Friday, October 24, 2008

Favorite Books Friday.

I think I will start with an idea of mine, Favorite Books Friday. What made me think of this?
My sister Deborah. She posted the following on October 22, 2008, and I included some photos:
Growing up, all us cousins loved playing on a tree my Grandma has in the backyard. This tree was awesome!
We'd climb it, jump down from it, hide in it, climb on the roof of the garage from it, hang pinatas from it, you name it, we did it. It used to have a club house, where much plotting and planning took place as well. This tree brings back such fond memories. The other day Danny was playing in her backyard and wanted to get on "the" tree.
When I put him on it I got all nostalgic! The memories just flowed. I decided to take pictures of him on the same, beautiful tree I enjoyed growing up.
"Tree, you made being a kid fun. Thank you for creating such great memories!"

Well, I responded to my sister saying that it reminded me of the book, The Giving Tree, by Shel Silverstein..."Once there was a tree and she loved a little boy."
If you have not read this book, it is about a small boy who grows old with the giving tree. Without saying much, you must read this.

Then I thought of my Favorite Childhood Book, The Story of Ferdinand, by Munro Leaf. "Once upon a time, in sunny spain, there was a little bull and his named was Ferdinand...but not Ferdinand, he had his favorite spot out in the pasture, under a cork tree, and he would sit quietly under the shade, and smell the flowers...." I just love this book(You'll find I say this alot on many children books, however, this is my true favorite) My children loved when I would read it. To make story time longer, they would say, "Now in Spanish." So I would have to interpret the book to them. This book was written in the 1930's. It is about a bull who did not like to play with the other bulls. He was content with himself and did not have to please anyone else. He loved to just sit and smell the flowers.
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The Giving Tree always made me cry. It's the whole 'The Circle of Life'. Like the book; Love You Forever by Robert Munsch. Or could it be the reverence of a tree. Ferdinand loved his tree. The boy from The Giving Tree. Pocahontas had Grandma Willow. Alice had her tree. Even our Prophet Gordan B. Hinckley had his Walnut Tree and shared his tree with all. A must read also. It's ironic that both books have a tree in the story that means something to both characters.

To end this Friday night posting I would like to try and add a new treat, Actual Videos.
If you click on the following Books you can see: The Actual '73 Giving Tree Movie Spoken By Shel Silverstein & The Disney Production of Ferdinand. Just incase, I have included the links, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TZCP6OqRlE (The Giving Tree) or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGTVRbpAuRo (Ferdinand). I know you'll enjoy the videos.
Stay Tuned for Favorite Books Friday.
Ciao for Now,
Arnnette

1 comment:

The Navarro's said...

Ahh, thanks Arnnette, I was looking for some good books with trees as a theme and I couldn't find any. This post was truly inspired! And, I really don't remember you telling me about the mp3 player until the day you came up here, really, it's true.