Things (Monday Poem)

by Eloise Greenfield

Went to the corner
Walked in the store
Bought me some candy
Ain't got it no more
Ain't got it no more

Went to the beach
Played on the shores
Built me a sandhouse
Ain't got it no more
Ain't got it no more

Went to the kitchen
Lay down on the floor
Made me a poem
Still got it
Still got it


from The Death of the Hat: A Brief History of Poetry in 50 Objects Selected by Paul B. Janeczko, 2015, Candlewick

Last Impressions (Monday Poem)

by J. Patrick Lewis


black without white
is
a moonless
night
empty
as
a life
of
endlessly
falling
snow
is
white without black


from Voices from the March on Washington Poems by J. Patrick Lewis and George Ella Lyon, 2014, WordSong

Love is More Than Valentines (FAMILY magazine reviews)

Pick out some unusual stories to share during this Valentine’s Day season of love and affection.  Invite children to remember that love can be shared across generations, between friends, and among genders, cultures, and religions.  Give yourself time to find stories that tempt children to comment, ask questions and offer observations.  The pleasures of reading together promise your child both loving time with you and a future as a lifelong reader. 

Hokey Pokey: Another Prickly Love Story  

by Lisa Wheeler 

Illustrated by Janie Bynum

Cushion the porcupine, who can’t dance a step, loves Barb the hedgehog.  Her favorite thing is dancing. So Cushion searches all through the petting zoo for a teacher who will help him “learn some dance steps.” 

            Tally-ho, the fox friend, who begins teaching Cushion the foxtrot, ends with a painfully crushed tail.  Clover’s bunnyhop class ends with a flattened rabbit’s foot.  Then, during Biddy’s funky chicken lesson, Cushion accidently shoots the hen’s bottom with his quills!

            In this sequel to Porcupining, a talented partnership has once again crafted a fable of friendship. The clever text is matched by playful digital watercolors and pastels. Cushion’s rhyming song is repeated during each lesson. Every time it leads to painful results.

Bynum’s expressive animal faces and body language add humor to the play of words that are Wheelers’ trademark. The discouraged porcupine is cheered when his friend, Barb, offers her help. The story concludes with the pair dancing the title dance.  

Little, Brown & Co, $15.99 

Interest Level: Pre-Kindergarten – Grade 2  

(This book is available to purchase from local and online booksellers.)

Last Stop on Market Street 

by Matt de la Pena 

Illustrated by Christian Robinson

            In a familiar routine, CJ and his nana ride the bus after church on Sundays. On this particular rainy Sunday CJ is feeling sorry for himself.  His questions show his unhappiness: “How come we gotta wait for the bus in all this wet?” “How come we don’t got a car?”  “How come we always gotta go here after church?”

            Each time Nana offers a playful response, giving him a chance to look and listen in new ways. The bus driver pulls a coin from behind CJ’s ear. The blind man with a dog compliments Nana’s perfume. Even the guitarist across the way plays a song that closes the passengers’ eyes to the bus and the busy city.  Its rhythm lifts CJ’s imagination, giving “him the feeling of magic.”

            As he and Nana get off the bus at the “Last stop on Market Street,” his final question, “How come it’s always so dirty over here?” offers readers a gentle observation, again from Nana.  “Sometimes when you’re surrounded by dirt, CJ, you’re a better witness for what’s beautiful.”

             Combining the award-winning skills of Robinson and de la Pena, this outstanding book features an authentic urban setting. Images of individuals with varied skin colors, ages, and classes join realistic text.  Combined they give readers a sense of the fabric of the city – it’s toughness and appeal. Flat, colorful acrylic and collage illustrations show fascinating details to engage a young child’s interest.             

            The ultimate destination, a soup kitchen, with its familiar people causes CJ to wonder how his nana finds beauty “where he never even thought to look.”

“I’m glad we came,” he says.

           

Putnam, $16.99 

Interest Level: Pre Kindergarten – Grade 1 

(This book is available to purchase from local and online booksellers.)

Two Speckled Eggs 

by Jennifer K. Mann

            Ginger wanted to invite all the girls in her class, except Lyla Browning, to her birthday party.  But mom said, all or none. So oddball Lyla arrives first.  When finally, the others come, the games turn out to be no fun.  This is because the other girls change the rules, don’t play by the rules, or start the game too soon. And most disappointing, they don’t like Ginger’s favorite silver and gold cake.  Except Lyla.

            Round-headed girls arrive wearing varied colors and carrying packages. Lyla is in the background, wearing glasses, and with her ever-present magnifying glass. Until the birthday cake.           

The pencil and gouache illustrations are enhanced with digital collage.  This allows for plenty of white space, keeping the focus on the simple, satisfying story.  This also gives readers a chance to focus on the expressive faces and movements of the girls.

            Additionally, Lyla’s present shows the similarities between the two girls most clearly -- a handmade bird's nest with two speckled malted-milk eggs in the center. The end of the book is actually only the beginning of a strong friendship.

Candlewick, $14.99 

Interest Level: Kindergarten – Grade 3 

(This book is available to purchase from local and online booksellers.)

MORE BOOKS ABOUT LOVE AND AFFECTION

Henry and the Valentine Surprise 

by Nancy Carlson. 

Penguin, $15.99 (hardcover) $6.99 (paperback) 

Interest Level: Kindergarten – Grade 1 

(This book is available to purchase from local and online booksellers.)

Hug Machine 

by Scott Campbell

Simon & Schuster, $16.99 

Interest Level: Junior Kindergarten – Grade 3 

(This book is available to purchase from local and online booksellers.)

Stunned (Monday Poem)

by J. Patrick Lewis


The sound rumbling out
of the microphone is foreign
somehow: words punching
like a heavyweight then
pirouetting like a ballerina.

Someone coughs, someone
sighs.  It is all they can do,
all anyone can do.

As if he's instructing birds,
the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
watches his words flutter up
and drop a blessing of hallelujah-
amen grace notes across the nation.

When he says he has a dream,
I have one too, my dream
blinking on and off like neon
in windows on Georgia Avenue.
My tightrope-wire nerves jolt
and jangle, ripple and trip, and
I know that I will no longer look
back at who it was I was, but
keep my eyes fixed ahead
on who I am becoming.



from Voices from the March on Washington Poems by J. Patrick Lewis and George Ella Lyon, 2014, WordSong

Turn (Monday Poem)

by George Ella Lyon


I'm neither black nor white but it's my March
too.  My March because in Los Angeles
in the spring of 1942, I walked out of
an art class, out of my life, and onto
a bus, bound for an internment
camp with all my family.
Japanese-American
threat was how
they saw us:
120,000
folks
about half
the number
who fill this
mile-long Mall.
Listen.  Our country
takes very wrong turns
and counts on you and me
to set it right.  In most countries
citizens can't do that, but here it's
our job -- to steer toward justice together.



from Voices from the March on Washington Poems by J. Patrick Lewis and George Ella Lyon, 2014, WordSong