Wildflower (Monday Poem)

by Sarah Grace Tuttle


A dandelion
sinks its taproot
deep into the dirt,
spreads its toothed leaves,
and opens its yellow face
to the sun --
growing up wild
at the base
of a bus-stop bench.


from Hidden City: Poems of Urban Wildlife
2018, Eerdmans

Books for the Love Holiday (FAMILY magazine)

These books are favorites that kids have loved over the years. As you read them you can see why! Animals are the characters, although these behave like kids. These titles are also still engaging kids because the writing is fresh, the stories tickle imaginations, and the illustrations keep readers attention. Show your favorite young people your love when you read these terrific tales. 

Henry and the Valentine Surprise 

by Nancy Carlson 

Henry, a mouse, and his animal classmates notice a heart shaped box on their teacher’s desk. When they ask Mr. McCarthy, a dog, who the box is for, he promises to tell the students at the Valentine’s party the next day.

The students speculate about a possible girlfriend, noticing their teacher chatting with the playground monitor, getting an extra tuna melt from the lunch lady, eating it with the French teacher.

Carlson’s signature flat detailed paintings are filled with movement, expressive faces, and colorful patterns. Readers will not be surprised that the heart shaped box is a gift for the students. But although the students haven’t figured out that teachers aren’t too busy to have girlfriends, attentive readers will notice a hint on the final page. This sweet Valentine story is a winner with the younger set

Penguin Publishing, $15.99 hardcover

Interest Level: Kindergarten – Grade 2 

The Valentine Bears 

by Eve Bunting

illustrated by Jan Brett

            Mrs. Bear sets her alarm to go off early, Valentine’s Day early before the winter hibernation is ended. She makes a sign for Mr. Bear to see when he wakens. She uncovers a honey pot she has saved from summer just for this purpose. She puts out Valentine poems she has hidden in a drawer. Before she can get Mr. Bear completely awake, he surprises her.

He too has hidden some treats for Mrs. Bear. The two sweethearts share their Valentine treats before going back to sleep until spring.

This lovely story has just touches of color to spice up the wintry grey and white. The valentine red highlights important details to cheer the icy season.

           

Clarion Books, $6.99 paperback

Interest Level: Junior Kindergarten – Grade 2

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Louanne Pig in The Mysterious Valentine 

by Nancy Carlson

            A secret admirer sends Louanne a huge valentine. To her friend Harriet, she observes that whoever signed the valentine used a green pen.

At school, during math and geography, she thinks about how to track down the secret valentine admirer with the green pen. Looking over shoulders, peeking inside a desk, peering into pockets and book bags, makes her classmates nervous and suspicious of her motives. It also reminds Louanne of why each classmate she investigates is NOT a good choice for an admirer!

Author-illustrator Carlson uses pigs, dogs, rabbits, and cats to populate her pages. The pastel squares are filled to the edges, with text below the illustration. The paintings are cheerful and active and sometimes sly, allowing the reader to use their imagination to fill in where the words are not specific.           

Although Louanne stops at the card shop to ask the clerk for clues, the story ends without her knowing who her secret admirer is. However, if the reader is paying attention, s/he will know!! This is a clever holiday story.

           

Penguin Publishing, $9.99 paperback

Interest Level: Kindergarten – Grade 2

Phenomenal Woman (Monday Poem)

by  Maya Angelou

 

 

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.

I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size   

But when I start to tell them,

They think I’m telling lies.

I say,

It’s in the reach of my arms,

The span of my hips,   

The stride of my step,   

The curl of my lips.   

I’m a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,   

That’s me.

I walk into a room

Just as cool as you please,   

And to a man,

The fellows stand or

Fall down on their knees.   

Then they swarm around me,

A hive of honey bees.   

I say,

It’s the fire in my eyes,   

And the flash of my teeth,   

The swing in my waist,   

And the joy in my feet.   

I’m a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That’s me.

Men themselves have wondered   

What they see in me.

They try so much

But they can’t touch

My inner mystery.

When I try to show them,   

They say they still can’t see.   

I say,

It’s in the arch of my back,   

The sun of my smile,

The ride of my breasts,

The grace of my style.

I’m a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That’s me.

Now you understand

Just why my head’s not bowed.   

I don’t shout or jump about

Or have to talk real loud.   

When you see me passing,

It ought to make you proud.

I say,

It’s in the click of my heels,   

The bend of my hair,   

the palm of my hand,   

The need for my care.   

’Cause I’m a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That’s me.

from The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou 

1994, Random House

Lift Every Voice and Sing (Monday Poem)

by James Weldon Johnson

Lift every voice and sing   

Till earth and heaven ring,

Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;

Let our rejoicing rise

High as the listening skies,

Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.

Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,

Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us.   

Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,

Let us march on till victory is won.

Stony the road we trod,

Bitter the chastening rod,

Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;   

Yet with a steady beat,

Have not our weary feet

Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?

We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,

We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,

Out from the gloomy past,   

Till now we stand at last

Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

God of our weary years,   

God of our silent tears,

Thou who hast brought us thus far on the way;

Thou who hast by Thy might   

Led us into the light,

Keep us forever in the path, we pray.

Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee,

Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee;

Shadowed beneath Thy hand,   

May we forever stand.   

True to our God,

True to our native land.

 from: www.pbs.org

Dictionary Dare (Monday Poem)

by Deborah Ruddell


Lift my chunky syllables,
my pound of nouns,
by burly verbs.

Raise me above your head,
feel the quiet weight
of words.




from Jumping Off the Library Shelves: A Book of Poems
selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins
illustrated by Jane Manning
2015, WordSong