Unique and Resilient 

August 9, 2025 By Maria

This is a piece I wrote a couple of years ago regarding my middle child. He is now nine years old, not seven, but he still enjoyed these stories when we revisited them recently. I was actually about to return the books to the library, when my son asked me to keep them out because he wanted to read them together again once more. 

Maybe I am getting a little sentimental. Cross that, I am getting sentimental. My middle child has a loose front tooth, his first loose tooth. I am having a moment, a moment to grieve the coming change in his smile, which also means he’s getting bigger and older. My younger son was born prematurely and spent months in the NICU, in doctor offices, and therapies, but he has grown and accomplished so much. He is resilient. I am so proud of this kid, his creativity, passion and accomplishments in his seven years. 

My son has taught me a lot about patience, parenting, and acceptance. We’ve had good times, and tough times. Some of the tough times were due to medical issues, but it was also just the experience of learning how to raise this unique child. Since I started with talking about a loose tooth, you may be expecting this to be a post about teeth books, first loose tooth stories, etc, but it’s not. I want to share four picture books that my son enjoyed, but also made me laugh out loud and sigh in appreciation of how much they make me think of him. 

The first book I’d like to introduce you to is No Fits, Nilson! written and illustrated by Zachariah OHora. (We also love OHora’s Not So Quiet Library). While being fun and relatable to kids, this book demonstrates self-regulation and kindness. Nilson has big emotions. Amelia responds to Nilson’s tantrums with kindness and redirection. This book shows kids that it’s okay to have big emotions and it also gives tantrum prone kids a chance to see tantrums from another perspective. We found this story useful to keep in our mental database. I could remind my son of Nilson and Amelia when he was approaching a tantrum. Sometimes a relatable story gives kids enough of a pause to breathe and think for a moment instead of just blowing the lid. 

So, about pausing and thinking before acting. . . my son loves food, fruit, snacks, trying new things. I love it, but he hasn’t always had the best self-control about waiting for snacks or not holding back and just helping himself to a treat. (Having a self-sufficient kid is awesome, but there are some moments when it’s not. I’m sure fellow parents know what I mean). I Really Want The Cake by Simon Philip and illustrated by Lucia Gaggiotti made me laugh out loud. It is a cute and funny story of a girl who tries with all her might not to eat the cake her mom left on the counter, but despite all her tactics of avoidance. . . the cake wins. We discussed things like self-control and trying to cook without assistance when reading this book. In amusing ways, the girl and her dog try to distract themselves from the cake with games and dress up. When she approaches the cake, she’s dressed like a cowboy with a fork and spoon in her holster (my kids found this super funny). Horrified, my kids watched and listened as the girl makes a huge mess trying to make a replacement cake after she and the dog devoured the original. 

Sometimes you need to make a mess, sometimes you just have to go a little wild. Having a unique kid can often feel like breaking the norm and going wild. Being accompanied by a three-year-old clad in a Spiderman suit to the supermarket and library is always an adventure. Our next book, Mr. Tiger Goes Wild, written and illustrated by Peter Brown is just the story for those out of ordinary days. (Peter Brown also authored The Wild Robot novels). I like that this book doesn’t show wildness as the best and only route, nor does it demonize being formal or “proper.” It encourages a pleasant balance of both. There are times to be wild and there are times to sit quietly. You can have self-control and still get the chance to play loudly and run and be “wild.” This book encourages kids to be true to themselves and tells them that it’s okay to be different and not a cookie cutter of everyone else. 

My son has moments of wildness, tantrums, play, but he’s also a sensitive and empathetic kid. I am really impressed by how well he can now identify his own emotions. He still has big feelings (don’t we all), but he can also, if given the opportunity, self-regulate and not always lose himself in the moment. The Rabbit Listened by Cori Doerfeld highlights how sometimes you just need quiet support. Different animals tell Taylor, the child in the story, what to do after his block towers are knocked over, but the rabbit does not. The rabbit listens. The rabbit lets Taylor tell the story and be mad and sad and work his way through the emotions. The artwork in this book really tells a lot of the story. We see how Taylor is feeling and reacting to each different animal who comes by and gives unsolicited advice. This book really shows compassion and being heard in a way that kids understand. Sometimes they need us to fix things for them, sometimes they just need a silent hug. It was really nice to see how my son understood this story. The book communicated with him in a way that just words alone did not.


I love books that communicate authentic characters to their readers. I love Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, but Tiny Tim, though super sweet, lacks the realness of a child that Beverly Cleary’s Ramona Quimby demonstrates. I know Tiny Tim is an idealized child for the sake of that story, and I will not go into a tangent about him and Dickens. These four books show real characters, having real experiences that kids can relate to even if the characters are not children like Mr. Tiger, for example. These books helped me connect with my son in a fun and unique way. What books remind you of your kids or help you connect with them?

Books of the Month July 2025

August 4, 2025 by Maria

Just in case you missed anything, I put together a list of the books I wrote about in July. 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. 

Planting Seeds of Kindness July 17, 2025

Teatime and Closeness July 24, 2025

Teatime and Closeness

July 24, 2025 By Maria

Tea. My family all know that I love tea. I started drinking black tea with milk as a teenager. On a trip to England, I was introduced to British tea and that was the end of that. No more weak Lipton Tea for me ever again. Tea has been my preferred drink for many years, but my husband is starting to turn me over to coffee with his impressive new coffee making skills. One thing tea has that coffee doesn’t seem to have, at least in literature, is the power to unite and bring people together. I haven’t read too many children’s books that talk about the unifying power of coffee. Tea, however, seems to do the trick again and again, at least in books.

What better way to bring people together than with a tea party? Translated from Japanese, Tea Party in the Woods by Akiko Miyakoshi is a sweet story somewhat reminiscent of Little Red Riding Hood, but without any malicious wolves. While traveling through the woods to bring a pie to her grandmother’s house, a little girl is invited to an animal tea party. The kind animals give the girl a warm welcome and assist her with the accidentally squished pie she was bringing to grandma. Afterwards they accompany the girl on the rest of her journey. The tea party brought this large group of animals together in a harmonious community.

In Luli and the Language of Tea by Andrea Wang, Luli connects all the kids in her mixed language daycare class with a pot of tea. Before Luli shared tea with her classmates, the children were always quiet, not knowing how to communicate since they all spoke different languages. The similarity of the word for tea in so many languages is what inspired the author, and it is so beautiful to see all the kids understanding the significance of the tea shared together. The endnotes tell about tea customs across the world and the end pages show international teacup designs. One thing that draws my attention over and over again is the unifying ability of tea. I always love stories, children and adult fiction, that show this. 

In Cloud Monkey Tea, people are not brought together to share tea, but tea saves and brings a girl and her mother together. This lovely book by Elspeth Graham and Mal Peet is a very different story than the rest of the books here. This story could stand alone with a whole essay devoted to it. To me, this is a book of enough. It has just enough hardship and realness and just enough hope and magic. 

Magic and hope are found in The Gift from Saint Nicholas by Dorothea Lachner. It is a Christmas story, but it is also a beautiful story of a community surrounding the comfort of a large pot of tea. In a village plagued by snowstorm after snowstorm, the people have stopped bothering to shovel and the snow has now divided the village, separating them all from each other. No one is going out and everyone is lonely in their homes. Two children make a wish to Saint Nicholas to bring everyone together and Saint Nicholas does just that with a mysterious package, that eventually leads to a cozy gathering of villagers in Grandfather Gregor’s warm kitchen all sharing a generous tea together.  

Tea has brought my kids and I together many times. When they were smaller, I used to make a pot of mint tea and set out cookies and teacups for them. While they were occupied with the novelty of drinking from teacups and eating cookies, I would take that as a perfect opportunity for a read aloud. I would usually read poetry or short stories during teatime, unless we had a longer novel I was reading aloud. I always enjoy sitting down to a cup of tea with my family and friends. I also love a solitary and quiet cup of tea now and then, especially in early mornings or as a break in the afternoon. If one of my kids catches me brewing tea, they usually ask, “May I have a cup, too?”

Planting Seeds of Kindness

July 17, 2025 By Maria

Now that summer is here, all three kids are home and unfortunately, they are not getting along as well as we would like. We have had many talks about kindness and treating others as you wished to be treated, and so on. Thankfully, we are starting to see a shift in behavior, even if there is a trying day now and then. One of our favorite ways to explain things to our kids is by relating their real-life experiences to stories. On a recent trip to the library my daughter and I found a couple good stories about kindness. We all enjoyed reading and discussing these books together at home. 

My daughter found a picture book we have read several times over the years. It is called If you Plant a Seed written by Kadir Nelson. We all read it once again and discussed how this simple story of a mouse and bunny and a group of birds relates to sharing and planting seeds of kindness instead of selfishness. The book gives a great visualization of how small acts of kindness can grow into bigger and larger results. Planting a seed of kindness as we all know goes much further than anger and unkindness. 

The other book about sharing and kindness and giving others a chance is Prunella by Beth Ferry. It was a book we hadn’t read yet. Illustrated by Claire Keane and published just last year, this book is about a little girl named Prunella who was born with a purple thumb and has a knack for growing unfriendly plants. She tries to share her plants with other kids, but the smells and prickliness deter them. Prunella slowly closes off and becomes pricklier like her plants until one day quite by accident she invites another child into her garden and new friendships start to bloom. On the side of learning about exploring your interests and passions, this book shows that it’s okay to be different and it demonstrates how kindness and sharing your passions are beautiful things.  

Relating life to books is a beautiful and fun way my husband and I have always explained things to our kids starting back when my oldest was a toddler. Discussing these stories amongst others is helping us work on behaviors this summer. (We even read The Hundred Dresses before the school year finished to talk about the sneaky way bullying behavior can worm its way into everyday interactions). The picture books here are great for younger kids, but in our experience, we found they also communicated with older children, including our twelve-year-old. It will take work, but we will keep talking and reading our way to a kinder summer.

Books of the Month – May

June 22, 2025 by Maria

 Just in case you missed anything, I put together a list of the books I wrote about in May. 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. 

Mystery Books in the Attic  May 8, 2025 

  • The Boy Mechanic: Popular Mechanic Press
  • Webster Dictionary

Is Your Mama a Llama?  May 12, 2025

Boxes of Adventure  May 26, 2025

  • Box by Min Flyte

Boxes of Adventure

May 26, 2025 By Maria

What is the box? Is it a device for carrying something? Is it a way to transport something through the mail? Is it used for storage? Treasure? Trash? Maybe you think it belongs in the recycling bin. But my question is, what do your kids think a box is? Well, in our house whenever we get a box from a purchase or in the mail, my kids have plans for it. They are always trying to get their hands on new boxes. Sometimes, I even hide new ones in the basement because I know I can’t handle another new box creation in the house. My kids once used an oversized box to make a “duplicator” and a “transmogrifier” like Calvin does in the Calvin and Hobbes comics. They had blasts of fun with that box and their imagination. 

The books here are all about kids and their boxes and how imagination leads them to find new and creative uses for their boxes. Our favorite book here is probably Christina Katerina and the Box by Patricia Lee Gauch. We love the interactions between Christina Katerina and her neighbor and all the creative things that they do with their gigantic box. It starts as a club house and ends as the dance floor at a grand party. Meanwhile, Christina’s mother continually attempts to get her to relinquish the box to the trash bin.

My kids really enjoy Not a Box by Antoinette Portis. This book is similar to another book my kids also enjoy by the same author called Not a Stick. In Not a Box, a bunny plays with a box – sitting in it, standing on it, even squirting it with water. While an off-page voice, presumably an adult asks, “Why are you sitting in that box?” “Why are you standing on that box?” To which the bunny always responds with a version of “It’s not a box” and illustrations showing what the bunny is imagining with the box. 

What to Do with a Box by Jane Yolen goes through all the various imaginative uses of a box with detailed and fun illustrations by Chris Sheban. One thing all these box books do is really make me wish I could play with the box. We have some great memories of our kids playing with boxes over the years. During the pandemic, we had large, long boxes from furniture that we bought. We used the huge sheets of cardboard to create a cardboard castle in our living room with a working drawbridge. The kids had so much fun with the cardboard castle. They were very sad when it finally came time to remove it from the living room and send it off to the recycling center. 

Also, when we bought a scooter several years ago, my daughter turned the narrow box into a train, and she would sit in the box and ask my husband to take her back and forth to different destinations in the house. She would also pass the “ticket” through a small hole in the side of the box. She was tiny and light enough to carry it like that, but it was still tiring work for him. The smiles on both their faces after train rides were the best. 

Smiles always came to my kids’ faces when we read Box by Min Flyte. It is a lift-the-flap book about kids discovering what’s in their box and what they can do with said box. The artwork by Rosalind Beardshaw and flaps make this very fun to read. This is especially fun to read with small children. My kids all loved to lift the flaps when we read this book when they were tiny. What kid doesn’t love a lift-the-flap book? I have several destroyed ones as proof of it.

I know kids playing with boxes all around the house is annoying and it is clutter. Not just small easy to clean up clutter, like a pile of toys, but big obstructive clutter. However, dealing with the annoyance and letting them have that imaginative play really pays off. They make great memories and have awesome stories to share. My kids still talk with a happy wistfulness about the cardboard castle five years later and Kristian Catherina is still one of their favorite books. Maybe it will begin with a delivery and end in a spaceship, have fun with some boxes!

Is your Mama a Llama?

May 12, 2025 By Maria

Mother’s Day was yesterday, so I figured it’s a good time to write about some of our favorite mother themed picture books. I never have high expectations for Mother’s Day. For me it is still more a day for my mom and grandmas (when they were around). The focus is still on my husband’s mother and my mother and my kid’s last living great grandmother. I am so grateful that they have been able to know three of their great grandmothers. I never met any of my great grandmothers, but I wish I did. I haven’t sat down to read mom themed books for Mother’s Day in a while, but here are a few of our favorites from over the years. 

A well known favorite is of course Are you my Mother? By P.D. Eastman. Does this old book even need an introduction? It was published in June of 1960 and is still widely read. My kids always love how the baby bird is asking so many wrong animals and things if they are his mother. The bird’s questions get sillier and more ridiculous as the story progresses. The relief between mother and baby bird is beautiful at the end of the story even if we know it’s coming every time we read this classic.

When he was little, I used to read my oldest son Is Your Mama a Llama? By Deborah Guarino all the time. It is a delightful rhyming book about a llama asking all his animal friends about their mothers. I used to read this book over and over to my oldest son when he was small. He loved Is Your Mama a Llama? I don’t know if it was the rhyming or the silliness, but he loved reading this book. He was also with me constantly at that time of his life. This book is so silly and sweet. I loved reading this it and quoting it to my son. Steven Kellogg’s illustrations were also nostalgic and fun for me. It’s a little different with your first child. You have more time and the ability to focus just on them, at least until they have siblings. Your attention gets stretched after that, but it’s not a bad thing either. 

On Mother’s Lap by Ann Herbert Scott and illustrated by Glo Coalson is a book about siblings learning to share time with their mother. Ha, does this book feel true! My younger son and daughter often fight over and occasionally share sitting on my lap. The bigger they get the more I get crushed. The little boy, Michael, in this book definitely makes me think of my son, especially when Michael has to bring a blanket and a toy and a puppy all to cuddle on mother’s lap. My son has carried around his blanket since he could walk. He also doesn’t always want to share me with his little sister. I used to be able to easily hold them both on my lap (actually, I even carried them together all the time when they were smaller). Now that they are getting so big it’s hard to even hold them both on my lap at once, at least without testing my endurance of being squished. 

A beautiful book about testing the boundaries of a parent’s unconditional love is Mama, Do You Love Me? By Barbara M. Joose and illustrated by Barabra Lavallee (we also love another book illustrated by Lavallee). I love this book! When my kids and I are upset or having disagreements, I often pull this off the shelf to read aloud. It is a sweet reminder that yes, your parents will always love you, even when they get mad and even when you’re naughty. I like how the little girl in the story attempts to push her mother further and further to see how far she can go and still have her mother’s love. It shows her confidence in their relationship and the comfort between them. 

The comfort between siblings and the confidence they have in their mother is easily demonstrated in Owl Babies by Martin Waddell. This book is beautifully illustrated by Patrick Benson and tells about three little owls longing for and waiting for their mother to return home. The mother owl is only present for a small section of the book. We always love little owlet Bill’s refrain: “I want my mummy!” said Bill. This book is fun to read out loud and do different voices for the three owl babies (that is if you have fun doing voices when reading aloud). It is also a good starting point to remind little ones that even if mom or dad aren’t with them all the time, they will always come back. 

This Mother’s Day I didn’t actually see my mom because she’s away on a trip. I had a nice visit with her earlier in the week and gave her her card and gift then. We saw my mother-in-law and her mother the day before, so this Mother’s Day was just my family and I having a slow and pleasant morning and afternoon. It was different, but really nice and my daughter and I even sat down to read one of the books from this list together. I am happy we had some read aloud time this Mother’s Day.

Mystery Books in the Attic

May 8, 2025 By Maria

This post is not quite about children’s literature, but more about finding books in odd places. While almost a hundred years old, our home has history and charm with lots of work and sometimes surprises. In one unfinished attic space between two rooms, an abandoned box of books was left by the previous owner. No one goes into that space, and I almost forgot that box existed until last year when a contractor had to go in there to check something. 

When the contractor saw the dust covered creepy box of books his comment was, “So is that for the witchcraft?” I gave an embarrassed laugh and mumbled a, “Yeah maybe” and then explained how they were left in that space. His comment solidified my resignation that I needed to deal with that box of books. When we had some surprisingly beautiful warm weather in the first weeks of spring, my husband helped carry the box outside. Donning a mask and gloves, I started to go through it one afternoon while the kids played near me. Going through those books was like opening a time capsule from the sixties or seventies; it was a peek into what a young teenager may have been reading at that time. 

There was a partial set of Women Alive books, which was a series of books aimed at providing women with information on different topics including careers, health and family life. It was published in 1974.  There was also a partial set of children’s illustrated encyclopedias with duplicate volume 9’s. The artwork in the encyclopedias was varied and interesting. 

There were childish scribbles and writing on the page edges of a Webster’s Dictionary. I found some middle grade novels from the 1970’s, including a young adult horror novel. I also found a really sweet and beautiful Prayers for Children illustrated by Eloise Wilkin. This book is still in print in the Golden Book series.  I also found a very old edition of Moby Dick. I couldn’t figure out when it was printed. It had no print date, yet it was definitely a reprint because it seemed to be from a series called World Famous Literature. The book made an interesting antique, but it was old and battered.

Unfortunately, some of the books including the Woman Alive series and all the encyclopedias had mildew on the pages, so they had to be trashed. The dictionary had also succumbed to mildew. There were about five books I was able to dust off and donate to the local library used book sale. Two books might actually be valuable, so I decided to keep them and investigate further. A few middle grade books were claimed by my son who came home from school while I was in the midst of cleaning and sorting. 

After sorting out the books for the trash, I decided to commit a terrible book crime. I took a box cutter and removed the covers from the mildew encyclopedias and dictionary. I thought the covers might make an interesting craft project since they were intact and the mildew had only affected the pages. My nine year old said it felt very wrong to see me slicing a book. Personally, I have to agree with him. 

This poster was inside one of the middle grade novels

I’m glad I finally went through that box. It sat gathering dust in our attic space for far too long. Judging by the dates on the books, the box could have been put together sometime in the seventies or eighties. Maybe it even sat there that long. Have you ever found books in an unexpected place?

Books of the Month – April

April 30, 2025 By Maria

I am starting something new. Just in case you missed anything, I put together a list of the books I wrote about in April. 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.  

Puddle Walks April 14, 2025

  •  Float by Daniel Miyares

Whimsical Gardens, Nourished Hearts April 24, 2025

Whimsical Gardens, Nourished Hearts

April 24, 2025 By Maria

When spring comes around, we are drawn to stories about plants, growing, new life, nature, and beauty. These whimsical stories here are some of our favorite growing tales. In fact, my daughter saw the books next to me while I was writing and I had to take a break to read them aloud to her yet again. Actually, my daughter reminds me of a character in one of the books here. I tend to get comfortable in a routine or in a way of doing something and I don’t always want to mix things up or come out of my comfort zone. One thing my daughter does on a regular basis is push me out of my comfort zone. She is way more outgoing and social than I am and regularly depletes my social battery. However, good things and new experiences have come from her urging me to step into new and different experiences. Those experiences are often opportunities for me to grow too.   

The Little Green Girl by Lisa Anchin is just as much a story about actual plants growing as it is a story about personal growth, perseverance, and letting go. The little green girl grows from a seed that blows into Mr. Aster’s garden. Mr. Aster has a set routine for his life and care of his garden, but the little green girl teaches him to grow just like his beautiful plants. This book highlights the beauty of travel and going to new places. It also emphasizes the quiet beauty of your own home and routine and all there is to observe, appreciate and love in one place. This book resonates with me as a parent. Kids teach, and sometimes force, you to change your comfortable routine. They show you a different side to the world and take you on an adventure, whether you are a willing participant or not. 

Another story about doing things differently is My Garden by Kevin Henkes, the author of Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse. (I also mentioned him in a previous spring post). My Garden is a cute and fanciful story about a little girl imagining her future garden. Flowers will regrow as soon as they are picked and a planted jelly bean will grow a jelly bean bush. Strawberries would glow like lanterns, but carrots would be invisible because she doesn’t like carrots.  After all her imagining, before coming inside for the night the little girl hopefully plants a seashell. The tiny clue in the last illustration is one of my kids’ favorite parts. 

Tiny seeds and growing things usually make us think of spring. I actually think of Miss Maple’s Seeds by Eliza Wheeler as a fall book, but I decided to write about it here. It fits well with these whimsical stories about gardens and growing and my daughter also likes grouping it with the other stories. Miss Maple is a tiny lady who flies on the back of a bird and gathers all the lost unplanted “orphan seeds” at the end of summer. She keeps them safe and warm over winter and teaches them about the world and growing. She always tells the seeds, “Take care, my little ones, for the world is big and you are small. But never forget . . . Even the grandest of trees once had to grow up from the smallest of seeds.” This is such a needed message for little ones. Especially, the tiniest ones who feel they will never be big enough and never catch up with the other kids. It’s even an important reminder to adults; good things can start small.

Miss Rumphius’ world changing actions start small, with just a pocketful of seeds. Miss Rumphius, the protagonist in the book of the same title by Barbara Cooney, is a lady who traveled the world, learned many things, and finally lived in a house by the sea. When she thought she was too old and broken to do more, she still found a way to fulfill the childhood promise she made to her grandfather, to make the world more beautiful. Miss Rumphius sprinkles lupine seeds all around where she lives – the town, fields, meadows. The next spring there are lupine flowers everywhere and instead of calling her That Crazy Old Lady, the people now call her The Lupine Lady. Every time I read Miss Rumphius it fills me with hope and refreshes in my heart the desire to make the world more beautiful. 

Hopefully, spring is a time of renewal for you after winter and dreary days. (If it would only stop raining!) In this time of growth and new life, I hope we all take some time to try something new and take a chance to step out of our comfort zones. I hope we give ourselves time to grow and be nourished just like the flowers and plants. The whimsical tales and beautiful messages of these books always pull on my heart strings. I hope we all find a way to make the world more beautiful and nourished this spring, and always.