the spider and the fly

Will you walk into my parlour?" said the Spider to the Fly,
'Tis the prettiest little parlour that ever you did spy;
The way into my parlour is up a winding stair,
And I've a many curious things to shew when you are there."
Oh no, no," said the little Fly, "to ask me is in vain,
For who goes up your winding stair can ne'er come down again."

My newest favorite book we recently added to our family library is The Spider and The Fly  illustrated by Tony DiTerlizzi of (Spiderwick Chronicles fame, etc.). It's actually a poem written by Mary Howitt (1799-1888), that was published in 1829. Tony DiTerlizzi has done an amazing job with it, bringing it to life with his illustrations inspired by classic Hollywood horror movies of the 1920's and 1930's. It is quite the dark cautionary tale but I fell in love instantly. My heart further rejoiced when we brought it home to Nat and she quickly exclaimed, 'I love this book!' . We found out it had been read to her at her school so she was well familiar with it and I think that helped us a bit with the storyline with her. With so many sugarcoated stories out there you never know how a child (especially my sensitive one) will react but I think Tony DiTerlizzi's illustrations really bring it in the right way.

(photo from The Book Griffin. For their review of this book, click here)

This book was published in 2003 but as in life, sometimes I don't get to the new things when they are still new. However, it still is quite exciting when I do and I absolutely love this one!

(photo from The Slade Tales where you can here the story told in audio)

13 Words Book Trailer by Lemony Snicket

everything's a mystery...

Today was a gray and rainy day, perfect for having breakfast with a childhood friend and thrift store shopping afterward. Like usual, we hit up my favorite local place and of course, I couldn't get my mind away from the book section and promptly headed in that direction. Today I brought home two books. Another hardback, The Mystery of the Musical Ghost by John and Nancy Rambeau (part of the Morgan Bay Mysteries) and illustrated by Joseph Maniscalco from 1965 and The Curse of Ravenscourt, A Samantha Mystery (part of The American Girl Mysteries) by Sarah Masters Buckey. With it being October and Natalie getting older, she is showing more of an interest in 'scary' books which I take it to mean books that are slightly scary with a lot of mystery to them. I believe these new additions will fit perfectly into that aesthetic.

Vintage Kids' Books My Kid Loves

A couple of weeks ago I was sent a link of some really amazing owl illustrations from a vintage book a friend of mine had found on a blog. I quickly had to see this blog that she got it from and discovered for myself, Vintage Kids' Books My Kids Loves. What an awesome blog! It completely encouraged me to be more dedicated to this blog, The Black Hare all the more. The blog title encompasses the entire blog with wonderful entries, suggestions and giveaways as well. There is also an etsy shop that accompanies the blog with an vast collection of vintage kid books for purchase. Check out the profuse list of 'favorite authors' and 'links we love' that's worth a perusal.Visit the blog, follow it if you like as well as the twitter, facebook and 'Other Stuff My Kid Loves' tumblr.

thrifty books

Last week Nat missed school for a dental appointment. She ended up having some work done that was not previously anticipated and after her appointment, we had the rest of the day free for us. One of the stops we made was to our local thrift store and I was quite proud of us. We looked around but what we came home with was not a load full of clothes but a few books.

Our score was Monster at Loch Ness by Sally Berke, a hardback from 1977; A paperback copy of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, copyright 1960 and The Ersatz Elevator, Book Six in the Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket.  I was absolutely thrilled with our finds for several reasons. I love old books and the older I get, the more I want to add to my collection. The Monster at Loch Ness and the Alice book both fit that and I am thrilled with how great the condition of both books are. Especially the Alice book. It had never been cracked opened it seemed. You can always tell with a paperback if it has been use and the pages are pristine with no bends or cracks. I myself don't even want to read from this one so as to maintain it's condition (fortunately for me, I have other copies).

Another new mission of mine is to collect all of the Lemony Snicket books. I once borrowed the first three books from my little cousin when the first came out. I never had a chance to read the rest of the series but was always drawn to everything about them, from the content to the author to the illustrations. One of Natalie's favorite movies is The Series of Unfortunate Events with Jim Carrey as Count Olaf. Our library only has a paperback of the first book, The Bad Beginning or, Orphans! with a few 'extra stories & extra art for no extra cents!' in the back. My other copy is book 2, The Reptile Room. The first book I found to take home that day was book 6 and I was eagerly looking for more but that's all they had.

When we came home that afternoon, I began reading to her from the Loch Ness book and we had so much fun as I tried to do an Irish accent when describing the 'monstah'. It worked some of the time but the read was very much enjoyed by the both us.