The Power of Family

The power of family: You do what's right 

even if it wasn't your first choice.

Sparkle Boy

by Lesléa Newman

illustrations by Maria Mola

Lee & Low Books, 2017

Stef Soto, Taco Queen

by Jennifer Torres

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Genevieve's War

by Patricia Reilly Giff

Holiday House, 2017

In Sparkle Boy, the adults are support of little brother Casey's desire for sparkly glittery things, but big sister Jessie isn't so sure...until older boys tease her brother at the library and she comes to his rescue.

In Stef Soto, Taco Queen, Stef wants nothing more than to be free of her family's food truck...until her family's livelihood and her father's passion are threatened, and then she fights to save it.

In Genevieve's War, it's 1939, and although her grandmother is prickly and difficult to get along with, Genevieve decides stay and help her rather than go back to her home in America. This decision leaves her trapped in occupied France (Alsace) as the Nazis get closer and closer. Even when she has the chance to escape a second time...the pull of family is strong enough to turn her back once more to her grandmother.

Foster Families and Adoption

"A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies.

The man who never reads lives only one." 

George R.R. Martin

Forever, or a Long, Long Time

by Caela Carter

HarperCollins, 2017

The End of the Wild

by Nicole Helget

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2017

The War I Finally Won

by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Dial Books, October 2017

Three Pennies

by Melanie Crowder

Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2017

Each of these books is the story of (or a story that includes) foster care and/or adoption. These are lives I never would have lived if it hadn't been for these books. I never would have experienced the trauma, the questions, the shaky identity, the need for acceptance.

These are books that help readers to see that all families don't look the same, and they help readers realize that family does not have to involve shared genetics.

The quest of the characters in Forever, or a Long, Long Time shows how every foster home and family differs, and what love does and doesn't look like. Same with the quests of the characters in Three Pennies (including the owl who is looking for a family and home).

The End of the Wild includes economics (rural poverty), the environment (fracking), and immigration (Somalian refugees) along with issues of foster care.

The story of Ada, Jamie, and Susan continues in The War I Finally Won, the sequel to The War That Saved My Life, with the boundaries of "family" explored to include Lord and Lady Thornton, Maggie and Jonathan, as well as a German Jewish refugee girl, Ruth, and...well, in order not to provide a spoiler, I'll stop there.  :-)

Poetry Friday -- Cutting Yourself Some Slack, GMH Style

Photo by Karsten Würth (@inf1783) on Unsplash

My Own Heart
by Gerard Manley Hopkins

My own heart let me more have pity on; let
Me live to my sad self hereafter kind,
Charitable; not live this tormented mind
With this tormented mind tormenting yet.
I cast for comfort I can no more get
By groping round my comfortless, than blind
Eyes in their dark can day or thirst can find
Thirst’s all-in-all in all a world of wet.

Soul, self; come, poor Jackself, I do advise
You, jaded, let be; call off thoughts awhile
Elsewhere; leave comfort root-room; let joy size
At God knows when to God knows what; whose smile
‘s not wrung, see you; unforeseen times rather—as skies
Betweenpie mountains—lights a lovely mile.

There are a whole slew of reasons why this is the poem for today. It showed up on The Writer's Almanac on July 29, a day when I was feeling like all the work I'd put in for a fundraiser was not going to be enough and the whole thing would be a spectacular failure. (It wasn't. It also wasn't a huge success, but I'm learning to live with good-enough.) It showed up on the brink of back-to-school, and seems as good a reminder as the poem Carol shared last week. While hers was about work, this seems to be about cutting yourself some slack; leaving comfort some "root-room," remaining open to joy sizing "At God knows when to God knows what." And, just...Gerard Manley Hopkins, who makes me slow down to dig out the beauty and meaning in his poems, and who rewards me the way an un-wrung smile (God's or anyone else's) can break through the cloudy skies of life and light up a "lovely mile."

Donna has the Poetry Friday roundup this week -- Padlet style -- at Mainely Write.

Amy Krouse Rosenthal: A Beauty Salon

Amy Krouse Rosenthal was the one with the yellow umbrella on that night back in August of 2008 (8/8/08 at 8:08 PM) when she beckoned the lovely and made a cool 18th thing with the folks who showed up. She didn't just make that 18th thing. She made her way into our hearts.





It seemed more than a coincidence when hubby and I were in Chicago recently, that a yellow umbrella shone out when I took one of my many requisite shots of "The Bean."

And when I learned from Lisa (Steps and Staircases) about an exhibit at the Carrie Secrist Gallery in Chicago (through August 12), Amy Krouse Rosenthal: A Beauty Salon, I knew we would have to go.

It was amazing. Inspiring. Heart-wrenching. And lovely beyond words.

Thank you, AKR, for all the good you did and all the beauty you brought to the world. You left far too early. We'll do our best to continue to beckon the lovely and make amazing things with/in/of our lives.

Poetry Friday -- Haiku

the caterpillars

unrecognizable

disguise mystery

©Mary Lee Hahn

I still haven't seen a single adult black swallowtail anywhere, all summer long. They have found my dill and parsley, however. Caterpillars have appeared and disappeared several times. A couple of weeks ago, they were all over the dill in various stages of growth. I brought in six, excited about watching the ten (TEN!!) I left outside grow up. When I went outside later that afternoon, all ten were gone from the dill, nowhere to be found. Food chain, I assume. I am glad I saved six.

Of the six, three have successfully chrysalized (is that a word?) and two are close -- still eating, but nearing the full-to-popping size they achieve before they reorganize all their body parts so they can fly. The mystery of the changes from caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly never gets old.

Caterpillar on dill, top right. Two chrysalises on bottom stick.

Two unrecognizable caterpillars -- top one is greenish, bottom one is brown.

Linda has this week's Poetry Friday roundup at A Word Edgewise.

My Summer Discoveries that You Must Know About!

I had a summer filled with learning and thinking. I was lucky to connect with so many people and each time I left to go to a conference, etc. I had great intentions of blogging each event. However, time got away from me and those good intentions never turned into blog posts. But I discovered so many things that I want everyone else to know about that I need to share them. So here, in no particular order, are some of my favorite summer discoveries that I think are worth sharing!

An App

And do you know about Flipgrid. I was lucky enough to hear Sara Kajder speak twice this summer and both times she shared the amazing things students were doing with Flipgrid.  Definitely an app I'll be checking out this year!

A Podcast

If you do not regularly listen to the Voices from  the Middle podcasts, I would start now.  In the latest episode, middle school ELA teachers talk to amazing author, Jason Reynolds. Once you listen to this one, you'll probably want to go back and listen to all of the episodes but this one is definitely a current favorite for me!

A Voice of Wisdom

I learned about Claire Wineland from this recent CNN story. I am inspired by her message and all I have learned from her about life and living and being healthy in the few short weeks since I read this article. I've watched some of her TED Talks and her Zappos talk-lots to learn from Claire, for sure. 

Nerdtalks

I was lucky to attend this year's #Nerdcampmi and I cannot tell you how powerful the opening Nerdtalks were. I captured a few of my favorite words in a recent blog post. 

If you missed the Nerdtalks, Chad Everett and Donalyn Miller published the text of their speeches and I highly recommend reading and rereading both. 

Resources to help think about #weneeddiversebooks

I was lucky to hear Donalyn share her presentation, Books for a Better World. Of course I learned about so many books I didn't know about.  Donalyn was generous to share her slides from the talk on Slideshare. 

The Stenhouse Blogstitute is a favorite annual online event. This year, I especially loved Kathy Short's piece, Teaching Globally to Make a Difference in the World. Her post has several great resources that you'll want to know about if you don't already.

Elizabeth Bird's post, Where Are All the Black Boys: A 2017 Assessment and Comparison is an important read with an embedded booklist.

I discovered The Journey Project (The intersection of research, resources, and outreach to support gender expansive and transgender youth, families, and educator advocates.) recently and think it is a great resource for parents and educators. I needs to spend a bit more time on the site but I am especially interested in The Inclusive Classroom Library Project that is part of this site.

ILA Panel
I attended an amazing panel at ILA in July titled Disrupting a Destructive Cycle: How Literacy Drives Social Change. I was able to hear and learn from Nikole Hannah-Jones (If you don't know her work, you should read as much of it as you can). I learned about Salaam Reads, a new book imprint that we should all know. And Cornelius Minor's opening talk at this panel is one that I keep reflecting on. The live event is archived on ILA's Facebook page so you can watch it there. And then follow all of the panel members on Twitter, etc.

New Blogs to Follow
Classroom Communities is a new blog with an amazing list of contributors --one that focuses on classroom community and relationships. Happy to have this blog in the world!

This Teaching and Coaching Life is a new blog by the amazing Stella Villalba, Always something amazing to learn from Stella! So glad to be able to learn from her through this new blog.

Math

And I was excited to discover the math site, Building Math Minds and to learn that they are hosting this FREE Math Virtual Summit with some amazing speakers.

Jess Keating

I have always been a fan of Jess Keating and her work. This summer she launched a new free magazine called The Curious Creative. Each issue is packed with great stuff so you'll want to subscribe for sure!

And finally, if you have not tried McDonald's ROLO McFlurry, it is a happy treat!  Not sure when this was invented because I just discovered it a few weeks ago but well worth it on a day you need a special treat!

So many great discoveries so far this summer! Enjoy!

Poetry Friday -- Timing is Everything

Lake Michigan, Indiana Dunes State Park

timing is everything

how we measure the seconds between
     toast and charcoal
     insult and injury
     impact and airbag
hands up, palms forward--stop!

how we measure the seconds between
     boom and sparkle
     joke and punchline
     notice and wonder
hands out, palms cupped--more!


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017



I took the title of my poem from today's poem at The Writer's Almanac. Gerald Locklin uses the timing of one event for his poem, but I got to thinking about the range of emotions possible within brief moments. What are some moments you'd like to have stopped or to held onto?

Katie has the Poetry Friday roundup today at The Logonauts.

Amina's Voice, The Gauntlet, and Salaam Reads

I have heard so much about the new book, Amina's Voice by Hena Khan. I read it this week and am so glad I did. This book is getting lots of buzz and lots of starred reviews and it deserves all of these things.  The middle grade book is about Amina,  a Pakistani-American Muslim girl who has an amazing voice. But she is not comfortable using it in front of an audience. As she tries to make sense of challenges and changes that come with growing up, her local mosque is vandalized. This book is a must-read/must-have..

Amina's Voice is a Simon and Schuster publication. I just learned of Simon and Schuster's newish imprint--Salaam Reads--one that we should all know:
"Founded in 2016, Salaam Reads is an imprint that aims to introduce readers of all faiths and backgrounds to a wide variety of Muslim children and families and offer Muslim kids an opportunity to see themselves reflected positively in published works. The imprint, which takes its name from the Arabic word for “peace,” plans to publish books for young readers of all ages, including picture books, chapter books, middle grade, and young adult."

I didn't realize it until I spent some time on the website, but I just purchased another book from this imprint-- The Gauntlet by Karuna Riazi who was on an author panel at Nerdcamp. This sounds like a great fantasy adventure for middle grade readers and I am anxious to read it as well as some of the other upcoming releases I read about on the Salaam Reads site.

I was lucky to hear Zareen Jaffery on a panel at ILA this week.  She was part of a panel called "Disrupting a Destructive Cycle: How Literacy Drives Social Change".  Her words were powerful and I would highly suggest following her (@ZareenJaffery) and her work.

If you have read Amina's Voice, The Educator Collaborative (@TheEdCollab) is hosting a Summer Book Club on Tuesday, July 18 from 8:00-9:00 p.m. about the book. The author, Hena Khan will be joining the chat so it is sure to be a worthwhile hour with great conversation and learning.

Poetry Friday -- Mac and Cheese

Flickr Creative Commons Photo by Faruk Ateş

Dear Mac and Cheese,

I’ve got to hand it to you,
you perfected the whole dissemblance thing.
I mean, it was flat-out brilliant
disguising yourself in that box for all these years,
allowing generations of beginning (or lazy) cooks
to transform dust and rocks
into a creamy bowl of comfort.
Box-made, your color is, though, disturbingly unnatural.
Not quite the orange of the namesake fruit
nor of a winter sky at sunset.
Neither oriole nor monarch.
Not autumn or amber.
Perhaps closest to road gang prison uniform,
a subtle hint to alert the most observant cooks that
the box is actually a trap.
Half a lifetime of cooking wasted, spent colorblind and imprisoned,
I’m free now, and so are you.
I’ve grated a big mound of cheddar and American,
mixed in noodles, poured on cream, baked until crunchy on top.
We’ve escaped, and nothing can stop us from moving on
to smoked gouda, bacon, fresh peas, and a crisp panko topping.
Your palette is now my palate.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017






Sincerely, Mac and Cheese

I know I cannot erase the facts:
they will grow up motherless;
he will be achingly lonely.

Stir into me the courage of a wooden spoon,
bake me with a searing love,
deliver me to be eaten one spoonful at a time,

the same way a vast grief must be consumed.

This is all you can do.

This is all I can do.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017




My mentor text for these two poems was David Hernandez's book, Dear, Sincerely. His poem, "Sincerely, the Sky" was featured recently on The Writer's Almanac. I loved it so much that in a rare move, I clicked through to his book on Amazon. After a peek inside the book, I knew I wanted to own it.

There are 10 Dear or Sincerely poems in the book. I took the conversational tone of my first poem from Hernandez's "Dear Death." My sincerely poem is most like his "Sincerely, Paper Gown."

Poetry Friday Peeps are celebrating National Mac and Cheese Day, which is today, July 14! Be sure to visit the roundup at Tabatha's The Opposite of Indifference for more yummy and cheesy Poetry Friday posts!

(In breaking news -- and a total buzzkill for the national holiday -- macaroni and cheese from a box is dangerous for your health.)

Wise Words from #nerdcampmi 2017

I was blown away by the powerful Nerdtalks at this year's Nerdcamp. Below are some of the words that have lived with me since I heard these brilliant speakers share their thinking.