Let's Not Forget - The Green Book

First published in 1981, The Green Book tells the story of the last colonists to leave a dying Earth and rocket towards an unknown planet.

My favorite edition!

The most appalling privation they suffer is that each colonist, adult or child, can bring with them only ONE book.  When Pattie's book is shown to be an empty notebook, the other colonists are appalled.  The only entertainment they have is reading.  Musical instruments were too unnecessary to be loaded on the ship.  Paper is too precious to be wasted on drawing.

Technology has changed a lot since 1981.  The science of this book may feel dated.  But the tension of trying to make a new life on a planet that is similar to our own, and still so alien, is the main thrust of the story.  Once the colonists start making a life on the planet that they call Shine, all old world technology is moot.

The voice is that of one of the children in Pattie's family.  One is never sure, until the very end, which child is telling the story.  The point of view seems to shift among the siblings and that adds to the suspense.

Shine appears to be uninhabited and then, in a most magical scene, the denizens of Shine arise.

As I write, I keep remembering small details that delight me.  The colonists discover that the sap of the trees is edible through the children's play rhyme.  (NOTE TO SELF:  research the political and social significance of children's play rhymes.) The children end up leading in this book in so many ways.

This is a gentle tale, a cautionary tale.  The death of Earth has been caused by extreme pollution.  Shine is clean and clear and almost purely crystalline in comparison.  And yet, if they cannot produce their own food, the colonists may not survive.



 (Thanks to Chavivah (Cyndi) Simen for reminding me of this awesome book.)

LBB...One More Time

(His name is Little Blue Bunny.  D says he is 8 years old now because she wants him to get a cell phone soon.)

It gets harder and harder to find trouble that Little Blue Bunny has NOT gotten in to.

Flooded the Squirrel family abode?  Done that!
Messed up his parent's closet?  Check!
Turned fairy princesses into flowers?  Duh! Of course!
Climbed the Eiffel tower?  At least twice.
Scaled a volcano?  Yep.
Kidnapped various toys with the help of various other toys? Ho hum.  It's been done.

He got trapped on an amusement park ride.
He joined the pirates.
He swung from a ceiling fan.

I think he bungled up Project Runway: Toy Edition at least once.
He ran away from home.
He ate too much cake and threw up.
He stepped on everyone's toes at the Ball.
He teases his sisters and his older brother.
He causes Mammy Mammoth to have conniptions almost weekly.

Poor Mammy!

His favorite escapade of all is climbing.

So, yesterday, Little Blue Bunny decided to climb the lamp connected to the lamp table.  The bottom of the lamp table is Little Blue Bunny's room and it's also where we store the board games.  The top of the table is Lila's room.  She's a teenager and likes to be near the phone.

D warned him not to do it.

"I know how to climb." He scoffed.  (He's a good scoffer.) Off he went, higher and higher.  He got to the bend in the lamp's arm and slid close to the base of the bulb.

D covered her mouth.  "No!" she breathed.  Then, she turned stern.  (Whoa, no one does stern like D!) "You will burn yourself, you silly bunny."

D reached over and took Little Blue Bunny and made him climb up the inside of the lamp shade - away from the bulb.

Just then!!  The front door opened and in walked Daddy to take D home.  Startled, Little Blue Bunny lost his grip, bounced off the bulb, and landed on top of Lila who never even noticed because she was texting someone on her domino phone.

Nana took care of the rascal.  D gathered her things and Daddy heard about her day and talked to Gramps.

But before she left, D took Nana aside and whispered what Little Blue Bunny should do the next time we play with him.

It's a good one!  Honestly, I can't wait.

5 Intriguing Title Words

1.  Bone.  Stick the word "bone" in your title and people will pick that baby off the shelf. 
The word is fluid enough to suggest darkness when it may mean simply "the essence, core" of a matter, or something that is used to mollify or placate, as in "throw him a bone".

2. Glass.  Glass is solid but old glass shifts and ripples with time.  (New glass might shift in years to come.  We won't be here to see it.)  Glass is transparent.  It is fragile.  It is reflective.  The word "glass" is used to indicate any barrier that is not easily seen.  Bingo!  ("Crystal" can work, too.)

3. Colors.  I mean the names of actual colors - not the word "colors".  The book may be about lions but if you add "golden" to the title, you have an attention grabber.  "Blue", "green", "red", - oh, and this is a winner - "amber" all give your title an edge.  "Amber" is much better than "yellow" or "orange", by the way.

4.  Moon.  This is a perennial favorite.  Anything about the night sky will make readers take a second look, but "moon" is top of the list.

5. Directional words.   I mean the class of words that indicate direction, - "into", "on", "through", "over", "under".  These prepositions give a sense of depth to the title, a sense of things not easily seen.  The book will take the reader somewhere else and reveal details that only the author can impart.

So, how about this title?  "Bones Under the Amber Moon".... oh, I want to read THAT book.  Oh wait, I skipped "glass". 

How about, "A Bone Moon in a Purple Glass" ?

Write me some books. Carry on.

Moody Monday

Actually, Friday, Saturday and Sunday were the Moody days.  Today, I feel cooooolll - as in summer breezes blowing through my window.  Yeah.

Man, I was in a funk.  I had some very angst-ridden conversations with two people - about each other - and I came away wondering which version was closer to the truth.  When that happens to me, I begin to find cracks in all the safe places.  I start to wonder if other people have secrets that would shock or upset me... if everyone is hiding some horrid past.

Then I snipe at those people closest to me.  And I cringe at my own tone of voice.

I found the absolutely PERFECT book for my mood; Lauren Myracle's The Forgetting Spell. 

 

I suspect I may have found Darya's confusion a bit much at another time, but I was that perplexed and twisted that it was a relief to read about someone - even a young teen - who had similar feelings.   

If you read Wishing Day, you understand the set up.  The girls of Darya's town have a tradition of making three wishes (one impossible wish, one wish she can make come true, and one wish closest to her heart) by the wishing tree three months to the day after their thirteenth birthday.  Darya's family, rumored to possess magic,  started the tradition ages ago. 

The flashbacks - most involving the mysterious Bird Lady - help fill in the gaps.  Darya approaches her thirteenth birthday full of doubts.  A new friend missed the tradition of wishing.  Darya wonders if she should use one of her wishes for that friend.  Someone from Darya's family pressures Darya to use one of her wishes to solve a long standing problem.  The request is almost threatening and certainly creepy.  Darya doubts everyone, including herself.  

It was like we were emotional twins.  I feel your pain Darya and I am 5 times your age.

She makes her wishes. Whew!  That pressure is off.  And, like almost everyone else who admitted their wishes, she regrets them and hopes they work out in the end.  The pressure ends but not the drama.

Darya is the second of three sisters, all aged a year apart.  There will be one more book, for sure.  This is good because a lot of stuff is left hanging.  And I want someone to let me, and Darya, know that her wishes -or anyone's wishes -  are not the cause of happiness or pain in other people's lives. 

I had one wish - to return to equilibrium.  I read a book.  It worked. 

Let's not Forget - Friday - Betsy and Eddie

So, who remembers Eddie?  Or Betsy?

They were stars in their day.  (Does anyone remember "Betsy's Little Star"?)

Carolyn Haywood (1898 - 1990) wrote 47 books about every day kids doing every day things.  They were free range kids, sort of, wandering the neighborhoods, playing with friends, making grandiose plans of the Leave It To Beaver variety.

These truly were the perfect first "chapter" books for second, third and fourth graders - accessible, interesting and easy to relate to.

For instance, in Eddie the Dog Holder, Eddie and a friend go into business painting dog portraits.

I picked the oldest book covers I could find.

Eddie gets to hold the dog while his friend does the portrait.  Just imagine how this rather inspired business could go awry.

In Haywood's New York Times obituary, (also referenced above) a reviewer, Phyllis Fenner, is quoted as saying this about Haywood's books. "...Carolyn Haywood makes the everyday doings of children exciting and funny, entering into them from a child's level. That is sheer genius and can't be done by calculation."

 It is hard to find Carolyn Haywood's books in print today.  But check your public library.  These books are still readable and fun.

BTW, does anyone remember Phyllis Fenner's great story collections?


APOLOGIES:
(I vegged yesterday. No excuse. At all. None.)

Little Blue Bunny Climbs

(His name is Little Blue Bunny. D says he is six years old.)

Which, by the way, is TOO YOUNG to go mountain climbing alone!!  Does this bother Little Blue Bunny?  It does not!  He is a Free Range Bunny, running wild and free.

Ready to climb.

 Because he is being brought up by squirrels, Little Blue Bunny has NO FEAR of heights.  (He is afraid of carnivores - and dryers.)

He loves to climb - towers, bannisters, just about anything.

On Tuesday he decided to climb a mountain.  Not just any mountain - oh no! - LBB wanted to climb a volcano.

D sprang into action.  Volcanoes don't just burst through the floor around here.

"I need black paper, orange paper and a stapler!"  D ordered.

In short order, a volcano appeared.

Meanwhile, Nana made Little Blue Bunny a backpack, with a water bottle and a pair of binoculars.  (I know people say "pair of binoculars" but doesn't the "bi" indicate two already?)

Have backpack!  Will Climb!

With lava flow and everything!

Bunny!  You dropped your bottle and binoculars.

 He made it to the very top but he burned his paws.  A trip to the aloe vera plant restored his paws to normal.

WARNING:  Little Blue Bunny is NOT a role model. He is a toy.  (He doesn't like to admit it, but it's true.  Just a toy.) DO NOT CLIMB A VOLCANO!  DO NOT TURN FAIRY PRINCESSES INTO FLOWERS!  DO NOT SLIDE DOWN THE EIFFEL TOWER!

Thank you.

(Next adventure:  Little Blue Bunny and the ice cream truck.)

3 Lists to OOMPH Your Summer Reading!

Need ideas to spark your reading lists for young (even if in mind only) readers?  Take a look at what the book-makers  suggest.  (That's publishers, not the other book-makers.  Kidlit, remember?)

Brightly has must-read lists for all age groups here.  Brightly is a Penguin/Random House product but their suggestions are right on target.

Griffin Teen touts it's summer list here.  Look at the line-up in THIS book.  Oooh, summer love💕💕💕

If you don't already subscribe to The Book Reporter newsletters, take a look at TeenReads.com.  With reviews written by actual readers, not just by industry spokespeople, these newsletters have a homespun, authentic feel.  PLUS, they give stuff away!!!

Storytelling!

I am off to Emmaus Public Library, tomorrow, to start a six-session workshop on storytelling with teens (ages 12 and up.)

Workshops are a lot of fun.  I love seeing what the participants come up with, how they interpret stories, how they open up.  Sometimes, I think I like the workshops even more than telling stories.

I wrote an article for the National Storytelling League's magazine, Story Art, last year on Telling with Tots, Tweens and Teens.  Click through to read it.  Thanks to Denise McCormack for editing my article and making it more readable.

Expect a report!

Friday - Let's Not Forget

I found a copy of By The Great Horn Spoon by Sid Fleischman in the sale pile at a local bookstore.  Just like that I was transported to San Francisco during the Gold Rush.  No, wait.  I was thrashing on a boat at the southern tip of South America.  No, wait.  I was stowing away on said boat as it sailed out of Boston.

Newbery Award-winner, memoirist, biographer, - Sid Fleischman wrote accessible books for kids.   This guy could write a book that kept the pages turning.  Short cliff-hanging chapters, likeable characters and the kind of historical details that stick in your cranium, Fleischman's fiction turns blah readers into RAH! readers.  (Ooh, I like that!  I think I made a meme.)

Want to explain what a tall tale is without introducing legendary characters?  Use one of Fleischman's McBroom books.  McBroom's adventures cross the line of believable, even while the character maintains that they are ab-so-lute-ly true.

Give your young readers a template for creating their own Tall Tales.  Just take the truth and stretch and stretch and s-t-r-e-t-c-h, just like Josh McBroom.

The Whipping Boy earned Sid his Newbery Award.  Jemmy is the whipping boy, a servant who is punished when the prince, Prince Brat, does something wrong.  When kidnappers sneak into the castle, they end up taking both boys. The one who can read MUST be the prince, right? Wrong...

Fleischman left us in 2010, a day after his 90th birthday but before his last book,  Sir Charlie: Chaplin, the Funniest Man in the World was published.  His books are still in stores and libraries.  They still make kids laugh and learn.

It's Friday.  Let's not forget Sid Fleischman.

10 Kids' Book Blogs!

Children's Book Council has an informative blog.  Librarians, take note.  The June 14th entry covered a list of books for kids reading beyond their age level.  Huge help here!

My FAVE!!!  Betsy Bird at  A Fuse # 8 Production offers book reviews, book and publishing news, some opinions, lots of award predictions and good writing.  Books featured are picture book through middle grade.

First Book puts new books into the hands of very young children and into the hands of older children as well.  Dedicated to literacy, First Book has done its work for 25 years now.  Check out their book picks, articles and suggestions for literacy activities.

Like Picture Books and illustration?  Check out Seven Impossible Things before Breakfast. 

Literacious.    She is the director of a small public library.  And five days a week she posts book lists, book reviews, book news from her own library stacks and from the entire country.

 Girl Plus Book deals ONLY with YA books - books for teens and younger adults.  But that girl does a fine job of reviews. The New2YA segments let readers know what is on the bookstore shelves NOW!

 Erik started his blog when he was 9.  He's 15, now.  This Kid Reviews Book is the place for you to find the perfect book for the kid in your life. 

Kids Book Review is Australian      Features Australian publishers and authors but also talks about international English language books for toddlers through teens

Children's Book Daily.   Those Aussies!  This blogger is a writer, a librarian and a book reviewer.

Big Book Little Book is British.  It features lots and lots of book reviews divided into age groups.


Blogs are ephemeral.  I tried to pick useful blogs that have posted within the last two months.  So many great blogs have dropped into disuse because their writers found full-time employment, family life intervened - or in my case when I drop from view - distraction!

Further Adventures - Little Blue Bunny

(His name is Little Blue Bunny.  D says he is six years old.)    

Yesterday, Nutty Romomlia, celebrated her fifth birthday.  Little Blue Bunny wasn't going to give her a present.  She is just his little sister, after all.

But Nana found something that he could give her so he wrapped it up in aluminum foil.

Everyone wore stickers on their tummies (except Cuttlefish.  She hardly has a tummy.).  Nutty Romomlia was so excited.  D made an oreo cake and almost didn't have enough (imaginary) oreos to complete it.  Then she wrecked the icing and had to do it over.  Such drama for a small person birthday!

See the invisible cake?  It's on the green plate.  YUM!

The presents were wonderful; a pinecone, a wiggily head turtle, a huge noise maker, a box of crayons(!!) and a picture of stars!  Nutty Romomlia loved all of them.

Nutty and her presents and someone blue.

Little Blue Bunny had to wash up afterwards and that made him mad.  It WAS his turn to wash the dishes but there were so many of them.  Boy, he splashed and crashed and rattled those dishes clean.  And, then.... and then.... (DUM, DUM, DUMMMMM)

He left the (pretend) water faucet running - ON PURPOSE.  (D insisted that LBB did it on purpose.  The game had changed to Little-Blue-Bunny-Gets-In-Trouble-One-Last-Time, except even D realizes that it is never a "last" time.)

The (invisible) water overflowed the sink and soaked the floor and D slipped and slid and fell and couldn't get up.

Little Blue Bunny didn't even know about it.  He was off somewhere playing with his friends.

Nana had to help poor D who was now (pretend) cold and wet and sad and D had to huddle under a blanket while Nana made sure she was warm.

What a shock!  Nana called the water removal pros with their suctioning device and Little Blue Bunny got sucked up into the device!

Nana suggested that Little Blue Bunny be washed down the sewer - quite an adventure THAT would have been!- but D said No!.  LBB had to pay for making her wet and cold and possibly even sick.  So instead, the water was emptied into the sink and LBB climbed out, none the worse for wear.  Actually, he thought the whole thing was a riot!!

But NOT when Nana got hold of him.  Oh, he got such a talking to!  AND he got time-out.  AND he had to write D an apology.  AND he has to wash the dishes every night this week - WITHOUT overflowing the sink or breaking anything or making a mess.

Little Blue Bunny is sorry.  He's not sorry about the water overflowing, or the mess.  He's not at all sorry about the water suctioning pros - that was fun!  He's sorry that D got cold and wet and caught the (imaginary) sniffles.  Little Blue Bunny loves D.  She's his favorite "cousin" in the whole world.

Hmmm, what will happen to Little Blue Bunny today?

5 Things About Me - and the New Back Porch

1. I decided to get voice lessons. I have thought about doing this for YEARS. I found someone on Thumbtack.  And now I am making strange noises with my voice.

2.  I don't pay attention to detail.  Sometimes, this works out to my advantage.  More on that later.

3. I make up songs all the time.  I can't say I write songs because I rarely put them down on paper.

4. I am easily frustrated.  That might have something to do with #2.

5. People confound me.  Sometimes, I think hermits have the right idea.

So about #2 and that new back porch....

Our enclosed back porch had not been renovated since it was enclosed around 1926. 
The original porch railing and posts were still visible.  Above that railing two tall sets of windows had been sort of tacked in place.  This filled the porch with sunlight making it an oven in the summer.  BUT, since the windows weren't weatherproofed, the porch was a freezer in the winter.

I decided to get rid of those big drafty windows and replace them with a sliding glass door and put a window in where the original door was.

What I envisioned was a space full of sunlight in which I could grow plants during the winter.

The contractor did not offer me drawings of the finished project. We just talked it out.  (See #2 above.)  I expected a tall window where the door had been but I NEVER gave a size and he never offered a size to me.  He suggested a small overhang over the sliding door to minimize rain and snow hitting the glass,  but he did not explain what that would do to the quality of light.

With the overhang and the smaller window, what I HAVE is a clean, cool shaded area.  It's a wonderful mud room with built in enclosed storage.  It is not a quasi-greenhouse.

Right now, it is 90 degrees outside.  As soon as I step onto my new back porch from the deck, I feel the temperature drop. 

Maybe, it's not the back porch I envisioned. This back porch will keep us cooler this summer and that is no mean feat.  It is weather tight and that will keep us warmer in the winter.

Taken from my new kitchen window.

HOWEVER, I hope I learned something.
1.  When significantly remodeling an area, (changing door  or window or plumbing fixture placement), INSIST on drawings.
2.  Make sure you understand how the light or airflow or water runoff will be impacted with any built on improvement.
3.  Pay attention to details.  (In my case? HA! to that.)

Friday - Let's Not Forget

Let's Not Forget - Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle!   Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle lived in an upside down house and knew magic!   If ever a parent was at his or her wits' end because a child wouldn't go to sleep, share, tell the truth, eat vegetables - Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle had a cure.  The series, written by Betty MacDonald and illustrated by a number of different artists, including Hilary Knight, debuted in 1947.  The last book by Betty MacDonald and her daughter, Anne MacDonald Canham was published in 2007. 

The Wikipedia article has a nice little chart that lists bad habits and Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's cures for them all.

And NOW!  Ann M. Martin, Newbery Award winner, author of the Babysitters' Club books and other marvelous novels, has started a new series about the upside-down house.  Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle has gone off to find her husband, the pirate, Mr. Piggle-Wiggle.  Missy Piggle-Wiggle, a great-niece, arrives to take care of the pets and the other animals and to welcome the children for all kinds of fun. 
In Missy Piggle-Wiggle and the Whatever Cure, Missy has her hands full with a whole family of annoying children and their less than perfect neighbors.   There is a hint of friendship for Missy herself as she spends more and more time with the owner of the bookstore.  I am looking forward to the next book in the series.  Those LaCarte children can't possibly be as good as they sound.

So, don't forget Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle!  What books will you never forget?

Open Mics - Speaking up

Last night, I went to an open mic at Coffee house without Limits in Allentown PA.  My youngest brother and I offered up three children's songs we have been working on.  And we had FUN!

He stayed until closing.  I hung around for the next few artists.  Overall, awesome!!  Musicians sang and played original music - and they played and sang very well.  Poets spat words that wove the air around them with images.

Getting up and strutting your stuff - it's the subject of a lot of middle grade fiction.  Finding the nerve to weather possible ridicule, possible embarrassment - just thinking of it can give a person a wiggly stomach, and a dizzy feeling.

Catching a Storyfish by Janice N. Harrington focuses on just this problem.  Keet has moved from Alabama where she was a world class storyteller.   In her new home, her accent amuses her classmates no end.  Soon, Keet is as quiet as a mouse.  Fishing with her grandfather becomes her refuge.  How she finds her voice again is a touching story.

Climate Change - or Cleaning House?

I know people who think climate change is just part of the earth's cycle - or a hoax - or unconquerable.   It boggles my mind that it even matters.

The Earth is our HOME.  I don't let garbage pour over the sides of the containers. I don't spray the air with toxic chemicals, or smoke, or fumes. I don't add lead to my drinking water. I don't breed bacteria on my leftovers. I don't dig holes in my backyard to get at rocks and other things I might need and then let the holes create an unsightly mess and hazards.  Do YOU?? 'Course not.

Think about this.  When The Lorax was written, the terms "global warming" and "climate change" were not even in common usage.  The campaign to keep earth livable is not new.

IT. JUST. MAKES. SENSE. TO. KEEP.  OUR. HOME. CLEAN.

Rant over.

I don't understand climate change as well as I'd like. Here are books and book lists to help explain the effects and causes of climate change. And some that give us ideas on how we can take action.

Climate Change: Discover How It Impacts Spaceship Earth by Erin Twamley and Josh Seideman.  STEM and STEAM aficianados will enjoy this illustrated guide.  It includes 25 projects to increase students' and readers' understanding of the science of climate change, planetary movement, solar system....

Even Goodreads has a list of kids' books that explore climate change and pollution.

Crystal Ponti posted a list of 10 books about Climate Change over on parent.co.  There is some repetition, but still a great list.

I really like Inhabitots Earth Day post.  The books featured here are all about cleaning up the world.  This site is well-designed, colorful and useful and the 6 books featured are accessible to even our youngest earth cleaners.

And for all you grown-ups out there.
Climate Change and Children is a report out of UNICEF that will make your eyes tear up.  The Resource List offers articles and books that support UNICEF's claims.  This report is for grown-ups but share it with your older students to support discussions on possible solutions.

2 Publishers Announce Books for Fall !

Catalogs!!!  I joked that the library could build an addition with the catalogs that flooded into the building every season.  Since I retired, publishers reach out online.  So, get a head start on your Fall To-Be-Read list.  Macmillan and Scholastic have some bragging to do.

Macmillan editors gush about their favorites!!

Scholastic Online Preview.  Click on THIS link to watch short videos about new books coming in the Fall.  You might even win a book!