Hello, friends. Want to see what books my children are getting for Christmas this year? This first is for my five-year-old ("five-and-a-HALF" she would correct me, if she could but read!). I chose the Taschen edition of The Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, edited by Noel Daniel, because the illustrations are so lovely and laden with history. Several months ago, I wrote about … [Read more...]
Circling back
Last night, I realized that we forgot to introduce our 7yo to fairy tales and fables. No Hans Christian Andersen. No Brothers Grimm. No Aesop. No Monkey God, from the Chinese tradition. No Coyote, from indigenous traditions. No Disney versions, even. Exception: the summer he was 2, we took a roadtrip and he was so fussy and tearful that I spent the entire trip facing backwards (from the front … [Read more...]
Holocaust literature for younger children
"Who was Hitler?" asked my seven-year-old, a couple of weeks ago. It was 7.30 on a weekend morning. It turns out he'd been inspecting the books on my desk. I ought to have seen this coming: I've amassed heaps of primary and secondary sources about the Second World War over the past three years. It just never dawned on me that he'd go browsing through the unglamorous adult books in the study … [Read more...]
A History of Violence
A couple of months ago at the launch party for Rivals in the City, I read aloud a scene that takes place in front of Newgate Prison. The year is 1860. A wooden scaffold has been built outside the prison gates, as it was before each public execution. The hangman, William Calcraft, is testing the gallows and trapdoor to ensure that they work. And the crowd is eagerly, boisterously, anticipating the … [Read more...]
Love You Forever
Hello, friends. My mother has a huge collection of Robert Munsch picture books leftover from her teaching days. For the past couple of weeks, my children have been reading them. I'm ambivalent about Munsch's work. I've always loved The Paper Bag Princess but find a lot of the other books (Mortimer, Thomas' Snowsuit) far too shouty and obnoxious. I stand by those judgements. But there's one about … [Read more...]
You Are Stardust
Hello, friends. Today, I want to share with you a book that I happened upon in my local indie bookseller, Novel Idea. It's a picture book called You Are Stardust, by Elin Kelsey with artwork by Soyeon Kim. It blew my mind. It starts with perfect, confident simplicity: "You are stardust. Every tiny atom in your body came from a star that exploded long before you were born." As it … [Read more...]