On a lighter note, we just read John Updike's A Child's Calendar.  I could love this book with its delightful illustrations by Trina Schart Hynan providing an appealing subtext about a biracial family who appears to celebrate both Christmas and Hanukkah, judging by the  December illustration. Updike's poems read well and have enough action to keep my 3 and 5 year old's attention. But I realized while reading this, along with other kids' books about fall, that there exists in children's literature a prejudicial preference for a New England/Midwest year: cool spring, warm summer, colorful fall, snowy winter. What about all the kids who live in the south and west? Where's the book about the year in the desert and the subtropics? How do they identify winter if they are looking for snowmen?  Palm trees and live oaks don't turn color.