Monday Reading - New Books to Share

 

 Visit Kellee and Ricki at UnleashingReaders and 

  

Jen at Teach Mentor Texts to see what they and others have been reading! Your TBR lists will grow! 

      

            

       

Thanks to Candlewick Press for this copy!

       From Jo Knowles' earlier Where The Heart Is, we readers get to know Rachel's nine-year-old little sister, Ivy. The family has lost their farm and moved into a small apartment where Rachel and Ivy have to share a room. Ivy's parents and sister have sad feelings about the move but Ivy does not. For the first time, she has close friends, in the building! Ivy, with Alice and Lucas, become friends and have the most fun watching a weekly baking show. They take notes and try hard to create something yummy with the list of ingredients given. It's fun and Ivy loves it all, continues to say, and think, how she never wants to move, and feels determined to make the rest of her family think the new home is terrific. Knowles keeps things on a young level, showing so well Ivy's worries, and her sincere attempts to be a good friend. When Alice has some problems with her mom not returning (she lives with her grandmother) and does not want to talk about it, then Lucas's father has a struggle walking, Ivy wants to help, but struggles to understand why her words and intentions don't make things better. She gets a boost when she starts helping the building superintendent fix things. She's good at it! And that super helps Ivy figure a few things out about what can be fixed and what needs time before it can be fixed.

           Growing up is hard as Knowles shows so well. With a thread of different proverbs for life bugging Ivy, it seems that nothing she does helps. She is learning, however, as all of us must, even if we're already grown! This would make a great read-aloud for a class.  

Thanks to Candlewick Press for this copy! 

        Liz Kessler's longer stories about Emily Windsnap, part mermaid, include "big" adventures and now Liz and Joanie Stone have started an early reader series with that same adventurous spirit. This time, Emily wants so much to swim in the ocean yet her mother thinks it's too dangerous. What she discovers when she sneaks out to try is a "Big Discovery" as the title shares. It's a fun beginning with added Emily stickers at the back! 

Thanks to Candlewick Press for this copy

       Oh my, I would love to have this book for younger readers, full of ALL the seasons and their beauty, written and illustrated by Tim Hopgood. It begins with spring, sharing a poem, gorgeous paintings of blossoms and twigs, birds and eggs, a "how-to-create" chocolate nests. Each season has its unique wonders, something to celebrate and learn about all through the year. There's how to make a leaf mobile and how to paint a butterfly, also pages about stars and the moon. The book is full to the brim with our natural world for young ones. And, you may want to use the ideas for the beginning of further research and learning. Below is a glimpse of the endcovers - gorgeous! 

Poetry Friday - Goodbye Journals

 

  Poetry Friday is with Jama Rattigan, at her blog, Jama's Alphabet Soup here.   Thanks, Jama, for hosting and for sharing a loving post for all mothers! Happy Mother's Day!

      I've been trying hard to clean out varied things from home, including books I can donate to the bookstore because I'm sure I'll never read them. They are enticing, but too many others are calling me, too. 

       This past week I've gone through all my teacher journals, yes, 25 of them! At the school where I taught, every student (and teachers), from the youngest to the oldest, kept field journals, incorporating field observations in words and sketches, along with book notes and writing drafts, etc., etc. I enjoyed the journey, but I cannot keep them all, though I kept a few, took a few pictures of pages, loved reading about the many, many trips my middle-school students and I took, the writing and reading we did, the wonderful fun we had. I removed the spirals when needed and took a box to be shredded. Yep, they're gone.

            Here are a couple of pictures of how some pages looked. I had taped in lots of poems and kept a few, but I can find others I love, too. Those gone were chosen for certain reasons and now today, others call to me. I suspect you understand.

          And then, again, more political fury arrived Monday night. Since 2016, things have felt uncertain, feel as if we cannot help enough. The list grows as you know, and this week, this Supreme Court leak. So amongst all the poems, I found this. One can interpret it any way one wishes but it seems to fit our oh-so-mixed-up world to me. (I searched the web for this poem and poet, but could not find it. And I have no idea from where it came.) But it's one I saved!

Blue Hum Ramble

Walking the grumby and humfallen sidewalks

along with my namby-panky neighborhood, I stummed

and fammled in my dringy, hamstruck brain

hows I didn't have a drim of an idea where

it was I was maundering and skilfing to.

                                                       Chris Bowman

Monday Reading - More Great Books

   Visit Kellee and Ricki at UnleashingReaders and 

  

Jen at Teach Mentor Texts to see what they and others have been reading! Your TBR lists will grow! 

    If you want to share a #MustReadIn2022,  go HERE to Cheriee's post!

            

       

  

      If you have a list of "Must-Reads" from this year's books, place this one on it.  There are only twelve kids in seventh grade in this small town and each one calls it "Yawn Creek". Nothing new happens, ever, until. . . a new girl arrives. If you know and can guess how middle-school students think and hide true feelings; become cruel to others, or don't, and find real ways to make change, sometimes, you know that Erin Entrada Kelly understands these kids. She shows sympathy for them, even one that remains cruel from a best friend's pressure. Perhaps there will be change and maybe it's because that new girl, Orchid, made a difference? It's quite a story, perhaps a microcosm of our culture itself, and hopefully, we readers will see more of those seventh graders as they grow older. However it ends, I loved the story from a dot of a town on a map, not so yawn-filled as they thought.

       I've never seen a pick-up game, three-on-three, whatever it's called, yet now I think I know more than I did before I read Charly Palmer's book, an ode to those legends that he and many others knew. They were those that rarely, if ever, made it to the NBA or other BIG games, but they were stars. Be sure to get this book, to read and love the names and the energy Palmer has so lovingly put into his swirling, whirling, dribbling, dunking paintings. Meet Gravity, Sky High, Liquid, and Left 2 Right and how they went about their business of winning. I imagine there are many young players out there that will love it and many old players who will remember all that is told! I'm happy I had the fun watching, even in a picture book! It's great!

          It is a special book about  Yo-Yo Ma, one that could introduce him to young readers who may not know him or know his inspiring story. It's rather like a love story to his life, all that he was as a young child prodigy, all that he has done for people all over the world. I didn't know his cello was named Petunia and that its parts, too, come from diverse places in our world. It feels as if it's fitting that he would have such an instrument. Extra information includes the history, and late discovery, of the Bach Cello Suites. Teresa Martinez illustrates with happy colors and diverse people from everywhere, all delighted to listen to Yo-Yo Ma playing Petunia! There is some added information at the back! 

April - Poetry Month - Day 30 - Last Words

 

        The bookmark, on top of the picture above, came into the bookstore at the end of March. Often people do donate books and leave 'treasures' in them. This time, it became my own treasure and I knew what I would do for April's poetry, write about found treasures, perhaps find new places to look?  

Plus! Check each day for the final line to the Progressive Poem, created by Irene Latham, now hosted by Margaret Simon! The link is to the right!  

April ends today and thus does this particular poem a day. I'll continue writing, will continue enjoying playing with words. It's a pleasure to write every day, but even more, a pleasure to read what everyone else shares during April. With so much that's hard news recently, the respite given through reading thoughtful poems is appreciated! 

Wishing everyone a May full of springtime joys!

My Long Night

 

I woke up at 2:30.

I know because that’s 

what the clock read.

 

And I wondered if I could

sleep a few more hours?

 

I like rising early

but. . . 2:30?

 

Yet, sleep came.

I dreamed of a rocky climb

up a slippery slope 

wondering if it was really rocks

or life?

 

I am no Hillary or Norgay

but like the goats I see atop the rocks

when I drive into the Rockies,

I made it one step, one grasp,

one haul of my body

to the top.

What does this have to do

with getting back to sleep?

Is life too often a dream?

 

I rose as morning light glimmered,

turned on the coffee

to think about it.

 

Linda Baie © 

Until next April. . .

April - Poetry Month - Day 29 - Poem In Your Pocket Day! & Poetry Friday

 Jone Rush McCulloch hosts us today at her blog here with an inspirational poem for starting the day. Be sure to visit to read it. Thanks, Jone!

        The bookmark, on top of the picture above, came into the bookstore at the end of March. Often people do donate books and leave 'treasures' in them. This time, it became my own treasure and I knew what I would do for April's poetry, write about found treasures, perhaps find new places to look? Only one more day!

Plus! Check each day for the added line to the Progressive Poem, created by Irene Latham, now hosted by Margaret Simon! The link is to the right!  

       It's Poem in Your Pocket day. Do you have a poem ready to carry and share? You can find many here at Poet.Org, The Academy of American Poets, or here at The Poetry Foundation. 

         I am re-sharing the poem that I wrote last year, this time for this special day. 

What A Pocket Knows

 

a keycard for a getaway

a lacy hanky’s good to pack

the ID card tucks in to go

a chunky bar’s a welcome snack

I hold a dollar bill, or two

and quarters for the fare

a poem stays in readiness

the one thing meant to share

                            Linda Baie ©