Non-fiction Picture Books and Poetry, non-fiction too!

      For April, Poetry month, I've made the goal to write haiku and haiku-related poems. It's like a little break to write something new every day.

          I'm also happy that some of us are sharing on twitter with the hashtag #DigiPoetry, created by Margaret Simon, of Reflections on The Teche.You're welcome to join us. Find the many Poetry Month offerings rounded up by Jama Rattigan at Jama's Alphabet Soup.  

20)

puddle play,

not too deep -

robin splashing

 Linda Baie © All Rights Reserved

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          Most Wednesdays I'm happy to link to Alyson Beecher's Non-Fiction Picture Book Challenge at her blog, Kidlit Frenzy. I love finding good non-fiction picture books available about many varied topics, for all ages, too. Here are three I enjoyed recently. Thanks for hosting this terrific share, Alyson!

Farmer Will Allen and the Growing Table - written by Jacqueline Briggs Martin & illustrated by Eric-Shabazz Larkin

          From my book lending buddy, a new book about an organization that has grown from a reluctant gardener, Will Allen, who ignored the family gardening when he grew up so he could play basketball, in Belgium. But there he learned that he really loved digging in the earth, and his dreams of food on the table for everyone started with his own farm, then six empty greenhouses in Milwaukee, then forming a community to help him make good earth for growing in the polluted soil. Like his plants, his dream grew and grew. Today, one can visit his Growing Power Farm in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to learn how to grow safer, healthier food to eat. Will Allen’s work has received awards for his work in urban farming, and there is a website for learning more: http://www.growingpower.org. The illustrations by Larkin are big and bold, like Will Allen’s dream!

enormous smallness - A Story of E.E. Cummings

            Fill a book with letters and words, stories of a magical childhood, and beautiful backgrounds of collage and colored drawings, and you have the story of the life of Edward Estlin (e.e.) cummings. He abandoned the usual poet’s mold, wanted to make his mark upon the world, and he did. Remember his “who are you, little I” or “in Just-- / spring, when the world is mud-/luscious”, and the creation of new words along with a new look at old ones? If you read about his childhood, you’ll find some clues to his unique poetry.

Building On Nature - The Life of Antoni Gaudi and illustrated by Julie Paschkis

               Growing up in the beautiful village in Catalonia made a deep impression on Antoni Gaudi, an innovative architect. He broke the rules of design to show his vivid imagination and to please the world in ways no architect had before. Julie Paschkis brings Gaudi’s designs to life in her own unique way.  Included in the work is a gate designed for a friend with a dragon perched atop diamonds and squares and a rooftop courtyard that looks like a ship.