texjagman, Great suggestion. I borrowed that book from the library. For now, it is one of my top two choices. I like how it talks of pine, spruce, and fir trees and how growing Christmas trees is a year round job. We have various species of pine and spruce the children can go outside and explore. In talking further with the nature center where this would be held, I was told we don't have to completely avoid the Christmas theme....I know some places would have issues with that. So this book may well be the one I use. Pineresin, I agree, people need real world experiences with nature. Not much good to only read about it. We'll try to spend most of the class time out exploring the forest of Red and Eastern White Pines, White and Norway and Colorado Blue Spruce, and Eastern Red-cedar (I don't think I'll be telling 4 year olds those are really junipers!). I'll make sure the craft part includes real needles and cones to touch and play with and some to take home. Maybe we'll even plant a tree or two. Our weather is unseasonably warm yet and the bird feeders at the center need some cover nearby. I appreciate being reminded that real plants need to be the main focus.

Dirtygardener, Glad you found your book..Was going to recommend Amazon, they have a group of old book sellers on their website, I found my own 50 s favorite Uncle Mistletoe, and it was sheer joy looking thru it!!!!I remembered every page as if it were yesterday, I ve asked many of my friends what their favorite book from their childhood was, and found and surprised them with the books for birthdays or Christmas..They always LOVE them....

I have a 10 year old girl and 13 year old boy. My son is not a big fiction reader, he reads for information, but he loves Artemis Fowl or anything by Eoin Colfer. He also loves Calvin & Hobbes, Foxtrot and Tintin comics. I think that consulting with a good children's librarian may be better than the awards (though the Newberry is always pretty reliable), because some of the YA award books can have some material you might consider objectionable. For example the book Tender Morsels that had a thread on here not long ago. Here's a list of books my kids have really enjoyed: Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH The Tale of Desperaux Any of the Magic Treehouse books The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents Andrew Clements' books (Frindle, Janitor's Boy etc...) Dragon Rider Here's what's on the eighth grade summer reader list at my son's school: They all have to read Warriors Don't Cry by Melba Patilla Beals, then they can choose any of the following: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou It's Not About the Bike - Lance Armstrong Tasting the Sky: A Palestinian Childhood - Ibtisam Barakat A Walk in the Woods - Bill Bryson Facing the Lion Growing up Maasai on the African Savanna - Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton In the Heart of the Sea: the Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex - Nathaniel Philbrick (we live near Boston, so local history) Chew on This - Eric Schlosser The Man Who Ate the 747 - Ben Sherwood Big Mouth and Ugly Girl - Joyce Carol Oates Travel Team - Mike Lupica A Step From Heaven - Na, An A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams Summerland - Michael Chabon Dune - Frank Herbert The Green Mile- Steven King There are a few others on the list. For the younger ones, there are some really great picture books: The Olivia books by Ian Falconer The Three Pigs by David Wiesner The Miss Spider books Jan Brett books are a feast for the eyes Hope that helps.

sheriz, thanks for the information on egg creams! I never looked it up and the phrase still turns my stomach because I think of raw eggs cracked in a cup of cream. siobhan, I also love "The Kitchen Madonna." I'm glad to see it is finally back in print although nothing can match the old hard copy version (which I have) with that beautiful icon on the blue cover. I read most of Godden's canon avidly as a young adult. A fascinating site is the "Stump the Bookseller" at Loganberry books (you can do a google search for it with these phrases). I've found the titles/authors of several half-remembered children's books by typing in only a key word or two. For example, another favorite series of mine was the "Amy and Laura" books. I couldn't remember the author, title, or anything about the plot but did remember they were about rival sisters, with the older sister a reader who introduced me to the "color" fairy tale series: ie. "The Red Fairy Tale Book," etc. I just typed in "sisters" and eventually found a query that named this series. It is a fun site to peruse!