Cherries and Pits

I love shopping for books at thrift stores. Occasionally there is a collection of higher-caliber books, prompting me to imagine an experienced, kind-hearted mother passing on her best books in a cheritable donation. Cherries and Pits was a timely arrival at our house. Both girls, ages 4 and 8, love drawing with markers right now. The main character of this book picks just the right marker, begins with a single dot and begins telling a story: "This is the door of the subway train.  And This..."  She tells the stories of her city-dwelling neighbors buying cherries on the street and taking them home to whomever is waiting.  But our heroine has a special plan for her cherries and pits...
A stunning masterpiece from our house:

Crinkleroot's Guide to Knowing the Trees

One of my goals is for my kids to love nature.  This is the first of the Crinkleroot series I have stumbled across.  Crinkleroot is a Santa-like nature guide explaining roles of trees in nature. My favorite pages show about 20 varieties of leaves (deciduous) and their seeds. I've been wondering what that those fuzzy things all over the ground are: sycamore  seeds! It will be good to have the pictures to match up to leaves we find in the woods this year. Another page shows varieties of coniferous needles and their cones. I was so excited to order the Handbook of Nature Study, but the pics are old and not at all interesting to the kids. The drawings in this book are adorable.