Preserving the d'Aulaire Legacy

Illustration from Abraham Lincoln

As many of you know, Leif the Lucky by Ingri and Edgar d'Aulaire was the first book we published here at BFB. It was a huge leap of faith and felt very risky at the time but Russ and Rea's commitment to preserving a literary legacy helped them push through and our little publishing company now publishes dozens of great books from a bygone era of children's literature. The d'Aulaires have always held a special place in our hearts and we were thrilled to learn that the folks at Atlas Obscura were curious about the husband and wife team. Check out this article to learn more about how we publish these books, how the d'Aulaire's conducted research, and how we're creating a new edition of Abraham Lincoln that fully restores the d'Aulaire's artwork to its original glory while updating some of the pictures. It's been a rewarding and challenging process and Rea has put her heart into it. You can read the article here. Just note that some of the other articles on the website are of a more mature nature.
If you would like to read more about the d'Aulaires, check out this entry.

We would love to hear what you think! Chime in below in the comments section and share your thoughts. Don't forget to check out our Facebook and Pinterest pages.  To learn more about Beautiful Feet Books, click here.

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The Role of Beauty

I'm continuing in my reading through Teaching from Rest by Sarah Mackenzie and although this is a book that could be easily read in an afternoon or two, it's so rich, convicting, and inspiring, I've been taking my time with it. I highly recommend it to all parents, regardless of whether you're going to be homeschooling or not. I'll be delving more deeply into this wonderful book soon, but when I came across the line above, it definitely echoed something that has been central to our philosophy at BFB. We believe that artwork can be just as important as the words of a children's story in imparting both a valuing of beauty as well as a love of story. 

In the 1980s when were were just starting out we were dismayed to see that many many beautiful books were being dropped by the big publishing houses and thus was birthed our desire to preserve a fading literary legacy. 

We'd love to hear who are your favorite authors and illustrators? I've recently discovered The Seven Silly Eaters and adore the illustrations in that treasure. My two-year-old love the pictures in the Obadiah series by Brinton Turkle as well as the funky colorful pictures in Cynthia Rylant's The Relatives Came.  I can't wait until he's old enough to introduce him to the d'Aulaires' books. 

What about you? Which books do you remember from your childhood? Which ones do your children love?

We would love to hear what you think! Chime in below in the comments section and share your thoughts. Don't forget to check out our Facebook and Pinterest pages.  To learn more about Beautiful Feet Books, click here.

And if you've enjoyed this, please feel free to share using the buttons below!

Teaching Early American History!

Today we get caught up with Jessica from jessicalynette.com as she gives us a look into the first six weeks of using our Early American History, A Literature Approach for Primary Grades. Her thoughtful approach to reading through the literature slowly, taking time to process character lessons, and delving deep in to a period are so refreshing. Enjoy! Post original published here. 

This year, for the first time ever, I am following a set schedule for our history reading- using the engaging books and useful guidebook published by Beautiful Feet. You can read my intro post to this living books approach to history here. Now that we are finishing off our first term (6 weeks) I wanted to write an update on how it is working for us.

Term one led us through the lives of Leif Erikson and Christopher Columbus with the beautiful D’aulaire books and the thoughtful questions from the guidebook.

“There was once a boy who loved the salty sea. He would be a seaman when he grew up. He would not be a weaver like his father, who sat all day in a dark, little shop weaving yarn into cloth. A ship would be his shuttle, the waves his warp, the wide and bounding sea his loom.”

That is just a taste of the beautiful language these books contain that paint such vivid images for your mind and dance you through history with living books.

Here is where I must offer up my secret confession:

I was terrified about the pace.

I know many whom stretch these books into two years.

But can I be honest? The pace is much slower than what we normally do.

Two books (which was 18 lessons) over the course of 6 weeks seemed painfully slow.

I had previously read the boys Leif the Lucky as a bedtime story in one night and I wasn’t entirely certain what to think of this slower pace that the manual lays out.

I dutifully followed the reading plan laid out in the guide, and while narration and conversations have always been a part of our family culture, I have been pleased with this slowing down and marinating of the characters. We have labored, adventured, and talked over these men for 6 weeks. I feel as if we know them more intimately.

“Having found the book which has a message for us, let us not be guilty of the folly of saying we have read it. We might as well say we have breakfasted, as if breakfasting on one day should last us for every day! The book that helps us deserves many readings, for assimilation comes by slow degrees.” -Charlotte Mason

I had formatted, printed and bound all of the resources from BFB for the Early American History books and we have kept pace with working through them.  My third grader is not overly enthusiastic about coloring in the pictures, but my second grader enjoys doing that as I read. I have really enjoyed the questions that the guide shares to stimulate conversations. A lot of them focus on the character of a person, and I am convinced that this is a powerful way for us to learn. In fact, it is point number 11 in our list of 13 ways to help protect our children from the addiction of pornography. Connect them to great men of the past – talk about the strengths and weakness. Cause and effect.

The Early American History guide book has done an excellent job at extracting deeper conversations with our sons about the character of Leif and Columbus and I am looking forward to us finishing off the life of Columbus (an oral presentation is required) and studying the life of Pocahontas, the details of Jamestown, and some of the pilgrim stories in term two.

Thank you Jessica! Love this glimpse into how you are making BFB your own! Your workbooks are genius. Be sure to check out Jessica's blog where she talks about home education, Charlotte Mason, developing character, and much more. 

Our new 2015-2016 catalog is now available! If you want to view it right now it's available online here. And if you would like to request a hardcopy, click here.

We would love to hear what you think! Chime in below in the comments section and share your thoughts. Don't forget to check out our Facebook and Pinterest pages.  To learn more about Beautiful Feet Books, click here.