Fly Away Home
Jack Kent ~ David McKay, 1969
Some days you just get a little down. I'm working on book ideas and two magazine articles, plus I've had a few crying jags today, but here I am. Small miracle this blog. When I am in a terrible mood and grumpy and tired and heartsick, nothing --AND I MEAN NOTHING-- beats dropping everything and snuggling up somewhere and reading my son a book. It's better than anything in the whole wide world. The only trouble is that my son doesn't get home from school until later this afternoon.
So here I am. If Jack Kent can't make me feel better, nothing can.
If you are just tuning in and know nothing of my family's love of Jack Kent, you can catch up here and here. Jack's second book (after Just Only John) is a wee, sweet title about a little girl and a lady bug named Mildred.
"Ladybug, ladybug, fly away home.
Your house is on fire, your children will burn."
After offering up this sage advice in rhyme, the little girl carries on a one-sided conversation with Mildred, offering up small talk and housing suggestions, until she realizes Mildred belongs wherever she wants to be... which in this case is under a rock. Home is where the heart is, for sure.
Since I spend so much time in the young adult section of the library now finding adequate titles to feed my son's Narnia/Harry Potter-style addictions (thanks for the Prydain tip Small Fox), I picked up Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book for myself. Right about now I'm thinking that dropping everything and snuggling up with a book and my lonesome is probably a good idea.
Also by:
Jack Kent's Twelve Days of Christmas
I Was Walking Down the Road
The Grown-Up Day
The Fox and the Crow
The Biggest Shadow in the Zoo
The Animobile Book
Jack Kent's Book of Nursery Tales
Dooly and the Snortsnoot
Mr. Meebles
Cindy Lou and the Witch's Dog
Clotilda
The Blah
Jack Kent's Valentine Sticker Book
The Bremen-town Musicians
Round Robin
Just Only John
Fat Cat
Piggy Bank Gonzales
Socks for Supper
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8 comments:
This looks so charming--thanks for sharing from your heart. I hope the reading brings you joy.
I read almost exclusively YA for my own personal enjoyment, so if you need any more recommendations, please let me know! The Graveyard Book is FANTASTIC!
Our family loves Jack Kent also. My siblings and I give these books to each other for the holidays-and it is such a treasure to receive one:)
Gorgeous! I'm terrible with kids books too - it's the first section I head to in the op shop but my 3 year old spends hours reading them. Can you answer me one thing though - I just got slammed on one of my posts for calling a book from 1983 'vintage' - now as I understand it vintage is an era or time past but some people seem to get offended when something from their era is labelled vintage - have you ever had any of those comments (typically they are from Anonymous readers) and how do you respond?
I found your blog on Ohdeedoh :D so glad I did
Technically to be termed vintage it has to be 20 years old. Anyone complaining to the contrary is in denial. Thanks for reading!
wow this looks so awesome!
You captured my exact same sentiment today. Thank you for posting this.
Jack Kent wrote Fly Away Home for me in 1969 at the request of his aunt, Vesta Bruhl King, who was my "Granny the Great" - a dear friend of my grandmother's. He wrote another for my brother but I can't remember the name of that book. Wish I still had the signed first editions we were given - no idea what might have become of those two books over the years.
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