Gareth and I recently got gussied up to attend a fundraiser for Otherworld, the wacky (and wonderful) weekend event I blogged about last September. In addition to dinner, dancing, and lots of socializing, the evening’s entertainment included a silent auction, for which I donated what else? Books.

My first donation inspiration began with my thinking that Inga Moore’s stunningly illustrated (and unabridged!) edition of The Secret Garden would make a wonderful gift for anyone, young or old, and would therefore be a great auction item.

I thought this donation ought to be more than just a single book, though, so I planned to pair it with one of the button bouquets I’ve been making for gifts of late.

My donation bouquet, though, needed a vase, and when I went looking for one I found the PERFECT ($1) vase with a Secret Garden-like twist! I couldn’t believe my luck!! (Thank you, Christmas Tree Shops.)

Now I had a book and a vase, though, with no ideal way to display the two together, so I chose a nice antiquey-looking tin planter ($5) to situate them in (you can see the side of it peeking out from behind the vase above). While on that same vase/planter trek, I also found a great "grow" flower pot ($2), which I thought needed to be included in the mix, and a pair of gardening gloves ($1). Brilliant! Except that all of these items sat rather low inside the planter and could easily rattle around in there. So… I solved that problem by lining the planter with some dried moss ($3). And while I was buying the moss couldn’t resist purchasing a fake bird’s best + robin’s eggs ($2), so…  What began as a simple book became, a few dollars later, quite a whiz-bang auction donation, if I do say so myself! Nice enough, at least, to photograph and share with all of you.

My "bigger" donation monetarily, though, was $100 worth of great books for 5-8 year-olds, the approximate age of most Otherworlders’ children, or at least of those who’d be attending this year’s fundraiser. It was a challenge to narrow down my endless list of favorites for the 5-8 bracket, while also trying NOT to choose books that would suit only one end of that spectrum (as in "good for 5 but not so great for 8" and vice versa), and trying TO choose books that most people would be unlikely to have in their home libraries already. In the end I came up with what I think is a pretty solid (and very kid-friendly) selection.

Here’s a list of the books that made it into that basket, along with a lovely Wellesley Booksmith totebag, of course:

The End of the Beginning by Avi

The Van Gogh Café by Cynthia Rylant

The Lemonade War by Jacqueline Davies

Houndsley and Catina by James Howe, illustrated by Marie-Louise Gay

Vile Verses by Roald Dahl, illustrated by 20+ illustrators

An Egg Is Quiet by Dianna Aston, illustrated by Sylvia Long

How Big Is It? by Ben Hillman

So… What do you think? Worth a bid?