Poetry Friday - Legacy

           Michelle at Today’s Little Ditty has the Poetry Friday Roundup today, a gathering of words that feel good to the soul. Thank you, Michelle!

             I'm been thinking much about women recently, those close in my family and those I know only through well-known, sometimes famous, deeds. And I've been watching campaigns by women all over the U.S. I am proud of all the women who ran in this election and prouder still that so many will be traveling to Washington. It's often a surprise what poetry finds me. I do write every day, not always a poem, but some lines that intrigue me I want to capture. This time, with so many posting #Vote pictures and art on social media with quite a few of them using the suffragettes as inspiration, I've written about mothers and daughters, what links between, what is passed on from one to the other, implicit hopes from elder to youth. Perhaps it's also about our links from woman to woman? It's a sestina, a form I like writing though don't do often.

Sestina Memoir

From the mantle shelf, the book

was brought with a smile by the mother.

She turned then toward her daughter,

inviting her to sit by the fire

and listen to poems of the seasons,

at this time of cold, snow, ice—of winter.

Soon, the words reminded of a long-ago winter

when others sat and marveled over a book,

this book, the only one 'twas valued, about the seasons.

It told of long years' wisdom, that mothers

passed on to their daughters.  The fire

blazed, illuminating the face of the daughter.

Non-Fiction Picture Books Scream

art by Sarah S. Brannen

Visit Alyson Beecher on Wednesdays for Non-Fiction Picture Books at Kidlit Frenzy.  From her post and others, you will discover and want to celebrate terrific nonfiction picture books! 

            That name "Assad" continues to be in the news, continues not to have anyone confront him, continues to be supported by Russia. Protests happened years ago and those protesting lost to tanks and bombs and soldiers, and they have continued to have to escape for their safety. This book by Don Brown, like his "Drowned City" about Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans, is a heartbreaking one, told in frightened pictures, over and over again. Starting in 2011, refugees flood out of war-torn Syria. The surprising numbers of fleeing victims have overwhelmed neighboring countries, and chaos has followed. Resentment in host nations heightens as disruption and the cost of aid grows. By 2017, many want to turn their backs on the victims. The refugees are "the unwanted". I recently read a news article telling of the resentment felt by East Germans from the pressure of over one million refugees arriving in their country. Evidently, those in the East still feel their lives are not as good as those in West Germany.

       A long time ago, an older couple became friends with my parents. They were lovely people and I loved visiting them, ate my first pita bread in their home. I'm sure they have passed on now, but also remember them visiting family in Syria in those years. I know they would be horrified at what has happened to their country. Don Brown shows moments of both horror and hope in this continuing  Syrian refugee crisis. Shining a light on the stories of the survivors, The Unwanted is a testament to the courage and resilience of the refugees and a call to action for all those who read.

      Brown has visited refugee camps in Greece and offers short pieces in the backmatter about each one. In addition to his postscript, there are few good things to share. He says there are 5.7 million registered Syrian refugees. In the first three months of this year, 2018, the United States has accepted eleven for resettlement. There are also source notes and a bibliography. The heartbreaking final page is a poem titled "Hope Behind The Shadow of Pain!", showing a young child drawing the word "Hope" on a refugee tent.

       For anyone who wants to read and feel the refugee plight, this book is one to read and share, with friends, with students.

It's Monday - Books I Loved

          Visit Kellee and Ricki at UnleashingReaders and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts to see what they've been reading, along with everyone else who link up.  

           Thanks to Candlewick Press for these first three books, recently published.


         I enjoyed Steve Light's Black Bird, Yellow Sun, and now here is another "flight of fancy" where two children run off to find their dad who's forgotten his lunch box. He works at a construction site, thus the reader meets the "Builders & Breakers", those two introduced at the beginning along with other parts as the story progresses into detailed and varied scenes from a construction site. Those two kids are there, searching, searching, and until the end, no luck. However, on the search, there are many things to see and some astound, especially in two vertical double-page spreads. The second one is when "Diggers dig down, down, down." showing how that excavation works with the help of workers and cranes, even showing hidden dinosaur bones. Many details invite slow poring over the pages.  There is an interesting letter from the author at the back explaining the need for both a builder and a breaker to achieve balance in construction. Endpapers are filled with examples of architectural drawings.

        For the youngest ones, but not a board book, and from Australia, out this past month from Candlewick in the US. Can you tell an animal by only seeing its behind? This is the game, a clever one with clear word clues paired with that so interesting tail! It even begins with the endpaper before the title page, a beautiful peacock's tail. John Carty's art is new to me, but his fifteen watercolored animals are realistic and gorgeous. The copyright page shares that the art is adapted from nineteenth-century artwork. I'm sure that it will be a popular guessing time for young readers and they may learn some new names in case they don't know them all.

an extraordinary gift for kids

         An idea from Jules Verne's Around The World In Eighty Days, there Phineas Foff makes his marvelous bet: that he can travel the circumference of the world in no more than eighty days. Perhaps you've read the book or perhaps you've seen the movie of years ago, but this time, kids can visit each double-page spread and take the challenge there. Most pages include hundreds of modes of travel, like hot air balloons, bicycles, and sailing ships. A few pages visit iconic places in the world, like the Eiffel Tower. On the pages, readers are asked to spot a certain thing or things. For example, on a page with buildings that show outside staircases, you're asked to choose the one building with staircases all the way to the roof. Aleksandra Artymowska fills each page with colorful intricate designs. There is one added challenge at the very back where answers are found. It's a terrific book that will bring lots of fun when taking on the challenges. 

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Poetry Friday - Looking Out Into The World

         Poetry Friday is at Jama's Alphabet Soup today. Thanks for your inspirational post, Jama! We will not stop fighting to do what is right for our country, for the world.

         My grandfather used to quote this to me, telling me that we all are part of the world and we need to work for others, not only ourselves. 

'No Man is an Island'

No man is an island entire of itself; every man (and woman)
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; 
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe 
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as 
well as any manner of thy friends or of thine 
own were; any man's (and womans') death diminishes me, 
because I am involved in (human)kind. 
And therefore never send to know for whom 
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee. 

MEDITATION XVII
Devotions upon Emergent Occasions
John Donne 

       
        It is November, election month, is a great time to share this new rhyming picture book by Dave Eggers. When I read it, I remembered the John Donne words above, and celebrate that this book shares that same message for younger children, really for us all.

         If you study social justice in the classroom, if you want to share and inspire your own children, or grandchildren, to be good citizens, this will be a terrific book to read together. I hope it will inspire you readers, too. Lists can be made to see where in the community one can help. From small deeds to large ones, all of us need to find some way to help our neighbors, our neighborhoods, our towns and cities. 
        In rhyme with delightful cut-paper illustrations by Shawn Harris, Eggers shares a simple and straightforward message : 

From a beginning looking out. . .

"A citizen's not what you are--

a citizen is what you do.

A citizen cannot forget

the world is more than you."

To going out and joining in, wherever one sees a need.

          Enjoy the book when you can, go out into your special world and find actions that will make it better.

Non-Fiction - Being Citizens

art by Sarah S. Brannen

Visit Alyson Beecher on Wednesdays for Non-Fiction Picture Books at Kidlit Frenzy.  From her post and others, you will discover and want to celebrate terrific nonfiction picture books! 










          It is a bit late to be sharing these two books, but I wanted to be sure that people knew of them for this week before the election and for the future.

       This book is twenty years old, donated to my used bookstore. It doesn't surpass all the RBG books out for older students, but if you want a book that thoroughly offers the background history and the way courts, especially the Supreme Court, works in an accessible way for young children, it is a good one. Told in verse with fun examples like the case considered that all mice must eat a different cheese every day, against freedom of choice! There is an extra historical note at the back for parents and teachers with more detailed information. 

       My students had the good fortune to sit in on a session with our state supreme court, examining a case, then making our own decision later, and returning to hear the court's final decision. If you have older students and are able to do this, it is a marvelous experience.

          This book is a beautiful one for election prep. Each double-page spread answers one question like "How do we know who to choose in an election?" where it explains the two-party system, how the Republicans and Democrats got their mascots, and the importance of asking lots of questions before choosing. 

         There is diversity included in the illustrations and extra boxes of information along the way. Colorful art that seems to have red, white and blue dominating the pictures. They are cartoon-like exaggerations sometimes, quite entertaining as they accompany the explanations. It flows well, tells just enough to inform about each topic.

A favorite part of a page!

       The back matter includes a timeline and sources for additional reading.

Happy Halloween!