It's Poetry Friday - Keeping June

 

  Poetry Friday is with Michelle Kogan, who's hosting HERE. Be sure to visit to read her loving poem to her dad and listen to some fabulous music!

         I've been blessed to have many fathers in my life, from grandfathers to a father who died too young in World War II, then a step-father who filled big shoes with love! My dear husband was the sweetest dad, and today, my brother, nephews, my son, and my son-in-law are those I know are loving fathers. Happy Father's Day -- for special memories and for making more!

a haibun

       According to Merriam-Webster, a few synonyms of "keeping" are "custodianship", "guardianship", and "safekeeping".  I then ponder "keeping house", "taking good care", all I imagine and smile about when I think of "keeping June". This year, despite the drought we fight in Colorado, watering the garden and sunny days have brought gorgeous blooms everywhere. I suspect July will bring even hotter days, and flowers will tire, hence my wish for a slightly different definition of "keeping". I don't want to say goodbye! 

June premieres

a garden theater–

evening primrose

 

Linda Baie © 

Poetry Friday - Overheard In My Garden

 

  Poetry Friday is with Buffy Silverman, whose blog is HERE. Be sure to visit to read her delightful poem about the beautiful but tricky lady slippers! 

           It's been a very late spring this year for us in Denver. I have peony memories of cutting bunches to take to the cemetery for Memorial Day. A week has passed, and finally, there is one bloom! My imagination flies!

     Peony Whispers

 

“Hang in there,” shouted the roots.

“We’re closer,” sighed the leaves.

“It’s only a sprinkle of snow,” shivered the stems.

“The sun will come out tomorrow,” sang them all.

“Wait a bit longer,” cautioned the bud.

“I’m preparing to open.”

“The rain helped us,” said the roots,

almost there.”

“It’s time,” trilled the stems.

“We’re ready,” called the buds.

“At last!” answered the bloom.

"Welcome!" shouted the columbines.

“Thank you,” whispered the gardener. 

 

Linda Baie ©

 

It's Monday - More Terrific Books to Love

 

        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! 

 

       For Poetry Friday, I shared a wonderful and poetic picture book by Liz Garton Scanlon, Would You Come Too? Find it here!

      I enjoyed the first book about this Peach family, those ups and downs from losing their mother to the challenge of running a food truck. Now they are back facing a new challenge, renovating Aunt Lucinda's old mansion for their home and for starting a bed and breakfast! Whew! I like that Erin Soderberg Downing digs deep again into the family's personalities. Knowing each one's strengths and challenges means readers might find themselves or at least see that no matter the quirks, everyone can contribute to goals. Many adults believe that children are not capable of doing much and this book plus the first one show even the young ones mastering new things, creating new ideas, and adding to the family's goals with heart and expertise. Sometimes they work together for everyone's good. This time there are a few secrets kept, but it all works, just "peachy"! You will love the surprises in this old house, too. I liked "The Peach Pit" very much.

       Folktales make a new world when reading aloud, talking about the truth inside along with the wisdom and the humor. This one from West Africa does all of that as young boy Anansi learns more about his namesake who happens to be a trickster. How does that Golden Pot make the magic? Selasi adds more about the story and translates some of the delectable dishes that filled that pot. Tinuke Fabborun's illustrations create the colorful world of Anansi, both at home and while he visits his Nana at the beach. What a fun book this is!

       On their way to a violin recital, a young girl, visually impaired, shows "her" city of so many sounds: "hasty honks, impatient beeps, distant chimes" and more. Full-page collaged illustrations by Ashley Barron show how full a city can be while the girl and her father walk together. It can be an inspiration for children to listen to sounds at home, on their own way around their neighborhoods, or at their schools. It's lovely. 

       Once again a story is told about a little-known woman scientist, Anna Atkins. She was an English botanist and photographer, often considered the first person to publish a book illustrated with photographic images. Fiona Robinson starts the book by showing Anna's father teaching her from a very young age to identify plants and insects and to draw what she finds! He also begins teaching her their Latin names. Anna's life spanned from 1799 to 1871. During that time, girls were not usually educated but Anna's father was determined that she become as educated as possible. They work together gathering specimens and gathering information about them for years. Later in her life, she and her father hear of a new invention, photography, and she receives her first camera from him. She is believed to be the first woman to take a photograph.
       You may not realize the reason for Robinson's alluring, blue illustrations until she explains the later discovery and Anna's use of cyanotypes, an extraordinary invention that helps her begin to create a book of her seaweed collection of thousands. Anna's sex kept her from being included in The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge but her father passed on as many papers and information he could to her. Later, Anna was given membership in the Royal Botanic Society, one of the few institutions to admit women.
Anna did publish beautiful books with that cyanotype invention, and there is an additional author's note that tells more about her published works. The blue illustrations beautifully bring readers into this spectacular story. 

Poetry Friday - Nature's Nurture

 

  Poetry Friday is with Karen Edmisten, whose blog HERE, is named after her but with the sub-title, "The Blog With the Shockingly Clever Title" always makes me smile! Thanks, Karen, smiles are always welcome!   

     Another long week, just as I wrote two weeks ago. Sometimes we need a break from the news, where we see every day something to take in, wondering how to help, how to press for better. I do want to find answers for helping but taking time to enjoy beauty outside and books inside gives me the energy to find those answers. 

         One recent book I adore is Would You Come Too? by Poetry Friday pal, Liz Garton Scanlon. Although the book appears to invite children out to play in nature, the wonder of it is that she's showing how they would "be" IF they were the animals they will meet.  Of course, those animals come, too! In the briefest of poetic lines, Liz shows us how with the help of colorful joy in Diana Sudyka's illustrations.

 

    One double-page spread shows a tree with birds in flight, and children planting:

               If we were birds, we'd eat berries

               and scatter the seed sweet and bright

And the next double-page:

               If we were seeds, we'd be hopeful,

               reaching for water and light."

          I love the idea of children running with abandon out in a wood, have my own special memories of our family's cabin in the woods as my children grew up. I've had the pleasure of seeing my middle-grade students playing hide 'n seek in snowy woods, shouting with laughter as they dive into snowdrifts to hide. Experiences outside stay with us, don't they?

A favorite page might become your favorite, too, when you see it, those magical shadows of children "boundless and wild and free".

Thanks to Liz, readers can have a getaway from her book!

It's Monday - Know 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! 

       Sodsai Mudawan has worked her way onto a ship sailing toward the unknown—as long as no one discovers the truth about her past.
       She isn't who she pretends, being from the Fens, the poor and discounted, but changes her demeanor in order to grab work with the Mangkon Royal Navy's Master Mapmaker, Paiyoon. She's twelve and will have to do something else at thirteen when she won't receive a lineal, the gold bracelet that shows her ancestors, which will show her for what she really is. The early, then later underlying story of her hard life with her father, not only shows how tough she has learned to be, but how very smart she is. The further adventure on the sea brings more examples of this young girl, ferocious and kind, smart enough to survive yet also enough to admit her failings. I loved the story and that Christina Soontornvat manages an underlying theme of the sadness of colonization, too.        Thanks to Candlewick Press for this copy! 

Tanya Landman tells her own creation story of the world of sky and earth, beautifully colored, yet the animals have remained dull and drab. It's time, the painter thinks, to bring color to those animals, too. Flamingos gain their pink, ladybugs receive some red with a few black dots, the rascally mandrill accidentally sits on the paintbox, and penguins receive their suits. Laura Carlin's inspiration comes from Landman's words and the animals add their unique colors to the world, all except one, the nightingale. Finding one dot of gold helps as you will learn after reading this very special story of our world and that dear nightingale.
     Thanks to Candlewick Press for this copy!