Poetry Friday - Goodbyes

          This first Friday of September, Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong hosts this Poetry Friday at their blog, Poetry for Children. Thanks, Sylvia and Janet! I have also been watching the hurricane news, wishing a good outcome for all those in this community. It is heart-breaking to see the news of those in the Bahamas. 

          This past Wednesday it was six years since my husband, Arvie, left us. I still want to tell him things, ask him questions, be with him. My life is as good as I can make it, but I've never stopped missing him. I, with Arvie, have raised children of which I am so proud, who have chosen loving spouses whom I love being part of our family. And many of you know because of them, I have three special grandchildren. 
         Time is fleeting. We all know that. Thoreau touches me with this quote: "“Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in. I drink at it; but while I drink I see the sandy bottom and detect how shallow it is. Its thin current slides away, but eternity remains.” ~ “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For,” Walden 
          Here's a poem I originally wrote for Carter, my oldest grandchild, now in his first year at college. I've changed it a bit to include the grand-girls, too, now ten and eight. I've written more than one poem about them, call them "goodbye" poems, trying to capture them at certain ages before that time flies away!
         When I am with them all, I wish Arvie could see the children growing up, and have fun with them as I know he would have if he were still here. He was a wonderful husband, father, and grandfather.

at the beach - June 2019

         Sometimes Goodbyes

Oops, it’s time. I must depart

     from these kids who stole my heart.

     Now, they’re looking very tall;

     some never play with toys at all.

     I remember they used to be

     the ones who sat and read with me,

     and held my hand as we walked along

     and listened while I sang them songs.

     I also know though nearly grown,

      they’re still the little kids I’ve known.

Linda Baie ©

It's Monday - Great Books to Share

Visit Kellee and Ricki at UnleashingReaders and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts to see what they've been reading, along with others who post their favorites. Hope everyone is enjoying the long weekend!

       I was lucky to get this book just out in August here in the US, will be sure to purchase it for my ten-year-old granddaughter. Onjali Q. Rauf manages to give her storyteller a true voice of an "almost" ten-year-old, sharing her life outside and inside school. She has friends and those she does not like, especially the bullies (teachers included). She takes care of herself but keeps her questions ready to ask her librarian mother, one she counts on to not say, "Wait 'till you're older." The questions keep coming when a new boy arrives and sits in the chair "at the back of the class". With her friends, she decides that having one more to the group would be great, thus begins the journey to learn about Ahmet who turns out to become a Syrian refugee, who plays soccer really well, but whose parents are missing. That journey turns into a quest where adventures await to help them re-unite, a quest that turns into something the kids never thought would happen. This girl stays strong to her values, wanting to be a 'best' friend who stays and helps, who believes "It would be too boring if everyone was exactly the same as each other." There are a few sketches sprinkled throughout that add to the story, a wonderful one to be read aloud and discussed in the classroom.
      Special quote: "And whenever we did it together, our whispers made us sound like an ocean."

          The boundless love of a pet holds NO boundaries. As Truman, a tiny tortoise realizes that his dear Sarah has been gone so, so very long, he sets out to find her. A surprise awaits, but it doesn't take away the journey he accomplishes. Jean Reidy's story makes a smile all the way through as I rooted for Truman's success. Lucy Ruth Cummins' illustrations beautifully show the tortoise view of things, more smiles for this sweet and charming story.

             It's a ride (and a book) NOT to be missed, like life, when we all work together, everything works better, shown in this story by Richard T. Morris. I can't imagine not loving this book, and the joyous illustrations by LeUyen Pham. (I thought I had read this one, must have mixed it up with another bear book, but now I'm so happy that I have it!)

Poetry Friday - Reflecting in August

            I've changed my Poetry Friday badge to a picture of a small plant in the alley outside the used bookstore where I volunteer. In the news, the word "survival" serves as fitting for much that is happening. Survival as an asylum seeker, survival as a refugee, survival of the Amazon, survival of essential institutions in the U.S. democracy, and this week, survival of a hurricane! My poem is brief, wishing and hoping for this plant, a tiny survivor, as metaphor for the rest of the world.

         Thanks to Kat Appel from across the water in Queensland for hosting. Today, she's sharing two verse novels that sound quite wonderful and some grand news about a new picture book from her in the making! Congratulations, Kat!

        a skinny

Sometimes in need - 

simple

survival

ignore

vainglory

simple

marking

humble

grit

simple

will I ever learn?

Linda Baie ©

Non-fiction Picture Books Celebrate Important Women

Visit Alyson Beecher on Wednesdays for Non-Fiction Picture Books at Kidlit Frenzy.  Thanks to her hosting and sharing and those who add their posts, you can discover and celebrate terrific nonfiction picture books!  I always learn from these books, am happy that they are more and more available today for children, for everyone!

      I bought this when it was published and still haven't shared it. For every child who slept after being read Goodnight Moon or The Runaway Bunny, or learned from Red Light, Green Light and celebrated with The Summer Noisy Book. And, for me as a teacher who read The Important Thing often to my middle-grade students to help them make personal choices, this is a book of forty-two pages honoring Margaret Wise Brown who lived to be forty-two. You will gather other memories as you read this, hopefully with a child, too. She wrote over 100 books, a myriad of chances for favorite stories. It's strange and quirky and the important thing is that Mac Barnett wrote it and Sarah Jacoby illustrated it. You'll know what I mean when you read it.

       In lovely and poetic language, apt for Maya Angelou, Bethany Hegedus shares an overview of Maya's life, from the time she was sent to her grandmother's home in Stamps, Arkansas with her older brother at the age of three to the publishing of her final memoir a year before her death. Angelou's life was filled with heartbreak and success. I learned a lot from this picture book, did not know that Maya Angelou was a dancer, a performer, later a director. I did not know that she escaped to Ghana when there was a threat to her son during the Civil Rights era, aligning herself with Malcolm X, soon assassinated. She lived in turmoil but was surrounded by love at her grandparent's home and later through those with whom she worked and lived. Although in Stamps, she saw terrible discrimination, she learned to "Rise", to overcome and continue to learn, to write, to dance. The book really is an overview and though reviews say it's for seven to ten, it feels to me that most readers will need background help in some that the book contains. 
       The illustrations fill the pages with words swirling around Maya each step of her life, rising into success and acknowledgment for her talents. There is a detailed timeline given at the end plus further resources.

Monday Reading - Wonderful Shares

Visit Kellee and Ricki at UnleashingReaders and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts to see what they've been reading, along with everyone else who post their favorites. It's been a nice break and I really haven't read much except one adult book. These I read early in the month. As you read, you'll know that I enjoyed them all.

         I enjoyed this second book, though there were lots of repeats in order to bring anyone who hadn't read the first book into the story. The tension continues, the plans continue to help everyone survive, but evil is there, those who are not interested in anything but destroying.

          I read book number three with trepidation, wanting it to be as good as the first two, wanting Eric Walters to wrap up this amazing story in a satisfactory way. He did more than that. I liked number three very much. I became wrapped up in this sixteen-year-old Adam's world, one that he certainly had no wish for, but one where he stood up for good, remained true to his beliefs and fought hard for them, was hurt by them, yet did not waver. I don't know how a teacher could have students read all three, but know that they would bring discussions like no other. What would they do in these situations? How would they react? I taught middle school-aged kids for a long time and often felt helpless knowing they were so capable yet our world today does not often ask real tasks of them. I know they could do more if only given the challenge. It's a terrific trilogy that I enjoyed very much.

          As you see, from "We Need Diverse Books", a new collection that is easy to imagine readers loving, hopefully, teachers reading it aloud so that every single student can learn so many ways that acts of kindness can occur. Each story has its own magic, sometimes fantastical, often realistic, but always satisfying. I am grateful to this organization that is giving us ALL the faces of our students and to the writers who brought life to some of them.

           Thanks to Candlewick Press for the following picture books. 

         First published in the UK, out this month in the US comes a series of trickster tales from Mulla Nasruddin, a 'trickster' beloved by Muslims all over the world. He is wise, a fool, sometimes an iman, a teacher or a judge and when you read stories about him, you will understand why you both laugh and learn. I loved reading these by Sean Taylor aloud to my granddaughters to see how they would react and they loved them. Shirin Adl's collaged illustrations sometimes are set against painted backdrops, and the differing depictions of Nasruddin are creative and varied. They're also filled with details like the double-page spread of the market. 

The stories are brief, just right for beginning a school day with a smile and a brief discussion. What do they mean? Often, Nasrudden caps the tales with answers, yet other times, he allows the reader to do the solving.