On a busy Monday afternoon, I picked my younger two kids up from school and trekked out on a short list of errands with them in tow. They were not thrilled to say the least, however, after our first stop at the library they were pretty quiet because their noses were in books the rest of the time, which impressed the post office worker. She had a delighted smile as she watched them read while waiting in line.
While at the library earlier, all three of us were delighted to find a new Bakery Dragon book, The Bakery Dragon and the Fairy Cake, on the library’s shelf. (In 2024 I wrote about the first Ember book by Devin Elle Kurtz in a blog post). We were happy to see the return of Ember, the bread baking dragon, and his floury adventures. I read the book with my kids that night when we finally settled down on the couch for a few minutes after pajamas and teeth, shortly before bed.
In the story, a small visitor arrives at the bakery with the special request that Ember bake a birthday cake for the fairy queen. Ember quickly learns that a birthday cake is not a bread or a roll or scrumptious flatbread drizzled in honey. His fairy companion is quick to shoot down all of Ember’s delicious to hilariously odious attempts to fulfill her request until they visit the local library for just the right book: a cook book. Armed with a recipe, Ember bakes a beautiful cake and goes on to learn how to make more confectious wonders. My kids enjoyed the Turnip fairy’s constant frustration with Ember’s not-a-cake cakes. Just like the first book, the illustrations are cute and the breads and (most of) the “not-a-cake” concoctions look scrumptious!
Besides enjoying the scrumptiously illustrated breads, I enjoyed going back and reading the notes left around the bakery by Ember and Bea and the titles of books on the town’s library shelves. The vegetable fairies live in pumpkin and gourd houses.This was something my daughter and I found exceptionally cute! I like that Ember isn’t defeated by his lack of cake knowledge. He perseveres and overcomes his knowledge lacking problems with self education and experimentation.
This book surprisingly provided us with an opening to talk about perseverance and the importance of not giving up. If a dragon can learn not only to bake bread but cake too, then maybe we can try learning a new skill as well. Perseverance isn’t always easy. We need all the encouragement we can get to keep going.
It feels like the White Witch from C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia has descended upon our town. We have had a consistent layer of snow and ice everywhere for well over two weeks now. It’s still mostly beautiful with the occasional cluster of gray dirty snow. We even had some more snow last night – a dusting over our “forever snow.” I love the blanket of white, but not the icy walking conditions and I definitely do not like driving or parking on streets narrowed by accumulated snow and ice along the edges.
Due to this accumulation of snow at our doors and my increasing impatience with it, I decided to pull a couple of picture books from our shelf with lovely illustrations of snow. If I keep reminding myself of the snow’s unique charm, I will hopefully be more willing to deal with its inconveniences.
A little girl wishes for the inconvenience of snow to keep her pilot mother home in Before Morning by Joyce Sidman. This book is mainly told in pictures with very little text. The text that is included is the little girl’s wish, almost a prayer for the snowstorm to come and keep her mother home. The last lines of the book are my favorite: “Make it slow and delightful and white.” Beth Krommes’ art is perfect for the snow-covered town and park. Those illustrations are some of the most beautiful pictures in this book, but my very favorite is at the end; it shows snow angels made in the freshly fallen snow near the angel statue in the park.
My favorite part about snow is the cozy feeling it brings. I share the same sentiments with Beth Krommes as stated in the illustrator’s blurb on the back jacket cover. It says she often wishes to be “snowed in with her family, a good book, and a fire in the woodstove.” I love the slow quiet snow brings. I love it when plans and school can be cancelled for a day and we all get to just be together like the family in this book. The snow creates a brief but appreciated sanctuary for everyone to huddle in, for a fleeting moment, and get a break from the busyness of everyday life.
Snow creates a brief, still sanctuary for contemplative thought in Fox’s Dream by Tejima. This book tells the story of a lone fox awaking in a moonlit snow- and ice-covered forest. On his slow meander through the trees the fox sees a single hare, but it disappears just as quickly with a leap through a clearing. The hare jumping with the dark sky backdrop makes a dramatic two page spread in the book. I love the creative use of line, texture and shadow in the illustrations. As the fox wanders, he deals with feelings of loneliness and reflects on his time as a cub, the past closeness of his family, and the warmth of spring and summer. As the fox heads back home through the woods, he meets another fox, a vixen. They share a joyful greeting and the internal knowledge that spring will come again.
Beautifully illustrated books always fill me with a special joy. Both these books have lovely woodblock or wood engraving like art. I love it when books contain a note about how the illustrations were made or even what kind of media the artist used. Unfortunately these two books do not contain any such note about the art. That fact does not take away from their beauty.
I know that when our eternal icy snow finally melts away, I will miss its beauty, especially if it is followed by mud. When that happens, I know I will be just like the girl in Joyce Sidman’s book. I will wish to, “make it slow and delightful and white.”
Happy Chinese New Year! Gong hei fat choy! The Cantonese lunar new year greeting means, “May you be happy and prosperous.”
This year will be the year of the Horse
Chinese Lunar New Year begins on February 17th this year. Celebrations start with the new moon. Our Lunar New Year celebrations have changed and evolved over the years, but a meal with family is always at the center. In many ways the core of Lunar New Year and the Mid-Autumn Festival are very similar (I have written about the Mid-Autumn Festival in previous blog posts). Both holidays focus on family and togetherness and usually center on sharing a meal. Lunar New Year has a stronger focus on fortune and prosperity and good will for the new year. Many traditions for Lunar New Year also include driving away evil spirits and bad fortune and bringing in good fortune.
A couple of years ago, my mom and I put together a Lunar New Year display at the local library. I did a bit of research about how other Asian cultures celebrate the new year. It was fun and enlightening to learn the similarities and differences between new year celebrations. One difference was the amount of time spent celebrating. While China celebrates for 15 days, South Korea and Vietnam end their celebrations at 3 days. In Vietnam the Lunar New Year is called Tết and in South Korea it is called Seollal. Overall most traditions center around family and sharing good food and wishes of fortune.
Our family usually always has a special dinner with relatives. While the Lunar New Year is celebrated in many countries throughout Asia, some traditions are similar. For example Chinese, South Koreans and Vietnamese all give out money envelopes, wear traditional clothes, and share a special meal with family. Outside of internet searches, I learned about various Lunar new year traditions from talking to friends and of course picture books.
The first author I always go to for Asian holiday books is the Asian American author, Grace Lin. Her book, Bringing in the New Year is a simple explanation of Chinese New Year celebrations as a young girl and her sisters prepare for the new year. The girls get haircuts, help make traditional foods and put on qipao dresses. Grace Lin even has activity ideas and patterns for cutouts on her website. Paper cutouts are a common way to decorate during Chinese New Year.
Happy Chinese New Year! by Demi is a small book that goes through traditions around Chinese New Year. Demi is an American author who has retold and illustrated many Chinese fairytales and fables that were shared with by her husband when he told her about his youth in China. Our favorite of her books is probably The Empty Pot. Happy Chinese New Year! is full of Demi’s delightful illustrations of small children in colorful robes running around preparing for and celebrating the New Year. She even includes a list of dishes and what they signify. I also like how there is a part about visiting relatives and about the traditional candy tray brought on these visits.
One book we usually revisit each year at the library is The Great Racewritten by David Bouchard and illustrated by Zhong-Yang Huang. This is a gorgeous retelling of the myth behind the Chinese zodiac. This book begins with a grandmother helping her granddaughter arrange cutouts of the zodiac animals and then telling her the story of the race to explain the order that the animals are placed in. The zodiac is important for the new year because each year represents an animal on the twelve-part zodiac calendar. The illustrations in this book are beautiful. The jacket note describes Huang’s style as a melding of Western influences with traditional Chinese painting and that description fits well. My kids are all very interested in the zodiac and learning about their own zodiac animals (your zodiac animal is the animal from the year in which you are born). For a while my daughter would introduce herself to kids at the playground and then follow it up with, “I’m a monkey for the Chinese zodiac! What’s your animal?” There were many confused children to say the least. (In the past my kids have enjoyed a fun Sagwa episode about the great zodiac race. Sagwa was a kid’s PBS show in the early 2000’s, based on Amy Tan’s picture book Sagwa the Chinese Siamese Cat.)
While there is a Korean version of the zodiac story it is not mentioned in Tomorrow is New Year’s Day: Seollal, a Korean Celebration of the Lunar New Year by Aram Kim. The book is a cute story about a girl preparing to share Korean Lunar New Year celebrations with her class. The girl and her mother show the class traditional dress (Hanbok) games and other new year’s traditions until her dad and brother arrive. Unfortunately, her brother does not want to wear his hanbok, but puts it on with encouragement from the other children. They all prepare tteokguk (a special new year’s rice cake soup). Traditionally, it is said that you become one year older after eating your soup. The book ends with a glossary about the Korean terms and traditions mentioned in the text. The glossary also includes pronunciation guides which are a nice bonus.
The next book I chose also teaches a lot of lunar new year traditions. It is PoPo’s Lucky Chinese New Year written by Virginia Loh-Hagan and illustrated by Renné Benoit. The story is about a little girl learning about Chinese New Year traditions from her Pópo (grandma). This book made me laugh several times as I read it outloud. The antics of the little girl in the story are quite cute. Every time she tries to get out of a New Year’s Eve chore her Pópo tells her she can’t put it off until the next day because then all the luck will be lost. The little girl then does double hard work to get even more luck. When told to wash her hair to get more luck on new year, she washes her hair three times, but her baby brother’s only one time, justifying that she needs more luck since she’s older. This book had a lot of great information tucked into the story, like the tradition of hanging the Fú (good luck) sign upside down (“Upside down” sounds a bit like the word “arrived” so when you hang the character Fú 福 upside down it is a play on words meaning luck or fortune has arrived). When the little girl learns that the number four is unlucky, she is so worried about her baby brother only having four baby teeth that she draws an extra tooth and attempts to tape it on so he won’t get bad luck. It’s nice to see her start to get along better with her “annoying” baby brother by the end. There is also a craft guide at the end of the book.
The next book is about another girl in a very different family helping her family prepare for the new year. Dumpling Soup by Jama Kim Rattigan and illustrated by Lilian Hsu-Flanders is interesting because it gives a different perspective of lunar new year celebrations. The author is a third generation Korean-American, born and raised in Hawaii. The girl in this story named, Marisa, is preparing to celebrate Lunar new year with her family (her family is Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Hawaiian and Haole [Hawaiian for Caucasian]). She helps her grandma make new year’s dumplings. All the aunties get together bustling in the kitchen to help prepare the dumplings. It is a family event. I love seeing how the family in this book blends all their different cultures together in their new year’s traditions.
The Chinese New Year Tree
Our family has created our own traditions out of our blended cultures over the years. We usually always have a special dinner with family or friends to celebrate the lunar new year, we read lunar new year books, and do crafts. One year the Christmas tree was undecorated, but still up at Chinese New Year so I used paper clips and hung red envelopes on it as our Chinese New Year tree. We definitely had fun decorating that year! Sometimes the kids and I make our own decorations for the new year. This is always fun. When the kids were smaller, they would even wear traditional clothes for our new year’s dinner. Occasionally at other times in the year, they would find their new year’s outfits, put them on, and just go around the house in brocade jackets and pants all day. It was quite cute and made one zoom call in 2020 very memorable. How do you celebrate the lunar new year? Gong hei fat choy!
I love the snow. Not the inconvenience of it, but I love how the landscape looks covered in a blanket of white. I love how everything has an overall quiet and poetic stillness. When you wake up early in the morning just after a snow fall, it is especially silent; No one has started shoveling and carting out snow blowers. That stillness feels magical.
The previous weekend we had a snow storm. It was cold and frosty outside but definitely cozy and warm inside when we had tea and hot cocoa by the fire. I especially liked taking some time to read as I warmed up, my kids did too.
Unfortunately, our snow from the previous week seems to have become semi permanent. It has stayed cold enough to keep all the snow frozen for over a week now. It is not quite iced enough that you can walk on top of the snow, but it is frozen enough to make all the sidewalks that were not shoveled rather treacherous. This “forever” snow and low temperatures is making many people look forward to spring. I am okay, or at least somewhat okay with the current snow situation, but I do wish the sidewalks and roads were clearer.
The snow is beautiful to look at, much more lovely than when winter is bleak, chilly and miserable. Unfortunately, winter is not always a snowy beauty. Often it’s just cold and frosty with ice to scrape off the windshield and “kidcicles” shivering in the back of the car on the way to school. The worst thing for me is rain when it’s cold. That just chills you to your bones. When winter is like this I try to remind myself that there is still beauty in it and one book that especially helps me do that is Winter Poems selected by Barbara Rogasky and illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman. The poetry and the art in this book always make winter better for me.
I used to love flipping through poetry books as a kid. (Actually I still do, but now I don’t always take the time to sit down with a poetry book). I would read my favorite poems over and over or even try to memorize a few. I was successful or partially successful with some. I also always loved the art in poetry books. They had the most beautiful or interesting illustrations, even when it was just a small drawing in pen and ink that would catch my attention and imagination. I also loved reading fairytale books (sometimes just for the art). I had a few illustrators I particularly liked including Trina Schart Hyman.
I was so happy to find her book of illustrated winter poems in the library many years ago. My mom and I both loved to read it and now we both have our own copies. Last year when I was homeschooling, my daughter and I read through this book as part of our literature program and followed it up with another beautifully illustrated book of Robert Frost’s poems. Winter Poems has a little of everything in it from Shakespeare to Ogden Nash. The poetry collected in the book ranges from sublime to wistful to silly. I love reading the poems and especially looking at Hymen’s illustrations. I also love how Hyman used family and friends for models in her illustrations, including her grown daughter and biracial grandchild. The book feels like a lot of love was put into making it. That love seeps out to the readers. It feels like we become part of this close knit world of winter and quiet peace. Reading this book of poems feels like a warm cozy blanket wrapped around my shoulders.
After all the snow, and frigid walks I have gone on with our dog, I would not mind spending the rest of winter wrapped in a cozy blanket. I love warm and cozy stories in winter. They warm me right up, but I also delight in the ones set in winter. They help me find beauty in the cold. What books or poems help you get through the winter chill?
Better late than never! Just in case you missed anything, I put together a list of the books I wrote about in December (There were no posts in January 2026). At the end of each month, I will write a list of all the books I wrote about during that month. The post titles will link back to the original blog posts.
As Christmas gets closer there is a communal sense of waiting and preparation in the air. Of course there is pre-Christmas craziness -last minute shopping, baking, and obsessive checking of shipping status for online orders (that was me last year). Besides the pre-Christmas stress, I love the preparation and waiting in Advent. Of course the author, Olivier Dunrea, has the perfect book for this season of waiting. His book shows the joyful anticipation I hope we all feel.
In my very first blog post I wrote about a book by Olivier Dunrea (the author of the Gossie books). It was called It’s Snowing. I love the way that book captured the magic of a snowy evening. Dunrea wrote another book about another magical snowy evening. This book is called Bear Noel and it shares a beautiful and earthy Christmas magic. I cannot say enough times how much I loved Dunrea’s depiction of snow falling in the forest. It is just as beautiful as the snow in It’s Snowing.
There is something ethereal and beautiful about talking animals in the forest on Christmas Eve. There is a long tradition of stories about animals on Christmas gaining the ability to speak or getting along in complete harmony. Dunrea leans into these traditions in Bear Noel.
Once the first animal hears the jiggling of bells from Bear Noel, the animals’ ursine Santa like figure, it starts their excited anticipation. Bear Noel makes his way through the nighttime forest, jiggling his bells and preparing a delicious surprise for the creatures. All animals alike gather together to follow Bear Noel and spread his good tidings. The word is carried from a hare to a wolf all the way to a tiny mole. The animal band adds each new creature they meet to their celebratory group. Their dialogue has a repetitive quality to it that little kids love.
As Christmas gets ever closer, we join Hare in whispering, “He is coming.” Who? – some may wonder. For those partaking in this season of hope and preparation we are not waiting for Bear Noel but the Noel who will come to us at Christmas to be sheltered in our very hearts. He is coming, rejoice!
It is cold! I walked our dog one morning with my scarf up to my eyes, my hat down to my eyebrows and my head bent to the bone chilling wind. I let him lead me down the familiar streets. He’s pretty good at finding the way home and we both wanted to get there as quickly as possible.
Walking the dog every day, which is a necessity, has also helped me adjust to the cold. I have no choice, but to go out. Winter may not officially start until December 21st, but it felt like it was banging at the door for the past couple weeks. When winter is on the brink of arrival, I usually take a bit to adjust to the cold weather. My initial reaction is to want to hibernate or at least stay inside with blankets, sweaters and hot tea. In spite of my dislike of feeling cold, there are lots of things I enjoy about winter, especially the snow.
We had our first snow of the season this past weekend and it was spectacular. Unfortunately, it came with a power outage and a totally crazy day, but it was beautiful and loved by the kids and puppy alike. I didn’t have an opportunity to hide inside with all the shoveling and errands.
When I am hiding in the house preparing to embrace the new season I always reach for a couple of familiar books at the library. Reading these books are some of my favorite early winter cozy activities.
Winter is Coming by Tony Johnston is a beautifully illustrated book I first found at the library when my oldest son was a couple of years old. Jim LaMarche’s artwork takes us through the slow change from the last days of fall to early winter. The book follows a young girl who goes each day to her favorite lookout near the woods behind her home. She watches and draws the animals as she observes their behavior as they prepare for winter. It reminds me a bit of when I was a kid and would play and watch nature near the small, wooded area behind our house. I love sharing in the girl’s quiet observation. The last time we read it, my daughter and I were both wishing we could sit somewhere to watch and draw the animals like the girl in the story.
In another story, Sleep Tight Farm, by Eugenia Doyle, a family prepares their farm for winter as they think about their spring and summer. Becca Stadtlander’s illustrations are beautiful and the farm landscape pictures remind me of the American artist Grandma Moses’ folk art farm landscapes. It’s cozy and peaceful seeing all the ways the farm is readying for a long winter nap.
The author actually lives on and operates a farm in Vermont where she also writes to local school children about farm life over winter and in spring invites the class for a farm field trip. This book is a beautiful reminder of our connection to and dependency on the land and what it provides for us.
Providing winter comfort, warm food and Christmas magic feels like a full-time job as a parent in winter. I love finding little ways for us to find joy when winter comes. Sometimes it’s reading together or a cup of hot cocoa after playing outside in the cold. Other times it’s blankets and cuddles on the couch or making a hot meal when I’m already exhausted. I’m not a fan of the bitter cold, but I do love the coziness of winter.
Today I would like to share my thoughts from the day after Thanksgiving:
Before Sunday I will need to make a journey into my attic to pull out our Advent calendar and Jesse Tree. My daughter has already reminded me, at least twice. On this Friday after Thanksgiving, we are all taking a slow day. My younger son and I took the puppy on a long chilly walk before lunch. Now my kids are taking advantage of some of their Thanksgiving school vacation time to play video games, and I am sipping tea and reading a couple of my favorite fall picture books.
I am enjoying my last day or so of fall decorations and cozy cloth pumpkins on the table. I am savoring the pages and sips of tea while I hear the wind whistle around the chimney. Even the puppy is taking it easy and enjoying an afternoon nap. The first book I read is Autumn: An Alphabet Acrostic by Steven Schnur with beautiful linoleum cut block print illustrations by Leslie Evans. There is something about those bold print lines and textures that really give this book a strong autumn coziness. The scenes are comfortingly familiar even if I never lived in an old farmhouse or had fields of corn growing outside my window. I love how the poems and illustrations show the slow approach of and preparation for winter. One overhead view of a nighttime town square reminds me of Grant Wood’s painting, The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere, which had been the subject of one of my college art history papers. I love the beautiful colors of the fall and the cooler but not frigid weather; however, as winter gets closer the early darkness and occasional cold rain give me the urge to hibernate and hide inside until spring. Reading this book reminds me of the cozy times and activities colder weather brings. I know I will slowly start to enjoy winter when it comes, especially if there is snow, it might just take me a little bit to get there.
The second book I picked up for autumn comfort is Ox-Cart Man by Donald Hall and illustrated by the beloved Barabara Cooney. This book tells the story of a farmer in early nineteenth century New England on an October morning, preparing for and journeying to Portsmouth Market to sell all the goods he and his family have made over the past year. When the farmer returns home with the few frugal purchases he made after the sales, he and his family start again to prepare for the following year’s trip to the market. There is something very comforting in this seasonal repetitiveness and the hands-on labor depicted in this book. There is definitely an allure that modern readers feel for this simpler time. I am also susceptible to that allure and I like to cultivate that type of coziness in my own home with crafting and baking. All the same, I can still acknowledge that though simple and somewhat relaxed, it was still a hard and laborious life to live for that farmer and his family.
Just because our lives seem to move faster now and stress seems to constantly surround us, I don’t want to go back to candlelight and dawn to dust labor. We adapt to the times we live in, but I feel it is still important to take breaks from the busy and be present in the moment as I have attempted to do this autumn. Life was different back then, but not easier. Each generation has their own version of hard. We can do hard things. We can also take a moment or two now and then for quiet. These books help me remember that.
Just in case you missed anything, I put together a list of the books I wrote about in November. At the end of each month, I will write a list of all the books I wrote about during that month. The post titles will link back to the original blog posts.
Halloween is over twenty days past. In my usual style I am behind in my writing. To be fair, I have been working on this post in spurts since before Halloween, but now I am finally getting the time to sit down and finish it. I know everyone is done with Halloween, skipping Thanksgiving and moving right on to Christmas. (Besides one of my aunts who may or may not have already started counting down to next Halloween). I know it’s over, but I still want to share this Halloween post before I move on to other things before winter and Christmas hit us at full force.
No-Face with his cozy pumpkin cottage
We had a fun, but blustery Halloween. A few days afterwards, I was still slowly taking down the Halloween decorations and our jack-o-lanterns outside on the front step were sadly at the end of their days. My kids and I all had fun carving and decorating pumpkins this year. I haven’t made a jack-o-lantern just for myself in quite a while. It was cathartic and relaxing to put it together just to my liking. My daughter and I love fairy houses and that was my original inspiration. After watching some Halloween and fall crafting videos with my younger two kids, my idea turned into a cozy Spirited Away inspired pumpkin cottage. After making the decision I started collecting items I would need while on walks with our puppy. I loved my slow crisp fall morning walks with the dog as I foraged for supplies. The leaves were gorgeous, and I loved taking my time and seeing the new colors unfurl each day. The puppy was pretty annoyed that I collected sticks and wouldn’t share them. When I was carefully gluing my gathered sticks into a cottage door, the puppy managed to grab one that fell off the table. He quickly destroyed his spoils from my crafting pile.
Sam the Scarecrow guarding our house
All the Halloween crafting with my kids got me remembering a Halloween from about ten years ago. When he was about two and half years old, my oldest son watched the very cute (not scary) Curious George Boo Fest and became very afraid of scarecrows and jack-o-lanterns. To help alleviate this fear we made a scarecrow together named Sam. Sam still guards our house every fall. We made other Halloween and fall crafts together including a glitter covered giant spider and of course, we read Halloween stories. I started looking for not too scary Halloween books that year. They very quickly became family favorites that we have continued to read for a decade.
Very Scary by Tony Johnston is one of my favorite Halloween books to read aloud. Contrary to the title, Very Scary is not very scary, though my son doubted that was true when I brought it home from the library the first time ten years ago. It’s a calm and mild Halloween story with watercolor illustrations by Douglas Florian. The book is about a pumpkin filled with magical Halloween moonlight and the reactions of those who pass by it or attempt to take it. The text has a repetitive element that small children enjoy and a magical “spooky” ending.
Before Halloween ended this year, we rewatched the Curious George Boo Fest together as a family. It was fun and silly. We also looked at old pictures of my oldest son dressed as No-Noggin (Curious George’s hat-stealing-scarecrow). When watching the movie, my oldest son commented on how silly the “scary” element of the story is: a scarecrow that steals hats on Halloween night. I reminded him that as a toddler he was terrified of No-Noggin. His response was a smile and a one-word answer, “True.” My goal with reading Halloween books and making crafts back then was to help my son understand not everything about Halloween is scary. It can be fun, too. I was very scared of Halloween as a child. I would not trick or treat, and I would not go near any place that was decorated for Halloween. I did not want my kids to go through that experience and be crippled by their fears.
My oldest son as No-Noggin in first grade
My oldest son’s spooky scarecrow drawing
In this aspect, my efforts were not in vain. My oldest son now loves Halloween and carefully plans his costume each year. He still doesn’t like scary or suspenseful movies, but that’s okay. This year he even made his own costume, with some help from me, and had a blast trick or treating with his friends.
So here on Thanksgiving night with the first Sunday of Advent and December right around the corner, I’m feeling thankful for Halloween and the time I spent with my kids this fall. I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving and wonderful end of autumn!
More Bookshelves Please 