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/ . / B O O K S ➻ * , / ) A G E S / , ) 9 10 12 14 13 The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein ➸ This book is about a boy who loves a tree. And the tree loves him. As the boy grows older his relationship with the tree gets shaky. Every now and then when he's older he wants to borrow something from the tree. And every time the tree gives whatever she has to him. When he's really really old, all he really needs is to sit down on her – by this point she's a stump. This is a very interest- ing, inspiring book. I recom- mend it. –Abby Pierre: A Cautionary Tale by Maurice Sendak ➸ Poor little Pierre doesn't care about anything —what he eats for dinner, whether he goes to town or stays home, Dahlia by Barbara McClintock ➸ A tomboy named Charlotte receives a frilly, lacey little doll as a gift and promptly sets about initiating this doll into the messy, non- frilly world of go-cart racing, tree climbing, and mudpie- making. What You'll Remember About It: The finely detailed, almost Victorian illustrations, the kind of artwork you don't see anymore. Much less girly than it appears, which is also part of the message. –Andy Very Young Dancer by Jill Krementz ➸ The real-life story of a 10-year-old girl named Stephanie who plays Clara in the New York City Ballet's Nutcracker, told in first person with large-scale documentary-style photographs. It was published in 1976, and when I ordered it for Phoebe just before her second birthday, I remembered every photo—Stephanie giggling with her best friend in class; the young ballerinas standing on their toes while fixing their hair in front of a mirror, Do Not Open This Book By Michaela Muntean ➸ Stricken with writer's block, a pig implores readers of his "unfinished" book to go away, it's not done yet! We witness him "building" words out of letters in a workshop, past- ing those words up on a wall to make sentences that add up to nonsense, and finally, in frustration, writing a mad lib-type page that readers can use to build their own story. All along the way, the grumpy author tries to convince us to stop turning the page, which of course, has the exact opposite eZect. –Jenny 11 Click Clack Moo by Doreen Cronin ➸ A group of cows get their hands on a typewriter hidden in a barn and use it to make demands of Farmer Brown. "The barn is cold, we'd like some electric blankets!" When he rejects their demands, the cows join forces with the hens to coordinate a milk and egg strike. We love the relentlessly logical farmer ("There will be no electric blankets. You are Cows and Hens!"), the pro- union stance, and the message: There's power in the written word. – Jenny the love of his mother, the orders from his father. It takes a brush with death —inside a lion's stomach, naturally—for him to learn that a total lack of engagement is, in fact, no way to live at all. –Jenny (PS: It's not that we like this more than the must-own, must-read-1000-times, Where the Wild Things Are, which we read to Phoebe every night from 6 months to 2 years old. But we're guessing you bought that one for yourself the day you found out you were pregnant. Or received seventeen copies of it as a baby gift during the first year of your child's life.) Stephanie flying through the air while auditioning for The Nutcracker—even though I hadn't seen the book in 25 years. I read the other books in the series (A Very Young Skater… Rider…Gymnast) but none resonated quite like this one. When I wrote about Stephanie on the blog, it became clear that I wasn't alone in my obsession. –Jenny 5

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