Whales and Wooden Robots

I’ve had the unique opportunity the past few weeks to live in the same rental house as my grandkids. There have been the big moments, like the pod of dolphins, the fluke of a whale’s tale, and the crashing of mighty waves on the beach.

And there have been all those small moments, those gossamer threads that bind lives together. The bed head in the morning, the missing couch cushions that are to be found in River’s fort, the first time Mina clapped, and the books we’ve read again and again. With a limited supply, we return to the same ones. I bought quite a large stack, but a few have risen to the top of the stacks. For River, our four-year-old grandson, a new picture book has entered the lineup of favorites.

The Little Wooden Robot and the Log Princess by Tom Gauld

I’m listing only one book for River and three for Mina, my 11-month-old granddaughter. But this one quirky picture book is like 13 stories if you’ve got some imagination. There’s the macro story of the king and queen who long for a child. The queen goes to a clever old witch and gets a perfect log princess who turns into a log when she falls asleep. She can only be woken with the magic words, “Awake, little log, awake.” The king goes to the royal inventor who makes him a little wooden robot who is brave and kind. The princess gets lost, the robot blames himself, and an adventure ensues. That’s the big story, but there are two pages further in that beg more and more stories.

What is the story of The Giant’s Key or The Old Lady in a Bottle or The Queen of Mushrooms? We never learn them in the book, but they are the kind of story starters that reach beyond the page and fire up the imagination. There’s six more intriguing stories a few page turns later.

It’s been so fun to see what worlds River creates with Playmobil people, magnet shapes, Mina’s rubber duck, bracelet filled with beads and household detritus. And I’ve loved curling up on a chair with him to tell each other stories. Now on to the board books . . .

The Babies and Doggies Book by John Schindel and Molly Woodward

The pictures in this one are adorable, and there are actions to act out on every page. I read, “Babies and doggies love to eat,” and then “take” the red soup from the photo and give Mina and me imaginary bites. She smiles wide and looks at me with shining eyes, opening and closing her mouth like her Nana, pretending to eat. I read, “Babies and doggies love to kiss,” and give Mina a “po-po” (Korean for kiss). On the page where, “Babies and doggies love to sniff,” I smell the yellow flower, just like I used to do with River, holding it to Mina’s tiny nose to smell, too.

There’s a fun game we’ve been playing with these next two books, Baby Beluga and The Wheels on the Bus. I stand each book up, one on either side of me, and start singing to see if Mina will go to the right book. She does! She’s brilliant. I had no idea a baby her age could identify melodies like that!

Baby Beluga by Raffi, illustrated by Ashley Wolff

Pops has been working on learning the tune for this one on his ukulele. If you don’t know the tune, listen to it here from Raffi himself. I like that some pages have just one line or picture, others have lots of sea creatures to point at as you sing. Variety is the spice of a read-aloud. I also love the sweetness of baby beluga when he’s curled up snug in his waterbed, cuddling a sardine.

The Wheels on the Bus illustrated by Jerry Smath

There are so many versions of this book, with different riffs on the verses. This one is our favorite mainly because of the people going “bumpity, bumpity, bump.” I put Mina on my lap and bounce her up and down as I read it, and she squeals and laughs. We rarely make it through all the verses, but we never miss that page and she’s learning to hit the book like a horn when we “beep, beep, beep,” and to “swish, swish, swish” her hand back and forth like those swishing wipers.

• walking each night to see the sun set at a nearby park

• moonlight sparkling on the ocean, paving a silver path

• fresh sourdough made by my son-in-law’s father, toasted and spread with a thin layer of butter while it’s still hot

  

  

  My name is Meredith Davis, and I’m an award winning writer of middle grade books, a former indie bookseller, founder of the Austin chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and graduate of Vermont College of Fine Arts with an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults. Find teaching resources and author visit information on my website at www.meredithldavis.com. Mother to three, Nana to two, I live with my husband and a crazy doodle in Austin, Texas.