Ira Sleeps Over by Bernard Waber

Ira loves his teddy bear and he sleeps with his bear every night but now he has the dilemma of a sleepover invitation. Reggie lives next door and Reggie has made big plans for their evening but Ira's sister is the voice of doom. She tells Ira that Reggie won't approve of his bear and even worse Reggie is sure to tease or mock little Ira if he takes his precious bear to the sleep over. Luckily two things happen - mum and dad totally disagree and they tell Ira he should take his bear and then as Reggie and Ira finally snuggle down to sleep Reggie jumps up and retrieves his own teddy bear - so now little Ira has the courage or permission to jump back over the fence and grab his bear Tah Tah.

Bookseller blurb: Ira is thrilled about his first sleepover at his friend Reggie's house, until his sister makes him question taking his favorite teddy bear. Will Reggie laugh at his teddy bear? Can Ira sleep without it? A funny back-and-forth ensues in this classic picture book about staying true to yourself. A perfect read-aloud for every young reader with their own bedtime friends.

I am helping my friend sort some things in her school library. Many years ago, she set up some boxes of books to support a student welfare program. The staff no longer use this program, so we have disbanded the book boxes. Among the titles I saw this US title When Ira Sleeps Over (1972).

Listen to the podcast with Betsy Bird where they discuss this book. There certainly are some funny details in the illustrations such as the old-fashioned standard lamp; dad playing the double bass; music stands; curtain room dividers; the paintings on their walls; and dad is cooking dinner - this is the 1970s so that makes this even more curious. You might also notice the real bottle tops and the curious stamps owned by dad that the kids enjoy using in their game. Dad is clearly a classical musician - we see his double bass and at the end of the book when he opens the door for Ira we see dad holding a classical music record album. 

Even though this book is now quite old I think it is one I could share with a young child - not a group - just your own young reading companion. Bernard Waber (1921-2013) is famous for his books about Lyle Lyle the crocodile. I previously talked about his book Ask Me. You can see more of his books here. The book and CD version of this book Ira Sleeps Over is still available. 

The sequel was published in 1988. 

Here are some discussion questions

Here is my old teddy bear:

Companion book:

You could also look for this very old Australian book:

A Lion in the Meadow by Margaret Mahy illustrated by Jenny Williams

"Mother, I'm scared to go into the meadow, because of the lion which is there."

This is a famous Margaret Mahy book from 1969. I picked up a copy in mint condition at a recent charity book fair for just AUS$1. My copy is the newer one with revised illustrations done in 1986.

In this delightful children's story, a young boy's vivid imagination brings to life a lion that he claims is hiding in the meadow near his home. His mother, initially skeptical, plays along by giving him a matchbox containing a dragon to scare the lion away. As the tale unfolds, the line between fantasy and reality blurs, leading to a heartwarming conclusion where imagination and belief create a world of wonder and possibility, highlighting the power of storytelling and the bond between parent and child. The Greatest Books

Here are some of the original illustrations - I do prefer them:

Publisher blurb: What would you do if you knew there was a lion in the meadow, but your mother doesn't believe you? And when she gives you a matchbox with a dragon hidden inside to scare away the lion, you discover that the dragon is in there too!

Margaret Mahy (1936-2012) was one of New Zealand's most celebrated children's writers. She was the author of more than 150 titles, which have been translated into many different languages and sold around the world. Appointed to the Order of New Zealand in 1993, Mahy also won many global prizes for children's writers, including the Carnegie Medal and the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Award from IBBY.

I wonder if A Lion in the Meadow inspired the book The Tiger who Came to Tea. Looking at the dates I guess not. The Tiger who came to Tea was written in 1968 and A Lion in the Meadow in 1969. I can see links between this book and another older book by Margaret Mahy - The Witch in the Cherry Tree also illustrated by Jenny Williams. I found an academic examination of the story in A Lion in the Meadow - the page is filled with advertisements making it hard to read but if you want a deeper analysis of this famous story take a look. I have also discovered that the new edition has a different ending! Juding by the dates I am going to hope or assume Margaret Mahy herself wrote or at least approved of this change.

Original "The mother never ever made up a story again."

New edition "So the lion in the meadow became a house lion and lived in the broom cupboard and when the little boy had apples, stories and a goodnight hug, the lion had apples, stories and a goodnight hug as well."

The Margaret Mahy Treasury

Here is a list of some picture books by Margaret Mahy - my own favourites are Jam; The Great White Man-eating Shark; and The Pumpkin Man and the Crafty Creeper. Click the label Margaret Mahy at the bottom of this post to find my blog posts about some of these.

•  A Dragon of an Ordinary Family (1969)
•  A Lion in the Meadow (1969)
•  The Princess and the Clown (1971)
•  The Boy with Two Shadows (1971)
•  17 Kings and 42 Elephants (1972)
•  The Witch in the Cherry Tree (1974)
•  The Boy Who Was Followed Home (1975)
•  The Man Whose Mother Was a Pirate (1976)
•  Jam (1985)
•  The Great White Man-eating Shark (1989)
•  The Pumpkin Man and the Crafty Creeper (1990)
•  The Rattlebang Picnic (1994)
•  Beaten by a Balloon (1997)
•  The Three-legged Cat (2004)
•  Down the Back of the Chair (2006)

  

Charlotte's Web by EB White illustrated by Garth Williams

“Attention, please!” he said in a loud, firm voice. “Will the party who addressed me at bedtime last night kindly make himself or herself known by giving an appropriate sign or signal!”

Wilbur has been wishing, out loud, for a friend. Charlotte quietly says she will be his friend, and she tells Wilbur she will meet him the morning. The lines above are from Wilbur - and yes it is the next morning. He wants to find the owner of the voice from last night. Wilbur is about to meet the most special friend - a spider named Charlotte. 

You are sure to remember the classic opening lines of Charlotte's Web:

Where's Papa going with that ax?” said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast. “Out to the hoghouse,” replied Mrs. Arable. “Some pigs were born last night.” “I don’t see why he needs an ax,” continued Fern, who was only eight. “Well,” said her mother, “one of the pigs is a runt. It’s very small and weak, and it will never amount to anything. So your father has decided to do away with it.” “Do away with it?” shrieked Fern. “You mean kill it? Just because it’s smaller than the others?”

Think about the fact that Fern is eight years old. When she confronts her father about the new baby pig she sure does use some sophisticated and persuasive language:

“But it’s unfair,” cried Fern. “The pig couldn’t help being born small, could it? If I had been very small at birth, would you have killed me?” Mr. Arable smiled. “Certainly not,” he said, looking down at his daughter with love. “But this is different. A little girl is one thing, a little runty pig is another.” “I see no difference,” replied Fern, still hanging on to the ax. “This is the most terrible case of injustice I ever heard of.”

Fern is also a farm kid. She goes inside and mum has breakfast ready and one of the offerings is bacon! I guess only adults will see this as a little ironic.

EB White is a master of sensory descriptions - take a look at this example:

It smelled of hay and it smelled of manure. It smelled of the perspiration of tired horses and the wonderful sweet breath of patient cows. It often had a sort of peaceful smell—as though nothing bad could happen ever again in the world. It smelled of grain and of harness dressing and of axle grease and of rubber boots and of new rope. And whenever the cat was given a fish-head to eat, the barn would smell of fish. But mostly it smelled of hay, for there was always hay in the great loft up overhead.

You could also talk to your writing group about the way EB White makes use of lists in this story:

it was full of all sorts of things that you find in barns: ladders, grindstones, pitch forks, monkey wrenches, scythes, lawn mowers, snow shovels, ax handles, milk pails, water buckets, empty grain sacks, and rusty rat traps.

Flies, bugs, grasshoppers, choice beetles, moths, butterflies, tasty cockroaches, gnats, midges, daddy longlegs, centipedes, mosquitoes, crickets—anything that is careless enough to get caught in my web. I have to live, don’t I?

It was a delicious meal—skim milk, wheat middlings, leftover pancakes, half a doughnut, the rind of a summer squash, two pieces of stale toast, a third of a gingersnap, a fish tail, one orange peel, several noodles from a noodle soup, the scum off a cup of cocoa, an ancient jelly roll, a strip of paper from the lining of the garbage pail, and a spoonful of raspberry jello.

Here, in a small clearing hidden by young alders and wild raspberry bushes, was an astonishing pile of old bottles and empty tin cans and dirty rags and bits of metal and broken bottles and broken hinges and broken springs and dead batteries and last month’s magazines and old discarded dishmops and tattered overalls and rusty spikes and leaky pails and forgotten stoppers and useless junk of all kinds, including a wrong-size crank for a broken ice-cream freezer.

I participate in a children's book club on Facebook and the book for June was Charlotte's Web. I'm fairly sure I didn't read this 1952 book as a child - I think I probably first read it in the 1980s. Today, in preparation for participating in the discussion I re-read Charlotte's Web on my bus trip into the city and then finished the final half this afternoon.

I was very surprised about the parts of the story that I had forgotten, and I was also surprised that I didn't have my expected emotional reaction to the death of beautiful Charlotte. This might be my third reading of this classic book. I did talk about Charlotte's Web here on this blog back in 2012. In that past post I shared some text quotes. Today I read this book on my Kindle so I was easily able to highlight passages that resonated with me - and they are quite different from the ones in my previous post. 

There are some rich words used in this book such as these examples: endure, objectionable, meekly, salutations, a jubilee time, sincere, scruples, compunctions, gullible, forsake, and untenable.

And also some words that are sure to be unfamiliar to young Australian children - wheat middlings, popover, midway, hominy, provender, timothy (it's a type of grass used for hay), and Crackerjack.

I had also forgotten the maths references - money given to the children at the fair and the exact number of eggs in Charlotte's egg sack.

Here is another quote that resonated with me:

Wilbur was modest; fame did not spoil him. He still worried some about the future, as he could hardly believe that a mere spider would be able to save his life. Sometimes at night he would have a bad dream. He would dream that men were coming to get him with knives and guns. But that was only a dream. In the daytime, Wilbur usually felt happy and confident. No pig ever had truer friends, and he realized that friendship is one of the most satisfying things in the world.

Companion books:

Aranea

Some Writer

Here are the famous Charlotte's Web quotes that you are sure to recognise:

“You have been my friend,” replied Charlotte. “That in itself is a tremendous thing. I wove my webs for you because I liked you. After all, what’s a life, anyway? We’re born, we live a little while, we die. A spider’s life can’t help being something of a mess, with all this trapping and eating flies. By helping you, perhaps I was trying to lift up my life a trifle. Heaven knows anyone’s life can stand a little of that.”

It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer. Charlotte was both.

The Didakoi by Rumer Godden

 

Image source: Hastings Independent

Kizzy is a Diddakoi - half gypsy half Irish. She lives with her grandmother in a gypsy caravan and with her beautiful old horse Joe. The gypsy camp is on some land owned by Admiral Sir Archibald Cunningham Twiss. 

"He had put aside the orchard for the travellers and laid on water, a tap and a trough for them, though the village did not approve."

Kizzy does not go to school but then one of the 'do-gooders' in the town tells the authorities and so she is forced to attend. On the first day the girls taunt her about her secondhand clothes so that night she destroys them and from then on turns up at school in her own ragged clothes and boots. Kizzy's grandmother is very old and sadly one day she dies while Kizzy is at school. After the funeral poor Kizzy has to endure the burning of their caravan (a gypsy tradition) - her only home and the one place she has felt safe is now gone. Kizzy tries to run away but she becomes very unwell. Admiral Twiss takes her home and he and his two male servants - Peters and Nat - nurse her back to health but the town will not allow her to stay in the big house. The matter goes to court and it feels for a moment that Kizzy will be sent to a children's home but at the last minute a new single lady who has moved into a local cottage offers to care for Kizzy. 

Olivia Brooke is a woman of enormous good-sense and kindness. She does not chide Kizzy or punish her. Instead she is patient while Kizzy adjusts to her new life and copes with her grief. But school is still torture. The gang of girls attack her so viciously on the way home each day - they trip her, the tie her ankles with a rope, and the ram her into a tree. It is a dreadful scene but luckily Miss Brooke is there and she finds exactly the right way to stop this and make sure all the girls feel enormous remorse.

"They gang up on a particular child ... if one clamps down as Mrs Blount did, it goes underground and it's worse for the victim. How can it be dealt with?' ... 'For a moment they thought they had killed Kizzy. They won't forget that ... it's a children's war. Let the children settle it."

Kizzy spends a few days at home and then she makes a plan to run away. She simply cannot go back to that school. She will take her horse Joe and a few supplies and ride off but on the day she plans to do this she is taken to the big house and told her horse has died. 

There were two points while I was reading this book that I just had to stop and walk away. That scene I mentioned where Kizzy is badly bullied by a large group of girls in her school. And later when the girls come to visit and she accidentally pours petrol on a fire which I was sure would end in disaster.

There are also some absolutely heartwarming moments in this story - such as when Miss Brooke and the Admiral set up Kizzy's room with furniture from the big house; when the Admiral makes Kizzy a small replica caravan; and near the end when she is gifted a beautiful dress that matches exactly the one in the portrait of the young Kezia Cunningham - the admiral's grandmother. Miss Brooks also makes delicious food, and she is happy to eat outside near a fire with Kizzy in the same way Kizzy did this with her grandmother. 

Here are a few text quotes to give you a flavour of this classic book which was first published in 1972.

"Mrs Blount had touched a sore spot; in Kizzy's family, as in some gypsy clans, a child is given three names: a secret one whispered by its mother the moment it is born and, when it is grown, whispered again into the child's ear; a private or 'wagon' name which is used only by its own people, and a third open name by which it is known to the world. Kizzy seemed only to have one, but that was because she was what they called her, a 'diddakoi', not all gypsy."

Kizzy does not know the date of her birthday. 

"There was another side to birthdays Mrs Blount did now know; the girls got you by your arms and legs and bumped you on the asphalt playground, once for every year, and they pulled your hair for the number of them with extra tugs 'to make your hair grow' and 'for luck'. ... but they did not like to touch her dirty boots so they tugged her hair instead, handfuls of her mop of dark curls. Kizzy had red patches on her scalp every day now and they ached at night."

The Didakoi won the Whitbread Award in 1972. Other winners that may be familiar to you were: The Battle of Bubble and Squeak by Philippa Pearce, The Witches by Roald Dahl, The Great Elephant Chase by Gillian Cross, Skellig by David Almond, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by JK Rowling, The Explorer by Katherine Rundell, Voyage of the Sparrowhawk by Natasha Farrant, The Skylarks War by Hilary McKay.

The Costa Book Award for Children's Book, formerly known as the Whitbread Award (1971–2005), was an annual literary award for children's books, part of the Costa Book Awards, which were discontinued in 2022, the 2021 awards being the last made. In 1976 the BBC made a television series based on this book and in 2002 it was released again with a new title and cover:

Just so you don't get confused I discovered that in1940 Rumer Godden wrote a novel for adults with the title Gypsy Gypsy. She wrote over twenty novels for adults and twenty-five books for children.

The Diddakoi made me think about The Present Takers by Aidan Chambers which contains terrible and vicious bullying. The Present Takers upset me so much it is not a book I could easily ever re-read. I am so glad I discovered The Didakoi and I especially loved the fairy-tale ending and touches of a love story but Kirkus roundly condemn it and so does this reviewer. 

I picked up The Diddakoi at a recent charity book sale. To my eye this book has stood the test of time and it is still available. I guess you need to make your own judgement about its appropriateness. As a child I loved books by Rumer Godden (1907-1998) and more recently I also enjoyed The Story of Holly and Ivy. 

The Fairy Doll

The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi illustrated by Greg Hilderbrandt

Any copy of Pinocchio in English is a translation from the original story written in 1883 by Carlo Collodi whose real name was Carlo Lorenzini. His pen name, Collodi, refers to the name of the village where his mother was born. Every time I pick up a copy of Pinocchio I check to see the name of the translator. Often this is not mentioned. My copy featured today says: text adapted and abridged by Elizabeth Haserick.

So, as you can see my copy here today is both a translation, of course, and an abridged version. The actual novel of Pinocchio is 288 pages. I have not read the full book but my version today covers the main incidents. This one illustrated by Greg Hilderbrandt is long out of print but it is sure to be in many libraries. It is a long format picture book and would make a great family read aloud. 

Derived from the Italian words “pino” meaning pine tree and “occhio” meaning eye, Pinocchio’s name symbolizes his creation from a piece of pine wood by the woodcarver Geppetto. The name carries a sense of magic, mystery, and transformation, making it an enduring symbol of childhood wonder and imagination.

Pinocchio is available in many formats from board books to picture books and novels as well as ebook versions and it has been translated into 300 languages. There are also very simple versions such as one from Ladybird books. When I searched on Goodreads I found over 3500 versions of this famous classic.

The story was originally published in serial form as The Story of a Puppet (Italian: La storia di un burattino) in the Giornale per i bambini, one of the earliest Italian weekly magazines for children, starting from 7 July 1881. Near Florence you can visit Pinocchio Park. 

I found this plot summary:

Chapter 1: Pinocchio's Creation

In the first chapter, the kind-hearted woodcarver Geppetto creates Pinocchio out of a magical piece of wood. As soon as Pinocchio comes to life, he starts causing trouble and running away, setting the stage for his misadventures.

Chapter 2: Pinocchio's First Misadventure

Pinocchio encounters the cunning Fox and Cat, who persuade him to join a puppet theater. However, Pinocchio soon realizes that the puppet master intends to turn him into firewood. With the help of the Blue Fairy, Pinocchio escapes, but not without facing consequences for his gullibility.

Chapter 3: Pinocchio's Encounter with the Talking Cricket

Pinocchio meets the Talking Cricket, who advises him to be obedient and honest. Annoyed by the cricket's wise words, Pinocchio throws a hammer at him, inadvertently killing him. This impulsive act sets the stage for Pinocchio's journey of personal growth and redemption.

Chapter 4: Pinocchio's Trip to the Land of Toys

Pinocchio is lured to the Land of Toys, where children can play all day without consequences. However, Pinocchio soon discovers that the Land of Toys is a trap, turning disobedient children into donkeys. He narrowly escapes this fate but is left with donkey ears and a tail as a reminder of his foolishness.

Chapter 5: Pinocchio's Rescue of Geppetto

Pinocchio embarks on a mission to rescue his father figure, Geppetto, who has been swallowed by a giant shark. With courage and determination, Pinocchio saves Geppetto and learns the importance of selflessness and sacrifice.

Chapter 6: Pinocchio's Transformation into a Real Boy

Pinocchio's bravery and selflessness finally earn him the reward he has longed for – a transformation into a real boy. Through his journey, Pinocchio learns the value of honesty, bravery, and the importance of making virtuous choices.

I visited Italy last year. I was intrigued to see every market in Tuscany had Pinocchio puppets for sale in all sizes and price points. Then I went into a beautiful huge bookstore where they had a whole shelving bay full of different versions of Pinocchio. Here is my photo:

There are many ways you could read or use the story of Pinocchio with your class. In art you could compare all the different cover illustrations or look at the work of the famous illustrators below. This book is also a terrific example of a trickster tale. Take a look at my small Pinterest collection. As a read aloud, you could read one story incident each day. My friend from Kinderbookswitheverything shares the books that feature Pinocchio from her library. 

As you would imagine many very famous illustrators have created their own images for this famous story.

Roberto Innocenti (for older students)

Robert Ingpen (This version has 200+ pages)

Ed Young

Emma Chichester Clark

This version is retold by Michael Morpurgo and is part of a 

Reading Program called Oxford Reading Tree - Treetops

Here is a popup version due for publication in 2025:

Simon and Schuster [9781962098113]

Lane Smith

The Nutcracker Picture Books

Susan Jeffers

Someone asked in a children's book Facebook group for suggestions of books that tell the story of The Nutcracker Ballet. You can read the plot here.  I borrowed a few from a school library. Many of them didn't appeal to me but I do like the work of Jane Ray and Susan Jeffers. Then I did a little digging and found some other gorgeous versions. I won't retell the story here but of course these picture books are all abridged versions of the original novella by E.T.A. Hoffmann. Here are some book covers and you are sure to recognise some of these very famous illustrators.

Lisbeth Zwerger

Jan Brett

Maurice Sendak

Jane Ray

Robert Ingpen

Mary Engelbreit

Roberto Innocenti

Ritva Voutila

Ian Beck

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

The Scholastic Classic edition published in 2023

This week I was lucky to see a stage show of A Christmas Carol (here is a video promotion from the 2022 production) so before attending I re-read this classic story. I'm sure you know this famous tale so I thought I would share a few text quotes and book covers. You will also easily find abridged editions and I even discovered a board book!

“I don’t mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge, what there is particularly dead about a door-nail. I might have been inclined, myself, to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in the trade. But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile; and my unhallowed hands shall not disturb it, or the Country’s done for. You will therefore permit me to repeat, emphatically, that Marley was as dead as a door-nail.”

“Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster.”

“If they would rather die,” said Scrooge, “they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.”

"The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice. A frosty rime was on his head, and on his eyebrows, and his wiry chin. He carried his own low temperature always about with him; he iced his office in the dog-days; and didn’t thaw it one degree at Christmas.”

“As good as gold,” said Bob, “and better. Somehow he gets thoughtful, sitting by himself so much, and thinks the strangest things you ever heard. He told me, coming home, that he hoped the people saw him in the church, because he was a cripple, and it might be pleasant to them to remember upon Christmas Day, who made lame beggars walk, and blind men see.”

“No space of regret can make amends for one life’s opportunity misused!”

Just look at the wonderful illustrators I have found - Robert Ingpen, Roberto Innocenti, PJ Lynch, Quentin Blake, and Christian Birmingham.

Illustrated by Robert Ingpen

Illustrated by Roberto Innocenti

Illustrated by Quentin Blake

illustrated by Christian Birmingham

Reading this book over the last few days I really appreciated the delicious vocabulary used by Charles Dickens in 1843. You can read A Christmas Carol (full text) for free from Project Gutenberg.

• prodigiously
• bestow a trifle
• palpable brown air
• veneration
• impropriety
• homage
• tremulous
• incredulous
• fettered
• penance
• jocund (cheerful and light-hearted)
• odious

There are also lots of audio versions - here is one with Hugh Grant. And this one is with Miriam Margolyes.