I have been very busy quilting, but we'll save that for another day as well. Right now I'd like to go over a few of the books Tiny and I have been reading.
Of course with winter here, we hit the ever popular The Mitten and Trouble with Trolls by Jan Brett. These are great for sequencing and Trouble with Trolls has a great, clever girl as the main character, but I'd like to point out some lesser known books, at least they were lesser known to me.
Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett is a fun book in general, but being a knitter, I really enjoyed it. There is a girl, Annabelle, who lives in a small town where everything is either white from the snow or black from chimney smoke and soot. She finds a box of yarn one day and discovers that it is magic and will never run out of yarn. Of course the box contains rainbow yarn, and she proceeds to knit sweaters for the entire town, including the animals, trees, and houses. When a greedy Archduke finds out about her box, he offers to buy it. Annabelle rejects his offer, so he steals the box. When he returns to his castle, he opens the box and finds it empty. He throws the box out the window, where it lands on a piece of ice, and floats across the sea, back to Annabelle.
Again, a good strong female character for my daughter to mix in with the Cinderella's, but also a look at what other people do with knitting, how we can be kind and generous with our talents, and how things don't tend to work out for you when you are greedy.
Pirate Princess by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen and Jill McElmurry is another fun books for girls. Princess Bea decides she doesn't want to be a princess, so she runs away and joins a pirate crew. She tries one job after another, but fails pretty badly, and is forced to walk the plank. Then, at the last minute, she smells the treasure. The pirate crew follows her directions and finds more gold and jewels than ever before. She gets to stay and becomes a valued member of the crew.
This is a good book that shows that what you imagine might not always work out. Things might not be as easy as you think. But, being a children's book, it still ends happily.
Ok, now for some seasonal books.
The Adventures of Snowwoman by Katya Arnold is fun for Christmas. Snowwoman is made so that she can deliver a letter to Santa because none of the children in town have a Christmas tree. A little dog is supposed to be her guide, but when the dog runs off after a fox, Snowwoman gets lost and the wind tears her apart. All the forest animals help to put her back together once the dog explains their journey, and they get the letter to Santa just in time. 
Another fun story was The Snowflake Sisters by J. Patrick Lewis. Two snowflakes travel through the country through Thanksgiving, Christmas, and even end up in Time Square for New Year's. From their they join a snowman in Central Park and stay until winter is over.
This one sparked a few crafts for Tiny. We made coffee filter snowflakes for days after this book. She loved it.
We are also going to be doing some salt painting soon. I'll let you know how that turns out.
Happy Reading!
