The weekly “little of this, like of that” feature here at Like Mother, Like Daughter!
What we're currently reading from the library:
How to Be a Cat by Nikki McClure — this is, essentially, a collection of lovely woodcut illustrations describing cats' activities. Not only is it visually beautiful, it turns out that it's handy for the occasion when you're nursing the baby in the rocker but your toddler wants you to read to her: she can set it on the floor and turn the pages, and you can read the jumbo words for her even from a little distance!
A Whistle For Willie by Ezra Jack Keats — This book struck me as pleasing at first, but I wasn't necessarily blown away by it. But Finnabee's intense interest in it was a hint to me that I should give it some thought and bring it home for further reading. After a few times through, I discovered that I am as much a fan as she is. For her, it is a fun and satisfying little story about a boy learning to whistle so that he can summon his dog. For me, it is a reminder that children need time, space, and even boredom in order to be kids. I know that I need input like this all the time in order to combat the pressures of contemporary American parenting (“Don't stop interacting with your child! Always have activities planned! Safety first – never let him out of your sight!”) The little boy, Peter, is blissfully free to figure something out on his own — and my two-and-a-half-year-old clearly loves it.
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This week's links!
Sacred Music:
- Propers of the Mass Versus the Four-Hymn Sandwich – When you have the chance for a longer article, do sit down with this one and receive a great introduction to basics of Sacred Music, including historical context and liturgical information. Perhaps you know vaguely about “something to do with we really should have more chant” or “we're not really supposed to be just singing these songs”… this piece will fill you in even if you have no prior education in the matter. Auntie Leila says that we will be revisiting this topic and we invite comments from our liturgical music friends.
- The Renaissance of the Mass Propers – for further reading on the topic of the link above.
Literature:
- Speaking of library books: big news for children's literature — A newly discovered Beatrix Potter tale!! The Kitty In Boots story is set to be published this fall! My mom passed this along to me and expressed ambivalence about the choice of illustrator; frankly, it's a huge disappointment to me. I think that Quentin Blake works for Roald Dahl, but I wish someone else had attempted this with more of a tribute to Potter's style.
Miscellany:
- Mothers and Martyrs – a reflection on the saints Felicity and Perpetua from the Dominicana Blog. Rosie sent this along with the following: I don't think I realized that Perpetua and Felicity (feast day was Monday) were mothers (nursing and pregnant, respectively, when arrested!), but I love them all the more for having read this reflection on them, motherhood, and martyrdom. Spoiler: “The martyrdom of these women, then, can be seen as a consummation of their maternity and their discipleship. The daily sufferings and sacrifices of mothers, biological, adoptive, and spiritual, are the steps by which they trample the head of Satan and climb the rungs of the ladder to Heaven.”
- It's Not You. Bad Doors are Everywhere. (Warning: some language [some bleeped but some not].)
From the Archives – Easter-prep edition:
- Dear Auntie Leila: I don't know what to do for Easter
- Thinking about Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday
Joana says
What a coincidence: I’ve been looking on Amazon for a cheap copy of The Snowy Day and I also saw this one and was really tempted to buy it! Peter’s Chair (by the same author) is one of my younger kids’ favourite books. It’s about a kid being jealous of his baby sister and, though I also didn’t expect it (also because I thought jealousy wasn’t something they struggled with particularly) they kept asking for it over and over again!
Jennifer says
Hello!
Thank you for the links to Easter related posts from the archives.
I’m trying to understand the feasting portion of Easter as I’m planning ahead a bit… Do you feast for 50 days of Eastertide? That seems like a lot- of food and of cooking. Thanks!!
Leila says
Well, Jennifer, we certainly don’t fast 🙂
For the Easter Octave, we do just have all the goodies! And meat on Friday, because the Octave is a “week of Sundays”!
Then the rest of Easter is normal, but definitely a little more festive (that means a little more ice cream). When you’ve really lived your Lent, it’s really nice to enjoy. But of course, normal life takes over to a great extent, so no, it’s not like you are making a feast every day for 50 days.
Elizabethanne says
Kids*do* need boredom! My husband’s family used to have slightly run- down, “rustic” might be more charitable, lake house with pretty much no tv or entertainment. He and his siblings still have fond memories of those times of unending Monopoly and rereading the same crumbling books.
Annie says
I felt like that about EJKs Snowy Day too. Someone gave it to me when Jack was a baby and I was like…boring! But my kids have all loved it over and over and now that I’ve read it 800 times I love it too. A subtle genius? A hidden gem? Or maybe I’m just a bit thick.
Katie says
Great timing here too to bring up Ezra Jack Keats, as I’ve been ruminating on this very thing myself. My almost-3yo has been loving The Snowy Day lately: as in, we’ve read it back-to-back before naptime twice this week, and she’s never requested immediate repeats! I think part of the appeal is all the space… huge white expanses of snow, permission for a small child to wander in solitude, the passing of an entire day… Also, it strikes me that the illustrations are mostly from a small child’s height and point of view… subtle maybe, but Peter’s world (and thus the reader’s) is on eye level with snow banks and fences and the side of the bathtub. It’s a book about being small (but safe) in a familiar/unfamiliar, regular/snowy neighborhood, and about having your adventures taken seriously– after all, he sits quietly in the tub where he “thought and thought and thought about them”, and he even dreams about the snow. Peter gets to explore and consider things for himself, by himself, and some of those things are puzzling and sad and not over-explained, e.g. the melted snowball. Surely this all rings true to a small child’s experience of the big world.
Lisa G. says
Oh, The Snowy Day! His peaked hood with upstretched arms as he’s sliding down the hill – it speaks joy in such a simple but obvious way.
Annalisa says
We also love lots of Ezra Jack Keats books, and for many of the reasons mentioned. As a child I and my brothers had an awesome recording of Apt. 3. That reader was so invested in his reading of it. Did anyone else listen to this 30 years ago? Maybe it’s still around. I should look for it for my kids.