Thursday, February 19, 2015

Year of the Sheep, or Ram







Happy Lunar New Year to you all... it's a few weeks into 2015 now, so if you need a reset, take this New Year as a start-over, and begin all your plans and resolutions anew! 

The Year of the Sheep begins today. What is that all about? There's some hope for us, apparently. 

"Sheep is the symbol of the Arts. It relates to passive and nurturing times. It will help the healing process with regard to past events caused by individuals who have little respect for the human race or life itself. It will be a year of banding together in faith and in belief that good will prevail and win out over the forces that refuse to comply to a peaceful way of life. For those who trust in goodness, happiness and success will follow."

Here are a few sheepish books to read this year!

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This philosophical mystery is a tale for adults to enjoy. With acerbic rams and both clever and dim-witted sheep in the herd, there is plenty to entertain you as these sheep try to determine who was responsible for the death of their beloved shepherd.



Blue Mountain


This middle-grade novel relates the adventures of Tuk, a bighorn sheep, and his herd. When their winter feeding grounds are paved over, it falls to Tuk, the strongest of his herd, to lead them to the fabled meadows of Blue Mountain where the grass is thick and plentiful. Adventure and environmental concerns mesh to make up a very readable story.


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One of Murakami's early novels, this one uses the search for a mythical mutant sheep with a star on its back as a metaphor for the larger search for meaning in life. Our protagonist is inadvertently involved in the search for a sheep that appears in a photo on a postcard, one that a mad Sheep Professor has been searching for for years -- it's his Holy Grail, or should we say his Golden Fleece?

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Babe thinks he's a sheepdog, and becomes even better at herding than the farm dogs...and is entered into the sheepdog trials. King-Smith's sheep are very English, with great intelligence and a wee bit of snarkiness ;)



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And now to finish up...a classic picture book that celebrates sheep of all colours, involved in activities of all kinds! This is a wonderful read-aloud, great for encouraging toddler participation in the story. Also, there are many story stretching activities you can find online if you want to make this fun book the centre piece of a storytime. Such as...






8 comments:

  1. Where is the Green Sheep looks cute for my daughter!

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    1. It's great -- I've used it in storytimes and it is always fun. Hope you find a copy and try it out!

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  2. What a great post! I love the sheepish book recommendations. I'm jealous I didn't think of it. ;) The Murakami is the only one I've read, and it's my favorite of his books. But Three Bags Full sounds like a lot of fun. Happy Chinese New Year!

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    1. I loved Three Bags Full. I've been sharing it a lot and always hope someone else will enjoy it :)

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  3. This is the cutest post! Happy Year of the Sheep!

    (As suspected, my blogroll is not updating in a timely fashion. Glad I stopped by to check.)

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    1. With how much I've been posting lately, it would hard to tell if your blogroll was updating ;) Thanks for stopping by & hope you enjoyed these suggestions!

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  4. Great post. I love Three Bags Full and have recommended it to several other readers. I've got "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" on my TBR list. Maybe I should make this the year to get to it.

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    1. It is a fun read, isn't it? So glad you enjoyed this post :)

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Thanks for stopping by ~ I always enjoy hearing your comments so please feel free to leave some!