It's Monday - and a New Year!

      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! Happy Reading! 

Leigh-Anne Eck and Cheriee Weichel are now hosting the "MustRead" challenge for 2021 that Carrie Gelson started so long ago. If you are interested, go here! See my list above! Or the post yesterday.

Happy New Year! Here we go. . . Best wishes for a super year everyone!

Two Adult Books 

Good Evening, Mrs. Craven- The Wartime Stories of Molly Panter-Downes.

          I discovered this collection when it was donated to the used bookstore where I volunteer. I know I've read stories by Mollie Panter-Downes in the past because she wrote prolifically for The New Yorker, but this intrigued me because I thought it might have some connection to those responding to the Covid-19 Pandemic. This centers on the experiences in World War II Britain. The stories are dated from October 1939 to December 1944, bookended by two of her well-known Letters from London. I've loved every story, showing the emotions, the inner thoughts of people in crisis, sometimes grandiose, often selfish, lives being lived alone or with others. And I wondered how connected they are to today in 2020, now2021 as all of us live in our own strange new world? Find and read at least one of Panter-Downes' stories. You won't be sorry!

           I finally finished The Rose Code, a complicated and very long book about secrets at Bletchley Park (now a WWII Museum), codebreakers during WWII. It centers on three women, unlikely friends, but changes and betrayals both hurt and cemented the friendships. I won it from Goodreads and it is good, but the holidays took quite a lot of time and my reading detoured to some books below and other reading, like the magazines I hardly ever get to! If you enjoy Kate Quinn's historical fiction, this is another good one!

One lovely picture/short chapter book:

           I've loved Gary Schmidt's books in the past and knew this would be a good one, perhaps for lower-middle grades? It's a lovely, short story of a father and son, Samuel, off into a coming (then arriving) snowstorm to find a milk cow for Samuel's mother who wants it for the new baby. It's a story of how people used trading instead of money to see if what they have can turn into what they need. Starting with a bowie knife, Schmidt slowly shows the wise ways of the father and the sweetness of Samuel as during the trading, a few things come their way that he wishes "just a little bit, it wasn't a brown-eyed cow his mother was wanting." Showing some wishes, but selfless giving, Gary Schmidt and his late wife Elizabeth Stickney (her pen name) weave a sweet tale that turns out just right. You'll see! Eugene Yelchin, writer, and illustrator, paints some lovely full-page illustrations within the pages. I enjoyed this very much.

              Earlier in the year, I shared a picture book by this same couple. It's a lovely story, too! Almost Time, illustrated by G. Brian Karas, is all about the struggles to wait for something good. Clearly, Gary and Elizabeth know about young boys! My review on Goodreads is here. 

Picture Books:

        I know it's a Christmas book, yet it's also about people, enemies, reaching out with love on a special night. This is a fictional account from a song written by John McCutcheon, the book's author. Beautiful paintings by Henri Sorensen show the surprise, then wonder, and finally heartfelt feelings on a special night in the trenches of World War I. It connects to me today as I wonder how those in conflict here in the U.S. can find common ground? I am hopeful that we can, that we will.

#MustReadin2021 - Hopeful for Better!

 

          Carrie Gelson at There's a Book for That, started the #MustRead community, and it's been a pleasure and a reminder to check my list to see what I really MUST read before the book, again, slips to the bottom of the ever-growing stack. I am grateful to Leigh Anne Eck at A Day in the Life and Cheriee Weichel at Library Matters who are following Carrie's lead and hosting this year! Thanks so much for doing this, Leigh Anne and Cheriee!

        You can find all the link-ups at Leigh Anne's post - link above

       I didn't finish my list from last year. I've added only one book from it to this year and it is Elizabeth Acevedo's With The Fire on High. And I have chosen to start this year with it. I own all twelve books in this collage below, some I bought, some I won early in the year. I don't know why I've skipped by them, am sure I will love each one! That's the way 2020 seemed to go, aimless scattered reading, sometimes reading three or more books at once, not always finishing them. But it is my goal to read these this year, maybe one a month, maybe more? I already have a second stack of books from the second part of the year that I also want to read, not sharing, but they are there, in my library, waiting! Here we go into a new time, one in which I want to be sure I read more books from diverse authors, one I want to be sure I pick up a book that someone recommends, and one I choose that just seems to fit my life right then. 

         Remember I work at a used bookstore with co-workers and customers also recommending their recent "great reads". My list grows longer there, too, in addition to reading all your posts, and ones on Monday with the #IMWAYR group, on twitter, etc. It's a pleasure that I won't whine about. How could we ever tire of learning about good books?

I love this Anna Quindlen quote: "“I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.”

Happy Reading Everyone!

Poetry Friday - Hello/Goodbye

  

 Ruth hosts our Poetry Friday today at her blog, There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town. Thanks to Ruth, we can all enter the new year in grand celebration, of Naomi Shihab's wise words, "so little is a stone" and Jane Kenyon's bringing of happiness, no matter the drought of it, of Haiti's celebration with pumpkin soup, so much to smile over. 

         My neighborhood is celebrating the new year together through lighting luminaries this year at twilight on Friday. It's a lovely way for us to be together without "being together".

         I wrote a really long poem about this past year, the first of a new decade, one we all were excited to welcome. The year wasn't quite what we expected and my poem turned out rather bleak. Like the year, however, there were things to smile about as well as frown. I cut it down to what I want to remember. What would you put into such a poem?

Quotes I lived by:

"Be yourself; everyone else is already taken." Oscar Wilde

"Let's just muddle through today. That's what I say. We can't take care of tomorrow until it gets here."  Elizabeth George

“For last year’s words belong to last year’s language, and next year’s words await another voice.” T.S. Eliot

The Way We Were

 

January – welcome new decade,

delicious tastes ahead

February - sweet candy hearts

say “sweet love” and (not-to-be) “hug me”

March - blew in with ballast:

news that lied, “over by Easter”

April – Easter echoed: no church, 

no gatherings, no Peeps

May – mighty wifi went viral, 

mortarboards flung on Zoom (sometimes at Zoom)

June – tiny openings, disinfectants reigned,

sunshine brought vitamin D enthusiasts

July – no travel, no beach, continued “Nays”

forest fires - “Yeas”, breaths-challenged tragedies

August – disgusting decisions: schools opened;

no, they didn’t; yes, they did. . .no

September – trees falter, desk orders rise,

#amwalking hashtags and leaf poems burgeon

October – outside beauty, inside birthday

ending with Halloween’s silent doorbells

November – election delight, but waiting, waiting

Thanksgiving smaller, gratitude for wellness bigger

December – No carols sung in Malls, USPS tries,

mask-ful Christmas, 

                         No matter! Bells may now be rung.

                                                   Linda Baie ©

Wishing the Happiest of the New Year to you and yours!

photo credit: Paul-W 2020-12-19 Luminaria in the neighborhood (154) via photopin (license)

Poetry Friday - Christmas Day

 

            Irene Latham hosts our Poetry Friday today at her blog, Live Your Poem HERE with some special advice, "How to Make Merry". Thanks very much, Irene!

         I did celebrate Christmas outside with my son, daughter-in-law, and grandson last Saturday. It was wonderful to see and talk with them, but it was also all too brief. I certainly hope 2021 will be different. Today, I'm off to my daughter's house here in town and will celebrate with her, my son-in-law, and the two granddaughters. We will have fun, certainly, but a sadness lingers, too.

           Wishing everyone a special holiday, today for a Merry Christmas. Hanukkah is over and I hope your celebrations were special. Kwanzaa begins Saturday and ends on January 1st. Whatever your special days, may you find peace and joy!

     This used to be my "kitchen tree', but no 
room there now, so on a living room shelf.
Imogene created a star for its top!

 

      

        I shared this story years ago and want everyone to know it, thus posting again. A few years ago, a friend who always sends poems in her cards sent the poem BC:AD by UA Fanthorpe. At that time, I did not know this poet or the poem, but it made me want to know more. Fanthorpe has an amazing gift of word knowledge, paring down to what must be written, and then no more, what all poets attempt with varied success. I love the different paths she takes by looking at known topics as new ones. 

        You can find three of her poems with two others that Fanthorpe wrote about  

 Christmas here: "The Reindeer Report", "What The Donkey Saw", and "Not the Millennium". In 2002, the poet’s Christmas poems that she wrote and sent to friends for many years were collected into one volume,  Christmas Poems.      

           Several people have set this poem to music, too, easily found by a Google search.  

Happy Holidays everyone!

This is the beginning:

BC:AD 

by UA Fanthorpe:

This was the moment when Before

Turned into After, and the future's

Uninvented timekeepers presented arms.

           This was the moment when nothing 
           Happened. Only dull peace 
           Sprawled boringly over the earth. 

Find the rest here!

A Last Monday of 2020 - Special 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! Happy Reading!

          I read a lot of picture books last week to try to meet my goal on Goodreads and I'm close! Clearly, I have not read as much this year, or I could say I've read a lot, but it's also included many magazines, about politics, short fiction, etc. - not books!

            This will be my last post before the new year. I wish everyone a happy and safe holiday. No matter the way you celebrate, may it be joyful! I am grateful for your support this year and your inspiration that made my book lists grow, but with the happiest of reading.

          First - among many, sharing these older and favorite Christmas books. 

        I just ran out of time to read a chapter book this week, but I'm taking time to choose what's next of a stack of special middle grade and young adult ones that are waiting. That's my Christmas gift to me! Here are some picture books I loved this week.

              I cannot really know what a black child feels about his life, but I can try through reading words like the heartfelt/heart-rending ones in this poem by Zetta Elliott. Opening with these words where hiding is "a space deep down inside of me /where all my feelings hide", we are invited to experience the deep emotions of "joy" when skateboarding, but then comes "sorrow" as another police shooting occurs in his community. The seasons arc over his life as well, from the summer fun, the fall into winter including "fear" and "anger", ending with some resolution in "pride" and "peace". The fabulous debut of illustrator Noa Denmon shows all the power, and beauty, of this child's emotions in his life. On some pages, there are people in the background, showing his "pride" of those, his people, who came before. I recognize a few, but not all, and wish there was a page naming them. I enjoyed the mix of hues, the change of designs that Denmon used, to good effect when weaving the poem's lines on each page. Sometimes there are double-page scenes; other times, there are comic-book cells. It's a book to remember, one to help black children understand the emotions that have taken a toll generation after generation.

      One small mystery, the cat that appears on most pages. From a few scenes, I guess it belongs to this boy, but I don't know. It is something I noticed.

 

         It's a darling cat whose antics are shown in alphabetical rhymes by Cylin Busby, filled with bookstore details by Charles Santoso. I work at a used bookstore, but it is volunteer-run only, thus no one person who comes in every day to take care of a cat. It is tempting anyway to have such a multi-personality cat in the store. Cylin Busby writes he's "Intelligent" and "Quick", "Thirsty", "Gorgeous", yet also "Humble". Aside from the many, many books on shelves, Santosa shows a diverse group of adults and children interacting with the cat along with hilarious antics of this sweet "Bookstore Cat". What a fun book!

           You can see it's a sunset with the rising moon, thus bedtime for one young girl, that one in red you see in that window on the cover. She shares her questions as she wanders. What's above and below? She discovers that her ceiling is someone else's floor, her floor is another one's ceiling. And she says it's okay. Page after page fill up with more detailed views of the building's interior, fascinating details by this author/illustrator Kasya Denisevich every time I turn the page. Also, each page has what appears to be her red stuffy.  While the girl is preparing for bed, we realize that many others are doing their evening things. She's wondering and next morning, meets one of those neighbors, another girl. As they walk off to school, she wonders what her classmates are like. A story that might inspire some other child's wondering about their own neighbors will be great to read to a class.