Books of the Week

November 21, 2009

The Barn Owls, by Tony Johnston
This book is illustrated by Deborah Kogan Ray, whom I’ve never heard of before reading this book.  The illustrations are what I love about The Barn Owls.  I was mesmerized on every page by the subtle shadings and beautiful autumn colors.  The pictures were done with transparent watercolors and watercolor pencils.  They are really very beautiful.  The story is very good too, and tells of 100 years of barn owls who have lived, hunted, and flown in the area of the barn which is their home.  Baby barn owls are shown hatching in the rafters of the barn, and an adult owl is shown hunting in a golden wheat field.  The story is very dream-like and poetic, I read it very slowly and softly to M, and he really seemed to enjoy it that way (me too!). :)


What Makes the Seasons?, by Megan Montague Cash
This book does a great job of explaining what happens in each season and how one seasons fades into another.  It also talks about how seasons *happen* because of the earth’s orbit around the sun.  This contributed to M’s first real understanding of the idea of outer space.  He’s seen pictures of the earth before, but this time we really talked about how the stars are in outer space and if we were up there with them this is what our world would look like – a green and blue ball because of the grass and water.  And we talked about how the earth moves in a circle around the sun and how that makes day and night.  There was a great illustration in the book that was a good aid to our discussion.   Another picture in the book was very interesting to M – a window with 4 panes and through each pane a different season is shown of the outdoor scene.  We looked and talked about this picture for quite a long time.  I LOVE books that interest him (both of us really) like this!
For more book reviews, go here!
Have a beautiful day! :)

Leafy Turkey Craft

It looks like this will be our one and only turkey craft this year.  M just isn’t into doing crafts with me lately (it’s that darn art box’s fault!).  I think this turkey turned out awfully cute though!
Supplies:
Craft leaves, half a paper plate, scrap red, orange, and brown paper, googley eyes, glue.  Also you’ll need something to stand him up later.  We used an old play-doh cup; you could use a cardboard tube cut in half, or something similar.
First, glue the leaves to the paper plate:
Cut a turkey head shape from brown paper, a waddle from red, and a beak from orange.  Glue on top of the leaves:
After he dried, I used hot glue to attach an old play-doh container to the back of the plate.  Gently form the plate around the container:   When he’s dry, set him up and admire!

Have a beautiful day!  GOBBLE, GOBBLE! :)