Peaceful Reader

29 days of book love..

We love ballet at our house and we’ve read a lot of ballet books over the years. We are attracted to them as Groovy Girl would put it.

We’ve had Tallulah’s Tutu by Marilyn Singer for a few years and love it for many reasons. Every once in awhile we do sort through the books on her book shelves and we pass them on to others but the ballet books she tends to keep.

We love that this book has lots of real ballet words in it, we love that her little brother’s name is Beckett (I have a nephew with the same name), and that there is a boy in her ballet class, and that the illustrations show a variety of ethnicity. The illustrations are done beautifully in shaded tones by Alexandra Boiger. This is a whole series; Tallulah’s Solo, Tallulah’s toe shoes, Tallulah’s tap shoes and Tallulah’s Nutcracker. If you have a budding dancer we recommend any of these titles. Tallulah isn’t perfect and she learns to work at her practice of dance, learning it’s not just about the tutu!

29 days of book love…

A classic collection of poems by a master of American verse

Selected Poems of Langston Hughes

This book contains a selection of the poems of Langston Hughes chosen by himself from his earlier volumes.

I bought this book years ago while I was student teaching. I used it to teach at a difficult high school with struggling students. Some of the students got into Langston, some of them were bored, and one student fell in LOVE. He’d never heard of Langston and was amazed-truly-to discover a black artist with such talent. It was a good moment for me as a young teacher to see the light shine in his eyes.

Harlem Night Song

Come,

Let us roam the night together

Singing.

I Love you.

Across

the Harlem roof-tops

Moon is shining.

Night sky is blue.

Stars are great drops

of golden dew.

Down the street

A band is playing.

I love you.

Come,

Let us roam the night together

Singing.

I think he has an interesting eye, poetic sarcasm, and the ability to say it like it is but in beautiful verse.

Democracy

Democracy will not come

Today, this year

Nor ever

Through compromise and fear.

I have as much right

As the other fellow has

To stand

On my own two feet

And own the land.

I tire so of hearing people say,

Let things take their course.

Tomorrow is another day.

I do not need my freedom when I’m dead.

I cannot live on tomorrow’s bread.

Freedom

Is a strong seed

Planted

In great need.

I live here, too.

I want freedom

Just as you.

Sadly Langston’s poems still resonate today as relevant not historical. We need to consistently be working on the racism that prevails in our country. Today. Now. We can’t wait for future generations, we can’t let more young black men or women die just because of the color of their skin.

His poetry is powerful stuff. This is the book I pick up when I need some inspiration.

29 days of book love…

Past my bedtime. I hosted book club tonight (Behind the beautiful forevers by Katherine Boo-we highly recommend). I made yellow potato curry and a red quinoa salad with roasted brussels sprouts and cauliflower. We had a great time discussing the book. Everyone left by a little after nine and I kicked it into high gear. My night was far from over. I cleaned up book club dishes while I started a pan of brownies. I would have liked to have gone to bed and read the book I started last night but I have a competition in the library for students to guess the connection of books in a hallway case. A class of 4th graders won and in return I host them in the library for a free hour of maker space fun. Of course tomorrow is their hour! I have Legos, crafts, UNO cards, book marks to create, and magna tiles to play with. I’ve hosted a few of these kid-friendly parties in the library and they seem to have a grand time.

The first time I did this I made the class a treat. Not really thinking it through of course because now every class needs to have a treat. It just wouldn’t be fair. So after book club I made these lunch lady brownies. They look delicious and the kiddos tomorrow at the end of the day will LOVE them.

My book love for today is the LAST thing on my list before I head to bed. It might be worth it for me to start posting in the morning instead at the end of the day. I’d get to bed quicker…

Red Shoes by Eleri Glass and Ashley Spires (2008) arrived on my doorstep one afternoon in the mail a few years back. This is something that happens to you as a book blogger-books just arrive. It is a welcome treat. I get to enjoy them over and over. I’m sure it came from the publisher or I won it on another blog; either way Groovy Girl and I sat down immediately and read it.

This one is just about shoe shopping from a young girl’s point of view. Her mother picks the sensible lace-ups but she wants the red ones. She scuffs around in the brown lace-ups but still has her heart set on the red ones.

Every mom or dad has seen that look; despair of not getting what you so desire. It’s a push me pull me situation. Eventually she gets to try on the beautiful red shoes…and her delight wins her mother over…

Simple text paired with beautiful illustrations make this a wonderful book for anyone who loves shoes, fashion, or children! It’s just one small battle in the great scheme of parenting.

29 days of book love

When you love books as much as I do you look for them in odd places. I was having a girl’s day with my friend Mary Kay one day, a lovely afternoon of lunch and second hand/antique shops. As we were browsing I happened upon a book by Elsa Beskow. I was in love.

First published in 1910 this is a beautiful picture book from a different era but many children would love it. Tiny forest people with mushroom caps on their heads. Elsa’s story relays the fun the children have in their woodland home, playing with other animals, and going off to school to learn. Following the little folk through food gathering in the fall, winter snow games, and fresh spring beginnings…the seasons are beautifully portrayed by Elsa Beskow, an artist and author from Sweden.

I have another Elsa Beskow book-Ollie’s Ski Trip-that my friend Mary Kay found for me later. It is as small as my palm and filled with beautiful illustrations and it is like a small chapter book with pages filled with words about Ollie waiting for winter so he can use his new pair of skis. Old Man Winter eventually does show up but first Ollie gets to meet Jack Frost.
Charming books-ones I bring out when I need a moment of respite from the busy world around me.

29 days of book love

April is a long way off but I’m looking forward to it for several different reasons.

1. Spring will have sprung and it will be warmer.
2. Our son will turn 21 at the end of April
3. Maggie Stiefvater’s book The Raven King will arrive.

I read her Shiver series first and liked it-the characters especially-I think she has an amazing knack for creating memorable characters and placing them in very unique stories often related to legends or fairy tales. A few years later I fell in love with The Raven Boys. I consumed all books in short order as soon as they were published. In fact one came out after I’d had my kindle for about a year. I hadn’t read one book on it though because it was hypocritical-me being a librarian and all. Then The Dream Thieves came out and I could download it ever so quickly and suddenly I could see the advantages of this Kindle tool.

I love Blue’s character and I thought I could easily have grown up in her household. Crazy aunts, psychic mothers, I would have fit right in. I highly recommend the whole series. Any of Stiefvater’s books are worthy. Also if you every have the chance to go to one of her author events she is entertaining and enjoyable to listen to-she rants, swears, and tells great stories.

Blue Sargent, the daughter of the town psychic in Henrietta, Virginia, has been told for as long as she can remember that if she ever kisses her true love, he will die. But she is too practical to believe in things like true love. Her policy is to stay away from the rich boys at the prestigious Aglionby Academy. The boys there — known as Raven Boys — can only mean trouble. (from the book’s website)

29 days of book love…

Just like participating in Nano (National Novel Writing) writing every day during February has been challenging. I love books can easily come up with 10 books I love on the spot but my goal was to write about books I haven’t blogged about already (at least recently) and to do it EVERY day. My days are busy. School, Groovy Girl, busy husband,…and I make food from scratch just about every day.

I have an amazing author/twitter friend (@joellewrites) that I met after reading her book Restoring Harmony a few years ago. She lives in Canada now but did live here and left after Bush took office-you remember all those voices chiming in that they would move after he took office and started a war after 9/11. Well she actually did it. This fact got my attention and I applaud her for standing up for her beliefs.

Restoring Harmony is dystopian-still very hot after The Hunger Games trilogy brought the whole genre to the forefront. What I like about this story is that it’s more real but without so much bloodshed.

A dystopia (from the Greek δυσ- and τόπος, alternatively, cacotopia, kakotopia, or simply anti-utopia) is a community or society that is undesirable or frightening.

Molly’s family grows their own food and survives on an isolated farming island in Canada but when her mother receives word that her grandmother has suffered a stroke back in the states Molly is the one who needs to cross back into the U.S. to help her grandparents to safety. An economic collapse has crippled the U.S. and oil is almost gone, poverty, hunger and rampant crime have taken over. Molly leaves the only world she knows and uses her smarts to help her family to safety. The story is exciting and eye-opening-could this world be part of our own future? Read Joelle Anthony’s Restoring Harmony and see. This is perfect for late elementary-middle school students.

29 days of book love

I am reading this right now for book club. It is depressing as hell but also strangely uplifting.

Katherine Boo has done extensive research to write such a first hand account of life in India. It’s written like fiction, a story woven from reality. I am smell sensitive and I can faintly get a whiff now and then as I read of the sewage lake and the trash. It’s extraordinarily real.

Today when I’m feeling blue about my own life it serves as a major reminder of what we take for granted in these United States of Americah. If you are interested in the greater world around us pick this book up.

29 days of book love…

I’ve been working with 3rd-6th grade students on biographies and autobiographies. Such treasures are available in this section of the library. Kids don’t usually think about all the variety there and biographies are much more creative than they used to be.

I discovered this book as I pulled books to design this center-based activity for 5th and 6th grade. I wanted them to discover new people for their projects and also just for life knowledge.

Sixteen Years in Sixteen Seconds; The Sammy Lee Story by Paula Yoo and Dom Lee (2005)

In 1932 12-year-old Sammy can only watch others swim at the local pool except on Wednesdays. Because of his skin color he has to wait for one day of the week to be allowed to enter the public pool. Crazy, right?

As he watches he sees one boy fly into the air and dive off the diving board. His thought is he wants to do that. The next Wednesday Sammy works on diving and his friend Hart challenges him to flip. Sammy continues to work on diving and eventually was able to work with a coach.

His father, though, really wants Sammy to fulfill his dream of becoming a doctor. The cool thing is he does-he goes on to study medicine but also continues to dive. He experiences discrimination at every step of his life yet he kept pushing through and challenging himself. At the age of 28 he became the first Asian American to win a gold medal and then he defended his gold medal at the 1958 Finnish Olympics.

What an amazing life he led. I loved discovering Sammy’s life and sharing it with students. I wonder what other treasures are stuffed in our biography section.

29 days of book love…

Fanny by Holly Hobbie is a family favorite for Groovy Girl and I. We both nod knowingly at each other when we see the cover; very reminiscent of how much we appreciate the message in this book. Be true to yourself and it helps to be crafty!

Fanny wants a Connie doll (think Barbie/Ever After High doll) but her mom will NOT get one for her; she doesn’t like how they look. ( Groovy Girl can totally relate to this part) Fanny’s two friends both have Connie dolls and they make her feel bad.

Eventually Fanny solves this for herself creatively by being crafty! The solution is amazing and it will make you love this story as much as we do!! Girls rock~ from me and Groovy Girl

29 days of book love…

This book has been a favorite of mine for years. An organization in Little Rock gave me a copy to use at my library there and I fell in love with this special biography about Henry Brown.

He story begins:

“Henry Brown wasn’t sure how old he was, Henry was a slave. And slaves weren’t allowed to know their birthdays.” This intrigues kids right away because they want to know why? I answer honestly that it kept them “less than human” to the slaveholders.

Very quickly we learn that Henry’s master is dying and instead of freeing him on his deathbed he “gives” Henry to his son. He is still young and yet is torn from his mother and family. His new master owns a factory and Henry works there steadily but unhappily. Eventually in town he meets another slave named Nancy and they fall in love and get permission to marry. They have a few children and life seems good enough until Nancy’s master sells her and the children away from Henry.

He spends many weeks mourning his family and then he makes a decision. He will do what he can to be free. His plan…he sends himself to freedom in a box (a large wooden crate). Henry in the box takes a pretty incredible journey north. Thus proving people enslaved will go to great lengths to experience freedom.

The watercolor illustrations by the fabulous Kadir Nelson are beautifully done. Thanks to Ellen Levine for bringing this story to young readers.