We Make a Fist (Monday Poem)

by Mahogany L. Browne


The girl up the block is good at coloring in the lines

The kid next door is great at popping wheelies

My cousin across the street is a magician when it comes to making songs

And my brother is good  at baking cookies

When we want to have a picnin
We bring our greatest talents
Put them all on the blanket
And share with each other
The laughter and songs
The artwork and baked goods
Created by our hands



from The Proper Way to Meet a Hedgehog and Other How-To Poems
selected by Paul B. Janeczko 
illustrated by Richard Jones
Candlewick Press, 2019

How to Bird-Watch (Monday Poem)

by Margarita Engle


A Tanka

be very quiet
and amazingly patient
until finally
a shy dove thinks your green shirt
is part of a shady tree




from The Proper Way to Meet a Hedgehog and Other How-To Poems
selected by Paul B. Janeczko 
illustrated by Richard Jones
Candlewick Press, 2019

Holiday Stories (FAMILY magazine reviews)

What are you hoping for this holiday season? Take a look at these upbeat family stories that turn their characters from discouragement to optimism as each story accelerates. Choose one to read for several weeks or several nights, engaging youngsters and increasing their anticipation of the approaching season. Let the celebrations begin!!

Alphabet of Dreams

 by Susan Fletcher

Mitra/Ramin and her younger brother Babak, from a noble Persian family, have become beggars due to their father’s unsuccessful plot against the tyrant-king Phraates. She has disguised herself as a boy, while her older brother, Suren, has left, at her urging, to learn what remains of their family, and dig up gold from the home they have fled, to help them recover their status. Meanwhile, Babak discovers if he sleeps with something belonging to another, he can dream that person’s dreams. 

            Author Fletcher has set this young adult novel, like a previous novel, Shadow Spinner, in ancient Persia (now Iran). It is the time of the Magi and the cusp of a new era. 

            Babak and Ramin/Mitra join the caravan of a powerful Magus who, understanding the movements of the stars, and wanting what Babak’s special abilities can offer him, is traveling to Bethlehem. In the course of their journey, three animals, a skinny, feeble donkey, a one-eyed kitten, and a mange-infested camel become their companions: they are kidnapped, escape, and are rescued, and ultimately do some rescuing themselves.

            Long fascinated by the story of the Magi’s journey to Bethlehem, Fletcher also demonstrates her fascination with Persian/Iranian history, weaving celestial events, ethical practice, and traveling details seamlessly into her absorbing holiday tale of another age.

Atheneum, $7.99

Interest Level: Grades 6+

Letter on the Wind: A Chanukah Tale 

by Sarah Marwil Lamstein

illustrated by Neil Waldman.

            Based on a Tunisian Jewish folktale, this beautifully illustrated picture book uses watercolors and Micron archival inking pens to give crisp clarity and intriguing detail to this unconventional retelling. The year that “rain was a stranger,” the “olives shrank” on the trees, providing no oil to light the menorahs. “No olives, no oil, no Chanukah,” sighed the villagers.

            Hayim, the poorest man in the village, asks the scribe to write a letter to the Almighty. Amid laughter and pity from those in the marketplace, the scribe does so, scoffing. From the highest hill outside the village, Hayim launches his letter into a steady breeze.

            The answer to Hayim’s letter arrives as a gift from the Almighty with enough oil for the entire village, which Hayim joyfully shares. The scribe however, wonders if Hayim is a thief, and soon the entire village refuses to use the “stolen” oil.

            Watercolor paintings in blues and grays partnered with earth tones and edged in crisp black ink emphasize the lyrical text, bringing to life a reminder of the original Chanukah. The merchant who responds to Hayim’s letter, also receives a letter questioning Hayim’s integrity. His arrival and presence in the village shames those who accused Hayim. An author’s note on the final page highlights the miracle told in the First Book of Maccabees from the Old Testament.

Boyds Mills Press, $16.95

Interest Level: Grades 2-4

The Family Under the Bridge 

by Natalie Savage Carlson

illustrated by Garth Williams

            Armand, an old hobo living on the streets of Paris, likes his unattached life, despite his need to beg and sleep under a bridge. His odd jobs barely keep him fed, but when he returns to the bridge where he usually sleeps in winter, arriving just before Christmas, he finds three red-haired children and a dog behind a canvas in his usual place.

Their mother is working at a laundry and their landlady has put them out because there is not enough money to pay the rent since their father died. After an excursion together, that included singing for coins, and a visit to Father Christmas in the store, the Calcet children’s mother is angry that they are begging. Although Armand leaves, he returns to rescue the children from some women who would separate the family. That night when Armand reunites the children and their mother, she is upset that he has brought them to a gypsy camp. The children are delighted, however, playing together with the gypsy children, and sleeping in a “house on wheels.”

But the gypsies must leave suddenly, and the Calcets still do not have a home. Garth Williams occasional drawings glow even in charcoal shades, enriching this charming story with his characteristic warmhearted illustrations.

However, an unexpected solution brings this lovely warm adventure to a perfectly nuanced conclusion in a surprising celebration for the holidays.

           

HarperCollins, $6.99

Interest Level: Grades 2-5

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Unfurling People (Monday Poem)

by Elizabeth Acevedo


People leave their homes
even when they love their homes
because people are like flowers:
and sometimes, the places where we live
do not have enough to water us all,
or they have enough sunlight,
but it's being used to scorch us;
or the soil is fertile, but those who tend it
want to pluck us straight out
before we've grown to our full potential.
And so, immigration is like tucking your roots
carefully into yourself
and repotting in a different land.

Immigration is an attempt to 
bloom and blossom
and brighten a new place
with the colors and scents
you've brought with you.
IT is an attempt to remember
where you are from, and the place that made you,
and also unfurl to the possibilities
of the new place you call home.

Immigration is learning to stretch
into a bridge,
backward and forward,
one limb in each place,
learning to hold tight to traditions
and customs and names and memories in one hand,
and with the other hand let go and lean in
to a place you hope will see you
for all the beauty that you bring.




from Woke: A Young People's Call to Justice 
by Mahogany L. Browne, 
illustrated by Theodore Taylor III
Roaring Brook Press, 2020
 

Iroquois Prayer (Monday Poem)

Anonymous


We return thanks to our mother, the earth, which sustains us.
We return thanks to the rivers and streams, which supply us with water.
We return thanks to all herbs, which furnish medicines for the care of our diseases.
We return thanks to the corn, and to her sisters, the beans and squashes, which give us life.
We return thanks to the bushes and trees, which provide us with fruit.
We return thanks to the wind, which, moving the air, has banished diseases.
We return thanks to the moon and stars, which have given us their light when the sun was gone.
We return thanks to our grandfather, He-no,
  that he has protected his grandchildren from witches and reptiles, and has given to us his rain.
We return thanks to the sun, that has looked upon the earth with a beneficent eye.
Lastly, we return thanks to the Great Spirit,
  in whom is embodied all goodness, and who directs all things for the good of his children.



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

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening (Monday Poem)

by Robert Frost


Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little house must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy falke.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.



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

Something Told the Wild Geese (Monday Poem)

by Rachel Field


Something told the wild geese
It was time to go.
Though the fields lay golden
Something whispered, ---"Snow."
Leaves were green and stirring,
Berries, luster-glossed,
But beneath warm feathers
Something cautioned, -- "Frost."
All the sagging orchards
Steamed with amber spice,
But each wild breast stiffened
At remembered ice.
Something told the wild geese
It was time to fly,---
Summer sun was on their wings,
Winter in their cry.




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