perfect activity for "Perfect Square"

by Melissa

a good lesson for the future mathematician and artist -- and perhaps a skill-building antidote for a trending perfectionist -- comes through Michael Hall's "Perfect Square," a picture book about a square whose life takes many unexpected turns.

It was a perfect square.

It had four matching corners

and four equal sides.

And it was perfectly happy.

But on Monday,

the square was cut into pieces

and poked full of holes.

It wasn’t perfectly square anymore.

this is sort of like Lego blocks. the girls get these amazing sets, build them according to the directions, and then play with them in their storytelling adventures -- great, great, great (or should I say awesome?). but just as great: them tearing it all apart and creating whatever wacky invention they can think up.

my youngest and i used the "Perfect Square" for some literal hands-on lessons. i took square sheets of paper, cut them up into random shapes, then challenged her to see what she could create out of them.

 her favorite was a rocket ship.

she also created a mountain scene.

and then she convinced me that we didn't need a background page at all and constructed a paper sculpture of a river. (now that's thinking outside the box!)

it was a fun activity. and now that i think of it, i might just add it to our Summer Cups list of indoor fun. or save a large box and make it an outdoor patio activity. maybe even use a different shape...

i'm starting to think like my kiddo rather than a rule-following adult. how perfectly awesome...

book pick: Wait and See

by Melissa

i am currently sitting in the children's section of our local library as my girls pile up book after book on the table in front of me -- lots of Barbie, Thomas, Marley and Fancy Nancy so far, along with Sciezka's Trucktown. so it seemed appropriate to, belatedly, share one of Sweet One's and my favorite new library discoveries: Wait and See, by Robert Munsch (he of Love You Forever fame).

it's Olivia's birthday and she makes a wish -- a BIG wish -- which instantly comes true, setting off a cascading series of events involving multiple birthday cakes and candles, wishes, wooshes, and bigger and bigger payoffs (though not for everyone's benefit). parents will appreciate some of the humor tucked in here ("I don't think you understand how this works..."), while children will appreciate the magic of pure adolescent triumph. Michael Martchenko's illustrative interpretations add to the book, as humorous as Munsch's words (those neighbors put up with a lot, you can tell).

like many of our most recent book picks, this story started as a storytelling adventure, until Munsch finally settled on this published version. it certainly is a story that reflects that origin, and you imagine the kind of fun he had creating it with each new group of little listeners.

if wishes were horses, my daughters certainly would wish for ponies right now (Olivia does not). me? i'd wish for Olivia's next-to-last wish, the one involving a dump truck (no spoiler here), for the flexibility it'd provide to fulfill so many other petty yet delightful wishes (like the luxury of never doing dishes again). what about you?

book pick: Let's Sing a Lullaby with the Brave Cowboy

by Melissa

every family has their own sense of humor. i remember the self-conscious moment when my husband and i realized that not everyone finds "$9.99" to be the funniest kids song ever and equally hummable even when the kids are not around. in books, our humor is found in anything by Mo Willems and now, apparently, anything by Jan Thomas. i sigh with disgust every time a giant Richard Scarry book is brought forward (more on that another time), but i'll happily read about Elephant and Piggie or the Dust Bunnies over and over again (probably thanks to brevity as much as hilarity).

the latest repeat-read for us from Thomas is Let's Sing a Lullaby with the Brave Cowboy. my cowboy voice for this one is eerily spot-on to the voice provided on the website, although the tune i use is more "Rock a Bye Baby" (note: the MP3 follows the book very closely but is different). a wolf makes a "surprise" appearance at the end, and for him i've settled on a nice mixture of Huell Hoswer's The Backson with a dash of Nathan Lane's pretty-much-anything-but-this-will-do-for-the-kiddos.

are your kids afraid of shadows in their darkened bedrooms? home on the range, this cowboy isn't much different. in fact, he's not very brave at all. but he is golldurned funny. let's just say a recurring line in this book, besides the lullaby, is "Eeeeeeek!"



what about you? what authors or books strike your family's funny bone?



this post contains affiliate links.

book pick: Commander Toad

by Melissa

part of me hopes you know already of the "brave and bright, bright and brave," the preeminent Commander Toad. the greater part of me hopes you don't so that i can have the pleasure of introducing you.

Commander Toad is at the helm of Star Warts, a "lean, green" spaceship that star-hops through "deep hopper space." he is the creation of the equally preeminent Jane Yolen, one of the most prolific and talented children's authors out there (or down here). you may know her best for her How Do Dinosaurs... series, or perhaps Not All Princesses Dress in Pink, or Owl Moon, or any of the over 300 books she's authored. (did i mention she's prolific?)

there are seven Commander Toad adventures, each riddled with pun-ishing humor (the best kind, in my DNA-driven opinion. anyone else out there appreciate Pearls Before Swine?). one of the books, for example, is called Commander Toad and the Dis-Asteroid. bah-dum-ching!

the series is illustrated by the wonderful Bruce Degen, who is the author-illustrator of another favorite of ours, Jamberry. he also illustrated The Magic School Bus series of books. i love his interpretations of Yolen's descriptions.

these are exceedingly fun read-aloud books. i've endeavored to give each character a unique voice, with emphasis on the goofy aspects that get the girls giggling. we've read these enough that they now join me in proclaiming together "COMMANDER TOAD!" a'la "Pigs in Space" when appropriate (complete with trailing off, yes. we are wonderfully ridiculous readers).

in any case, i hope you have the pleasure of meeting Commander Toad and his stal-wart crew soon (snigger), or perhaps remembering your own toadally fun adventures (snigger) in deep-hopper space with the "brave and bright, bright and brave," COMMANDER TOAD!

ps... there apparently was a really horrible tv show made based off the books. i saw a clip on YouTube and had to stop it, it was so bad. it's not remotely like the books (different characters, including one made into a human, no puns, ugh!), so on the off-chance that's how you've heard of Commander Toad, do your best to forget it forever and find the books for the real story!



this post contains an affiliate link somewhere. you know. just in case.

book pick: the day the goose got loose

by Melissa

you know those stories where one thing leads to another -- that mouse chasing a cookie, for example. sometimes i feel i'm stuck in one of those. the Small One slept in. so she didn't take a nap. so i didn't get all my work done. so in goes the movie so i can. which pushes back dinner. which means more leftovers the girls refuse to eat. which means crying and whining until, finally, bedtime. and then, of course, "Mo-m-my?! I ha' t' go PO-TTY!"

the day the goose got loose is an elevated sort of tale, and not just because it involves migrating geese. this rhyming tale is by Reeve Lindbergh, who until this post i did not know was the youngest of Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh. the words are wonderful, and delightfully over-the-top. but it's the illustrations by one of our favorites, Steven Kellogg, that are a key reason we come back to this book time and again. he has a wonderful talent for interpreting stories and taking them to the next level.

in this book, a goose gets loose (you probably got that part). and then all hell breaks loose. "When the goose got loose / She caused a riot. / Nobody ever thought she'd try it! / There wasn't any more pace and quiet. The day the goose got loose." and what can come at the end of such a day? a dream, a dream of something rather wonderful.

and now that my own two daughters are in bed dreaming, i have the space to remember that a part of me will miss loosey goosey days such as these.



this post contains an affiliate link.

book pick: Peanut Butter Rhino

by Melissa

i may be an quilt-appreciating gal of two little princess-loving daughters. but around this house, we appreciate a good butt joke. and poop. boogers. snigger, snigger.

enter this week's book pick, Peanut Butter Rhino, a simple and colorful brite from Scholastic ca. 1994 and written and illustrated by Vincent Andriani. Rhino is going on a picnic with his friend Elephant. but along the way he misplaces his peanut butter sandwich. his jungle friends try to help him find it. in the end, the squished sandwich is found. but let's just say it's not edible anymore. snigger, snigger.

book pick: The Flea's Sneeze

by Melissa

eg'scuse be. i think i goddo sdeeze. it's that time of year, so this book pick seems appropriate. first it's Sweet One. then me. then Small One. then Sweet One again. her poor nose. but there's an endearing quality to it, you know. that gargantuan pile of tissue, only one tiny corner of each sheet used before a new one is pulled from the box. her little sniffling nose. i just smother her with kisses for it all. and then, of course, i get it again...

enter The Flea's Sneeze, where barnyard animals are bedded down in the barn for the night, all sleeping peacefully -- all, that is, except for the flea. "No one heard his garbled plea, / 'Does eddybody hab a tissue for be?'" it goes without saying that soon all his friends are awake with him, including "the mouse / He used for a house; And the rat, and the cat, / And the black-eyed bat..."

soon enough they all get back to sleep. "Everyone slept just like a log-- / Except the hog..."

now. does eddybody hab a tissue?

book pick: I Loathe You

by Melissa

what if monsters celebrated Valentine's Day? this book isn't about the Hallmark holiday, but it is about the love of a Parental Monster for a Child Monster (gender-neutral, these monsters are). it's like a grotesque, glop-loving spin on the more pastel-hued Guess How Much I Love You. which is to say, it's right up our alley when we're more in the mood for silly than saccharine...

I Loathe You is by artist David Slonim. looking at his semi-abstract paintings that are the stuff of galleries, you wouldn't think this would be the kind of man to produce storyful art about monsters, a slug and a rubber duck. but he is a children's author, to be sure, and the kind that understands what parents enjoy as well as the young'uns.

so, how much does Big Monster loathe Little Monster? more than leeches, what the dog threw up and certainly more than stinky, sweaty socks. and even if Little messes up with a "please" or a bath, Big will always loathe the little brute, from horns to claws.

hm, maybe a tiny bit saccharine.

book pick: The Retired Kid

life has been really crazy lately... which is to say, more crazy than usual for any family with young children! i'll spare you the details, but in short it involves an ever-expanding to-do list, a house encased in plastic, correspondingly elevated pms symptoms, and the newly discovered need for a security system. oh, and a stomach virus. yay!

a friend of mine reminded me of a date on our calendar, however, that makes everything bearable: Cancun 2013. we're celebrating our 10-year anniversaries with our husbands at an all-inclusive resort, which means nothing to worry about but the sunscreen. swim-up bars. towels shaped into animals. grass umbrellas. some local ruins. someone else cooking all the meals. ahhhhhh...

sometimes my husband and i daydream about "when we retire." our kids are ages 2 and 5, but we're already banking on grandkids and bicycle tours of Europe. maybe even an rv to tour the lower 48. but lately, the habit has come to annoy me. for one thing, they really are pipe dreams. who knows if we'll be able to retire, much less go to Europe! for another, it makes it seem like what's happening now is some kind of lesser existence – when it is anything but! even when there are more stresses than usual, what's happening in our lives now is nothing short of splendiferous.


a fun book we've been reading around here that gets me in the right present-frame of mind is The Retired Kid, a somewhat-older gem by the prolific Jon Agee. "It's hard work being a kid." so Brian decides to retire at the ripe age of 8. he flies off to (where else?) Florida, and settles in as the latest resident of the Happy Sunset Retirement Community. there are card games, golf, and poolside naps. but also long documentaries, prune juice smoothies, and false teeth mishaps. so Brian gets to thinking about "the good old days." and you know what? being a kid ain't so bad.

and neither is being a parent! (i even hear they have resorts with childcare nowadays...)



this post contains all of one affiliate link.

talking mice

by Melissa

talking dinosaurs. talking bears. talking frogs. but you know the pinnacle of anthropomorphism is the talking mouse.

there are tons of those skittering creatures out there in children's literature and film. a nice compilation is posted by Rose West, who wonders at why the mouse is so prevalent. i think she puts it beautifully when she says:

Perhaps it is vulnerability. Perhaps children, who are often unable to clearly express themselves, find similarities between themselves and these tiny animals. Perhaps these fictional mice and their ability to talk represent something to children, something like hope.

either way, now into my 30s, i'm still smitten by these whiskered protagonists. and, like doll houses and fairies, it's fun to watch my girls start to engage these pint-size joys as well. both my girls have giggling fits over the mice in Beatrix Potter's "The Tale of Two Bad Mice," thanks to BBC's animated retelling. they also have an affinity for Angelina Ballerina and Lilly.

try though i might, however, i cannot get an ounce of interest out of my 5-year-old in Ralph, Abel, Stuart, or Basil. the closest we get to boy-mouse approval is Lilly's chums: Chester, Wilson and Owen. and i think that has more to do with Lilly and a blanket that is yellow. where's the love?

i'm rushing her again, of course. she's only 5! 

i constantly find myself torn between wanting to keep my daughter little and wishing she'd jump to the next stage. 

"oh, i love this one too"
versus
"this was one of mommy's favorites when she was a little girl..."

"tell me again about your imaginary superhero"
versus
"you need to learn to tie these goldurned shoes yourself!" 

she's only 5, and yet already 5. and i keep envisioning what i want for her, rather than viewing the world from her 3-foot-10 perspective—and marveling.

there are amazing moms out there reading full-length chapter books to their kindergartners, who are ready for the next step. my big girl is still interested in picture books (preferably with pictures that are princess-like)—and that's ok. she memorizes the stories with the help of images, then plucks a book off the shelf, finds a cozy corner, and reads to herself, over and over again, page after page, time and again. what a subtle yet wonderful way to instill a love of language and story in a child.

part of the genesis of this blog was to remind myself (and other harried parents of young children) to enjoy these fleeting years. to embrace the silly. in my book-obsessed world, that also means letting go, letting go of this rush to share and slow down enough to follow my daughter's pace—in small, mouse-like steps. 

(if mice wear plastic princess pumps, that is.)

what whiskered friends do you hope to share with your young ones as they grow older? i'm keeping a running list of our favorites (and hopefully future favorites) here.

fine print: this post contains Amazon affiliate links. learn more here.

book pick: Snoring Beauty

i adore this week's book pick. it has all the makings of a silly = sane top 10. it's a fractured fairytale. the illustrations are top-notch. the text has a lovely flow. and the in-jokes for parents are hilarious. "Yada, yada, hippity-hop..." onto the synopsis...

in Snoring Beauty, an irate fairy nearly dooms Princess Drachmina Lofresca Malvolio Margarine (er, you can just call her Marge) to death by pie-wagon, but a half-deaf fairy (Tintinnitus) saves her with a salvaged wish. instead, Marge turns into a sleeping dragon who can only be awoken by a quince. in the meantime, the village suffers. Marge is good at everything, thanks to the fairy wishes at her christening – and that includes snoring, on a dragon scale. in the end, a Quince does in fact save her from permanent slumber (and the gentry from permanent hearing loss), although he quickly finds that some things never change... yet love endures, and the couple lives happily (if noisily) ever after.

i have so much fun with the voices in this book, it's almost embarrassing.

the author, Bruce Hale, is an actor and Fulbright Scholar in storytelling. the illustrator, Howard Fine, also makes people smile as a dentist in his other life (you may also know him as the illustrator of Deb Lund's dinosaur books).

more fractured fairytale fun on this blog:

book pick	book pick

i'm still working on my fractured fairy tales for these two books. now i'll have to add a third. have one of your own? send it to me! sillyissane@gmail.com

this post contains affiliate links for the book.

book pick: Are You Grumpy, Santa?

we don't "do" Santa in our house, although we do share the story of Saint Nicholas with our kids to explain where the idea of Santa came from. and we're sure to let them know that it's fun to pretend about Santa, just like it's fun to pretend about fairies and talking cars.

now, if Santa were real, i'm sure he'd have bad days like all of us. even saints suffer, after all. and since when are the holidays a smooth sleigh ride full of jolly smiles and ho-ho-ho-laughter? yeah, right. more like party after party with obligation after obligation and, with kids, too little sleep and too much sugar begetting two big crankypantses. about the only thing that's likely true is that fat tummy from eating too much. coal for the lot of you! bah and humbug! ... and then we watch our kids unwrap a little gift, or enjoy time with our grandparents, and we remember what the season's about and settle back into that happy cozy Christmas feeling. ah, that's better.

enter Are You Grumpy, Santa? by brothers Gregg and Evan Spiridellis, they of JibJab fame. Santa is having an epic-bad day. but there's work to be done, delivering all those presents. so off he goes. and things still continue to go wrong. itching, sneezing, and rubbing a bruised bum, Santa finally arrives at his last stop and finds a surprise gift waiting for him: a plate full of cookies, of course. and he finally smiles.

here's hoping your holidays are filled with many smiles. Merry Christmas!