Praise To The Unsung

Poetry Friday is hosted today by the creative Ed DeCaria at Think Kid, Think!  Every Friday is a pleasure to read each entry.  Come join us at Ed's!

Since our terrible fires last June, I have become so thankful for those who work hard to keep us safe.  Those firefighters worked with less sleep than seems humanly possible, in dangerous conditions, to save homes, the habitats of both humans and animals.  This past week, and just two days ago, storms, rain, and then snow hit the eastern side of our country, and millions lost power, while others lost even more.  

Mary Oliver Keeps Me Living

                Slices of Life happen often.  To find out about these slices, you only need to visit Ruth and Stacey at their blog Two Writing Teachers to read what others have shared.  

              So, I hope you do not think it blasphemy that I change a few words from A Summer Day by Mary Oliver and ask "Tell me, what is it you planned to do with your one wild and precious hour, last Sunday?"  

Did you

           See the day yawning before you, and 

Snuggle under the covers a bit longer, or arise earlier and watch the beautiful sunrise?

Take the time to call a friend you haven't talked with for a long while?

Read an extra book or two with your children?

A Good Week of Completing Books!

         Jen and Kellee host this kidlit meme at TEACH.MENTOR.TEXTS.  Join us to see what we're all reading.

          It's Monday! What are you Reading? is another meme hosted by Sheila at BOOK JOURNEYS that offers reviews of all kinds of books.  

        If you’re on Twitter, use the hashtag #IMWAYR when sharing your link!

Books are lighthouses erected in the great sea of time. 

                                                                   ~E.P. Whipple

            BE SURE TO VOTE IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY!

The Sixty-Eight Rooms – by Marianne Malone

This is an interesting middle-grade novel with an adventure in the Thorne rooms at the Chicago Art Institute.  I think everyone, adults too, likes to imagine what it might be like to shrink and travel into different places, including the real Thorne rooms, created in the 1930’s by a Mrs. James Ward Thorne, include rooms from numerous historical periods. Ruthie and Jack, sixth grade friends discover magic as they investigate the rooms, and end up creating some magic of their own in their own lives and lives of family friends.  I listened to this and thoroughly enjoyed the story that touched briefly on the French Revolution and the Witch Trials of Salem.  The tapes included an interview with the author and additional information about physical science. 

Backseat Blues

Poetry Friday is hosted this week by my terrific blogging friend Donna, at Mainely Write.  Thanks, Donna.

I’ve been writing goodbye poems over the past months for a personal project about different ways of looking at children (mine, others, and grandchildren, too) growing up.  I’ve chosen to do a series of poems at different stages in children’s lives, essentially saying goodbye each time. I plan to put them all into a book someday for my family.   I have begun using photos to help remember and have now started some work on my children as they grew up too.  I love telling stories through poetry, and I love poems of goodbye, so I thought this would be a good way to combine both passions.  

Here is my most recent one, a mixture of times from remembered conversations during the usual chauffeuring of my children.  If you are a parent, you will know that the best conversations happen from the backseat.  Lately my three year old granddaughter told me I was a good driver.  When we sit still in a car, we notice things, we think things, and we talk.

Another week of a terrific audio book!

Jen and Kellee host this kidlit meme at TEACH.MENTOR.TEXTS.  Join them and the other bloggers who are sharing the terrific things they are reading.

          It's Monday! What are you Reading? is another meme hosted by Sheila at BOOK JOURNEYS that offers reviews of all kinds of books.  

        If you’re on Twitter, use the hashtag #IMWAYR when sharing your link!

And,  Myra, Fats & Iphigene host this meme at Gathering Books, where readers read award-winning books and review them.  This time I'm going to talk about The Ask and The Answer, by Patrick Ness.  

The Ask and The Answer – by Patrick Ness, audio performed by Angela Dawe and Nick Podehl

       Once again, I found the audio book of the Chaos Walking Trilogy, this time book two.  Some have said they didn’t like this as much, and there was some repetition of the same things going on, like Mayor (President) Prentiss’ ability actually to attack just through his “noise”, rather like someone who can move an object with their mind.  The later scenes become too much, especially since they were so intense and in the audio, I found that I just wanted them to end.  But that said, the book introduced more interesting characters, wrapped up some questions from book one, and ended with such a cliffhanger that I wanted to find the last one fast.  I am amazed at the depth that Ness is going to tell this story.  However, I’m going to take a break, and listen to some calmer books first, then finish in a few weeks.  Don’t forget to find this trilogy!  In 2009, it won the Costa book award, which is a series of literary awards given to books by authors based in Great Britain and Ireland.  If you are interested, the link goes to past awards where you can discover titles of other books in the past who have won this award, like Skellig, by David Almond, one of my favorite books.