Hooray for Pippilotta!

I am a couple months late from posting this but alas, I am here now :) Last March we finished reading 'Pippi Longstocking' and it was a complete thrill! I grew up on the Pippi Longstocking movies so of course, when I found a 1959 paperback edition at our local thrift store, I was ecstatic. I couldn't wait to read it to Nat, knowing that Pippi and her crazy antics would be right up her alley.

I love all of her outrageous adventures from simple things with her two best friends, Tommy and Annika. Even in her unapologetic way of living, Pippi manages to keep herself in check (she has quite the logic on how she tells herself to go to bed). What I love most about Pippi is that she is strong (not just physically) in who she is and is not bothered on how others see her (though, she is a bit of a wreck at a tea party). She is courageous, inquisitive and tough but not without true feeling and sentiment.

We loved the Pippi book so much we netflixed the original movie and watched together laughing hysterically. I do hope Nat decides to be her for halloween as now she has officially made it to the possibility list. :)

In Addition--How awesome would this have been?:

Hayao Miyazaki's aborted anime film

In 1971, Japanese animators Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata had expressed great interest in doing an anime feature adaptation of Pippi Longstocking. The proposed project was titled Pippi Longstocking, The Strongest Girl In The World (長靴下のピッピ 世界一強い女の子 - Nagakutsushita No Pippi, Sekai Ichi Tsuyoi Onna No Ko). They traveled to Sweden, and not only did research for the film (they went location scouting in Visby, one of the major locations where the 1969 TV series was filmed), but also personally visited creator Astrid Lindgren, and discussed the project with her. Unfortunately, after their meeting with Lindgren, their permission to complete the film was denied, and the project was canceled. Among what remains of the project are watercolored storyboards by Miyazaki himself.^{[7]
(from Wikipedia)}

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)

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.

the birds that sing...

i finally was able to purchase the bird songs anthology (200 birds from north america and beyond) by les beletsky. i first saw it at an anthropologie store and it's retail price was for $45. i found it yesterday for $9.99 at borders! natalie is having a blast going through it and listening to all the various bird calls. she is actually showing her papa that book right now, beginning with her favorite call from the willow ptarmigan. 

a trip to borders...

i love children's books. they are filled with such delight and whimsy. here are some photos i took while we perused borders. nat made out with a few pre-level reading books and i got my first two nancy books (at the age of thirty!) :)