Tuesday, March 2, 2010

favorite children's books

dear emily,

before i begin a post to which i have long looked forward, i want
to thank everyone for teaching me how to underline!  it took the
entire blog world to do it. :)

two things saved my life when my children were little like yours:
my love for peanut butter and children's literature.  good thing,
too, because we had a steady diet of both.  

isn't it amazing how many times a child can listen to the same 
story?  if i tried to deviate from the story of ferdinand by 
munro leaf, shelby would say, "no!  he just liked to sit under the
cork tree and smell flowers."  

the most charming, witty, and hilarious of all authors is arnold
lobel.  my boys and i would roll on the floor with laughter at
frog and toad adventures and then sniffle a bit through
uncle elephant.  

e.b. white is famous for stuart little, but i prefer the clever
story of louie in the trumpet of the swan.  poor louie is mute
and has to hang a chalkboard around his neck to communicate, 
plays the trumpet (think louie armstrong), and tries to win the
love of serena.

but our hands down favorite is the big friendly giant by roald 
dahl.  the BFG is the only friendly giant averse to eating 'human 
beans' and forced to endure 'snozzcumbers' and 'frobscottle.'  his 
lovable nature  is enhanced by his funny abuse of the english 
language and constant befuddled state.  he also make gross
sounds that might offend some moms but kids love it! 

just the beginning,
lea

ps. sarah said, "God has made me laugh..."(genesis 21:6) and 
named her son, isaac, which means laughter.  


28 comments:

Jenners said...

I love love love "The Story of Ferdinand." That was one of my all-time favorite books as a child.

And doing a strikeout is pretty easy. You put (strike) before what you want to strike out and then put (/strike) after it. (But replace the ( with a < instead ... I didn't do use the <> because it wouldn't show up right.) Hope this helps.)

Anonymous said...

Hi My Letter, If you would like to learn how to do the links I would be glad to show you how. You could send me an email with your address and I could write it out for you. My email is on my profile.
QMM

Bree said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Bree said...

oops! I just wanted to edit my post :) such a sweet blessing to read your posts...my heart to those you're with, I'll be praying for you all. I would love prayer for 2 couples we know who are very much in need of healing, reconciliation and a new love for one another. I give our precious Father all the glory for our home-His grace is mighty :) Praying all is well!

Mountain Mama said...

Thank you so much for your sweet comments.

I absolutely love your blog. So creative and encouraging to mothers of all ages in all seasons of life. Thanks for sharing your wisdom, insight and heart.

blessings,
ashley

Anci said...

Thanks for yours, always so lovely, comments on my blog !
I have many wonderful books from the time when my son was little. I love "Pettson & Findus", all books of Astrid Lindgren and also a book a about a cat and his blanket !!

Have a fantastic day !!

xo
Anci

RA said...

We love Stuart Little, too. Thanks for sharing your list.

To underline a word you can use (u) at the beginning of the word and (/u) at the end. For example, (u)Stuart Little(/u). Replace the ( with a < instead and the ) with a > like Jenners said.

Have a wonderful day :)

Joan Elizabeth said...

Laughter ... yes that is the wonderful characteristic children bring to a household.

ELK said...

i just wanted add "Caps For Sale" to you sweet list of memories!

Joan Elizabeth said...

Lea, I am studying Proverbs at the moment and read a verse today that is very fitting for your blog. "A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver" Proverbs 25:11

Janna Leadbetter said...

Wonderful post! And you're spot-on with the children's literature. One has to respect the titles you've mentioned.

Auntie sezzzzzz... said...

Dear Lea, I just tried to do the *Underlining Magic* on this comment and it is not allowed. -pout-

But, you can do it, when you are typing a post, because I tried. So I will have to tell you, instead of show you.

Type your word or maybe the title of a book, and right-smack-dab in front of the word or title... Type a bracket < pointing backward. Then type a u. Then type a bracket pointing forward > after the u.

That little code, tells Blogger to begin underlining the word, which is right-smack-dab after those little brackets/code.

Then right-smack-dab after the word you want underlined, type a bracket pointing backward <. And type a slash / and type a u. Then type a bracket pointing forward > That tells Blogger to Stop Underlining that word.

I had to practice, practice, practice all this stuff. Don't worry if it doesn't work, the first time. :-)

I try again to make Blogger publish this comment...

Auntie sezzzzzz... said...

Yeaaaaaaaaa! It Published that time! :-)

Blogger Comments allows us to make a word Bold and to make a word in Italics. Isn't that sweet of them? ,-)

Right-smack-dab in front of the word you want to show up as bold, type a backwards pointing bracket < ...
Then type a b .... Then type the closing bracket which points forward
> .....

And right-smack-dab after the word you want to show as bold, you type the backwards bracket < ... Then type a slash / and type a b...
And the closing bracket >

And you get Bold.

Same with Italics Do the same thing as to make Bold, but type in a little i .... You use a b for Bold, and an i for Italics. :-)

And if you put both codes in front of and after a word, you can get both Bold and Italics in one word...

Lookie! :-)

I HOPE I said all this, correctly!!!!!!!!!!!!

Auntie sezzzzzz... said...

And Dear One, I would be happy to delete my Comment... You know, the one where I shared my views with you. I would be very happy to do so.

In fact, I will do so, now. You were kind to accept my telling you. But probably would not like it to remain in your blog comments.

I shall Delete it now!!!!!!

Many gentle hugs to a very Sweet Lady! You!!!

christy rose said...

Hi I just wanted to stop by and say thank you for your sweet comment over at my place. I love your blog. This post makes me wish that I read to my kids way more often when they were little. :)

myletterstoemily said...

thank you all for your helpful hints about
underlining. apparently, there IS more than
one way to skin a cat!

will be away from my computer for a couple
of days, but when i get back, i am going to
master that little underlining snafu.

have a wonderful rest of the week!

i am so grateful to you all!

blessings,
lea

Vee said...

As I'm collecting books for the grands, I must remember to add some of these if I should find them. We love all things E.B. White here, including the adult writings. My favorite is Charlotte's Web for children. For funny, we love No, David and others by David Shannon. I'll be watching for further recommendations.

Since you're already using italics, the quick way is to use quotes, but you can do this for underlining: To underline text (no... unfortunately there is not shortcut) place a u inside <> in front of the word you want to underline and /u inside <> after the words you want to underline. These are html tags... which specify underline, you need to use html to underline text.

Scratch all of the above, as others have already provided the answer. Ha! I am a nut for stuff like this (former English teacher), but I wouldn't imagine a gal who writes in lower case to be. :D

elaine @ peace for the journey said...

One of my favorite children's authors, although she wasn't around when I was growing up, is Cynthia Rylant. She's done a lot of series for kids, but her other works are rich and deep with meaning, and the illustrations all the more. I'd highly recommend them to any mother looking for good reads for their children.

peace~elaine

myletterstoemily said...

vee: you're the second person to mention
the lower case letters. :)

i know it is very unprofessional but my only
real act of rebellion. as a first born, it is
fun to break a rule every now and then!

Brandy said...

What beautiful memories your children must have of you reading to them. You have reminded me of a couple books that I need to check out for my boys. Thank you! And thank you for the sweet comments you have left for me!

Have a great day! :)

Deborah Ann said...

The 'Big Friendly Giant' sounds adorable! I'll have to check that out for my grandkids...(I love peanut butter too!)

Thoughts on Life and Millinery. said...

The best part of being a children's librarian is being able to read fabulous children's book aloud and at work.

I miss my years of having little ones in my home and at my place of work.

Julie Gillies said...

I had to laugh when I read this...brought back memories of reading *every* word *exactly* right...couldn't skip a paragraph much less a page, my kids knew them all so well.

My oldest son (who now serves in the US Army) and I used to laugh until we cried reading the Calvin and Hobbes books.

Vee said...

I think your lower case letters are just fine — so wonderfully e.e. cummings of you!

Darcie said...

Thank you so very much for your sweet comment on my blog Monday. I hope you have room for another follower over here. You blog looks wonderful and I look forward to future post.

MyMaracas said...

One of the things I miss most from my boys' childhood is holding them close while reading their favorite stories. They never tired of hearing them, and they could recite them verbatim as I read along. Thanks for bringing back those warm memories.

Personalized Sketches and Sentiments said...

Great post with wonderful children's stories :o)

And hm...I would love to learn how to underline too. (So many neat things to learn all the time!) It takes me forever and a day to get a post put together, so I do great if I can post one a week. :o)

Blessings & Aloha!

Kristin said...

I had forgotten about the BFG. My boys would love it!!!