But no matter who they’re made up of or where they’re located, most families have at least one adult who periodically has to go to work and be away from loved ones.
Monday is One Day (Scholastic Press, 2011) by Arthur Levine is a warm, lovely picture book that celebrates a wide variety of family situations.
It walks young readers through a week, counting down the days till mom or dad or grandma or grandpa will be home from work and ready for dedicated family time.
As part of the journey, children see how different families designate various days of the week. (“Wednesday is halfway day.” Or, “Friday is last-tie day.”)
They also see the similarities of all families whether they’re led by one parent or two, are located in a rural or urban setting or consist of grandparents or same-sex parents.
When my daughters were younger, they used to ask me, “How many days until a mommy-daddy day?” Having a book like this would have helped us track the time until we were all together again.
Today’s guest reviewer, Bryanna, has a big family. There’s her mom and dad, her older brother, her younger sister and her younger brother.
Bryanna’s favorite thing to do with her family is go on a picnic. And, her favorite day of the week is Friday, because she likes attending church and having spelling tests.
She was happy to share her take on this book.
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Today’s reviewer: Bryanna.
Age: 8.
I like: To draw, color and paint.
This book was about: The weekends.
The best part was: When it was blue day, and they splashed in the puddles.
I smiled when: I saw how much everyone loved each other.
Three words that describe this book are: “Loving.” “Kind.” “Sweet.”
My favorite line or phrase in the book is: “Each day I count the ways I love to be with you.”
This book taught me: Every day, you should love your family.
My favorite picture was: The one that showed all the families together on the weekend.
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Thanks, Bryanna!
If this book sounds at all intriguing, you absolutely must watch this video of Arthur Levine discussing how his son, Max, inspired the story.
And then, if you’d like to learn more about Arthur, read this interview.
If you’d like to learn more about illustrator Julian Hector, visit his websiteand then read this interview he did about the book.
I usually use this space to talk about children’s books, libraries and writing.
But today, I’m going to take a break from that regularly scheduled programming and talk about another topic near to my heart — my daughter.
Gwen attended the University of Wisconsin Summer Music Clinic this year and had a great time. And today, the clinic had its end-of-camp concert, so I got to sit in the audience and watch a bunch of very talented junior-high kids perform.
Gwen had a blast at camp. She said, “It was so great to be surrounded by people who like music as much as I do.”
As a proud mom, I flip-cammed the performances and am sharing two here.
The first is her musical theater group, performing “Firework,” made famous by Katy Perry and, later, Rachel Berry. Gwen has the third solo in the piece.
The second is her formal choir performing Festival Cantate by Audrey Snyder. Gwen’s in the second row to the left of the conductor.
After her performance, I overheard a woman in the row behind me tell her husband, “That girl in the black-and-white, polka-dot dress has a great voice. You could really hear her project.”
I smiled and thought, “That’s my girl!”
But just to show that no singer is appreciated in her own family, here’s what my youngest daughter, Sonia, who gets dragged to a lot of her older sister’s performances, had to say about the whole thing.
I love to see my daughter reading. Fortunately for me, she does it a lot. Here are just a few of the poses I’ve caught her in.
1. Reading with our cat, Vince. In case you’re wondering, the book she’s so focused on is The Case of the Mixed-Up Mutts, the second in Dori Hillestad Butler’s series The Buddy Files. (For a review of the first book in the series from Cora, read this post.)
2. Reading in the laundry basket. Why? I have no idea. It doesn’t look very comfortable to me. This is a book of scary stories one of her school classmates lent her. In general, I am not a fan of scary stories, so I don’t remember the title. My apologies to the author.
3. Reading in the bathtub. I have to admit it. She gets this habit from me. I’ve cropped the photo judiciously, so she doesn’t hate me when she’s older. Here, she’s hanging out with Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans.
I’ve also walked in on her sound asleep on the floor of her room hands still holding whatever book she’s been reading. I’ll have to remember to take a photo next time.
Where’s the most unusual place you’ve ever read a book or seen a child reading a book?
Our house is counting down to Chrismas, so I wanted to take a few moments to wish everyone a wonderful holiday season.
The picture above was made by my daughter, Sonia, as part of a poster contest for her school. I thought it made the perfect Christmas greeting. I especially like how one of the sheep is so overcome by the angel’s glory that it has basically passed out on the ground.
If you want something more, listen to Phillips Brooks, who wrote this:
Everywhere, everywhere, Christmas to-night!
Christmas in lands of the fir tree and pine,
Christmas in lands of the palm tree and vine;
Christmas where snow-peaks stand solemn and white,
Christmas where corn-fields lie sunny and bright; Everywhere, everywhere, Christmas to-night.
When I was a kid, my sister and I spent summers at the library. We went every morning and checked out as many books as we could carry. We’d read all afternoon, then go back the next day and start over. We read so much the librarian in charge of the summer reading program thought we were padding our numbers and asked to speak to our mom.
My oldest daughter is nothing like that.
Don’t get me wrong. She’s a great kid. Musical, athletic, outgoing and talented in ways I’ll never be. But reading is not her big thing.
This pains me. I did all the things parents are supposed to do to raise a reader. I read to her, took her to the library, filled our house with books and let her see me reading. No dice.
So this summer, I resorted to bribery. Now in middle-school, she’s old enough to want certain things but young enough to lack the necessary cash. She especially wanted these shoes. I admired their fabulosity, but questioned their practicality and wasn’t about to buy them. Sulking ensued – hers and mine.
It contained 26 books. For each book she read, I promised $5. I spent a lot of time crafting the list. I wanted books she’d like and books I’d feel good about her reading. I drew from many sources. My favorites. Books getting a good buzz now. Topics that matched her interests. And a few I hadn’t read that seemed promising.
My disclaimer: In no way do I claim this is a comprehensive review of middle-grade or YA literature. It’s not. It’s just one mom’s attempt to match her daughter with some books that might get her excited.
Did it work? Yes and no.
She started with dollar signs in her eyes and a pledge to read every book on the list. She didn’t make it. Some of the shorter books got read first. Some she finished only for the money.
But there was only one book she just couldn’t make herself finish. And there were others she didn’t like at first, which grew on her. And we talked. About whether we’d want a savvy like Mibs had and why John and Lorraine acted the way they did to Mr. Pignati.
She learned to reserve books online. And found other books, not on the list, that she read and enjoyed, including two graphic novel series.
Then, at a bookstore, she said, “A lot of those books on your list are displayed here. That’s cool.”
She earned enough to buy the shoes, which made her the happiest pre-teen in Wisconsin for a few days. And we agreed to continue our deal during the school year, which made me a happy mom.
She’s currently on page 54 of My Side of the Mountain and just informed me she’d have to be very hungry to trap and kill a deer.
Oh, and she wants to know when we can visit the library. She has more books to pick up.
I'm Pat Zietlow Miller. I live in Madison, Wisconsin, where I try to juggle family, work, reading, writing and revising. Usually, I succeed.
I am represented by Ammi-Joan Paquette of the Erin Murphy Literary Agency. I recently sold two picture books to Schwartz & Wade -- SOPHIE'S SQUASH and SHARING THE BREAD.
There are all kinds of families. 
