Books Are Inspiration

The book selections in our house seem to run the gamete.  We are now a household of board books, picture books, "readers," chapter books and comic books; arts and crafts books, historical fiction, non-fiction in many genera, devotionals and Bible studies.  It's no surprise that we've been getting a lot of inspiration from our books.

I've had this post half-written for months, so it's about time to push Publish.  I suspect many more posts in the future will fall into the category of Books are Inspiration. 

Of course, the craft books have been giving me lots of inspiration.  One of my new favorite authors and bloggers is Amanda Blake Soule.  She provided the inspiration and instructions for the Mama's bag sewing project a few months ago.     

She has a son named Calvin so we had to make "Calvin's Paper-Mache Bowls"

We used up some of our junk mail.

  And I taught the boys about Gesso.

Calvin and I read Charlotte's Web. 

Fern and her brother spend an afternoon swinging from a rope in the barn. 

Not long after we read that chapter, Calvin set about hanging his own rope for swinging. 

And in an obscure reference the children, "drink the milk from clover..." so now my boys have done that too!

 

Today Andrew and I had cream cheese-cucumber-and-tomato sandwiches, just like Albert in Bread and Jam for Frances.  And a hard-boiled egg.  And a bunch of grapes.  And a cup custard.  Just like Albert.

(And in case you are wondering, the Level 2 Reader version of this story is not nearly as good as the full length "picture book" version!)

I recently ran across the title Turkish Delight & Treasure Hunts: Delightful Treats and Games from Classic Children's Books.  I put it on my wishlist, but my kids have not yet read most of the books listed in the table of contents.  So for now, we'll probably keep looking for inspiration in our daily reading!  And when my boys are doing something crazy and I say, "Where did you learn that?" I won't be surprised if they say, "From a book!" 

How have you used Books as Inspiration? 

Any recommendations?