Poetry Friday

Poetry Friday is hosted today by Reflections on the Teche.

Poetry Friday -- "I Didn't Do It" by Patricia MacLachlan and Emily MacLachlan Charest ; illustrated by Katy Schneider.

Distinct canine characters shine through these verses as MacLachlan and Charest explore the experience of sharing a home with a dog as told from the puppy point of view. 

Shhh . . .  I'm Here

 

Shhh . . .

I'm here,

Born in the soft overcoat quiet of someone's closet

With brothers and sisters

So like me I can't tell where I end

And they begin.

 

Anyone who has ever enjoyed the companionship of a dog will smile at the canine view point on "Rules" . . . no fun,  "Names" forget Rover and Rex . . . try Big Bad Bob, and "Rain" there's nothing better than a nice roll in your good wool sweater to dry off.

Schneider's bright-eyed portraits are the perfect companion to the verses.

Writers Wednesday

Quote for the day:

Here's a thought about finding your voice, developing self-confidence, and having faith in your writing.

 

“Start telling the stories that only you can tell, because there’ll always be better writers than you and there’ll always be smarter writers than you. There will always be people who are much better at doing this or doing that - but you are the only you.

Tarantino - you can criticize everything that Quentin does - but nobody writes Tarantino stuff like Tarantino. He is the best Tarantino writer there is, and that was actually the thing that people responded to - they’re going ‘this is an individual writing with his own point of view’.

There are better writers than me out there, there are smarter writers, there are people who can plot better - there are all those kinds of things, but there’s nobody who can write a Neil Gaiman story like I can.”
― Neil Gaiman

Nonfiction Monday

Nonfiction Monday is hosted today by PracticallyParadise.

For Nonfiction Monday --  "The Polar Bear Scientists" by Peter Lourie.

 

Lourie enables readers to feel as though they've joined an expedition to study polar bears as part of the Alaskan Polar Bear Research Project.  Written at a 7th grade level, this book details the methods scientists use to identify and track individual animals, collect medical samples, and quantify data under the direction of Dr. Steven Amstrup. 

Lourie goes on to explain the results of this ongoing study and conclusions that have been drawn.  Glossary, polar bear field guide, suggested readings, websites, quoted sources, and an index provide ample enrichment as well as opportunities for follow up. Color photographs document the field and lab work.

Poetry Friday

Poetry Friday is hosted today by Tabatha Yeatts: The Opposite of Indifference.

With summer vacation just around the corner, I'm looking at the books I'm going to purchase for the next school year and this one is definitely on my list.

"Whisper and shout: poems to memorize" edited by Patrice Vecchione.

 

Vecchione has collected poems in a variety of forms and grouped them by themes to provide an entertaining selection of poems that would be fun to memorize and a pleasure to recite aloud.  Sections designate poems about life, wordplay poems, poems of family and friends, humorous poems, the natural world, and wisdom and wonder to fill 85 pages.  Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson, Carl Sandburg, E.E. Cummings, Ogden Nash, Shel Silverstein, Paul Fleischman, John Updike, and Lewis Carroll are only a few of the notables represented.

Writers Wednesday

I just finished reading "The USP: What is it, and why do you needs it, my preciousss?" by Christian Schoon, posted today at Adventures in YA & Children's Publishing.

Schoon discusses finding your USP, Unique Selling Proposition, and honing it to the perfection required by agents and editors.  Yes, you've probably heard this before.  I have.  But it's worth considering  at every step of the writing/editing/submitting process regardless of the audience--children, YA or adult. Schoon's light conversational tone makes the read fun even while he's making some important points and providing information that is worth serious attention.

Nonfiction Monday

Nonfiction Monday is hosted today by Jean LittleLibrary.

For Nonfiction Monday --  "Monster hunt: exploring mysterious creatures" written and illustrated by Jim Arnosky.

 

Here's a book sure to be a hit with my many mystery loving nonfiction readers. 

Arnosky, well-known for his many books on nature, takes a look at the fact and fiction surrounding some of nature's mysteries.  Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, Giant Squid, Coelacanth (once thought to be extinct) and an assortment of other creatures real? or imagined? fill the pages.

Poetry Friday

Poetry Friday is hosted today by Teaching YoungWriters.

For Poetry Friday -- "Change-up: baseball poems" written by Gene Fehler with illustrations by Donald Wu.

Fehler takes baseball fans through a year of the sport beginning with a winter's  game with snowballs. The poems, in the voice of a young player, share the joys and frustrations of winning and losing and highlight baseball experiences: practice, broken windows, a "catch" with Gramps who played in the minors and more.  Verses in a variety of forms encompass the baseball experience.

 Gramps's Tough Pitches

1. Knuckleball

It floats.

It dips like a pirate ship

riding on waves that toss it

up

and

down.

 

Bat in hand,

I wait and wait

and here it comes,

pulled by strings

this way

and  that-- 

where's it at? 

Wu fills in the blanks with smiling children actively engaged in their favorite sport.