Poetry Is Everywhere!

           Penny Klosterman of "dragon" fame, is our host today for Poetry Friday at A Penny And Her Jots. I imagine she has much to share and will tame the dragon's fire while posting today's visitors. 

Happy February!

           Mary Lee Hahn's haiku challenge (#haikuforhealing) helped me through December. Today, I am grateful for Jone MacCulloch's challenge to send Poetry Postcards (#PostcardXExchange) that carried light to my life in January.  I was blessed with wonderful ones. Each postcard gave a life, a smile, and knowing that someone was sending good wishes. Here's a picture of all that came before, and the final one from Jone. I'm typed everyone's poems after the pics. Thank you, poets all.

Non-Fiction-Past & Future

              I continue to be grateful to Alyson Beecher's Non-Fiction Picture Book Challenge at Kidlit Frenzy.  There are still books from the past I want to read and share,  but it's also time to read new ones coming too. 
             Here is one new book out on Valentine's Day, and one that's been highly praised, published last fall.         

        

            I received an Arc of this story of Isaac Newton's life thanks to Candlewick Press. I liked hearing of his early days, rejection by his family, living from the age of twelve above an apothecary's home and business. The loneliness forced upon him and the solitude he later sought shows the thinker and questioner as he digs deeply into alchemy, but also mathematics and astronomy. It's an interesting story well-backed by writing that has been kept of Newton's and others who worked with him. For those children who are interested in both history and science/math background, this book will please. For others, it might seem dry. Illustrations from Newton's notebooks that accompany each chapter are fascinating to examine. Additional information is given in the backmatter with source notes and a bibliography.

Slicing Into Connections

       I'm slicing with the Two Writing Teachers community today. It's always a pleasure to read what everyone writes about their lives.

         

         I share more on Facebook and here on my blog about my granddaughters, Ingrid, almost 8, and Imogene, 5 and 1/5 than I do about my grandson, almost 16. First of all, he lives in Texas, and second, he's almost 16! He does call occasionally and sometimes when my son calls, Carter will say hi and talk a bit. But he is not the little boy I used to have visit so often, and take places. He has his life to live like all young teens. I miss him and love when he visits. Since Carter and his family moved to another state about 5 years ago, I've sent him a postcard every week, one way to let him know I'm thinking of him, and hoping his life is going great! That's one way to make connections.
         Carter is interested in photography, and the large part of his Christmas gift this year was a new lens for his camera. I'm writing this intro because while I don't have as much interaction with Carter as I used to, he knows how much I love him, and enjoy being with him when I can. So, a day or so ago I received a photo from Carter. During the holidays, he did tell me that he would send some of his pictures! Connections aren't always like others, but they are there just the same. Carter knows how much I love birds. And a picture really can say a thousand words.

Monday Reading

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

Tweet with  #IMWAYR

        

    I managed to finish the book for my book group, another from my #MustReadIn2017 list, and some lovely picture books. 

Now: I have an arc of a book whose publication is in mid-February, Isaac The Alchemist by Mary Losure, non-fiction story of Isaac Newton's growing up. It's terrific!

Next: The Newbery honor book I haven't read: The Inquisitor’s Tale: Or, The Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog, written by Adam Gidwitz and illustrated by Hatem Aly. I imagine I found it so quickly from the library before the awards happened! Lucky me! 
         I loved hearing about all the awards, was excited for some, disappointed that a few favorites were not mentioned. 

I haven't read "A Man Called Ove", maybe soon, but it has been interesting how others kept telling me they were disappointed in this book after reading Backman's first. I had no comparison, but did struggle for a while because I am a grandmother, though maybe not so crazy as Granny who is Elsa's grandmother in this story. And I do have an "almost eight" year old granddaughter whom I often compared to Elsa. Elsa, a gifted "almost" eight year old, has to face quite a lot of problems in this book. Granny has died and left her a series of letters that set her on an adventure like no other, into a land of fantastical tales that were created long before Elsa was around, but that is one more tale to be told. Sometimes I was so exasperated by the actions by Elsa, and wondered if it was reasonable for an "almost" eight year old to sneak out of her apartment to do the things she did. After knowing that some kinds of super-heroes were indeed watching out for her, I settled in and loved how Backman slowly revealed the stories of all the characters. Elsa had quite a lonely and frightening path to follow, but she wasn't always alone, for which I was thankful to discover. There is a quote that encompasses the flavor of this story, that thread that holds on to Elsa tightly: "And Maud bakes cookies, because when the darkness is too heavy to bear and too many things have been broken in too many ways to ever be fixed again, Maud doesn't know what weapon to use if one can't use dreams." Perhaps those who haven't enjoyed this do not realize how complex lives can be, and how hidden the stories. And perhaps looking again at someone is the greater lesson? I loved it.

              Imagine if your summer excitement is having your 12th birthday on the 4th of July, and the delicious anticipation of another wonderful party at the town pool with friends, popsicles, and cake. Then imagine if that was the summer of 1964 when everything changed. The pool closed, old friends betrayed, and new friends were going to mean trouble. This is the summer Gloriana June Hemphill is about to experience. It isn't all bad, but Glory first grieved for the old times of fun with her friend, Frankie and her old sister, Jesslyn, now interested in boys more than games with Glory. Augusta Scattergood tells just enough of this time of unrest when African Americans wanted equal rights and FreedomRiders moved into towns to help make changes. Not everyone is happy about the changes, but Glory and her sister soon find they have their father, a minister's support, and MissBloom, the librarian stands strong too. Glory's decisions create tense moments, but she manages to figure out what's important in a realistic way. After reading, kids will want to explore this historical time more. It's a good beginning story with strong characters and an exciting plot.

Poetry Friday- Inspired by Ferocious Women

        Poetry Friday is hosted by Carol Varsalona today at Beyond Literacy Link! Thanks, Carol! I'm sure it will be a wonderful time with you!

Donna Smith of Mainely Write has lately issued a challenge to take lines offered by numerous "ferocious" women and craft them into a poem. You can find her challenge here. It wasn't easy! Here are the lines and their makers!

Buffy Silverman: "ferocious women who never bring you coffee" - refrigerator magnetic poetry

1. Donna Smith: "always leave a wild song" - refrigerator magnetic poetry
2. Linda Baie: "dreaming women do art in poetry" - from her pile of poetry blocks
3. Buffy Silverman: "where wizards and wolves rush by in a blur of green and gold and gray" - patched together from Kate Dicamillo's Where Are You Going Baby Lincoln
4. Kay McGriff: "ignore the awful times, and concentrate on the good ones" from Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five
5. Linda Mitchell: "waking the world to a new day"
6. Margaret Simon: "steam that climbs like smoke from a fire" - this was in the comments the first week, and I'm not sure if it is a comment or a line... but I'm using it! 
7. Carol Varsalona: "fearless women reach out, connect, and find joy in life's intertwined moments" - Connecting the word "fearless" that April had used last week.
8. Tabatha Yeatts: "little chest to put the Alive in" - Emily Dickinson
9. Joy Acey: "wear loose clothing and a smile" - from a thought and some connections
10. Jan Godown Annino:  "I feel like there should be more stories out there for girls, and I try to tell them" - a quote from Hope Larson from the book COMICS CONFIDENTIAL. 
11. Mary Lee Hahn: "ferocious women do not exaggerate" - from Mary Oliver's UPSTREAM on page 109, "I do not exaggerate."
12. Brenda Harsham: "make a ferocious dinner that eats masks, drips truth and saves softness for dessert"
13. Keri Lewis: "radical at their core" from her husband's magazine, "Guns & Ammo"
14. Kiesha Shepard: "ferocious women would rather drink the wind" - a line from Mary Oliver's (Why I Wake Early) titled "The Arrowhead"
15. Diane Mayr: "out of endurance, exaltation" - a line from the poem "Monadnock" by Robert Francis.

Family and The Poets Inside The Poem

Found Definition In My Poet’s Dictionary

Ferocious women who never bring you coffee

always leave a wild song

where wizards and wolves rush by

in a blur of green and gold and gray.

If waking the world to a new day,

ferocious women do not exaggerate,

they are fearless women who reach out,

connect,

and find joy in life's intertwined moments.

They create steam that climbs like smoke from a fire

then ignore the awful times, and concentrate on the good ones.

They feel like there should be more stories out there for girls,

and try to tell them.

Ferocious women use a little chest to put the Alive in,

wear loose clothing and a smile.

They’re dreaming women who do art in poetry

Radical at their core, they make a ferocious dinner

that eats masks, drips truth and saves softness for dessert.

Those ferocious women would rather drink the wind

          out of endurance,

          exaltation.

Linda Baie © All Rights Reserved