Monday Reading - Old and New to Know!

   

      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! I finished that very long book and now I miss it! And, I'm sharing three graphic novels this week, one new and two that were donated to the bookstore! I have a bunch of picture books to read and share, but they will wait until next week. After the hard, hard week last week, thinking of all who have been affected by Hurricane Helene and Milton, wishing it weren't so, and hoping for better for them every day! 

         After several weeks and nearly 600 pages, I finished this amazing story, filled with love, heartbreak, trauma, life-saving and life-breaking. Only some of those "colors of the dark" feel revealed. It's hard to let go when there is a story conceived of both main and perhaps lesser, but also memorable, characters. I admire Chris Whitaker for knitting the story with innovation and empathy for the people who never stopped living as good people and revealing the horror that also lives in some. This is a book I will ponder and remember for a long while. 

         There is talk in numerous places about teens in crisis. Ash is one who can't understand why their family doesn't seem to care about environmental issues. They try to put up posters at school, only to be ripped down because they don't have the proper permission. Now, instead of going to the family ranch for the annual trip, it's been decided the family's going to Disneyland. The only person who felt as if he understood Ash was their Grandpa Edwin, who was also believed to have built a small cabin somewhere, a secret hideaway. Ash gets permission to go to the ranch without family, and an older cousin is going, too. But the family doesn't know that the cousin is going off partying, leaving Ash to do what they really want to do, survive in the wild looking for that cabin. It's an adventure of a teen finding what matters, learning that they might need more than being left alone, and trying to figure it out. Ash has their dog along with them, which sometimes has its own set of problems. Jen Wang has managed to give both an internal and external adventure of a young teen trying hard to do what they believe is right! Illustrations bring Ash's story to us readers with emotion and heart through text but numerous pages that show only action! It's terrific! 

           It's 20 years old, yet it has kept some hilarious parallels! Duck moves UP the political ladder until he wonders why! This cute book might be fun to discuss with young readers!

          This is an excerpt of Surviving The Fatherland by Annette Oppenlander, a brief published novelette that tells of the two boys who chose to run away when Hitler called for 15 and 16-year-olds to be drafted. It was near the end of World War II, and he was losing and desperate. What they did and how they survived, sometimes roasting a dead wild bird, roasting and eating that small thing just to keep going, often sleeping in freezing weather, shows their incredible determination to escape war and survive. It's quick but certainly memorable.

        A graphic novel about a gang killing, yet mixed into it is the sad life of a boy caught in the mix. Is he a bully, a killer, or a victim of his circumstances? You'll need to read this true story and try to figure it out. Whatever readers decide, it's sad that young ones are caught up in a life they cannot escape, at least until they manage to grow some years older. A narrator tells the story of this real boy, Robert, "Yummy" Sandifer. Look him up if you'd like to learn more! 

      It's a graphic, science-fiction, story of a virus gone very wrong. The underlying science feels scary, and just like the pandemic we experienced, some seemed immune and were left with a "start-over," which is hard to imagine! The story is bleak, illustrations only in black and white. If you like this kind of dystopian story, you'll love it! 

Now Reading:  Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell  

Poetry Friday - Gifting!

          It's Poetry Friday, and Jama Rattigan is hosting HERE on her blog Jama' Alphabet Soup. The post will fill your heart with doughnutty dreams! Voodoo Doughnuts here I come! Thanks for hosting, Jama!

         I also recommend that you find Jama's review of Blue by Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond and Daniel Minter in her post last Tuesday. It perfectly fits Jama's love of "blue," and after reading it, you'll fall in love with "blue," too! 

         So, things seem very rough in our world right now with the recent weather disasters, the politics feeling even more bombastic as we near our elections, and the horrific conflicts in numerous places on earth. I want to help and believe I do what is possible for me at this time. I am grateful that three nephews and families survived Hurricane Helene with little damage except to their roads. Most importantly, they are okay! I've been in the Florida area where Hurricane Milton has hit, and I am feeling very sad for the people and their homes and businesses I have loved and visited. Closer to home, I am sorry for my son-in-law and his extended family who had to say goodbye to his father last week. It's been a fraught and worrisome week. 

         Saturday is my birthday! I chose to share this poem/song you'll find below because I love it, and hope it gives you some peace this week. I taught gifted students for many years and taught them this song, reminding them to be grateful for all gifts, including themselves! 

Simple Gifts

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free,
'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gain'd,
To bow and to bend we will not be asham'd,
To turn, turn will be our delight,
Till by turning, turning we come round right.

You can find out more about it, HERE, at the site of the Shaker Museum. 

        Then, hanging out on FB recently, THIS came up! It felt like my own special gift! 

         If you would like the gift of a poetry book from the used bookstore where I volunteer, send me an email with your address. Many wonderful books are sitting on the shelves, waiting to be read and loved!

          Wishing everyone the gift of another of my favorite things, being outside!

Poetry Friday - No Pancakes! It's "Wild Brunch"

 It's Poetry Friday, and Tabatha Yeatts-Lonske is hosting HERE on her blog The Opposite of Indifference.    Thanks for hosting, Tabatha, and for bringing us so lovely a poem about murmuration and more!

          I first met David L. Harrison in 1983 when I took my daughter to a book signing, and she wanted his new book, A Book of Giant Stories. I remember he was so kind to her and signed it in a special way. Back then, I didn't really know David's poetry power, but when Highlights offered a week of poetry writing with him, I went! And, then, I went the next year, too. Being at Highlights with David was so much fun, as were the ones with Rebecca Dotlich and Georgia Heard. I took the book back that second time, and he signed it then for Sarah's daughters, Ingrid and Imogene! I guess they'd better keep it for their daughters! 

        

          If you want to know more about David, you can see his extraordinary bio by googling his name on line and choosing among the many sites about him. He is now the Poet Laureate of Missouri and of Drury University, from which he has a science degree. He knows a lot about science, and you'll understand that when you see his titles that show off his knowledge. 

         I'm excited to share David's latest title today, showing off a few animals, what and how they eat!  Thanks to Charlesbridge Publishing for my copy!

           Various animals munch through the pages with David's usual humor shining through. There are piranhas where advice is warranted: "When piranha's on the hunt,/you're wise if you retreat." And, much larger, but also in the water, the hippo eats at night. Did you know? They have "teeth like spikes" and in the wisest, but funniest, of an underlying meaning, David writes, "No one ever called/a hippo sweet." The poem shows the warning of just how very fast those un-sweet beasts can run!    

           When he writes about aardvarks, the poem ends with "No matter/how you try to hide–/you can't."  A favorite reminds me of a memory I have. This poem shares all the things a seagull eats: "Darting fish,/leaping shrimp, bugs snatched in flight," and ending with "food from stashes/shaded by beach umbrellas." Once, I sat with a friend on the beach but under an overhang, about to take a bit of my sandwich when SWOOP, a seagull came flying through and grabbed it! As the poem says, "few with feathers/find more ways,/ to fill their bill."

            You can find and enjoy poems about jellyfish, narwhals, houseflies, and more, even one animal that does not eat in David's new book of poetry. Giles Laroche fills the double-page spreads with luscious illustrations, where the cover says he creates with as many as eight layers, "drawing, cutting, painting, gluing". Each one takes me into that animal's world!

            Added at the back are three different sections: "Swimming Eaters," "Land-based Eaters," and "Flying Eaters," which offer more information about each animal. There is also a bibliography for further reading. 

            Two companion books by this author/illustrator pair have come out in earlier years, also offering beautifully written and illustrated poems. Their covers are below!

 

         Reading and seeing David's, and this time, Giles', poetry books is always a joy. I'm happy to share this one with you, hoping you find time to get the book and enjoy every page and poem yourself. 

It's Monday! Find These 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! 

Saying Hello to fall!

        I took a pic of some of my favorite fall books, in case you don't know them and want to discover a special one. Each one's a gem! 

         And, I'm saying goodbye to summer! Baseball and weather hot enough to go outside with bare feet are nearly done! 

         

       This is a 2007 publication from the then newly-created Center for Cartoon Studies, a two-year MFA program still in existence that focuses on sequential art. You can read all about them here and see what other work has been published! There is more about it, too, on Wikipedia. 

       Narrating this Negro League baseball story is Emmet Wilson who was a good player, but when facing the great Satchel Paige, he got a hit, and sadly, sliding into home, scoring a run, too, blew out his knee. Career over! It brings back much about both the times and the way Satchel Paige brought so much attention to how good the Negro League was and the way Jim Crow laws kept them challenged, too. Emmet remains a sharecropper and tells his own story, too, showing his white man neighbors and their power over him even as he tries to ignore it all. It's wonderful to see it all in the graphic style, and there is quite a lot of information added at the back for some of the pages, like more about Satchel Paige's long, long career, which spanned six decades! 

         (Did you know there is a Negro League Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri? I visited long ago, grew up in Missouri, so still visit family there. You can find their site here!)

       In her poetic text with Kenard Pak showing us the magical night, Deborah Hopkinson tells readers her story, of a young girl who awakens, unsure how, goes outside to feel the quiet and cool earth beneath her feet. In this cumulative text, she continues to see small movements, her cat stretching on the kitchen table, the neighbor's dog yapping, and a rabbit peeks out from a bush. What she sees as she moves around the yard make a bigger mystery and she wonders each time "Who has woken the cat, the dog, the rabbit, even a cloud? Or, was it you? What is discovered makes a peaceful and sweet ending.

        Discovered at my library is a new book by Travis Jonker and illustrated by Matthew Cordell. From the beginning, I could see this was a magical tale. Where else can one find a mouse who, along with a young boy, who lives with a man in a little cabin by a little lake? That man, I assume is the father, has spent a lot of time building a wonderful model ship, and both the boy and the mouse, named Mabel, wonder if it will float, like a real ship. The opportunity arrives, and that's the rest of this wonderful story, with Cordell's signature black and white lines and a bit of  the color blue, like the cover! It will be a special read-aloud about dreams and finding courage! 

 

Thanks to Candlewick Press for this copy!

         What fun to say hello to Alma, again, this time in her home and with both English and Spanish phrases. She's up and ready for breakfast, has her brother read a picture book before he leaves for school, then Alma starts her own day, outside with her little Pajarito! See him there with Alma on the cover! Juana Martinez-Neal brings another sweet story of Alma's life!

Still Reading! All The Colors of The Dark, by Chris Whitaker. It's very long and I've simply not found enough time to keep going, though I'm enjoying it very much!

Poetry Friday - Poetry Pals Challenge - "Looking"

    It's Poetry Friday, and Irene Latham is hosting HERE on her blog Live Your Poem.  She's sharing about a new anthology coming soon, a poignant poem about a youthful mistake, and a lovely Artspeak poem, also about youth! Thanks for hosting, Irene!

       Tanita Davis shared this last month: Here is the #PoetryPals challenge for next week, the last of September!

             Poetry Peeps! You’re invited to our challenge for the month of September! Here’s the scoop: We’re wandering through Wallace Stevens’ “13 Different Ways of Looking…” at something. Maybe it’s not 13 ways – maybe it’s only seven. Maybe it’s not a blackbird or anything alive, but something inanimate. Whatever happens, your way of looking will be different than mine, and I’m here for it. Are you in? Good! You have a month to craft your creation and share it on September 27th in a post and/or on social media with the tag #PoetryPals.

             Be sure you find all the #PoetryPals to see what they have seen!   Tanita, Laura,  Mary Lee,  Liz, Sara, Tricia, and Kelly.  Thanks for the prompt!

13 Ways of Looking at Leaves

 

1)   The tiniest hint of green, now seen–

That’s my view of leaves in spring.

 

2)   Sunlight meals leads to unfurling;

trees, with moisture, bring more curling.

 

3)   Each one chooses shapes they need

to bring in sunlight for a leafy feed.

 

4)   Soon, leaves shade for kids in play,

and blankets spread for picnic days.

 

5)   While looking long, green pigment fades.

Leaves start their shift to fall parades.

 

6)   A blast of color signals change;

sleepy leaves must rearrange!

 

7)   Conserving water in colder climes,

so trees release the leaves on time.

 

8)   They swirl and twirl when breezes sigh,

a performance finale of goodbyes.

 

9)   Now they lie at feet below,

bringing the autumn crunch I know.

 

10) Goodbyes from trees already said;

time for raking into flower beds!

 

11) While elders meet their mulching fate,

winter comes; new buds await.

  

12) When springtime bursts, I spy leafy newborns.

The cycle’s recharged, no longer forlorn.

 

13) Again they unfurl, like children grow.

Hungry leaves munch sunshine. Hello! Hello!

 

 Linda Baie ©