Siblings

I have been thinking about siblings a lot lately. These relationships are complicated and, at times frustrating. Yet there is a great deal of love built in to a good sibling relationship, and if you can get past the “mom loves me more than you”bit, it can be golden. Which brings me to today’s book, “I love you the purplest” by Barbara M. Joose. It’s the story of two brothers, and the competition for their mother’s affection. Of course, the mother is wise enough to see what they are doing, and through color and beautiful imagery, she lets both of her sons know that she loves them both equally, and that because they are each so different, she loves them in different ways. This is a great book to help siblings understand that when it comes to a parent’s love, there IS no competition.

 

 

Life in a Little House

I started this blog with the intent to write about different children’s literature that appealed to me, and that I thought people should know about.  I realized something today though:  although I am a teacher that does not necessarily translate to blogging. (0:

I am actively reading several different blogs – some about travel, some about teaching and of course, some about literature.

As a result of this practice I realize that there must be hundreds upon thousands of people out there reading and blogging about all kinds of interesting things, and therefore what kind of an impact can my little blog about children’s books have?

The answer is, naturally, who knows?  So I guess I should press on, because one never knows.

Today’s author is Laura Ingalls Wilder.  If you have lived under a rock for the last 100 years, first of all I’m impressed, and secondly I will tell you that the name of the series is “Little House”. The most famous book is entitled “The Little House on the Prairie”, and also became the basis for a very well known T.V. show in the 70’s.

I picked this series because I had an epiphany while book shopping not to long ago with a friend who suffers from dementia.  My friend loves to read; indeed I think it is at this stage a lifeline for her, as it is the only thing she actively does at this point in her life.  Keeping that in mind we frequently find ourselves shopping for books, and as her disease progresses I know that soon she will not, in fact she may not now, really understand what she reads.

When I happened upon the “Little House” series, all in one book,  my friend was enchanted.  She did not remember the story, or any reference to Laura Ingalls Wilder and I knew we had found our book.  Naturally, I too was delighted, because it reminded me that I had received the whole series from a dear friend upon the birth of my second daughter.  She had enclosed a card that said she could think of no better gift for two little girls living in the West.  My husband and I took turns reading the stories of Laura, Mary, Carrie, Pa, Ma, and of course, Jack the bulldog to our girls when they were school aged, and it has become a well-loved series of books in our house, now proudly sitting in the “children’s section” of our library.

If you are unfamiliar with this series I heartily recommend it.  There are nine books, and of these my family read:

• Little House in the Big Woods
• Little House on the Prairie
• On the Banks of Plum Creek
• By the Shores of Silver Lake
  The Long Winter   and
• Little Town on the Prairie

These all chronicle Laura and her family’s lives.  The others are :

• Farmer Boy, about Almanzo Wilder, (Laura’s future husband)
• These Happy Golden Years ( about Laura’s time away from her family) and
• The First Four Years ( about Laura’s marriage and life with Almanzo)

In short, these books appeal to a wide audience. You can read them, or have them read to you from the time you are six years old, and even when you are in your eighties, and no longer fully comprehending what is happening in a book, they can still bring joy in their simple stories of lives lived long ago.