To a Red Kite (Monday Poem)

by Lilian Moore


Fling
yourself
upon the sky.

Take the string
you need.
Ride high

high
above the park.
Tug and buck
and lark
with the wind.

Touch a cloud,
red kite.
Follow the wild geese
in their flight.



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 

Windsong (Monday Poem)

by Judith Nicholls


I am the seed
that grew the tree
that gave the wood
to make the page
to fill the book
with poetry.



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

The New School Year Beckons: Welcome! (FAMILY magazine reviews)

As the season changes from summer to autumn, the intensity of students returning to classes energizes many opportunities available for educational adventures. Read and savor this first-class fiction, remembering that it takes a village to make learning available to everyone. May we do all we can to make school a tantalizing, absorbing experience that summons every person to lifelong learning. 

The Invisible Boy

by Trudy Ludwig

illustrated by Patrice Barton

            Brian is shy and feels invisible. Children with “volume control” issues get the teacher’s attention, the best players and their friends are chosen first for the kickball game, even lunchtime conversation about birthday parties shows that Brian wasn’t included. However, during Choosing Time Brian does what he loves: drawing fire-breathing dragons, space aliens, greedy pirates, and tellingly, “superheroes with the power to make friends.”

When a new boy, Justin, joins the class and is teased, Brian thoughtfully puts a note in his cubby. Pencil sketches painted digitally show Brian in blacks and grays initially. This contrast highlights his separation from the other parts of his world painted in vibrant colors.

As Justin includes Brian on his team for a special project and at the lunch table, Brian is no longer gray, and his colors begin to change and glow. This clear and uncomplicated story, complemented by direct and skillfully expressive illustrations, is reassuringly universal.

Questions for discussion are included, along with recommended reading for both adults and kids, at the end.

Alfred A. Knopf, $16.99

Interest Level: Kindergarten – Grade 2

 

All Are Welcome

by Alexandra Penfold

illustrated by Suzanne Kaufman

            The diversity and strength of an inclusive community are evident and honored in this lyrical, rhyming picture book. Wearing hijabs, a yarmulke, turbans, and a Sikh patka, characters also include a blind child and a child in a wheelchair. Both children and adults in this welcoming story show a rainbow of skin tones, hair colors and styles.

World maps in both the classroom and on the playground emphasize cultural variety. Talented students learn from and teach each other, and celebrate the Lunar New Year with a dragon dance.

The lilting rhymes in the text - with the final line in each four-line stanza repeating the title - demonstrate the cheerful images. “We will learn from each other. / Special talents we’ll uncover. / There’s a big world to discover. /All are welcome here.”

Families with single parents, parents of the same gender, and parents of different races are all featured and clearly valued in both text and brightly illuminated illustrations, which were created using acrylic paint, ink, crayon, collage and Photoshop. The final double-page spread unfolds into four panels to showcase a festive observance (including potluck) of shared discovery and celebration. To be read and re-read, this book is a profound and vital tribute to individuality, diversity and acceptance, as the interactions so lovingly demonstrate.

Alfred A. Knopf, $17.99

Interest Level: Pre-Kindergarten – Grade 3

Ready and Waiting for You 

by Judi Moreillon

illustrated by Catherine Stock

            Starting in a new school? This sunny picture book is about welcoming, from the bright yellow school bus and its driver, to the crossing guard, the principal, the school secretary and the attendance clerk, “Come in. Come in. Come in through this door. Are you new? We’re ready and waiting for you.” The “open door” foldout concept, designed by the author, delivers the same message of welcome, inviting the readers into each scene.

            If you’re a preschooler, a homeschooler, or simply a second-grader moving to a new school, the librarian, computer tech, gym, art, and music teachers, cafeteria cooks and workers, custodians, playground monitors, parent volunteers, and classroom teacher are all at the doors to greet you. The rhythm and rhyme of the repetitive text accompanied by colorful torn-paper illustrations together stimulate excitement for beginning the school year and propel the story.

The exuberant hospitality of school employees and students with a variety of skin tones and kind-hearted bustle is a promising beginning for any student transitioning to an unfamiliar school setting. “Come in through this door . . . We won’t be a whole school till you do. Everyone’s waiting for you!”

Eerdmans, $17

Interest Level: Kindergarten – Grade 2

Spin Me a Web, Spider (Monday Poem)

by Charles Causley


Spin me a web, spider,
Across the windowpane
For I shall never break it
And make you start again.

Cast your net of silver
As soon as it is spun,
And hang it with the morning dew
That glitters in the sun.

It's strung with pearls and diamonds,
The finest ever seen,
Fit for any royal King
Or any royal Queen.

Would you, could you, bring it down
In the dust to lie?
Any day of the week, my dear,
Said the nimble fly.




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

This is Just to Say (Monday Poem)

by William Carlos Williams


I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold




from  A Family of Poems: My Favorite Poetry for Children
Selected by Caroline Kennedy
Hyperion, 2005

Dream Variations (Monday Poem)

by Langston Hughes


To fling my arms wide
In some place of the sun,
To whirl and to dance
Till the white day is done.
Then rest at cool evening
Beneath a tall tree
While night comes on gently,
    Dark like me---
That is my dream!

To fling my arms wide
In the face of the sun,
Dance! Whirl! Whirl!
Till the quick day is done.
Rest at pale evening . . .
A tall, slim tree . . .
Night coming tenderly
    Black like me.



from  A Family of Poems: My Favorite Poetry for Children
Selected by Caroline Kennedy
Hyperion, 2005