thing? It happened too. Which makes me like Rockwell Kent. Here they are playing checkers and doing tough and manly snow baths to keep clean--running out, laying in the snow and then rubbing down with snow to wash and zipping back inside.  

Rockwell did a lot of painting

And Rocky did a lot of experiencing in the cold Alaskan winter.

A scary rowboat trip from Seward.

Claudia McGehee creates her images using scratchboard and xacto knives. I love elemental quality of scratchboard--it looks almost primitive, but with so much detail and design.

Fox Island. Spring meant leaving this little Alaska oasis. 

"We left Fox Island behind, but the wilderness came to stay in my heart forever."

I Heard a Bird Sing From Sing a Song of Seasons

  I Heard a Bird Sing

I heard a bird sing 

         In the dark of December

 A magical thing      

        And sweet to remember.

       "We are nearer to spring 

                Than we were in September,"

I heard a bird sing  

         In the dark of December.

                                                     --Oliver Herford

From the anthology of Poems Sing a Song of Seasons selected by Fiona Waters & Illustrated by Frann Preston-Gannon

The Night Tree by Eve Bunting & Illus by Ted Rand

I heard of this book a few years ago, but couldn't find it again. Mostly because I didn't know the title or author. Which makes things tricky. But I found it on the Christmas book cart at the library. 

And I like it just as much as I thought I would! 

Eve Bunting has written a bajillion books. Sometimes I find her books a little on the earnest side--a wee bit to serious to thoroughly enjoy. But this one is pretty great!

And Ted Rand is a long time favorite of mine. 

Every year this family bundles up for a nighttime Christmas decorating picnic.

They find the same tree that they have decorated for several years.

And under the watchful eye of some forest creatures, they set to work.

Apple, tangerine, and peanut butter popcorn ball ornaments are topped off with popcorn garlands. 

When they are all done, they admire their work,

and have a picnic. 

Then, with full tummies and sleepy eyes, they head back to the truck. 

And go home to imagine all the forest animals eating at their tree. 

I would love to do this at school and then revisit in a week or so to see what kind of animal tracks we got and have students try to identify what animals came to eat at their Christmas tree. 

The Christmas Wish by Lori Evert & Illus by Per Breiehagen

This book combines a few of my favorite things--northern animals, girls in pigtales, Scandi clothes, and pops of red. 

It is even way cuter than my pictures. Find a copy and read it for yourself.

Anja lived way up north where mothers never pack away hats and mittens. 

And one year, she decided she would find Santa so she could be an elf. 

She had a few things to knock off her to-do list before setting off--namely, helping the kind old woman down the road get ready for Christmas.

Even carrying in the tree, all by herself.

Then she planned her route and informed her friend and family. 

She seems to have those conveniently distant parents that always allow young children to do absurdly independent things in stories. 

As she set off, a friendly red bird came down to help her find her way.

Skiing so fast the bird could hardly keep up.

Then the bird handed her off to her friend the horse

Watching Northern Lights from on top the horse

Then a friendly polar bear enters the picture and she reads him a story.

Before snuggling in for a nap. 

Aren't these photographs cool? Clearly they are digitally collaged together, but so perfectly! 

Apparently this whole story started with a picture of Lori Evert's daughter feeding a caribou. She liked the picture so much she built a story around it. Not sure if this is the specific picture, but if it is, I can see what she meant. 

Adorable! 

Finally, Anja finds Santa.

And Santa tells Anja that what she does at home for the little old woman down the road already makes her one of Santa's important helpers.

He brings her back to the little cabin in the woods, leaving a bell as a momento. 

The next thing Anja knows, she wakes up in bed. 

Was it a dream? But there is a bell....

And the book ends on the open ended question---"What do you think?"

I LOVE THIS PICTURE. It has no bearing on the story, but oh my. All that red and snow and wood and fur. 

Christmas Day in the Morning by Pearl Buck & Illus by Mark Buehner

This book..... Mom gave us kids a copy of this book when we were teenagers. Or bought it for the family. Or whatever. But somehow, we had a copy of this book in our family and we would each read it, but not out loud and not in front of our siblings because we would all get a little teary about it. 

Love these illustrations! 

This is a nostalgic book, so we start with the man being middle aged, waking up early on Christmas morning thinking of being a teenager on the farm. 

The milkings he and his dad would get up early to do. 

I so remember those yawning mornings. When you wished with all your heart that your sibling would actually be the one that had to go out to the barn that morning because bed was just so cozy and warm and..... 

This year, as Christmas approaches, this farm boy doesn't quite now what to do. He overhead his father talking to his mother about how he hates to wake up his teenage son so early every morning when he knows how much sleep he needs. 

And though it has never been said, the boy knows this means his father loves him. Now that he knows his father loves him, he wants to give him an appropriately loving Christmas present. But all his money had been spent on little gifts and even if it hadn't, there wasn't really enough to buy an amazing gift. 

The night before Christmas, he finally has an idea--go out to the barn super early and get the milking done before his dad goes out.  

For some reason, it just hits me every time I read this book. I get all teary eyed. 

Part of the appeal of this book is simply shared experiences--that long, dark, cold walk to the barn in the early mornings. And being a farm kid, you didn't go out and get another job that earned you money, so you never really had a lot of money to buy gifts with. And maybe it wasn't something you talked about a lot, but working together on a farm makes you pretty close to your family and makes you love them rather fiercely. But somehow I would have rather died than admit that as a teen. And you want to do something for them, but not sure what. 

(Lest my siblings see this and tell me I am re-imagining life, I often imagined grand, loving gestures. I just rarely did them. It isn't my fault that as I imagined doing something amazing they would come along and be jerks and banish all noble intentions from my heart.)

There is a calm in a winter barn that I have never found anywhere else. The quiet, sleeping cows, the smell of hay, the warmth of bovine bodies, you all alone with all these creatures that trust you for every thing they need. 

(There were some times I got out there before anyone else when I felt like that.)

As he does the milking, he imagines how his father will react, the look on his father's face. And somehow, milking doesn't take that long this time. 

He sneaks back into bed just before his dad comes in to wake him. And he waits as his dad goes out to the barn, then comes right back in. 

And gives his son a hug. 

(I might be crying again even writing about it)

And then, for the first time ever, the farmers is in the room with the whole family as the little kids come down and see the tree and gifts for the first time. 

Pearl Buck liked to play on people heartstrings and be a little melodramatic, but while this book makes me teary eyed every time I read it, it feels real to me. Because I can imagine being that kid. And I can imagine feeling just like him.