At the mountain again...with the offspring!

Frightful's Daughter Meets the Baron Weasel

Written by Jean Craighead George

Illustrated by Danile San Souci

This is a gorgeous picture book telling the tale of 

Frightful's female offspring and the Baron Weasel 

from My Side of the Mountain. 

I had checked this out of the library and took it with me

to the last book club meeting so others could see it.

One of our members was fascinated by the "beautiful" 

(Her word, not mine.) illustrations and the story.

This is definitely one I will purchase for my grandchildren.

The illustrations are beautiful 

and I love the story.

Oksi, Frightful's daughter, has two eyases in the nest box

Sam had made. She and Falco, her partner and father

of the eyases must hunt alot to feed their two babies.

They are six weeks old and just about ready to fledge!

To fledge is to fly for the first time. 

Meanwhile, the Baron and Baroness have four little ones of their own to feed.

And baby birds are a delicacy to weasels! 

As you can imagine, this makes for some tense moments.

The Baron keeps trying to attack the ayeses, 

while Sam, Oksi, and Falco are 

determined to protect them 

until they can fly away!

As Sam says at one point, "...peace is sure hard to come by."

I have yet to read the two sequels 

to My Side of the Mountain-- 

On the Far Side of the Mountain 

and Frightful's Mountain.

Here is the book that started it all:

Have you ever read a Jean Craighead George book?

There are many and all that I have read have been excellent!

All three of my sons liked her books.

After having read H is for Hawk, 

I have learned much about these birds of prey! 

Though I've never been wild about birds overall, 

these books have been fascinating to read and learn!

Have you read any of these? 

Or any other books by Jean Craighead George?

llama llama and mama...

llama llama holiday drama 

and

llama llama easter egg

by Anna Dewdney

To say I am a sucker for children's books is...well...honestly...to speak the truth!!

I call myself the "book Grandma" since that is 

virtually all I gift to my grandchildren. 

For me, there is no greater gift to give!

Perhaps we all tend to want to 'pass on' to those we love what is most meaningful to us. At least I think most of us do... I have looked at these Llama Llama books for years and finally bought the holiday book while on sale at Barnes & Noble for half price...after the end of the year, of course! However, I never overly stress giving "holiday" books at various times, assuming parents can save them back and/or put them into a reading rotation, if they desire. I decided last night I wanted to read these before I delivered them. This is something I always try to do, though sometimes I run out of time! 

For me, Dewdney's anthropomorphization of the llamas is the most fun part of these books. To see human clothes on these furry four-footed camelids as they walk upright is in itself fascinating! The vocabulary is very simple. There are many things I really like. The fact that llama's schoolmates are of varied species, the fact that mama is including llama in ALL the holiday preparations, and especially that, as many of us human mamas don't remember to do often enough, she sits and snuggles with her child:

Gifts are nice,

but there's another--

the true gift is 

we have each other.

What parent would argue with that? :)

And to be a bit more timely and in line with current holidays:

I love the Easter board book just as much! Board books are so very practical--they last much longer and can take more abuse!

Llama learns about some naturally colored eggs that are never meant 

to be cooked, hunted, or eaten!

Checkout the website: sing-along, app, video. 

In closing, these books are A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E!!
I assume Ms. Dewdney does all the artwork herself since she mentions painting on her website. I particularly admire the facial expressions depicted. 
Artwork is a large part of the picture book experience. 

Whether you're looking for gifts for your own children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, or a friend's child, or a baby shower gift, or as an anonymous charitable donation--

I guarantee you can't go wrong with any of the Llama Llama books!

I intend to gift more of them to my own kidlets!!

Have you read any of these? Or better yet, have you read any of these to children? If not, give 'em a try!