Heading for the hills this weekend – will reply later!
Author: Ruth Sawyer Illustrator: Robert McCloskey Publisher: The Viking Press, 1953 Ages: 3+ Themes: farm/farmers, animals, run-away food Opening: There were three of them: the old woman, Merry; the old man, Grumble: and Johnny, the bound-out boy. They lived in a log cabin, t’other side of Tip Top Mountain. Summary: (from my library catalogue) Johnny is leaving the farm because of hard times when his Journey Cake leads him on a merry chase that results in a farm yard full of animals and the family all together again. I like this book because: I adore the flavor of dialect in this classic’s rhythmic text from Ruth Sawyer, with words like ‘this-wise’, ‘nettlesome’, and ‘all of a tucker’. The very simple use of just two contrasting tones from master book maker Robert McCloskey, of Make Way for Ducklings fame, make the pictures pop, but I really appreciate the bold line strokes used to create texture and infuse energy in these traditional illustrations (pssst -I plan to post more McCloskey favorites this year). Resources/activities: Read about the history of America’s first pancakes, and make the recipe – HERE ; put on a play, like the kids from the Atlanta School – with music! – in the video below (17:30mins – play is over after 13 )
For more Perfect Picture Book picks with teacher/parent resources, check out the list on Susanna Hill’s blog HERE.
I looooove pancakes, so you got my attention, right there. Something else got my attention to and made me giggle to myself. “Tip Top Mountain”…. We have our famous Tip Top Ice cream…. hehehe… I am wondering where the author got that idea from… mmm
Looks a lovely clean line illustrated fun story. Thanks, Julie.
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I love a good pancake, and my Aunt Barb makes the best plain I have ever had, but if I ever make it to NZ we can try and beat that together!
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Gosh that spotted pig is awfully cute!
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🙂
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This looks like a Julie pick! Love that cover. And, some of the language reminds me of expressions I heard as a child from our neighbors — tuckered out, tip top etc. Cute book!
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Aren’t those colors lovely together! Where did you grow up, Patricia?
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Columbus, OH. 🙂 We had neighbors from Tennessee. And they had a “granny” who lived with them who was toothless and spouted many unfamiliar expressions. Loved to listen.
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I hope you can incorporate some of that into a book so I get to read it!
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Were recorders invented for elementary school? – I haven’t seen this old book. You have an extensive local library collection! Hope you had a great ‘girls’ weekend.
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This is one of my lucky thrift store finds, but we do have a great library system in Northern Colorado.
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Yup, love the sound of the dialect here. How cool that the library still has a copy of this golden oldie!
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Tis mine – all mine! 2nd hand AND on sale!
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I love “all a tucker!” We’ll see if our library has this one.
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I haven’t checked!
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Love the cover! Love Robert McCloskey! Love the dialect you shared! This looks like such fun!
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It is!
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What fun! And I love that a class performed it as a play, and video’d their performance. I bet that’s something Sawyer and McCloskey didn’t envision when they created the book!
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Robert McCloskey is timeless… and it sounds like this one is chock-full of wise old sayings that would be fun to bring back into use.
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I love the wise ones and the old ones – esp. when we find a saying we thought was new slang!
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I can’t begin to tell you how much I love McCloskey’s art! The dialect thing makes me think of Twain. And then I can’t help but think how interesting the books would be if Twain had written picture books. 🙂
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Oh, yeah!
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MAKE WAY FOR DUCKLINGS is one of my mom’s all-time favorites. We read that book a thousand times. Did McCloskey do BLUEBERRIES FOR SAL also?
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Sure did!
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This looks fantastic! Chasing pancakes with Mr McCloskey – what could be better?! And I love old books!
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I bet you’d like to chase a few!
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That’s a throwback for me! Fond memories of this book.
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The Zweifel collection must be pretty classy!
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