Monday, March 18, 2024

It's Monday! For the holidays and more!

     

        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! 
         Well, we've had the biggest snowstorm in years, and filled with moisture. Now, it's melting fast and spring in here tomorrow! I'm sharing some varied books this time, some important for varied issues and some for the littles for Easter. I have been so busy that I'm still reading Eggers' The Eyes & The Impossible, and started The Keeper of Hidden Books by Madeline Martin, about a young girl in occupied Poland in World War II.



I shared this sweet book last week for Poetry Friday. Go here if you'd like to read about it. It's a lovely book illustrating a Langston Hughes poem about spring. 

Thanks to Candlewick Press 
for this copy!
        It's the sequel to Daring Darleen, Queen of the Screen, as Victorine, whom everyone believes is missing, is going incognito as Bella Mae Goodwin, living with her friend, Darleen Darling, already a big star. If young readers love mysteries, this is another fun one, full of older Hollywood names, believable daring heroines, and adventure that's just a bit scary. 



       Gorgeous full-color illustrations by the Pumphrey brothers help Antwan Eady tell this story of a grandfather and his grandson and their farm stand, the last one when all the others shown beside theirs say "out of business. The young boy tells the story of helping harvest, then gathering the pumpkins and peppers, plums and eggs, and placing them in the sweetgrass baskets woven by his Granny. Week after week they go, until one day, Papa (his grandpa) is too tired, and the boy must take over. It's poetic and poignant, with a long author's note by Eady telling of the discrimination years ago by the FDA toward black and native farmers, the confiscation of their lands they had made fertile, and more. He writes: "I've taken heartbreak and turned it into a story about a boy and his grandfather who now have the last stand at a farmer's market in a community that can't afford to lose it." There's more from him to know, and a book to read and love.



       It's wonderful to read another biography picture book that children will love and learn from, too. This is Aida Salazar's debut picture book. Jovita's wish is pictured below, wanting the 'freedom' her brothers had when wearing pants. She got her wish and went on to lead the fight for religious freedom long ago. The illustrations by Molly Mendoza (also her debut picture book) fill with celebration for Jovita's inspiring life, one of many women years ago who inspired others through their actions.

Thursday, March 14, 2024

Spring Calls, Winter Answers

        It's Poetry Friday, and Tanita David is hosting HERE on her blog, {fiction, instead of lies}, bringing us to thoughts about freedom, being "discharged and disentangled". I'm planning to post it on the wall by my desk! Thanks for the special words and for hosting, Tanita!

created by Linda M.
       I thought I had a special plan for this Poetry Friday, the one just a few days until Spring. And then, this happened! It will continue to snow until Friday morning. Then, it will be near 60 degrees by Tuesday, the spring equinox! That's Colorado!

Underneath all that white is what I planned to show; the hardy daylilies are up. I have some crocus, too, but they were about to open. I waited too long!
 

        I've recently discovered this book, a poem, wishing for Spring by Langston Hughes, first published in 1925. 


        Tequitia Andrews's enticing illustrations focus on the young boy on the cover, wishing and waiting for his "earth song", which Hughes writes, "It's a spring song." What more means spring than blowing dandelion seeds while making a wish?

Monday, March 4, 2024

Monday Reading - Books to Know!

    

        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! 

          There's trouble in Clarice Bean's life. She's bored, her sister is mad at her. And, her sister has roller skates, something Clarice would certainly love. But she only seems to have a dog, one that's a stray who won't go away, hence that "Scram!" in the title. Young readers just beginning to read longer chapter books will love Clarice, if they haven't alread read some of her other adventures by Lauren Child. Kids have problems to navigate, too, and this story shows that very well, a great connection to young lives. There are some hilarious moments when Clarice attempts to hide the dog and the story includes great illustrations in just-right places. 
         I am late sharing. This came out last year. Thanks to Candlewick Press for the copy!

        And, thanks also to Candlewick Press for my copy of John Schu's Louder Than Hunger

       Everyone needs to read this, every.single.person. Perhaps you are a parent who loves a child but doesn't understand his or her struggles. Perhaps you are a teacher who will gain insight into what students often face, the ones who hear words like "You're a nobody." and "What a loser." or find hate-filled notes in the locker, but also those who do those acts, say those words. Why do they need to hurt? Perhaps you are either of the kids. Finding a story that meets one's own experiences can be a connection that is so needed. John Schu offers that in this story of Jake, a kid who is satisfying a voice he's allowed in his head, a voice that rules Jake's eating. As he tells in the book, he's invited it in and it says things to him like when a person helping him talk about different challenges, it yells "DON'T TRUST HER." or "SHE'S TRYING TO TRICK YOU." Finding a way to silence that voice and find a new way to live life is what Jake's story shows. Finding a way to reach so many who will find the story important personally is a challenge for all of us readers. It's time to find and read Louder Than Hunger, then share!


          This book was published in 1989 and donated, along with many other adult ballet books, to the used bookstore where I volunteer (an all-volunteer non-profit). The illustrations seem as lovely as Nijinsky's dancing. It tells of his childhood with his siblings, traveling with his parents who danced, and the heartbreak of his father abandoning the family. His mother carried on and taught all three to dance, but the first celebration came when Nijinsky was awarded entry into the Imperial Ballet School. Each page tells a part of his story while the adjoining page holds the illustration; the look is like a short scrapbook. I enjoyed reading these 'snapshots' of Nijinsky's life, with family stories surrounding him. 

            Nine of the best YA novelists working today have written fiction based on a prompt from Printz-winner A.S. King (who also contributes a story), and the result is an intriguing collection. I am now older but wish I could return to my own teens to dig deeper into friends' lives, to imagine, and then see the truth of what they may have been collecting. Today's teens might see an opening into their own lives (That's me! That's me!) or imagine an opening to a secret group not imagined yet! It could spark something real in their lives to raise them out of the darkness where they often feel abandoned. Or, it could become a book they relish, just for the outrageous or the courageous teens they meet in every story. It's a gift from A.S. King and those other special authors she invited along with her. 

Thursday, February 29, 2024

Poetry Friday - Make A Choice

 Welcome to Poetry Friday! 

         FYI - I will be at the bookstore until 6 pm, often don't get home until close to 7. Will start reading in the evening!

I'm looking forward to your posts!

         Though I'm posting this on Leap Day, it's time to "March" on! When I signed up for this date, I thought I would write about spring. Yet, with the continuing turmoil in the world, I thought I'd prefer to write about choices. How are you choosing to change the world, perhaps only in 'your' world? It's hard to see the many needs and wonder if one little person can affect them. I imagine ripples spreading when one stone is thrown. Is it true? Can one stone make a difference? I hope that it can!

created by Linda M.

        


Acrostic Moment

 

Could you take a moment now,

Hasten to own a world of wishes 

Overlook the list--laundry, dusting, working late--

Install ‘be kind’ and ‘listen well’?

Could you look beyond and fasten

Everyone’s lives to part of yours?

 

          Linda Baie ©


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Thursday, February 22, 2024

Poetry Friday - Heartbreak

  It's Poetry Friday, and Tabatha Yeasts is hosting HERE on her blog, The Opposite of Indifference. No matter what other wonderful words she posts, I know I'll love the quote at the top! Thanks for hosting, Tabatha!

created by Linda M.

        I thought I was writing to the prompt by the Poetry Sisters this last Friday in February, but alas, until I looked again, I thought they had said "love poems" and evidently did not read it all. They said "epistolary love poems". Yikes! Don't tell my former students that I didn't read "ALL" the instructions. I have no time to do more. Here is what I have this week.

        In my first year of teaching first grade, I had a call from a concerned parent. Remember, no internet, etc. Just a call to ask for a conference. I tried to imagine what the issue was. Her child was a great student and doing well. Well, what she was worried about is that her son had told her he was in love with me and was going to marry me when he grew up. She had to tell him that I was already married and he was so, so sad. It did all work out and we talked, had a lovely rest of the year. I'm sure he's grown up now with a wife and family. It was a wake-up call for me that I would be asked to help with all kinds of problems as a teacher, not just teaching reading and math.

my pic

          

Johnny Loved Miss Jones, His Teacher

 

Johnny was smitten the first day of school.

Upset, he soon learned there was a rule

that six-year-olds needed to grow up first.

He really thought his heart would burst.

Miss Jones could never be his date.

Sad Johnny had to wait and wait.

Throughout his schooling, he kept in mind

this first heartbreak, and, now resigned,

he searched and found a new love true.

To all the memories, he said “adieu”.

This time, grown up, he found a match:

she taught first grade, a perfect catch.


Linda Baie ©


      I host next week's Poetry Friday. March is Denver's snowiest month, but also 

welcomes spring and Daylight Savings Time! Are you wishing anything special for 

March?