Poetry Friday with a review of Pieces: a Year in poems and quilts

I used to make quilts and loved taking dozens of small pieces of fabric and turning them into a beautiful piece of art that people could snuggle under on a cold day. I was therefore naturally drawn to this poetry book, and was amazed to see how the author created picture quilts that so perfectly complemented her image-rich poems.

Pieces: a Year in poems and quilts

Anna Grossnickle Hines

Poetry Picture Book

For ages 6 to 8

HarperCollins, 2003, 978-0060559601

Writers and illustrators have, over the centuries, found many ways to describe and celebrate the seasons. Poetry is often a format that writers are drawn to using, as the lyrical nature of poems seems to so beautifully ‘fit’ what they are trying to say about the seasons. Often these poems are paired with artwork or photographs that help encapsulate the image or feeling that the poet is trying to capture.  Anna Grossnickle Hines has done something a little different. She pairs the poems she has written with photos of quilts that she has created, and the effect is quite astonishing.

   The poet begins in spring with a poem called Ballet. In the blank verse poem she describes how a crow lands on a cedar branch and how the weight of the bird causes the branch to bounce and the bird to dance. A beautiful quilt shows the crow about to land on the branch, rectangles and triangles of sewn fabric in tones of green forming the fronds at the ends of the branches.

   Green plays a big role in another poem, Do you know Green? Here we see a scene that perfectly captures the colors and textures of spring. The poem describes how “Green sleeps in the winter,” until, with the warming of the sun it, “comes… / tickling the tips / of twiggy tree fingers.”

   In summer we see cows in a field. With a “Scrunch, / crunch, / munch,” they eat their lunch, their tails twitching. Summer is also a time when there is “a mass of wild confusion” of flowers blooming. The “rousing-raucous” celebration of colors and scents stirs us “to jubilation.” During the warms days, hummingbirds “zip zip” and “sip sip” amongst the flowers of the honeysuckle vine.

   Then the tone of the poems and the colors of the quilts shift for fall. Now the green has been replaced with reds, golds, and rusts. We see leaves drifting down singly or in groups, “swirling / and whirling / twisting / and twirling.” Other leaves “skip-a-dip” and others “just drop / flop.”

   Winter brings the greys and blacks of tree branch silhouettes, the pale yellow of a winter sun, and the whites and blues of snowfall. We read about how sometimes, when the author is sleeping at night, “outside / the world is turning / white.”

   At the back of the book the author explains how she created the remarkable quilts that illustrate her poems. We learn how much time and careful effort goes into creating the quilts, and how the author designs them. We learn too that often seams have to be taken out and redone to get the effect the author is looking for.

Picture Book Monday with a review of Sloth Slept On

All too often, when we don't know what something is, we simply walk away. We can't be bothered to find out. We are too busy doing more 'important' things. In today's picture book readers meet some children who encounter an animal that they cannot identify. They could walk away from, it but they don't. Instead they try to find out what it is and then they do their best to help the animal.

Sloth Slept On

Frann Preston-Gannon

Picture Book

For ages 5 to 7

Sterling, 2015, 978-1-4549-1611-6

One day a group of children discover that there is a strange looking animal in a tree in the backyard. The children ask the animal its name, and they ask it what it is doing in their tree, but the animal does not respond at all because it is fast asleep on its branch.

   Wanting to know what the animal is, the children put in in their little red wagon and they “set off to find some answers.” They ask Dad about the animal but he is too busy to answer their questions. They look in books to try to find out what their new friend is, but find nothing. They know what is isn’t, but what it is remains a mystery. The children even imagine that he might be an astronaut, a pirate or a knight. Then one of the children makes a discovery, and they learn that that their new animal friend is very special indeed.

   With touches of pictorial humor throughout her story, the author of this book gives her readers a mystery that they will enjoy sharing. In the artwork we are given clues to the animal’s identity, so that, if we are looking hard enough, we know what the animal is before the children do. This memorable book comes to a close with an ending that is sure to delight readers young and old.

Poetry Friday with a review of Fathers, Mothers, Sisters, Brothers: A Collection of Family Poems

When I was six my parents and I moved to an island where families were big. When our neighbors had a family gathering so many people turned up that the party would spill out of the house and into the garden. My immediate family was small, but it was not long before we were 'adopted' by other families, and we too started having big gatherings that were wonderful affairs.

Today's poetry title celebrates families, and it is full of poems that are tender and amusing.

Fathers, Mothers, Sisters, Brothers: A Collection of Family Poems

Mary Ann Hoberman

Illustrated by Marylin Hafner

Poetry Picture book

For ages 4 to 6

Little Brown, 2001, 978-0316362511

Families come in all shapes and sizes. They can be as small as “One and another,” and they can be big enough to include dear friends who are so close that they too are family. Humans are not the only ones who have families either. “A pair like a kanga and roo is a family,” as are “A calf and a cow that go moo.”

   In this heartwarming picture poetry book Mary Ann Hoberman celebrates families, bringing readers a collection of poems that explore relationships and connections. She begins with a little boy who tells us about his baby brother. We can hear the love in this child’s voice as he tells us that his brother is “beautiful” and how “when he laughs, his dimple shows.” Another child tells us about the walks that he takes with his father. Often his father talks about “how it was when he was small” when he used to take walks with his dad, and how his dad took walks with his dad. Four generations of children in this family have gone down to the beach to watch the ships go by.

   In another poem a little boy introduces us to all his grandparents. We hear how one grandma bakes him birthday cakes and “rubs my tummy when it aches.” His other grandma knits clothes for him, and when he got the chicken pox “She let me have her button box.” One of his grandfathers, the stout one, is teaching him how to yodel; and his tall and thin grandfather is good at basketball.

   In a wonderful poem called Relatives we get to meet one little boy’s colorful family when they are all gathered together in his home. Each one has a comment to make about the boy, and they all talk “as if I couldn’t hear.” He hears about how he has got “Uncle Perry’s nose,” “He looks a tiny bit too thin,” and “has his mother’s knobbly knees.” By the end of the discussion the poor little boy wonders “who I really am.”

  As the pages are turned we hear about special moments in children’s lives that are touched by the actions of their relatives. There is the little girl whose mother cares for her lovingly when the little girl is sick, and then there is the child whose father now lives in a different house and has “another family.” Every time the child and the father get together they have a visit full of happiness, but when the father drives away the child always feels the loss.

   Throughout this book wonderful verse is paired with artwork to give us a taste of moments in children’s lives that are sometimes sweet and sometimes funny.

Picture Book Monday with a review of Lizard from the park

When one is something of a loner, making a friend can be a very big deal indeed. That friend can become the center of one's life, and a much needed presence. In today's picture you will meet a little boy who makes a very special friend indeed, and who then discovers that this friend creates some rather challenging problems.

Lizard from the park

Mark Pett

Picture Book

For ages 5 to 7

Simon and Schuster, 2015, 978-1-4424-8321-7

Every week day Leonard walks home from school by himself, so it is not surprising that on that particular spring afternoon Leonard is walking home through the park on his own. In the deepest and darkest part of the park Leonard finds a very large egg, which he puts into his backpack and takes to his apartment home.

   For the rest of the afternoon Leonard plays with the egg and that night he even sleeps with it. The following morning the egg starts to “jiggle” and “crack” and then a little green lizard emerges. Leonard decides to call the lizard Buster and from that day on the two are inseparable. Leonard shows Buster all his favorite places in the city and they have a wonderful time together.

   Not surprisingly little Buster grows, but what Leonard does not expect that Buster keeps on growing until he is so huge that even a disguise doesn’t cover up the fact that he is very large and very green. Buster is going to have to stay in Leonard’s bedroom and this makes the lizard unhappy.  When Buster outgrows Leonard’s bedroom, Leonard has to reassess. Something has to be done about Buster.

    In this clever and charming picture book we see how a little boy develops a very special relationship with an animal, but in the end he realizes that his new friend cannot go on living with him. What makes this book especially clever is that we are given clues throughout the book that Leonard is not alone and that maybe, just maybe, there is someone out there who knows exactly how he is feeling.

   In this book beautifully atmospheric illustrations and a powerfully simple story are brought together to give readers a memorable story experience.

Poetry Friday with a review of Voice of Freedom Fannie Lou Hamer: Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement

It isn't often that I come across biographies that are written using poems. I am sure such books present the writer with a unique set of challenges. The author of today's poetry title rose to the challenge beautifully and created a book that is powerful and memorable.

Voice of Freedom Fannie Lou Hamer: Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement

Carole Boston Weatherford

Illustrated by Ekua Holmes

Poetry Picture Book

For ages 6 to 8

Candlewick Press, 2015, 978-0-7636-6531-9

Fannie was born in 1917, the daughter of sharecroppers who lived and labored in Sunflower Country in Mississippi. Though the sharecroppers were technically free, their lives were terribly hard, for “Sharecropping was just slavery by a gentler name.” Fannie was only six when she started working in the cotton fields with her family members. Though they picked fifteen tons of cotton each season, they could never “get ahead” because “the scale was always tipped / in the owner’s favor.”

   Even as a young child, Fannie could see that there was no equality in her world. Whites had food, clothes and everything they needed, while blacks worked hard every day and still went hungry. Fannie’s mother taught her daughter that even if they had less than the whites, they were not lesser people. She wanted her youngest child to “respect yourself as a Black child.”

   Worn out by hard work, Fannie’s father died before she twenty-two and many of her brothers and sisters moved north where they hoped to find better paying work. Fannie would have joined them but her mother needed to be taken care of, so she stayed in the land of Jim Crow. Fannie got married and she and her husband did their best to get by, picking cotton in the fields, and selling homemade bootleg liquor.

   In 1962 one of Fannie’s friends told her that some young men were coming to their local church to talk to the congregation about voter registration. Not a single person in the congregation had ever cast a ballot but that did not stop eighteen of them, including Fannie, from volunteering to go to sign up and register. Fannie never imagined that the simple act of going to register to vote would have a huge impact on her life, but it did. The white establishment would not tolerate such behavior, and blacks who tried to sign up were punished over and over again. Fannie lost her job and her home; she was shot at; she had to move from place to place, and then, finally, she decided that enough was enough. Fannie was going to speak out and do her part to bring about change.

   In this memorable picture book biography, powerful poems bring Fannie Lou Hamer’s story to life. We see how she struggled, and how she stood up for what she believed in, even when it was dangerous to do so. The poems contain direct quotes from Fannie Lou Hamer, and at the back of the book an author’s note contains more information about this incredible woman’s life. 

Picture Book Monday with a review of A Lucky Author has a Dog

I am very lucky to have not one but two dogs in my life, and since I work at home they are my constant companions. They don't mind when I read reviews and stories out loud. In fact they are wonderful listeners! They don't mind when I mutter and fuss when things are not going well, and will press their noses into my hand when they feel that I need a little attention. They are wonderful work mates, which is why I was immediately drawn to today's picture book. Anyone who has a dog in their life is lucky, but I think we authors really need our dogs.

A Lucky Author has a dog

Mary Lyn Ray

Illustrated by Steven Henry

Picture Book

For ages 5 to 7

Scholastic, 2015, 978-0-545-51876-5

Every morning a dog up wakes its person with a kiss. The dog’s person is a little different from other people because she is an author, and authors tend to stay at home to work, which means that the dog has a companion all day long. The dog is therefore very lucky indeed.

   The interesting thing is that the dog is not the only one who is lucky. The author is lucky too because she has the dog. Dogs are wonderful partners who understand that what the author is doing is important even if the dog really “isn’t exactly sure what an author does.” The dog is an “encouraging friend” who is always there, and the dog knows when it is time for the author to take a break. Walks are good for the dog, but they are also good for the author as well because new sights, smells and sounds help feed a mind that is stuck and frustrated. In fact, a dog can really show an author “how to look and listen the way a dog does,” which can make all the difference in the world when you are a wordsmith and storyteller.

   In this unique picture book we find out what the life of an author is like, and we also come to appreciate that being an author’s dog is not a job to be taken lightly. As the narrative carries us through the day we see that the relationship between the author and her friend is special because both partners know that they are lucky to have each other.

Poetry Friday with a review of Double Happiness

Moving to a new home can be hard for children. They often have to leave friends and family members behind and it can be scary not knowing what your new life is going to be like.

In this delightful poetry title the author uses a series of poems to tell the story of two children who are moving away from their home in San Francisco and going to a new house many miles away in a different state.

Double Happiness
Nancy Tupper Ling
Illustrated by Alina Chau
Poetry Picture Book
For ages 5 to 7
Chronicle, 2015, 978-1-4521-2918-1
Gracie and her brother Jake are leaving their home in San Francisco and they are going to live in a new place far away from family members, and far from their “city house / by the trolley tracks.” Gracie is not happy about this change but her brother is excited about the prospect of having a new room with all kinds of ‘cool’ things in it.
   Before they leave, the children’s grandmother, Nai Nai, gives each of the children a box in which to put four items, treasures that will lead them “from this home / to your new.” The first item to go into Gracie’s box is her Nai Nai’s panda toy, which Nai Nai gives her. On the bus to the airport Jake finds a lucky penny, which goes into his box. As Gracie gets off the bus at the airport a eucalyptus leaf drifts down in front of her. The leaf is “the perfect treasure to remind me of home” so it is placed carefully into her box.
   As the journey to their new home unfolds, we join Gracie and Jake in their adventures as they visit the plane’s cockpit, try not to fall asleep, and then see their new home “from the sky.”  With their happiness boxes by their sides, the children experience change that is both painful and exciting.
   In this unique book the journey two children take is told in a series of poems. Some of the poems are from Gracie’s point of view, and some are from her exuberant brother’s. Some of them are told using both ‘voices,’ which beautifully capture how different the children are.
   Throughout the book the poems are accompanied by beautiful and emotive illustrations that capture the connection that the children have with their former home, and that also explore the hopes and fears that they have about their new one.

Welcome Autumn!

Autumn is finally here and I am really looking forward to cooler temperatures, colorful trees, sitting by the fire on Sundays, and getting out my knitting needles and yarn. Mind you, yesterday it was eighty degrees here in southern Oregon, which made the day feel more like summer than autumn, but one can hope that this situation will change soon.

Over the years I have reviewed many books about autumn. Some are stories, while others are nonfiction titles about this wonderful season. Do visit the Through the Looking Glass Autumn Days Book Collection page to find books that have a delightful autumn flavor.

Picture Book Monday with a review of Rufus the Writer

The amazing thing about writing stories is that the writing process ends up being a gift to the person who creates the story, and the story itself is a gift to those who read it. In today's picture book you will meet a boy who loves to write stories, and who happily gives his stories away to the people he cares about.

Rufus the Writer

Elizabeth Bram

Illustrated by Chuck Groenink

Picture Book

For ages 5 to 7

Random House, 2015, 978-0-385-37853-6

One day Rufus is lying in the grass looking up at the summer sky when he gets an idea. Instead of having the usual summer lemonade stand he will have a story stand. Rufus runs indoors to gather up what he needs, and he sets up a table outdoors, which he covers with a cloth. He makes a sign for his story stand and lays out paper, pencils, and colors. Rufus then goes and changes his clothes. After all, a writer has to look the part!

   Millie and Walter come by and they invite Rufus to go swimming with them. He explains that he has to take care of his story stand. Walter asks to buy a story and when he asks what the fee will be Rufus tells the little boy to bring him “a special shell from the beach.” After his friends leave, Rufus writes his fist story stand tale, one that will be perfect just for Walter.

   Rufus is working on illustrating his first story when his friend Sandy comes up with some wonderful news. His cat Rainbow has had kittens. Rufus offers to write a story for Sandy so that he can buy one of the kittens. Sandy says that Rufus can have the kitten for free, but Rufus still insists on writing a story in payment, and this is what he does. He writes a story all about a man who discovers that cats are far more important that things.

   The next story Rufus works on is for his sister Annie, who is going to be having her birthday the next day. A story will be a perfect gift; a personal gift unlike any other.

   In this charming picture book we meet a boy who understands how precious stories are. We watch as he carefully crafts tales that will suit the people he is writing them for. Children will enjoy seeing how Rufus’ stories are unique, and how each one has its own flavor, voice and illustrative style.

Poetry Friday with a review of Swimming Upstream: Middle School Poems

Getting used to a new school can be very unnerving. I remember how I felt when I moved from my familiar elementary school to the big high school. I was suddenly in school with much older youngsters (the seventeen and eighteen year olds were huge). I had to figure out how to get to many different classrooms, I had more homework, and I had to get used to being with children I did not know at all.

Today's poetry title explores what just such a transition is like for a girl who is going to middle school for the first time. The poems take us through her first middle school year and we share the may low and high points that she experiences.

Swimming Upstream: Middle School Poems

Kristine O’Connell George

Illustrated by Debbie Tilley

Poetry

For ages 9 to 12

Clarion, 2002, 978-0618152506

It is September again and a new school year at a new school has begun. For some it is time full of dread, and for others it is a time that they have been looking forward to. Before the first bell rings, a girl sees friends whom she knew when she was in elementary school. Some look the same, and some have changed over the summer. Then the bell rings and “everyone scatters, / each of us going / our separate ways.”

    Now the confusion begins. A locker won’t open, she gets lost, she is late because she is lost, and by the time she finds her homeroom all she wants to do is to hide in “the last row.” Then, when the bell rings again, the confusion starts all over as she swims “upstream” against the flow of students to get to her next class. As the crazy day unfolds, even the inside of the girl’s locker start to look comfortingly cozy. At least the locker is “a space all my own.”

   At lunchtime she has no idea where to sit. Her friends from last year have changed and now there all these new people that she has to deal with, people she doesn’t know at all. She sees Margo, but Margo doesn’t see her and soon is gone. Then she sees Kori, the friend from second grade who moved away but who is now back. A familiar face at last!

   Middle school is different from elementary school on so many levels. Not only is it bigger, louder, and very confusing, but she is soon loaded down with homework, textbooks, and a musical instrument.

   As the days go by, some things, like math, friends, and books from the library, make her days brighter and better. Other things, like the flute that refuses to play properly, the gossips, and the snobs, make the days worse. Middle school is a very yes and no, good and bad, sort of place.

   Using a series of wonderful, relatively short, poems, the author of this book takes us into the world of a new middle school student. We follow as she falls for a boy, takes and aces tests, learns phrases in French and Spanish from her friends, and learns how to find her way around what, at first, is a very alien environment. With humor, candor and sensitivity, the author gives us slices of a year in the girl’s life, and we are left knowing that though there were hard times, she comes out of it stronger and happier than she went in. 

Picture Book Monday with a review of Boom Snot Twitty: This way that way

When a group of friends get together to plan an outing of some kind it can, sometimes, be very hard to get those friends to agree on what they are going to do. One person wants to go shopping, another wants to go to a museum, yet another thinks that they should go for a hike. Today's picture book shows us what happens when two friends cannot agree about how to spend their day. Readers will be delighted when they see how this story works out.

Boom Snot Twitty: This way that way
Doreen Cronin
Illustrated by Renata Liwska
Picture Book
For ages 4 to 6
Penguin Random House, 2015, 978-0-670-78577-3
Boom the bear, Twitty the robin, and Snot the snail are all ready “to find the perfect spot to spend the day.” Boom is ready to set off “this way,” Twitty wants to go “that way,” and Snot, well Snot doesn’t say anything other than “Hmmm.”
   Boom says that he has got everything he needs to spend the day playing on the sand and in the water at the beach. Twitty has brought her hiking boots, binoculars, camera and rope so that she can go hiking in the mountains. Snot has brought snacks.
   Snot asks her friends what they want to do when they get to their perfect places and Boom and Twitty tell her. Then Boom and Twitty start to argue until Boom is hungry and Twitty is tired. It is only then that the friends, for friends they are even when they are not agreeing with each other, realize that Snot is missing.
   This sweetly funny book reminds children that even if your friends are not exactly like you, you can, if you make the effort, find common ground so that everyone is happy. After all, what you do when you are together does not really matter that much. What matters is that you are together, in each other’s company. Children will love the way in which Snot, the quiet one, is the friend who makes the right choice about where the perfect place is.

Poetry Friday with a review of Poems in the Attic

When I was a child my Aunt D used to tell me stories about the childhood that she and my father shared in India. I love those stories because they helped me better understand who my father was and why he grew up to become such a thoughtful, bookish man who was fascinated by people.

In today's poetry title you will meet a little girl who gets to know her mother better by reading a collection of poems that her mother wrote when she was a child. The litter girl finds out about the adventures that her mother, had and about the challenges that she faced. The free verse and Japanese tanka poems that cover the pages in this book give readers the opportunity to shift between the child of the present and the child of the past.

Poems in the Attic

Nikki Grimes

Illustrations by Elizabeth Zunon

Poetry Picture Book

For ages

Lee and Low, 2015, 978-1-62014-027-7

One day a seven-year-old girl goes into the attic in her grandmother’s house to explore. She finds a cedar box full of poems that her mother wrote when she was seven years old. As the daughter of a military man, Mama moved around a lot, and she had many memorable experiences. Now her daughter can read about these experiences in her mother’s poems.

   She reads about how her mama, when she lived in California, went to the beach with her father to see the Grunion Run. Together Mama and her father saw “slim fish, silver as new dimes” wriggling onto the beach where they laid their eggs.

   She reads about how Mama and Grandma made paper bag luminaries when they lived in Mexico, and how they used the bags, with their “scalloped” tops and happy painted faces, to decorate the path leading up to their adobe home. Grandma even teaches the little girl the “kind of magic she and Mama used to make / every December, in New Mexico.” Through their craft activity they have a wonderful time together connecting with the past.

   Looking through a photo album the little girl see a picture of her mother with a snowman “that stands taller than she.” The child also reads her mother’s poem, in which Mama describes how she used the skies her father gave her to shuffle around her back yard in the snow. In her dreams she was “flying downhill.”

   Often Mama’s father was away from the family for months, and when they lived in Colorado Mama had to bring a photo of her father to school for Bring Your Dad Day because he was away. The little girl is sure that Mama must have missed her father very much during those long separations.

   When she reads her mother’s poem describing how she and her family members went canoeing when they lived in Virginia, the little girl understands why her mother has so many pictures of kayaks and canoes on their walls at home.  

   In this remarkable book every spread gives readers a free verse poem that captures the little girl’s feelings as she gets to know her mother through her poems. On the facing page readers will find her mother’s poems. The mother’s poems are written in the Japanese tanka format, which use five lines. There are five syllables in the first and third lines, and seven syllables in the second, fourth, and fifth lines.

   It is fascinating to see how Nikki Grimes uses poems to tell a story that is powerful and poignant, and that celebrates the connection that a child shares with her mother; a connection that reaches back into the past.

Picture Book Monday with a review of Here comes the Tooth Fairy Cat

Many children are eager to meet Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy. They are curious to see what these marvelous characters are like, and perhaps to even petition them for more presents, chocolate eggs, and money. In today's picture book you will meet Cat, a feline who is not content with getting things from these characters. Cat wants more; he wants to do their job for them and become the hero of the moment.



Here comes the Tooth Fairy Cat

Deborah Underwood

Illustrated by Claudia Rueda

Picture Book

For ages 5 to 7

Penguin, 2015, 978-0-525-42774-2

Cat has lost a tooth and like all self-respecting people (and cats), he puts his tooth under his pillow so that the tooth fairy will come. In the morning Cat finds a coin under his pillow, but he is not happy because he was hoping that he would get to meet the tooth fairy. Cat, who is a very determined fellow and who likes scheming, decides that he is going to find a way to get the tooth fairy to come back. He does not have another tooth to leave under his pillow, so he puts the tooth of comb there instead.

   Not surprisingly, the tooth fairy does not come. Shame on cat for thinking he could trick her! Cat is scowling at the tooth from the comb when the doorbell rings. When he opens the door, Cat finds that there are two packages and an envelope on the doorstep. The envelope contains a letter from the tooth fairy. She commends Cat for trying the comb tooth trick, and then says that if he helps her “with a few deliveries” it might be possible for them to meet face to face.

   In the larger box Cat finds a tooth fairy costume, and in the smaller box he finds someone, Mouse, who is going to help him. It would appear that Cat is not the only one to try the comb tooth trick on the tooth fairy. Mouse did the same thing.

   Cat and Mouse are given the job of retrieving three teeth for the tooth fairy, but the jobs turn out to be a lot trickier than they imagined it would be. Not only are the retrievals difficult, but Cat and Mouse have to figure out how to work together!

   Once again Cat, who is naughty sometimes but who is also very lovable, is given the chance to take on a new role. Cat likes to think that he is pretty sneaky, but it turns out that this time there is someone around who is even sneakier than he is.

   Throughout the book the narrative is told in the form of a conversation between Cat and a hidden reader. This interesting format, and the wonderfully expressive illustrations, makes this a picture book that is sure to delight readers of all ages. In addition to exploring the nature of cooperation, it offers up a reminder that one should never try to pull a fast on a fairy.

Poetry Friday with a review of For Laughing Out Loud: Poems to tickle your funny bone

I have been working very hard these last few days and am, therefore, rather stressed. I can feel it in my shoulders and know that I need to relax, but how? Last night my husband cracked one of his word pun jokes and made me laugh. It was almost as if someone had flipped a switch. I immediately felt less tight, and the feeling lasted. Clearly laughter really is good for you!

To help you bring laughter into your lives I bring you a book that was put together just so that you would laugh!

For Laughing Out Loud: Poems to tickle your funny bone 

Selected by Jack Prelutsky

Illustrated by Marjorie Priceman

Poetry Picture Book

For ages 5 to 8

Random House, 1991, 978-0394821443

When he set about choosing poems for this collection, poet Jack Prelutsky was interested in finding poems that would make his readers “laugh out loud.” Actually, he wanted even more than that. He wanted his readers to “crow for weeks” and “laugh until you cry.”

   Now, this may seem like a rather peculiar thing to want to do, but making people laugh is a wonderful goal to have. Surely the world would be a better place if we all smiled, giggled, and chuckled a little (or a lot) more.

   Throughout the book poems of all kinds offer readers amusing anecdotes, stories, and descriptions to enjoy. There are limericks galore, and poems that parody other poems. There are long poems and short ones. There are poems by famous poets such as Michael Rosen, Jane Yolen, and Ogden Nash. There are poems that Jack Prelutsky himself wrote.

   The topics that the poems explore are varied, and often they are quite ridiculous, which is exactly what you would expect in a collection of this kind. We read about a man who collects pancakes and whose whole house is decorated with examples of his edible collection. What is nice about this man is that he is a generous collector who is quite willing to let visitors take some of his pancakes home with them; so long as they “say nice things about them.”

   The pancake collector is only one of many odd characters who appear on the pages. There is Hughbert who glued himself to the floor, and Chester who, when his sweater unravels, disappears altogether. Beanbag Jim is so loose and limber that he appears to be quite boneless.

   Readers will also find a recipe for rhinoceros stew, and will learn how to make a snowflake soufflé. They will hear from a dodo who is terrible sick, and they will even find a poem that consists of a list of rules, one of which is, “Do not bathe in chocolate pudding.”

   This is the kind of book a reader can dip into at will. There will always be something that will appeal, no matter what kind of mood the reader is in; and there is always something that will, at the very least, make the reader grin.

Picture Book Monday with a review of The Good Little Book

This may sound strange to some of you ,but I have close relationships with a few of my books. They have become friends, companions who comfort me during hard times. The familiar words offer solace when the world feels unfriendly and confusing.

Today's picture book explores the relationship that one little boy has with a book, and readers will be intrigued to see that the story does not, perhaps, turn out the way they it would.

The good little book
Kyo Maclear
Illustrated by Marion Arbona
Picture Book
For ages 5 to 7
Tundra, 2015, 978-1-77049-451-0
There once was a good little book that rested on a shelf in a study alongside many other books. Unlike many of the other books, the good little book did not have a flashy cover, nor had it been awarded medals. It was just a modest little book.
   One day a boy came into the study, and he was not in a very good mood. He was in trouble and had been told to “think things over.” The boy did this, for the briefest of times, and then he started to look around the study. He found the good little book, opened it, and started to read. In no time at all the boy was swept up by the narrative in the book, and he barely noticed time passing. He read the book from cover to cover and then read it all over again.
   All through winter the boy went about his days with the good little book as his “loyal companion.” In spring the special connection between the book and its boy kept going, until one terrible day when the book fell out of the boy’s backpack and was lost. The boy was so worried about the book and spent hours looking for it. The boy was concerned that the book, which “did not have the skills that would help it in the dangerous wild or in the rushing streets,” would not be able to survive.
   The boy asked people for help, he put up lost book posters, and he searched the library; all to no avail. What he did not know was that the good little book was coping quite well, considering that it was small, unassuming, and helpless.
   This wonderful picture book beautifully captures the way in which a person can have a special relationship with a book. It also celebrates the way in which a book lives on within the hearts and minds of its readers, long after it has gone out into the world to find new readers.

Poetry Friday with a review of Neon Aliens Ate my Homework and other poems

School is about to start, or has just started, for children all over the world. Now that a new school year is here, somehow it seems very appropriate to post my review of Neon Aliens Ate my Homework and other poems. After all, it won't be long before the homework blues will start, when children will be wishing that they could find a handy alien to conveniently 'eat' their not-yet-done homework assignments.

Neon Aliens Ate my Homework and other poems

Nick Cannon

Poetry

For ages 6 to 8

Scholastic 2015, 978-0-545-72281-0

Ever since he was a boy, Nick Cannon has loved poetry, and poetry’s musical cousin, rap. He wrote his first rap-style poem when he was eight, and has been writing, in one form or another, ever since. Inspired by Shel Silverstein and by “the storytellers of the street,” Cannon has worked to create unique rhyming poems that will appeal to young readers. His hope is that his audience will discover for themselves how freeing it is to write.

   Cannon begins by honoring the man who had such a huge impact on his life. In his poem Remembering Shel, he thanks Shel Silverstein who “changed my life with just his words.” Cannon encourages readers to pick up one of Shel’s books and to discover for themselves the wonders that lie within.

   The poem that follows, Neon Aliens Ate my Homework, takes us into a story that is funny and that has a wonderful twist at the end. The poem is told through the eyes of a boy who is abducted by aliens from his home. The boy, fearing that the aliens are going to eat him, gives them his notebook and school backpack to munch on; but, alas, the aliens are still hungry. The boy then has no choice but to give them his “totally finished algebra worksheet.” Only them do the aliens let him go home.

   We go from this alien tale to a poem about the Gabulous Gazzor. This device is a five-armed robot that that does every chore that it is given. It can clean floors, do the grocery shopping, wash dishes and windows, and so much more. This seems all too good to be true but “just wait! There’s more!” because the machine does all these things without being a nuisance in any way. In short, folks, this is a machine that is “one of kind” and you should get one right now.

   Interspersed amongst the humorous poems, are poems of a different kind that address big world issues such as creativity, people who are “haters,” following in the footsteps of a much respected father, and lending a hand to those in need. These poems are both thoughtful and thought provoking. They give us a sense that though Nick Cannon loves to amuse his readers, he also likes to give them something to think about as well.

   Throughout the book the poems are illustrated by street artists who have shown their work “on walls all over the world.”

Picture Book Monday with a review of The Tweedles Go Online

Many of us love new gadgets. We want the newest phone, the newest computer tablet, the newest e-reader that has all the most up-to-date bells and whistles. We get so caught up in the new tech buzz that we forget that sometimes new technologies make our lives more complicated. Sometimes they even get in the way of things that make our lives happier and richer.

In this second Tweedles book, Monica Kulling brings back the wonderful family whose members are living in a time when new technologies are around every corner. Seeing how they cope with these technologies is amusing, and their experiences also serve as a reminder that we need to control our gadgets and not be controlled by them.

The Tweedles Go Online
Monica Kulling
Illustrated by Marie Lafrance
Picture Book
For ages 5 to 7
Groundwood, 2015, 978-1-55498-353-7
One day Mama is preparing to make pickles when her neighbor, Gladys Hamm, comes rushing in and she is in a very excited state. With great pride Glays tells Mama that she now has a telephone installed at her house. She uses the newfangled device to order her groceries and to talk to her sister whenever she wants to.
   That evening Mama announces that the Tweedles are “going online;” they are going to get a telephone. Her daughter Franny is delighted, but her husband and son are less sure about the wisdom of getting a phone. Frankie is far too interested in taking care of the family’s electric car to care about a telephone, which cannot even be driven. Papa doesn’t like the idea that people will be able to hear his conversations. The idea of a telephone, with its lack of privacy, does not appeal to him at all.
   Soon enough the telephone is installed in the hall. When it rings for the first time fearless Franny answers it and then her mother talks to Gladys. She talks to her for so long that when she hangs up everyone else is the family has gone to bed.
   It soon becomes clear that the telephone may not be such a wonderful idea after all. Even Franny, who has wanted a phone for a while, begins to see that the machine might be more of a nuisance than a convenience.
   It is all too easy to become more than a little addicted to new and interesting technological devices. The problem is that they can take over our lives and cause us to miss out on the things in life that really do matter. With humor and sensitivity, Monica Kulling explores how one family copes when a new telephone is brought into their household. As the story unfolds, readers can see the writing on the wall, but they cannot be sure how the Tweedles are going to respond to this new technological crisis.

Poetry Friday with a review of Flicker Flash

These days many of us take artificial lights for granted. It is only when the power goes out that we realize what it is like not to have lights turn on at the flick of a switch. Here in southern Oregon we have been sitting under a pall of wildfire smoke for several weeks now, and though we still have electric lights, the sun is a pale hazy thing in the smokey sky, and often we cannot see the moon and stars at all. I miss nature's lights, which make our world such a beautiful place.

Today's poetry title celebrates lights of all kinds and I think I will go and light a candle now, to add a touch of bright sunshine to this room.

Flicker Flash

Joan Bransfield Graham

Illustrated by Nancy Davis

Poetry Picture Book

For ages 5 to 7

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2003, 978-0618311026

Light, in its many forms, has a huge impact on our lives. The sun’s light greets us in the morning, and on many nights moonlight sends us off to bed. Under the covers children read another chapter of their new book by flashlight, while the flickering lights of fireflies dance in the darkness outdoors.

   In this unique poetry collection the author explores the many ways in which light touches us as we go about our days and nights. The poems are concrete poems, which means that the words are arranged on the page in such a way that they create a picture.

  For example, in her poem Candle, the text is placed so that it looks like the post of a candle, with the word candle at the top forming the flame. The poem that creates the word picture is beautifully composed telling readers of how the “quick, / exotic light, / a dancing / vision of the night” “helps erase” the darkness that is “slyly creeping / up my back.”

   In Cresent Moon, we see a simple poem smiling out at us from the page, a thin sliver of yellow in the night sky, and in Birthday Candles the words are arranged so that they look like a birthday cake, complete with four candles. The words that serve as the candles on the cake form the phrase “Happy Day” (twice) and the icing words describe how the candles are “Like shooting stars / that blaze the dark.” Even when the candles have been blown out the light from the faces “circled near” is still there.

   Other topics covered in these poems include the sun, a firefly, a match, a lightning bolt, a light bulb, a porch light, stars and the full moon, a spotlight, the light inside a fridge, a lighthouse light, and a lamp.

   Children will enjoy seeing how a poem can titillate both their eyes and their eyes, and they might even be inspired to write a light-filled concrete poem of their own.

Picture Book Monday with a review of Zen Socks

Jon Muth is an author and illustrator whose work is so beautiful and powerful that I feel very humbled every time I get to experience one of his creations. Today's picture book title is the third of his Zen books, and once again Stillwater the panda bear features in the narrative. 

Zen Socks

Jon J. Muth

Picture Book

Ages 6 and up

Scholastic, 2015, 978-0-545-16669-0

Leo and Molly love living in their neighbourhood, and one of the reasons why they like living where they do is because Stillwater lives across the road. Stillwater is a panda bear and he is a gentle, kind, and wise friend.

   One day Molly invites Stillwater to come outside to dance with her, and soon she and the bear, both clad in tutus, are happily doing ballet on the front lawn. Molly plans on becoming a ballet dancer like her aunt, and she will get her dream by practicing all day. She tells Stillwater how she will become famous and will “get flowers and lots of blue ribbons and tiaras and my name will be on posters with lots of glitter!” Stillwater suggests that it might take some time to attain this dream, but Molly is in a hurry to get the skill and fame she seeks.

   Stillwater then tells Molly a story about a young fellow called Jiro who wants to become a great swordsman like his father; so Jiro goes to see Banzo, the master swordsman, to learn from him. Jiro is impatient and eager to learn as fast as he can but instead of teaching him swordsmanship, Banzo makes Jiro work all day doing chores. Only after three years have passed does Banzo start to teach Jiro the skills he needs to have to wield a sword.

   Molly understands what Stillwater’s story means. She needs to practice diligently for “as long as it takes.” She must not rush a process that requires both hard work and patience.

   This lesson in patience is only one of many things that Molly and Leo learn from Stillwater. Through his actions and his stories, Stillwater helps the children understand that the root to happiness is not about getting “all the best things for ourselves.” They also come to see that we must keep doing the right and kind thing, even when it looks as if our actions seem inadequate in a world full of problems.

   In this, his third, Zen book, Jon, J. Muth helps us see how little life experiences can help us learn about the world and each other. Wisdom is there for us to find if we just take the time to look around and open our eyes. 

Poetry Friday with a review of Something Sure smells around here: Limericks

When I was young some of the first poems I got to know well were Edward Lear's limericks. Limericks are funny, easy to learn poems that children cannot help liking; and since they are short, they also are fun to write.

Something Sure smells around here: Limericks

Brian P. Cleary

Illustrated by Andy Rowland

Poetry

For ages 6 to 8

Millbrook, 2015, 978-1-4677-2044-1

What do you get when you combine a short rhyming poem with a joke? A limerick. These five line poems always have a rhythm, and the words at the ends of the first, second and last lines always rhyme. Though they are short, these amusing poems always tell a story of some kind that end with a ‘punchline’ that make readers smile, laugh…or groan.

   The author of this engaging book begins by offering his readers a description of what a limerick is and how such poems are constructed. In fact he walks us through the process, explaining what the “rules” of limericks are so that readers can write their own. He wraps up by reminding us that we should “have fun” when we are creating limericks.

   We then get to see for ourselves how much fun limericks are because the rest of the book is full of these laughter-filled poems. They all tell a humorous little story, and the closing line in each one will certainly put a smile on every reader’s face.

   This book is one in a series of titles about the many forms that poems can take.