Hi, my name is Veronica and I am a bibliomaniac.

         biliomania - n. a craze for collecting books, esp. rare ones - bibliomaniac n., adj. 

I prefer to think of myself as a bibliophile.

          bibliophile - n. 1. a person who loves or admires books, esp. for their style of binding, priting, etc. 2. a collector of books

See, doesn't that sound better? And it must be true too, because how else could I justify spending, well, I won't say how much, but a good amount, on these books, when I could have just gotten mass market paperback versions? (yuck, it even tastes bad to print it).

There are more, that is just one shelf. Sadly, we had to cancel our order on these books, and now my trips to the mailbook aren't nearly as exciting, but I hope to resume service in the future, when the budget is not so tight. It may take me that long to read War and Peace and Les Miserables  

However, we did recently come into a little money in the form of a tax return (Thanks, Uncle Sam!) and a birthday gift (Thanks, Dad!), and I knew what to do with it:

Do you see Raising Godly Tomatoes and Nourishing Traditions? Those are mine. Ok, to be completely forthwith, the others are children's books that we will use for school, so those are also mine too  It was quite exciting around here for over a week, because they were nice enough to send them in several shipments. There is also a book of poetry, biographies of St. Patrick, St. Francis, and Cleopatra, PLUS  new art and science curriculum.  I can't be the only one who is excited by this.

And, as if that weren't enough, yesterday at Costco I came across one of my all time favorite books, Tuck Everlasting (if you haven't read this book, you totally should). Hubby was kind enough to let me throw  lay it lovingly in our cart, along with The Children of Henry VIII just for fun. It's very interesting so far.

So, reading back over this, I'm thinking my condition might require a more serious intervention...

I fully intended a  fairly lengthy post tonight, brinmming with insightfulness and wit, but I am begging off, due to the fact that I just finished typing an extroidinarily long letter to a friend who had asked my opinion on some important issues, and my poor fingers and arms feel like jelly and are about as coordinated right now. So instead I think i will type up the first of what I'm sure will be many book reviews you will eventually be able to find on this site (Did I mention I'm a bibliophile?). And since I became a mommy some 5 years ago, I have added a Children's section to my ever expanding Cannon of LIterature list. So, without further ado,

 Jack and the Beanstalk by E.Nesbit

If you are like me, you sometimes struggle with fairy tales. In that, I want my kids to know them because they are a part of our cultural heritage, but I often find myself unable to explain things like Why the old witch wanted to eat Hansel and Gretel, and why stepmothers are so wicked, to a 4 year old who does not count envy and jelousy (or cannibalism!) among her flaws. This same daughter came across this book at the library while I was looking for books on early Native Americans and the Lost Colony of Roanoke. The familiar story was originally retold here by Edith Nesbit in 1908, and includes enough detail to make it long for a picture book, but not so long that it can't easily be read in one sitting, even to the young and squirmy. I appreciated that while many modern versions of this story have Jack's mother thoroughly degrading him for his unwise trade, this book lets it stand at:

I don't think I'd better tell you what happened when he told his mother what he had done. You can perhaps guess. I will only say that it ended in his mother throwing the beans out of the window and sending Jack to bed without his supper. Then she spent the evening ironing, and every now and then a tear fell down ans hissed and fizzled on the hot iron.

My absolute favorite part however, are the illustrations by Matt Tavares. I have never heard of him, nor seen any of his other work, but the illustrations in this book were lovely. Full color and plenty of detail on every page, and many full layouts even. Each character's personality comes alive beautifully and believably.  The book was published by Candlewick Press, who, in MHO and experience, produce beautiful looking books. In any case, we have added this one to our wishlist, and are still on the hunt for other *good* versions of fairy tales. Any favorites or suggestions?