It's Monday! Ready for Winter Reading!

          

    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!

     I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving, if you celebrated. And, if you're in that eastern over-the-top snow fall, hope you've managed to stay safe! Pictures of the amounts are hard to believe! Have a nice week ahead! 

Thanks to Candlewick Press
for my copy!

       Cousins Owen, 12, with Vivian, almost 12, and little sister, Amy, 8, are on a camping trip with parents and finally have talked them into camping further on the trail and by a lake, alone, for a night and a day! They're certainly excited and have experience, are ready! But in that night, an earthquake happened, pushing huge rocks into the lake, awakening them up wet, and destroying the trail back to their parents. What to do, what they did, and how they managed is an adventure of accomplishment for these young kids. Anne Nesbet shows the characters face fears, not because they want to, but because they must, to help themselves make it, and to help each other! It's a treasure of a story to watch them travel "The Long Way Around"! 

   from Goodreads: "A celebratory and empowering story from young trans activist Gavin Grimm, two-time Stonewall Award-winning and Newbery Honor-winning author Kyle Lukoff, and illustrator J Yang follows the true story of how a young boy stood up for himself--and made history along the way."

             When a kid, named Gavin this time, grows up and realizes he has a choice to make, he does, first told to his mother, and supported. Gavin, as written above, with trans author, Kyle Lukoff and trans illustrator, J Yang, shows readers all about the choices for trans people, those supporting and what's supported, and by whom. This time, it's a focus on his school. It's the journey that led Gavin to choose to stand for what he thought was his right, to use the bathroom as himself! He has continued his fight, working for everyone's choices, and working with the ACLU.
Notes from Gavin and Kyle are at the back! I wish this book could be accessible to all kids. It's new to me, but out in 2022. I'm so glad to have found it!

       I've had the pleasure of working with David L. Harrison at the Highlights Foundation and admire his poetic abilities very much. He writes a blog post every day and has published many, many picture books of poetry in his life, plus numerous books about teaching poetry in the classroom. Each of his books for children will enhance studies about poetry and often are science-based, like double learning for the writers! He is currently the Poet Laureate of Missouri. 

       This time, having collaborated on two other books, David and Kate Cosgrove celebrate trees, from their beginnings to that time of taking a break in winter, then back starting again, a tree's all around the year with David's poetic voice and Kate's charming illustrations. A few favorite moments are these: "the rain/SHOUTS,/"Wake up,/you lazy roots!" And they do, welcoming the water and the "Leaves UNFOLD/like a/new dress." Pages of springtime fill with green welcoming ants and bees, beetles and butterflies. I think you can imagine the rest of the journey, except it's much better to read, perhaps "hear" David's words and see Kate's art! For those who want to start a study with young readers, perhaps in autumn to view the end, then the start in the spring, this book will be terrific for studying again and again! 

        At the back, David tells of a hackberry tree in his yard, "his" tree, that he watches day by day, all the year. Perhaps a class or a parent and child would like to find their own tree. Maybe it's already there, waiting for a friend? It's a beautiful book! 

     It's fun to discover an older book published by McSweeney's. George Sanders tells of hree neighbors, whose small houses are by the sea and whose children are tasked constantly to brush the Gappers (something like larger cockleburs) from their goats. Otherwise, the goats would stop giving milk, thus no milk or cheese to sell, and no money after selling. It may seem like a ridiculous tale, yet the lessons come home when the main character, a young girl named Capable, tries so hard when ALL the Gappers move to her goats. She cannot keep up, finally begging the neighbors for help. How that goes, and then the later action will bring readers to discuss and wonder at the attitude of not helping because it's not one's problem. Lane Smith's thoughtful illustrations bring the story's emotions to the page wonderfully!
This is Saunders' first children's book!

Nearly Finished: The National Award Winner, Kareem Between, by Shifa Saltagi Safadi, so good! Then, next, a book by a former student's parent, a sci-fi titled Predestined, by Rachel Byrne. 

Poetry Friday - Poetry Pals Gather Us

   

       It's Poetry Friday, and Tanita S. Davis is hosting HERE at {fiction! instead of Lies}! It's time for a Poetry Sisters challenge, 

       Here's is the challenge I copied last month from Laura Purdie Salas: 

            If you’d like to write with us in November, here’s our mission: Pluck a line or a theme from Jane Hirshfield’s “Two Versions,” and let that inspire your poem. I don’t find an online version easily available, so I’ll give you the first two lines:

“In the first version I slept by a stream.
All night awake things traveled near.”

Be sure to share your poem on Friday, November 29th, and use #poetrypals if you share it on social.

Stream at Longcarne Farm -
geograph.org.uk - 3958015.jpg

      I wrote about my husband last time, too. November and December bring more memories of him. This year's end bring his birthday, other family celebrations, and the holidays, so full of the traditions and special times we created together. Here is the poem, dear Poetry sisters, from the prompt you gave us.

More of November

 

“In the first version, I slept by a stream.

I dreamed.
And there you were, cuddled close,

Warming me, keeping us safe 

From the world’s dangers.

Then, the second version took over.

My back chilled.

You were swept away, they said

Into a journey all alone, no goodbyes

That time, but this I know: 

Someday, I’ll find the right stream,

and we’ll lie down together, 

Like that first version!

            Linda Baie ©

Monday Reading Recap - Love 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!

     For those of you celebrating, I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving! We have some snow coming to Denver, but a lot in the mountains, moving in from that big California storm! If you're traveling, hope all goes well for you! 

              Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin's collaboration for this new book about the time in Bletchley Park gives a new personal perspective of this quite secret place formed to combat Hitler's march to capture Europe! I write "personal" because they have introduced imagined characters, a brother, Jakob, and sister, Lizzie, and new friends who happen to already live in that area or who work there. There's also a host of essential characters in charge whom we have known from history, like Alan Turing and Dilly Knox. Jakob, a whiz at math, is already working in secret to break the codes. Lizzie, 14, is on her way to escape to America, ordered there by a wealthy grandmother. She manages a swift escape in order to stay, much to the outrage of her grandmother. 

            This family has an American mother, Willa, working at the American embassy, who's last known to be in Poland, but many believe she's been killed. Others suspect she has betrayed the British and become the enemy. Lizzie keeps faithfully denying, ever pursuing the truth. In alternating chapters, the events of Jakob's and Lizzie's lives are told as month by month, the Germans get closer, and stories of some unravel, both sad and wonderful to discover. Occasionally, there are photos included of the Enigma machines, newspaper headlines, war pictures. It's a book of a time kept secret, some finally allowed to share decades later, and some who never told. Let Sepetys and Sheinkin take you time-traveling eighty-five years to Great Britain preparing for war. You'll be fascinated by their story! 

        For everyone who has adored the intriguing humor of the books by Edward Gorey, here is a picture book highlighting this man who entertained readers and playgoers throughout his life. Matthew Burgess shares, at the book's beginning (of Gorey's early years), when toddler Gorey saw a train and created his first art, "a sausage train," which his mother kept. Readers learn of Gorey teaching himself to read at three and a half, eventually reading Dracula before he was six! Later in life, he designed the sets for the Broadway play Dracula! He led a singular life, eventually retiring to an old home on Cape Cod. It's a fascinating book about him, brought to us in dynamic, intriguing illustrations by Marc Majewski! 

    When I looked, this evidently was created from a Webcomic, and its spooky tale from Blackwater, Maine, full of high school teen troubles, kept me wondering, "Oh no! What horrors could be next?" Two boys keep it all going, along with a goth girl, a ghost fisherman, and creepy changes page by page shown so wonderfully. I wasn't sure if they were real or a sad reflection of teenage emotions crying out for a lot of help. It's an all-inclusive tale that feels very real, pulls at one's heart for these young ones who need a lot of understanding and help. 

          With the dryest of humor and the most intriguing and inventive illustrations, Alex London and Paul O. Zelensky have created a book for quiet viewing while smiling a lot and then laughing out loud! Most of us readers know what a still life is, however, discovering also what it is not, what it does not do, lies in the hilarity of their new book. Remember, when a candle is placed into a still life, "The candle does not flicker, glow, or drip." There is more, and I would love to read this aloud! Be sure to find this book!

Currently Reading:  I did finish Anne Nesbet's The Long Way Around and it is very good, but no time to write a review! I'm not sure what's next. 

Monday Reading - New and Old!

         

    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!

Thanks to Candlewick Press
for my copy!

         A return to Norendy, where the Puppets of Spelhorst lived, and a new setting at the Hotel Bazaar where young Marta lives with her mother who works as a maid there. Each morning when her mother goes to work, Marta is left to her own days, counting up and down the stairs, watching a cat chasing a mouse (on a clock) and wondering about a painting with one wing in the ocean. However, all is not at all lost when a mysterious countess arrives, with a parrot. With magical stories and the loveliest of light, the tales move, from one to seven, helping Marta begin to have hope that her longlost father could, at last, be returning. Line art by Júlia Sardà enhances the imagination as each story is told; readers will want so much to hurry, to find out "What's Next!" I can imagine reading this, part by part, every day to a young class. It will become a favorite read aloud!

           I so enjoyed this book by Jilanne Hoffmann, the beauty of its presentation, the scientific information given in the picture book story, and more extensively explained in the back matter. The flap summarizes that the dust of the Sahel–a ribbon of land between the Sahara and the savanna– lifts with the harmattan wind each winter season. The dust from both mixes and travels thousands of miles westward, across the African continent and the Atlantic Ocean, to reunite with its unforgotten home deep in the Amazon basin. This is all new to me, and the story illustrated so beautifully by Eugenia Mello carried me along just like the dust is carried, landing at home! Told by the dust itself, readers will be mesmerized by the journey and, fortunately, will get to know more from the back matter, including NASA's observations, continental history, and an Author's Note. There, Hoffman relates that at publication, new research changes some of the earlier findings. It's terrific!

        It's a simple but arresting counting book by Tanya Tagaq, a Canadian Inuk, imagining a grand parade of polar bears, shown in both English and Inuktitut. The first is joined by another, and as they gather, they're sniffing, hunting, playing, dancing, and more. It will be much fun to read aloud, both enjoying the text and the art by Lee Pootoogook, a carver and printmaker. The ending offers a wonderful laugh.

      Buffy Silverman's books are a must when studying nature, along with using them as inspiration for writing. After a trip outdoors, readers can write prose or poetry and perhaps this book, or others from Buffy, can inspire some nature sketching, too!  This time, she offers poems to accompany some observed thrilling evening sounds while connecting the songs to musical instruments! For example, the second verse of one poem ends with "Oo-week, oo-week! Wood duck calls,/She flaps away/as darkness calls." The call is connected to an oboe. 

        The photos, credit given to numerous people, are marvelous to see, and may offer their own inspiration after reading and viewing! 

      There are two sections in the back matter filled with great information: "Meet the Musicians" and "Meet the Instruments".  Don't miss this book when studying the out-of-doors or just enjoying a taste of Buffy's "Starlight Symphony"!

        This is a re-read, but I wanted to share again to offer a new look at how all of us can help Stillwater and Koo "Save The World." My review on Goodreads is here! 

         Mo Yan is the first citizen of China to win the Novel Prize in Literature, which he won in 2012 for Red Sorghum. This picture book comes from his novella of the same name, a poignant story of the time this seven-year-old boy rises early to go with his grandfather, Yeye, to gather grass for drying and animal feed. It's quite a journey, showing such courage and resilience, eventually in a massive windstorm, the "GALE".  As you see from the cover, Zhu Chengliang's illustrations bring the story to life so that readers feel they are also right there with this pair. An excerpt from the novella at the end adds a bit more of their life story. It's a special book! 

Now reading: Sepetys' and Sheinken's The Bletchley Riddle! 

Poetry Friday - In the Night

  

       It's Poetry Friday, and Karen Edmisten is hosting HERE at The Blog With The Shockingly Clever Title! You'll need to visit so you can see just what she's named it! Thanks for hosting, Karen! 

       We all have those special dates that we remember when they come. It's most often a loved one's birthday, and often they have passed on, but I also note the birthdays of extended family, ones I don't see very much anymore.  

         This coming Wednesday, November 20th, is my husband's birthday. He hasn't been with us for eleven years, but I'm sure you know that I will always remember and keep him close especially on his day! This week, Poem a Day shared a poem that touched me deeply. It is new to me and I want to share it, for all of you, and for Arvie, "my love", a Happy Birthday! 

At the head of the table, probably a holiday
long ago! 

At The Mid Hour of Night 

        by Thomas Moore

1779 – 1852

 

At the mid hour of night, when stars are weeping, I fly 
To the lone vale we loved, when life shone warm in thine eye;
And I think oft, if spirits can steal from the regions of air, 
To revisit past scenes of delight, thou wilt come to me there,
And tell me our love is remembered, even in the sky. 

Then I sing the wild song ’twas once such pleasure to hear! 
When our voices commingling breathed, like one, on the ear;
And, as Echo far off through the vale my sad orison rolls, 
I think, oh my love! ’tis thy voice from the Kingdom of Souls,
Faintly answering still the notes that once were so dear.

This poem is in the public domain. Published in Poem-a-Day on November 9, 2024, by the Academy of American Poets.

 You can access the entry here which includes the audio, too.