G is for Goat

I got an email from Milly's preschool teacher this morning alerting me to the plight of neighborhood goats Carne (a Nigerian Dwarf) and Leche (a French Alpine).  It seems that the county considers them livestock and their owners to be in violation of local zoning ordinances; find out more at www.SaveOurGoats.com.  To be fair, we do live in Arlington, VA; just outside of Washington, DC; but my primary concern is that if the county allows it, the kids will want a pet goat, too.  Or two.

We're going to visit the goats on Saturday morning (the owners are hosting a goat-petting party).  In the meantime, we're reading Patricia Polacco's alphabet book G is for Goat (Philomel, 2003).  It has bouncy rhymes and bright illustrations, and it passes the Q test ("P is for push, when goats just won't go.  Q is for quit, when goats just say no").  Polacco's goats (they're in a lot of her books, come to think of it) are Nubians; read more about them in Oh, Look! (Philomel, 2004), the sequel to G is for Goat.  Are there any other good goat books?

Nonfiction Monday: Frogs!

Milly's preschool class is learning all about the rain forest.  A few weeks ago they went on a field trip to the National Geographic Museum at Explorers Hall in Washington, DC to see Frogs! A Chorus of Colors.  The field trip itself was an expedition to rival any of National Geographic's, but the exhibit was worth it.  There were live frogs from around the world (our favorites were the tiny jewel-like poison dart frogs) in terrarium habitats right at the kids' eye level.  We also saw this exhibit of frog photography by Mark W. Moffett (the images were blown up so that in many cases the frogs were bigger than the kids, which was fun).  If you're not local, you can check out Moffett's excellent Face to Face with Frogs  (National Geographic Children's Books, 2008), part of NGS's Face to Face series of kids' nonfiction.  If you are local, the frogs are here til May 11.  After reading the book, Leo wants to see them, too.  Ribbit!

[We also like Red-Eyed Tree Frog by Joy Cowley; photographs by Nic Bishop (Scholastic, 1999).  This one tells a day-in-the-life of a tree frog story with short, simple text (one or two sentences per page) and amazing close-up photos. Perfect for preschoolers.]

Saint George and the Dragon [updated!]

We attended "An Elizabethan Festival" given by the Washington Revels ("Celebrating tradition through music, dance and drama") this morning.  If you like this sort of thing, you'll love the Revels.  Leo and Milly were enraptured.  Their favorite part was the mummers' play of Saint George and the Dragon; so we read this classic edition, retold by Margaret Hodges and illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman (Little, Brown; 1984), when we got home.  Hodges's text, adapted from Edmund Spenser's Faerie Queene, is lovely but a little wordy (can you blame her?).  Hyman's illustrations, however, are magnificent.  This book won the Caldecott in 1985.

I'm still looking for a picture book about Saint George and the Dragon that captures the comic feel of the mummers' play, though.  Any suggestions?

[Updated to add:  Many thanks to Debbie of the Washington Revels, who commented with a link (scroll down) to Saint George and the Dragon:  A Mummer's Play by Revels founder John Langstaff with woodcuts by David Gentleman (Atheneum, 1973; OOP but available at the Revels Store).  It includes the script with music, instructions for performing the sword dance (look out, Milly!), stage directions and costume suggestions.  In short, exactly what I was looking for.  Thanks again!]

Seasons of Light

Leo's second-grade class saw a performance of Seasons of Light at the Smithsonian's Discovery Theater this morning (I saw it with them).  The program is about the history and customs of winter holidays (mostly religious holidays) celebrated around the world, and emphasizes how all of the holidays have to do with light: light from the sun, the stars, candles and oil lamps.  The learning guide for Seasons of Light contains information on the winter solstice and on all of the holidays presented in the program.

At home, we read The Shortest Day:  Celebrating the Winter Solstice by Wendy Pfeffer (illustrated by Jesse Reisch; Dutton, 2003).  This book explains, in language even Milly can understand, how and why the days grow shorter as winter approaches, what the winter solstice is, and how that day (and night) has been marked and celebrated by different cultures (Egyptian, Chinese, Incan, and European) throughout history.  The emphasis here is on the scientific, not the religious.  The activity suggestions for the shortest day sometimes span the days and weeks surrounding it, such as making a winter sunrise/sunset chart (we did this last year, looking in the newspaper for the times) and measuring shadows.  My favorite suggestion:  have a winter solstice party!  Or two:  one for you, with yellow-frosted sun cupcakes and candles, and one for the birds.

Look for these collections of stories to read around the time of winter solstice (I'm still looking for them myself, actually!):

• The Return of the Light:  Twelve Tales from Around the World for the Winter Solstice by Carolyn McVickar Edwards (Second edition; Marlow and Co., 2005).  For grownups.
• Fireside Stories:  Tales for a Winter's Eve by Caitlin Matthews; illustrated by Helen Cann (Barefoot Books, 2007).  We would love a copy of this book; unfortunately, our library doesn't hold it yet.  Barefoot's themed collections are very nice, and this one looks perfect for cozy read-alouds.