It's Milking Time by Phyllis Alsdurf & Illus by Steve Johnson

This sweet little book is mostly just a nostalgic delight for me. Dairy farms were my childhood. 

Cow hide! 

A little farm girl heading out to get the cows.

Coming into the barn. 

We had one machine like this at some point, but it wasn't the typical kind. 

One thing I loved about farm life was working with my dad and brothers and sisters. We didn't always have deep conversations at 5 AM. But there is something about working together, being part of a team that makes you close somehow. We didn't dwell on that, since we weren't prone to heart to heart chats, but it just was. And I think it is part of the reason we are still close today. 

This book works through all the different parts of farm life, but older farms. Living in Amish country, we see those cans still in use everyday, but most non-Amish hasn't used them in ages. 

Feeding the calves was generally my job as the milker. Sometimes it was really obnoxious and dirty, but sometimes, it was calm and delightful. 

Calves are rather lovable. Or at least some are. There were a lot of dumb cows that came through our barns, but calves are so big eyed and excited it is hard not to love them. 

Swooping swallows and sunsets.

The washing up

And the heading back in. 

I loved walking from the barn to the house. The lights on, knowing there was supper, warmth, a shower, and bed. 

The Moon is Going to Addy's House by Ida Pearle

The amazing Ida Pearle has another adorable book!

The simplicity of the plot, a little girl observing the moon following from a playdate to her house, allows readers to really sink into the illustrations. With a full, overblown moon hanging around, it is pretty easy to fall into them. 

Time to go home!

Meeting daddy. I love the enthusiasm!

Those braids!!

Watching the moon.

Hair blowing in the wind.

Oh my goodness! So much to love here.

After her bath, Ida goes out to bathe in moonlight.

The lighting was a little off, so just know that Ida makes it look way better than this! 

Rise! From Caged Bird to Poet of the People, Maya Angelou by Bethany Hegedus & Illus by Tonya Engel

Maya Angelou--this woman was a rockstar! 

This book has colorful and swirling art. 

Maya and her brother going south to live with their grandma. 

Isn't this art amazing? 

Life was mostly good in Stamps, Arkansas. They were cared for and loved by their extended family. They also witnessed the cruelty of racial prejudice endemic in the south in the 1930s.

When their mother settled into a new relationship in Chicago, she sent for the children to visit. 

Of course, that relationship was fraught for Maya. I love how a children's book deals with such a heavy topic (childhood sexual abuse) in such a... well delicate but effective way. There are a lot of kids who feel this sort of fear in their own home and I can only imagine their relief at seeing that same experience reflected in a picture book. 

Still, I hesitate to read this to very young kids. I guess I feel like I need a little more training on how to handle student's comments and questions in a careful way. 

After she was assaulted, one of her uncles allegedly killed her attacker. As a young girl of seven, she felt her words had killed him, so stopped talking to anyone but her brother.  But she still loved words--the rhythm and cadence of words, the beauty and depth of words.

Outside, Maya is quiet. Inside, words make music. Maya memorizes the rhythm, sways to the exquisite dance, the twisting, turning, conga line of language. 

Poetic. 

Maya earned a scholarship to a San Francisco Labor College and studied dance and drama.  

As a young single mother, Maya struggled, but never gave up on her stage talents. Marrying a Greek sailor and aspiring musician at 24, she used a form of his last name for her stage name, Maya Angelou. She toured Europe with Porgy and Bess during the early 1950's. Eventually she went on to release an album of her own compositions and win Tony awards for her acting in multiple works. 

She was passionate about civil rights, working with Martin Luther King Jr, South African activist Vusumzi Make (who she fell in love with and moved to Cairo with), and then meeting and working with Malcolm X in Ghana. 

After MLK Jr.'s murder on her birthday, Maya was devastated, but her friend James Baldwin encouraged her to put that devastation to work and free herself by writing an autobiography. 

In 1970 I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings was published and became an immediate success. 

She went on to win Grammy's for her spoken word albums of poetry, had great commercial success as an author, became the first black women to write a produced screenplay, and became a professor at Wake-Salem University. 

Maya Angelou was an incredible, incredible woman. Massive intellect, charm, From a somewhat troubled beginning (broken family, sexual abuse, young single motherhood, a failed marriage) she went onward and upward, teaching at universities in Ghana and the USA, mastering six languages, and being a life long advocate for civil rights.

In 2011, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Honor for a life of achievement. 

She was a dynamo! 

Bringing the Outside In by Mary McKenna Siddals & Illus by Patrice Barton

Oh May and June. All those dandelion, apple blossom, and lilac bouquets. The discoveries and finds that were hidden under the melting snow. The wild asparagus discovered on morning walks and kept in a vase on the counter until it is sizzled up for supper. The dirt and sand covering the hallway floor. The fresh air blowing in after a winter of tightly closed windows. The new mown grass tracked in after dew covered exploration... 

We are bringing the outside in. 

This sweet book follows four kids through the four seasons.

The text is rhythmic and simple, perfect keeping tiny listeners attention.

I am not entirely sure if they are all family, but they look like it. Which is pretty cool. You don't see mixed families very often in books. 

Summer

Fall

Winter

Coziness!!

All those treasures and pictures and stories and memories...

I adore kids loving the outside.

Mommy's lap and pictures and stories of outside. 

Can life get better? I submit that it cannot. 

Now by Antoinette Portis

My sister brought this book from her library because she knew it would delight me. And it does! 

Have I talked to you about my sister's in-home library yet? It makes me the teensiest bit jealous. 

I am not sure what is going on with my camera's lighting, but this is such a gorgeous library. The piano, all that light, the dark bookcases, the window seat...! Window seats featured largely in my childhood daydreams of ideal dwellings. As did in-home libraries and grand pianos. 

This book is so incredibly sweet! 

(Also, can you believe that I was able to find red leaves already?! I did have to hunt a little, but they were pretty readily available. Where has this summer gone?!) 

It is all about the immediacy of childhood. 

How children tend to love what is right in front of them and not worry about what isn't near to them. True mindfulness. 

And the illustrations fit the words so well! Simple and sweet. 

I have to say, I never truly lost this childish characteristic. What I have right now is very often my favorite. I sort of have a terrible memory, so it makes it easier just to love whatever I have at the moment. 

The contentment in the here and now. 

Happy sigh!