December is a time to reflect on the many books I've enjoyed this year. I've chosen to recommend about 30 books out of the hundred or so that I read or listened to during the past year, which is just a summary of my reading. It's going to be quite a mix if you read straight through because I'm listing them roughly in the order I read them and not by theme this time. Several of these books may only be available in Swedish, but you can get an idea of the sort of work I'm interested in translating into English!
1) Hedvig! by Frida Nilsson (in English translation as Hattie, translated by Julia Marshall)
As we learn in the first chapter, Hedvig lives way out in the countryside with no close neighbours. Not even in the middle of nowhere, but outside of it. Then she starts school and makes friends with Linda, a shy girl with a turned-up nose. This book is Hedvig's adventures during the first grade and is full of relatable moments: her horrible haircut, getting lost in the woods, having to eat gross food at school lunch, feeding cream to the tadpoles. I loved how the narrative voice is so expressive of Hedvig's thoughts, even though it's not in the first person. When she and her classmates play horses at recess, and Ellen gets so carried away with the game that she won't leave off, she's suddenly referred to not as Ellen anymore, but 'The Stallion.' There are also so many examples of how strongly Hedvig feels things and how the situations she's in really affect her. It's a reminder of how intensely people feel things as children. Hedvig plays a little trick on Rickard (Richard) by putting soap into his water bottle. Then when he gets sick she thinks it's her fault and is filled with remorse: 'Hedvig måste gå och lägga sig på sängen. Det känns som om hon har förgiftat sig själv, som om hon också ska kräkas' ('Hattie has to go and lie on her bed. She feels as if she's been poisoned too, as if she might vomit').
The second book in the series about Hedvig is called Hedvig and Max-Olov (translated as Hattie and Olaf). I haven't actually read the translation of this, but I'm sure it's great like the first one was. Like all the girls in her class, what Hedvig wants most is a horse. But she gets...a donkey. And, there are two more books in the series to look forward to!
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| Hedvig! |
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| Hedvig och Max-Olov |
2) Glowrushes by Roberto Piumini, translated by Leah Janeczko
Occasionally I like a children's book that is really sad, different from the usual happy, safe, hopeful atmosphere of so many other books. This book was published in Italy in 1987 and only recently translated to English. It has the tone of a fairy tale or something from the Arabian Nights—or, if you've read The Goldsmith and the Master Thief by Tonke Dragt and translated into English by Laura Watkinson, that is what this reminds me of. It is a sad story because the boy, Madurer, has an illness that keeps him from playing outside and he knows he probably will die before reaching adulthood. His father asks a famous painter to decorate the walls of Madurer's rooms with fabulous colourful murals. The painter and the boy become good friends and work on the paintings together. The paintings are really more miniature stories than pictures and they are so full of life. Through the paintings, and through stories he reads and hears, Madurer lives a life he isn't able to in the outside world.
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| Glowrushes |
3) Angår det dej kanske? Fundror by Ingrid Sjöstrand
The Swedish author Ingrid Sjöstrand wrote three poetry collections for children between 1969 and 1971. I first read them on Litteraturbanken, a great website that collects classic texts in the Swedish language. I was drawn to Sjöstrand's poems because of her candid and unselfconscious style. These are 'thought-questions' written from a child's perspective. The poems examine sibling relationships, friendships, and the pains of growing up using ordinary topics like lost mittens, sleepovers, sunsets, and birthday cake. Here are a few of my favourite poems from Angår det dej kanske?, along with a translation into English of the last poem which I did.
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| Angår det dej kanske? Fundror |
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| Title poem, "Angår det dej kanske" |
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| "Det är bara jag som är jag" |
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| "Det värsta med mama är" |
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| "Ibland drömmer jag om benrangel" |
Sometimes I dream about skeletonsthat just force themselves on mecloser and closerI shoutand wake up—it was only a dreamsays mama.How does it helpthat this darkness was inside of meand not outside
4) Snap! by Anna Walker
I noticed this picture book by Australian author Anna Walker on the White Ravens 2023 list and was attracted by its green colour scheme with pinkish/orangish accents. In the book, a little frog tries to escape a number of predators. The frog's simple eyes have so much expression and his limbs convey very human emotions through body language as he falls, hops, and runs. The text introduces many simple word pairs that are so fun to read out loud like drip/drop, splish/splash, and bump/ jump. You will want to read it all over again when you get to the last page!
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| Snap! |
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| from Snap! by Anna Walker |
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| from Snap! |
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| from Snap! |
5) The Mennyms by Sylvia Waugh
Maybe the best book I've read all year! The Mennyms is a children's book, but I think the reason for categorising it this way is that some of the characters are children. It's an example of how the best books—the deepest, most philosophical books—are published as children's literature. Under its surface, this book is a penetrating look at British life. What is normal behaviour? What do people pretend about? What don't people talk about that gets brushed aside (or hidden in the cupboard)? I was fortunate that no one had spoiled the surprise for me before I read this book. So, if you also want to be surprised, stop reading here.
If you're still reading, these are the surprises I most liked (and things I found to be particularly British). The Mennyms are actually living rag dolls. They guard this secret by covering up as much as possible in public and keeping to themselves (this works in England; even though they have been in their house for forty years, no neighbours have ever visited). Although they don't need to eat food or drink tea, they buy food anyway and pretend to have meals because that's what other people do. They 'play at living.' Miss Quigley is not part of the family, but 'visits' from time to time. (Really, she lives in the hall cupboard and everyone politely pretends not to notice when she slips out the back door and calls at the front.)
Everyone pretends except for Soobie. He is blue and can therefore never go out in public. He sits by the window and: 'cried inside himself because they were not human and no amount of pretending would ever make them so.' They discover a disassembled doll in the attic—who is Soobie's twin sister Pilbeam! The letters from a supposed visitor have been faked by the teenage daughter Appleby. Appleby almost dies by getting soaked in the rain! I could go on.
The book also gives me a creepy feeling because of the odd circumstance of the family members never growing older, but having all the shared experience of the years spent together. I appreciated the references to classic literature scattered throughout the book. And there are occasionally very short, biting observations thrown in like: 'Rag dolls feel no pain. Pain is of the flesh, but fear is of the mind.' I do have to make a special mention of knitting in the book. Granny Tulip is an amazing knitter: '...she was often wakeful at night and liked to get on with her knitting, sometimes in the wee small hours. She was ceaselessly active. All day she would sit in the breakfast room downstairs knitting garments for the whole family. Her needles moved with fascinating speed. All of her movements were quick and economical. Even her speech was rapid and purposeful.' She sells her garments to Harrods under the tulipmennym label.
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| The Mennyms |
6) The Cat and the King by Nick Sharratt
This is a very British book! I remember reading about the author on the Book Trust page and wondering why our library in Wisconsin didn't have the series. Now that I have read it, I can understand what a tricky thing it would be to present the series in the US. Not that I think it would be a bad thing to leave everything as it is! I would have appreciated less editing of the British books I read when I was younger. Yet, it would be a small audience since not everyone is as interested in reading past the differences in English usage. Aside from spellings, there are different terms like To Let signs next to the houses, the Car Boot sale, Bumper Books, and Harry's Van Hire. They ride in a double decker bus with the steering on the right-hand side and live in an area called Castle Close. And all that's just within the first three chapters! There's a second book in the series called Nice Work for the Cat and the King.
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| The Cat and the King by Nick Sharratt |
7) The Plodcast from Countryfile Magazine
I previously mentioned The Plodcast on last year's list. I want to highlight some of my favourite sound escape episodes from this year. More and more often I listen to birdsong while writing, drafting, and editing my projects. Sound Escape 150 of robin song is a good one for this. The European Robin is more pleasant than the North American, I think. I also enjoy Sound Escape 158 recorded at Horsey Gap on the Norfolk coast. Now when I listen to it, I'm reminded of my visits to the Norfolk coast. Sound Escape 167 is more birdsong and 173 is the blackbird in particular. Our field in Wisconsin is always full of Red-winged Blackbirds, but I hadn't ever heard the Eurasian Blackbird in person until I came to England (only recordings and on The Beatles "Blackbird"). Another stunning bird song is from the skylark, featured on Sound Escape 181. This is the Eurasian Skylark, but similar to the Eastern Meadowlark in North America. And it's included in the birdsong in "Grantchester Meadows" from Pink Floyd. I heard skylarks on my walks to the Norfolk Children's Book Centre near Norwich. Finally, I was really amused by the field of sheep in Sound Escape 201.
Aside from these sound escape episodes, I did particularly enjoy Episode 256 in which the composer Alexander Chapman Campbell discusses conifer plantations and how they differ from less managed forest environments. Also Episode 259 with mudlarker Lara Maiklem. Did you know you need a special permit to mudlark on the Thames in London? Listen to the underwater sounds of ponds in Episode 262 with folk musician Alice Boyd and sound recorder Tom Fisher, then hear Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough on a walk in Yorkshire on Episode 268.
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| The Plodcast |
8) Folk on Foot podcast
I'm following up The Plodcast with the Folk on Foot podcast because this episode from March is where I found out about it. In each episode, Matthew Bannister talks about music with (mainly British) folk musicians. They go on a walk together and play music, usually outdoors or in other special locations on the way. My favourite episodes from the back catalogue include Karine Polwart and Eliza Carthy and Family from season 1, The Lost Words Spell Songs (featuring Beth Porter, who I got to see live in Cambridge with the Bookshop Band!) from season 3, cellist Su-a Lee from season 4, Johnny Flynn from season 5, and Sam Sweeney, Jenny Sturgeon, Robert Macfarlane & Johnny Flynn, Maddy Prior & Peter Knight and Maddy Prior & Rose-Ellen Kemp from season 6—but if you're looking for a truly odd sound, try the Lunatraktors episode, also in season 6.
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| Folk on Foot |
9) Dikter (1916) by Edith Södergran
Edith Södergran is a Finnish-Swedish poet who lived from 1892–1923. Her style is very modern for the time she wrote in, both in content and the structure of her poems. She leaves behind a rhyme scheme for the most part and a lot of her poetry deals with life from the perspective of women (though she famously wrote: 'Jag är ingen kvinna. Jag är ett neutrum.'). I'll make a note of a few of my favourite poems from this collection, beginning with this excerpt from "Dagen svalnar":
IV
Du sökte en blommaoch fann en frukt.Du sökte en källaoch fann ett hav.Du sökte en kvinnaoch fann en själ—du är besviken.En önskanAv hela vår soliga världönskar jag blott en trädgårdssoffadär en katt solar sig...Där skulle jag sittamed ett brev i barmen,ett enda litet brev.Så ser min dröm ut...
...
Jag har en port mot alla fyra vindar.Jag har en gyllene port mot öster—för kärleken som aldrig kommer,jag har en port för dagen och en annan för vemodet,jag har en port för döden—den står alltid öppen. –from "Mot alla fyra vindar"StjärnornaNär natten kommerstår jag på trappan och lyssnar,stjärnorna svärma i trädgårdenoch jag står i mörkret.Hör, en stjärna föll med en klang!Gå icke ut i gräset med bara fötter;min trädgård är full av skärvor.LyckokattJag har en lyckokatt i famnen,den spinner lyckotråd.Lyckokatt, lyckokatt,skaffa mig tre ting:skaffa mig en gyllne ring,som säger mig att jag är lycklig;skaffa mig en spegel,som säger mig att jag är skon;skaffa mig en solfjäder,som fläktar bort mina påhängsna tankar.Lyckokatt, lyckokatt,spinn mig ännu litet om min framtid!
There is a translation of all of Södergran's poems by David McDuff, but I don't think it's that great. (He also translated Karin Boye's poems, and I question some of his decisions). You can find multiple translations of certain poems, especially "Dagen svalnar" and "Vierge moderne," but the best versions, I think, are included in a collection of modern Swedish poetry called The Star By My Head. Although I think the first is the strongest of her poetry collections, I also want to mention here a poem from Rosenaltaret (The Rose Altar). This is one that I shared in my poetry circle group, with this translation by Malena Mörling and Jonas Ellerström, and everyone had very illuminating thoughts about what it could mean.
Till fots fick jag gå genom solsystemen
Till fotsfick jag gå genom solsystemen,innan jag fann den första tråden av min röda dräkt.Jag anar ren mig själv.Någonstädes i rymden hänger mitt hjärta,gnistor strömma ifrån det, skakande luften,till andra måttlösa hjärtan.On Foot I Wandered Through The Solar Systems
On footI wandered through the solar systems,before I found the first thread of my red dress.Already I have a sense of myself.Somewhere in space my heart hangs,emitting sparks, shaking the air,to other immeasurable hearts.
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| Collected Poems of Edith Södergran |
10) Beatrix Potter: Drawn to Nature edited by Annemarie Bilclough
Beatrix Potter's life is like the Beatles'. Hahaha. I never get tired of reading about her and seeing photographs of where she lived, her family, her sheep, and her watercolours. I'm disappointed that I missed the big exhibition of Beatrix Potter's work at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2022–23 (it was just before I came to England), but this is a nice summary. I have been to visit Hilltop, her studio cottage in the Lake District, and I saw her original fungi watercolour illustrations at the Armitt in Ambleside.
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| Drawn to Nature |
11) Mossy Trotter by Elizabeth Taylor
I wish that Elizabeth Taylor had written more books for children! Like in Hedvig! (see number 1) and Ginger Pye (see number 21), the narration here is omniscient blended with a lot of commentary from Mossy's perspective. There's an excellent passage about Mossy getting in a mess with tar:
'He took a stick from the hedge, and prodded at the tar. The stick sank into it. It was a pleasant feeling. He suddenly had the idea of running home and fetching the pair of stilts he had had for his Christmas present. He was quite good on them, and he would be able to walk perfectly safely right down the road on them, and there would be the delightful sensation of sinking crunchily into the tar with every step he took—just like the stick which he had prodded softly into the side of the road.'
Mossy is seven and thinks that girls are silly, so he's not looking forward to being partnered with a girl called Alison at Miss Silken's wedding. But when he meets Alison, he discovers she is a different sort of girl altogether, the sort who climbs trees, spills things on tablecloths, and says things like: 'Do you take me for an idiot?' Mossy thinks: 'If only he could have a long, long day with her, and take her on the common, and show her the rubbish dump, and the hollow tree, and other hiding places.' Too bad there's not a sequel about Mossy and Alison!
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| Mossy Trotter |
12) Loranga, Masarin och Dartanjang by Barbro Lindgren
Barbro Lindgren is an important author in Sweden, and this book is a foundational work in Swedish children's literature, as is her autobiographical series of books beginning with Jättehemligt. This book grew on me. I was bewildered by it at first and used the English translation by Sarah Death (Soda Pop) to check what was actually happening. (Yes, it is a children's book—but still!) The English translation of the title is clever, since Loranga is an orange soda drink and it's the father's nickname. Somehow, though, after reading the original again side by side with the translation, I don't feel that the translation really gets the tone of the work (as valiant an effort as it is). Therefore, I do have to say that, in my opinion, to appreciate the book you need to read it in Swedish. Its characters are Loranga (the bossy, egotistical dad), Loranga's father Dartanjang (so named because it supposedly means feeble in Spanish), and Loranga's son Masarin ( 'en liten röd tjock pojke' with 'kinder som hänger rakt ner').
How can I sum up the content of this book? A few things could be mentioned: the giraffe that lives by the rubbish heap, the swimming pool garage, and the swarm of tigers that move into the barn (which Loranga and Masarin constantly get Dartanjang to feed because he's too senile to be afraid of them). But my favourite chapter is about the day Dartanjang wakes up thinking he is a pop star and they record an album. It's quite possible that the whole story could be interpreted as a metaphor for the grandpa's memory problems. There's a second and third book in this series as well that I haven't had the chance to read yet. And there's a museum attraction on Öland in Sweden featuring Barbro Lindgren's characters. She says she based Loranga on her husband and Masarin was inspired by her two sons. Keep reading or skip down to number 15 to read about Barbro Lindgren's poetry.
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| Loranga, Masarin & Dartanjang |
13) Tiger, Tiger, Tiger by Åsa Lind, illustrated by Joanna Hellgren
I wish I had bought a copy of this sweet picture book when I visited Sweden! I got to read it at Svenska barnboksinstitutet (The Swedish Institute for Children's Books) when I was researching Åsa Lind's writing for my dissertation. It's the charming story of a child trying to catch a cat and it rhymes very well. It's a little reminiscent of Tove Jansson's story "Katten" from Sommarboken (The Summer Book). I love the illustrations by Joanna Hellgren.
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| Tiger, Tiger, Tiger |
14) Force of Nature: A Novel of Rachel Carson by Ann E. Burg
It's a risky thing to commit to a novel in verse. Most of the time, I question why a story needs to be in verse format. Really excellent examples of novels in verse include Grasping Mysteries by Jeannine Atkins and Red, White, and Whole by Rajani LaRocca. Irish author Sarah Crossan's novels in verse are usually quite good as well. The aim is that the poetic format adds power to the impact of the words and moves the story closer to readers. In Force of Nature, not every poem is perfect, but there is something here that creates a momentum, a page-turning movement. The novel is also unique in that we are introduced to Rachel (or Ray) when she is eleven, and the story continues until her death, instead of ending when she is twenty or something. So we see her grow from elementary school to high school to attending a college for women, and then going on to obtain her masters degree in zoology. We see her move from one house to another—the necessity of supporting her close family causing her to abandon her dream of a doctorate. We read about her father and sister's deaths, her nieces growing up, her mother's passing, and Rachel finally realising her dream of publishing a book. Sweet pencil drawings by Sophie Blackall of all sorts of plants and animals from periwinkles and ghost crabs to swallowtails and seaweed accompany the text.
I'm here!Here where the ocean swellsand sinks,where the air prickleswith the breath of seaweed and salt...In the sea's soft gurgles and sighs,I hear the distant,ceaselessstrain of eternity,and wonder at my place in it.
This isn't the only Rachel Carson book to come out this year. You should also look out for a picture book with text by Rachel Carson illustrated by Nikki McClure called Something About the Sky.
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| Force of Nature |
15) Gärna ville jag vara ett träd: Dikter i urval by Barbro Lindgren, illustrated by Matilda Ruta
This new edition includes twelve of Barbro Lindgren's poems from 1974–2004 with illustrations by Matilda Ruta. Ruta is the illustrator of the comic-style Strandskogen and Jordbok series. Lindgren's poems are all pretty short and use plain vocabulary, but don't let that deceive you into thinking they are simple or babyish. Several of the poems deal with heavy topics like death and Lindgren often uses nature as a metaphor for emotions. The collection is named for the poem "Gärna ville jag vara ett träd" (I would like to be a tree), in which the poet imagines how it feels to be a tree, a stone, and an ocean.
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| Gärna ville jag vara ett träd |
16) Landet som icke är by Kristina Sigunsdotter, illustrated by Clara Dackenberg
Because this book's title (The Land That Is Not) is taken from a posthumously published poetry collection that deals with Edith Södergran's feelings about her impending death from tuberculosis (at age 31), it can seem a bit morbid for a children's book. Yet the idea of a fantasy land or alternate world is appealing. Sigunsdotter takes themes and lines from many of Södergran's most beloved poems and weaves them into a fairy tale-like narrative in verse. A girl in a sanatorium for tuberculosis (I think?) follows a cat through the mirror into another world, 'a land that no one knows.' She meets another girl and they play for a long time together in different rooms of the house. But there's a dangerous character there, too, Tärningskasterska—almost like a witch, pieced together from Södergran's poems "Stjärnorna" (the stars) and "Jag såg ett träd..." (I saw a tree...). I'm not sure I really like the characterisation of Tärningskasterska. The way she is described in the poem seems more open for interpretation. See number 9 above for Edith Södergran's poetry.
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| Landet som icke är |
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| Illustration by Clara Dackenberg |
17) Ett hem: Carl och Karin Larssons värld by Ulrika Ewerman, Maja Sten, and Mira Wickman (available in English translation as A Home: The World of Carl and Karin Larsson)
This past summer I got to visit Lilla Hyttnäs, the historic house where Carl and Karin Larsson lived and raised their family in Sundborn, Sweden. It's an old wooden cabin that they built onto and decorated in their own modern style—they were trendsetters of Swedish style. Many of the rooms in the house feature in Carl Larsson's watercolour paintings as part of his book Ett hem. I picked up this book in the museum shop, and I just can't stop looking at all the beautiful photos. Plus, it has some recipes in the back and a guide to the flowers in Karin's garden. I know I keep going on about this documentary about Karin and Carl Larsson on SVT, but it's really good!
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| Ett hem |
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| Verkstad (Workroom) |
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| Pillow made by Karin |
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| Matsalen (Dining Room) |
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| Förmakten (the Atrium) |
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| Vet du vad: var god och glad (You know what: be good and happy) |
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| Övre hallen (the Upper Hall) |
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| Suzann, Ulf, Pontus, Lisbeth |
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| Sundbornsån |
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| Trädgården (the Garden) |
18) En Bro av poesi and Tid för poesi edited by Ann Boglind and Anna Nordlund
I'm going to mention these two books together because they are both poetry anthologies for young readers put out by Svenska Akademien (The Swedish Academy). The poems included here weren't all originally for children especially, though. There are more classics than anything, which were originally for an adult readership—well-known Swedish poets like Karin Boye, Edith Södergran, Gunnar Ekelöf, Verner von Heidenstam, Gustaf Fröding, Pär Lagerkvist, Bruno K Öijer, and Carl Jonas Love Almqvist. New illustrations by various artists are paired with these poems to keep them relevant. I was sometimes surprised when I looked at the end credits to discover that a poem was from the early 1900s, 1800s, or even 1700s. But many modern poems are included in this mix as well. My favourite new discovery was "Små ting" by Karin Boye. The general idea is that when you are weary and feel you can't go on any longer, be thankful for common, small things. The comforting, the childish, the often overlooked. You have an apple in your pocket, a book of stories at home.
Små ting
Orkar du inte ett steg mer,inte lyfta ditt huvud,dignar du trött under hopplös gråhet—tacka då nöjd de vänliga, små tingen,tröstande, barnsliga.Du har ett äpple i fickan,en bok med sagor där hemma—små, små ting, föraktadei den tid, som strålade levande,men milda fästen under dem döda timmarna.
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| En bro av poesi |
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| Tid för poesi |
19) Cherry Moon: Little Poems Big Ideas Mindful of Nature by Zaro Weil, illustrated by Junli Song
If you feel like a whimsical trip, then read this collection of poetry that combines nature, brevity, and a pleasure in how words sound. Cherry Moon won the CLiPPA (Centre for Literacy in Primary Poetry) award in 2020 and you can hear the author read a few of the poems on the CLPE webpage.
This Tiny Bean
this tiny beanwas sprung from a bean flowerand fed by the sunblue and yellow birdssought it outweightless butterfliesrested on its quivering petalsgenerations of insectsclimbed up and down itsperfectly formed podrainbow watersplashed its rootsclearlythis tiny beanwas never in a million yearsjust any oldbeanMixumgatherummixumgatherumsaid the wise-talking windto the seedthe rainumandgrowumand infivehundredyearsuma mighty greatforest you'llbeumMudpuddling Tonightmudpuddling tonightsloshgurglingall the way home througha well-shined slipstream ofa million and one raindropslit bya million and one moondotsIf All Clouds Were Earthif all clouds were earthand all earth were skiesand all skies were sunsand all suns were starsand all stars were riversand all rivers were rocksand all rocks were fishand all fish were mountainsand all mountains were birdsand all birds were treesand all trees were peopleand all people were flowersthen if I picked one flowerI'd hold absolutely everythingin my hand
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| Cherry Moon |
20) Young Hag by Isabel Greenberg
The latest from Isabel Greenberg is an alternate history infused with British mythology. Its central character is the granddaughter of Morgan le Fay (Ancient Crone). Young Hag will be the one to return the sword Excalibur to Avalon and lift the 50 year curse that's separated the world of magic from the human world. It's interesting that this tale is from the perspective of Morgan le Fay and therefore not very flattering to Merlin. There's a modern interpretation of many of the knights of the round table as well. I love the balance Greenberg strikes between the historic, highly antiquated English in the characters' speeches with all their indeeds and would you care for a walk?s and then the occasional Hey! Are you coming or what? thrown in. There's also a lady knight, a giant cat, and a changeling babe. How could you resist?
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| Young Hag |
21) Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes
For the longest time I put off reading this book even though I very much enjoyed Estes's other books, especially the Moffat series, because I thought: Oh, this one's just about the dog. But there are so many more things to like about this story! I loved how the narrator blends an omniscient perspective with Jerry and Rachel's thoughts. In the opening chapter, readers are informed about the setting—even including how Mr and Mrs Pye met on an escalator in New York city—from the perspectives of their children. This is artfully done so that we not only understand the setting, but also learn more about Jerry and Rachel's characters at the same time. What Rachel thinks about Boston and New York, for example: 'Rachel couldn't explain the reason she thought Boston sounded more important than New York but it probably had something to do with the roundness of the letters, the B and the o's.'
Estes has a knack for making ordinary moments extra memorable. What fun Jerry, Rachel, and Uncle Bennie have dusting the pews at church—until Rachel thinks the minister may have seen her at the pulpit imitating his sermon! Keeping the wood bin full isn't such a chore when Jerry and Rachel can explore skeleton houses looking for leftover scraps. Maybe the success of Estes's technique is in the details. She makes her characters so very observant. Rachel thinks of Sam Doody: 'He had a way of breathing through his smiling mouth and it was a comfortable sound to hear, Sam's breathing, like an audible smile.' There are such memorable characters in the book, too: Uncle Bennie who's famous for being an uncle at only age three, the Pyes' friend Dick whose nickname is 'the perpendicular swimmer' because he dives under the surface to walk on his hands along the bottom, Mr Tuttle 'the tall short man' who is only tall from the waist up (when he's sitting down). And what suspense is created around a yellow hat and a supposed 'unsavoury character.' Now I just need to find Pinky Pye!
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| Ginger Pye (UK edition) |
22) Poetry Comics by Grant Snyder
Framed around the four seasons, these poems contain brief reflections that suggest big ideas. In "Becoming" a girl explores her surroundings: 'A bulb is becoming/a flower./The rain is becoming/a puddle./An egg is becoming/a bird./A puddle is becoming/blue sky.../What are you becoming?' In "Into the Woods" a boy is on a walk: 'I'm following a path...A path where getting lost/means finding where I'm headed.' The panel format is really effective for making you pause as you read to consider each line. Most of the panels read traditionally from left to right, but some are more playful, like "Carnival" and "Hive Mind." This is really a neat book for readers of any age to enjoy and share!
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| Poetry Comics |
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| "If I Were a Tree" |
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| "The Empty Lot" |
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| "Carnival" |
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| "Hive Mind" |
23) Timeless Textured Baby Crochet by Vita Apala
I definitely knit more than I crochet, and that's partly because, in general, I like the look of knitted wear better than crochet. This book could change that! It's full of stunningly beautiful stitch work, all crochet stitches and all in miniature for little people. I've tried the Classic Bonnet and am working on the Forest Sweater next.
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| Baby Crochet! |
24) Girls by Annet Schaap, translated by Laura Watkinson
I have to admit to not reading this book right away after the translation came out because I tried the first story and didn't really like it. But later when the library had a copy, I read the other stories and particularly like "Blue" (but creepy!), "Frog," "Monster Girl," and "Sleeper." Perhaps it didn't come across as much in the first story, but Annet Schaap (and her translator Laura Watkinson) has a grown-up way of writing. It's quite philosophical and introspective if you care to think of it that way. It feels very post-modern. This is an excerpt from "Frog."
The girl's aunt poured her a cup of green tea. 'A frog is a frog. There's not much to be done about that.''But I don't want a frog,' said the girl.'Fine. Then there are a couple of possibilities. Perhaps he suddenly changes one day after all...It's not very likely. But it's possible. You have kissed him enough, haven't you?The girl nodded.'From front to back, from left to right?''Oh yes,' said the girl.'And what was it like?'What was it like? A failure, she wanted to say. After every kiss, she had opened her eyes and, once again, not seen what she had hoped to see. But the kissing itself? Wide-mouthed. Green. Soft, too. The rest of him was far too small, of course, but his mouth—his mouth was just right.'What's that little smile about?' asked her aunt, who always saw everything.The girl shrugged.'Well, yes, there's always that possibility as well,' said her aunt. 'That you get used to him. Having a frog as a husband has disadvantages, but there are certainly advantages, too.''Yes, but... I wanted a prince.''Ah, a prince, a prince... Have you ever seen a prince up close?'
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| Girls, fairy tales with a modern spin |
25) Under ett rabarberblad: Verser för människor och djur by Lena Sjöberg
I read about Lena Sjöberg on the children's book blog Barnboksbloggen by Carola this year. Many of Sjöberg's books are available as ebooks, so I can access them outside of Sweden. She both writes and illustrates her picture books and poetry collections. Most of her verses have a strong rhyme scheme, which I thoroughly enjoyed reading in Swedish, but this could make it tricky to translate her poems. The poems in this collection have to do with the natural world and seasons. I don't know if the stereotype that Swedes are all about the natural world is really true, or if the literature I happen to be drawn to just always supports this. Especially in the poem "Sommarvisa," rituals to do with the changing seasons are celebrated and there is a tangible excitement about the weather getting warm enough for bare skin.
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| Under ett rabarberblad |
26) All You Knit is Love: The Official Beatles Knitting Book by Caroline Smith
I had anticipated this book's release since the London Book Fair in March! Okay, I was a little disappointed that the patterns here are based around the lyrics and titles to Beatles songs or albums and not on what the Beatles themselves actually wore. But that's an idea for later. There are many cute and interesting patterns here nonetheless, even if they did wimp out on the fair isle vest (come on, it must be possible to get closer to that original pattern!). A few of the ones I'm most excited to get started on are the Sgt. Pepper's Band Sweater, the Greatest Hits Sweater (customisable to individual song titles), the Apple Sweater Vest (I'll have to work out my intarsia technique!), and the Yellow Submarine Onesie (adorable!).
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| All You Knit Is Love |
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| Sgt. Pepper's Band Sweater |
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| Greatest Hits Sweater |
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| Apple Sweater Vest |
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| Yellow Submarine Onesie |
Also...I have been thrifting all around England for a year and I've built up quite a massive pattern collection. My favourite styles are the ones from the 1940s up to the 1970s. So maybe I will design my own what-the-Beatles-actually-wore book someday!
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| The pattern file |
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| Some of the knitting patterns |
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| Some more of the knitting patterns |
27) Ghostlines by Katya Balen
Tilda lives on the island of Ayrie in Northern Scotland. It's a popular tourist spot in the summer where you can see wild puffins, but during the rest of the year only about 100 people live on the island—until this year when a new boy and his mum move to Ayrie. Tilda wants to be friends with this boy, Albie, and get to know him and tell him all about the island she loves so much, but Albie doesn't want to be there. He'd rather go back to live on the mainland. This is painful for Tilda because the same thing happened when her brother turned 17, and she feels like it's her fault he didn't want to stay on Ayrie. So she will try everything she possibly can to make Albie stay—including kayaking with him to a nearby forbidden island which could be haunted! This is the first of Katya Balen's books that I have read, but I will definitely seek out her other books in the future. Tilda's voice, which is the perspective the story is narrated from, has such a funny, run-on, captivating, and cosy feel to it.
I wake up early the next morning even though Dad and I had tea together and sat by the fire and he gave me a box of luminous pink and yellow shop-bought cakes from the mainland. He always brings me back something toxic-looking and delicious and that Ma says is probably made from plastic and will rot my insides. The mainland might be rubbish compared with Ayrie but it's got good snacks and they have a million shops so things don't get sold out like they do here. Dad and I talked and talked and talked about newcomers and puffins and boats and never about Rowan because his name is still a bruise and the embers glowed and sparked and died and the whole world outside our windows was dark and quiet. –from chapter 6
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| Ghostlines |
28) The Shadow Guests by Joan Aiken
This is the kind of book I love to discover at libraries or in used bookshops, an old book by a well-known author—one she is not best known for, yet that has all the qualities of her more popular books. Think authors like E.L. Konigsburg, Elizabeth Enright, Eleanor Cameron, Penelope Lively, Noel Streatfeild, or Philippa Pearce. Joan Aiken is the author of The Wolves of Willoughby Chase and Black Hearts in Battersea. I did enjoy reading those books as well, although I thought the writing was a little bit sloppy in some places. This book is part ghost story, part science fiction, part historical fiction. It came out in 1980, and you can tell by some of the outdated ideas about bullying in school. The last chapter was a bit disappointing, I thought, because it was a rushed summing up of everything (I hate it when space is wasted in books for this!) and the whole bullying issue just gets swept aside as something all kids have to go through. But its plot is intriguing: Cosmo has moved back to England from Australia after the mysterious disappearance of his mother and older brother. He stays with his father's cousin in Oxford, who tells him about the family curse. In Roman times, there was a murder at an ancient pagan temple and the priestess placed a curse on the Roman soldier's family. Then Cosmo begins to see and talk to figures from the past appearing at the house and he is able to affect what happens in another time dimension.
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| The Shadow Guests |
29) The Lion, the Witch and the Wonder by Katherine Rundell
This is a series of five essays by Katherine Rundell, as far as I know only available on BBC sounds. Katherine Rundell is the author of several children's books including the most recent Impossible Creatures, and she's also previously published an essay about children's literature called Why You Should Read Children's Books, Even Though You Are So Old and Wise. (She also wrote The Golden Mole and Other Living Treasure that made my best books list last year.) Rundell emphasises that, in many ways, children's literature is a distilled form of writing. It takes skill to write for both children and adults together that not every writer possesses. I can relate when she says that sometimes when she tells people she writes for children they respond 'as if you'd said that you spend your time building matchstick dining tables for the fairies.'
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| The Lion, the Witch and the Wonder, essays by Katherine Rundell |
30) Betsy-Tacy series by Maud Hart Lovelace
I love historical fiction that was either actually written at the time it references or is by an author who lived through that time and is reflecting back on her memories. There is just so much more that rings true about the descriptions in the work as compared with historical fiction written by a modern author—but if you have a different opinion, please do prove me wrong. The Betsy-Tacy series by Maud Hart Lovelace truly is a masterpiece. I first read these books in Mankato (the Deep Valley of the books) when I lived there for a year after graduating from college. They are very nostalgic—including picnics on the hill, picking flowers, baking cakes, school entertainments, early telephones and horseless carriages. Lovelace writes such exact details like what the girls or ladies are wearing that really helps to set the scene. For example: 'Miss Paxton was their teacher. She had a gray pompadour and wore shirt-waist suits in which her stock was always very high and her belt very trim. The room was sunny and large. There was a bouquet of purple asters, goldenrod, and sumac leaves on Miss Paxton's tidy desk.' Wow! even down to the goldenrod and sumac leaves. She also throws in lively similes every once in a while like this: 'Tacy and Tib put apples to roast on the back of the hard-coal heater that sat like a rosy smiling god in the corner of the back parlor.'
Betsy is always making up stories because she wants to be a writer someday. At the end of Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown, this really picks up as she gets to use Uncle Keith's theatre trunk as a desk instead of keeping her stories in a cigar box up in the maple tree. Betsy also gets to visit the newly opened free library by herself every other week:
She saw an open space with a big cage in the center, a cage such as they had in the bank, with windows in it. Behind rose an orderly forest of bookcases, tall and dark, with aisles between...The Children's Room was exactly right for children. The tables and chairs were low. Low bookshelves lined the walls, and tempting-looking books with plenty of illustrations were open on the tables. There was a big fireplace in the room, with a fire throwing up flames and making crackling noises. Above it was the painting of a rocky island with a temple on it, called The Isle of Delos.
Betsy, Tacy, and Tib have all sorts of fun episodes together like pretending there's a the mirror house where Tib's Aunt Dolly—a most beautiful lady—lives, creating the Christian Kindness Club (but really it's more fun to be bad so they can put stones into the bags around their necks!), making Everything Pudding with absolutely every item in the pantry when they're left to keep house on their own, or trying to hypnotise their friend Winona into giving them theatre tickets. All the books have been released in new collected editions.
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| Betsy-Tacy Treasury, the first four books |
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| Heaven to Betsy and Betsy in Spite of Herself |
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| Betsy Was a Junior and Betsy and Joe |
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| Betsy and the Great World and Betsy's Wedding |
Thank you for reading my list for 2024! What great books did you enjoy this year?
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