There are only a few books that I know I'll love even before I see them - and this was definitely one. Picture book afficionado Cay Gibson serves up a delicious array of picture books of all sorts to discover and savor for yourself from your local library (and hopefully start a collection of your own as well). I'm a big fan of picture books - especially the beautifully illustrated ones that are wonderfully in fashion at present (my habits run along the lines of prominently displaying them in our house to inspire reading, purchasing picture books to coordinate with our homeschool studies - particular in history and science, and even, occasionally, reading picture books aloud to unsuspecting dinner guests) and I'm delighted to have this great place to start to discover many new titles. The substance of this book is comprised of essays on the value of picture books and how to incorporate them into your lives along with numerous creative and inspiring book lists. Here is a sampling of the booklists you'll find: List for Teenaged Readers and Reluctant Readers Children's Hour (A Twelve Month Historical Timeline along with supplementary reading in subjects like science, art, music and language arts) The Never-Ending List of Children's Authors and Illustrators Teaching Virtues Through Books Spanning the Globe Read Across America Let's Get Cooking with Literature (Picture Books about Cooking and Recipes) Take Me Out to the Ballgame Black History Month Around the World and Beyond with Cinderella Gardening Treasures Immigration Booklist Pioneers and Westward Movement World War II Christmas Booklist This is the sort of book (further enhanced by spacious margins and room for additional notes) that I can readily imagine dragging to the library and to book sales and keeping track of which favorites we've read and which ones we own. A very welcome addition to our home library and one that also looks to be useful in making purchasing recommendations to our public library. I've only read a small portion of the recommended books so far, but I eagerly await discovering many new favorites. Though this book was written by a Catholic homeschool mom (and includes a number of fine, specifically Catholic titles), its scope is quite broad and would be of interest to many parents, teachers and librarians. Available from the author's website.

Although this is a hefty tome, the relaxed, informal tone begs you to snuggle up with it on the sofa with a cozy afghan, a crackling fire, and a hot cup of tea. Of course, it's winter here in Wisconsin: overcast, chilly and white outside. Whatever the weather or circumstances, this book is guaranteed to soothe the soul and inspire the book lover within. You feel like you are having a conversation with a best friend and will often find yourself saying, "Yes" and nodding in agreement, or pausing to reflect and say, "Hmm, interesting, I will have to think about that."

Appropriately subtitled How to Turn a Living Book into a Cherished Book within the Home, Literature Alive covers just about every imaginable topic related to books, book collecting, and creating book lovers in your children. There are a whopping 111 topics. Topic titles include: Compiling a Book List; Finding Old Book Friends; Narration and Writing for Beginners; Guiding Teens to Writing; Notebooking! Easy as A, B, C; A Journey into the World of Dyslexia; and The Art of Journals. There are also several articles on Maria Montessori and Charlotte Mason. Although the majority of the book is written by Cay Gibson, there are a number of contributing authors as well. If you enjoy books and have been homeschooling for a while, you will probably recognize a few of the contributing authors, such as: Ann Ball, Joan Stromberg, Penny Gardner and MacBeth Derham.

This is not the kind of book you will want to plow through quickly. You will want to pause often and reflect on passages and quotes about books while taking notes about favorite authors or helpful resources. For the bibliophile, you will be tempted to check out the lists of books about books and resources for literature study from the library or elsewhere. The book also includes blank spaces to add your own notes. The informal type face adds to the comfortable tone.

You might want to jump to your favorite topic or enjoy the journey from beginning to end with pit stops along the way. The spiral binding allows you to fold back the pages, making it easier to handle when reading. If you are a lover of great literature and good books, or just learning about the importance of literature in the lives of your children, you will enjoy this book. Even for those of us who don't need to be convinced of the value of good books, there is much to ponder within the pages of this wonderful resource.

Available through this link.

This book is not too "scholarly" to enjoy, and I have truly enjoyed it. Each of the chapters discusses a different element of children's literature in the context of actual books. There is a complete synopsis of the book at this address:

http://www.neumannpress.com/mysoflifinch.html

Be forewarned: you will be running to your bookshelves to start reading some of these books to your children and to re-read them yourself.