POETRY - Sing a Song of Seasons: A Nature Poem for Each Day of the Year selected by Fiona Waters

Illustrated by Frann Preston-Gannon

2018, Nosy Crow

HC $40.00

333 pgs.

Goodreads rating: 4.42 - 12 ratings

My rating: 5

Endpapers: Cut out oak leaves (from different papers) on white

My comments:  A gorgeously illustrated volume of nature poetry from authors old and new.  The cover doesn't do it justice.  Outstanding addition to any library - though extremely heavy, might be a bit difficult for a younger child to hold and covet....

January

January is

A clean white sheet, newly-ironed

An empty page:

A field of freshly-fallen snow

Waiting to be mapped

By our footsteps.

                        John Foster  

Keep a Poem in Your Pocket

Keep a poem in your pocket
and a picture in your head
and you'll never feel lonely
at night when you're in bed.

The little poem will sing to you
the little picture bring to you
a dozen dreams to dance to you
at night when you're in bed.

So ---
Keep a picture in your pcoket
and a poem in your head
and you'll never feel lonely
at night when you're in bed.
       
           Beatrice Schenk de Regniers

Goodreads:  Sing a Song of Seasons is a lavishly illustrated collection of 366 nature poems -- one for every day of the year. Filled with familiar favorites and new discoveries written by a wide variety of poets, including William Shakespeare, Emily Dickinson, John Updike, Langston Hughes, N. M. Bodecker, Okamoto Kanoko, and many more, this is the perfect book for children (and grown-ups!) to share at the beginning or the end of the day.

PICTURE BOOK - Me and you and the Red Canoe by Jean E. Pendziwol

Illustrated by Phil

2017 Groundwood Books, House of Anansi Press, Toronto

HC $18.95

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  3.83 - 82 ratings

My rating:  5

Endpapers:  Solid Red

Illustrations are acrylic on wood paneling!  Very cool

1^st line/s:
"I woke before the sun was up,
before the moon closed its eyes,
before the stars twinkled out,
when the whole world was just thinking
about the new day,
and everything was
purple and magical."

My comments:  Although I'm not a fisherperson - and it doesn't interest me at all - and this book is about going out onto a lake fishing, I still consider the book a work of art, both in words and illustration.  It's written in verse form, and would be a wonderful sample of free verse to share with a tween or teen.  Gorgeous writing.  The illustrations are really, really beautiful, there's no white, and even the page of text has a background paint-y collage that's lovely. I love that the illustrator is "Phil."  No surname.  Both author and illustrator are Canadians. Highly recommended.

Goodreads:  In the stillness of a summer dawn, two siblings leave their campsite with fishing rods, tackle and bait, and push a red canoe into the lake. A perfect morning on the water unfolds, with thrilling glimpses of wildlife along the way.
          The narrator describes the experience vividly. Trailing a lure through the blue-green depths, the siblings paddle around a point, spotting a moose in the shallows, a beaver swimming towards its home and an eagle returning to its nest. Suddenly there is a sharp tug and the rod bends to meet the water. A few heart-stopping moments later, the pair pull a silvery trout from the water, then paddle back to the campsite to fry up a delicious breakfast.
          The poetic text is accompanied by stunningly beautiful paintings rendered on wood panels that give a nostalgic feeling to the story.

PICTURE BOOK - As An Oak Tree Grows - G. Brian Karas

Illustrated by the author

2014 Nancy Paulsen Books, Penguin

HC $17.99

32 oversized pages with POSTER IN A POCKET IN THE BACK

Goodreads rating: 3.90

My rating: 4.5 (It would have been a five if it had started a little more honestly....see below.....)

Endpapers:the palest of green, with the same darker green leaves and acorns.  gentle.

Title Page:  Most of the page is taken up with a huge tree truck.  Beside it sits an acorn.  The only other thing you see is a huge field of grass.

Illustrations: Gouache and pencil.  Goergeous.  Covering the entire page.  I wonder what size the actual drawings are?

1^st line/s: "On a sunny late summer day, a young boy planted an acorn in the ground."

"In Memory of Pete Seeger" (How wonderfully lovely!)

My comments:  Okay, I agree that this book starts out a little...well, a lot... shakily, but other than that the concept and the illustrations are wonderful.  (Let's be honest, the young Native American boy didn't just grow up and move away.) But the story had to start somewhere, and the progression of PROGRESS (good OR bad) and GROWTH IN NATURE are beautifully depicted.  The time line across the bottom is a wonderful plus, the 25-year increments work perfectly, and of course, it ended the only way it could (what happens to a huge 225-year-old-tree).  I LOVED pouring over each picture looking for the changes.  I love, too, that the scene was shown in different weather and at different times of the day.

Goodreads: This inventive picture book relays the events of two hundred years from the unique perspective of a magnificent oak tree, showing how much the world can transform from a single vantage point. From 1775 to the present day, this fascinating framing device lets readers watch as human and animal populations shift and the landscape transitions from country to city. Methods of transportation, communication and energy use progress rapidly while other things hardly seem to change at all.
           This engaging, eye-opening window into history is perfect for budding historians and nature enthusiasts alike, and the time-lapse quality of the detail-packed illustrations will draw readers in as they pore over each spread to spot the changes that come with each new era. A fact-filled poster is included to add to the fun.

POETRY - Silver Seeds – Paul Paolilli & Dan Brewer

Paintings by Steve Johnson & Lou Fancher

32 pgs.

2001, Penguin

HC $15.99

“Ages 5-9”

Endpapers:  Dark green

Title page: Cream, center 3 inches is a square of green with a hummingbird sippi9ng nectar from a purple, petunia-like flower.

Super acrostic poems -- Acrostic poems that REALLY make sense –finally, some great models for kids (and me!)

Down goes the moon

And up comes the sun,

Welcoming the

New day.

Sliding through the window,

Underneath the door,

Nudging us out to play.

Tiny hands

Reaching up from the

Earth, tickling an

Enormous

Sky.

Bobbing

Up and down;

Twinkling

Through the air

Ever so gently,

Roaming among the

Flowers

Landing lightly on

Your shoulder.

                (I’m going to make a poster for this poem RIGHT NOW!!!)

Creamy scoops of ice cream

Lying

Out

Under a

Dreamy blue

Sky.

Okay, okay, I won’t put all of them.  But this is another poetry book that should be in EVERY classroom library, young or old!

POEM - How to be a Poet - Wendell Berry

How To Be A Poet

i

Make a place to sit down.

Sit down. Be quiet.

You must depend upon

affection, reading, knowledge,

skill—more of each

than you have—inspiration,

work, growing older, patience,

for patience joins time

to eternity. Any readers

who like your poems,

doubt their judgment.

ii

Breathe with unconditional breath

the unconditioned air.

Shun electric wire.

Communicate slowly. Live

a three-dimensional life;tay away from screens.

Stay away from anything

that obscures the place it is in.

There are no unsacred places;

there are only sacred places

and desecrated places.

iii

Accept what comes from silence.

Make the best you can of it.

Of the little words that come

out of the silence, like prayers

prayed back to the one who prays,

make a poem that does not disturb

the silence from which it came.

Wendell Berry

Thanks, Lisa, for posting this on Facebook. I like it a lot. And today is April 1st, the first day National Poetry Month. The birds are singing...merrily and loudly enough to wake me up on this gorgeous Sunday morning. Life is good.

Me...Jane - Patrick McDonnell

illustrated by the author
Little Brown, 2011
HC $15.99
40 thick pages
Rating:  4
Endpapers: brown with shapes and graffiti
Title page has photo of young Jane Goodall holding her stuffed monkey

This is the story of how very much Jan Goodall enjoyed nature, the outdoors, growing things, from the time she was a very young child.  It tells of her curiosity and her love of the idea of Africa, and jungles, and Tarzan, and living there to help the animals.  It shows how her dreams came true.

The story is very simple and quite lovely.  Three of the pages are actually her own drawings!  There is a page at the end that gives more particulars about Jane Goodall, and a full-page message from her.  She is the founder of the Jane Goodall Institute, a UN Messenger of Peace, and creator of Roots and Shoots (www.rootsandshoots.org) a program to educate kids about how to take action. 

Cool book.

One Beetle Too Many: The Extraordianry Advntures of Charles Darwin - Kathryn Lasky

Illustrated by Matthew Trueman
Candlewick, 2009
$17.99
40 pages
for: grades 3+
Rating: 5
Endpapers: green with lighter green ferny leaves twining around

Dedication from KL: "In celebration of children, whose boundless curiousity gives thme a right to know their history on Earth." Don't ya love it?

I've been trying to get my hands on this book for over a year. Thank you, Tucson Library for coming through. It only took a year!

This is a super biography of Charles Darwin - making him a real person. You can feel his curiosity, see his peering and examining and thinking. You can totally visualize the rain forests of South American...Patagonia...the Galapagos. Following his five-year journey on a map would be great - wish one were included in the book.

Kathryn Lasky discusses the controversy - and such a major controversy it is - between creationism and evolution. Theology vs. science? Hmmm.....

She tells how Darwin's father despaired over his son's lack of ambition with his studies, over his inability to find a career he deemed suitable. Even Charles' loving wife, Emma - who provided ten (TEN!) children for him - was not comfortable with his theories of evolution.

This is a wonderful, fascinating biography for 4th - 5th - 6th graders. Lots to think about, and lots to learn. A must-have for a biography unit.

Most of the illustrations are just great. A couple, of mountains and snow and the sea, are a little too barren for me - but I guess they're trying to depict the setting, huh? The illustrations in What Darwin Saw by Rosalyn Schanzer would go so beautifully with this - I'd use the two books together. Compare and contrast. Higher level thinking skills. Mmm hmm.

The Robin Makes a Laughing Sound - Sallie Wolf

Charlesbridge, 2010
$11.95
For: Kids
44 pages
Rating: 4.5
Endpapers: Gray & cream checkerboard with simple bird sketches

Observation journal - an excellent model
Poetry book
Sketching
Watercolors

This journal takes us through a year of observations - of birds, or the changing seasons, and models an observation journal beautifully. It is also a poetry book that includes rhyming poeims, haiku, list poems....

Wolf ends her jounral with a page of thoughts behind journal keeping and a page of bird-watching resources.

Winter Wren
Are you a winter wren?
I see you only once or twice a year ---
a tiny, dark shadow scooting under bushes.
If your tail weren't so perky,
if you weren't so tiny,
I'd think you were on of those
ubiquitous sparrows.

Frustrations
I often hear what I can't see ---
birds and squirrels scolding me.
I scan the branches far and near,
but I don't see what I can hear.

(A haiku)
Early crocuses
burst through dead leaves. Brown creepers
circle up tree trunks.

I love all the pen and ink and watercolor sketches.

Next year I'm going to begin our science studies with observations of the flora and fauna of southern Arizona. Perhspas I'll teach the kids how to sew together an easy journal of blank pages and we can start making observations using this super book as a model.

Chester Raccoon and the Acorn Full of Memories - Audrey Penn

Illustrated by Barbara L. Gibson
Tanglewood Publishing, 2009
$16.95
32 pages
Endpapers: Purple

I picked this book up just to glance through it, to read it quickly, but with no intentions of blogging about it. However, I really enjoyed it. I liked the illustrations. I liked the story. I liked that it talked about making memories, but avoided spirituality. There's certainly a place for books like this.

When Chester Raccoon discovers that his friend Skiddil Squirrel has died, his mother helps him understand what that means, and helps him relieve memories of their time together, creating a happy spot in his mind about his friend. And when they travel to the place where Chester and Skiddil always played, they are accompanied by others who knew the squirrel. There's even a cool, happy ending that really cements the idea of memories and how important they are: Skiddil had collected a cache of acorns and buried them. However, when it came to finding them again, even with his friends helping, they could not be found. But Chester and his mom find a stand of new oak trees, and know this was the hiding place.

The illustrations cover the entire page, are very detailed and colorful and....happy.

Okay, I really like this book.