Juanita's Olvera Street

On Sunday, we packed up the kids and stroller and met my parents at the metro station in North Hollywood. From there, we all took the red line subway to Union Station. I took this photo of the gorgeous mural. (above)

We crossed the street and headed over to Olvera Street. Olvera Street is the birthplace of the city of Los Angeles, otherwise known as El Pueblo Historic Monument. The original pueblo was built by the 44 settlers of Los Angeles in 1781. The village features 27 historic buildings with a traditional Mexican style plaza area.

Leo Politi's book, Juanita is all about a little girl and her family who run a small shop or "puesto" in Olvera Street.

The puestos have lovely Mexican names such as "La Paloma" (the dove), "La Amapola" (the poppy), "La Casita" (the little house), "Cielito Lindo" (beautiful heaven)... "The shop 'Juanita' belongs to Antonio and Maria Gonzalez who named it after their little daughter Juanita."

Here the Olvera Street vendors make and sell candies,

toys and pottery, candles, hand embroidered clothing and all kinds of colorful and interesting things.

For Juanita's birthday "there was laughter when someone broke cascarones on Juanita's head." "Cascarones are decorated egg shells filled with confetti."

Leo Politi's illustrations from 1948 have come full circle and are strangely uber modern again. Just look at his color palette: peach, turqoise, moss green, coral, tan, pink, cream and gray. His illustrations are gorgeous!

I remember reading his books as a child and my mother remembers them too. I am so glad that Getty Publications has reissued them!

As a little girl, I also remember visiting Olvera Street with our family often. I loved it and especially the wooden marionette puppets, delicious Mexican food and candy.

" The Blessing of the Animals is a ceremony which takes place every year on the day before Easter Sunday." "On this day the animals are blessed so all will go well with them during the year." Juanita looked forward to this day because she could walk in the procession with her dove.

My mom took this photo of the Blessing of the Animals mural (above). It is painted and signed on the right of the mural by Leo Politi!

The story ends with a lovely bedtime song Duermete Nina with lyrics to sing along to in English. There's a sweet image of Mamacita rocking Juanita to sleep as the old mission bells ring
and Juanita's pink lacey Easter dress hangs above her bed to wear in the morning.

Winter Drift

We got stuck in the library after Babygarten Storytime this afternoon because of a freak hailstorm. We drifted about and found a new favorite book! Nanook and Pryce by Ned Crowley. This story is told in silly rhyming verse and takes two cute, almost faceless (big parka hooded) Eskimo ice fishermen on a trip around the world. They are so oblivious to what is around them that they don't even notice the dangers they encounter!
While fishing, their ice floe breaks loose and they adventure through the oceans of the world, only to return back home again, never catching a single fish (actually, they do catch a ton but the pelicans steal them away). The last page shows them asleep in their cozy beds with a jar of peanut butter (butter knife left inside)on the nightstand.
The watercolor illustrations by Larry Day (click on his name to see an amazing pompadour image!)are wonderful with many full page spreads, including a killer whale and giant pink squid. Lovely stuff!

On the back of the book is a sweet photo of the author and illustrator dressed in big hooded parkas sans faces just like Nanook and Pryce. It's Genius!!!

Winter Garden-Vegetable Olympics

Now that I live in California, it's nice to be near my mom who also loves to shop at craft stores with me every few weeks. She has been making the sweetest embroidered dishtowels for each month of the year to give to friends and family. (Nancy, there's one she made for you too :) So, I have been paying lots of attention to all the wonderful embroideries out there and I am smitten by this adorable fruit bowl shopping bag (above) by Gracey May. With a family of 5, I just can't have enough shopping bags to carry all my fuits and veggies home from Trader Joes.

Recently, I received a copy of Champions of the Garden Games in the mail which arrived just in time for the upcoming Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

That's Pete the Red Beet snowboarding in the picture above!

With the Olympics beginning this week-end, everyone will be watching their favorite athletes in the world compete. " What better way to talk about sports and to show children the variety of options they have to enjoy winter and be active year round?" asks author Marvin van Lemon. Through his narration, Marvin introduces children ages 4-8 to several sports that will take place in the Winter Olympics and with this book he has begun a campaign to get children interested in sports and healthy eating.

Studies have shown that it is essential to establish healthy active behaviors early in life. Children who are overweight at an early age have a high risk of developing chronic diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and high blood pressure and are also more likely to become overweight as adults.

Using a cast of colorful fruits and vegetables illustrated by P. Byron, children can learn about the luge, ski jumping, curling and bobsledding as well as other sports. Through an imaginative and fun tale, this book also introduces children to the importance of being a team player, and my favorite lesson: not letting life's obstacles get in the way of having fun.

On the Olympics note, recently illustrator Jon Klassen (one of my contemporary favorites) co- designed a gorgeous animated Winter Olympics commercial. I think it's the greatest I've seen. So, if you have any time to spare, please have a look. I hope Jon has plans to do a children's book soon.

Banjo for Kiddos

Thanks to the comment left by Playing by the Book on Kim's previous "Dolly" post, I've been listening to lots of banjo in the car with the kids. (OK this recording has been out for a while but I'm a little slow catching up with it.)

Anyway, thought I'd share a you-tube clip of Steve Martin, Bela Fleck and Tony Trischka playing a track from The Crow below.

And, because I'm having fun with this ad I'm working on for the store I'll post what I have so far. I think all you book lovers will appreciate it.
I still have a couple of days to finish it and
I might change the Mark Twain quote to something more practical like: Open 7 days a week. Free gift-wrapping. ????

Happy Birthday Dolly Parton!

Today is January 19th and it's Dolly Parton's birthday. Dolly has a few books of her own out and this is one of my treasured favorites: Coat of many Colors. It's actually a true story told from her childhood and also the lyrics to her very popular song.

Dolly is one of 12 children raised in poverty in Sevierville, Tennessee. One winter, when she was a child, she did not have a winter coat, so, her resourceful mother made her a "coat of many colors" from a donated box of rags. It was handsewn with love and her mother told her the story of Joseph and his colorful coat from the Bible. She wore her new coat proudly to school the next day, only to be laughed at and teased by the other children.

Most children I know have way too much stuff, so this book could be used to teach an important lesson. The way Dolly handles the teasing is wonderful. Because she is so secure and strong from her family's love, she doesn't need things to be complete.

Judith Sutton's illustrations are beautiful and heartwarming, a perfect match for Dolly's story.

Here's a clip of Dolly singing Coat of Many Colors:

It's a Secret!

Nancy and I were talking about some of our favorite new children's books and she told me about this one that she just got in her shop : It's a Secret! by John Burningham.

It's a wonderful, magical story that takes the reader on a secret adventure with an ordinary house cat named Malcom and a little girl. Marie Elaine wonders where her cat goes at night and finally catches him decked out in a fancy outfit, sneaking food from the fridge! When she finds out he is going to a party, she insists on going. Malcom agrees to take her with him under the circumstances that she dresses up in a party dress and gets smaller, to fit through the cat door. When the neighbor boy, Norman catches them sneaking out, they invite him along so that he won't tattle. They narrowly escape a dog pack and across a fire escape and over a crane, they finally make it to the rooftop party. There is music and dancing, a feast and gifts for all from the Queen of Cats.

The night is filled with magic, fun and excitement and in the morning, Marie Elaine's mother exclaims "You look as if you were out all night with the cat."

The illustrations in this book are mixed media, crudely drawn, rough, childlike and with beautiful full page spreads. John Burningham (who has written and illustrated more books than I can count) should win many awards for this one!

Little Fur Family

Little C just received a copy of Little Fur Family from my dearest childhood friend Karen. Here she is, sharing it with the chickens. She takes it everywhere. It's her new favorite.

Margaret Wise Brown was a genius and Garth Williams' illustrations are gentle and heart warming. It's the perfect book to start off the New Year.