Book Stacks Unwrapped, 2013

Skye's book stack (age 14)

Felix's book stack (age 9)

Book Stacks 2013

Here they are.  One for Skye, and one for Felix.

Stay tuned to see the unwrapped versions.

Today

Last night

Merry Books Day!

They did it. The books are all unwrapped! Once they started, there was no stopping them. Aren't they beautiful?







Oops. There are a couple missing from Skye's stack, the two that she hugged and scurried off to read immediately.


And here is Felix's first pick from his stack. Good choice, kid.

Book Stacks 2011

We had a very merry Christmas day, and as I type, the bookstacks still sit wrapped up tight under the tree. We always save them for last, and this Christmas, we were overwhelmed with wonderful gifts and so enjoyed each other's company that we had no need to open them. We look forward to unwrapping and relishing them throughout the coming week. I want to savor each of them with my kids, so this suits me just fine.

Tonight, I'll just post the list of the titles included in each stack. Later, I hope to write a bit about each of them -- why I chose them, where I got them, how they were received. One of my dreams is to make more time to blog in the New Year.

For Skye (age 12):
The Arrival by Shaun Tan
The Way We Work by David Macaulay
Order of the Stick comic collections: Snips, Snails, and Dragon Tales and Dungeon Crawlin Fools by Rich Burlew
Wildwood by Colin Meloy
Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary D. Schmidt
Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros (in Spanish)
The Shadow Thieves by Anne Ursu
Ida B... by Katherine Hannigan (in Spanish)
Puffin Classics: A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett and The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

For Felix (age 7):
This Is Paris by M. Sasek
Plum by Tony Mitton
Marshall Armstrong Is New to Our School by David Mackintosh
No dejes que la Paloma conduzca el autobus! by Mo Willems
Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren (with illustrations by Lauren Child)
The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden
Moomin books: Comet in Moominland and Finn Family Moomintroll by Tove Jansson
Bad Kitty books: Bad Kitty Gets a Bath and Happy Birthday Bad Kitty by Nick Bruel
Dragon Slayers Academy books: #2: Revenge of the Dragon Lady and #3: Class Trip to the Cave of Doom by Kate McMullan
Puffin Classics: Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie and The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

unwrapped

We did it! All of the books have been unwrapped, as of 6 p.m. yesterday. Stay tuned for talk of the favorites and the ones that fell flat.

I'm working to post more here in 2010 -- one of my new year's resolutions -- and I'm prepping the blog by updating sidebars and such. If a link doesn't work, it's probably something "in progress."

One of the books I gave Felix came with the poster below, which is a pretty accurate visual representation of me this Christmas.



Hope you've all had yourselves a merry little Christmas -- full of the gifts of sharing stories, enjoying words and language, and reading together.

Merry Christmas and Happy Book Stacks!

I went overboard with the book stacks this year. Throughout 2009, I collected titles I found that caught my eye at the used book store, in the Scholastic flyers, and at my favorite independent bookshops. And it is so easy to find a rationale for buying a book for a child: Oh, this was a favorite when I was her/his age! Ah, s/he keeps checking this one out from the library; better get our own copy! Wow, this is a children’s classic, and at this price, I can’t pass it up! And heck, I really should throw in some of those just-for-fun titles s/he circles in the book flyers.

As I type, the book stacks remain under the tree, the only unopened gifts, patiently waiting for the kids to put down their Nintento DS gaming systems and delve into their rich and varied contents.

I obviously made them too big. They look intimidating, like homework stacks or research stacks. Or maybe they just look dull, like a-gift-that’s-really-for-mom stacks.

Last year, Skye tore through her book stack, smiling and shouting with glee at each title. Then she called to Felix and commanded he do the same, helping him along the way. He indulged her, sitting back and admiring her indefatigable joy at ripping off all the wrapping for him and announcing each new book as it was revealed.

That wasn’t quite the vision I had for the stacks. I’d thought the kids would leave them for last, and then, at each moment on Christmas Day when they needed a gift-opening fix after steamrolling through the main event, they’d migrate to their book stacks, open one, and then, if the book felt right for the moment, they'd open the gift they found inside and settle into a story. (“Read this, Mom! Please?” my sweet little Felix would command.)

Lovely picture, isn’t it? And maybe that’s what will happen today. There are lots of goodies inside all that wrapping, books I’ve been saving, some for close to a year, peeking at them on the shelf in the closet and looking forward to seeing which covers make their eyes light up the most.

(And yes, I’ll share the stacks with you, too... perhaps a little at a time would be best. For now, you can enjoy last year's book stacks post, in case you missed it.)

Christmas Book Stacks, 2008

Finally, I'm posting our book stacks from this Christmas. I had such fun putting them together. I got some at a local used bookstore, several used from Powell's, and many through the kids' Scholastic book orders. Most of them are paperback copies. I picked a few of the past year's favorites to add to the family library, as well as some new books to explore.

Without further ado, here they are!

Skye's stack:
~ Two Warriors Manga books: She devoured them both over break.
~ Stink #3: Stink and the World's Worst Super-Stinky Sneakers: Ditto the above.
~ Schooling Around: Treasure Fever: "I loved this book! It had a school that was crazy and a teacher that taught them fun things instead of their regular lessons."
~ The Ghost, the White House, and Me: In honor of a new president.
~ The Name of This Book Is Secret: Looks neat, in a Mysterious Benedict Society sort of way.
~ Salsa Stories: Could be a fun one for us to read together - and cook some of the recipes afterwards.
~ Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat: I love the rat crawling along the margins, flip-book style.
~ Molly Moon’s Incredible Book of Hypnotism: I keep hearing about this one; I think we should read it together.
~ Rocks & Minerals: A cheapie Scholastic science book.
~ Every Minute on Earth: Skye gives this one an A++++, "'cause it has cool facts."
~ The Giving Book: It would be fun for her to go through this one sometime this year. There are several of these books, so if she likes it, maybe next year...
~ My Amazing Book of... Autographs!: I found this one at the used book store. It was published in 1974, and hasn't been written in at all! (This was Skye's extra-special book this year.)

Felix's stack:
~ Legend of Zelda Manga, Volumes #1 & #2: Link from the Legend of Zelda is his favorite character for pretend. These books help fuel that magic.
~ Who Stole the Cookies?: A cheapie Scholastic book based on the children's rhyme/game. He loves it.
~ The Little Penguin: Penguins are a favorite animal around here.
~ Scaredy Squirrel: This one is a big hit. I can't wait to explore more Scaredy Squirrel books with him.
~ Say Hola to Spanish and Say Hola Otra Vez: These rhyming books looked like a fun way to introduce another language.
~ Sun Is Falling, Night Is Calling: A sweet bedtime read - you can never have too many of those!
~ Anno’s Journey: I've been waiting for Felix to be old enough to enjoy this one; I love the illustrations.
~ Skippyjon Jones, Skippyjon Jones in Mummy Trouble, and Skippyjon Jones in the Doghouse: These are the best read-alouds!
~ The Little Red Bird: He loves this story and asks for it again and again.
~ Otto Runs For President: In honor of a new president.
~ I Love My Little Storybook: I love books about loving books!
~ Henry’s Amazing Imagination: I met the author, Nancy Carlson, at our local independent children's bookstore. It was great to chat with her, and she signed this book to Felix, including a cool illustration. (This was Felix's extra-special book this year.)

This year, we continued the tradition of opening the book stacks last on Christmas morning. The past two years, we took our time with them, opening one or two at different moments of the day. It was a nice, calm way to keep the surprises coming.

But when Skye started in on her stack this year, there was no stopping her. I watched with delight as she tore through the wrapping paper, exclaiming with glee at her discoveries. She then went to work with Felix on his stack, happily announcing each new title to him. I loved seeing her so excited about this, and it was such a treat to see the kids going to the two piles throughout the day to enjoy the new reads.

Because we love books around here so much, Santa knew to bring us a few:

For Skye:
~ The Extraordinary Adventures of Ordinary Basil
~ The Klutz Encyclopedia of Immaturity: Santa hit the jackpot with this one. She's picked it up every day since Christmas.

For Felix:
~ Snowmen at Night
~ 365 Penguins: Skye loves reading this one to Felix.

For our whole family:
~ Free to Be You and Me and Free to Be a Family
~ Poetry Speaks to Children

And Mom just doesn't know when to quit, so the kids got these extras:

Night before Christmas gift:

To Skye:
~ When Santa Fell to Earth
~ The Christmas Party from the Black Lagoon
~ 101 Holiday Jokes

To Felix:
~ Deck the Halls
~ Toot & Puddle: I’ll Be Home for Christmas
~ You Can Do It, Sam

From Mom & Dad to kids on Christmas morning:
~ The Gingerbread Man with pictures by Karen Schmidt
~ The Gingerbread Man, retold by Jim Aylesworth, illustrated by Barbara McClintock
~ The Gingerbread Girl, Lisa Campbell Ernst
~ Gingerbread Baby, Jan Brett

Winter break involved lots of reading time this year. It's been great having these stacks of books to entertain us during this cold, snowy winter.

Coming Soon: Book Stacks!

I couple of years ago, I came upon an article describing the wonderful idea of book stacks. (I wish I remembered when I originally found the link.) The general idea is that books are such wonderful, important, essential things to have in a home, it only makes sense to have a stack of them under the tree for each of your children on Christmas Day. Of course, this was a bandwagon made for me, and I jumped on. I told a couple of book-loving friends about it, too, and both of them immediately ran off to join the book stacking circus.

My friend Michelle has just started a book blog, Fond of Books, and her first entry is about the books stacks she made for her kids this year. As she notes, it's nice to learn of these ideas early enough to have time to do them. I will post our 2008 book stacks as soon as they are complete.