Book Love 2017

"Peter," she whispered, "turn around very, very slowly."

The boy turned in his chair.  He couldn't believe his eyes.  Lying on the piano was a lion, staring at Peter and licking his lips.  

Every year on Valentine's Day, I like to share a book that I absolutely adore.  This year, it is Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg.

In elementary school, I was the type of kid that always got my work done quickly.  This gave me a lot of time to explore my teachers' classroom libraries.  In third grade, I would almost always choose this book to read.  I loved the idea of a horrific board game that comes to life.  I would sometimes read every word of the book, but mostly I poured over the illustrations. 

Van Allsburg is one of my favorite illustrators because he takes fantasy and turns int into the most lifelike images I ever ever seen.  I love every detail.  The cobra has the same pattern as the arm chairs.  The lions hip bones poke out as he hunts for the children under the bed.  The lamp cord wraps around the rhinoceros's snout. 

Santa was good to me this year and got it for me.  It is difficult to find an available copy of this book at the library.  My at home library is one book closer to completion. 

Brotherly Love

This week we had our first round of "I can mess with my brother, but you cannot!" If Henry has a toy and especially if it is one of Joshua's toys,  Joshua needs it at that moment.  The other day Henry was playing with one blue block and one yellow block of which there are many.  For some reason, only those blocks would do, despite the fact that Joshua was playing with trains.

Two days ago, we were at the church so I could exercise with a group of women.  I was doing my best to get any sort of workout with a screaming fifteen pound weight attached to me.  A little girl took one of Henry's toys from the floor.  He was too busy being my screaming fifteen pound weight to notice.  But Joshua noticed and could not fathom that someone else take Henry's toy.  He was very concerned.  Meltdowns are rare in this household, but Joshua melted down, screamed sobbed.  He could not face that injustice that someone would take Henry's toy.