It’s increasingly difficult to find picture books that you can sit down and read with a child that takes more than 10 minutes to read.  I love many of these short books, and I realize that people’s relationship to time has changed, but I also love sharing a long story with a child.  

The great thing about being an older person is that I have a little more time.  Folk tales and stories of the olden days are a particular pleasure to share because it gives the child a chance to ask lots of questions.  It’s also pleasure to introduce them to black and white illustration and different ways of using color.

I was delighted to see that the University of MinnesotaPress has reprinted 1941 book, Lief the Lucky, by Ingri and Edgar Parin D’Aulaire.  A big gorgeous book that tells the Norse folktale of Erik the Red and his son Leif the Lucky, and how they discovered Greenland and North America.