| CARVIEW |
“Oh, the weather outside is frightful
and my book is so delightful.
Since I’ve no no place to go,
let it snow, read a book, let it snow.”
The weather is awful. We’re getting 18 to 20+ inches of snow.
It is a winter wonderland.
I am loving reading Amanda in Ireland: The Body in the Bog,
by Darlene Foster.
The book is SO good!
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.
Jennie
We are learning about India. We started with our Big Book Atlas to find India and also where we live. As always, geography holds a keen interest for children. Of course we became sidetracked in the best of ways, to the poles (we’re reading Mr. Popper’s Penguins) and the vast ocean. When we finally focused on India, tigers were the big interest.
Tigers! The best thing I did was to read two tiger books, The Story of Little Babaji, and The Tiger-skin Rug. Read on!
I vividly remember the book Little Black Sambo when I was a little girl. I loved that book. Did you? Do you remember the tigers running around the tree and turning into butter? This was a classic book.
Fast forward to teaching preschool. I discovered the book again, but it was different. The characters weren’t black, they were from India. That was the way the original story was written, as the author lived in India for thirty years. Here is a brief description I wrote about the book:
The Story of Little Babaji
Helen Bannerman wrote this story in 1899. When I was a child, I loved Little Black Sambo, which was an adaptation of this book. That book was banned, and the original, based in India, was reborn. Thank goodness. Not only is it a great story, it is so beloved in my classroom that we host play performances for families. When a children’s book has a repeating phrase that encourages children to join the reader and say aloud; “Little Babaji, I’m going to eat you up”, it cements their love for the book.
The original book was banned. It had become a symbol of racial injustice. Yet, that was never the author’s intent, way back in 1899. Along came the illustrator Fred Marcellino who understood the story and wanted to bring it back to the original intent of the author. He didn’t change the words, but he changed the names of the characters to true Indian names – Babaji, Mamaji, and Papaji.
The book is high on my top ten children’s book list. Really. My readers know I am picky, so that vote speaks volumes. Children are always glued to the story. They love to help me with the chant, “Little Babaji, I’m going to eat you up.” We have done play performances for families based on this book. In my decades of teaching, this book is one of the best. It has withstood the test of time, from being loved to being banned to being redone as it was meant to be.
The Tiger-skin Rug, by Gerald Rose was written in 1979.
It is a wonderful story of an old tiger who is thin and hungry. He keeps looking through the window into the Rajah’s house. There is food. There is family. He is hungry for both.
When he sees a servant beating rugs – including a tiger rug – he has a brilliant idea to get rid of the tiger rug and pretend he is the rug. It worked!
The tiger enjoyed his life with the Rajah’s family, pretending to be a rug, until robbers came into the palace. Oh no! He had to do something. He roared the biggest roar, scaring away the robbers, and opening up himself as a real tiger. Not a rug. The Rajah was shocked! Of course he welcomed the tiger into the family as a real tiger.
Of course the next best thing to reading these books is becoming tigers. Grrrr!
I don’t care if a book is old or new. I care if a book is good. These are two of the best tiger books. Happy reading.
Jennie
January 10, 1976
January 10, 2026
Happy Anniversary!
Jennie
‘What an astonishing thing a book is. It’s a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles. But one glance at it and you’re inside the mind of another person, maybe somebody dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, an author is speaking clearly and silently inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people who never knew each other, citizens of distant epochs. Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic.”
– Carl Sagan – Cosmos, Part II: The Persistence of Memory, 1980
Thank you to beth,I didn’t have my glasses on…. for sharing this remarkable quote. Actually, remarkable is an understatement.
I think about my childhood, and how I never had the experience Carl Sagan talks about. Never. There was no ‘getting lost’ in a book. I only remember one time being in a library. My mother was a voracious reader, but she didn’t read to her children. My grandmother had a book I loved, The Five Chinese Brothers, in a drawer, and I looked at it when I visited. My first grade teacher read aloud The Little House, by Virginia Lee Burton. I remember it to this day. After that, there was no reading aloud at school. So sad. By high school, the only teacher who tried to read aloud a book to the class – Moby Dick – was a disaster. My interest in reading books stopped at this point.
The two books I read in high school on my own, after the movie, were Gone With the Wind and To Kill a Mockingbird. That was the closest I came to Carl Sagan, and it was wonderful.
College had no books that triggered a reading interest. Sad.
The ‘lightbulb moment’ happened when we moved to Massachusetts with our two young children. I took them to the library. Hooray! Our daughter spotted Jumanji, by Chris Van Allsburg and was excited, because her teacher had read aloud the book. I asked our son what book his teacher had read, and he was excited to tell me about The Runaway Bunny, by Margaret Wise Brown.
That was the start of my reading, and reading aloud. It has grown in leaps and bounds, in many ways. Thank goodness. Thank you, Carl Sagan. Yes, books are magic!
Jennie
The Amos McGee books are wonderful.
The first in the series, A Sick Day for Amos McGee,
won the coveted Caldecott Medal.
I love the newest book,
A Snow Day for Amos McGee.
Amos works at the zoo. His best friends are the animals – specifically the elephant, rhinoceros, owl, turtle, and penguin. They love Amos. The books are about coming to the rescue, and friendship. The newest book is full of adventure and excitement.
I get to share (gift) this book and the animals! But I’m getting ahead of myself.
My favorite preschoolers outside of school – our wonderful neighbors – love books and reading. I have had the pleasure of introducing them to many terrific picture books and chapter books. They love Amos McGee.
Sooo… my Christmas present to them is the new book AND all five of the animals! I am SO excited! Giving feels very good.
“Sometimes the smallest things
take up the most room
in your heart”
~Winnie the Pooh~
Jennie
Gloria is spending Christmas and the holidays with me and my Hubby. She is very happy! On Christmas Eve I asked her if she wanted to write a letter to Santa. Yes, and no. She felt awkward telling me that she wanted something special. So, we had a heart-to-heart talk. The conversation went something like this:
“Jennie, you know I love the Aqua Room and my friends.”
“I know, Gloria.”
“Well, the problem is, sometimes I’m alone. Like at night and on some weekends. I get lonely. I want a new friend. Do you think Santa would understand? Do you understand?”
“Gloria, I think Santa will understand. And of course I understand! Do you want me to help you write that letter?”
“Yes! Thank you, Jennie. I love you.”
Gloria told me exactly what she wanted to say to Santa. Here is her letter:
The next morning – Christmas morning – I woke up to find Gloria smiling on the couch, hugging a new friend.
“Look what Santa brought me! His name is Sam. He’s wonderful.”
Jennie
I will share this Christmas ad every year, because… it’s that good.
Christmas is about family and friends.
It’s a time to smile and remember.
Yes, remember.
Because in the end, it’s our memories that stick with us.
That’s what we have.
May you find happiness and joy this season.
It’s the little things, not the big things, that are important.
Dance, smile, hug your kids, look at the sky.
Make memories!
Jennie
I believe. This is the season of believing, and what happened yesterday is proof.
Yesterday was a bad day. Period. School was difficult, and nothing I was doing with children made an ounce of difference. When I got home, Hubby asked, “How was your day?” I said, “I don’t want to talk about it.” I didn’t. Why hash all that went wrong?
I went to the grocery store and splurged on a Powerball Ticket. The clerk is always wonderful and chatty. She asked how my day was, and then I asked how her day was.
“My thirteen-year-old is bullied in school, and they are doing nothing about it. Today we got an eviction notice. We have to be out by the end of January.”
So, here is this happy person, someone I enjoy talking with when I’m at the store, and her bad day makes mine seem like peanuts. I asked her to blow on my Powerball ticket for good luck, because I’d give her a million dollars if I won.
Giving. That’s what it’s all about.
And then more happened.
I went to pick up a sandwich on the way to school today. A former parent was there, and she was excited to see me. She needed to tell me about her son, and how life is not so good. She cried. Then she took my shoulders and said, “Your blog has saved me. I read every post. It’s what keeps me going. I don’t know how I’d survive without reading your blog.”
My goodness. I hugged her. I had no words. Everyone in the store was looking. You could have heard a pin drop.
When you have a bad day, remember someone else had a day (or more) that is worse.
Count your blessings, because there are many. You just might not see them at the time.
Believe. Right around the corner is something wonderful. You just have to look for it. That takes patience, which I’m still working on. In this case, the two events are proof.
“People will forget what you said,
people will forget what you did,
but people will never forget
how you made them feel.”
~Maya Angelou~
Jennie
This is a repost of my favorite Christmas books. The only new edition (featured in my last post) is Mr. Willowby’s Head Over Heels Christmas. Every year these books grow stronger, because children love them. These are the books children and adults want to read over and over again. That’s why they’re the best. Please, go to the library, get some of these books and read them aloud to your children. You will be hooked, too.
Christmas books are often more meaningful to read to a child after the holiday, once a child has experienced the joy of Christmas. Here is my collection:
I want to share with you my favorite Christmas books. I love books, and I love reading to children. After a gazillion years, these are the ‘tried and true’, stories that children love. Me, too!
Grab tissues, laughter, and wonder, and some history. Some books you will recognize. Others might seem new, but they’re not— they’re just better.
The first time I read The Polar Express, by Chris Van Allsburg was in 1985, when the book was published. I was at a huge family Christmas gathering. Someone put the book in my hand and asked me to read it to the crowd. This was a new book for me, and as I read the words I was on that train ride. The ending was hard to read aloud with my heart in my throat. The movie is good, but the book is superior.
Red and Lulu, by Matt Tavares is the story of two cardinals who live in a mighty evergreen tree. They love their home, their tree. Best of all, they love it when winter arrives and Christmas carolers sing close by. Red leaves to get food, and when he returns, the tree is being cut down and hauled away. He tells Lulu to stay, and he desperately follows the truck as it drives the tree away – but he can’t fly fast enough. The tree becomes the tree at Rockefeller Center, and the story behind finding Lulu and what happens is fascinating. It’s Christmas, nature, love, adventure, and never giving up.
On Christmas Eve, by Peter Collington is a captivating wordless book, in the style of The Snowman by Raymond Briggs. It is based in England, with fairies and Santa Claus traditions. It is fascinating to follow the fairies helping Santa!
Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree, by Robert Barry is a delightfully predictable tale of a tree that is too tall. Each time the top is snipped off, it goes to someone else who has the same problem, and so on. The mouse gets the very last tree top. The story is done in rhyme, always a delight to the ears of children.
Morris’s Disappearing Bag, by Rosemary Wells is the story of Morris, the youngest in the family, who is too little to play with his sibling’s gifts. He discovers one last present under the tree, a disappearing bag. I wonder if J.K. Rowling read this book- perhaps it was the inspiration to create Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak.
Carl’s Christmas, by Alexandra Day is one of the Carl book series. It is beautifully done with full color illustrations. Of course Carl is a dog who is often left to look after the baby. That beginning alone is a story grabber. Best of all, it is a wordless book, leaving much to speculate and talk about.
Santa Bruce, by Ryan T. Higgins is the newest book on this list. Bruce is a grumpy old bear, and is again the victim of mistaken identity. He is not the real Santa, yet all the animals are convinced that he is. The book is absolutely hilarious.
If I had to pick only one out of the pile of books, it would be Apple Tree Christmas, by Trinka Hakes Noble. The story takes place in New Hampshire in the 1800’s. A blizzard, a farm, a tree, and a child who loves to draw. It is thrilling from beginning to end… grab the tissues, it’s a true story.
My almost number one book is The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree, by Gloria Houston. The story takes place in rural Appalachia, close to my roots. It is a story of rural traditions, WWI, a train, and what a mother does on Christmas Eve. And, it’s a true story. Recommended for kindergarten and above.
Merry Christmas, Strega Nona, by Tomie dePaola is a favorite. Everyone loves Strega Nona and Big Anthony. This book incorporates the culture of Italy and Christmas, and the lessons of life.
Night Tree, by Eve Bunting is a modern tale that tells the story of a family and their tree in the woods. Every Christmas Eve the family bundles up and heads from their house to the woods. They find “their tree”, the one they have decorated every year for the animals. It is a well written story, weaving adventure and giving, and family being together.
Dr. Seuss has always been one of the best. He outdid himself with How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The message of the true meaning of Christmas shines through in this book. Please skip the movie, it doesn’t hold a candle to the book.
Every adult should read these books. Period. They are that good. Then, spread the joy and learning by reading aloud these books to children, young and old. They will love the stories. You will, too.
Merry Christmas!
Jennie
A Teacher's Reflections