The Hedgehog

The Hedgehog

by Edith King

The hedgehog is a little beast
Who likes a quiet wood,
Where he can feed his family
On proper hedgehog food.

He has a funny little snout
That's rather like a pig's,
With which he smells, like us, of course,
But also runts and digs. 

He wears the queerest prickle coat,
Instead of hair or fur,
And only has to curl himself
To bristle like a burr.

He does not need to battle with
Or run away from foes,
His coat does all the work for him,
It pricks them on the nose.

The Mole

The Mole by Edith King

The burrowing mole lives under the ground
Day in and day out, all the changing year round;
Like a train in a tunnel, in darkness he goes,
And makes his own track with his feet and his nose.

He lives upon worms as content as can be
For breakfast and supper, for dinner and tea,
Yes, just as they are, as a matter of course,
He gobbles them up, without cooking or sauce.

If you lived where he does, in a very short time
I fear you'd be covered completely with grime;
But though he works hard all day long for his meat
And has but one coat, he is perfectly neat.

It's not very often he visits the light,
Except when he's angry and anxious to fight;
Then he and his enemy leave their dark holes,
And in warfare there's nothing more savage than moles.

Their virtues are great, but their tempers are bad,
Biting and scratching, they scuffle like mad,
And over and over they roll in the ditch,
Until it's a puzzle to see which is which. 

But if they discover you watching the fray,
They leave off at once to get out of the way,
And burrow so quickly, scarce making a sound,
That before you count ten they're gone into the ground.

Colorful Crayon Resist Llamas

       These colorful crayon pictures of llamas were made by an enthusiastic bunch of first graders at the school where I worked several years ago. After completing their pictures they washed them with thin watercolors; the results are stunning, don't you think?

How fibers from llamas is processed to make sweaters.

"Oats and Wild Apples," by Frank Asch

"Oats and Wild Apples," by Frank Asch

      "Oats and Wild Apples," by Frank Asch is a charming little book about the afternoon adventures of a young calf and fawn. These two wander deep into the woods to eat wild apples and then calf introduces fawn to his barn and oats. Fawn and mother deer, calf and mother cow are finally reunited at the end of the day with great relief and affection.

      Frank Asch (born August 6, 1946 in Somerville, New Jersey) is an American children's writer, best known for his Moonbear picture books. In 1968, Asch published his first picture book, George's Store. The following year he graduated from Cooper Union with a BFA. Since then he has taught at a public school in India, as well as at a Montessori school in the United States, conducted numerous creative workshops for children. He has written over 60 books, including Turtle Tale, Mooncake, I Can Blink and Happy Birthday Moon. In 1989 he wrote Here Comes the Cat! in collaboration with Vladimir Vagin. The book was awarded the Russian National Book Award and was considered the first Russian-American collaboration on a children's book.

• Fawn calling for it's mother (video)
• Calf calling for it's mother (video)

"Ten Red Apples," by Pat Hutchins

"Ten Red Apples," by Pat Hutchins

      "Ten Red Apples," by Pat Hutchins is a delightful little counting book. Every time one of the farmers animal friends visits the apple orchard, there are fewer apples to eat! Young students will love the playful little illustrations that Hutchins uses to illustrate the basic concept of subtraction. She also uses classic onomatopoeia that little folks are always entertained by.
      Pat Hutchins (born 18 June 1942) is an English illustrator and writer of children's books. She won the 1974 Kate Greenaway Medal from the Library Association, recognizing the year's best children's book illustration by a British subject. The work was The Wind Blew, a picture book in rhyme which she also wrote. It shows how "a crowd of people anxiously chase their belongings" in the wind.

      Hutchins is married to illustrator Laurence Hutchins, with two children. She has written books for early readers that he has illustrated.She was born 18 June 1942 in Yorkshire, the sixth of seven children.She won a scholarship to Darlington School of Art in 1958 and continued studying illustration at Leeds College of Art in 1960, graduating 1962. She worked for advertising agency in London to 1966 when she married Laurence Hutchins and moved to New York City for two years. There she worked on writing and illustrating her first picture book, Rosie's Walk, published in 1968 by The Bodley Head and Macmillan US. In the U.S. it was a runner up for the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award and the librarians named it a 1968 ALA Notable Book. It remains her work most widely catalogued by WorldCat participating libraries. Pat Hutchins has written novels for early readers, some illustrated by husband Laurence, and more than two dozen picture books. Beside winning the 1974 Greenaway Medal, she was a commended runner up for One-Eyed Jack (1979), another book she wrote and illustrated.She also played the role of an artistic narrowboat owner in the British children's television series, Rosie and Jim. She was a presenter on the series and subsequently illustrated books for the franchise.

"Laundry Day" by Kathryn Carr

"It is a warm sunny summer day and the bunnies are out hanging laundry. This is an image from my papercut designs, Please go to http://www.cafepress.com/gocarrgo to see more images and purchase images on t-shirts and totes and more ... Thanks"

Papercutting by Walter Crane

      Walter Crane (1845–1915) was an English artist and book illustrator. He is considered to be the most prolific and influential children’s book creator of his generation and, along with Randolph Caldecott and Kate Greenaway, one of the strongest contributors to the child's nursery motif that the genre of English children's illustrated literature would exhibit in its developmental stages in the latter 19th century. His work featured some of the more colorful and detailed beginnings of the child-in-the-garden motifs that would characterize many nursery rhymes and children's stories for decades to come. He was part of the Arts and Crafts movement and produced an array of paintings, illustrations, children's books, ceramic tiles and other decorative arts. Below I will include some of his silhouettes.

a chimney sweep

a workhorse