A Great Gift Book

One of the great things about my association's annual conference is that we have a huge exhibit hall with over 1200 exhibits. Anything the early childhood educator might need is there. For me, I always check out the latest children's books. I love simple children's books and the beautiful artwork usually goes along with it.

The last few years, I have to say, have been lean. Maybe there were some great books out there but I really didn't have the time to look through all the exhibits. I was, after all, working almost 12 hour shifts at our association's headquarters office.

This year after a particularly frustrating morning, a coworker said "let's just get out of here for a while." I didn't need anymore prodding then that. I felt like a kid cutting class! We quickly walked to the exhibit hall where my coworker was hoping to get a few things for her grandkids. I almost walked past an exhibit, but a stuffed fawn toy caught my attention. (At 48 years old, I'm still a sucker for stuffed animals.) It was the exhibit for the photographic husband and wife team of Carl Sams and Jean Stoick. They had just come out with a new book entitled "First Snow in the Woods" I fell in love with it.

Here let me show you:

It's a story about a young fawn experiencing his first winter. All the other animals in the woods know they need to prepare or leave. The fawn is worried and confused but his mother keeps telling him he will be all right.

How can you not love a book with a dedication page like this!?

The photography along with the beautiful prose make this a very enchanting book.

I thought of Mary when I saw this photo.

I was lucky to get my copy signed by Carl Sams. So if you have any budding young naturalists on your gift list, or old naturalist wanna be's, like me, I highly recommend this book.

Now onto something completely different.

Just because I can't seem to post without a cat photo. This past weekend we were spared the ice and sleet storm predicted. What we did get though was a weekend of cold rain and harsh winds. The cats did NOT want to be outside. I was busy cooking and cleaning and walked into my bedroom to find this

I sighed, gave them all pats while calling them a bunch of slugs, and went back to my cooking and cleaning.