In a post over at Booklights, Susan urges us to write down the books we read to our kids and even the books they're reading on their own. She thinks it'll be cool to look back on the time you had together.
Last night we read some Elephant and Piggie books by Mo Willems. My daughter has a stuffed elephant and a stuffed pig (not the same ones as in the book) and we often act out the books as a little puppet show. She's usually Piggie (Piggie's a girl if you weren't aware) and the elephant is Gerald. I think last night was Are You Ready to Play Outside? Of course these always lead to giggling fits for us all.
Then we quieted down for the calming The Goblin and the Empty Chair, a nearly perfect bedtime book for any age. Not much happens, but it has the repetitive timelessness of an old fable and the illustrations are magical. (Which is always the case with Leo and Diane Dillon).
The text doesn't say this explicitly, but I think the "empty chair" referred to in the title may be due to someone in the family recently dying before the events of the story. So the (nice!) Goblin is coming upon a grieving family. The goblin helps them each heal and, "in spite of his care," the goblin is seen.
A moving and wonderful tale from a true master of the form, Mem Fox.
