Picture Book - When Lightning Comes in a Jar by Patricia Polacco

Illustrated by the author

2002 Philomel Books

40 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  4.34 - 6.25 ratings

My rating:  
Endpapers:  Deep pale orange

1^st line/s:  "Today is my family reunion!  I can hardly wait."

My comments: A young Patricia Polacco recalls their annual family reunion that includes jello salads and meatloaves, baseball games and croquet matches, photo albums and picture taking, stories told by the elders, catching fireflies, and spending special time with cousins, aunts, and uncles.  Then we see how those same family traditions continue as an older Patricia Polacco becomes one of the elder storytellers.  Lovely story: as usual with tots of text.

Goodreads:  It's family reunion time! Trisha and her cousins can hardly wait to see one another again. They can't decide what they like best: the great feast (with zillions of meatloafs and gazillions of Jell-O salads), the softball game, the storytelling . . . the yearly rituals go on and on. But this year, Gramma has a new surprise in store: She promises to teach the grandchildren to catch lightning in a jar. Lightning in a jar! Trisha can't wait to find out what she means. It's a secret she will pass down to her own grandchildren one day, along with the family stories handed down with love through all the generations.

PICTURE BOOK - Grandfather's Christmas Tree by Keith Strand

Illustrated by Thomas Locker

1999, Silver Whistle, Harcourt Brace & Co.

Looks to be out of print

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  4.06 * 35 ratings

My rating:  4

Endpapers:  Evergreen with gray fir sprills.

1^st line/s:  "My mother and father came to Colorado in May of 1886."

My comments:  Thomas Locker's illustrations drew me this book...and the story, though long-ish for a picture book, is simple.  It tells how a family tradition (placing a hand-carved set of geese into the boughs of their huge outdoor spruce) of this Colorado family began.  It's not about Christmas, or gifts, it's about survival and family love.

Goodreads:  Beginning their life together in the Colorado wilderness, a young rancher and his wife work hard, and joyfully anticipate the birth of their first child. Their many hopes and dreams for their new family are suddenly put in danger when a merciless winter storm hits. The logs in the woodpile quickly dwindle, and soon their only chance for survival is to cut down the lone remaining spruce tree, which provides warmth and shelter to a family of geese--a family not unlike their own. On Christmas Eve the couple prays for a miracle that will protect them and their newborn son. Thomas Locker's glorious paintings and Keith Strand's inspiring reverie bring the Christmas spirit to life in this heartwarming story of faith and family.

Applesauce Season - Eden Ross Lipson

Illustrated by Mordicai Gerstein
Roaring Brook Press, 2009
$17.99
32 pgs.
For: kids
Rating: 4.5
Endpapers: 3 x 4 blocks of apples & faces on each page (Granny Smith, Northern Spy, Ida Red...)

All I really have left of my "past life" as a Maine mom and wife comes in spits and spurts at unexpected times. This book brought it gushing like a plumbing fixture gone wild. It's all about a family tradition of making homemade applesauce. And it's made in almost the same way that my family begged for every October. First, we'd go apple picking in one of the many orchards in the Bangor area where you could pick a grocery bagful for a minimum price. When the kids were younger they'd sit on their dad's shoulders and reach high...as they go older they'd find a ladder leaning against a tree. We'd munch on apples as we picked. I'm happy to say that both my kids now take their kids apple picking.

Once home, I'd make apple crisp and applesauce. I'd cut the apples and cook them EXACTLY like it tells in the book - except I'd only use one type of apple. I LOVE the idea of mixing three or more types in one cooking! I'd use a food mill, just like they do in the book, and add 1/3 cup of sugar to the still-hot apple mixture. Then we'd pour it into jars and share with friends and family. Sometimes the sauce would come out pink, sometimes yellow. Steve said he loved it when it was pink because it reminded him of his grandmother's.

And that's what this book is about - a family tradition. This family happens to live in the city and shop at the farmer's market, but it sure doesn't matter where those crisp apples come from. I LOVE this book!

I left my food mill behind when I came west. I've just gone online and bought one, it's time to make some applesauce in the sunny southwest. It'll be good for the potato latkes/pancakes I want to make, too! The only difference is that they don't make bright orange ones anymore, like I used to have....I'm going to have to settle for white!