When Jessie Came Across the Sea

jessie

When Jessie Came Across the Sea by Amy Hest and Illustrated by P.J. Lynch This beautifully illustrated story about a young Eastern European girl who travels across the sea to a new life in America, is one of those tried and true family treasures. Though my children enjoyed the story when they were younger, the [...]

The Friendship Doll

From the author of Hattie Big Sky, Kirby Larson weaves a brilliant tale about a beautifully created Japanese doll, Miss Kanagawa. Crafted by Master dollmaker Tatsuhiko, Miss Kanagawa was commissioned to be an ambassador of friendship between Japan and the United States. This part of the story is actually based on fact. 58 dolls in [...]

Wee Gillis

The two gentlemen who wrote and illustrated one of our all time faovrite books “Story of Ferdinand, Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson, have also penned one of our new faovrites “Wee Gillis”. Back in print after 20 years, I picked this up in N.Y.C. while I was at Book Expo America. The green cover caught [...]

Project Mulberry

I was walking in the yard the other day and discovered that some how we have a volunteer mulberry tree. Well it’s just huge and it’s growing mulberries. For someone who walks their yard everyday I don’t really know how I missed this but I did. As the family began picking Mulberries, we were reminded [...]

The World of Mary Poppins

What would you think if I told you that the author Pamela Lyndon Travers  or PLT, as she was referred to, modeled many of the characters of her book, Mary Poppins after her family? Can you imagine meeting somebody like Mary Poppins? If you were to ask her, the author, that is, she would just tell you that she [...]

Olivia’s Birds: Saving the Gulf

“ I am willing to help, and I want to make a difference for those birds. I want to be their voice.” Olivia Bouler These are the words of 11 year old Olivia Bouler. This is an incredible book about one eleven- year- old girl who is making a difference. Olivia’s Birds: Saving the Gulf [...]

The Great Smoky Mountain Booklist

  A very happy new year to everyone. I thought I would start the new year off by sharing a little bit about where I live. Nestled in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains, I live a few miles from the entrance to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Throughout the year we spend many [...]