The Cozy Book by Mary Ann Hoberman & Illus by Betty Fraser

This book is splendid! My sister, a cozy aficionado gave this to me a year ago to read, but somehow, it went into the to-read pile and never got read. 

I picked it up yesterday and fell in love. 

Betty Fraser also illustrated Hoberman's A House is a House For Me, which I have long adored, so I wasn't particularly surprised I loved this--just surprised I hadn't already read it. 

Look at the detail for just the copyright page....! 

When you wake up bright and early

In your roasty, toasty bed

With your covers wrapped around you

and your pillow on your head

And you peek out at the morning

That's a cozy kind of way

To begin the cozy doings

of a very cozy day.

Morning hugs.

After a week and a half of vacation, I am a little skeptical of the validity of sibling affection, but... 

Cozy things to eat! 

Look at the brownies in the garden at the cozy picnic!

Cozy things to play

Another lovely shelf illustration

A dreaming cat

Cozy smells

Cozy sounds.

I love the little girl in the top left with her hands in her pocket. When my youngest sister was 5 or 6, she told Mom that a day when you can keep your hands in your pockets is a good kind of day. 

Pockets are cozy.

Love the way the babble of sounds is illustrated here

Cozy words

Cozy places

Cozy feelings

Of all the cozy things there are, 

the coziest is bed.

Just curl up snug and shut the light.

And where ever 2019 brings you, I hope it brings you a lovely dose of cozy. 

Staying Safe Online by Ben Hubbard

This is a pretty boring topic, but it is a useful topic. And so you need books about those things. 

It is a little difficult to enthuse about useful, boring topics, so this is pretty much just a recommendation for a book on this topic if you need it. 

This is a good book for the younger elementary aged kids. 

For each topic covered, there are two picture filled pages. Minimal text, but enough to encourage conversations. 

Pretty good way to relate the need to be safe online.

As I said, this is a pretty boring topic, but this book makes a boring topic, fairly kid friendly. 

I plan on adding this to the school library. 

The Road Home by Katie Cotton & Illus by Sarah Jacoby

I am just going to gush about this book for a little. Do you know when you hear a lot about a book and you buy it with high expectations only to not be so impressed when you get it? Well that happens to me occasionally. BUT NOT THIS TIME. 

We currently live in a single wide trailer with four kids. Not the ideal book accumulating environment when we are bursting at the seams already (that house can't get built fast enough!!) But in a moment of self-indulgence I ignored all of that and bought this book. 

I LOVE IT SO MUCH. I read this, then read it out loud to Justin exclaiming all the while about how awesome this part is and just listen to this!! and then stood there hugging it and then rereading it, grinning like a fool all the while.  

I just can't help it. I still feel happy about owning this book. 

It is really a fall book, but it is also about surviving winter and the hope of spring. And I couldn't wait until fall to tell you all how gloriously delightful this book is.

Elsie and Gilbert now refer to this as the "snuggly" book, which is a pretty good adjective for it. 

(Oh and ignore the graphite smugs on my little table top. My kids got a little over-zealous with the pencil sharpener and dumped a lot of shavings on the table. They won't come out for some reason.) 

Fly with me to far away, 

where sun still warms the ground.

For winter's in the dying light

and in that windswept sound. 

It is amazingly poetical, the pictures are lyrical (can pictures be lyrical?), and the overall sentiment is bang up awesome. 

Basically, this story involves woodland creatures getting ready for winter, a mommy and a baby together. The mother is teaching the baby about their world and how to be safe.  

Build with me with sticks of straw

and leaves from nearby lands.

Curl them high above our heads-

forget your aching hands.

For safety is a precious place,

a place to call our own.

This road is hard, this road is long,

this road that leads us home. 

AHHHH!!! 

First off, I love all those late summer flowers. And safety is a precious thing is....well a favorite line of mine now. 

I love that this book illustrates the work it takes to build safety and security. We forget that sometimes in our pampered, western lifestyles. This world is not effortlessly safe. 

We have wolves!

Hunt with me through light and shade

and here the woodland cry

We've claws to grip and jaws to bite

and prey is close nearby.

Booklist and Kirkus both mentioned the unusual aspect of including such a dangerous animal in amongst the bunnies, mice, and birds. I love that the wolf was not made inherently evil. 

For hunger is a burning thing

that settles like a stone.

This road is hard, this road is long, 

this road that leads us home. 

I am sorry, I JUST LOVE THOSE LINES!

Even the wolf, that threat to so many animals safety, is seeking his own version of safety--safety from hunger.

Who knew brambles could be so cute? 

Danger can be so close to us.

But eventually, there is safety and security until spring. 

This road is hard, this road is long, 

but we are not alone.

For you are here and I'm with you...

...and so this road is home.

Swoon.

This book is like coming inside after walking through a sudden winter snowstorm for twenty minutes. 

I LOVE IT.