Springtime Books
April 28, 2011 in Guests
With the warming of the earth and springtime well on its way, many are in search of the perfect resource in order to bring the season alive for their children. Books are a wonderful way to engage a young child and teach them a bit along the way.
Books for Spring:
The Sun Egg by Elsa Beskow: A magical story filled with elves, woodland creatures, and the mysterious sun egg. A young elfin girl learns about the true identity for the egg she believe was left behind by the sun.
Your child will experience a wealth of learning while reading this book with you: inferencing (guessing what things are based on evidence from the story), predicting (guessing what will happen next based on what has happened so far and experiences in the real word), story telling (retelling the story after the story is finished… This can be orally or through drawings.) and creative expression (Creating art based on the story. One thought would be to use orange and yellow paint to create a wet-on-wet painting. Cutting the painting into circles would make a magical version of the sun egg itself).
How Robin Saved Spring byDebbie Ouellet: This is the story of two sisters: Lady Winter and Sister Spring. Lady Winter does not want her sleeping sister to awaken and winter to cease. Lady Winter does her best to keep spring at bay. The creatures of the forest, however, long for the return of warmth and green. With every effort, creatures both large and small work together to awaken Sister Spring before it is too late.
The illustrations in this story are absolutely captivating. The vibrant colors appear to jump off the page. Little ones will sit captivated while this story is read. This story will become a familiar favorite that is read again and again during this glorious time of year.
The Story of the Root Children by Sibylle Von Olfers: The version most familiar to me is called When the Root Children Wake Up by Audrey Wood. The story line should be very similar though since this is the original.
In this endearing story, Mother Earth wakes the sleeping root children as winter fades and spring begins to bring new life. You will travel through the seasons with these spirited young ones and meet Aunt Spring, Cousin Summer, and Studios Uncle Fall. As winter approaches, the root children will be called back into the earth by Mother Earth as Grandfather Winter waits patiently for them to slumber.
This story makes the perfect read aloud and beginning to a new Ostara tradition. You can make or purchase a root child to leave on your nature table on the Spring Equinox. Read about one family’s tradition here.
Though the below sites might not actually contain “root children”, you are sure to find something that will work for your family.
Root Children Set from Blueberry Forest
What stories are spring time favorites in your home?
What tradition do you already have in place for the return of spring?
What new tradition would you like to add this year?
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I love those selections above. A few I’d add for the under 3 kids (I have a toddler and an infant) are Spring by Gerda Muller, Baby Animals by Gyo Fujikawa, and Haiku Baby by Betsy Snyder. All of those come in board book format. You should know that Spring does not have any words, which bothers some parents, but I like it. The art is lovely (even in board book format) and I let my toddler describe things and engage her in discussion about it like “What is she doing here?”
Another one that I’ve been reading to my 2 year old, though she is a little young and it is NOT a board book, is Flower Fairies of the Spring by Cicely Mary Barker. It is really important to me as a Pagan that my children become “fluent” in nature but I was not brought up to know and identify plants, trees, or animals AND we live in a big city making it tough to get the daily exposure to nature I’d like. So books like this are wonderful tools for increasing awareness. I read the same four or five little books to my toddler every night before bed for a month and then rotate with the holidays and seasons. This Flower Fairies book has been with us since the Equinox and now she can actually identify a few on our walks. Well, it looks more like “fairy flower mama, fairy” when she sees one she knows. I plan to get the next flower fairy book (summer) in another week or two.
Another great springtime book is Spring’s Sprung by Lynn Plourde. This rhyming storybook tells about Mother Earth and her three daughter March, April, and May. The daughters all squabble trying to win their mother’s affection. They all start to boast why they are the best month. In the end Mother Earth reasures them that she loves them all. The beautiful watercolored illustrations are by Greg Couch. My kids love it.
Great selection!
Those books sound good. I’ll have to check them out. I don’t know if this qualifies as a spring book or not, but my daughter loves it when I read The Redwall Cookbook by Brian Jacques. It has one section for every season and her favorite is spring. Each season starts with a poem followed by a story involving the Redwall creatures preparing for some type of feast or gathering. It’s a great way to teach about the seasons and about seasonal food. Not to mention the recipes are fairly easy to folllow and taste wonderful; I let my partner do most of the cooking.
@Liz- My twin sister and I love the Redwall cookbook! I think it’s an excellent recommendation!