I Heard a Bird Sing (Monday Poem)

by Oliver Herford


I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December
A magical thing
And sweet to remember.
"We are nearer to Spring
Than we were in September,"
I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December.


from Sing a Song of Popcorn: Every Child's Book of Poems, selected by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers, Eva Moore, Mary Michaels White, Jan Carr, 1988, Scholastic 

Merry Stories Full of Cheer! (FAMILY magazine Reviews)

These heartwarming stories full of holiday wishes, experiences and preparations can help you add some lovely traditions in your own family setting.  Merry holidays to you!

Red and Lulu 

 by Matt Tavares

            A cardinal couple, Red, the male bird, and Lulu, the female, live in an enormous evergreen tree beside a small house. The tree is cut down while Lulu is still in the nest in the tree. Red follows the truck into the city but cannot keep up.

            He searches for days with no success, but finally discovers the tree, decorated for Christmas, in the midst of confusing city buildings. When he flies to their favorite branch, Lulu is there!!

            After Christmas when the tree is removed, the two relocate to a nearby park. Every year the two birds return to what turns out to be the Rockefeller Center to enjoy the decorations and the singing around a new tree each Christmas.

            The lovely watercolor and gouache paintings have qualities that make the reader think of photographs. Snow and holiday lights glisten and make the illustrations glow. A variety of perspectives lend movement to match the pace of the text.

            Back matter includes information about the Christmas tree tradition, begun in 1931, along with the fact that each year the Christmas tree is recycled by Habitat for Humanity to build homes for families in need. This is an especially beautiful story for the holiday season. And a perfect accompaniment to David Rubel’s The Carpenter’s Gift, which is also a story about the traditions surrounding the Rockefeller Christmas tree.

Candlewick Press, $17.99

Interest Level: Kindergarten – Grade 2

A Christmas for Bear 

by Bonnie Becker

illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton

            In another Bear and Mouse book from the Becker and Denton team, Bear invites his friend Mouse over for a Christmas party (although he knows almost nothing about it.) As a part of their growing friendship grumpy Bear prepares pickles, poetry and a present. But whenever Mouse mentions presents Bear only wants to talk about pickles and poetry.

            Every time Bear leaves the living room for pickles, cheese, cookies and tea, “small and gray and bright-eyed Mouse” disappears. First, Mouse is under Bear’s bed. Next, Bear discovers Mouse in the hall closet. Finally, Mouse scampers “out from behind” the beautifully decorated Christmas tree when Bear bellows.

            The watercolor, ink and gouache paintings are bright and warmly filled with holiday decorations. The expressions on the two characters faces and the body language and movement match the text as the exuberant Mouse becomes quieter as Bear appears to get crankier. The difference in size of the best friends is carefully demonstrated as Mouse discovers his present and uncovers his.

            This just right read-aloud is a delightful Christmas Eve storytime choice.

Candlewick Press, $16.99

Interest Level: Pre-Kindergarten – Grade 2

Santa, Please Bring Me a Gnome  

by An Swerts & Elin van Lindenhuizen

Tess asks her Granny to write her letter to Santa. In it Tess says, “You don’t have to bring me any toys this year. The only thing I want is a real gnome.”

She asks Grandpa to make a small bed, table, chair, etc. for a gnome. Both grandparents are delightfully supportive and help Tess prepare. Readers share Tess’s thoughts as she imagines taking her gnome to school and dance class, sitting on the swing, doing crafts, eating together.

When Christmas morning arrives, Tess discovers the prepared dollhouse is empty with all the furniture gone!

Sunny watercolors illustrate Tess’s hopes and impossible wishes. The round faces of Tess and her family are a contrast to the homeless hamster who is across the room in glass box filled with sawdust. Beside it a letter from Santa explains that although “Gerard the Gnome was looking forward to coming,” he thought of Tess when Flannel the hamster needed a home.

Tess’s first response is the capstone of the story: “How kind of Gerard and Santa.” This sweet conclusion is a joyful ending to the story as well as the beginning of a real friendship. Sometimes the Christmas expectations can be met in unexpectedly charming ways.

Clavis, $17.95

Interest Level: Pre-Kindergarten – Grade 1

Majestic (Monday Poem)

by Kwame Alexander


Rise
into the wonder
of daybreak.

Be a rainbow in the cloud.
Be a free bird on the back of the night wind.
Shine on, honey!

Walk with joy in your golden feet
over crystal seas
and purpled mountains.

Know your beauty
is a thunder
your precious heart unsalable.

Be brave,
like a new seed bursting
with extraordinary promise.

Shine on, honey!
Know you
are phenomenal.



celebrating Maya Angelou



from Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets
by Kwame Alexander with Chris Colderley and Marjory Wentworth
illustrated by Ekua Holmes
2017, Candlewick Press

Advent 1971 (Monday Poem)

by Madeleine L'Engle


When will he come
and how will he come
and will there be warnings
and will there be thunders
and rumbles of armies
coming before him
and banners and trumpets
When will he come
and how will he come
and will we be ready
O woe to you people
you sleep through the thunder
you heed not the warnings
the fires and the drownings
the earthquakes and stormings
and ignorant armies
and dark closing on you
the song birds are falling
the sea birds are dying
no fish now are leaping
the children are choking
in air not for breathing
the aged are gasping
with no one to tend them
a bright star has blazed forth
and no one has seen it
and no one has wakened

Madeleine L'Engle

@tesserwellMLE

(Loving) The World and Everything in It (Monday Poem)

by Marjory Wentworth


Each day I walk out
onto the damp grass
before the sun has spoken,
because I love the world
and the miracle of morning.

I love to stand beside
the old oak trees
beneath a symphony
of birdsong and listen
to every perfect note

while the wind passes
around me like a warm sea.
Sometimes a feather
drifts down into my hands;
I hold it and imagine flying.



celebrating Mary Oliver

from Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets
by Kwame Alexander with Chris Colderley and Marjory Wentworth
illustrated by Ekua Holmes
2017, Candlewick Press

The Blue Alphabet (Monday Poem)

by Marjory Wentworth


Make a paintbox out of letters;
add water and dip your brush.
Swirl it on the paper with style
while you are humming a tune,
smiling or standing still. Waiting
for the school bus, you can dazzle
your friends with the words you have
made and strung together
like beads around your neck.


celebrating Terrance Hayes

from Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets
by Kwame Alexander with Chris Colderley and Marjory Wentworth
illustrated by Ekua Holmes
2017, Candlewick Press

We Come Together with Thanks (FAMILY magazine Reviews)

‘Tis the season to be thankful, and we have much to be grateful for as we reflect on the hurricane season and that we have limited damage compared to what was predicted. Often, when I feel grateful, I look for ways to share what I have with others and spread the gratitude as wide as I’m able. May we always have enough to share.

Thankful by Eileen Spinelli

illustrated by Archie Preston

               Spinelli’s rhyming picture book is a listing of what makes people feel grateful. In the family-centered illustrations, an imaginative brother and sister play at acting like a waitress, who “is thankful for comfortable shoes,” a firefighter, a clown, doctor, mayor, sailor – to mention a few. Additionally, an “artist is thankful for color and light” and a “mayor is thankful for every vote.”

               Preston uses pastel watercolors outlined in black ink with lots of white space to emphasize the expressions and activities of the characters. Text and paintings together celebrate the ordinary daily occasions for gratitude with a playful, quirky familiarity. This charming book can easily prompt readers to look at their own lives with thankful hearts.

              

Zonderkidz, $16.99

Interest Level: Junior Kindergarten – Grade 3

Over the River and Through the Woods: A Holiday Adventure  

by Linda Ashman, illustrated by Kim Smith

             Grandma and Grandpa’s invitation to their home for the holiday triggers a modern version of the often-heard Thanksgiving song. End-papers at the front and back are portraits of the four diverse families of the adult children. Dark and light skin, adopted children, same gender parents, plus an assortment of locations where they make their homes, are a visual feast.

            The families’ journeys are equally varied; by ferryboat, airplane, subway, hot air balloon, car, shuttle, train. The story traces each family’s trip separately as it begins. As their paths converge near the grandparents’ home, each family discovers a problem with their travel plans. They are rescued by an increasingly crowded horse-drawn sleigh, accompanied by the horse’s rhyming “NEIGH!”  adding to the happy chaos.

The digital illustrations are detailed, colorful and active. While the double page spread of the full table for Thanksgiving dinner is demonstrably a gathering of love. This happy picture book is perfect for traveling families headed to their own gatherings.     

Sterling, $14.95

Interest Level: Pre-School - Grade 2 

Samuel Eaton’s Day: A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Boy

(Interest Level: Junior Kindergarten – Grade 2)                       AND

Sarah Morton’s Day: A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Girl

(Interest Level: Grade 2-4)

Both by Kate Waters, with photographs by Russ Kendall

            These companion books separately feature a boy and girl and describe the lives of children recreated from actual accounts. Carefully photographed with child interpreters from Plimoth Plantation, each book takes its readers from daybreak to sunset. It shows the children getting dressed, the work of the day, mealtimes, lessons, and bedtimes.

The detail is a tribute not only to the outstanding photography, but to the care that has been taken to accurately reflect how clothing was laced, how fields were harvested, how fences were constructed. Also, what fireplaces, tools, furniture, food, games, school supplies gardens and many other daily use items looked like and how they were used.

Both Samuel and Sarah were real children who lived in 1627, which is the year that Plimoth Plantation, the outdoor living museum features. The back matter includes information About Plimoth Plantation, Notes About the Book, and a Glossary. Additionally, Who Was Samuel Eaton? And, Who Was Sarah Morton? Along with; Meet Roger Burns, and Meet Amanda Poole, who are the children who interpret Samuel and Sarah. The Samuel Eaton book also includes information About the Rye Harvest, Of Long Clothes and Breeches, and The Wampanoag People. Comparisons with present day are instructive and engaging after or even during the reading of these delightful books.

Both published by Scholastic, $7.99 (paperback)