Poetry Friday - A review of Something Fishy

When I was growing up we went camping at the seaside every summer. We pitched tents on the beach and for days I had a wonderful time building things out of rocks, swimming, exploring the beach, and snorkeling. I would snorkel for so long my skin got wrinkly and my face mask left a red line on my forehead. I loved to watch the little fish, eels, and other underwater creatures. I would have thoroughly enjoyed reading this book of poetry, which explores the lives of animals that live in water.

Something Fishy

Barry Louis Polisar

Illustrations by David Clark

Poetry Picture Book

For ages 6 to 8

Rainbow Morning Music, 2013, 978-0-938663-53-9

Watching, photographing, and learning about animals is something many people enjoy doing. Men, women, and children watch nature shows, visit zoos, go on safaris and find other opportunities to see animals in their natural environment. There are many people who are particularly taken with animals who live in oceans, seas, and lakes, and they put on masks, carry tanks of oxygen on their backs, and put up with freezing cold water so that they can see fish, whales, and other animals going about their business.

For those of us who are not really interested in getting wet to see aquatic animals, there are movies and television shows to watch, and books to read. Some books have made up stories about underwater explorations, while others are nonfiction. Then there are authors who choose to describe animals who live in water using poetry.

In this book Barry Louis Polisar’s clever poems are paired with often amusing illustrations to give readers a little trip underwater. We meet the oddly named sweetlips fish, and find out that horseshoe crabs come on land to mate. Unfortunately, many of them “get stranded” when the tide goes out because they are “followed nature’s calling.”

Some of the animals we meet on the pages are creatures we would rather avoid in the real world. These include the jellyfish, “a nettlesome bunch of bad luck,” and crocodiles and alligators. Others, such as seahorses and barnacles are harmless, and if we were to encounter then we could watch them without fear.

The last poem wraps up this collection perfectly. In it the author celebrates all the creatures that live in water ending with the words “Praise all that swims and floats.”

Well-crafted poems and wonderful artwork make this book a must for anyone who likes poetry or who has a fondness for seas, oceans, lakes, and rivers.

Picture Book Monday - A review of Red Hat

As every parent and pet owner knows, young children and animals often get a great deal of pleasure playing with things that are not toys. For example, instead of playing with the toy barn they were given, children play with the box that the barn came in. Instead of playing with the catnip mouse that cost far too much, the cat plays with a cork that fell on the floor.

In today's book you will meet some young animals who play with a red hat and who have a wonderful time doing so.

Red Hat

Lita Judge

Picture Book

For ages 4 to 6

Simon and Schuster, 2013, 978-1-4424-4232-0

It is a pleasant sunshiny day a little girl sets up her washtub on the grass in front of her home and washes her red knitted hat. When it is clean, she carefully pins it to the clothes line by its white tassel, and the she goes back into her little house. Some rabbits and a pair of bears see the hat on the line and they decide that it would make a grand toy. As soon as the bear cub gets its paws on the hat, it runs off, with the rabbits in hot pursuit. Then a raccoon snags the hat from its tasseled end and gallops off with the hat on its head.

As the raccoon runs, the hat sprouts a long red piece of yarn from its pointy top with the tassel hanging on the end. A little rabbit manages to snag the yarn, and a tiny mouse is thrilled when it manages to grab hold of the yarn near the tassel. How rewarding little triumphs of this kind can be! The adventure is not over though. The hat and the young playful animals have more to do.

Lita Judge, who brought us the picture book Red Sled, is a gifted storyteller who manages to tell her tale without using any real words at all. The only sounds this book offers readers are the noises that the young animals make as they steal, play with, and then return the hat. Children are going to love the surprise ending, which brings the tale to a wonderful close.

Poetry Friday - A review of Follow Follow

In 2010, in her book Mirror Mirror, Marilyn Singer presented the world with a new poetry form that she created. When I read the reverso poems in that first book I was gobsmacked. What an amazing idea she had come up with. The poems in the book can be read from top to bottom and then from bottom to top. They explore an idea or a story in two different ways. Today's poetry title is her new collection of reverso poems and I can promise you that they are quite extraordinary.

Follow Follow: A book of reverso Poems

Marilyn Singer

Illustrated by Josee Masse

Poetry Picture Book

For ages 5 to 8

Penguin, 2013, 978-0-8037-3769-3

Most of us know that every story has got at least two sides. At least two! We know that it is wise to make sure that we know both sides to a story before we decide which side we will support. Do fairy tales also have two sides that we should be aware of?

   They most certainly do, and in this delightful book Marilyn Singer looks at some very popular fairy tales and she give us two points of view. She uses a very interesting poetical device to do this. For each fairy tale she presents one side of the story in a poem, and then she reverses the text in the poem to give another point of view.  Thus in the story of the little mermaid we begin with the idea that she should “For love / give up your voice. / Don’t / think twice.” In the reverso poem we end with “Think twice! / Don’t / give up your voice / for love.”

   The poem Follow Follow is about the Pied Piper of Hamelin who led rats away from the town of Hamelin and who, when he was not paid for his work, had his revenge. The author’s account begins when we hear from a man who says “there will be / no pay,” for the piper who should “go away.” In the reverso poem we hear from the piper who, having been betrayed, announces that he will make sure that the children of Hamelin “shall never return.”

   In some of the pairs of poems the narrator is the same, while in others there are two narrators. Reverso poems were invented by Marilyn Singer and they show to perfection how a skilled poet can play with words to create something interesting and unique. Each of the twelve pairs of fairy tale poems in this book offers readers something to think about and enjoy. 

Picture Book Monday - A review of Extra Yarn

Making things and then giving them to people I care about is something I enjoy doing. This winter I knitted hats and scarves for many of my friends and I love seeing them walking around town wearing their colorful gifts. In this award winning book you are going to meet a girl who also enjoys knitting and who also likes to give away what she makes, thus making her world a more colorful place.

Extra Yarn

Mac Barnett

Illustrated by Jon Klassen

Picture Book

For ages 5 to 7

HarperCollins, 2012, 978-0-06-195338-5

It is a cold day in winter and the ground is covered with snow. Everything around Annabelle is snowy white or is black with soot. Then the little girl finds a box that is filled with colorful yarn. Annabelle knits a sweater for herself, and she knits a sweater for her dog Mars. Even after she has knitted these two garments there is some yarn left over.

Annabelle takes Mars for a walk and meets Nate, who is sitting on a wood pile. Nate makes fun of the sweaters Annabelle and Mars are wearing, and Annabelle tells him that he is “just jealous.” Though Nate insists that he is not jealous, it turns out that he is, and when Annabelle knits him and his dog sweaters, Nate is surprisingly happy.

Annabelle’s box of yarn still isn’t empty. When she goes to school wearing her new sweater her teacher, Mr. Norman, says that her sweater is distracting the students in class. Annabelle announces that she will make a sweater for everyone so that they will not have to “turn around” to look at the one colorful sweater in the room. Mr. Norman says that such a thing is “Impossible,” but it turns out that he is wrong. Annabelle is able to knit sweaters for all the children in the class and for Mr. Norman. The strange thing is that the box is still isn’t empty.

In this enchanting award winning book children will encounter a box of yarn that is clearly magical. They will marvel, and laugh, at all the things Annabelle knits, and they will also appreciate that part of the box’s magic is within Annabelle herself.

Children will enjoy seeing how Annabelle’s knitted creations bring color to a world that is mostly white, black, and shades of brown. What would it be like to live in a world where there was no color, a world where there was no one around to create beautiful, colorful things. 

Poetry Friday - A review of A Stick is an Excellent Thing

When I was a kid my parents had a hard time getting me to come indoors. As long as it wasn't blistering hot or pouring with rain, I preferred to be outside. These days many kids have to be pushed to go outside. Too many of them prefer to be entertained than to entertain themselves. Today's book celebrates the many ways in which children can and do spend their time when they are outdoors. The author shows to great effect that outdoor play is magical and wonderful.

A Stick is an Excellent Thing: Poems Celebrating OutdoorPlay

Marilyn Singer

Illustrated by LeUyen Pham

Poetry Picture Book

For ages 7 to 10

Clarion Books, 2012, 978-0-547-12493-3

Many children associate the word “playing” with TV screens, computer monitors, and hand held gaming devices. They no longer equate playing with being outdoors. Thankfully, many people, including parents and teachers, are eager to get children outside again so that they can have a more active lifestyle that encourages them to interact with other children.

   In this splendid collection of poems Marilyn Singer celebrates a wide variety of outdoor activities. Some of the poems describe are games such as hopscotch and monkey in the middl;e. In the poem Hide-And-Seek we hear from the hider, who stands “here oh so still” pretending that he is in Brazil “where lots of birds fly free.” Then we hear from the little girl seeker who is convinced that the hider hasn’t “got a prayer” because she’s “just too good at seeking.”

   Other poems look at doings that are less ordered and more free-flowing. Playing in the sprinkler is just such an activity. We see how children use their imaginations so that a stick can be a scepter or a magic wand. Even a bucket can be the center of interest when becomes a pot for making soup. Children toss grass, stones, mud, cheese, a celery stalk, an old cigar, and a piece of chalk into the pot, give it a stir, and “then throw it out and start again.”

   With wonderful poems that are paired with vibrant illustrations, this book perfectly captures the joy that children experience when they spend time outdoors playing in the sun or under the stars.

Picture Book Monday - A review of Red Kite, Blue Kite

Telling the story of a terrible time or experience is not easy, especially when you want to tell the story to young children. In today's picture book the author gives children a sense of what it was like to be a little child during China's Cultural Revolution. Often moments in the account are sad, but hope is always there and that hope makes this a powerful, memorable, and beautiful book.

Red Kite, Blue Kite

Ji-li Jiang

Illustrated by Greg Ruth

Picture Book

For ages 7 to 9

Hyperion, 2013, 978-142312753-6

One of Tai Shan’s favorite things to do is to go to the “tippy-top” of the roof of his house with his Baba to fly kites. Tai Shan’s kite is a small red one, and his father’s is a big blue one. As they fly their kites together Baba tells his son stories, stories that make their time together on the roof particularly special. Up there flying his kite Tai Shan feels as free as the kite that is flying above his head.

   Then “a bad time” comes and Tai Shan’s life is turned upside down. Schools are closed and Baba is sent to work at a labor camp. Since Tai Shan’s mother died when Tai Shan was born, the little boy is sent to stay in a village with a farmer called Granny Wang. Though Granny Wang is kind to Tai Shan, the little boy misses his father whom he sees only one day a week, on Sunday. Every Sunday Baba walks for miles from his camp to the village where Tai Shan is living, and on this one day the father and son fly their kites as they used to do.

   Then one day Tai Shan’s father tells his son that he will not be able to visit for a while. To stay connected to his son Tai Shan’s father comes up with a plan. Tai Shan should fly his red kite every morning, and his father will fly his blue kite every sunset. Their kites will be their own private “secret signal.”

   Day after day the two kites send their messages of love to Tai Shan and his Baba even though they are miles apart. Then one day Baba’s blue kite does not appear.

   Based on a true story about a boy and his father during China’s Cultural Revolution, this evocative picture book beautifully captures the power that hope can have on people during hard times. At such times, small things, like red and blue kites, come to represent something precious.

   With a memorable story and lovely illustrations, this picture book gives readers an experience that they will remember long after the last page is read. 

Happy Easter!

A Very Happy Easter To You All

Poetry Friday - A review of Vherses: A celebration of outstanding women

Women's History Month, which is celebrated in the United States every March,  is wrapping up in just a few days, so I thought that I would offer you a poetry book today that commemorates the lives and achievements of fourteen extraordinary women. Any reader over the age of eight will gain something from reading this title.

Vherses: A celebration of outstanding women

J. Patrick Lewis

Illustrated by Mark Summers

Poetry Picture Bok                               

For ages 8 and up

Creative Editions, 2005, 1-56846-185-2

For hundreds of years women lived restricted lives. A male dominated society dictated what women could or could not do, and the could nots greatly outweighed the coulds. Of course, some women chose to challenge the system, and in the eighteen hundreds more and more women dared to do things that were considered unsuitable for the gentler sex.

   In this splendid collection of poems J. Patrick Lewis celebrates the lives of fourteen women who chose to do something meaningful and sometimes controversial with their lives. The first poem is about Emily Dickinson, a woman who wrote poetry that was unusual and unconventional, who had the courage to be true to herself. Emily had her own voice and style, choosing “to weave a word,” and living a quiet life that was full of solitude and reflection.

   Georgia O’Keefe and Martha Graham also chose to find their own ways to express the creativity that lay in their souls. Georgia created paintings whose unique colors and themes startled people. Martha Graham dared to dance in a different way, focusing on “excitement and surge,” rather than beauty and elegance.

   Then there are the women who had a different sort of courage. Eleanor Roosevelt “the great first lady” who “Looked fear in the face,” championed the poor, the disenfranchised, and the downtrodden. Fannie Lou Hamer also chose to speak out. In her case she fought for the rights of America’s African American citizens, defending their right to vote and their right to freedom.

   In a similar way, Rachel Carson chose to speak for Nature, whose voice was being ignored. Her “little book,” which was called Silent Spring, helped people to understand that humans cannot take nature for granted, and that they need to care for and conserve our beautiful and wild places and our natural resources.

  J. Patrick Lewis also celebrates the lives of women who pushed their courage and bodies to new heights. Amelia Earhart dared to be the first women to fly solo across the Atlantic and pushed on even when her altimeter failed and when her plane’s wings “were icing over.” Gertrude Ederle also had to overcome appalling conditions when she swam the English Channel and made the fastest crossing made “By woman or by man.”

   Throughout this book, beautiful poetry and lovely art is paired with short descriptions of the lives of the fourteen women mentioned. The collection will touch, inspire, and appeal to readers of all ages.

Picture Book Monday - A review of Oh! If Only...

I don't want to tell you have many times I have said "If only..." to myself or to others. Regret is hard to dodge or avoid. It sneaks up on you when you least expect it. Most of the time it is a useless feeling to have. In today's picture book Micheal Foreman tells the story of one boy's "If only..." moment, and in this case at least it is a funny moment, a moment that will put a smile on every reader's face.

Oh! If only…

Michael Foreman

Picture Book

For ages 5 to 7

Andersen Press USA, 2013, 978-1-4677-1213-2

Sometimes bad things happen, and when we look back on the events that led to the bad thing happening we wish “If only…” If only we’d remembered to water the plant so that it hadn’t wilted and died. If only we had taken our medicine when the doctor told us to so that we hadn’t got sick again. Life is full of if onlys, but for most people not many them end up being that dramatic.

   In this story you are going to meet a boy whose If Only experience ends up getting him in terrible trouble. One day he goes out and meets a dog who is carrying a little red ball. The dog clearly wants the boy to play with him, and so the boy starts kicking the ball up in the air. Unfortunately, the boy is not very good at soccer and so the ball bounces down the hill, it frightens an old lady’s cats, which frighten some birds, which spook some horses that are walking in a parade. The spooked horses cause such as kerfuffle that the big parade is “wrecked.” What a mess! The problem is that this is not the end of the story. More chaos ensues and the boy’s situation gets worse and worse. And worse.

   Children are going to enjoy this very unusual picture book. They are going to laugh at the scenes that unfold, and they will wonder what is going to happen next. They will surely be surprised when they come to the last page and find out that the ending is, well, rather surprising.

Poetry Friday - A review of Poetry for Young People:Robert Frost

On March 26, 1874, Robert Frost was born in San Francisco, California. Since the 26th is only a few days away, I thought I would share a wonderful collection of his poems with you today.

Poetry for young people: Robert Frost

Edited by Gary D. Schmidt

Illustrated by Henri Sorensen

Poetry

For ages 9 and up

Sterling, 2008, 978-1-4027-5475-3

Robert Frost and his poems are often associated with New England, snow, stone walls, and white birches. What many people don’t know is that he did not start life living in this part of the United States. Robert was born in San Francisco and lived in California until his father died in 1885. Not having any money, Robert’s mother moved her family to Massachusetts, where she lived with her father-in-law for a while. Then she managed to get a teaching job in Salem, New Hampshire. A teacher’s pay was not enough to provide for three people, so Robert worked at a cobbler’s shop where he nailed heels onto boots.

Robert did well in school, and was delighted when his grandfather made it possible for him to attend Laurence High School. Robert did very well there and was able to get into Dartmouth College, which was something his grandfather wanted. However, Robert was not interested in attending college and he dropped out. What Robert did want to do was to write poetry, and this is what he did when he wasn’t working. Though he dreamed of being a recognized poet, he never imagined, back in those early days, that one day he would win awards and would read one of his poems at a presidential inauguration ceremony. What was it about Robert’s poems that made them so popular during his lifetime and beyond?

In this superb collection some of Robert Frost’s most beloved poems are brought together so that young (and not so young) readers can see for themselves why his poems are liked by so many people around the world. The poems are divided up into four sections, one section for each of the seasons, and we begin with summer. Many of the poems celebrate country life and nature. In The Pasture, the narrator invites us to “come too” when he goes to clean the pasture spring, and when he fetches a little calf. In another poem he takes us out into a hayfield where he is turning the drying grass that has been cut for hay. The job is a tedious one until the worker’s eye catches the movement of a butterfly. The little insect shows the worker something special and they are united in that moment.

On the section of Autumn poems, we hear from a little bluebird who leaves a message for a girl called Lesley. The bluebird has felt the cold touch of the north wind and he must fly south. Perhaps, “in the spring” he will come “back and sing.” We read about falling leaves that “fit the earth like a leather glove,” and join someone who has been picking apples and is ready for the rest that winter offers.

Every poem in this collection is accompanied by lovely and evocative paintings, and each one has a note from the editor that provides readers with background information about Robert Forest, his poems, and his style of writing. The combination of the poems, the art, and the notes gives readers an excellent portrait of Robert Frost and his work.

At the beginning of the book there is a short introduction written by the editor where readers will find an excellent description of Robert Frost’s life and legacy.