The blog of a teacher educator discussing math, science, poetry, children's literature, and issues related to teaching children and their future teachers.
Edith Kollath exhibited a breathing book show (yes, you read that correctly) at the Dam, Stuhltrager Gallery in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn from mid-November to mid-December.
For some reason I couldn't help but think about Harry Potter and The Monster Book of Monsters while watching the video. At least these books don't bite! Technology in the hands of an artist is an amazing thing, isn't it?
Way back in November, the amazing Sara Lewis Holmes floated a proposal to put books in the hands of some very deserving kids. Inspired by her niece Emily, an amazing young woman in her own right who's been battling cancer for over two years now, Sara suggested starting a library of camp and horse related books for Flying Horse Farms. Here's a bit of information about FHF.
Flying Horse Farms is a nonprofit organization committed to building a summer camp and year-round retreat center that inspires children with serious illnesses to reach beyond their diseases and embrace the healing power of unbridled fun!
This special place is located in the heart of the Midwest, Mount Gilead, Ohio. Situated on nearly 200 acres of gently rolling hills, lakes, woods, trails, meadows, and wetlands, Flying Horse Farms promises to help children and their families trade the restraints of hospital visits, blood transfusions, chemotherapy treatments, overwhelming stress, worry and fear with days of swimming, fishing, horseback riding, and nights of campfires and singing! All camp activities are designed to allow campers to experience success no matter what their disease or disability. The camp will focus not only on activities but also on building self-confidence, friendships and, of course, providing good old-fashioned fun... at no cost to the campers or their families.
You can participate and help breathe life into this dream by purchasing a book or two for Flying Horse Farms. Here are several ways you can contribute.
Sara set up a wish list on Amazon. You can choose a book and donate it directly from there. The list is small now, but it will grow as the campers and counselors and the director add new requests to it.
You may also buy from that list at your local independent bookstore and have them ship to the address below. Flying Horse Farms 225 Green Meadows Drive South, Suite A Lewis Center, Ohio 43035
You can blog about your favorite camp or horse related book. Sara will round up those posts and forward them to the director and consult them in expanding the Wish List.
If you're an author or illustrator or publisher or blogger with a camp or horse related book, you can donate directly to the camp, but please remember that the camp serves kids ages 7-15 and your donation should reflect the needs of the camp. (Please, in all cases, only NEW books.)
In our house, stories with horses generally revolve around multicultural titles and folktales. Here are some of our favorites.
We have purchased two of William's favorites, Fritz and the Beautiful Horses and The Magic Horse of Han Gan, for Flying Horse Farms. Won't you join us in sharing the gift of a book?
The list of nonfiction picture finalists has been signed, sealed and delivered to our intrepid organizer. It will be published on January 1st, along with the finalists in the seven other categories. I can't wait to see how the other groups of panelists have whittled down their lists.
Here are some of my initial thoughts about the Cybils in general and more specifically about working through the nonfiction picture book titles this year.
1. Where Does It Belong? The organizers for all the categories worked behind the scenes as nominations rolled in to determine the eligibility of titles and to ensure proper placement of books. This required a lot of hard work and some intense discussion. In some cases, where a book belongs isn't evident until a panelist sees it first hand. One of our books was moved to fiction picture books because the note in the back of the book explained the book was "based on a true story." The cataloging information just wasn't enough go on when deciding where to place the book.
2. Is It Nonfiction? During the nomination stage, a few titles were moved to the fiction picture book category. While they were clearly "informational" books, they weren't strictly nonfiction. I tend to think of these books as "faction"--a nice blend of fact and fiction. One example of this was Boycott Blues: How Rosa Parks Inspired a Nation, written by by Andrea Davis Pinkney and illustrated by Brian Pinkney. Narrated by a guitar-playing hound dog, it's a beautiful, blues-inspired account of the Montgomery bus boycott. Another example can be found in Fartiste, written by Kathleen Krull and illustrated by Paul Brewer. This biography of Joseph Pujol, a Frenchman who built a stage career using fart effects, reads on the cover, "an explosively funny, mostly true story." It's unfortunate this disclaimer appears so boldly from the outset, as it seems designed only to let readers know that the title relies on fact as well as legend in telling Pujol's life story.
There are always so many titles in the category of fiction picture books that I fear some of these more "information-oriented" books may get lost in milieu of more traditional stories.
3. First Person Narratives? I was surprised by the number of titles that used first person in the writing. In some cases, the author included extensive notes that lent veracity to their use. However, in other cases there was no such information. How then, is a reader to take this information? Keep Your Eye on the Kid: The Early Years of Buster Keaton, written and illustrated by Catherine Brighton, is a fantastic biography of Keaton's early years, but it is written entirely in the first person. The author's note provides sources for further reading, as well as some Keaton films that are currently available on DVD, but she never explains the first person use.
4. Common Themes Biographies abounded in the list of nominees this year. At least 25 titles were accounts of important events in the lives of historical figures or works that recounted a large portion of their life stories. Two very different biographies on Nobel Peace Prize winner WangariMathaai were included in this number. In addition to these, one title provided a biographical look at the Statue of Liberty!
Always popular, books about animals made a strong showing. Two of these animal titles were inspired by events following hurricane Katrina. There were also 2 books about bears, 2 about frogs, and 2 about ocean life.
I found it interesting that a number of the nominees contained photographic illustrations. These tended to be books on science (animal) topics.
5. Publisher Participation Nearly one third of the nominated titles in our category were not sent to the panelists. (One panelist informed us that two titles arrived on her doorstep yesterday!) Fortunately, most of use were able to wrangle books through local libraries or interlibrary loan. In the end, there were only 2 books we never saw. I must say that I'm a bit puzzled by the lack of participation. Members of our panel highlighted nominees on their blogs. The titles got face-time at the Cybils site and even more publicity from the Cybils widget. Based on the strength of many of these titles, I purchased some for my own collection. I also took books into local schools and read them with kids. While there I made recommendations to classroom teachers and school librarians.
The positive press generated by the Cybils should not be underestimated. I'm not sure how we get more publishers to participate, but I would think that this kind of free advertising is worth giving away a book or two.
That's all for now. I still have more book reviews to post, so don't forget to come back and look for them in the new year.
On Christmas eve day we decided to start a new family tradition and went bowling. At 10:30 am we had the alley entirely to ourselves. We bowled two games each and had quite a bit of fun. We came home for lunch, watched some Animal Planet videos together, and then headed out for the chaos that is the "children's mass" on Christmas eve. The church was standing room only and so hot it was unbearable. (I learned today that the A.C. was even turned on, but you wouldn't have known it.) Dinner and the quiet that followed were terrific. We visited the NORAD web site to track Santa and then headed off to bed.
Christmas day was lovely and quiet. We spent it building and read lots and lots of books. While the overwhelming majority of them were nonfiction, the two picture books were huge hits. If you haven't seen these yet, you need to check them out.
Skunkdog, written by Emily Jenkins and illustrated by Pierre Pratt (You can see some excerpts and learn more about the book at Emily Jenkins' web site.)
Here are a few pictures of the boy with some of his favorite gifts.
Today was filled with making art, constructing a LEGO fire station, and building more marble-run arrangements than we can count. This is one of our favorites so far.
Here are two of the projects we worked on. One used old toilet paper tubes while the other made good use of leftover tissue paper. The results were fairly nice and we had great fun making them. The directions were very easy to follow and are linked below.
Unlike the folks in the Northeast, Midwest, and Northwest, we have no snow. It was nearly 60 degrees on Christmas, though it was much cooler today. We've been housebound (by choice!) for two days now. Perhaps we'll actually get outside before the week is out!
That's all for now. I hope everyone is enjoying the break as much as we are.
The challenge last week was to write a terza rima. Terza rima (an Italian phrase meaning "third rhyme") consists of a series of three-line stanzas (tercets) with the rhyme scheme ababcbcdcded and so on. It can go on as long as the poet wishes. Here are the results.
I tried to write a poem for my sister's birthday, but given that I didn't finish my grades until 2 am on Friday, I had a lot of trouble focusing on writing. I'll keep at it and post something soon.
William and I are not only reading chapter and picture books at bedtime, but also a fair amount of poetry. We've read a ton of Florian as a complement to the stacks of nonfiction books about animals. Last night we started reading Winter Eyes. Here's one of my favorite poems in this volume.
Winter Hues by Douglas Florian
Winter has to pick and choose. The clothes she wears Are few in hues: A raw sienna, A dark burnt umber, Some yellow ochres Scant in number, Steel gray day, Navy night, And winter white And winter white.
The round up this week is being hosted by Author Amok. Do stop by and take in all the great poetry being shared. Happy poetry Friday, all!
While doing some research to follow-up on the post I wrote about great children's books about animals, I came across a new-to-me book award and list. It's really lovely, so I thought I would share it. Here's an excerpt from the introduction.
Story is a powerful tool for teaching humane concepts like compassion, responsibility, and respect. Good books provide context, create empathy, and give children characters to identify with, care about, and learn from. Stories can even inspire moral action and good citizenship.
Each year, Humane Society Youth recognizes an exceptional children's book with a humane focus on animals or the environment with the KIND Children's Book Award.
The 2008 winner was Before You Were Mine (2007), written by Maribeth Boelts and illustrated by David Walker.
For more information on these titles you should read the entire annotated list for 2008. You can also view the list of winners and honor books from previous years (1995-2007) for some outstanding choices.
In the meantime, perhaps we can try to predict some of the titles that will appear on the 2009 list. My suggestions include poetry, nonfiction and a picture book.
Have you ever read something written that so totally described you that you wondered if the author had read your secret diary? I have. Here it is.
One of my mother's favorite stories about my childhood is the time she heard me sobbing in my bedroom, and came in to see what was wrong.
"Christie, what is it?" she asked from the doorway. "Why are you crying like that?"
I looked at her, my face a swollen mess. "I'm crying because Charlotte died, and she saved Wilbur's life!"
"Who are Charlotte and Wilbur?" she said, sounding somewhat alarmed.
I swallowed a sob. "Charlotte's a spider, and Wilbur's a pig."
That's when she realized I was clutching a book in my hands . . .
Is there anyone in this world that hasn't cried while reading Charlotte's Web? I have to wonder how classroom teachers get through read aloud with it, because I still cry.
The Classics are books published until the mid-60s and the Not-quite Classics come after that. The mid-60s were a clear watershed moment in American culture. Themes in children's books changed along with the music, films, and books written for adults, becoming more sophisticated, more about urban settings, more psychological and less overtly sentimental.
. . .
I included suggested reading levels with each description, based on the sometimes conflicting information given by publishers, librarians, and children's book reviewers. These are meant to be suggestions only. I read most of these books when I was quite a bit younger than the given age ranges, and some of them I still enjoy as an adult. Let the reading level of the individual child be your guide.
Here are the lists, without annotations. They are listed in order of publication date.
Classics
Black Beauty (1877) By Anna Sewell
Beautiful Joe (1893) By Margaret Marshall Saunders (writing as Marshall Saunders)
The Tale of Peter Rabbit (1902) By Beatrix Potter
The Wind in the Willows (1908) By Kenneth Grahame
The Secret Garden (1909) By Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Velveteen Rabbit (1922) By Margery Williams
National Velvet (1935) By Enid Bagnold
Lassie Come-Home (1940) By Eric Knight
The Black Stallion (1941) By Walt Farley
My Friend Flicka (1941) By Mary O'Hara
Gobbolino, the Witch's Cat (1942) By Ursula Moray Williams
Big Red (1945) By Jim Kjelgaard
Misty of Chincoteague (1947), King of the Wind: The Story of the Godolphin Arabian (1949), Mustang: Wild Spirit of the West (1966) By Marguerite Henry
Charlotte's Web (1952) By E.B. White
Goodbye, My Lady (1954) By James H. Street
Old Yeller (1956) By Fred Gipson
My Side of the Mountain (1959) By Jean Craighead George
Where the Red Fern Grows (1961) By Wilson Rawls
Rascal (1963) By Sterling North
Newer Books (Not Classic YET)
J.T. (1969) By Jane Wagner
The Tenth Good Thing About Barney (1971) By Judith Viorst
Julie of the Wolves (1972) By Jean Craighead George
The Harper Hall Trilogy: Dragonsong, Dragonsinger, and Dragondrums (1979) by Anne McCaffery
Babe the Gallant Pig (1983) By Dick King-Smith
Dogsong (1985) By Gary Paulsen
Rosalie (1987) By Joan Hewett
I'll Always Love You (1988) By Hans Wilhelm
Two Travelers (1990) By Christopher Manson
Shiloh (1991) By Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Dogteam (1993) By Gary Paulsen and Ruth Wright Paulsen
Protecting Marie (1995) By Kevin Henkes
The Wolf's Chicken Stew (1996) By Keiko Kasza
Olive, the Other Reindeer (1997) By Vivian Walsh
Fire, Bed, and Bone (1998) By Henrietta Branford
The Grannyman (1999) By Judy Schachner
Because of Winn-Dixie (2000) By Kate DiCamillo
A Day in the Life of Murphy (2003) By Alice Provensen
Breakfast for Jack (2004) By Pat Schories
Martha (2005) By Gennady Spirin
Nora's Ark (2005) By Natalie Kinsey-Warnock
The Underneath (2007) By Kathi Appelt
This is not only a very smart article, but the annotations provide some real perspective on the choices. Do take some time to read it. Once you've finished, please come back and comment on the lists. Did you find any surprises? Do you have a real favorite that's missing? Let's chat, shall we?
Reading vs. digital literacy. The debate continues as Christine Rosen presents an interesting perspective regarding the future of reading. Here is an excerpt.
We have already taken the first steps on our journey to a new form of literacy—“digital literacy.” The fact that we must now distinguish among different types of literacy hints at how far we have moved away from traditional notions of reading. The screen mediates everything from our most private communications to our enjoyment of writing, drama, and games. It is the busiest port of entry for popular culture and requires navigation skills different from those that helped us master print literacy.
Enthusiasts and self-appointed experts assure us that this new digital literacy represents an advance for mankind; the book is evolving, progressing, improving, they argue, and every improvement demands an uneasy period of adjustment. Sophisticated forms of collaborative “information foraging” will replace solitary deep reading; the connected screen will replace the disconnected book. Perhaps, eons from now, our love affair with the printed word will be remembered as but a brief episode in our cultural maturation, and the book as a once-beloved technology we’ve outgrown.
My favorite quote, and the one I'm thinking quite a bit about, actually comes from historian David Bell.
As he tried to train himself to screen-read—and mastering such reading does require new skills—Bell made an important observation, one often overlooked in the debate over digital texts: the computer screen was not intended to replace the book. Screen reading allows you to read in a “strategic, targeted manner,” searching for particular pieces of information, he notes. And although this style of reading is admittedly empowering, Bell cautions, “You are the master, not some dead author. And that is precisely where the greatest dangers lie, because when reading, you should not be the master”; you should be the student. “Surrendering to the organizing logic of a book is, after all, the way one learns,” he observes.
Read the entire article, entitled People of the Screen. Once you do, please come back so we can discuss.
I've been sonnet writing lately, so I have iambic pentameter on the brain. I need, however, to try a different form, so this week I've chosen terzarima. The Handbook of Poetic Forms defines it in this fashion.
Terza rima is a tumbling, interlocking rhyme scheme that was invented by the thirteenth-century Italian poet Dante for the creation of his long poem, The Divine Comedy.
Terza rima (an Italian phrase meaning "third rhyme") consists of a series of three-line stanzas (tercets) with the rhyme scheme ababcbcdcded and so on. It can go on as long as the poet wishes. At the end of the poem an extra line is often added to complete the structure: yzy z.
You can read more on this form at Poets.org. Generally, terza rima is written in iambic pentameter, though you will find exceptions. One notable one is this terzarima by William Carlos Williams. You'll notice a lot of near rhyme and then ... not so much.
The Yachts
contend in a sea which the land partly encloses shielding them from the too-heavy blows of an ungoverned ocean which when it chooses
tortures the biggest hulls, the best man knows to pit against its beatings, and sinks them pitilessly. Mothlike in mists, scintillant in the minute
brilliance of cloudless days, with broad bellying sails they glide to the wind tossing green water from their sharp prows while over them the crew crawls
FINALLY! Someone gets it right when talking about children's literature and YA books. Here are a few excerpts.
"A self-styled literary snob, I began buying titles in the children's and young-adult section of the bookstore. I became an addict, and what's worse, I started to act like one. "
"I realized that what drew me was not just the superb storytelling but the speed with which I could get through the texts. It was a rhythmic experience I was encountering every time I opened a book."
"In other words, the texts I was reading told their stories in an economical and exact style, without the unnecessary burden of digression or overexplication."
"The literature I was reading was every bit as complicated and thought-provoking as the texts I included on my syllabi."
"It would be a mistake to say that these texts are simplistic. They contain all the complexities we look for in any well-written narrative. "
Yesterday was a wet, dreary day. However, I curled up in the corner chair near the fire last night and read poetry while deciding what to post today. Here's my choice.
Sorley’s Weather by Robert Graves
When outside the icy rain Comes leaping helter-skelter, Shall I tie my restive brain Snugly under shelter?
Shall I make a gentle song Here in my firelit study, When outside the winds blow strong And the lanes are muddy?
With old wine and drowsy meats Am I to fill my belly? Shall I glutton here with Keats? Shall I drink with Shelley?
Tobacco’s pleasant, firelight’s good: Poetry makes both better. Clay is wet and so is mud, Winter rains are wetter.
Yet rest there, Shelley, on the sill, For though the winds come frorely, I’m away to the rain-blown hill And the ghost of Sorley.
This poem comes from the book Fairies and Fusiliers, published in 1918. You can read more poems from the book here.
The round up this week is being hosted by the amazing Elaine over at Wild Rose Reader. Do stop by and take in all the great poetry being shared. Before you go, don't forget to check out this week's poetry stretch results. Happy poetry Friday, all!
The challenge this week was to write a clerihew. A clerihew is a four-line verse written in an a/a/b/b rhyme scheme that is biographical and humorous. Here are the results.
Terry, one of my amazing colleagues, left this poem in the comments.
When Old Man Winter comes out to play Children put their bikes away And, gloved and coated, they ride instead The slippery roads on a saucer sled.
While this doesn't meet my definition of comfortable (though I have been known to recline in front of the fireplace), my son has made great use of the boxes that are piling up at our house from all the recent online shopping.
Here he is listening to some audiobooks on the iPod, lounging in his "box-chair" invention. Oh to be nearly eight!
I had lots of young folks to buy gifts for this year. Here are some of the things I've purchased and/or considered for the little people on my list. Each one of these ideas pairs a book with a related item.
That's all for now. If you're still at a loss in the shopping department, MotherReader is the queen of this kind of stuff and has many more ideas for pairing books and gift.
I am still making my way through the Cybils nominees in the category of nonfiction picture books. So far I have written reviews for nearly 35% of the books. Here are the titles reviewed to date.
This one is for all my friends and readers who teach. Please note that you must be trained in PLT (attended a workshop) to enter.
Project Learning Tree (PLT) will award a $500 cash grant to four randomly selected schools throughout the country. All you need to do is register before the December 30th deadline and you’ll be eligible to win a Learn Outside GreenWorks!Grant for your school. Winners can create a butterfly garden, host a PLT Learn Outside activity day, or even create an outdoor classroom. Enter today!
Entry Deadline is December 30, 2008. Winners will be notified by January 15, 2009.
If you are a lover of history (like me) and enjoy sarcasm and inventive wit, you need to start reading one of my favorite blogs, The History Bluff. The tag line of this blog is "Making a mess of history." It is one of my regular morning reads and always offers a quick giggle. Today was no exception. Since it has literary connections, I thought you might enjoy it. Here's how it begins:
William Shakespeare is one of the leading dramatists of all time; the first true master of the modern English language - but he was a pioneer in more ways than one. Researchers at The History Bluff have discovered that Shakespeare may well have been the first person to sell cosmetics and perfumes door to door.
I'm late again, but actually have a good reason this time. I'm in a foul, foul mood, which is really disappointing for this time of year. To lift my spirits I need some clever or funny poetry, so this week I'm challenging you to write a clerihew. A clerihew is a four-line verse written in an a/a/b/b rhyme scheme that is biographical and humorous.
Here's one of the poems I wrote for the last challenge.
Sir Isaac Newton, mathematician scientist of recognition, saw an apple fall from a tree then shouted, "Yes, that's gravity!"
You can read all the results at this post. This time around I'm going to attempt to skewer some well-loved holiday types, like Rudolph or Frosty. We'll see how that goes.
Will you stretch with me? Leave me a comment about your poem and I'll post the results here later this week. Happy writing!
I have had a terrible day. No, make that a terrible few days. I have oodles of work, papers to grade, and lots of end-of-semester chores to complete. However, I can't concentrate.
Instead of work, I am burying myself in a book that has been in my TBR pile for more than a year. I knew it was the perfect choice when I got to this passage.
Stories were different, though: they came alive in the telling. Without a human voice to read them aloud, or a pair of wide eyes following them by flashlight beneath a blanket, they had no real existence in our world. They were like seeds in the beak of a bird, waiting to fall to earth, or the notes of a song laid out on a sheet, yearning for an instrument to bring their music into being. They lay dormant, hoping for the chance to emerge. Once someone started to read them, they could begin to change. They could take root in the imagination, and transform the reader. Stories wanted to be read, David's mother would whisper. They needed it. It was the reason they forced themselves from their world into ours. They wanted us to give them life.
Isn't that beautiful? Are you nodding in agreement with the sentiment? This is why I love opening a book. Each one I read surprises, comforts, and often teaches me in some way. After only three pages, this one is off to a grand start.
Here is the latest in censorship from a school district in New York.
Pages from the middle of the book have been torn out by the school district after having been deemed "inappropriate" by school officials due to sexual content and strong language. Removed is a scene where the rebellious Lisa (played by Angela Jolie in the movie) encourages Susanna (played by Winona Ryder) to circumvent hospital rules against sexual intercourse by engaging in oral sex instead.
"The material was of a sexual nature that we deemed inappropriate for teachers to present to their students," said English Department Chariperson Leslie Altschul, "since the book has other redeeming features, we took the liberty of bowdlerizing."
Read more at Book Interrupted. I am shaking my head in stunned silence.
My holiday shopping is finally done. Today I'm sharing some of my favorite purchases along with suggestions for the readers and writers on your list.
Readers always love books, but sometimes gifts that enhance the reading experience or allow them to show their love for literature can be fun. Here are a few ideas.
The next time you step out in the rain, sport one of these Literary Luminaries umbrellas. Perhaps you have a friend who loves to read comic strips just as much as Shakespeare. Then the choice is a Gazette Comic Umbrella. (And really, sporting an umbrella with Kalamazoo on it will inspire such interesting conversations!)
For the friend or family member with a large collection of titles, you can't go wrong with bookends. I'm quite enamored of these James Thurber Dog Bookends. My favorites, however, are the Reading Gargoyles that adorn my shelves.
On those days when you need a good insult for co-worker or friend (or heaven-forbid, a family member), try a package of Shakespearean Insult Gum. Each set includes seven boxes that look like miniature Shakespeare volumes. Inside each box are two fruit flavored gum balls and an eloquent Shakespearean insult printed on the inside.
Bookplates are always a good idea, but they can be expensive. Here is a relatively inexpensive source of customized bookplates with some very cool vintage images.
For the reader who must mark important lines, but hates to write in his/her books (that's me), these Book Leaves are folded bookmarks with inspiring quotes about collecting meaningful words on the front. There are also lines to write your thoughts.
You don't need to be a published author to be a writer. My mother continues to write actual letters, and lots of folks I know write thank you notes. Others still like to scribble away in notebooks. Here are some ideas for them.
I have a love for notebooks and notecards made out of recycled paper. Give your eco-loving writer friends a journal or stationery made out of elephant poo. Believe it or not, elephant poo is largely made of fibrous material (undigested plant matter) that can be processed to make lovely, STINK-FREE paper.
If you have a friend writing a novel or working on revisions, I suggest the T-shirt that reads "Careful, or you'll end up in my novel." (Being nice to your writer friends is always a good idea!)
While scribbling away in your notebook, tickle your fancy with these sweet smelling pencils called Smencils. If you like to write in color, try these Colored Smencils.
Is your writer friend suffering from writer's block? Try The Observation Deck: A Toolkit for Writers. Inside the portable box is a 160 page book of proven techniques and 50 cards with verbs to stimulate action. The book offers inspiration and practical advice from writers and shares their secrets to approaching work with renewed creativity.
Do you have a Jane Austen lover on your list? Here are some ideas from the ridiculous to sublime.
Do you know someone trying to get her inner Jane on? Get her this Jane Austen finger puppet for a bit of fun.
Lesley at Small Meadow Press makes "beautiful and useful papers for everyday life." Her gorgeous Jane Austen stationery consists of three missives each of three different designs, with nine decorated envelopes in matching colors. The quotes are from Jane's letters to her sister Cassandra in the early 1800's.
While rereading your favorite Austen novels, keep your place with a Jane Austen bookmark.
Finally, for readers and writers who love to cook, I recommend the book Writers in the Kitchen by Tricia Gardella. It contains 200 hundred recipes, including appetizers, entrees, and desserts, from more than 150 writers.
That's all for now. If you have favorite gifts for the readers and writers in your life, please share your ideas. Happy shopping!
My son and I have been talking of snow for weeks now. Since his Oma and Opa have had snow on a few occasions already this year (gotta love lake effect snow), he wants to know when it's coming here. I'd like to know myself, though a light dusting is all I really require. I certainly don't miss the kind of snow described in this poem.
Convention by Agnes Lee
The snow is lying very deep. My house is sheltered from the blast. I hear each muffled step outside, I hear each voice go past.
But I’ll not venture in the drift Out of this bright security, Till enough footsteps come and go To make a path for me.
Before I send you to the round up today, I must first encourage you to visit this week's poetry stretch results, where you'll find climbing rhymes by the likes of Jane Yolen, Julie Larios, doug florian, many of your favorite bloggers (TadMack, Laura Purdie Salas) and others. You won't want to miss the wonderful, original poems being shared.
Now that you've read some climbing rhymes, take a gander at the poetry being shared this week. Karen at Mommy's Favorite Children's Books is our intrepid hostess. Happy poetry Friday, all!
Yes, spoilers abound in the Guardian piece Live Blog: Reading Beedle the Bard, but it's an oh so entertaining, chapter-by-chapter analysis. Here's an excerpt.
11:24am: On to the fourth tale, BabbittyRabbitty and her Cackling Stump. The best title so far.
Brief précis: foolish king, wants to be the only one with magic, forms a brigade of witch-hunters. He's been a bit silly though, because he needs an instructor and they're all too scared to come out of hiding, so he ends up with "a cunning charlatan with no magical power".
I'm not sure this is going to end happily.
Go on and read it. You know you want the skinny on the tales!
The challenge this week was to write a climbing rhyme, or poem in which the position of the rhyming word changes from line to line. Here are the results.
The bare boned trees Bereft of bees, birds, Welcomes freeze with limbs Raised, sings hymns as Light dims, throwing shade.
Julie Larios from The Drift Record wrote two poems! The first strictly follows the structure of climbing rhymes and is called Heard Over the P.A. System at the Mall. The second poem uses the 4/3/2 rhyme position in separate 3-line stanzas. It is entitled Christmas.
Sam left this poem in the comments.
Song of the Discount Scarf Weaver
When warping the weft I'm often left with A cleft among thread. Wind in said gap Your head may freeze But remember please the sales policies. No refunds.
Tough, terse, family life: You endure strife, scenes, Weekends rife with rages... Spiked pressure gauges screech! Turning pages, breathing, steam Releases. You dream "somedays" Where clean calm reigns, Sans family strain, tensions Drain.
Here are the poems I wrote this week. I'm sharing two variations on the squirrel theme. Let me know which you like better.
Delicate flakes of lace twirl through space to swiftly erase fall’s last canvas. Dancing fast across fields vast and stark, heralding the dark days that mark the long song of winter.
Untitled - Version 1 Dashing up and down the leafless crown and scarred brown bark, spry bushy tails cry for winter’s nigh again. Sigh.
Untitled - Version 2 Dashing up and down the leafless crown of squirrel town—pitter patter, run skitter scatter, they loudly chatter 'bout acorns.
It's not too late if you still want to play. Leave me a note about your poem and I'll add it to the list.
Who reads? Well, mostly women. Moms frequently read to their young sons at bedtime. Elementary school teachers and media specialists, who are primarily women, read to their classes. And in movies and on TV, it’s women or girls who are typically rushing off to their book clubs. Men don’t read—instead, they do. For instance, men don’t read books about hunting, they hunt. They don’t devour novels about race-car driving; they go to drag races—and often take along their sons. For many boys, reading becomes a chore that prevents them from pursuing manly things, like playing sports, fishing, rock climbing, and, later, chasing girls. Testosterone keeps guys running and gunning, and if they don’t see members of their own tribe reading—trust me—they won’t deem it important.
. . .
Now, this is purely my opinion, but children copy their elders. They want to be what they see. A boy doesn’t want to be a woman. He wants to do what a man does. And if he doesn’t see a man reading, he won’t read.
I have tons of school work to do this week, but folks seem to be writing things I just can't ignore. Why do we give boys so little credit? Why the gross generalizations? While reading role models (teachers, parents, relatives, friends, etc.) are important, they can't possibly be the most important factor in what makes a reader and keeps one reading. Or can they? What do you think makes a reader? Are role models really the most important factor at play here?
As you're pondering this question, watch this video about reading.
P.S. - A little personal history, not that my experience should be the basis for the argument I am formulating, but my father was a reader AND a doer. My mother never read until recently (and she's nearly 80).
