Three Unique Picture Books You'll Enjoy!

In between chapter books Groovy Girl and I have had the chance to explore three very cool books.  She is fascinated with Russia and chose to do a report on the country for school.  She brought this book home from her school library:

Russian Girl; Life in an Old Russian Town (1994) by Russ Kendall.  Meet 9-year-old Olga Surikovain in this nonfiction picture book and share a little of what her day is like.  Her family lives in the small town of Suzdal-150 miles east of Moscow.  The photos are lovely and Groovy Girl poured over them, trying to fully understand Olga's life. Even though this title is "older" the information is worthwhile and shares a time in Russia's history.  My paternal grandfather came from a small town on the Russian/Polish border and I love to see my girl explore these interesting roots.  The back of the book includes two recipes, an alphabet of Russian letters,and  a good list of Russian words and names.

Running with the Horses (2009) by Alison Lester.  This is a fictionalized version of an event that occurred during WWII; the rescue of the Lipizzaner stallions from the famous Spanish Riding School in Vienna.  Nina, a fictional young girl, works with her father, the stable master.  The academy has closed and the war comes closer every day.  Eventually her father and another stable hand, Karl, decide to take the horses across the border to her deceased mother's parent's farm.  The story is beautifully told and the illustrations are a gorgeous mix of pencil drawings and what look like photographs but may actually be paintings.

An Edible Alphabet; 26 Reasons to Love the Farm (2011) by Carol Watterson and Michela Sorrentino.  I LOVE this book.  Every page stands for something I believe in with all my heart.  It is a kid-friendly manifest of why we need to be eating locally from farms and our own backyards. It has snippets of healthy information swirled into beautiful illustrations.  I've already ordered it for my school library collection. On a personal note  I have an organic kid's book on my computer with this same title-no kidding.  Guess I better get busy and finish it before some else writes the book.

happy reading!