Poetry Friday -- Seeing Instead of Just Looking

To His Piano

by Howard Nemerov

Old friend, patient of error as of accuracy,
Ready to think the fingerings of thought,
You but a scant year older than I am
.

.

.

To see you standing there for six decades
Containing chopsticks, Fur Elise, and
The Art of Fugue in your burnished rosewood box,
As well as all those years of silence and
The stumbling beginnings the children made

.

.

.

(the whole poem is at The Writer's Almanac)

Men Throwing Bricks
by Michael Chitwood

The one on the ground lofts two at a time
with just the right lift for them to finish
their rise as the one on the scaffold turns
to accept them like a gift and place them
on the growing stack. They chime slightly
on the catch. You'd have to do this daily,
morning and afternoon, not to marvel.

(this poem can be found at The Writer's Almanac)

There is such a beauty in the ordinariness of life -- the things around us that we sometimes look at without seeing, but which hold so much meaning inside our memories -- watching others do hard work with ease and grace (or finding those moments of ease and grace in one's own work).

Ordinary: the screen door to the back yard of my childhood home. And yet, when I look at that picture, I hear the sound of the door handle, and feel the lush grass on my bare feet, the heat of the morning sun on the patio.

Elaine has today's Poetry Friday roundup at Wild Rose Reader.

Detective Blue

Detective Blue
by Steve Metzger
illustrated by Ted Arnold
Orchard Books/Scholastic, July 2011
review copy provided by the publisher

You be the detective! There are 24 Mother Goose rhymes hidden in the story and pictures of this hard-boiled detective story (which comes in the form of a graphic novel/picture book mash up).

Detective Blue, whose horn-blowing and cow-tending have been left in his past, makes short work of the crimes that come his way -- the dish running away with the spoon, Mary's lamb trying to sneak into school wearing a disguise. Then Jack Sprat comes running down the street yelling (not because someone offered him a fatty sandwich), "Miss Muffet is missing! Miss Muffet is missing!" and Detective Blue is on the case. He follows clues that take him from Little Bo Peep to Humpty Dumpty to Jack's Corner Pie Shop. Never fear, there's a fairy tale ending. (Literally.)

I can't wait to share this book with kids! It's a fun story with kid-sized literary allusions. It's got Ted Arnold's Fly Guy-style illustrations. It's a great (quick) model of the conventions of the mystery genre. It's a great (big-enough-to-share-with-a-group) model of the conventions of graphic novels. And there's that checklist of 24 Mother Goose rhymes that will pull kids back into the story until they find them all.

If you buy one book this summer/week, this should be the one.

THE NEIGHBORHOOD SING-ALONG by Nina Crews

I love having a large poetry and song book collection and I am always looking for poetry/song books that span grade levels.  I think THE NEIGHBORHOOD SING-ALONG by Nina Crews will be one of those books that kids of all ages will love.

This book is filled with classic songs such as "Take Me Out to the Ball Game!", "Do Your Ears Hang Low?", and "John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt".  Each is place on a page with photos of small children out and about in the neighborhood.  The children in the photos are young--which will invite young children into this book.  But I don't think the young children will keep older kids from enjoying sharing these songs together.  Although there is no accompanying CD or site for the songs, I think most of the songs will be readily available to kids in some format.

I have lots of song books in my library and classroom collections. Many are new versions of old songs. It is nice to have a book that might give kids access to the original words/versions to many songs they may be familiar with.  I can't wait to share this one with kids.

ARE YOU AWAKE? by Sophie Blackall

I am a huge fan of Sophie Blackall. I fell in love with her work when I first read
MEET THE WILD BOARS and was thrilled to see her illustrations in the IVY AND BEAN series.    ARE YOU AWAKE? is my new favorite--written and illustrated by Sophie Blackall.

This is a small book-the size matches the tiny child on the front cover.  A small, sweet book.  The story is collection of questions--question that a little boy asks his mother in the middle of the night.  His first question, of course, is, "Are you awake?"

The story follows along the conversation between a very wide-awake child and his not-so-awake mother.  The child is full of why questions and the mother patiently answers every one.

There is lots to love about this little book.  The questions that the little boy asks are so genuine and true. Parents and children will all be able to remember a time when a child woke up far too early and wanted to chat.  The illustrations show the love and understanding of the relationship between mother and child and celebrates the curiosity of childhood.

This book would make a fun read aloud as well as an interesting text to study as a writing mentor.  I can't imagine anyone not falling in love with this book immediately.

June Mosaic

How to make a mosaic:

1. Make a photoset in Flickr.
2. Go to Big Huge Labs -- Home of fd's Flickr Toys -- and select the Mosaic Maker.
3. Choose the dimensions of your mosaic based on the number of photos you have.
4. Choose Flickr photoset as the way you'd like to upload, and paste in the URL for your photoset.
5. Create it, save it as a pdf, and -- VOILA! -- insert it into your blog as an image.

FARMYARD BEAT by Lindsey Craig and Marc Brown

Last year, I read and loved DANCING FEET by Lindsey Craig and Marc Brown.  I was thrilled to see that they collaborated on another fun book called FARMYARD BEAT.

This book will make for a great read aloud or a shared reading with young children.  The illustrations will draw readers in and the text will be fun to read over and over again.  The repeated phrases, picture support, rhythm and rhyme make this the perfect book for primary classrooms.

This is the story of a farmyard full of animals who can't sleep because they've "got the beat".  Each animal has his/her own beat that fits into the story.  I can only imagine the fun we'll all have when the animals are all sharing their beats together.  

I worry that we have gotten a bit away from shared reading in our primary classrooms.  I know I don't do enough of it in the library. But this book begs to be part of a shared reading experience.  I am thinking that I might make laminated cards with enlarged print for each animal in the story.  Then kids can join into the whole class reading but also use the cards to share the story in small groups.

Poetry Friday -- Poets Laureate -- Our National Poets

Joseph Auslander

Joseph Auslander was the first US Poet Laureate. The position was then known as the "Poetry Chair" or the "Consultant in Poetry." He served from 1937-1941.

About the position, he says

Having been appointed to the task of building in our national Library for the People of the United States a permanent sanctuary for the manuscripts and memorabilia of the poets of our tongue, I take the liberty of inviting your cooperation. Such a room, dedicated to the best and noblest utterances of the best and noble minds, is intended not only as a storehouse of treasures to inspire and instruct the multitude that daily throng our doors; it is to serve as one more heartening sigh, in a confused and darkened world, of the power of the poets and dramatists, the glory of our ideals and aspirations.

Isn't that a little bit what Poetry Friday is? It's temporary, but it's a sanctuary. It's built collaboratively each week. It's dedicated to what strikes us as the "best and noblest utterances of the best and noblest minds." And it is definitely a "heartening sigh, in a confused and darkened world."

Happy Poetry Friday in a flag-waving, country-loving, Fourth of July fireworks sort of way!!

I got my inspiration this week by dipping into my new book



The Poets Laureate Anthology
edited and with introductions by Elizabeth Hun Schmidt
foreword by Billy Collins
W.H. Norton, 2011
review copy purchased by me

Here's a poem by Joseph Auslander:

TESTAMENT

To see a dream
Reduced to rust
Is a bitter theme,
Yet it leaves a gleam--
It must...
But to lose trust
In a simple thing
Like the golden dust
On a miller's wing
Or the smell of spring
In the air--
That I could never bear.



The roundup today is at a wrung sponge. The roundup for the next six months is here, and in our sidebar. Thank you everyone for volunteering to host!

New Poetry Friday Roundup Schedule

July 

1 Andromeda at a wrung sponge

8 Elaine at Wild Rose Reader

15 Mary Lee at  A Year of Reading

22 Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference

29 Kate at Book Aunt

August 

5 Libby at A Year of Literacy Coaching!

12 Karen at Karen Edmisten

19 Dori at Dori Reads

26 Irene at Live. Love. Explore!

September 

2 Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect

9 Katie at Secrets and Sharing Soda

16 Amy at The Poem Farm

23 Anastasia at Picture Book of the Day

30 Sara at Read Write Believe

October 

7 Mary Ann at Great Kid Books

14 david elzey at FOMAGRAMS

21 Jama at alphabet soup

28 Diane at Random Noodling

November 

4 Laura Salas at Writing the World for Kids

11 April Halprin Wayland at Teaching Authors

18 Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference

25 Heidi at my juicy little universe

December 

2 Carol at Carol's Corner

9 Robyn at Read, Write, Howl

16 Kate at Book Aunt

23 Dori at Dori Reads

30 Julie at The Drift Record

If you want the html code so that you, too, can have a cool sidebar list, email me at ayearofreading at earthlink dot net and I'll send it to you!

Dude: Fun with Dude and Betty

Dude: Fun with Dude and Betty
by Lisa Pliscou
illustrated by Tom Dunne
Harper, 2011
review copy purchased because it looked too hysterical to pass up (I was not disappointed)

Yesterday's book was a hard book; today's book is just plain fun. I took it to All Write and it made its way down the row in the PAC before Jeff Anderson's opening keynote, becoming many readers' #bookaday.

This book is a parody of Dick and Jane (or David and Anne for you Catholics).

"Here is Dude.

Hey, Dude. What's up?

Dude is a way cool guy."

Dude's friend is Betty, and his dog is Bud. "Bud is a most excellent dog." Dude, Betty and Bud play Frisbee on the beach, then Dude goes surfing while Betty soaks up rays on the beach.

"Yowza!

Stokaboka!

Check out those waves!

The waves are big.

Surf's up, Dude!

It is cranking today."

Dude gets biffed by a super gnarly wave, and he's done surfing for the day. The trio goes to the taco stand for a "bodacious burrito." Back at home, Dude and Betty listen to Dude's new Surf Punks CD. "Betty boogies. Dude plays air guitar." Dude's Father and Mother have the nerve to question him about cleaning his room and doing his homework, so he bails on that gnarly scene and heads back to the beach.

The book includes an extensive glossary.

I can't wait to hear my landlocked midwestern 4th graders perform this book!!

This Child, Every Child: A Book About the World's Children

This Child, Every Child: A Book about the World's Children
by David J. Smith
illustrated by Shelagh Armstrong
CitizenKid imprint of Kids Can Press, 2011
review copy provided by the publisher

This is an important book. It is not an easy book, but it is an important book.

Without support, it will be hard for children to grasp the concepts that compare children around the world in various aspects of their lives. And it is hard to read about children in the world who don't have proper food, clean water, caring families, or access to schooling.

Which brings us back to the fact that this is an important book, because no positive changes will come for children in need (whether they live in rich countries or poor) if we look away from the problem.

The format of this book is similar to David J. Smith's other books for the CitizenKid imprint of Kids Can Press, IF THE WORLD WERE A VILLAGE and IF AMERICA WERE A VILLAGE. It is organized by topic: Children and their families, Children at home, Children's health, Children on the move, Children at school, Are boys and girls treated equally?, Children and work, Children at play, Children and war, Children and the future, Children's rights. In each section, he introduces us to children from around the globe who experience each of the topics differently. In addition, on each 2-page topic spread, Smith highlights a pertinent section from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (and all of the rights are listed in child friendly language at the end of the book). Also at the end of the book, are numerous ideas for using the book and the information and concepts in the book with children.

When we study rights and responsibilities in our 4th grade social studies curriculum, it is often hard for 9 year-olds to relate to the U.S. Bill of Rights. But the rights that are presented in this book are their rights--the rights of children in the United States and all around the world. I can't wait to share this book with my students!