Annie Lang's Blog!

As an avid nature, folklore and garden lover, two publications fell into my hands in the late 1970's and early 1980's which I still have today.  The first book was " Gnomes " which was published by Harry N. Abrams, Inc, written by Wil Huygen and brilliantly illustrated by Dutch artist, Rien Poortvliet .  It explains in great detail every aspect of a Gnome's life, environment, talents, language, legends and more.  This book is now a hard to find collector's item, but does pop up every now and then on auction sites and E-Bay.  I suspect that it will someday be re-printed! I also own a well worn copy of The  Gnomes Book of Christmas Crafts  by Carol Endler Sterbenz whi ch is still available in hardcover version today and filled with dozens of gnome-inspired Christmas decorations and crafting projects.  I recently visited Frankenmuth, MI, a friendly German inspired community that successfully blends old world charm with modern trends.  Frankenmuth is also home

It started out as a beautiful day in the garden until the chatter got a bit out of control!  Find out how all the commotion unexpectedly turns this peaceful garden all topsy-turvy as the news of the day quickly spreads throughout this delightfully illustrated children's book. Young readers will quickly engage with vividly detailed characters and imagery as the story unfolds in the garden.   It's a timeless tale of human nature and our need to socially share everything we hear with others.  As is often the case in real life, what starts as a simple observation quickly can turn into a most ridiculous misunderstanding.   " Guess What I Heard Today " is a terrific "read it together"  publication that encourages discussion about how we communicate. Decades ago, my first grade teacher had the class sit in a circle, whisper a sentence into the ear of the student beside us as we passed our "secret sentence" from person to person.  We were totally amazed wh