Picture Poetry Book: Dictionary for a Better World by Irene Latham & Charles Waters

Poems, Quotes, and Anecdotes from A to Z

Illustrated by Mehrdokht Amini

2020, Carolrhoda Books

120 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  4.68 - 213 ratings

Goodreads blurb:  How can we make the world a better place? This resource for middle-grade readers is organized as a dictionary; each entry presents a word related to creating a better world, such as ally, empathy, or respect. For each word, there is a poem, a quote, a personal anecdote from the authors, and a "try it" prompt for an activity.

EMPATHY

Ears open

Mouth closed

Paying

Attention

To the other person

Helping them know

Yes, they matter.

                Charles Waters

                 an acrostic poem

COURAGE

Sometimes

courage can be

getting up to face life's

stormy world when you'd rather hide

in bed.

                  Charles Waters

                   a cinquain

KINDNESS

Kindness boards a bus.

Kindness stands

so you can sit.

Kindness unwraps

a sandwich

and gives you the bigger half.

                    Irene Latham

                    a cherita (a three-stanza poem that tells a story.  The first stanza has one line and sets the scene, the second stanza has two lines, and the third stanza has three lines.)

VOICE

a poem for two voices

I like to shout                I like to whisper

loud, proud,                   tender,

strong words                  remember-me words.

                 words have power

words can split a city     words can rain down,

with the speed                 bringing spring bouquets

of an earthquake              to a barren desert

PICTURE BOOK - A Home for Mr. Emerson - Barbara Kerley

Illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham

2014 Scholastic Press

HC $18.99

48 pgs.

Goodreads rating: 4.08

My rating: 4

My comments:  I've always known of Ralph Waldo Emerson - I knew he was a philosophical writer linked to Thoreau and Concord, Massachusetts.  This picture book biography, like somany I've read in the last few years, illuminates the man as a person - husband, father, friend; then thinker and and writer.  The book is filled with his quotes   - they are actually much of the text - and best of all is a list of writing ideas after the excellent Author's Note at the back of the book entitled "Build a World of Your Own."  
     A few suggestions:
          List 5 things you love to do
          List 3 things you'd like to learn more about
          Think about your favorie room - what do you like about it?
          Write down 5 favorite spots in  your city

"Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm."

"The only way to have a friend is to be one."

Goodreads:  From the award-winning creators of THOSE REBELS, JOHN & TOM, a joyful portrait of an American icon and an inspiring blueprint for how to live your life.

"All life is an experiment.
The more
experiments you make
the better."

          Before Ralph Waldo Emerson was a great writer, he was a city boy who longed for the broad, open fields and deep, still woods of the country, and then a young man who treasured books, ideas, and people. When he grew up and set out in the world, he wondered, could he build a life around these things he loved?
          This moving biography--presented with Barbara Kerley and Edwin Fotheringham's inimitable grace and style--illustrates the rewards of a life well-lived, one built around personal passions: creativity and community, nature and friendship.
          May it inspire you to experiment and build the life you dream of living.

Return of the Library Dragon - Carmen Agra Deede

illustrated by Michael P. White
2012, Peachtree Publishers
Ellsworth Public Library
32 pages
Hardcover $16.95
Goodreads:
cag:  4 stars
Title Page:  yellow dragon-y front on light blue, with dragonflies fluttering
front:  "Librarian Retires" news article
1st line/s:  "Sunrise Elementary School had a BIG problem:  their beloved librarian, Miss Lotty, was....../....RETIRING.

What happens when a tried & true librarian's job is taken over by a guy who gets rid of all the books and replaces them with technology?  The beloved librarian disappears and a dragon taker her place.  This book reinforces the idea that BOTH have their place and they can work TOGETHER.

When I was checking out new-to-me books at the library I almost put this one back until I spotted the 40+ quotes on the endpapers.  I was hooked!

"A book is a friend; a good book is a good friend.  It will talk to you when you want it to talk, and it will keep still when you want it to keep still; and there are not many friends who know enough to do that."  - B. A. Billingsley

"The man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them."  - Mark Twain

"Books are companions, teachers, magicians, bankers of the treasures of the mind.  Books are humanity in print."  - Barbara W. Tuchman

"When I discovered libraries, it was like having Christmas every day."  - Jean Fritz

"My library was dukedom large enough."  - William Shakespeare

"When I get a little money I buy books; and if there is any left, I buy food and clothes."  - Erasmus

"I cannot live without books!  - Thomas Jefferson

"Never judge a book by its movie."  -J. W. Eagan

Imogene's Last Stand - Candace Fleming

Illustrated by Nancy Carpenter
Schwartz & Wade Books, 2009
$16.99
32 pages
Rating: 4
Endpapers: Info and thumbnail sketches of each of the 14 quoters in this book

Kids haven't had to memorize much history in recent years. I held a jeopardy game in my classroom and found this out firsthand. They have no clue about famous quotes. Well, NO MORE! Imogene will introduce them!

Imogene lives in a tiny little town in New Hampshire (the state itself is in the middle of nowhere...I can say that....I'm from Maine and spent most of my childhood summers in New Hampshire) and they seem pretty uninterested in the world around them, particularly history. Imogene loves history. She has since she was tiny, and when she discovers the old building that is the hisorical society, she cleans and shuffles and displays and gets ready to open the building to the public. But nobody comes. (What boring town citizens!) Then Mayor Butz decides to sell the property to a shoelace family so that the town will be "put on the map." Imogene tries everything to spark some enthusiasm for retaining the historical old building, but to no avail....until she discovers a letter on an old piece of parchment from George Washington thanking the building owners for their terrific hospitality. Yup. George Washington slept there. Saved, just in the lick of time!

Not only does Imogene have great quotes, she knows who said them. We hear from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. ("We are made by history"), John Paul Jones ("I have not yet begun to fight!") and even the famous chant of Vietnam War protesters ("Heck no, I won't go!"....wait a minute, was it really "heck".....?) Of course, a happy ending, sprinkled with all sorts of historical quotes and tidbits. Viva Imogene!

"Balderdash" - Teddy Roosevelt
"Hear me, my chiefs. I am tired, my heart is sick and sad." - Chief Joseph
"A great oak is only a little nut that held its ground." - Abraham Lincoln
.....are just a few more. Enjoy!

There are some other reviews for you to read out there in cyberspace:
Try Bri Meets Books or 100 Scope Notes, both great blogs.