Gosh, thank you all so much for the great ideas. I have a Pete the Cat book but didn't realize it was a series. I'll look for more. I'm very interested in the Harry McLary books, but interestingly my library doesn't have them! But they are on Amazon, so I'll give them a try. I was going to try to thank everyone individually, but worry I'll leave someone out, so I hope you'll know that I'll look at each of these and try them out. For anyone else reading this looking for ideas, my grandson loves a book I found called Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel. And I can second the G'night, G'night construction site. How do boys seem to emerge with an affinity for construction equipment? At 2 and younger? It's crazy! Also, no one answered about Where's Waldo? I know it's older, but does anyone recommend it? If so, which one? Please keep adding books if you think of more. It's great to have them all in a place to check back with. Thanks again!

I have a friend who has her grandmothers cradle in her very elegant living room. It has a couple of quilts, a fluffy throw, and some big pillows in it. It's meant to store those items so that when you want one when lounging on the sofa, they're at hand, and at other time they're out of the way. So much prettier and easier than tucking the things in a trunk, and it shows off the pretty cradle. I plan on doing the same with DS's cradle in our family room. They could easily be used in a guest room for extra pillows and linnens as well, or if you have a very large bathroom it would be an excellent towel holder for pretty folded towels. You could also put a cookie sheet in the bottom and use it for plants, but you really do want to protect it if you do that. Personally...I would find a place for it in my nursery if my mother had one. In my family these are traditional items to pass down. I had one but it was loaned to a cousin who's home burnt down with my cradle in it. It had been my grandmothers and it was a heartbreaking loss. I would use it as it's intended if I had a baby, and did so with DS with the cradle I did find for him (an antique). At that age, if the paint isn't peeling, there's really no danger since they aren't moving (ie squirming and sticking their heads in between the bars). Even this can be prevented with a cradle bumper pad. Once the bay is moving, a cradle isn't safe anyhoo, but again, I'd incorporate it in the nursery to store blankets and stuffed toys in as a decor item. I say all of this because I wouldn't want you to totally dismiss the original intended use for it with your grandchildren if that's a possability :) To a mom with a heart and love of traditions it would be an amazingly special thing :) Even if only on loan while baby is tiny.

Ali, my old eyes just can't see the light lines in your drawing but I can answer your question about hardware from my perspective. I wanted to do all pulls as I wanted a unified look. When I found the pulls that I wanted I fell in love with the knobs too. I decided to use knobs on my pennisula upper cabs. The nice thing is that you can do whatever you want and it will look great. Many people use two or three different styles of hardware and it looks terrific. Good luck with your project!.

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.