spirit – Peaceful Reader

Holiday Self-Care

At this time of the year I start to feel like I’m on a super light speed treadmill and I can’t keep up. Finishing school with students, shopping, wrapping, tree trimming, treat baking, family (Zoom) gatherings, post office runs, holiday cards, it all ads up to a head spinning schedule. This year I’ve had one thing throughout most of December that I’ve relied on either in the morning, right after school, or before bedtime that has kept me steady.

Based in Austin, TX Adriene, and her sidekick Benji, does a monthly yoga journey and Find What Feels Good subscription classes. She has free yoga classes galore on YouTube, including school resources, and I can find a different one every day to fit my desire/need. The energy Adriene sends out on emails and in videos is what keeps me coming back. They are low key, kind, and she encourages you to play in your practice. Angelle connected me to these unique videos and Groovy Girl encouraged me to join her for 25 days of yoga during December. From what I understand they really helped her get through the last few weeks of her semester at school.

Give yourself a self care gift and find one of her videos to just start…once you begin you may not want to stop. It’s a little like eating salted caramel saltines or my friend Jim’s buttery caramel squares. Amazing.

Blessings for a gracious holiday.

Fifty Cents and a Dream; Young Booker T. Washington

I love books. Most books. This biography of Booker T. Washington is informative and beautifull. I’m so happy we have such a variety of biographies available to us now like Doreen Rappaport’s series. Strangely many low end readers though will still choose classic style biographies over picture book choices. Older versions are less complex, they have time lines in the back that give easy information so don’t get rid of the old; just make room for the new.

Picture book style biographies thrill me though. I love reading them outloud to a class. The words vibrate and the phenomenal illustrations bring this person’s life…to life!

Fifty Cents and a Dream: Young Booker T. Washington by Jabari Asim; illustrated by the amazing Bryan Collier is a a well-told tale of Washington’s early life as he went from slavery to a college-educated young man. I’ve read other versions about him and this one gave me more details about Washington’s life. I had no idea he walked 500 miles from where his family lived to get to Hampton Institute where he was able to study as a young man.

Excerpt:

“His money had run out
by the time he reached Richmond,
about eighty-two miles from Hampton.
He was so tired and hungry
that he could barely take another step.
The big city seemed scary and confusing.
So many shadows, and not a friend in sight! (21)

He keeps moving forward by getting a job to earn enough to eat and continue his journey. This book conveys Washington’s strong desire for education and his willingness to push himself to learn the alphabet, read, and go to school. He envisioned more for his life than what his parents had. It is hard to teach that willingness to throw yourself into education and I wish somehow I could time travel with (quite) a few select students back in time so they could see the reality of how special their public education is. No matter your color education is a priveledge previously only afforded to the wealthy and then mostly only males. While there is much reform that could be done to our educational system it is still a blessing to live in a world that educates all children.

Bryan Collier’s illustrations are explained in the back as images on watercolor and collage on paper. He added many fine details like as he begins his journey Washington wears a shirt made of map paper and bubbles float on many pages detailing Washington’s dreams.

Thankfully we have books like this to allow for deeper understanding of a great man’s life. We should know more than just the bare facts. Thank you to Little, Brown and Company for my review copy. While they provided me with a copy of the book; this review shares my own thoughts and I was in no way paid for my words. The book stands on it’s own and I highly recommend it for all readers and collections.

Click to CBC Diversity for an excellent review and
Publisher’s Weekly review.
Reading Rockets has a wonderful video of Bryan Collier to watch.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Peaceful Piggy Meditation

by Kerry Lee MacLean

2004

This is just the kind of book I love to find and share at Peaceful Reader; one that focuses on how to make our world calm. This book is simple with out being preachy or over-the-top. It begins like this:

“Sometimes the world can be such a busy, noisy place. Sometimes it feels like you always have to hurry, hurry, hurry…”

We feel like that at our house many days and from blog hopping around so do many other families. This book gives you clear reasons why we all could use a little daily meditation and how to fit it in with ease.

“Peaceful piggies know when to take a break, find a spot and just breathe, breathe, breathe.”

This is a great book to help at home and at school, as kids can do this at their desk, during testing, anytime they need to find that power within. We do live in a stressful world-one with many worries for children-and having an activity they can count on to bring them back to a peaceful feeling has gotta be a fantastic teaching tool.

P.S. Kerry Lee does her own illustrations, which are charmingly cute, making her extraordinarily talented!
Browsing around her website I discovered three other titles: Moody Cow Meditates, The Family Meditation Book and Peaceful Piggy Yoga-all available for purchase at her website.

For more information:

Kerry Lee’s meditation website.

Find it here at an IndieBound book store-Peaceful Piggy Meditation.
and while browsing I found this site, Luck Duck Children’s Books, with an awesome list of alternative titles for kids-many of the books I love like The Peace Book by Todd Parr are on this list.