The beloved children’s classic The Velveteen Rabbit was made into an equally beloved holiday dance piece twenty-two years ago by ODC/Dance, one of our finest local dance companies. A week or so ago, I went to see it with the girlie, and the trips there and back were nearly as eventful as the [...]

[The American Library Association's Banned Books week��will be celebrated from September 27 to October 4. �This year, I think we should break out the sparkling apple cider early.]
You know times are tough when, at your daughter’s fourth birthday party, you and three other parents find yourselves in the middle of the lawn, ignoring the flying [...]

This week, the lil’ monkey’s preschool is on vacation. As evidenced by the yawning gaps between posts, I find myself with a bit more childcare on my hands. In between our many trips to the zoo, the arboretum, the natural history museum, the botanical garden, the planetarium, and the Museum of Modern Art, [...]

Begs the question, doesn’t it. SINCE I NEVER WANTED TO BE A PRINCESS AT ALL. Now a Prince, we can talk.
You’ll never guess which one of the above pictured items was checked out of the library when the lil’ monkey was there with Other People Who Shall Remain Nameless*, and which one was [...]

[Ed note: the following dada narrative was dictated by the lil' monkey to the beloved, who faithfully recorded it verbatim. Wee book making, with dictated narration to accompany illustrations, has become a favorite pastime. So far, the booklets -- note pad-sized pages, stapled together -- have been in dialog with some story we've read [...]

This afternoon, while listening to Gian Carlo Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors for the seven hundred and twenty-eighth time since Christmas, the lil’ monkey drew a picture. I am noting the obvious when I say that she, like her mother, and her mother’s entire family, is an Amahl and the Night Visitors [...]

“Miss Moppet ties up her
head in a duster, and sits
before the fire.”
In honor of Children’s Book Week, I inaugurate an occasional series.
This is from Beatrix Potter’s Miss Moppet, and the most astute commentary I can offer is, “Huh?”

I’ve been working something up in honor of Banned Books Week, which starts at the end of next week. But this news item was worth passing along as a not-so-savory appetizer.
From Worth The Trip (a fantastic kids & teens book blog that’s been gracing my Queer Parenting Resources links list for a coupla weeks), we [...]