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/ . / B O O K S ➻ ' ) , ' * A G E S ( , + Three Tales of My Father 's Dragon Ruth Stiles Gannett ➸ I wish I knew this for absolute sure, but I think this was the first chapter book we ever read to Phoebe. She was in kindergarten, and I remember reading this trilogy —compiled in one beautiful hardcover volume—in bed, at night, and every time I would put it down and reach over to Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White ➸ The story of Louis, a trumpt- er swan, who was born without the ability to do the very thing that defines his species: trum- pet. You already know how I feel about this book (see intro), but I have one more point to make: E.B. White wrote a buddy story about a boy and a swan, which is both completely unexpected and completely right. Imagine if Louis had been a dog named Buster. Chances are, he would not have been on this list. –Andy Don't Bump The Glump By Shel Silverstein ➸ We are going to as- sume that you already own the more famous Where the Sidewalk Ends and A Light in the Attic. But this less-heralded, equally fun illustrated poetry collection was pub- lished in 1964, before both of those. All the trademark Silverstein characters show up here—"The Slurm," and "The Slithergadee," and "The Gletcher" and the hat-shaped "Ginnet" ("This is the quick-disgusting gin- nit. Didn't he have you fooled for a minute?") and the watercolor il- 37 Brave Irene by William Steig ➸ A parable about persever- ance. And an argument for being nice to your mom when she's not feeling so good. A dressmaker is sewing a gown for a duchess to wear to some kind of royal ball. But the dressmaker becomes ill and it falls to her young daughter, Irene, to deliver the dress. Problem: there is an epic, driv- ing snowstorm, Irene is little, and the dress is a large thing to lug across a dark forest. An "ill-tempered" wind batters Irene, tears into her, but Irene is determined. She can't let her mother down. Then the dress is ripped form her hands, and flies away, stolen by the wind. She continues on, through the night, nearly freezing to death. She is lost. The dress, you'll be glad to know, is magically de- livered. Irene is hailed by royal types as a "brave and loving" person. And she is reuinted with her mother. Favorite little moment: "How could anything so terribly wrong be allowed to happen?" –Andy 38 39 34 35 36 turn oZ her bedside lamp, she would tug on my arm and ask for more. Just two more pages! Is there anything better than that, anything better than that moment when you first realize the hook has been set? Written by a sweet old grandmother with a crazy talent for inven- tion and pure story-telling (and beautifully illustrated in grease pencil by her stepmother, Ruth Chrisman Gannett) this trilogy of stories about a boy named Elmer Elevator—who sets out with a talking feline compan- ion to rescue a baby dragon from some bad guys who live a place called Wild Island—capti- vates but never, ever frightens. –Andy The Adventures of Tintin by Herge ➸ Whoever likes mystery stories and gangsters and people like that should read Tintin. These stories are about a little boy who tries to catch a lot of bad guys. He has a white dog named Snowy. Ummm. My favorite one is… I can't pick a favorite. Daddy, before you write this, tell the people that I thought of all this, okay? –Phoebe Abel's Island by William Steig ➸ How I might summarize this: You are capable of so much more than you think. That, and it's amazing what we'll endure for love. Another Steig chapter book with a four-legged protagonist. Abel's a mouse, a trust fund dandy, newly married to a girl mouse named Amanda. One day, while picnicking (Steig loved a pic- nic) on watercress, quail eggs, caviar and champagne (Steig loved food), a hurricane blows through (Steig loved storms) and snatched the scarf from Amanda's neck, prompting Abel to leave her (you get the idea re: Steig's obsessions) and rescue her scarf. He is, instead, swept away by the storm and washes up on a small island in a river, where a beautiful version of kid book Survivor unspools. Abel is forced, for the first time, to make his own way in life: to make new friends, to fend for himself, to find a new home and, at the same time, a way back to his love. Favorite little moment: "They toasted each other, and everything else, with a bright champagne which was kept cool in a bucket of ice." Favorite thing about that little moment: The word "bright." –Andy lustrations in the 2008 reissued version de- liver. In Abby's words: "This book inspires me. It teaches me there's no reason why you should want your writing to be long or short. There's no diZerence between them because all you want to see in your writing is good." –Abby & Jenny 10

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