by Julie Fogliano
so silent and certain
a spider
can cause
a watchful and wondering cat
to pause
all prowl and prance
and teeth and claws
from World Make Way: New Poems Inspired by Art from the Metropolitan Museum of Art
edited by Lee Bennett Hopkins
Abrams, 2017
Monday, October 29, 2018
Monday, October 22, 2018
Finding Shells (Monday Poem)
by Nicola Davies
There's no special trick to finding seashells.
All you have to do is look.
It's hard at first, but soon your eyes
will start to notice tiny details
and you'll pick up little bits of beauty.
Let your heart sing for a moment,
then put them back;
someone else might need them.
from A First Book of the Sea
by Nicola Davies
Illustrated by Emily Sutton
Candlewick, 2018
There's no special trick to finding seashells.
All you have to do is look.
It's hard at first, but soon your eyes
will start to notice tiny details
and you'll pick up little bits of beauty.
Let your heart sing for a moment,
then put them back;
someone else might need them.
from A First Book of the Sea
by Nicola Davies
Illustrated by Emily Sutton
Candlewick, 2018
Thursday, October 18, 2018
Hurricane Hustle (FAMILY Magazine reviews)
The season of hurricanes is upon us! And we remember the
results and clean up from last year’s visit by Hurricane Irma! At a time when
young people may feel anxious about hurricanes, these helpful books can make it
easier to talk about how to prepare, what to do during, and what can be done
following a hurricane. Reading any of these titles can make the opportunity for
youngsters to voice their concerns and be reassured by someone who cares.
Ready, Set . . .
WAIT! What Animals Do Before a Hurricane
by Patti R. Zelch
illustrations
by Connie McLennan
South Florida is a featured character in Zelch’s (the “ch”
is pronounced as a “k”) informative picture book. The animals she highlights --
from reef fish to pods of dolphin, sharks, lobsters, manatees, seagulls,
herons, pelicans, crocodiles, butterflies, rabbits and mice – are waiting out
the storm in various hidden locations. They seem to know the storm is coming
and how to safely prepare themselves.
Beginning with humans as they prepare for a brewing
hurricane, by protecting their homes and collecting supplies, a young boy
wonders what animals do to get ready for a storm. Simple but poetic text (“Fathers
flicker flashlights” and “sharks explode”) companions beautiful paintings of
the animals in their habitats. As the story continues and the animals huddle,
the urgency builds, the clouds darken, the rain falls in sheets and the “wind
howls.” The story concludes as the hurricane arrives on land!
The back matter includes information about hurricanes as
natural disasters, a map showing locations and brief explanations of typhoons,
cyclones, and hurricanes, how humans prepare for storms, and what the numbers
on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale mean. The final pages explain scientific
and observational animal behavior. (Additional online links are provided on the
publisher’s website.)
Sylvan Dell (now
Arbordale Publishing)
$8.95 (paperback)$16.95 (hardcover)
Interest Level: Grade
Junior Kindergarten – Grade 3
Hurricane!
by
Jonathan London
illustrated by Henri Sorensen
Written
long before the violence wreaked on Puerto Rico’s shores by last year’s
hurricane Maria, this picture-book by hurricane survivor London nonetheless
supplies readers with an authentic experience of the adventure, fear and relief
that can characterize a hurricane. A morning can begin as any other morning,
and in a moment change.
The sky can
darken with thunderclouds, the air can still, just before the wind thrashes the
palm trees in a “wild dance.” The family in this story prepares by putting away
bikes and closing storm shutters. They pack up bags, pets and supplies and, hurry
to the shelter, while the rain slams the car.
Dramatic
paintings are magnetic accompaniments to the vigorous text. The strong sense of
family and community support draws the occupants of the shelter together as
they deal with a broken window and sing in Spanish.
The
true-to-life conclusion shows the clean-up of the littered yard, and the
characters’ home is reassuringly still standing. But not far away others are
not so fortunate.
HarperCollins, $17.99
Interest Level: Junior
Kindergarten – Grade 3
Hurricane
by
David Wiesner
Award
winning author/illustrator Wiesner frames an inventive aftermath of a storm
when two brothers, David and George, discover an elm tree downed by the
hurricane winds during the night as they slept. They imagine a jungle
exploration, a ship on the high seas searching for pirates, and a rocket into
outer space. The “sleeping giant” becomes a “private place, big enough for
secret dreams, small enough for shared adventures.”
Although
Wiesner uses the image of tape on windows, which has long been discredited as a
realistic means for protecting glass from shattering. The experiences of the
boys and their parents without electricity, and their wonderings about what animals
like squirrels and birds do, are familiar to many who have lived through a
hurricane.
The
watercolor paintings are both realistic and imaginative as the storm progresses
and, in their play afterwards. But especially vivid are the results of the
chainsaws, and the interactions between light and color in the double page
illustrations that shadow the boys’ sadness as their tree playground becomes
stacks of firewood.
Houghton Mifflin
Harcourt
$7.99 (paperback)
Interest Level: Grade 1-3
Monday, October 15, 2018
Shore Crab (Monday Poem)
by Nicola Davies
Delicate!
Like a dancer,
the crab sidesteps
to a dead-fish dinner.
Wary!
Periscope eyes up, watching.
Its big claws pinch tiny scraps
and pass them to its busy mouth.
Dainty!
Like a giant eating cupcakes.
from A First Book of the Sea
by Nicola Davies
Illustrated by Emily Sutton
Candlewick, 2018
Delicate!
Like a dancer,
the crab sidesteps
to a dead-fish dinner.
Wary!
Periscope eyes up, watching.
Its big claws pinch tiny scraps
and pass them to its busy mouth.
Dainty!
Like a giant eating cupcakes.
from A First Book of the Sea
by Nicola Davies
Illustrated by Emily Sutton
Candlewick, 2018
Monday, October 8, 2018
Still I Rise (Monday Poem)
by Maya Angelou
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may tread me like the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.
You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.
Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.
from And Still I Rise: A Book of Poems, by Maya Angelou
Random House, 1978
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may tread me like the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.
You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.
Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.
from And Still I Rise: A Book of Poems, by Maya Angelou
Random House, 1978
Monday, October 1, 2018
The Squirrel (Monday Poem)
by Anonymous
Whisky, frisky,
Hippity hop,
Up he goes
To the treetop!
Whirly, twirly,
Round and round,
Down he scampers
To the ground.
Furly, curly,
What a tail!
Tall as a feather
Broad as a sail!
Where's his supper?
In the shell,
Snappity, crackity,
Out it fell!
from Sing a Song of Seasons: A Nature Poem for Each Day of the Year
selected by Fiona Waters, illustrated by Frann Preston-Gannon
Candlewick Press, 2018
Whisky, frisky,
Hippity hop,
Up he goes
To the treetop!
Whirly, twirly,
Round and round,
Down he scampers
To the ground.
Furly, curly,
What a tail!
Tall as a feather
Broad as a sail!
Where's his supper?
In the shell,
Snappity, crackity,
Out it fell!
from Sing a Song of Seasons: A Nature Poem for Each Day of the Year
selected by Fiona Waters, illustrated by Frann Preston-Gannon
Candlewick Press, 2018
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