Picture This

  Registration is the worst time in a students life. It's worse than finals. On a happier note, I got all classes that I needed and am taking 14 credits next quarter.

  Today, I'm revisiting some childhood memories.

The Story of Ferdinand

By Munro Leaf

Illustrated by Robert Lawson

   Once upon a time in the Spanish countryside there was a gentle bull named Ferdinand. While all the other bulls fought and butted heads and all tried to be the biggest, fastest, roughest bull, Ferdinand was content to sit under the cork tree and smell the flowers. At first his Mother was concerned about him sitting all alone under the cork tree, but she soon saw that he was happy and she let him be, sitting and smelling the flowers. So he sat and smelled, and he grew bigger and bigger.

   One day three strange men came to the field looking for the biggest, meanest, fastest bull and all of the bulls tried their hardest to prove that they were the best, but not Ferdinand. He just shook his head and made his way to his cork tree. But this time he doesn't look where he's sitting down and he sits right on top of a bee.

   YEOW, it hurt so much that he immediately jumped up, kicking and howling, snorting and stomping his feet. The three men all stared in amazement and said, "This is the biggest, strongest, fastest bull we've ever seen!", and they took Ferdinand to Madrid to fight with bullfighters.

   This was one of my absolute favorite books and even now, when we got it for my five-year old sister, I really enjoyed reading it aloud to her and found it very entertaining.

  It's such a simple story but in many ways it's very timeless.



Blueberries For Sal

By Robert McCloskey



   K'plink, k'plank, k'plunk. Sal and her Mother have come to Blueberry Hill to pick blueberries so that they may can them for Winter. Sal's mother tells her not to eat all the blueberries because they need them. Three berries go into Sal's bucket and one into her mouth.

   At the same time Mama bear and her cub come to Blueberry Hill to eat blueberries for the Winter. Both parents and children get separated and begin following the wrong parent.

   This is another picture book that I remember quite vividly from my childhood. I remember the sound effects of the berries hitting the bottom of the pail being highly entertaining. Rereading it as an adult this is less amusing to hear copied over and over again by small children. It's a wonder my Mother didn't throw me out of the house more often.

   That being said, it's still a very cute story about a girl who is helping her mother and wanders off. Something that all children that age do. The illustrations are great. A good part of my enjoyment of this book came from the pictures. There were so many little details that were going on.

   Now I have a challenge for you readers: While I was writing this post I was trying to remember the name of a book I loved as a kid.

  It was about a king who refused to get out of the bath and as the story went on more and more people squeezed into the bathtub. I remember it being hilarious and the pictures were beautiful, but I can't remember the name.

  Hopefully my description rings a bell for someone and they can tell me the name of it.