The Stranger in the Woods by Carl R Sams II & Jean Stoick

This is a book I have mixed feelings about. I love the concept, but somehow, I am not as captivated by it as I expected to be. 

And yes, my carrot looks really silly. I need something to hold the pages open, so it was useful, but it looks a bit pointless. Sigh. 

This book is about how animals respond to a "stranger" in the woods. After a lot of back and forthing from the animals, we discover that the stranger is a snowman. A snowman made especially for the animals with yummy things to eat. Who made this snowman?

A photograph of a photograph

For loving photography as much as I do, I am not as crazy about kids books with photographs as I should be. 

But this one is well done. 

General conference to decide who would approach the stranger.

The rabbit says "no sir-ee!" but the chickadee is brave and daring.

Then there is some arguing over who is best equipped to check the stranger out.  

"I am the strongest and the biggest," says the young buck.

"I can fly faster," chirped the cardinal.

Cautiously approaching.

Really, when you think of it, it is quite miraculous that they managed to coordinate the animal's arrival. Unless they used photoshop.....

I love chickadees.

The animals eat the snowman parts.

But wait, is there someone else?

Yeppers! A boy and his sister, spying on the animals. 

After the animals eat their fill, they replenish the animals and run home. 

I love the idea of making a snowman like this. I just am not enamoured with this book. However, it is a fun book to read to kids and have them suppose which animals would come first, what animals we would need to feed if we made one in our area. It might even be fun to make a snowman with animal food if we were allowed to. But that might be a bit complicated....

Wintertime by Robert Louis Stevenson and Gyo Fujikawa

Late lies the wintery sun abed, 

A frosty, fiery sleepyhead; 

Blinks but an hour or two; and then, 

A blood-red orange, sets again.

Before the stars have left the skies,

At morning in the dark I rise;

And shivering in my nakedness,

By the cold candle, bathe and dress.

Clove by the jolly fire I sit 

To warm my frozen bones a bit;

Or with a reindeer sled, explore

The colder countries round the door.

When to go out, my nurse doth wrap 

Me in my comforter and cap;

The cold wind burns my face, and blows 

It's frosty pepper up my nose.

Black are my steps on silver sodl

Thick blows my frosty breath abroad;

And tree and house, and hill and lake, 

Are frosted like a wedding cake.

                                                --Robert Louis Stevenson

I adore Gyo Fujikawa!!

Winter Story by Jill Barklem

Oh, we love Jill Barklem so. 

This was my mother's tea set when she was a girl. Not sure where the teapot is. So I used a creamer from my Great Aunt's table set that matched. 

Nothing says winter cozy quite like steaming cups. And yes, I had a little too much fun with props on this one!

Brambly Hedge books always begin with a map of their world.

The middle of a snowless winter. Little lights winking out all over the hedge as the sun sets. 

I love Brambly Hedge!

Snowflakes begin to fall. Mr. Apple goes home to a warm supper by a roaring fire. I often wish I had a roaring fire. It seems like a necessity in a Northern clime. 

We will just look at that picture again because we love it so. 

Happy sigh....

The Toadflax kids watched the snow falling with great excitement!

It was a white world when they woke up.

Fortunately for mice, they can just tunnel under the snow rather than wander around up on top. 

Mr. Apple's store where they all gather to discuss tradition, which involves a winter ball. 

They construct an Ice Hall for the dance by hollowing out a snowbank and making sure the roof was secure. 

While the ice hall was being constructed; Hot soups, punches, and puddings bubbled and in the ovens pies browned and sizzled. 

Here, the Toadflax kids help string crabapples to roast over the fire.

The ice palace in all its finished splendor. Quite impressive for one day's work. 

The Ice Ball in full swing!

Desert

I love the ladies in their garden party hats at an ice palace. 

Tucking tired mousies into bed.

After kids were asleep, parents went back to the Ice Ball for more dancing. 

CPS would have had a field day with this crowd. But they are so cute, how could anyone really be upset? 

And finally, as the morning broke and snow started falling again, even the adults were danced out. Home to cozy beds! 

The Cremation of Sam McGee by Robert Service and Ted Harrison

My Dad had a thing for Robert Service. Probably because he lived in Alaska in the 1970's. He told us there was a diner there where there were giant bowls of food on a long table and you paid your bit and sat down to eat until you were full. Every Friday night, they would read Robert Service out loud. 

Although, I am pretty sure Dad liked Robert Service before he was in Alaska. I think Service poems may have been one of the northward motivators in his life. 

As I write all these things, I realize I should probably confirm all these details with Dad. But that seems like work, so I will just assume I am right. 

Because when am I ever wrong?!?

I got this book from a library book sale last fall. 

Do you know this poem?

There are strange things done in the midnight sun

By the men who moil for gold;

The Arctic trails have their secret tales

That would make your blood run cold;

The Northern lights have seen queer sights,

But the queerest they ever did see

Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge

I cremated Sam McGee. 

Etc.

I heard this poem a thousand times as a kid. As a parent, picking up an illustrated copy of the poem, I was a little surprised. Because who really needs to illustrate a poem of a man dying and being burned by his friend for children? I have yet to read this to my kids, but it sort of delights me in the absurdity of it. And I kind of love the pictures. 

As a kid, the weirdness of this poem never really struck me. I think kids often accept as commonplace things that adults think are too utterly too too for innocent children's ears. 

The gist of this poem is that Sam McGee was from Tennessee and he never acclimated to the Alaskan temperatures. As he lay dying, he made his friend promise to cremate him, not leave him to freeze. 

Sam was dying, so what could he do? He promised. But he hated the idea of it all. 

A promise made is a debt unpaid...

I love that line.

He does the deed in the boiler of a ship washed up on the marge of Lake Labarge. When he looks in to see how the cremating is getting along, 

(Yes, we have an illustration of the "cremation")

And there sat Sam,

looking cool and calm, in the heart of the furnace roar.

And he wore a smile you could see a mile, and he said

"Please close that door.

It's fin in hear,

but I greatly fear you'll let in the cold and storm--

Since I left Plaintree, down in Tennessee, 

It's the first time I've been warm." 

It is a crazy poem. But I kind of love all its weirdness. Alaska is weird. And I miss that place sometimes. 

The Mitten by Alvin Tressalt & Illustrated by Yaroslava

This book is based on the same folktale that Jan Brett's The Mitten is based on. So the story line is pretty much identical. However, the cast of characters is different. I think I might like this version better. The characters are spicier. 

I wondered about that. Are Jan Brett's characters just too good? Is that why I am not as interested in them? Hmm.... Something to ponder. 

I adore Jan Brett's illustrations, but I love these colors. And I like tiny little illustrations. 

Since this is a vintage book, the colored pages alternate with a mostly monochromatic layout. 

This little boy was in the woods picking up sticks for firewood when he lost his mitten. 

Now how a boy could do this

on the coldest day of winter

I'll never know, but that's the way 

my grandfather tells the story. 

Inserting a little reality. 

A little mouse notices the cozy mitten.

Unfortunate for the mouse's solitude, everyone else notices the mitten too. 

A frog (who should be sound asleep under the ice if he was any kind of proper frog.)

An adorable owl.

A bunny in a fabulous red coat.

This bear has a super vest. 

And do you see the animals in the mitten? They include a wild boar and wolf. 

The bear was just about too much for the mitten's seam. 

And then, along comes granny cricket. 

The last straw!

Unlike Jan Brett's version, the boy retraced his steps to find his ripped apart mitten. 

And he thought he saw a little mouse scurrying away

 with a bit of red wool perched on her head. 

It looked very much like the lining

 from the thumb of his missing mitten.