MAY B- Caroline Starr Rose

Mavis Elizabeth Betterly (better known as May B.)
 is about twelve years old.

Growing up in a soddy 

on the plains of Kansas.

May wants to be a teacher

but is struggling to learn to read.

Her father hires her out

to Mr. and Mrs. Oblinger.
Drives her the fifteen miles
out onto the prairie
promises he will be back
to pick her up at Christmas…

A debut novel
told in verse
Would be great for a unit on
the Westward Movement
or life on the prairie.
Could be paired with
the Little House books
or Sarah Plain and Tall.

A quick and compelling read.

SPLENDORS AND GLOOMS- Laura Amy Schlitz

Ok, I'm just going to be honest. I did not expect to like this book. I thought SPLENDORS AND GLOOMS was fantasy, and I chose it as my #bookgapchallenge read for vacation. I thought it was fantasy, and it was, but just a little. It was really more Elizabethan fiction/mystery.

I started "reading" SPLENDORS AND GLOOMS on audiobook in the car. I'm not a big audiobook person,  (unless I'm going on a trip), but somehow, when I reserved this book, I accidentally reserved the audio version. When I discovered what I had done, I decided I might as well just take the audio version. That day, however, I also happened across the print version in the new books section of the library.

 The woman who reads SPLENDORS AND GLOOMS on the audiotape is a British actress, and she is really, really good. I'm not one of those people who can do different accents, and hearing her voice helped me get into the spirit of the book. I've long said that kids need to hear books read aloud, and I'm a huge advocate of "jumpstarting" kids by reading a chapter or two aloud, to help a reader who's struggling get the author's voice into their heads. I think that's exactly what Davina Nelson (I think that's her name) did for me with this book.

SPLENDORS AND GLOOMS is one of those books where the reader has to hold on to a lot of different pieces. The forward to the book is a section of a poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley.

And others came…Desires and Adorations,
Wingéd Persuasions, and veiled Destines,
Splendours and Glooms, and glimmering Incarnations,
Of Hopes and Fears, and Twilight Fantasies …

And then the reader is taken to the bedroom of a very old, very ill woman, named Cassandra. Cassandra is a witch who has a powerful, and yet somehow evil,  fire opal necklace. From there, one travels to the streets of London in 1860, and meets Clara Wintermute, a wealthy young woman whose family has suffered a terrible loss in a cholera epidemic. Clara is celebrating her 12th birthday, and has invited a marionette troupe to perform at her party. The puppeteer, Gaspare Grisini, is assisted by two urchins, Lizzie Rose, who has lost her parents to cholera, and Parsefall, a rough little guy rescued from the workhouses of England. The night of her birthday party, Clara disappears. It's up to Lizzie Rose and Parsefall to discover where she has gone…

Schlitz does a masterful job of keeping the reader guessing. Where has Clara gone? Can Lizzie Rose and Parsefall rescue her? Is Cassandra good or evil? And what about Grisini? Who is he? And how are Cassandra and Grisini linked? What is the power of the necklace? This is a book where even a pretty sophisticated reader has to be on her toes, or she will miss something important.

I didn't expect to like this book. I'm really glad I challenged myself to read it, because I ended up loving it.

POETRY FRIDAY

Welcome to Poetry Friday!

It's the last Poetry Friday of 2012

and I'm honored to host 

from cold and snowy Denver.

Seems like it should be a time 

for deep profundity

or great levity

or the reviewing of resolutions.

Leave your poems, (deeply profound or otherwise) 

in the comments 

and I will round them up periodically 

throughout the day tomorrow.

"Questions Before Dark"

Day ends, and before sleep
when the sky dies down, consider
your altered state: has this day
changed you?  Are the corners
sharper or rounded off?  Did you
live with death?  Make decisions
that quieted?  Find one clear word
that fit? 

Jeanne Lohmann

Read the rest of the poem here.

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 Mary Lee needs people to sign up to host the Poetry Friday Roundup in June 2013.  You can sign up here.

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Just spent a couple of hours compiling the morning's offerings. What gifts people have brought to us.

This time of year brings many celebrations of family and traditions…

·      Tara celebrates her season of family traditions with Mary Oliver’s “Poem of the One World.”

And Mary Oliver fans can read "I Asked Percy How I Should Live My Life" at Miss Erin's blog. 

·      Fellow Denverite Linda captures a joyful Christmas moment with her granddaughter at Teacherdance.

·      Elaine Magliaro dedicates her original poem, “Things to Do if You are a Book” to her granddaughter

·      At Inside the Dog, Steve Peterson honors his grandfather with an original poem, “The Measure of a Life.”

·      Margaret is writing a series of poems in response to Christmas cards her father has created for the last nine years. I loved “Out of Egypt” during Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life on Tuesday. Today Margaret gifts us with a triolet, “Songs of Angels.”

·      Matt Forest Esenwine honors his wife with a special poem and provides blog readers with some information about the history of haiku and tanka.

·      Joy bakes up a fortune cookie haiku, and a challenge to try writing one of your own.

Lori Ann Grover has an original holiday haiku here.

·      Margaret is writing a series of poems in response to Christmas cards her father has created for the last nine years. I loved “Out of Egypt” during Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life on Tuesday. Today Margaret gifts us with a triolet, “Songs of Angels.”

·      At Bald Ego, Charles Ghigna brings us not one, not two, not three, but seven original poems from his boyhood in the South. The vivid detail in these poems reminds me of Don Graves’ BASEBALL, SNAKES, AND SUMMER SQUASH, which is one of my favorite books to use to draw poetry from children and adults.

Today’s postings also brought lots of poetry “gifts.”

·      Laura Shovan is gifting 44 lucky people with postcard poems for her 44^th birthday in February. Today, she gifts all of us with “Speedway.”

·      At “The Opposite of Indifference,” Tabatha Yeatts shares both sweet and serious. Her “sweet” is a gift poem written for Tabatha by Robin Hood Black. The serious is sobering news about the plight of journalists around the world in 2012.

·      Robin Hood Black stopped by to say she has been buried in family, and is only sharing her poetry gift to Tabatha Yeatts.

·      At The Write Sisters, Diane Mayr gifts Mary Lee with an original birthday poem. 

Violet Nesdoly gifted children's author with "Wear a Scarf," a poem all you fashionistas out there will definitely want to read. 

·  Jone is gifting people with poetry books for her 26 Acts of Kindness. I don’t have 26 books, but I could definitely give away 26 poems. Hmmmm.

There are several gorgeous images from nature…

·   Matt Goodfellow journeys all the way from the UK to share two original poems, “Midnight Hare” and  “The Hill. Matt’s words evoke images of mystical, dark, evenings.

·   And more images from the natural world in Steve Withrow’s “Taunton River in December. ” Steve’s words make it easy to imagine the sound of those hungry geese honking for handouts.

And of course there are wishes, hopes, and dreams for the New Year…

·  At Growing Wild, Liz Steinglass shares an original New Year’s Poem, “This New Year.”

·   Mary Lee features Linda Pastan’s “Clock.” When I finish the first iteration of the roundup, I’ll be heading out to visit a friend and her new baby in the hospital. The friend is actually a young woman I have mentored since she was in second grade. She is now 22! Yikes!

·  At Drift Record, Julie Larios brings us “Blessed Illusion,” a perfect wish for the New Year.

·   At Bildingsroman, Little Willow posted D.H. Lawrence’s poignant, “A Passing Bell.”

·   At  Kurious Kitty’s Kurio Kabinet, Diane Mayr sends out the old year with Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Where Go the Boats?” Diane rings in the New Year with a haiku postcard exchange to celebrate  the coming of the New Year at Random Noodling. 

**********************************************
Friday evening (9:30 MST)
OK, I think I've got everyone (if I left anyone out, it was totally unintentional, just email me and I will fix it!), it's been a pretty quiet Poetry Friday. Think I'll end tonight's festivities with a found poem from Parker J. Palmer.

What if we spent 2013 

focusing more 

on our shared human condition 

than on our differences? 

What if we cultivated 

the capacity 

to feel for each other's losses 

and developed a deeper awareness 

of our mutual mortality? 

Surely we'd want to spend more time 

working with others 

to bring a better, 

more beautiful 

world

 into being...  

Parker J. Palmer

EDGAR ALLAN POE'S PIE- J. Patrick Lewis

I'm always fussing at teachers about the benefits of read aloud. Read aloud acts as a commercial for books. Read aloud builds classroom community.  Read aloud puts the sound of standard English into kids' heads. And on and on and on. Yadda yadda yadda. The teachers in my building know that I love read aloud.

Some teachers/subjects, however, are a little harder sell than others. Take math, for instance. "I'm supposed to read aloud in math, Carol?" teachers say, wrinkling up their noses. "What exactly do you want me to read?"

Well, during the CYBILS judging, I found a perfect math read aloud. In EDGAR ALLAN POE'S PIE,  J. Patrick Lewis cleverly parodies fourteen classic poems, e.g. Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven," Edward Lear's "There was an Old Man with a Beard," and Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," not to mention other classical poets like Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman,  A. A. Milne, Langston Hughes, and Lewis Carroll. Somehow, he manages to maintain the poet's form and rhythm, and squeeze a math problem, or two or three, into each poem.

"Edward Lear's Elephant With Hot Dog"

(inspired by "There Was an Old Man with a Beard")

When an elephant sat down to order

A half of a third of a quarter

Of an eighty-foot bun

And a frankfurter, on,

Was it longer than three feet, or shorter?

"William Carlos Williams's Pizza"

The fifteen-inch square pizza
with three-by-three inch slices
was so inviting

I couldn't resist
eating nineteen and a half of them

Forgive me, Flossie
you were hungry, too
i put the box back
in the refrigerator

beside the white chickens
how many pieces
of pizza were left?

The poems are a little tricky and lots of fun. Answers are upside down in the illustrations.  A two-page spread in the back gives a little information about the poets.

Absolutely perfect for a math lesson read aloud!

THE LIONS OF LITTLE ROCK- Kristin Levine

Most people are familiar with the Little Rock Nine, but far fewer know what happened in Little Rock, Arkansas, the year after that. Governor Faubus, determined to prevent integration of schools in his state, decreed that no high schools would open. And for a whole year they didn't. THE LIONS OF LITTLE ROCK, by Kristin Levine, tells the story of that year through the eyes of Marlee, a twelve-year-old girl.

Marlee is a shy, shy, shy. So shy that her older sister,  Judy, makes her promise that she will say five words on the first day of middle school. Marlee keeps her promise to her sister when Liz, a new girl in town, asks if she can sit with her in the cafeteria. Liz gradually coaxes Marlee out of her timidity by inviting her to work on a social studies presentation which they practice in front of the animals at the Little Rock Zoo.

The day of the presentation, Liz doesn't show up at school. Soon, the social studies teacher pulls Marlee out into the hall to tell her that Liz will not be returning. Liz, it seems, is a light-skinned black girl, pretending to be white, so that she can attend Marlee's all-white middle school. And in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1958, that just isn't done. Marlee, is determined to maintain the friendship that she and Liz have created. She doesn't realize that their friendship not only violates social mores of the time, but also places Liz, her family, and other members of their community in grave danger.

THE LIONS OF LITTLE ROCK is perfect for helping intermediate and middle school readers understand a really significant year during the early part of the Civil Rights movement. Levine has done a terrific job embedding a truckload of history within a really engaging story.

This would be an excellent January read aloud!

LAST LAUGHS- ANIMAL EPITAPHS

Two terrific poets.

Epitaphs for thirty

Animals of land, sky and sea.

Very punny. 

"Chicken Crosses Over"
She never found the answer
to the age-old question,
Why did the chicken cross the ro--?



"Ciao, Cow"
This grave is peaceful,
the tombstone shaded,
but I'm not here,
I've been cream-ated. 


"Final Pound for a Hound"
Once he dug holes in the lawn;
now he's there himself
dog-gone.


"Firefly's Final Flight"
Lights out.

I LAY MY STITCHES DOWN- Cynthia Grady

Last year, my fourth graders read a lot of poetry. And did a lot of science.  Some of the best poetry that they wrote integrated their love of poetry with their learning about science. As I think about that experience, I wonder how teachers might include more poetry into work in the content areas. I have been on the lookout for books that integrated poetry, science, and social studies.

This month, I came across I LAY MY STITCHES DOWN, a collection of approximately 15 poems, each told through the voice of a slave. The book was written by poet and quiltmaker, Cynthia Grady, who introduces the book, saying:

"Quiltmaking and poetry share similarities in craft. In one, color and shape are organized into an overall pattern; in the other, sound and structure create the pattern. Each poem in this collection is named for a traditional quiltblock and reflects a metaphorical patchwork of circumstances encounter by enslaved people in America…

To reflect the three layers of a quilt, I've engage three references in each poem: a biblical or spiritual reference, and a sewing or fiber arts reference in addition to the imagery the poem calls for…

Grady's poems capture a variety of voices, including field workers, slave children, runaways, a slave who has just been beaten and a mother who has just watched her daughter sold away.

UNDERGROUND RAILROAD

Like a hyena on the hunt, you know,
he opportunistic, unspecialized.
The bounty hunter prowl the riverbank.
He use the wind to his advantage and
he listen: he watch intently. A slave
to greed, the hunter aine no match fo rthis
old pilgrim in the woods. He don't quite hear the owl that call my name to take me to
the water where the current runs less swit.
I wait-- then thread my way to freedomland.

SCHOOLHOUSE
Each morning after walking Little Miss
to school, we steal away beneath the oak
to piece together everything we hear.
The teacher catch us making letters in
the dirt with sticks one day. Her eyes go wide
and icy blue. She walk away. We fear'd
our backs would get the rawhide stich. Instead,
she twitch the curtain at the window, teach
her lessons loud and clear-- her voice, a prayer
with wings. It give us hope; it sing us home. 

Each two-page spread is organized in a similar fashion. The top portion of the left hand page displays the poem, titled after a quilt pattern, and set on a white background. A colorful quilted strip, in the pattern of the title, separates the poem from the bottom portion of the page, which contains historical information about slavery, or the song reference, or other information that might be helpful to the reader.

The right hand side of the page is a full-color oil painting by Michele Wood, who does an amazing job capturing the image contained in the words against a colorful background of quilts and patterns. I would love to have one of Wood's beautiful illustrations hanging in my living room.

Intermediate and adolescent readers might not understand this book, left to their own devices. However, it's definitely a book that could be read aloud and appreciated within the context of a unit on slavery or African American history. I know it's one I will be using with older readers.

A Prayer for Today

Rev. Rob Mossis, vicar of Christ the King Lutheran Church, 

at Sunday night's prayer vigil in Connecticut:

"We bring to you 20 new stars in the heavens, 

20 new saints, 

20 new angels. 

We bring to you 

those who risk their lives for us everyday not counting the cost, 

and we bring to you those who died, 

those who counsel,

 those who bless and embrace 

the confused and the broken. 

And now in this prayer, 

we bring to you ourselves, 

our questions, 

our doubts, 

our anger and our hearts, 

and we pray for the peace, 

the hope and the renewal of trust 

that can come only from a God 

who first conceived us in love 

and places a hand of compassion 

on each of our shoulders 

even in the most trying times. 

And so tonight for our community (and our country), 

a community (and a country) deeply pained, 

we ask you to heal our brokenness, 

to answer our questions, 

to replace our doubts with certainty, 

our anger with peace 

and our hurt with and healing…"

SLICE OF LIFE

Right now

I'm missing uniforms.

Those little colored t-shirts

with Denver Park and Rec on one sleeve

And  the name of a local insurance company

on the other.

I'm missing the uniform rainbow

Baby blue, maroon, green, orange

That marked our progression through the years.

 Right now

I'm missing uniforms

Basketball jerseys in

white, and black, and red,

hanging in the laundry room drying

the packed gym bag

that always went in the car first

on road trips to away tournaments

 checked and rechecked

"Are you SURE you have both jerseys- 

home and away?

You know you can't play if you don't have the jerseys."

Right now 

I'm missing uniforms

Yes, even hunting for uniforms

The slippery practice jersey

That seemed to be magnetically drawn

to the dark spaces behind the dryer

or the farthest corner of the closet

The blue webbed belts

and baseball socks

that always seemed to go AWOL 

on game days. 

The football mouthpieces

that I bought by the dozen.

Right now I'm missing uniforms

The fire-engine red jerseys

#15 and #26

standing shoulder to shoulder on the sidelines

The frantic search for my two favorite numbers

in the huddle

when a player got hurt 

and was laying on the field. 

Right now 

I'm missing uniforms

Silky black shooting shirts

Boys running out onto the court

banging chests

Laughing

then serious

Shooting shirts peeled off

Wadded, tossed aside

To be gathered after game time.

Right now

I'm missing uniforms.

IT'S MONDAY- WHAT ARE YOU READING

OK, so not a lot of time for writing this weekend, but I did get a little reading done last week. Aside from reading and rereading poetry for the CYBILS, here are the two novels I read last week…

SEE YOU AT HARRY'S has gotten lots and lots of great reviews this fall and it should get a lot more. The book is told through the eyes of Fern (named after Fern in CHARLOTTE'S WEB), who spends much of her life hanging out at the family's restaurant. Fern is the third of four children, and is often annoyed at having to babysit her younger brother, Charley (named for the Roald Dahl character), while the family works at the restaurant. I'm not going to say anymore, because I don't want to spoil it by giving away too much…

This is the sequel to BECAUSE OF MR. TERUPT. Kids who liked the first book will probably be excited that there is a second one. It felt pretty predictable, but kids will be excited, I think, to become reacquainted with old friends…

Not sure how much reading time there will be this week. Lots of night meetings. I have SPLENDOR AND GLOOMS checked out from the library…

You can see what other people are reading at TEACH MENTOR TEXTS.

POETRY FRIDAY

I am trying to remember where I first heard the poem, "Mice" by Rose Fyleman. Did my mom read it to me when I was a little girl? Or maybe I stumbled across the poem in a children's literature class in Virginia Westerberg's children's literature class in college. Was it a poem I read to my kindergarten class, that first year that I was a teacher? Truthfully, I can't remember, but I do know it's one I've always loved.

Mice

by Rose Fyleman

 I think mice are rather nice.

Their tails are long 

Their faces small, 
They haven't any 
Chins at all…
And no one seems
To like them much.

But I think mice 
Are nice. 

Read the rest of the poem here. 

Recently, Lois Ehlert made this much loved poem into picture book. Truthfully, I am not really a fan of mice, but Ehlert's torn paper collage mice, wandering through the house, creating their own art, are really, really fun. And preschool readers will be surprised to learn just who it is that thinks mice are rather nice.

MICE would be a perfect gift for any preschooler or beginning reader.

Robyn Hood Black is hosting POETRY FRIDAY this week. Stop by and check out her gorgeous fox poem.

SLICE OF LIFE- THE CHRISTMAS TREE

Tonight,

just like pretty much every other night

Star and I went for a walk. 

She loves to smell,

and me, well 

I am ashamed to admit

I am  an unashamed 

window peeper.

Especially at this time of year. 

I love looking at people's Christmas trees. 

It seems like there are a lot of white-light trees this year.

You know, the really fancy ones

that look like they could be in magazines. 

We will never have one of those trees.

We can't.

Where would we put the worn pink teapot

with the silver glitter

that my grandmother carried

all the way

from Marshall Fields in Chicago

to our living room in Colorado Springs

when I was ten years old?

It wouldn't look right

on one of those fancy white-light trees.

And where would we put the teacher ornaments? 

You know- all those apples

carefully picked from Hallmark shop orchards--

ceramic apples, metal apples, 

and the ones that ring 

every time the dog brushes against the tree.

And where would we put the pictures of 

former students

familiar faces with forgotten names 

in popsicle stick frames.

Where would those go 

on a fancy white-light tree?

We will never have one of those trees.

We can't.

Where would we put the three brown angels

my friend Terri gave me

the first year

the boys and I were a family.

I can't remember which boy

dropped one and broke the wings off 

An hour after we got them.

And the old-fashioned ornaments 

sent from Maine

 by my friend Cyrene

to celebrate that same Christmas.

I cry every year when I open that box.

And then there's the plethora

of football and basketball and superhero ornaments-- 

they wouldn't quite work on one of those fancy trees either.

I guess, we can't have 

one of those fancy white-light trees.

Not yet anyway.

THE PRESIDENT'S STUCK IN THE BATHTUB by Susan Katz

The inauguration is only a little over a month away.  I'm thinking, then, that there will probably be lots of presidential conversations and read alouds happening in classrooms. If that's true, THE PRESIDENT'S STUCK IN THE BATHTUB is a book you will definitely want to own. STUCK IN THE BATHTUB is a collection of 43 poems, one about each president of the United States. The poem doesn't always highlight the most important aspect of the presidency, instead it highlights one interesting fact, e.g. George Washington slept in over 1000 places, but never slept at the White House, Franklin Pierce trimmed the first White House Christmas Tree, and John F. Kennedy was once mistaken for an elevator operator. Each poem is followed by a paragraph further explaining the situation. Here is Andrew Jackson's poem:

Spelling Be 

Andrew Jackson, some people claim,
was barely able to spell his own name
He was never the champ of a spelling bee,
never the one to spell "Miss-iss-ipp-i."
Yet he kept the Congress under his thumb,
He couldn't' spell rite, but he wasn't dum.

Susan Katz 

And then the accompanying information:
Andrew Jackson was one of the strongest presidents, using his forceful personality to expand the powers of the presidency. Though he couldn't master the spelling of even a simple word, this problem didn't disturb him…In fact, he's reported to have claimed that a person who could spell a word only one way lacked imagination."

Susan Katz has used a variety of genre- including list, couplets, and poems for two voices. The end material, "Presidential Notes and Quotes" is lots of fun too- it includes each president's name, dates he served, as well as dates he was born and died, a famous quote, a nickname, and a first. James Madison, for instance, was the first president to wear long trousers instead of knee britches. Theodore Roosevelt was the first president to ride in an automobile and fly in an airplane, and Jimmy Carter was the first president born in a hospital. Illustrations, by Robert Neubecker, best known for his WOW! CITY! series, are colorful and playful, almost cartoon like, perfect for this very fun volume of poetry.

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC BOOK OF ANIMAL POETRY edited by J. Patrick Lewis

I considered titling this post, 'WHEN A CHILDREN'S POETRY BOOK BECOMES A COFFEE TABLE BOOK" because that's what I think about the NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC POETRY BOOK. Not only is it a must have for your classroom library (and I'm pretty sure it's one of those I will re-buy every year, because I know that kids will wear it out), it's also a coffee table book. One that adults will pick up and enjoy. One that I will definitely be buying for Christmas presents.  It's absolutely perfect.

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC POETRY BOOK FOR CHILDREN contains over 200 poems. The poems are divided into sections: The Big Ones, The Little Ones, The Winged Ones, The Water Ones, The Strange Ones, The Quiet Ones, and The Noisy Ones.  Poets run the gamut from Robert Frost, Rudyard Kipling, Alfred Lord Tennyson to Valerie Worth, Jack Prelutsky, and J. Patrick Lewis. Each page, or two-page spread focuses on one animal. Sometimes there is one poem, and sometimes there are three or four. (When I put my teacher hat on, I can see kids comparing the poems, or choosing a subject and collecting three or four poems that they love).

The background for every page is one or two or three National Geographic photographs. And they are absolutely beautiful- so much so, that readers will want to make many trips through this book, some to savor the poetry, but probably just as many to enjoy the art.

J. Patrick Lewis has also done a fabulous job with the end material. There is a two-page spread about writing animal poems, and another two pages of resources for different types of poetry. There are also four different kinds of indexes- title, first line, author, and subject. You will definitely be able to find the poems you love quickly!

I'm buying this book for every reader I know this Christmas. It's sure to be a favorite!

SLICE OF LIFE

It's been a hard six weeks. The first week of October Son #1 tore his ACL. That same weekend, Son #2 made one of those stupid, stupid, stupid, underdeveloped frontal lobe, two second teenager decisions that has had enormous and  far reaching consequences for him, and also for me.

And as so often happens, when the big things start falling apart, so do the little ones. Or maybe the little ones fall apart regularly, but you just notice them more when the big ones are hard. Two weeks ago, for instance, I broke a crown on a tooth. And last week my computer died. 

When I took my computer to the shop I've used for the last ten years, they told me it would take 3-5 business days. After five days, the computer store called. The off/on switch was shorted out, and they thought it I might have spilled liquid into the computer. I hadn't. They wanted $380 to replace the switch and the top case. I wasn't sure whether my four-year-old computer was actually worth that much. My twitter friends suggested I get a second opinion.

Last Saturday I went to pick up my computer. They guy said I couldn't take have it. It was in pieces on the workman's bench and I would have to wait until he put it back together on Monday. I couldn't get there on Monday or Tuesday, so I went to pick it up on Wednesday morning (on my way to the dentist to get the crown repaired). The repairman offered me $30 for parts. I didn't take it. He then suggested that I try the Apple Store.

I should confess that I am not a big fan of the Apple Store. It's always super, super, super busy. There are all kinds of different computer noises, and classes, and conversations, and it puts my ADD brain into full fight or flight mode. That day, the day before Thanksgiving, was no different. The store was busy, busy, busy. And super noisy. And I couldn't get an appointment at the "Genius Bar" until Saturday.

So on Saturday I went back. And it was still busy, busy, busy. And super noisy. And I had to stand in front of the speaker display and every time someone needed to look at the speakers, I had to kind of scootch over and try to make room in this really crowded store. At one point someone asked me for advice about which speaker they should buy. And I was really, really glad when it was my turn for the Genius Bar and I could sit facing away from the craziness of the store. 

Mr. A., my genius, was very personable. In the first five minutes, I knew that his favorite part of Thanksgiving was cornbread. And that he has a sister who is a social worker in Minneapolis. And about his friend who is a football player that tore his ACL. He knew about my boys. And all the while, he was plugging in my computer and running different tests.Soon he was able to confirm that there is something wrong with the on/off switch. I thought about the $380. And I wanted to cry.

"Let me see what I can do for you," he said. And he walked away and went over to a different computer. In five minutes he was back. "Ok, here is what they are going to do," he said. They are going to replace the top case. And then they are going to replace this part on the bottom too. But it will take about 3-5 days."

"How much?" I asked, hoping I wouldn't start to cry in the store, in front of all of those people.

"Nothing," he said. "Apple is taking care of it."

"Nothing?" I said, thinking of the $380 I was expecting to hear.

"I don't joke about money," says Mr. A. "Really. You just need to sign with your finger."

I sign and leave the store quickly, then go to my car and cry.

It has been a long hard six weeks.

Tonight I am going to write Mr. A a note, to tell him how much his kindness meant to a very tired mom.

IT'S MONDAY WHAT ARE YOU READING?

Thanskgiving weekend. The weather has been gorgeous in Colorado, so I spent a lot of time outside, but I did get a little bit of reading done. Rebecca Stead's LIAR AND SPY was at the top of my list- I've been seeing it on lots of Newbery lists for several months, so I finally put it on reserve at the public library. It did not disappoint!

When the book opens, Georges (pronounced George) and his mother and father have just lost their home, and moved into a new apartment. The first day there, Georges and his dad are in the basement and notice a sign that says SPY CLUB. Through the Spy Club, Georges comes to know Safer and Candy, two homeschooled kids who live in his apartment, and learns a lot about truth and friendship…

What intrigued me about this book was the bullying thread that ran throughout. Georges is an outcast at his middle school and is subject to some really unkind treatment by other students. Even so, he manages to maintain his center and sense of okay-ness. I think back to myself in middle school-- I wasn't bullied, but even so, I remember feeling like I never quite fit in, and hating it. I lived for 3:00, when I could escape to ride my horse, and hang out with other kids who were more like me.

As I was reading, I kept thinking about WONDER. The message in that book is really powerful, but I think the message in LIAR AND SPY is equally as powerful. I could see myself reading aloud  WONDER, then following it with LIAR AND SPY. I think the two books together could open up some really amazing conversations about the way we treat each other…

Reading has always been an escape for me. When I need to get out of my life, I just find a good page turner and lose myself in it. Recently I have come across Lisa Scottoline, a new to me author who writes those kind of books for adults (If I taught high school I would be book talking some of these because I think they could get reluctant readers into books). The first day of break, I read SAVE ME by Lisa Scottoline. SAVE ME is the story of a mom who is in an elementary school cafeteria when an explosion occurs. She is faced with the dilemma of rescuing her own daughter who has gone to a bathroom to hide from some kids who are bullying her, or saving the other children who have just bullied her daughter.  She makes her choice, then has to deal with repercussions from other parents and the media. In the attempt to clear her name, she uncovers a secret…

On Saturday, I started ENRIQUE'S JOURNEY, the book for ONE BOOK, ONE DENVER. ENRIQUE'S JOURNEY is nonfiction, the story of how a young boy travels from Central America, via train, and crosses over the border, to find his mother, who has left her family to earn a living working as a housekeeper in California. I'm not very far into this--- got bogged down in the author's prologue and almost decided to return it to the library, but then read a little more when I was waiting in line at the car wash, and decided to try it again. That's at the top of the pile for this week.

I am deep into CYBILS judging, also read lots of poetry, but will probably blog about that later this week. Some of the ones I read were EDGAR ALLEN POE'S PIES by J. Patrick Lewis, FORGET ME NOTS: POEMS TO LEARN BY HEART, selected by Mary Ann Hoberman, and THERE'S A BANANA IN YOUR EAR by Michael Rosen. Piles and piles of poetry on the TBR stack this week as well.

POETRY FRIDAY

Image from THE YOUNG TURKS

It's Black Friday. I'm not going shopping, instead, I plan on spending the day in my backyard, raking leaves and enjoying the glorious fall weather. Actually, I don't plan on spending a lot of time shopping this year at all (probably much to my sons' consternation), because quite simply, we have enough. Early this week, I saw this image on a friend's Facebook page. When I googled it, I found out this is one of a series of similar images- I don't know the story behind them, but I'm thinking about sending one to my boys each day during the Advent season. I also came across this poem on YOUR DAILY POEM, which is one of my all-time favorite poetry websites.

"Wealthy" 

by Bruce Dethlefsen

After my reading

a very serious sixth grade girl

asked me if I was wealthy

well I said I have twenty-two

dollars in my wallet right now

and my pickup truck has two hundred

thirty-five thousand miles on it…

Read the rest of the poem at Your Daily Poem.

Mary Lee is hosting Poetry Friday (and making 50 bags of Christmas candy, and reading, and doing school work, and sewing on buttons, not to mention recovering from a week in Las Vegas at NCTE).

Happy Friday!

A FEW CHRISTMAS TITLES FOR YOUNG READERS

I am not going shopping on Black Friday. I hate shopping on regular days. And shopping on Black Friday is like shopping on regular days times a million. But…if I was going shopping, and was buying presents, I would most likely be buying books. Here are a few new ones I would need to buy for someone…

I'd definitely be buying Eric Littwin's newest, PETE THE CAT SAVES CHRISTMAS, for the primary grade readers in my life. A take off on Clement Clark Moore's TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS, it's a little more text than most of the other Pete books, but it's still lots of fun.

Twas the day before Christmas and Santa was ill
In the cold winter wind he had caught a bad chill. 

Our good friend Pete, in a red minibus which is eventually pulled by reindeer, steps in to save the day.

"I'll do it," said Pete.
"And although I am small,
at Christmas we give, 
so I'll give it my all."

And then one of Littwin's famous repeated refrains

 "Give it your all, give it your all,

At Christmas we give, so I'll give it my all…"

This PETE THE CATE would also be a great gift for anyone who collects different versions of 'TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS.

 SANTA ON THE LOOSE, by Bruce Hale, illustrations by Dave Garbot, is not a book for read aloud. Instead, it's a kind of "Where's Waldo?" (do you remember that series?) does Christmas. On the first page, we learn that the North Pole is in a tizzy, because all of the Christmas toys have been stolen. There are six possible suspects. On each of the next ten two-page spreads, the reader has to find Santa, then figure out what clue he is holding. When all of the clues are pieced together, the guilty party can be identified. And then, as an added bonus, there are nine other objects the "reader" can go back and find on each page. This would be a perfect present for the week/night before Christmas, when everyone is excited and needs something to stay busy.

TOGETHER AT CHRISTMAS, by Eileen Spinelli, is a counting book. Ten little mice are huddled together in the snow on Christmas Eve. One by one, each mouse finds a warmer place to sleep. But…

Though every mouse is snug alone
on feather bed, in nest, by stone--
somehow it doesn't feel quite right
to be without one's friends this night.

And so all of the little mice come back together to celebrate Christmas.

I'd buy this book for Bin Lee's beautiful illustrations. I think kids are going to love them.

IT'S CHRISTMAS by Jack Prelutsky, is not a new book, I think it was first published about twenty years ago. It's been reissued, however, as part of the "I Can Read!" series, with new full color illustrations. First and second graders love the "I Can Read" series- there's enough text and content to make the books interesting, but there is not so much text that they are intimidating. IT'S CHRISTMAS is twelve rhyming poems about various Christmas traditions-- mailing cards, standing under the mistletoe, writing a list for Santa, getting a sled when there is no snow, etc. And there's just enough naughty- Auntie Flo who gives underwear for Christmas, and a puppy who piddles, to grab the attention of kids who are not totally sold on reading yet.

IN THE SEA- David Elliott, illustrated by Holly Meade

For those, like me, who like a little science with their poetry, and gorgeous language besides, here is a  perfect new poetry book for you. IN THE SEA, by David Elliott and Holly Meade, is a collection of  25 poems about sea creatures- seahorses, coral, blue whales, octopus, sharks, puffer fish, moray eel, mackerel, starfish, herring, sea turtles and more. The poems are short- most are between four and ten lines, but they are filled with terrific information.

"The Sea Turtle"
Swims the seven seas
for thirty years
then finds the beach
where she was born--
by magic it appears.

How can she know to come upon
that far and sandy place?
Rare instrument of nature,
fair compass in a carapace?

 And in case you didn't notice, Elliott also fills his poems with gorgeous, gorgeous words for kids to wrap their mouths and brains around. Take a look at this poem…

"The Moray Eel"
Ferocious. Cunning.
Belligerent. Brave.
A sword without its sheath
a dragon in its cave.

Other words you will find in these poems include apparition, briny, jester, cunning, and belligerent. 

And Holly Meade's woodcut print/watercolor (I think?) illustrations are absolutely gorgeous-- beautiful combinations of tans and aquas and blues and greens and golds, and sweeping lines that capture the movement of the sea perfectly.  I want to share this book with the art teacher at my school, because I think she would love using it with kids.

I could see lots of uses for this book. I might just put it in a poetry basket, or an ocean basket, for kids to enjoy. I might use the poems as mentor texts in a multi-genre unit- I could see studying Elliott's work, then writing our own poems embedding facts about animals we were studying (for people who are interested in doing that, Elliott has also written two companion volumes- ON THE FARM and IN THE WILD). I might have kids study Meade's illustrations, then try something similar. I might also use this book when I was talking with writers about word choice.

For teachers who like a little science with their poetry, this book is a perfect choice!