Poetry Friday - Seasonal Happiness

       It's Poetry Friday, and Susan is hosting HERE on her blog, Chicken Spaghetti.  If you're thinking of having lunch anytime soon, I suggest that you run right over to Susan's post and have "Lunch with Laura". A certain poet named David Moody has prepared it! Thanks for hosting, Susan!

        I know, I know. Autumn does not officially start until September 22nd, yet here at home in Denver, night is arriving sooner. It's dark in the morning when I rise, and some leaves are changing. . . And, of course, schools have started! It's a lovely time to be outside, glorying in the late-summer blooms. The cosmos and the black-eyed susans, among others, fill gardens, aiming to have the last laugh!

       Here is my response to the challenge from the Poetry Sisters to join them in writing ekphrastic poems. Thanks to  Tanita, Laura,  Mary Lee,  Liz, Sara, Tricia, and Kelly. Make sure to stop by and read their posts! Find more poems from this prompt tagged with #PoetryPals. 

Trees start their whispers:

“Hey, leaves, okay to let go."

‘Til next year, Summer.”

Cicadas applaud.

 

Linda Baie ©

  

Poetry Friday - Things to Remember

  It's Poetry Friday, and Rose Cappelli is hosting HERE on her blog, Imagine The Possibilities. She brings us a place where we'd all love to be, watching for the sun rise over the ocean. It makes me want to be there with her!

        This time in our country's history feels very important. Whatever you think about the politics, it seems right to look deeply in our hearts about who we are, what we really believe. I have a favorite poem by Joy Harjo that speaks to this and I want to share it with you, a gift of introspection.

              Remember

                              by Joy Harjo

Remember the sky that you were born under,
know each of the star’s stories.
Remember the moon, know who she is.
Remember the sun’s birth at dawn, that is the
strongest point of time. Remember sundown
and the giving away to night.
Remember your birth, how your mother struggled
to give you form and breath. You are evidence of
her life, and her mother’s, and hers.

                              the rest is HERE

       And, quickly, I want to give a shout-out for Naomi Shihab Nye's new book of poetry, Grace Notes. Possibly all you need to know is that she has a new book, but you can find my review here from Goodreads if you'd like to know more. 

Monday Reading! Lots of Great Books Here!

      

        Visit Kellee and Ricki at UnleashingReaders and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts to see what they and others have been reading! Your TBR lists will grow!    I'm back from Costa Rica, trying to catch up with those books I read right before and after! It was a great trip, now missing the beach!

       Ariel Lawhon writes historical fiction. This book is her latest, a complex story of a real-life heroine who worked for and led the resistance in France. It's a riveting story of love and war and frightening scenes but she never stopped doing the hard things in order to win! The saddest scenes are of the goodbyes. The happiest ones are the hellos! From her start as a free-lance reporter, viewing a whipping of an older woman by a Nazi named Wolff, bringing her eventually to Marseilles and a bartender with quiet, secret work, to a man who calls her "ma fille qui rit" (my girl who laughs), and to a life she never imagined but accepted. Lawhon weaves the chapters back and forth in time, following Nancy Wake's four code names she went by. Yes, there was a real Nancy Wake, fighting to get the Nazis out of France. It's a special and spectacular story! 

           Thanks to Candlewick Press for the following three books!

      Cynthia Leitich Smith offers a great follow-up to Hearts Unbroken. Out last year, but now time to prepare for Halloween, readers are back in the town that is preparing their "Harvest House", a spooky experience for everyone. When Hughie finds that the fall school play is out because of budget cuts, he's glad to be a volunteer to create the 'show' with his friend, Sam, and others. That is, he's fine until he discovers that the plans include someone will play the "vengeful maiden", a folktale from their Crossroads. Hughie is a great kid, willing to create and find ways to tell the person in charge that there are better ways to scare than using Native American tropes. He leans on friends and family for help while he navigates those who threaten. As Halloween draws closer, Hughie and friends begin to investigate what's really happening at night at the Crossroads and Smith leads us into what indeed might be ghosts because of a real-life event years earlier. It was not easy to predict the ending, but I enjoyed the way the friends stuck together, questioning and helping, no matter how challenging, or frightening! 

          Clover Robin's collaged illustrations show the reality of these amazing swifts, told in brief text by Justin Anderson, wowing me on every page as I learned about them. From the back matter: "There are about one hundred different species around the world." Anderson tells of four on that page, but the book features the Common Swift. Don't miss this story of those swifts who, yearly, fly from Africa to Northern Europe (without stopping!) to find a mate or re-unite with their mates. There's more about how they manage, what happens over various areas, raising their chicks. I know that there are swifts, but had no idea they had these powers, had the adaptations to survive in the air for days and days, AND DAYS! 

         If you're interested, go to this site to learn all about these "swift" things: https://www.swiftmapper.org.uk/  Anderson adds an index to his book, too.

Poetry Friday - That Thing That Happens

 

created by Linda Mitchell

          It's Poetry Friday, and Janice Scully is hosting HERE on her blog, Salt City Verse. She is sharing a beautiful picture book of poetry and her own poem to her mother. Thanks for hosting, Janice!  

           We are back from our trip to Costa Rica, full of fun and family and ocean waves! Often on these trips, we celebrate birthdays. My granddaughter, Imogene, turned thirteen on the Monday we were there. Sometimes we travel further into August when we celebrate my son's and his son's birthdays, too! Time keeps going and going.

          This week, a memory came up on Facebook, and then I thought of the picture I took during our trip, and the poem I found and read on Imogene's big day. I thought many of you would enjoy it. I have kept it a while on my desktop and tried to find it online, and its author. I cannot. Obviously, I copied it from somewhere, but have no memory of the book it was in. If you know who wrote this, let me know, please! It is a delight for those of us who see our children, and perhaps grandchildren, grow up, and then grow up more. 

        (NOTE! Tabatha guessed who, or knew! The poem is from MY HEAD HAS A BELLYACHE by Chris Harris! Thanks, Tabatha!)

2012

                I'm unsure why they're sitting on the floor in the kitchen?

2024

It's Monday! - Three Special Books

     

        Visit Kellee and Ricki at UnleashingReaders and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts to see what they and others have been reading! Your TBR lists will grow!    

        I've been on vacation, a wonderful time in Costa Rica, and I wrote these days ago, yet don't want to miss sharing these three marvelous books! 

       Trapped in a world where 'beautiful' is everything, Vera Brosgol offers a new look at a heroine, "Plain Jane," who cannot inherit her family's fortune because she's female but also cannot get anyone to marry her (to get that fortune) because she's, well, "plain."  Magic helps Jane begin to look for a friend, who receives a lot of attention because he's cute but now is lost at sea. She has the capacity to breathe underwater for only three days, and what an exciting and perilous time she has. The visual art captured me as Jane swirls through the sea with mermaids, terrifying sea monsters, selkies, and more! Take time to immerse yourself in this fantastic adventure of a young girl who is not afraid to take risks by choosing to do right. It's a wonderful new graphic novel. Vera Brosgol writes a special author's note about her connection to the challenges of body image. 

         Hank Hooperman is such a wonderful "almost" twelve-year-old. When readers learn about him from page one and on, they will be shocked at all that he manages to do, especially for his three-year-old sister, Bridget (Boo is her nickname).  He's used to his mother not showing up for a day or two, yet this time, it's been a week! His dear grandmother passed away a year ago and he cannot rely on her anymore. They're out of money so they cannot go to the corner store for Cheetoes. The lights just went out; no more TV! And, the landlord is yelling and banging on their door, saying they're about to be evicted. Hank finds his permission slip where his mom has written a name, Lou Ann Adler, in case of emergency and her address. And, he finds a bus pass! Off they go into the unknown, because it has to be better than home, right? Gennifer Choldenko gives readers a character who will not be forgotten for his love and hope, for showing us his thoughts on the mistakes made, mistakes overcome, and mistakes allowed, especially for Boo. Don't miss learning the story of Hank and learn what kindness is about when someone needs it so very much. 

         Loren Long runs along a bike trail where he sees an abandoned yellow bus. More than once he imagines where, when, and who had been on that bus. That becomes this story of an object we all recognize, a vehicle that's been around for many years. Long, through his imagination for just the right words and sounds, plus his beautifully drawn illustrations, has given us a story that will never grow old. I imagine readers who will read this many years from now. After all, we all hold dear memories of our own "yellow bus"! Those in the future will, too!

Next? Reading two books for adults right now, and Harvest House by Cynthia Leitich Smith is next!