happy

new year!

and a happy 100th post

to all of you, my loyal and amazing readers!!  I would have quit a long time ago if it weren’t for all of you.

Two big milestones for me.  So, here is my question:

what would you like to see more of?  more recipes?  more books?  what would make you all happy this new year, when you visit

sophistimom?

A new reader named Susan made a comment on the “manners don’t matter? excuse me” post.  She gave an example of how she taught her kids manners with a little toy pig at the table.  Go ahead and read her comment.
Then, since it’s been way too long, and since Thanksgiving is around the corner, I think we should start up a little dialogue about manners.  So, here’s the question:

How do you teach your kids manners for the dinner table?

and, another question for good measure:

What are your favorite family traditions for Thanksgiving?

Tasha Tudor passed away this summer.  You may recognize her work from the covers of The Secret Garden and A Little Princess (when published by HarperFestival).  Having lived a full and fascinating life based on the styles and habits of the 19th Century, she was the Thoreau of her time.  Her book, Pumpkin Moonshine, has always been the book that comes to mind when I think of the fall. It is the story of a little girl and a runaway pumpkin.  It is sweet and simple—reminiscent of an era gone by.

Here are some of the books you all listed for our harvest of great books dialogue:
The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams
Max’s Halloween (Max and Ruby) by Rosemary Wells
I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie (Picture Puffins) by Alison Jackson and Judy Schachner
The Stranger by Chris Van Allsburg (my favorite of his after The Polar Express)
A Plump and Perky Turkey by Teresa Bateman and Jeff Shelly
Four Scary Stories by Tony Johnston
The Hallo-wienerby Dav Pilkey

Thank you everyone for all your other marvelous suggestions.  If you haven’t had a chance yet, you can peruse them all in the comments section.

A special thanks to Erin who reminded me of the name of the book I rambled about on that post.  It was called  Pumpkins: A Story for a Field by Mary Lyn Ray and Barry Root

I have one more suggestion.  Jerry Seinfeld Halloween.  My husband and I laugh over this until we almost cry.  We were both the kids who had to go trick-or-treating with our winter coats on . . .  you’ll see what I mean when you read the book.  We bought the book for ourselves, but the kids love it, too.  I must warn you, though, it is a little rude in some parts (he uses the words shut-up and stupid, and is ungrateful to a nice old lady), at which points I will either switch in another word, or say things like, “We don’t say shut-up.  We don’t treat people like that.”  Then I just laugh on the inside so the kids can’t see.

My husband just emailed me a YouTube link where you can see the pictures, and hear Jerry perform the stand-up routine that goes with it.

I once read a book while my kids were choosing books at Borders about a man who was going to lose his pumpkin farm if he didn’t come up with $100, 000 to pay off the mortgage.  To save his farm, he mailed a letter to a hundred thousand people all over the world, telling them how wonderful pumpkins were.  He told the people they cost a dollar each, and if they all sent him a dollar, he would send them each a pumpkin.  Everyone followed his instructions, and he was able to save his farm.  Though even more far-fetched than Field of Dreams, it planted an idea in my head that I have never given up:  I want to move to the country and start my own pumpkin farm.

But I’ll talk more about that another time.

Today I want to ask you all this question:

What are your favorite children’s books for FALL and HALLOWEEN?

Let’s see how many comments we can get, so we can start a little online discussion.  Won’t that be fun?

Lovely.  I knew you’d all be into it!

Plus, if any of you know the name of the book I talked about up there, please let me know.