Tag Archives: katie m zeigler

Friday: Food Play

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‘For my wonderful family, who ate most of the contents of this book.” Thus is inscribed Saxton Freemann and Joost Elffers’ fantastic book, “Food Play” – a photography book that has kept my family in stitches since we bought it a year ago at the SFMOMA. Halloween book? Not really…but because there are many pumpkins and gourds in it, I’m going to include it. Basically, what we’re looking at here is a photo book of fruits and vegetables, made into characters. We have onion people, radish dogs bowling, strawberries kissing and chef made of mushrooms. Green onion families wait for a zucchini train and kiwis become barbershop quartets in this wonderfully wry and stunning book. No words are necessary  – and my sons love to create captions for each of the photographs. Don’t miss this book. It’s witty and creative and quirky and cute and all the best that photography books have to offer for children and parents alike.

Tuesday: Zen Ghosts

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For anyone who has marveled at the words and illustrations of Jon Muth (of “Zen Shorts” and “Zen Ties” fame), or for those of us who just can’t resist a giant panda named Stillwater, you’re in luck. Muth has just published his next entry into the Zen series – right in time for Halloween. “Zen Ghosts” follows our same characters, Stillwater, Addy, Michael and Karl as they trick-or-treat for candy and then are treated with scary stories from a mysterious visitor. These books are utterly gorgeous both textually and graphically…and my children just adore them. Happy reading!

Sunday: Georgie

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No Halloween book list would be complete without “Georgie” by Robert Bright. Written in 1944, Georgie features not only the gentle little ghost from the title, but the wonderfully spooky illustrations by Bright himself. Georgie lives with the Whittakers and provides them with a little ghostly routine of a creaky  floorboard and a squeaky parlor door. But when Mr Whittaker decides to fix these, where does that leave Georgie, who really doesn’t want to scare a soul? This vintage Halloween tale has been delighting parents and children for more than 60 years and should take its rightful place on the bookshelves of families for 100 more.

Thursday: The Wicked Big Toddlah

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For those of you who share in my love affair with all things Maine and New England, you should know that there is a seemingly endless supply of wonderful books by Maine authors and about Maine. Down East Books offers a fantastic line of such children’s books – with classics like “Miss Rumphius” by Barbara Cooney and Robert McCloskey’s “One Morning in Maine” and other, perhaps less known, treasures, like “Antlers Forever” by Frances Bloxam.

One of the more delightful of these, chosen by my darling friend Alison – who has exquisite taste in books…and friends… is “The Wicked Big Toddlah” by Kevin Hawkes – about an oversized baby delivered to a family in Maine. From the enormous diapers to the struggling stork, the words and illustrations are fantastic…my favorite is when Uncle Bert meets the baby for the first time and says, “That’s a wicked big toddlah ya got theyah, Jessie!” and I can’t help but thing of how much I love that very accent on annual trips to Maine every summer. It’s  a fun ready – with adorable pictures and a perfect fix for this Maine-iac.