I wrote last week about writing for Mary Lee Hahn's #haikuforhealing challenge and today, am inviting anyone to join us if you can. My son and family arrive late Friday night and winter came to us in Colorado with a clichéd vengeance, dropping from 66 degrees Wednesday to snow and 22 on the Solstice. Aside from enjoying writing haiku, I've had time to read poetry, too, and discovered this book out this past September. I just shared two other books that are bilingual and trilingual this past Wednesday. Now here is another that will reach many others because it is written in both Spanish and English.
Sadly, not too long after this book was almost finished, the poet Francisco X. Alarcón died. He was a renowned poet and educator and a three-time winner of a Pura Belpré Author Award Honor for his bilingual Cycle of the Seasons series of poetry for children, among other honors. It is lovely to have this beautiful book of his poems that celebrate the days of the week.
I see this as a mentor text to inspire students to write their own poems about the days of the week. It's fun to imagine what they might write!
In an author's note written before his death, Alarcón says these poems reflect "the multicultural life experiences of many Latino children in the United States today." Other reviews tell that much of his writing is based on his own life, too. He also gives a brief history of the names of the days of the week and how we ended today with our Sunday through Saturday.