Welcome, welcome AND I’M EXCITED. Many hours, over years, have gone into the creation of a new series, of which this post is the first. One of my dream “jobs” (that I consider myself to get to have) is to be a librarian. I manage our home library, but also I think one of the most central, beautiful, and important parts of being a librarian is the preserving and passing on of information. So I know I’m getting a tad grand here at the start, but I love curating book collections (and I don’t discriminate against “lower” art mediums so movies too) that are beautiful or good in some way to share with others. And I am highly selective!
Although not a librarian in perhaps the more formal way, I feel like I have my dream job as a librarian because I get to maintain and collect our home library and I like passing on lists and curations to my friends and readers. In general what I look for in children’s literature (and all art forms) is a piece that somehow captures some of whatever is true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report, of any virtue, praiseworthy – meditate on these things. (That list is from Philippians 4.)
Autumn has three distinct phases to me. First is September, which is all about apples and back to school. October is peak, pure, bright, classic autumn. And then November is Thanksgiving, along with the more overcast, moody autumn, which I love. ALL THREE ARE INCREDIBLE. For organization, this post is children’s books for early autumn (September and back to school) only.
Books that come out into the house annually for a season are going to be pretty powerful for family culture so I want to find good ones. I consider this work to be refining a child’s palette. I am helping shape an appetite for what is good, as defined by God.
- Applesauce Day by Lisa J. Amstrutz
- How to Grow an Apple Pie by Beth Charles
- The Apple Seed by Tamar Cohen
- Autumn is for Apple Pie by Wendy Dunham
- Apples by Gail Gibbons
- The Seasons of Arnold’s Apple Tree by Gail Gibbons
- How Do Apples Grow? by Betsy Maestro
- How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman
- Apple Farmer Annie by Monica Wellington
All of these on amazon (at time of posting) would be $112 to get the whole slate. If you wanted just a few, I’d say the shortlist of the very, very best are Autumn is for Apple Pie, Applesauce Day, and How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World – in that order. But, all of these are strong and over a long time I have sifted MANY ugly or poor ones, even just within the early autumn niche!
This post is a part of my very selective curations series of books and movies.
