Poetry Friday: November Evening by Lucy Maud Montgomery

I love finding poems by authors.  Here is one from Lucy Maud Montgomery of Anne of Green Gables and Emily of New Moon ( my niece’s favorite):

“November Evening” 
by
Lucy Maud Montgomery

Come, for the dusk is our own; let us fare forth together,
With a quiet delight in our hearts for the ripe, still, autumn weather,
Through the rustling valley and wood and over the crisping meadow,
Under a high-sprung sky, winnowed of mist and shadow.

Sharp is the frosty air, and through the far hill-gaps showing
Lucent sunset lakes of crocus and green are glowing;
‘Tis the hour to walk at will in a wayward, unfettered roaming,
Caring for naught save the charm, elusive and swift, of the gloaming.

Read the rest here.   It so captures the feeling of November.  May everyone have an abundant Thanksgiving.

Poetry Friday is over at the Drift Record.  Thank you, Julie!  I have an original poem at Deowriter for Poetry Stretch.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Happy Reading.

MsMac

Who’s Reading What Wednesday

There is good book news abounding on the Kidlit Front.  Just got work this morning that Bridget Zinn’s manuscript, Poison, sold at the book auction.  It is scheduled for a 2012 release and a sequel the following year.  Way to go Bridget!  BTW, a new auction to raise money for her and Barrett begins after Thanksgiving.  You can read about it here.

Meanwhile, Laini, Jim and sweet Clementine Pie are soaking up life in th Big Apple while they await tonight’s big event, the National Book Award dinner.  Their book, Lips Touch Three Times is one of the 5 nominees.  Such a delicious read! It would just cap off a really fabulous year for them and they so deserve it! So “mwah, mwah, mwah”  three kisses to them for luck!

I am up to my eyeballs in CYBILS Nonfiction Picture Book nominations.  Yesterday a fourth grade and a fifth grade class read several the nominations to provide feedback for me.  What was interesting was watching which books caused students to be totally engaged and which books not so much.   Of course Life-Size Zoo was a big hit and so was Where Else in the Wild.

I read the Mermaid Queen: The Spectacular True Story Of Annette Kellerman, Who Swam Her Way To Fame, Fortune & Swimsuit History! out loud to a third grade class. Happy to see the level of engagement with both boys and girls.  Third graders grasp the concept of fairness and wow, they could not believe that Annette Kellerman was arrested!  It was a very fun read aloud. 

My book club chose Oxygen by Carol Cassella.  It is a page turner about the medical field.  Cassella is a doctor in the field of anesthesia. Had to put the book down the other night as I would have stayed up all night long to read.

What are you reading?

Happy Reading.

MsMac

Non-Fiction Monday: Two Great Books About Math

The nominations for the CYBILS NFPB award have been stunning this year.  This week I had the opportunity to share two math oriented books with my students.

Tyrannosaurus Math by Michelle Markel  is a raucous, romping tale of a dinosaur who happens to love, love, love math! So much so that upon being born, he talks about a  “math sentence” and thus, his name Tyrannosaurus Math is bestowed or T-Math for short.  Readers will follow T-Math in daily adventures that has him counting by fives, deciding if a meteor is a sphere or cube and finally rescuing his “not-so-in-love-with-math” sister.  The author has included a glossary of math terms along with a pronunciation key for the dinosaurs. The kids had a great time with this book, especially when I pulled two boys and three girls up to stand by me as we made the brother and sister number sentence.

On the other hand, the second book had a calming effect with the students.  Zero is the Leaves on the Tree by Betsy Franco is a deliciously quiet book examining the concept of zero.  She asks about zero:

“Can you see it? Can you hear it?  Can you feel it?”  I loved the illustrations and the different ideas about zero such as zero on the leaves of the trees, zero the sound of snowflakes falling, the kites in the sir when the wind stops blowing, and the bikes in the bike rack after school lets out.  There is a sly little something going on in the book that my students picked up on. You will  just have to read the book to discover it for yourself.

Again, our committee work is cut out for us as we narrow over 70 books in the NFPB category down to 5-7 on the shortlist.  Will either of these make it?  Stay tuned.

 Tina Nichols Coury is hosting Nonfiction Monday.  There are some great posts already.

Title: Tyrannosaurus Math
Author: Michelle Markel
Date Published: 2009
Pages: 32
Reading Level: K-3
Publisher: Tricycle Press
ISBN: 978-1-582-46282-0
Source of Book: Copy from the publisher for CYBILS consideration.

Title: Zero is the Leaves on the Trees
Author: Betsy Franco
Date Published: 2009
Pages: Unpaged
Reading Level: K-3
Publisher: Tricycle Press
ISBN: 978-1-582-46249-3
Source of Book: Copy from the publisher for CYBILS consideration.

 Happy Reading.

Ms Mac

New Online Auction About to Begin for Bridget Zinn

Bridget and Barrett at the  “5th Friday” October Kidlit Drink Night

So the holidays are coming.  Is there any better way to get gifts and help someone out?  Another on-lin silent auction for Bridget and Barrett will be held starting the end of November.  Bridget’s friend Cailin is organizing this one. You should contact her at cailin.oconnor@gmail.com if you are interested in donating an auction item.  I am donating a handcrafted necklace and earrings combo and a set of my Oregon Coast cards.  Will blog later in the week about them.

In a recent email, Cailin offered this information:

Artists, authors, business owners… please consider donating an item or service to sell in an auction to benefit Bridget Zinn and Barrett Dowell. Bridget is a 32-year-old writer and librarian who was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer in March. She and Barrett, who have been together since they were teenagers, were married in the hospital just minutes before she went into surgery to remove a large tumor on her colon. She is now undergoing expensive treatment to shrink – and we hope obliterate – additional tumors. The treatment seems to be working, but much of it is not covered by her health insurance. Bridget & Barrett’s friends and family are rallying to help them pay the bills so that they can focus on Bridget’s health. You can learn more about Bridget at her blog, www.bridgetzinn.com/blog.    Between Friday, November 27 and Friday, December 11, we (a group of Bridget’s friends) will hold an online silent auction on the website www.32auctions.com, with all proceeds going to Bridget and Barrett to help with their expenses.
 
Here’s what it means to donate an item or service to the auction:
- You are donating the item to this auction, all proceeds of which will be given to Bridget Zinn. This is not a tax-deductible donation.
- You must provide an item title, description of up to 400 words, and starting bid for the online auction. You may also choose to provide a subtitle, fair market value, reserve price (amount that must be reached in bidding for the item to be sold), up to two photos/images, and website address for further information about you or about the item. All of this should be emailed to cailin.oconnor@gmail.com no later than November 25.)
- You may choose how you want to get the item to the winning bidder: (1) Keep the item until the auction ends, and mail it to the winning bidder (or contact the winner to arrange pick-up/delivery if feasible). We will contact you with the winner’s contact information when payment has been received, and ask that you put the item in the mail to the winning bidder within 3 business days. (2) Give your donated item to one of the auction organizers, who will get it to the winning bidder. This is a good option if you will not be available in the middle of December when the auction ends. If you are giving your item to an auction organizer, please indicate that (and who) when you send in your item description.

Poetry Friday: Where Else in the Wild?

Where Else in the Wild? More Camouflaged Creatures Concealed and Revealed  by David M. Schwartz and Yael Schy push the envelope in the nonfiction world.  It is a hybrid book of sorts combing fabulous camouflaged creature photos by Dwight Kuhn with poetry, and nonfiction facts.  It’s a CYBILS nominee for the NF/Info PK.

There is a variety of poetry forms including concrete poems about scorpion fish, ambush bugs, and inchworms.   Some rhyme, others do not. 

Here’s a haiku for the Orchid Mantis:

elegance in white
poised upon an orchid blossom
praying as I prey

Each photo page folds out to show where the creature is hiding.  Along with the photo is information about the animal.  Did you know:

That the orchid mantis ranges in color between pink to yellow to white to blend in with the orchids?
That it doesn’t need to hid in the flower but can stand next to it?
That it can rotate its head a full 90 degrees without moving the rest of the body.

 In another, a question and answer poem, the leaf insect is explored:

 ”What looks like a leaf but has wings, legs, and eyes?
An insect that hides  with a clever disguise…

…A remarkable bug! How else is it shrewd?
To resemble a leaf, it appears to be chewed.”

Did you know that leaf insects are part of the group known as “stick insects”?
That the sides have small “chew marks” to make it look more real?
That leaf insects are native only to parts of Asia and Australia?

The photos are stunning, the poems fun, and the facts informative.  Put them all together and readers of all ages will be coming back again and again.

Greg at Gottabook is hosting his first ever Poetry Friday. Thank, Greg!  I have an orignal poem for the Poetry Stretch at Deowriter. 

Happy Reading.

MsMac

Not Too Early to be Thinking about Gifts

Have you begun to think about  gifts for the upcoming holiday season?  I like finding  unique, handcrafted ones for friends and family. 

In May, several of the Portland Kidlit community hosted an on-line silent auction for our friend Bridget Zinn (battling stage 4 colon cancer).  One of the auction items was this fabulous silver bracelet created by Laura Ludwig Hamor:

Bridget modeling the “write” bracelet.

Not only did Laura send one bracelet, she sent three! One went to Bridget and the other two were big hits in the auctions.

Well, Laura had told me that she was working on getting a blog of her silver work together and her store at etsy.com.  I recently received an email from with an update.

So here is a fabulous wonderful place to visit if you are looking for a special gift for that creative person in your life.  Her new silver website is over at etsy. You can find it by going to www.SilverFreckles.com.

                       
Two more examples of her work.

At her blog, Laura Ludwig Hamor , she says this about her work, “I love the process of creating silver pieces, and most of all I love the result. As a clay artist with a love of jewelry it is the best of both worlds.”

She has a blog contest going for her birthday, November 12. Anyone who promotes www.silverfreckles.com will be entered into a drawing for one of her fabulous creations. 

If you have bought a bracelet from her in the past, go to her blog and let her know. You will be entered in the contest and if you should by chance mention that you read it here, I will get another chance!

Otherwise, I am putting her website on my Christmas and birthday lists.  Generous people such as Laura deserve support. Thank you, Laura for allowing me to show some of your fabulous bracelets here.

And you can follow Laura on facebook at SILVERFRECKLES!  I am looking forward to reading her blog about her creative process as it unfolds.

Happy Reading.

MsMac

Nonfiction Monday: Life-Size Zoo

Life-Size Zoo by Teruyuki Komiya  is just that! Life sized photos of more than 20 animals from a variety of Japan’s zoos.  It’s considered an animal encyclopedia featuring an information box on each page.  An explanation or zoo guide is explained adjacent the title page.  It is another of the many fabulous CYBILS nominations for NFPB category this year.  Almost every nomination is top notch.

From the tiny meerkat to the capybara (which reminds me of the one from the book Hooway for Wodney Wat) to the aardvark to the Asian elephant and more, readers will get to look at the photos up close and personal.  Plus the facts are amazing!  Consider:

Anteaters eat up to 30,000 ant a day.
Tapirs may look like a pig but the are more closely related to the horse and rhinoceros.
Giraffes can gallop up to 35 miles per hour.
Zebras use their whiskers to find food.
All the photos in the book show the actual size of the animal.  Along with the photo there is a side-bar which explains the part of the animal’s body featured, information about the animal, approximate age of the animal when known, the scientific name, and more information about the animal. 

Many of the pages expand in order to accomodate the large animals such as the head of the giraffe with its incredibly long tongue, the fierce tiger, mouth open and looking ready for a meal.

Life-size Zoo is a book of broad appeal for all ages. It is going to be a great addition to any library.

Title: Life-Size Zoo
Author: Teruyuki Komiya
Date Published: 2009
Pages: 43
Reading Level: All
Publisher: Seven Footer Kids
ISBN: 9781934734209
Source of Book: Gotten orignially from public library and then a copy from the publisher arrived for CYBILS consideration.

I really had fun sharing this ith my5 year old granddaughter this weekend. At her level, looking at the photos was the perfect activity but there is just so much to read and re-read.

Abby the Librarian is hosting Nonfiction Monday. Go checkout some of the other great nonfiction books.

Have a great week.

Happy reading.

MsMac

Poetry Friday: A Poem Celebrating Rain

The northwest is experiencing a powerful windy and rainy storm today.  In its honor from the book,  A Year Full of Poems by Zaro Well:

From My Window

The waters fall in rectangles
Cities sprout umbrellas
Clear water paints a blurred picture
Tear slide from afternoon branches
Dirt breathes a deep sigh of mud
It’s raining today

That poem inspired me:

rain splatters windshield
swish -swish swish-swish-swish rhythm
syncopated drive

Elaine at Wild Rose Reader is hosting  Poetry Friday. 

Happy Reading.

MsMac

Nonfiction Monday:Bubble Homes and Fish Farts

Upfront Disclosure: I worked with Fiona last year as a panelist for the CYBILS NFPB category.  I wasn’t surprised when Fiona stepped away from the committee for this year. Have you seen her book?  I am excited to share Bubble Homes and Fish Farts by Fiona Baycock and illustrated by Carolyn Conahan with them.

And of course, it’s a CYBILS nonfiction picture book nomination.  Did you know that bubbles are used in many ways in the natural world?  From sailing, running, breathing , keeping warm, and popping to name a few, bubbles play an important role with a variety of land and sea animals.

The book format is child friendly.  Each page begins, “Bubbles are for_________(running,nesting,tasting, hiding in, etc.).  Following that description, an animal is introduced with both the common and scientific name.   How the animal makes use of bubbles is then explained.

I learned some  amazing facts. Did you know?

That “farts” is actually an acronym for Fast Repetitive Ticks?  That herring expelled swallowed air  as perhaps a means to communicate according to scientists.
That shrimp create  noise through bubbles?  It is another form of communication that has been loud enough to be picked up by U.S. Navy sonar.

That the bubbles created by the water spider are used in creating their home? Yep. The water spider dives from the surface bringing tiny bubbles together to create a big bubble to live underwater.

These facts and others are what lies in store for readers. Conahan’s water color illustrations makes the reader feel as though they are actually underwater at times.  There is a playfulness and whimsy in each illustration that begs to be looked at again and again.

The book is complete with more amazing facts about the bubble makers, a glossary and index.  In addition, it is evident that Baycock has done her research by the names in the acknowledgments.

 Title: Bubble Homes and Fish Farts
Author: Fiona Baycock
Date Published: 2009
Pages: 45
Reading Level: All
Publisher: Charlesbridge
ISBN: 978-1-57091670-0
Source of Book: Purchased for granddaughters

 Nonfiction Monday is hosted at Books Together.  Hop over and see what else is being featured this week,

Poetry Friday: Playing with the “Zeno” Form

Pat Lewis introduced the world to his new poetry form, the “zeno” on Monday at The Miss Rumphius Effect.  It is a mathematical pattern featuring syllables of 8-4-2-1-4-2-1-4-2-1 with an “abcdefdghd” rhyme scheme.

Timing is everything.  This week with parent teacher conferences and that spooky holiday tomorrow, it provided opportunity to play with the form.

I worked with three classes, two fourth grade classes and one fifth grade class. After sharing the examples of Lewis’ poems,  each group thought of rhyming words, and counted syllables while writing  down lines and revising.  Here are their efforts(with thanks to Pat Lewis for a first line idea):

Ms Padden’s fifth grade class:

One dark, windy night, too frightful
cheers from monsters
scary
goo
when they come out
screaming
boo!
they are coming
after
you

Mr. Baker’s fourth grade class:

A dark windy night so frightful
Bats fill the sky
Screeching
Oooooo!
Predators hunt
midnight
boo!
black cats stalk prey
chomping
goo!

Mrs. Fisher’s Class:

A dark windy night so frightful!
sweet trick or treat
scary
bats
flying fiercely
eating
rats
running around
with black
cats

Found it helpful to have the students begin with a list of rhyming words to begin.

My own zeno is here.  Poetry Friday is hosted by Jennie at Bibliofile. 

Happy Reading.

MsMac