Old books and new

I've organized and reorganized my bookshelves many times.  But my kids love books and they love to play with them, so many times they grab a whole bunch of books that strike their fancy and cart them away for some game or other.  They always say they'll put everything back, really and some of the time they try but many a time, I have to go back and reorganize the books to my liking.  But a good thing about organizing books is the pleasure one gets from coming across old favorites, books that were not relevant before but are perfect for now, books that one had forgotten  among others.  There is always the pleasure akin to visiting an old friend. There are books that I look into regularly and some that I revisit only on occasion and some that are always new no matter how many times I've read them.    So the latest bookshelf reorganization session was no different.  I love books and I always want to write about books but at the same time I always hesitate because there are just so many that I'd love to squeeze into a post.  So I'll try to mention a few of the books, some old and some new. 
Don't Move the Muffin Tins by Bev Bos - a wonderful books with lots of practical ideas for art activities for young children.  I'd love to implement some of her ideas with my little ones.  I really like her idea of using different shaped paper for art projects to teach shapes and colors.
The Myth of Ability by John Mighton   -thank you Jennifer for pointing this one out. A fantastic book about making mathematics available to all children in a way the guarantees understanding and success.   I really enjoyed this one and could relate to a lot of what the author was describing.  I didn't enjoy mathematics as a child, I also remember very well the teacher that turned me off to math to the point, that years of my parents trying to convince me that it was all in my head, did nothing to dispell the notion that I just wasn't a math person.  And yet I've never entirely given up on concurring my math demons and now that I had to come back and look at mathematics again as an adult, I find that I actually enjoy math very much.  It's a very inspiring and hopeful book.  I think that if we can give our children both confidence and competence in math, it's a gift that will serve them well in whichever direction they'll wish to pursue.
Growing Minds, The Basic Skills and The Book of Puzzlements by Herbert Kohl - I always walk away with valuable insights, whenever I read anything by Herbert Kohl.  Even though he usually writes about education within the school system and how it can be reformed, his genuine love of teaching and learning and many creative ideas and thoughtful analysis could be beneficial to parents on the home educating front as well. 
I got a few poetry books recently which I like very much - Poetry For a Lifetime by Samuel Norfleet Etheredge- an excellent collectionof poetry with cute old fashioned illustrations and some of Poetry For Young People series especially the Emily Dickenson and Robert Frost ones (one should look through the others to make sure that the content and the illustrations are appropriate), I like that it has a brief biography of the poet and definitions of harder words at the bottom to make it more understandable for young readers.  Leaves From a Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Luis Stevenson, Illustrated by Donna Green -  wonderful poetry with gorgeous illustrations, what could be better.
How Children Lived a first book of history by Chris and Melanie Rice  - the book looks at lives of children across cultures and civilizations, great illustrations with pictures of actual artifacts included,  covers things like daily life, activities, toys, etc.  It was a great hit with everybody here and while it's a relatively simple book, it was perfect for conversation starters about history, geography, etc.
This is a tiny sample of what I'd like to write about so stay tuned and look at the book widget somewhere  on the bottom right for more interesting reading ideas.