Mailbox Monday #287

Mailbox Monday, created by Marcia at To Be Continued, formerly The Printed Page, has a permanent home at its own blog.

To check out what everyone has received over the last week, visit the blog and check out the links.  Leave yours too.

Also, each week, Leslie, Vicki, and I will share the Books that Caught Our Eye from everyone’s weekly links.

Here’s what I received:

1. It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown: The Making of a Television Classic by Charles M. Schulz and Lee Mendelson for review from Harper’s Dey Street Books.

Now available in a hardcover edition, the lushly illustrated It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown: The Making of a Tradition, stars Charles M. Schulz’s beloved Peanuts gang, and features hundreds of full-color images as well as enlightening anecdotes that take you behind-the-scenes of how the charming Halloween special was created.

Trick-or-treating has never been more fun—with Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy, Sally, Schroeder, Linus, and, of course, the Great Pumpkin. Since its first airing more than forty years ago, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown has become a beloved perennial classic synonymous with Halloween.

Illustrated with more than 250 full-color images.

2. The Rat (Disgusting Creatures) by Elise Gravel for review from Tundra Books.

One in a series of humorous books about disgusting creatures, The Rat is a look at the black rat. It covers such topics as the rat’s long, agile tail (it’s good for balancing and picking noses), long teeth (they can chew through anything, including books) and disgusting taste in food (delicious electrical wires in tomato sauce, anyone?). Although silly and off-the-wall, The Rat contains real information that will tie in with curriculum.

3.  Children’s Activity Atlas by Jenny Slater and illustrated by Katrin Wiehle and Martin Sanders for review from Sterling Children’s Publishing.

Young explorers: grab your ticket to a world of fun! Featuring 12 fully illustrated maps, this atlas is jam-packed with information about the different continents and each region’s wildlife, food, architecture, and culture. The journey continues with more than 250 reusable stickers, eight perforated postcards, and a pocket-size passport with quizzes and cool facts. Curious kids will dream about their adventures to come.

4. GI Brides: The Wartime Girls Who Crossed the Atlantic for Love by Duncan Barrett and Nuala Calvi for TLC Book Tours in September.

The “friendly invasion” of Britain by over a million American G.I.s bewitched a generation of young women deprived of male company during the Second World War. With their exotic accents, smart uniforms, and aura of Hollywood glamour, the G.I.s easily conquered their hearts, leaving British boys fighting abroad green with envy. But for girls like Sylvia, Margaret, Gwendolyn, and even the skeptical Rae, American soldiers offered something even more tantalizing than chocolate, chewing gum, and nylon stockings: an escape route from Blitz-ravaged Britain, an opportunity for a new life in affluent, modern America.

Through the stories of these four women, G.I. Brides illuminates the experiences of war brides who found themselves in a foreign culture thousands of miles away from family and friends, with men they hardly knew. Some struggled with the isolation of life in rural America, or found their soldier less than heroic in civilian life. But most persevered, determined to turn their wartime romance into a lifelong love affair, and prove to those back home that a Hollywood ending of their own was possible.

What did you receive?