Aileen Lucia Fisher (1906–2002)

Ah, brings me back to my childhood...............

No, I don't believe I ever read this book but everything about it reminds me of the kinds of books we read. Not only that, it reminds me of the freedom to discover nature that we had as kids.

The realistic illustrations by Symeon Shimin are lovely and dynamic. There is one picture that stopped me dead in my tracks. It was like it was an actual picture of my brother, Mike, now deceased. Oh. How I wish I could call him up and remind him once show more again of our pet rabbits, Daisy and JoJo. Turns out that Daisy, my pretty ginger rabbit, was a boy and JoJo, his smokey gray rabbit, was a girl. We always laughed about that. Sigh. But, back to the book...

The story is told as a long poem--the best kind of poem, one that doesn't feel forced, one that is easy to read aloud. The story's ending is sweet as it can be (and with rabbits, always, er, "expected") and should delight any little boy or girl.

This book and one other I picked up today from a Little Free Library will be going in the mail to two other Littles that live up in Idaho, granddaughters of a friend. The youngest Little loves rabbits. show less

Do rabbits celebrate Christmas? Do the animals give each other presents? Is there a Santa Claus? Children often wonder about these questions around the holiday. In this collection of fifteen poems by Aileen Fisher, children (and adults) just might find their answers.

The Bottom Line: Although poet Aileen Fisher passed away in 2002, her poetry still has the power to transport us from the present to an ethereal world of Christmas magic. And to my delight, dreamy watercolor illustrations bind show more the poetry together and whisk the reader away with enchanting snow scenes. Recommended for fans of holiday poetry and for classroom storytimes.

This review also appears at the Mini Book Bytes Book Review Blog. show less

When It Comes to Bugs is a collection of eighteen poems by Aileen Fisher that focuses on bugs and human interaction with them. I like this book for three reasons. To begin, I like how the poems are appropriate for the perspectives and experiences of children. The poem “Upside Down” demonstrates this as it questions how bugs can walk upside down on surfaces while the author cannot even stand on her head. I also like how well the illustrations enhance, and are appropriate to the mood of show more the poems. “Point of View” simply reads, “For little beetles looking up the sun is called a buttercup.” The illustrators have framed the poem with a buttercup vine, with beetles on the bottom looking up towards the flowers and sun above; the latter of which is the same size and color of the buttercup blooms. Finally, I like how the poems help the reader consider the incredibly special abilities that bugs have. “Dragonflies” talks about how dragonflies catch other flying insects, such as flies and mosquitos, by forming a net with their six legs. show less

My students loved reading about winter since they haven't ever experienced snow and a true winter season. It's funny to think about rabbits having a christmas and getting gifts. This whimsical book is a collection of several poems that depict the changing of seasons and the experience of Christmas from the eyes of a rabbit, an unlikely character that usually we dont think about at christmas time