Girl Power

GIRL POWER

Gentle and meek are things of the past.
I am
Ready to take on the world. To
Lead,
Persist, and
Open doors
With my own talents, my own skills, and my own
Expertise. World, are you
Ready for me?

©Mary Lee Hahn

Troublemaker

Troublemaker
(Ever so slightly to the tune of "Little Boxes")

When we want
What they’ve got
And we ask for it
In the right ways
And the logic’s there
And the signatures
And they still tell us NO

Then we don’t stop
And we’re not quiet
And we make them
Pay attention now
To the voices
Of the people
Who pursue what they’re due.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

"I had first come to the attention of the principal’s office with a premature women’s liberation movement on the school grounds. At noon, the boys could leave the grounds to play around on the streets and to get hot dogs, hamburgers, coffee, and pop at the little store across the street. I circulated a petition that the girls be allowed out of the yard at noon also. The answer was no. It wasn’t proper for girls to be on the street. [The girls then asked that the boys be restricted, and were told] if the school tried to restrict the boys they’d just climb the fence. Probably in the same situation now, the girls would climb the fence. Then, nothing happened except that quiet, shy me was fingered as a troublemaker."

http://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/biographies/malvina-reynolds/

Storyteller

Storyteller

Storyteller, storyteller
come on out.
Tell us a story.
What’s it about?
Pirates or dragons,
a farm or a zoo?
Zebras? Lions?
Kangaroo?

Storyteller, storyteller
spin us a yarn.
Make it a good one,
one that will charm.
One full of laughter,
or one full of fear--
no matter what you tell
all of us will cheer!

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

"The times I have been happiest were the rare times when I was one of a gang….I had a kind of gang when we lived on Buchanan Street [in San Francisco]. I must have been seven or eight. We would sit in the light of the street lamp in the evening on the high wooden flight of stairs, a dozen of us, and while the bigger boys played “One Foot Off the Gutter,” I would make up long stories to tell the others. I don’t remember what the stories were about, but they must have been interesting; I can remember the young voices in the evening, calling me to come out."

http://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/biographies/malvina-reynolds/

Quiet

Quiet

Sometimes
it takes a lot of loud
to be noticed.
Roar your truth
in a pride of lions.
Demand change
with signs and signatures.
Surge with the chanting crowd
and be heard.

However
you don’t need loud
to be strong.
Sing your truth
as confidently as a single wren.
Gently nudge change
to the tune of genuine smiles.
Harmonize in a chorus
of allies.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

Sing It, Malvina! 

April 1 -- Working for Change
April 2 -- A Lifetime Filled With Change
April 3 -- Red
April 4 -- Little Red Hen
April 5 -- Childhood Dreams
April 6 -- Lonely Child
April 7 -- Quiet


Irene has the Poetry Friday Roundup (and the next line of the Progressive Poem) today at Live Your Poem. Come back here tomorrow for the 8th line of the Progressive Poem!

Lonely Child

Lonely Child

I’m quiet
She’s loud
I like alone
She likes a crowd

I’m shy
She’s bold
She likes to tell
I like to be told

I’m a cloud
She’s a storm
Hard to believe
Someday I’ll perform

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017





"I was a lonely child; I can’t remember any friends in grade school except Esther. Why she picked quiet, shy me for a friend, I don’t know. She was bold, laughing, quick. She would sit back of me in school and slowly pull one hair out of my braid. Miss Geary would say, “Hit her! With your ruler!” I never would. I liked Miss Geary. I intended to be a teacher, and would be like her—a good sport….I am still shy with people. I can easily face and talk with and sing to a hundred or a thousand. But at a party, next to a stranger, I haven’t much to say."


http://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/biographies/malvina-reynolds/

Childhood Dreams

Childhood Dreams

Dream, child, dream.
Your bed is a boat
on the wide sea

of possibility.

Close your eyes.
Fling your arms wide.
Dance in the light
on the stage.

You’re a movie star today,
tomorrow a dancer,
maybe a teacher.
Dream, child, dream.

©Mary Lee Hahn




“My mother, Malvina Reynolds, once told me that when she was young, she would lie in bed and imagine that she was onstage, dancing, with a spotlight following her. She wanted to be a movie star, but she assumed that that would never happen, so she decided she’d be a teacher instead and work a smaller stage.”


http://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/biographies/malvina-reynolds/

Little Red Hen

Little Red Hen

Red is the color of socialists,
and what do socialists believe?
Everyone works, everyone helps,
together, everyone achieves.

Hen asked for help planting wheat.
The other animals said no.
Hen did all the work without any help,

from seed to plant, flour, and dough.

Little Red Hen is a socialist

and what do socialists believe?
Everyone works, everyone helps,

together, everyone achieves.

Work is a part of the process:
no help with the work means no bread,
no help with the work makes you lazy,
when the lazy don’t help they aren’t fed.

Little Red Hen is a socialist,
and what do socialists believe?
Everyone works, everyone helps,
together, everyone achieves.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

Red

Red

Malvina Reynolds’ parents were Russian Jewish immigrants
escaping discrimination and persecution
opposing World War I
subscribing to socialism
believing in common ownership of resources
wanting democratic control of decisions
hosting spirited conversations
filling the house with working class political activists
influencing Malvina’s young mind
coloring the way she would see the world.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

A Lifetime Filled With Change

A Lifetime Filled With Change

Malvina Reynolds was born
at the turn of the 20th century.
1899 turned to 1900.

She lived a lifetime filled with change.

Telephones were new but becoming widely used,
cities were being electrified.

First vacuum cleaner -- 1902.
First flight by the Wright brothers,
First World Series,
First crayons -- 1903.

Women were given the right to vote -- 1920.
Television was invented -- 1927.

Segregation and racial oppression escalated.
The Civil Rights movement
stood up and sat down
until
(and after)
the Civil Rights Act in 1964.

Vietnam, Nixon, Apple Computers, Sony Walkmans.
Mother Teresa received the Nobel Peace Prize.

Malvina Reynolds lived a lifetime filled with change.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

Working for Change

Working For Change

“Anyone
who puts his or her talent and effort
toward changes for the better
has tremendous
muscle.

(Much more than the negative people,
the destructive people.)

Because they have history
on their side
and they have the desires of the people
on their side
so they really can be very powerful
without all that much effort.

If you want to change
you can’t be desperate
even if the situation is difficult.
The fact that it’s good for the cause,
it’s good for you.
Because you become part of a community
that’s working to change
and that’s a very healthy thing.

You’re not just
grousing
and
complaining
but you’re working.

That will take away your blues.”

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017


This is a found poem, a direct quote from Malvina Reynolds, taken from “Love it Like a Fool: A Film About Malvina Reynolds” at 25:35.

https://archive.org/details/loveitlikeafoolafilmaboutmalvinareynolds

The Power of Story

I Am a Story
by Dan Yaccarino
HarperCollins, 2016
review copy provided by the publisher

We've been looking closely at picture book dust jackets (inside and out), covers, and endpapers, thanks to #classroombookaday. I'm hoping the endpapers of this book will inspire thoughtful inferences about what we'll find between the covers. Will there be text that we can quote explicitly to support our thinking?

What will my fifth graders make of a book that chronicles the history of human story telling, from ancient oral story tellers around a fire under the stars to modern story tellers around a campfire under the very same stars?

Will they be in awe of their place in the course of human history as writers and tellers of stories?

What will they make of the little red bird who flies through all the places and times?





This book is making me think again about the TED Radio Hour episode I listened to recently, "The Act of Listening." Especially the parts about the power of Story Corps, and the man who invented it. Because what good is a story without a listener or reader?

Next Year's Readers: Sharing My New Nonfiction Passion

I'm starting to fall in love with nonfiction. It started years back with a book that looked at history through the lens of the oak tree.

Then there were books by Bill Bryson, a favorite author. One looks at history through the lens of our homes, and another focuses on a single amazing year in history.

Just recently, I finished listening to a history traced by what we've been drinking.

In my Audible wish list are now histories focused on salt and cod, seeds, potatoes, food, and innovations. Suddenly, I can't get enough of this way of thinking about history! One of most prolific writers of this kind of history, Mark Kurlansky, has adapted two of his most popular books for adults into picture books. Next year, I intend to read more nonfiction aloud to my fifth graders. I'll start with these two!

The Story of Salt

by Mark Kurlansky, illustrated by S.D. Schindler

G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers, 2006

The Cod's Tale

by Mark Kurlansky, illustrated by S.D. Schindler

G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers, 2011

I Am Jackie Robinson by Brad Meltzer

I'm so glad I decided to participate in the Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge hosted at Kidlit Frenzy.  It is a great reminder to keep up with my nonfiction reading in 2015!

The newish picture book biography series, "Ordinary People Change the World" by Brad Meltzer's a perfect nonfiction series for elementary students.  We have the first few books in our classroom and I've noticed that several kids are picking them up on their own to read during independent reading time.  They are great stories and are very accessible to young children.

These books look simpler than they are.  I read the newest title, I Am Jackie Robinson this weekend and realized how packed the book is.  The focus of the story and the theme of all of the books is one about heroes.  So the story focuses on the things Jackie Robinson did to change the world.  The stories is an engaging one for kids and the illustrations make them books that kids will pick up even without our nudging.

From a nonfiction reading standpoint, I plan to use these books to teach lots of mini lessons.  The page layouts, the ways the talking bubbles share details that go beyond the main text, the timeline at the end of the book, and other features all make these books a new favorite nonfiction series for me.

I love this new edition and am looking forward to the next book in the series--I Am Lucille Ball coming in July.

This short clip tells a bit more about the series:

History in Poetry

Harlem Hellfighters
by J. Patrick Lewis
illustrated by Gary Kelley
Creative Editions, 2014

As I noted last Wednesday, J. Patrick Lewis' anthology title says it all: "Everything is a Poem." On Thursday, we looked at science in poetry, and yesterday we looked at nature in poetry. Today, the focus is on history in poetry. Upcoming posts include biography and imagination in poetry.

This gorgeously illustrated book of poetry for older readers teaches about 369th Infantry Regiment in World War I. Originally mobilized as the 15th New York National Guard, this group of 2,000 black American soldiers became famous not just for their tenacity on the battle field, but for the music they brought with them and which helped them to survive.

The tragic death of the band leader, James "Big Jim" Reese Europe, just a year after Armistice Day, gives this little-known story from WWI an extra measure of poignancy.

Reading History

Last week, the historian in my house was hustling to finish his current read so that he could begin a book about World War I on June 28, the date 100 years ago when Austrian archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated and the domino effect of events leading to the declaration of World War I began.

I was between books as well, so I dove into

World War I for Kids: A History with 21 Activities (For Kids series)
by R. Kent Rasmussen
Chicago Review Press, 2014
review copy provided by the publisher

Just about everything I know about WWI, I learned by reading the graphic novel from the Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales series, TREATIES, TRENCHES, MUD, AND BLOOD. In many ways, I liked World War I for kids better.

Hale's book is more of a sequential story of the war, whereas WWI for Kids is more topical. I personally like the topical approach.

Rasmussen begins with a very clear introduction that focuses on WWI as "the most important turning point of the 20th century." He makes the point that "Change is the essence of history..." and suggests that the reader not focus so much on particular battles or on who won or lost the war, but on "what events were truly significant, why they happened as they did, and how they were connected with one another." He also encourages close attention to maps when studying the war. "It is impossible to understand any war without knowing something about its geography." I can imagine reading aloud this entire introduction both as a book hook and because Rasmussen does such a succinct job teaching the reader how to read and learn about history.

I had a hard time with the first two chapters (The Road to War and Stalemate on the Western Front) and chapter 4 (Other Fronts), but the ones that were organized around topics rather than politics and chronologies were fascinating to me. I learned about the horrors of Trench Warfare, the changes of technology in The Weapons of War, The War at Sea and the development of submarines, The War in the Air and the development of airplanes, and the role of animals in Animals Go To War. It was fascinating to learn about how and when the US become involved (Enter the United States), but I lost some of my reading stamina in the chapters The Home Fronts, Ending the Fighting, and Beyond the Armistice. One of the things that kept me going throughout the book were the archival photographs, the maps, and the sidebar information and stories. I think it will be important to share with young readers who are just beginning to tackle longer nonfiction that these variations in preference and stamina are normal.

I imagine that this book, and its companion World War II for Kids: A History with 21 Activities (For Kids series)will be very popular in my 5th grade classroom.

History -- Graphic Novel Style

Graphic novels count for your summer #bookaday and for the 48 Hour Book Challenge, so put these on your TBR if you teach grades 4-8 or simply if you want to brush up on your American History.

Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales: One Dead Spy

by Nathan Hale

Harry N. Abrams, August 1, 2012

review copy purchased for my classroom

With a given name like Nathan Hale, how could you NOT write about Nathan Hale? This book is the set-up for the whole series. Nathan Hale is about to be hanged for treason. (On the cover, bottom left is the British officer in charge and, bottom right, the doofus hangman.) When Hale says his famous words, he is sucked into the Book of History and can see ALL of history. He delays his hanging by telling the Brit and the Hangman great stories from history. In this book, the focus is Hale's story, and the big picture is the American Revolution.

Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales: Big Bad Ironclad!

by Nathan Hale

Harry N. Abrams, August 1, 2012

review copy purchased for my classroom

Big Bad Ironclad focuses on the race between the North and the South during the Civil War to develop ironclad ships. Big picture: Civil War.

Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales: Donner Dinner Party

by Nathan Hale

Harry N. Abrams, August 6, 2013

review copy purchased for my classroom

The Donner Dinner Party should also be known as "How Many Bad Decisions Can Be Made Based on Pride, Greed, Stubbornness and Competition?" Focus: surviving a winter stranded in the Sierra Nevadas. Big picture: Westward Movement.

Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales: Treaties, Trenches, Mud, and Blood (A World War I Tale)

by Nathan Hale

Harry N. Abrams, May 13, 2014

review copy purchased for my classroom

If you're like me, you're a little fuzzy on why World War I was fought. The politics of WWI are extremely (EXTREMELY) complicated, but Nathan Hale does a masterful job of bringing them down to kid level. To help the reader keep track of all of the countries involved, he draws each nationality as a different animal. 

Byrd & Igloo: A Polar Adventure

Byrd & Igloo: A Polar Adventure
by Samantha Seiple
Scholastic, 2013
review ARC provided by the publisher
review by Aloysius J. Wald

It is not our policy to accept unsolicited guest reviews, but when you live in the same house as a reader whose knowledge of the history of Arctic exploration would rival that of the historians who run the Byrd Polar Research Center at The Ohio State University, and a book about Byrd shows up in a box of ARCs...well...let's just say that such a book moved to someone else's reading pile in a flash.


Samantha Seiple’s adventure history/biography, BYRD & IGLOO, A POLAR ADVENTURE, tells the story of Richard E. Byrd and his Polar explorations while accompanied by Igloo, his fox terrier. Not much has been written of late about Richard Byrd. His explorations were, largely, events that occurred late in the golden years of Arctic and Polar exploration. You could even make the case that Commander Byrd was the transitional figure between the time of absolute, blank map, first boots on the territory exploration, and the modern, mechanized scientific explorations that continue today.

The element of adding the companion dog, Igloo, to the mix and giving him a voice in the proceedings is something a bit new in this type of a history. While Igloo’s thoughts are highly anthropomorphic, it seems perfectly appropriate to the 8 to 12 age group for whom the book is written. This approach is important in light of the lack of newer material and general unfamiliarity of present readers regarding Commander Byrd and his accomplishments. Igloo helps to draw readers in who might otherwise reject a book on Polar explorations that occurred eighty years ago.

Ms. Seiple’s previous book, Ghosts in the Fog, provided history regarding the little examined Japanese invasion of the Aleutian Islands during World War II. In both of her historical works, she illuminates less known incidents in history. This is most welcome. The occurrences in both books are parts of larger historical events, in the case of Polar exploration, extending over centuries. Delving into more obscure aspects of history are not only entertaining in and of themselves, but provide both an entry point for the study of the larger histories of the subject and give a sense of the entire subject in microcosm.

Utilizing her background as a librarian and researcher, Samantha Seiple has accessed a great deal of resource material from the period of Byrd’s Polar work, which gives the book a contemporary feel, putting the reader in the 1920’s and 30’s.

Those readers who are drawn to additional readings in the subject of Polar exploration will discover a vast and complex topic. Readers who read Byrd & Igloo for an enjoyable story about mischievous dog will be rewarded with a good story.

For most readers in the 8 – 12 age group, BRYD & IGLOO, A POLAR ADVENTURE, should prove to be a good read.