Strega Nona's Harvest by Tomie dePaola

For some reason, I have never really read the Strega Nona books. 

And, interestingly, I thought this was posted on Thanksgiving, but it wasn't. So here it is now. 

(Side note, see the Imagination Library logo on the bottom right? That is a terribly terrific program by Dolly Parton. Because her father was illiterate, she sends any child under five a free book every month. EVERY MONTH. And they are good books. You should really look into it if you have an under-five in your life.)

Strega Nona is getting ready for spring planting.

She teaches her two helpers, Bambolona and Big Anthony all her tips and tricks for making a garden grow well. 

Big Anthony decides to see if he plant a garden too. 

He does exactly what Strega Nona did. 

....Except for the straight row thing. Big Anthony thought that was overrated. 

In no time, his garden looked like a jungle.

You can see Strega Nona's terribly straight and orderly garden and Big Anthony's helter skelter one. 

Harvest begins.

Big Anthony doesn't know what to do with his bounty, so he just piles them up in front of Strega Nona's door. 

All this surplus food starts overtaking her house. 

So she goes to the nuns to see if they would like some extra food. 

Strega Nona learns that the rest of the village didn't have a good harvest. 

She goes to the mayor and offers to cook food for the entire village. 

Preparations ensue. 

A lovely feast is had by all!

And each guest is allowed to take an armful home to their larders. 

Ahh! Strega Nona feels much better with her kitchen empty of all those vegetables.

But... where did they come from?! 

Hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving! 

Sophie's Squash Go To School by Pat Zietlow Miller & Illus by Anne Wilsdorf

This is the fun sequel to Sophie's Squash. Remember Sophie who didn't want to cook her best friend Bernice, the squash? 

In this book, Sophie is starting school. She would be nervous, but she has two squash sidekicks to make her brave.  

There are all kinds of ways to sit with squash

If any kid came to school with two squash in her arms, I would adore that child. I mean really! The imagination, the stubbornness of insisting that yes, she WAS going to take her squash to school, and the certainty that that was just what needed to happen without a care in the world for what anyone thought. That, my friends, is a child who is going somewhere. 

I always wanted to be that child. 

Unfortunately, Sophie is also stubbornly certain that she will not make any friends in kindergarten.

Things were not like home. AND her classmates threatened to eat her real, true friends. 

First day--a disaster.

Steven is fully supportive of imaginary friends. 

Sophie accepts this--"Then you don't need me."

Sophie is clearly not accepting applications for new friends. 

When you are in the same class as someone else, it is pretty difficult to ignore them completely. 

Her mother and father have a chat with Sophie about the need for human friends. 

Sophie declines'--"I have all the friends I need."

However, when you are with other kids all day, it is hard not to form friendships.\

When Roshni spilled her milk, Sophie almost shared her napkin.

Progress!

The time comes when Bonnie and Baxter are getting speckled and need to be tucked away for the winter. 

Steven noticed her lack of friends and drew a consoling picture for Sophie.

Sophie was having none of it. 

Poor Steven. Poor Sophie. 

Sophie had a terrible, horrible, no good day. 

Steven tries his best to make friends, offering his frog. 

Steven is amazingly patient, I guess. 

Through all her stubborness and certainty (and Steven's persistence) Sophie begins to understand how beautiful friendship could be. 

Little Pea by Amy Crouse Rosenthal & Jen Corace

Amy Crouse Rosenthal and Jen Corace worked together on three little books, Little Hoot, Little Oink, and Little Pea. All three feature characters who love to do things little human children hate to do. Unfortunately, their parents force them to do all the fun things. Little Hoot is not allowed to keep his room clean. Little Hoot has to stay up all night long with no napping. And Little Pea? He has to eat candy before he gets his beloved vegetables.   

Amy Crouse Rosenthal is almost always good for a laugh and these books are no exception! Kids love them! Reading them one after the other is slightly repetitious. So space them out a little! 

They are such happy little peas! 

Little Pea likes rolling super fast down hills.

He loves it when his father catapults him off the spoon end! 

Stories from when Mama Pea was a baby.

Little Pea had to eat candy ALL WEEK LONG. 

Little Pea hated all of it.

The typical "Eat your dinner!" argument, but flipped on its head. 

Suffering through the candy.

And finally he gets.....spinach! YES!

Isn't this perfectly adorable? I would suggest read it to your favorite little four or five year old. They will love it!

First Tomato by Rosemary Wells

This is the story of Claire, an adorable bunny who is tired of snow, cold, and school and longs to be in the garden, tasting the ruby red sunshine of the first tomato. While waiting for the bus, after an exhausting day Claire takes a trip to the Bunny Planet.  

The Bunny Planet is where The Day That Should Have Been lives. 

This is one of Elsie's precious little books. Last year she carried this book around almost continuously for two months. We read it over and over. Which was okay, since before Elsie liked it, I loved it. (I actually censor my kids reading quite a lot. Censor as in, if I think it is a dumb book, I don't buy it. So there aren't a lot of books hanging around that I don't like.) 

The morning starts all wrong. Claire's cereal spills, her shoes fill with snow.

Oh, I remember this feeling--bored/confused/tired of school. 

After missing her bus in the afternoon, Claire sits in the cold, waiting for another bus. 

It was a hard day.  

As she sits in the cold, the bunny queen swoops down and takes her to the Bunny Planet.

"Far beyond the moon and stars, 

Twenty light years south of Mars, 

Spins the gentle Bunny Planet.

And the Bunny Queen is Janet."

"Here's the day that should have been."

Her mother sends her to the garden in her old, old clothes to pick a tomato for her.

I love Claire, reveling in the dirt, the tomato-y smells, the warmth. 

I love Claire. 

Although Claire really, really wants to take the first tomato for herself, she brings it to her mother. And her mother makes her "first tomato soup because I love you so."

We all have days when we need a visit to the Bunny Planet. And as Claire sees, "It was there all along!" Each person's Bunny Planet looks different. But it is there. Ready to be escaped to when we feel like giving up. 

At least for those with vivid enough imagination.