Cooney, Barbara Books

The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree: An Appalachian Story

Gloria Houston

Amazon Price: $6.99 List Price: $6.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Puffin Amazon Marketplace: 43 new & used starting at $3.16

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 4-8 -> General
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 4-8 -> General AAS
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Authors & Illustrators, A-Z -> ( C ) -> Cooney, Barbara

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 23 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Christmas book 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I bought this for my kindergarten granddaughter as her Christmas book. I wanted something a little different from the typical Christmas book and this one delivered. She really enjoyed the book.

The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This is a wonderful story that shows the importance of keeping family traditions alive and about the courage it sometimes takes to carry on in the most difficult of times. You will absolutely love Ruthie and will warm up to her really thoughtful and loving mother. This is a story very close to my heart since I grew up close to the Appalachian Mountains and remember how excited we were at Christmastime--- to just be together.

Editorial Review:

Acclaimed author Gloria Houston has written a tale that is as joyful and timeless as Christmas itself. Jewel-like paintings by two-time Caldecott Medal winner Barbara Cooney capture all of the season's warmth and mountain flavor. "A heartwarming holiday story, simply told and graced with true sentiment rather than sentimentality."--Kirkus Reviews. Publisher's Weekly Bestseller. Booklist Best Books of the Decade. Full color.

Miss Rumphius

Barbara Cooney

Amazon Price: $7.99 List Price: $7.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Puffin Amazon Marketplace: 102 new & used starting at $0.10

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 4-8 -> General
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 4-8 -> General AAS
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Authors & Illustrators, A-Z -> ( C ) -> Cooney, Barbara

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 60 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Beatiful 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I just left home and school to live on my own as an intern in DC. I've been doing lots of responsible adult type activities, cooking, waking up early, cleaning etc and was feeling a little strange about feeling so old. As I was walking to work this morning, I took a slightly different route that had a house with lupines just covering their yard. They looked so beautiful in the morning. I immediately thought to myself "what was that book with these flowers??" and called up my lovely mother. It felt like a long lost dream. I could remember the symbolism, but not the specifics. When I was young, I think I was enthralled with little Alice being able to paint the clouds and even more so when she becomes a librarian and transforms the landscape by the sea. This is a truly amazing book. I'm going to walk to the library tonight and check it out again. It definitely made me appriciate beauty in the world as a child, and through my memory of it, as an adult.

Editorial Review:

Seeking adventure in faraway places, Miss Rumphius fulfills her dream and then sets out to make the world more beautiful.

The Story of Holly and Ivy

Rumer Godden

Amazon Price: $11.69 List Price: $17.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Viking Juvenile Amazon Marketplace: 28 new & used starting at $10.06

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 4-8 -> General
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 4-8 -> General AAS
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Authors & Illustrators, A-Z -> ( C ) -> Cooney, Barbara

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Beautifully written, beautifully illustrated 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful.

I first came across the story of Holly and Ivy as a child in the school library. Nearly 40 years later, I was delighted to find it again. It is one of those stories that stays with you and it is one that I was delighted to give to my daughter.

On the surface, it's a story of simple wish-fulfillment: doll gets girl; girl gets doll and family. I realized, reading it this time, that it also Rumer Godden's revision of Hans Christian Andersen's beautiful awful tale of the Little Match Girl. In this version, though, the orphaned Ivy doesn't freeze to death and her wishes, despite all the rational reasons for them not to, come true. Godden's writing is exquisite here--balanced between the beautiful fantasy of Christmas wishes and dolls who think and the quiet, half-hidden awareness that this is just a story and that the ending could have turned out very differently. As a child, I loved it; as an adult, its poignancy surprised me by bringing me close to tears.

The illustrations are well-matched--both simple in line, but full of the pertinent details that children listening to a story love to find. Just a really nice match of story and artist.

It is a long book for reading aloud (though there are natural breaks). I've read it twice to my seven-year-old and the tension of the story is such that I didn't end up taking breaks reading it. Because of the language, it's more of a reading-aloud than reading-alone book for the younger reader set. I wouldn't give it to a child who wasn't fairly comfortable with chapter books unless I knew there was another willing reader in the house.

It is very much a doll story. A child who liked Dare Wright's The Lonely Doll would grow into this one. And if the child likes Holly and Ivy, I recommend Rumer Godden's Miss Flower and Miss Happiness and its sequel, Little Plum.

Editorial Review:

Ivy, Holly, and Mr. and Mrs. Jones all have one Christmas wish. Ivy, an orphan, wishes for a real home and sets out in search of the grandmother she’s sure she can find. Holly, a doll, wishes for a child to bring her to life. And the Joneses wish more than anything for a son or daughter to share their holiday. Can all three wishes come true? This festive tale is perfectly complemented by beloved Barbara Cooney’s luminous illustrations, filled with the warm glow of the Christmas spirit.

Roxaboxen

Alice Mclerran

Amazon Price: $6.99 List Price: $6.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: HarperCollins Amazon Marketplace: 50 new & used starting at $3.07

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 4-8 -> Picture Books
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 4-8 -> General
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 4-8 -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 31 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A Favorite 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This book is a favorite at our house. It has inspired variations on outdoor pretend games. Barbara Cooney's illustrations are lovely. The kids love that it is based on a true story. It is a great example of kids who don't suffer from "nature deficit disorder".

One of our FAVORITES! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

A celebration of the imagination! If you are building your home library, add to it with this treasure of a book! I cannot say enough about this book! We read and reread this one often! My youngest son is fascinated with it. He sometimes just sits on the couch gazing at the illustrations. We LOVE this one!
*
One thing that is really special and unique is that the events in this book really truly happened---to the author's mother! AND the illustrator, Barbara Cooney, actually made two trips to Arizona where Roxaboxen really existed. It was her toughest assignment yet---constructing a magical world out of something that wasnt there. She found a small tan hill dotted with stones and rocks, dessert plants and lots of broken glass. The spirit of Roxaboxen began to emerge!
*
Just last week, my boys had an idea-to go outside into our backyard and create our very own Roxaboxen! I created my home out of pinecones. My younger son began creating his home out of logs from the woodpile. My older son decided he wanted to outline his home with rocks! I say all this in hopes that it may inspire you to create a Roxaboxen with your children!
*

Editorial Review:

Marian called it Roxaboxen. (She always knew the name of everything.) There across the road, it looked like any rocky hill -- nothing but sand and rocks, some old wooden boxes, cactus and greasewood and thorny ocotillo -- but it was a special place: a sparkling world of jeweled homes, streets edged with the whitest stones, and two ice cream shops. Come with us there, where all you need to gallop fast and free is a long stick and a soaring imagination.

In glowing desert hues, artist Barbara Cooney has caught the magic of Alice McLerran's treasured land of Roxaboxen -- a place that really was, and, once you've been there, always is.

Ox-Cart Man

Donald Hall

Amazon Price: $6.99 List Price: $6.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Puffin Amazon Marketplace: 90 new & used starting at $0.01

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 4-8 -> General
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 4-8 -> General AAS
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Authors & Illustrators, A-Z -> ( C ) -> Cooney, Barbara

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 27 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Ox-Cart Man 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This is one of my family's all-time favorite children's books, with lovely, quiet pictures and a calm tone in the text. We love the feeling of the "circle of seasons" that it gives, as well as a glimpse back into a simpler era. The story also portrays the ethic of working hard and being rewarded for it. I read it to all five of our children as they were growing up. This Christmas I bought it for our 23 year-old daughter, who had asked for it. She doesn't have children yet; she just loves the book and wanted it for her own library. I was pleased to see Donald Hall's poem, "Ox-Cart Man"-- almost identical to the words in the children's book-- in Garrison Keillor's book called Good Poems, an anthology of poems he selected and arranged.

I love Oxcart Man! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This is a wonderful book about earlier and simpler days when a family wasted nothing and supported themselves off the land. Each member of the family contributes and their activities change as the seasons do. It's wonderful!

Editorial Review:

A lyrical journey through the seasons and passing years of one New Englander's family evokes the feeling of historical America.

Emily

Michael Bedard

Amazon Price: $11.55 List Price: $16.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Doubleday Books for Young Readers Amazon Marketplace: 62 new & used starting at $0.46

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 4-8 -> Picture Books
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 4-8 -> General
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 4-8 -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Prose that will change the way a child hears 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

The beauty's in the telling, and even more in the not-telling: "The road was full of mud and mirrors..." Thanks, Michael Bedard, for not talking down to children, and for an explanation of poetry that any child or adult would be better for hearing. Gorgeous prose without the overblown cloying sentiment of so many children's books.

Emily 3 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

In this story this little girl is curious about her neighbor and this letter her mother recieved. He say footprints coming from her neighbors house to her door. This neighbor hasn't left her house in 20 years. This lady is Emily. Later in the story they decide to go visit her. They went to play music for her. Emily just wanted spring that is why she asked them to play her music n the letter. The little girl keeps thinking about the mystery of Emily when spring has come. This Emily is Emily Dickinson and she is shut in the house for so long because she is writing poetry. She has the little girls mother come to play music becase it inspires her. This is a very good story and might even be true story. I enjoyed it.

Editorial Review:

A young girl who lives across the street from the reclusive Emily Dickinson gets her chance to meet the poet when her mother is invited to play the piano for Emily. The girl sneaks up to Emily's room and exchanges a small gift for an authentic poem, which is included in the book.

Tortillitas para Mamá and Other Nursery Rhymes (Bilingual Edition in Spanish and English)

Margot C. Griego, Betsy L. Bucks, Sharon S. Gilbert, Laurel H. Kimball

Amazon Price: $7.95 List Price: $7.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR) Amazon Marketplace: 52 new & used starting at $0.23

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Baby-3 -> Nursery Rhymes -> General
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Baby-3 -> Nursery Rhymes -> General AAS
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 4-8 -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Has some beautiful, memorable verses - and I should know! 4 out of 5 stars.
14 of 14 people found this review helpful.

A few reviewers have blasted this book for a couple of verses that contain ideas no longer acceptable in our society- like the Dad getting the good tortillas and the Mother the burnt ones. I agree that this is something to consider. I want to add, though, that my Mother read to me from this book when I was a child and it in no way ingrained these ideas into my young mind. As a young girl, in fact, this was one of my favorite books. Many of the other verses in Tortillas para mama are so beautiful that I think it would be a shame not to recommend it. There is one about the moon eating prickly pears (ahi viene la luna comiendo tuna) and another about a mother being an angel that I can recite to this day. If you are concerned about the questionable lines (and I reiterate that there are only a couple!), I would suggest you either leave those poems out when you read or else talk to your children about what those lines mean and how things have changed since they were written. It might end up being very constructive!

Editorial Review:

Young children will treasure this collection of Latin American nursery rhymes. Preserved through oral tradition, these rhymes have been passed on from generation to generation. They have been lovingly gathered and translated for this book and many are accompanied by instructions for finger play. Illuminated by the beautiful paintings of Barbara Cooney, they are now available for a whole new audience to enjoy.

Chanticleer and the Fox

Geoffrey Chaucer

Amazon Price: $6.99 List Price: $6.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: HarperCollins Amazon Marketplace: 90 new & used starting at $0.01

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 4-8 -> General
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 4-8 -> General AAS
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Animals -> Farm Animals -> Fiction

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Chaucer's Tale Beautifully Told 5 out of 5 stars.
12 of 12 people found this review helpful.

Chanticleer and the Fox, an adaptation of the Nun's Priest's Tale, is a simple and delightful tale with a moral (or three) at the end. Chanticleer and the other characters learn about the dangers of failing to be watchful, talking when one should be silent, and trusting in flattery. Barbara Cooney's illustrations are simple and warm, yet she gives a glimpse of what life might have looked like for a family in the Middle Ages. The book is suitable for an early reader or for reading aloud to younger children, although older children and adults would enjoy it as well. If you want more Chaucer for older children, without the rhyme or Middle English, you might want to try The Canterbury Tales, Retold by Geraldine McCaughrean, Illustrated by Victor G. Ambrus. Some material in that book, however, might need some parental guidance for younger readers. Chanticleer and the Fox is appropriate for children of all ages.

Editorial Review:

King of the barnyard, Chanticleer struts about all day. When a fox bursts into his domain, dupes him into crowing, and then grabs him in a viselike grip, Chanticleer must do some quick thinking to save himself and his barnyard kingdom.

Winner, 1959 Caldecott Medal
Notable Children's Books of 1940-1970 (ALA)
Winner, 1992 Kerlan Award

Eleanor (Picture Puffins)

Barbara Cooney

Amazon Price: $6.99 List Price: $6.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Puffin Amazon Marketplace: 58 new & used starting at $0.03

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 4-8 -> Picture Books
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 4-8 -> General
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 4-8 -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

What a moving book! 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

It leaves hope that a child who is rejected for being unattractive and shy can find a person who is accepting and willing to reach out to them. It also reminds me how important a teacher can be to bring out the best in a pupil and prepare them for adult life and self-acceptance.

Editorial Review:

Award-winning author Cooney presents a well-researched and poignant storybook biography of Eleanor Roosevelt's childhood. The wartime First Lady of the New Deal, who became one of the most beloved Americans for her empathy with the downtrodden, was famously unglamorous and plain in looks, even as a child. Her beautiful and awful mother humiliated the little girl, calling her Granny, "because she is so funny and old-fashioned looking." Orphaned at nine the girl eventually found her way to confidence, helped initially by a boarding-school headmistress. The book mentions only briefly Roosevelt's later achievements, so a parent will have to supply a little context for this tale of an ugly duckling who turns into, not a swan, but a fulfilled and happy duck.

The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree

Gloria Houston

Amazon Price: $12.34 List Price: $16.45 In stock soon. Order now to get in line. First come, first served. By: Topeka Bindery

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 4-8 -> General
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 4-8 -> General AAS
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Authors & Illustrators, A-Z -> ( C ) -> Cooney, Barbara

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

A warm story of family, Christmas traditions, and love. 4 out of 5 stars.
5 of 6 people found this review helpful.

This story is a reminder of the true meaning of Christmas.Reading it will become an annual tradition in my home.

warm christmas reading 4 out of 5 stars.
5 of 6 people found this review helpful.

My daughter and I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It not only captures the attention of a five year old but reminds a parent of what christmas is all about. It beautifully speaks of love,family, sacrifice and community. The illustrations are wondrous and make you feel as though you are there. This is a gather around the fireplace and christmas tree read. Reading this story will make you count your blessings and hug everyone in your family a little tighter this year.

the Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 6 people found this review helpful.

The Year of the perfect Christmas Tree is the most supreme book I've ever read. I think Gloria Houston is the brightest author to write this perfect book.

This book was about a father who was sent out to war and will return on Christmas Eve. The little girl was forlorn because her father hadn't come back yet. So after the play they were having at church the little girls father was standing outside waiting for his little girl.

This is the coolest book I've ever read. I like this book because it is about caring, giving, and love. I think that everyone in the world would love to read this awesome book.