Under a Mushroom by Anita Lobel

This is a wacky little book that only the 1970s could have produced. 

Mushrooms, fairy folk, wildflowers. Yep, that's the 1970s. 

This is about a family of trolls with their cozy little house under a mushroom. 

Mrs. Troll loves the "pleasant, peaceful way" they live, but Mr. Troll thought it was a bit tame. 

One night as it begins to pour down rain, travellers ask them if they can shelter under the mushroom from the rain. Mr. Troll is thrilled! 

As more and more creatures seek shelter under the mushroom, finally Mr. Troll has a little excitement!

Unfortunately the poor mushroom could not contain that many creatures having a wild party and disaster struck.

Now no one had shelter from the rain. 

When the rain cleared, a whole new crop of mushrooms appeared, giving the Troll family their choice of new homes. 

Mrs. Troll breathes a sigh of relief and starts cozy-ing up their new home. 

Mr. Troll, wanting to ensure their life does not descend into quietness again, invites all their guests to make their home in the new mushroom development. So life is never boring or quiet again. 

But poor Mrs. Troll--she liked their quiet and peaceful life before. But too bad for her. 

As I said, it is a weird little book. Why couldn't poor Mrs. Troll have a nice, quiet life? Sigh. Life is just a vale of sorrows for women. 

I wish there was a sequel where Mrs. Troll got to have things quiet again. 

This Beautiful Day by Richard Jackson & Illus by Suzy Lee

The contrast between the cover illustration and the title grabbed me as soon as I saw this book. 

The illustrations start out as black and white. 

Kids sitting at home being somewhat bored on a rainy day. 

Then the boy turns on the radio and music pours out.

Suddenly there is a little wisp of blue in the illustration and much more movement.

When their dancing gets to big to be contained inside, they venture outside with a parade of umbrellas

all of us skipping and singing and calling aloud

As the rain lets up, the colors pour into the illustrations

high-fiving

 and yes, 

we're alive-ing

Love the music and bounce of the text!

Such color and joy!

And finally they are back in the garden for a popsicle snack with their mother

all together, oh yes

I love how this book demonstrates the beauty to be had in every day/situation. 

Spring for Sophie by Yael Werber & Illus by Jen Hill

Happy Spring!!

It is not very springy here in Northern New York--below zero temperatures the past three mornings and 2 feet of snow on the ground. But it IS spring, so the cold and snow can't last much longer. Already I can feel the increased strength of the sun--icicles dripping even at 20 degrees--the roads clearing off faster than they did in January. 

I am ready for warmth and sunshine!

This is an adorable book.

Sophie apparently has a spring like ours--it seems like it will NEVER come. 

These pictures! Love, love, love.

Have I already discussed my prejudice for northern things? I have always lived in northern-ish places, (Alaska, NY, and Colorado--which is a little northern feeling on the Western Slope where we lived) and who doesn't love books you can identify with? 

I want this house. That window! The fireplace! 

Sophie is full of questions--how can she tell when spring is coming? 

Her mother tells her to use her ears--she will begin to hear birds chirping.

She finally begins to hear the birds!

So more questions--how can you tell besides using your ears?

Use your feet. When the ground begins to feel softer, that is spring. 

Then Sophie learns that she must use her eyes and nose to tell when spring will come.

Those spring happenings and spring smells!!

I love this idea of connection with the natural world. Observing, feeling, and talking about. 

I am of the opinion that people, kids in particular, need a LOT more outdoor time than they are currently getting. So I am a little biased towards any book that encourages interaction with nature. 

Now you know about a few of my biases. Outside in the North. Any book with that focus is going to delight me. Well, probably. 

Thunderstorm by Arthur Geisert

I have always geeked out over the weather. As a farmer's daughter, the weather WAS a big deal. We used to call the local radio station to get weather reports. Sometimes we would pay extra and call across the border to Ottawa for more precise reports.

My weather app might just be my most frequently used app on my phone.... I secretly think I may have missed my calling as a meteorologist.

We are about to get a thunderstorm I believe. Or at least a rainstorm. According to the weather anyway. 

This book follows a thunderstorm across the plains. It starts one Saturday afternoon in July. 

At the bottom of each page is the day, date, and time. 

I love the precision of that! 

We get to see farmers getting ready for the storm--unloading one more load of hay before it gets wet. 

And then grabbing the clothes off the line before they are too wet to put away. 

I love all the details! 

What does a farmer do when it storms? Not much. Besides catch the leaks and watch the rain. 

We had dairy cows when I was a teenager, so even when it rained, there was still work to do. But summer days were mostly dedicated to getting hay in. Hay was important. It would be translated into a milk check that fall and winter. Without it, dire disaster, we would have to buy hay. And with the milk prices of the late '90's, that would be ruinous. I remember riding down the road at a breakneck pace one day around lunch time to get the last load of hay under cover before the rain hit. (If hay gets wet, it can start to ferment and decay faster, heating up and potentially burning down a barn. Not a good situation.) We could see the rain, following us up the road from the neighbor's farm. It hit us full force just as we were backing the wagon under the shed. It was a downpour. That afternoon, we didn't do anything. The entire family, all ten of us, came to a standstill. Some of us took afternoon naps, the highest luxury for early morning milkers. Some of us played games, read books. But we were all quiet, watching the rain. Waiting. 

I am sure that happened more than once when I was a kid, but for some reason, that day is the only one that I remember.

Storms were a big deal.  

Tossed flowers

Stormy skies, the storm moving on to another farm.

Developing into a tornado

The sky dark and looming

Chaos

The aftermath.

And already, neighbors were busy putting things to right on other's farms and houses. 

Sara Raccoon and the Secret Place by Margaret Burdick

This darling little book was on the shelf in my library. I was instantly smitten. Raccoons, secret places, bright colors, woods... yes please! 

(By the way, just for full disclosure, you are going to see a lot of flowers in my upcoming pictures. I have very little imagination about photo styling, so I make up for it by putting flowers in the picture. Flowers make everything better, right?!?)

Look at all those little animals in yellow rain slickers! I adore yellow rain slickers. And personified woodland animals.

It is a rainy day in Sara Raccoon's world. She is quietly sewing a dress for her sock monkey, Mimi, while her little brother and sister are wrecking havoc on the bottom bunk. 

This. So real. I remember sharing bunk beds with older siblings who never thought my shenanigans were as funny as I did. As well as having two younger brothers who intruded into everything my ten year old self thought was important and sacred. 

Not content with wrecking havoc below, the twins have to go to the top bunk to get Sara's attention. 

Their presence is not appreciated. 

But aren't these pictures adorable? All those primary colors!

Mother Raccoon's solution is to kick them all outside now that it has stopped raining. Sara asks to stay inside, but.... no go.

"Not now dear," said her mother. "i'd like to be alone for a little while. I need some peace and quiet by myself this afternoon. Why don't you play with Bobby Otter?"

I feel this mama's pain. And I like her ability to kick her kids out when they are bothering her. But poor Sara Raccoon who just wanted to sew quietly.

Alright, lets all look at the adorable store for a bit. Candy in jars, Lilies-of-the-valley in bunches on the windowsill, Robins perched on canned acorns or something, candycanes AND Easter baskets at the same time....

Pure delight!

Sara can't find ole Bobby anywhere, so she goes out to look for him. But... whoopsie! Rain again.

She runs to the first dry spot she could find, a hollow tree trunk.

While she watched the rain, she decided it made a lovely little secret place for her. A place where NO ONE else could bother her. Her very, very own! 

As a kid with seven siblings, I delight right along with her. A place of your own is so important. 

"The next week, Sara was very busy. She gathered clover, honeysuckle, and wild strawberries to trade at Mr. Badger's for scraps of calico." 

How many sweet little things can be crammed into one sentence?! Can you imagine armfuls of honeysuckle, clover, and wild strawberries? 

Swoon. 

When everything is ready and just so, she heads back to her secret place to put it all together. If she was anything like I was, she probably has such grandiose schemes for this secret place that it had taken on the proportions of a royal palace. It was freedom, independence, and solitude. And it was hers.

Except...there is someone sticking their big fat nose into her secret place!

The outrage! The shattering of the dream!

Sara Raccoon does not handle the situation well. Even though the intruder is Bobby Otter, her best friend. 

Words are exchanged. 

Sara's crushing disappointment comes out at Bobby and blames him for the ruination of all her plans.

He scuttles off with a few choice words of his own. 

Despite the calico she worked hard for and the setting up of her secret place, it is all ruined by the bad feeling she has about how she treated Bobby. 

And it starts to rain again. Life is hard. 

I so, so, so feel her. I remember fights with friends about similarly irrational disappointments and the bitter feeling you are left with that colors everything you do after until you make things right again. The arguing within yourself about how it wasn't entirely your fault, they shouldn't have.....!! but knowing all the while that it really is all your fault. 

After all the rain that has been happening, there is a teensy flood and Sara can't get home from the secret place. Who rescues her? Bobby of course. 

As good friends do, they sort it out with a good cry and talk. 

Bobby consoles--"Your place will be dry again soon. Meanwhile, we can go to my secret place."

Whaaaat? Bobby Otter has his own secret place. Oh bliss! They can share secret places! Friends are the very best.

Bobby's secret place is pretty nifty. 

And so was Sara's when it dried out again. 

I want to go visit their secret places. I sort of want a secret place of my own.... 

This would do.

Or this.

(Have to say I would be a little bit nervous about the strength of that rope for the first time or two...)

Maybe a land based one is better! 

Love!

Somehow grown up secret places are so much more complex than a hollow tree...

But aren't they lovely?!  Here is a whole page of these delightful spots!

I'll take them all.