North Woods Girl (Aimee Bissonette)

 

I started off the discussion prior to this book with "What are Grandmas like?" Ha! That got some interesting answers. 

Cranky

Strict

And then one person said, "Well, mine is usually pretty kind."

I asked if they were usually sporty...that got a big No! 

They didn't say that mostly they were soft or round....which I kind of expected. 

Apparently there is a good variety of grandmas out there! 

Luckily, when we were finished, one of the comments was, "Well, that wasn't what I expected." This led perfectly into a Notice and Note contrasts and contradictions discussion.





Goodreads says:

“When Grandma tucks her pants into her oversized boots and grabs her walking stick, I run to catch up,” reports a young girl charmed by her visits to Grandma’s north woods home. Their walks take them through the seasons, to a pond with a downed tree just right for sitting, to a garden lush with tomatoes ready for canning, through a snowy nighttime woods where the only sounds are the squeak of boots on snow and the hooting of a distant owl. Whatever the month, there are plenty of woodland critters to observe: squirrels or rabbits or deer, geese or goldeneyes or mergansers. The forest of North Woods Girl is an active, populated place, brought to life by Claudia McGehee’s colorful scratchboard artistry. Time with Grandma teaches about quiet observation, generous sharing of resources, the beauty of the forest and pond at any hour. Grandma is the quintessential north woods girl, breathing deep the piney scents, relishing the chirping activity of her animal neighbors. Small wonder that her admiring granddaughter is inspired to follow in her footsteps. With a tale as understated as Grandma herself, Aimée Bissonette shares a message of appreciating the treasures of our natural surroundings.

Aimée Bissonette is a writer, teacher, and lawyer living in the Twin Cities. This is her first children’s book. Writer-illustrator Claudia McGehee lives in Iowa City. Her previous works include A Tallgrass Prairie Alphabet and A Woodland Counting Book.