crooked house

Alice and Dorothy

This made me laugh. (I can't figure out where it came from.)

Banned to Protect Children: Guess Which One

All About Oliver Jeffers

Oliver Jeffers talks about himself.

Children's Literature Map of Britain

From the Literary Gift Company, via Nathalie Foy, who is doing a bookish advent calendar. Love! Sara O'Leary, we need one of these.

Snow White and the Leaf Monster

Sylvie wearing her Snow White false eyelashes, which she now begs to be allowed to wear everywhere. No, I don't let her.

And here is Snow White with her good friend, the Leaf Monster. What, you've never read that one?

Good Night Moon Bedroom

This Goodnight Moon-inspired bedroom belongs to two-year-old Annamarie Mack. It is perfect. You can see other bedroom homages to children's literature on Apartment Therapy, via The 49th Shelf, on facebook.

Not Now, Bernard Or Parents: Do Not Ignore Your Children

I've been feeling very busy and distracted lately and Not Now, Bernard has been on my mind a lot, sort of playing in the background as a warning. It's one of those children's books that seems to be more for the parents than the children, although both my kids get a kick out of this one. (Sylvie is definitely a bit concerned about the monster no one seems to notice, however.)

That's a whole subcategory of children's books, isn't it? Books that pretend they're for children but really they're for the parents. A teacher friend of mine always gets annoyed whenever Love You Forever is mentioned. She insists that it is only of mild interest to children, yet their parents are weeping and swooning away as it's read. I have to agree with her about the effect it has on parents -- it affects me that way -- and she's probably right about its general lack of appeal for kids. I don't think a child would ever pick it as a favourite. Guess How Much I Love You is a bit like that, too. Not that it's always a bad thing, for a picture book to appeal to the parents as much or more than the kids. It's just a bit of a trick. (A trick that often leads to enormous sales, as in the case of both Love You Forever and Guess How Much.) Can you think of any more?

Miniature Mouse House

Adorable miniature mouse house, modelled after the homes in the Brambly Hedge books.  (Now that is definitely a crooked house.) It can be yours for about 3000 pounds! Via Stephanie Burgis.

Snow White and Apple

Snow White loves her apple. Via Breezes from Wonderland.

Charlotte Sometimes

Another gorgeous book cover -- the New York Review Children's Collection's edition of Penelope Farmer's Charlotte Sometimes. Lizzie Skurnick mentioned this book today on her Shelf Discovery facebook page and I vaguely remembered reading it as a child. Can't wait to get my hands on a copy (preferably this one) and revisit it. (I had a wonderful dream recently that the New York Review people sent me copies of all their children's books. If only they would...)