Eep! by Joke van Leeuwen is really one of the best children’s books I’ve read in a long time. It started out with 3 words that just grabbed me, Warren likes birds. He is married to Tina. They seem to live a rather ordinary life, filled with repetition, doing the same old-same old, like most of us. We get into our habits, our comfortable routines. They have as well. Until one day Warren sees a new kind of baby bird, a part human bird. He brings her home and it is love at first site—they decide to keep her. She becomes their daughter in many senses and they just love her to pieces. They name her Birdy but since that isn’t easy for her to pronounce, they change it to Beedy, as she cheeps out things like a bird, rather than speaking fully. Beedy is more bird-like than she is like a human and Warren and Tina struggle to protect her and keep her safe. Tina struggles a little more than Warren and tries to force Beedy into shoes that don’t fit comfortably, both literally and figuratively. So, off Beedy flies… to explore the world, just like a bird. Along the way she meets Lottie, a lonely little girl and a well-meaning fireman–emergency responder. Warren and Tina are very sad when she leaves so they set off to find her, breaking all their normal routines, all their comfort zones. Off they go to find their little Beedy. True to her nature, Beedy flies away from everyone but she also returns, a different kind of migration. All of them end up in Getovertel — get-over-tel— a hotel of sorts where people go to get over things, to get through their issues. And then… You can read the book to find out the rest but it will be worth it. This was really an unexpected treasure of a book for me. I love love love birds and this story just resonated with me. It is written with silliness included, quirky little sketches and digressions—a book after my own heart. Birds, quirkiness and digressions. What more could you want from a children’s book? Here are some random screenshots from...

I love birds.       I love books. I often read books about birds.         And so, I have decided I will start a specific set of posts reviewing books about birds. I will let you know once I do my first. =) And if you read any good books about birds or bird books, I would love to hear about them. Recommend...

Someone wanted to visit a friend, said friend lives in a town moderately far away… so off we went on a grand adventure to Bellingham, WA. We took the scenic route on the Chuckanut Drive (route 11) because it made for a prettier getaway and mapquest said it wouldn’t take much more time than taking ol’ reliable but boring I5. It was an amazing drive. Two lane road winding around a very rocky cliff warning of slides and falling rocks. Water…the San Juans…rocky edges so close I could have reached out and touched them. It was a nice drive despite the rider’s sunburn I am now nursing. This scenic drive led us right into Fairhaven, a suburb of Bellingham. It is a quaint lovely nature loving, recycling-is-a-top-priority-here kind of place. There were so few major chains of anything there that we didn’t even discover the Starbucks till well into the evening. They had their local banks and their local grocery stores and more than one co-op food group! How absolutely greenalicious is that? The sidewalks were littered with quirky red benched bus stops, red and white fire hydrants and blue recycle containers filled to their brims with plastic and glass eco-responsibility. I looked for its Barnes and Noble, a stop I search for in every place I travel. I didn’t find one but what I did find was even better… two independent books stores on the same road… one multi-level store peopled like one rarely sees in an independent book store anymore or any place dealing with enrichment of the mind. The one I am referring to is “Village Books” which is larger than life, bigger (and better) than Barnes and Noble or Amazon.com and Borders (by far!). It has so much muchliness it pours out onto the court-yard where people linger all day just to ingest a little (or a lot) before they go forward on their merry ways or they stop after a long day of work for respite that is all too elusive in our fast-paced gotta-go, gotta-produce society. Sprinkled out like crumbs for the hansel and gretels of Bellingham were quotes on the outside of the store enticing people inside to relish or discover or rediscover the beauty of...

…for I have sinned. It has been 4 days since my last post. Life has held me hostage. I’ve barely had the chance to even pick up a book, let alone write about them or photograph them but don’t worry, I still love them. It is deep rooted in every fiber of my being. For now, I want to share this amazing book photo I found on flickr,...

These are two of my favorite things… apparently others too… Here are 25 wonderful photos with the theme “books and birds” “birds and books”… Here is a lot more…(click the individual picture to see it bigger) http://www.flickr.com/photos/mypapercrane/2488963139/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/ps_portfolio/4001838423/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/louisaboyd/4387781304/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/infondoalmare/4321848189/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/msconnections/2655989607/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/ercanbaysal/4051147940/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/carambatack/4098109603/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/eveps/4336996229/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/frogmuseum2/307943895/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/ciel-photography/4431808170/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/8040675@N02/1797373512/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/revolutionarygirl/2148133544/ http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3111/3160071643_501f0f06a5.jpg http://dbarch.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/img_1953.jpg http://home.nordnet.fr/~rmaufroid/pupitre/family/pets.htm http://danidraws.com/2007/03/22/final-book-bird/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/86821176@N00/3096732470/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/gnewfry/222398104/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/morvarid/1432202036/ http://www.illustrationdot.com/category/tags/sweet-animals?page=4 http://www.flickr.com/photos/22431570@N08/2432409762/...

How fun… two of my favorite things…books and birds. I stumbled upon these great birdhouses made out of books! What a lovely idea. You can read all about them here, here and here. These are great little presents. And I bet you could even get some of the glue stuff that makes things waterproof and safe for birds to put on the outside to actually use these. I think I might make one. I am reluctant to tear up a book though. Maybe, maybe just one… =) I’ll let you know. How fun, great work—creative. They would be lovely amongst a great book collection or eclectic book store, wouldn’t...