"Classic" Children's Novels I Recommend To Patrons and Friends
All of A Kind Family
by Sydney Taylor
First in a series about 5 little girls growing up at the turn of the century on the Lower East Side of New York. I learned a lot about Jewish culture from these books, but above all they're great family stories.
Anne of Green Gables
and all other books by L.M. Montgomery
They are aimed at children, but the picture of life in turn of the century Prince Edward Island is a delight for adults!
Ballet Shoes
by Noel Streatfield
Very English and very charming.
Betsy-Tacy
First of the series, by Maud Hart Lovelace
My older daughter(10) loves these too.
The Story of Doctor Dolittle
First in the series by Hugh Lofting.
Don't settle for the movie messes made of these wonderful books!
Heidi
by Johanna Sypri
This is not that easy for a kid to read--and some may find it saccharine. But it's always enchanted me...
Little House in the Big Woods
first in the series by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Another series my daughter loves as much as I do!
A Little Princess
by Frances Hodgson Burnett
There's only been one good version of this on film--a BBC mini series. If you haven't seen that one, you don't know this story!
Little Women
and all other books by Louisa May Alcott.
I read this first in 6th grade, but I didn't understand a lot of it until college..
The Moffats
by Eleanor Estes
A family you'd love to belong to.
Pinky Pye
also by Eleanor Estes
You don't have to be a cat lover to love this, and if you're not, Pinky just might convert you!
Mr Popper's Penguins
by Florence Atwater
The tone is deadpan but the humor is pure slapstick.
A well loved read aloud.
The Secret Garden
by Frances Hodgson Burnett
There have been good films of this, but nothing beats the book, especially with the delicate Tasha Tudor illustrations!
The Trumpet of the Swan
by E.B. White
I love Charlotte's Web , but kids should also meet Louis the mute swan who gains a voice and a love. And if you liked Make Way For Ducklings (another favorite of mine) you'll recognize one of the settings......
The Wind in the Willows
by Kenneth Grahame
Not a young child's book at all,but a beautifully written book about friendship, greed, self centeredness and love.
The best illustrations are by Ernest Shepherd. He was also the first (and only REAL!) illustrator of Winnie the Pooh!
Blueberries For Sal (& One Morning In Maine)
and other books by Robert McCloskey
The Nutshell Library
4 book set by Maurice Sendak
The music to go with the books is on:
Really Rosie by Carole King
Where the Wild Things Are
also by Maurice Sendak!
The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge
by Hildegarde Swift
(A beloved NY landmark!)
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
and every other book by Eric Carle
Caps For Sale
by Esphyr Slobodkina
Madeline
by Ludwig Bemelmans
Beloved by little girls long before the toys or the movies!
Yes, I Read "Grownup" Books Too--When They're Worth It!
And These Are:
Silver Pigs
(1st of the Marcus Didius Falco mysteries) by Lindsey Davis
Welcome To Temptation
(and all other books) by Jennifer Crusie
Breakup
(Kate Shugak mysteries)by Dana Stabenow
And Ladies of the Club
by Helen Hooven Santmyer
The Cazalet Chronicles
(4 books) by Elizabeth Howard
Poldark
(the whole series)by Winston Graham
The Mitford Years
(series) by Jan Karon
Stranger In A Strange Land
(& just about any other book) by Robert Heinlein
Enlighten the Gentiles #9:Toches
This fine Yiddish word is pronounced (according to my Yiddish maven Leo Rosten) to rhyme with "duck-hiss" or "caucus". Either way that "ch" sound needs to be made as if spitting, as do all such Yiddish words with a "ch"!
It can be spelled many ways: tuchis, toches,tuchus and more. Such is the fun when you transliterate a Yiddish word into our alphabet. But you would probably recognize the word in its usual American versions:
TUSH or, if you are little: TUSHIE
In other words, your rump, your back end, your gluteus maximus.
Or, to quote a certain yellowskinned boy whose picture USED to be here: "your butt, man!"
Said picture is no longer here, because people keep hitting on it when they are Googling "Bart S------'s butt" or something similar. And while it's nice to get that many hits on my blog, it's humiliating for it to be the NUMBER ONE post on this blog. So it's gone...
Obviously the word went from Yiddish, to what is often called "Yinglish" to English, so that it is now found in some English dictionaries!
There are some wonderful Yiddish expressions using toches.
One is toches afn tisch. This literally translates to "butt on the table", but is used to mean: "Put up or shut up!" in poker games, political arguments and other such festive occasions.
Speaking of festive occasions, when doing research for this, I found a saying I liked: "With one tuchus,you can't dance at two weddings!" An early plea for time management, perhaps?
And then the Yiddish version of an expression very popular everywhere, the Yiddish equivalent of "brown-nose" or "teacher's pet".
In Yiddish it's toches lekher. And yes, if you know what toches means, you can translate the second word easily to get what it literally translates to...
And finally, if any of you out there don't like my blog, or my views (or for that matter my recipes), IF I was speaking Yiddish, I could just tell you to:
Kish mir en toches!
But of course, I'm not speaking Yiddish, and I'd never tell any of you out there that. Never, ever, ever.....
Well, maybe a few of you. Hmm...........
Happy Friday and abei gezunt!
