August 6th Thoughts

Aug6

Born on this date:
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, b. 1809. Tennyson became Poet Laureate of Britain in 1851, but long before his appointment to that post and long before he became even a famous poet, Tennyson made friends with another poet, Arthur Henry Hallam, whose sudden death at the very young age of twenty-two became the inspiration for many of Tennyson’s most famous poems. Poems such as “Break, Break, Break”, “Ulysses”, “Tithonus”, “Tiresias”, “Morte d’Arthur”, “Oh that it ’twere possible”, “Crossing the Bar”, and “In Memoriam” were all elegies “connected overtly or implicitly with the loss of his friend.” Tennyson wrote about death, and mental illness, and strong emotion, and the healing power of nature because he experienced all of these things in his tumultuous lifetime.

To whom is the poet or narrator speaking? Without having read the excerpt in context (it’s part of a longer poem, In Memoriam), I think he’s talking to God.

Gerald W. Johnson, b. 1890. Author of America Is Born, America Moves Forward, and America Grows Up, all history books for children subtitled A History for Peter. Johnson wrote the books for his grandson, Peter, to give him an appreciation for his heritage as an American. The books are popular with homeschoolers who are attempting to do the same with their own children and grandchildren.

Barbara Cooney, b. 1917. Author and/or illustrator of many lovely picture books, including The Little Juggler,, Miss Rumphius, Eleanor, Hattie and the Wild Waves, Island Boy, and Chanticleer and Fox (by Geoffrey Chaucer).

I’ve also been thinking about justice and injustice and neurodivergence and the difficulties of knowing the truth about any event or person in history, even recent history and differing perspectives and negativity and aloneness. Lots of thoughts on an August day.

August 5th Thoughts

Aug5

Today is my son-in-law’s birthday. Happy Birthday, Brandon!

Other birthdays today:
Ruth Sawyer (Durand), b. 1880, d. 1970. Ruth Sawyer was first and foremost a storyteller. She wrote several children’s books, including the Newbery award-winning Roller Skates, but her forte was collecting and telling stories derived from folklore from around the world. I have her book The Way of the Storyteller, a sort of manual/inspiration for storytellers, and I need to review it to refresh my own storytelling skills.

Maud Petersham, b. 1890. Maud was the female half of the storytelling, book writing duo of Maud and Miska Petersham. She was born Maud Fuller, the daughter of a Baptist minister, graduated from Vassar College, and met Miska Petersham, a Hungarian immigrant, when they were both working at a advertising agency in New York. The couple went on to collaborate on more than fifty books, and they contributed illustrations for numerous anthologies and collections of stories and poems for children. Their collection of American poems and songs, The Rooster Crows, won the Caldecott Medal for illustration in 1946.

Robert Bright, b. 1902. Bright wrote Georgie, a picture book about “a friendly and shy little ghost who lives in Mr. and Mrs. Whittaker’s attic.” But my favorite book by Bright is My Red Umbrella, in which a little girl shares her red umbrella even as it grows bigger and bigger to shelter all of the animals that come to get out of the rain, including a great big bear.

I’m also thinking and praying today about weddings (about to celebrate one this weekend), gun violence and the people who were injured and traumatized by violent men in Dayton and in El Paso, Abraham Lincoln and the violence he caused, endured, and ended (still reading Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin), Hiroshima and the violence there (tomorrow is the 73rd anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima). Since Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, we humans are a violent race. It’s not a cure-all by any means, but I can’t see why legislation to ban the use by civilians of certain military-style weapons or to limit the size of magazines would be an infringement on the Constitution or on anyone’s freedom or rights under that Constitution.

A Place To Belong by Cynthia Kadohata

Aug5

To be honest, I am tired of reading children’s books about the Japanese internment camps in the United States during World War II. I know that it’s important to remember the injustice that was done to Japanese Americans during that time. I know that the story and the information are new to new generations of children. I know that everyone’s story deserves to be told, either fictionalized for the sake of privacy or as biography or memoir, and I know that survivors of injustice deserve to be heard. Nevertheless, I’ve read this book by Sandra Dallas and this one by Kirby Larson and Weedflower by Cynthia Kadohata and Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Houston and Journey to Topaz by Yoshiko Uchida and Paper Wishes by Lois Sepahban and Baseball Saved Us by Ken Mochizuki and The Journal of Ben Uchida: Citizen 13559, Mirror Lake Internment Camp by Barry Denenberg and . . . many more. I thought that this new middle grade fiction book by Cynthia Kadohata would have nothing new to say about this disgraceful episode in American history, but I expected it to be well written by Newbery award-winning author Kadohata.

And it was, well written and surprisingly engaging and informative. I knew that many Japanese internees decided to prove their loyalty to the United States, despite the way they had been treated, by enlisting and serving in the U.S. military. I didn’t know that up to six thousand others decided that there was no place for them in the United States immediately after the war, and so they renounced their U.S. citizenship and were returned to Japan. A Place To Belong is the story of one family who “went back” to a country that most of them had never visited in the first place.

The story is told from the perspective of twelve year old Hanako. She and her father and mother and her little brother Akira are on a boat bound for Japan. There they plan to stay with Hanako’s father’s parents, her grandparents, on a farm near Hiroshima. First, however, the train that they board in Japan goes through the ruins of Hiroshima itself, and that’s a tragic and sobering scene that sets the tone for the rest of the novel. Post-war Japan really has no place for Hanako’s family either, even though Hanako’s grandparents turn out to be the most gracious and loving grandparents a girl could want.

The grandparents, Hanako’s parents, Hanako herself, Akira who is “a strange little creature” (maybe autistic?), and the other characters who enter into the story are all drawn with loving care by a talented author. I learned a lot about Japanese history and culture, and I never felt as if I were being taught a lesson or preached a sermon on the evils of imperialistic racist America. Kadohata lets the story unfold its own lessons, lessons about justice, and forgiveness, and second chances, and forming new dreams. I was charmed by the wisdom and perseverance of Hanako’s grandparents and filled with compassion for Hanako’s family and for all the families and individuals who were faced with impossible choices during and after World War II.

I think there might also be certain parallels between the story of A Place To Belong and the current refugee/immigrant crisis at the Mexican/American border, but I haven’t completely teased those out in my mind. Suffice it to say that today’s refugees are often looking for a place to belong, too. And Americans would do well to look at their situation from their perspective if possible and show compassion for people making hard choices.

July 30th Thoughts

Jul30

Today is the birthday of Emily Bronte, author of Wuthering Heights, which seems to be a rather polarizing book. One person on Facebook who was reading it asked, “Does it ever move beyond unhappy people causing misery to themselves and others?” Someone else said, “Anyone who says they love Wuthering Heights is lying to sound smart.” But yet another reader said, “The prose just wraps me up and sweeps me away and I can’t help but love it. My relationship with that book is such a mess.”

I’m not lying when I say that I liked the story, even though I found almost all of the characters unsympathetic and sadly unlikeable, especially Heathcliff and Cathy. I’m not sure what that opinion says about me as a reader or as a person, but nevertheless I recommend you form your own opinion by reading Wuthering Heights. If you get fifty pages in and you hate it, I give you permission to quit and go read Jan Karon or P.G. Wodehouse to get the taste out of your palate. (Or you could try Diary of a Nobody. See below.)

Allan Wesley Eckert (not born on this date), author of Incident at Hawk’s Hill, a Newbery Honor book in 1972, “spent much of his youth hitchhiking around the country, living off the land and learning about wildlife from direct observation.” He was born in 1931, so this hitchhiking would have taken place in the late forties/early fifties. I wonder what his family thought about his choice to wander about and live off the land. This was before the era of the hippies and free-spirited sixties peaceniks. He wrote a lot of books. I wonder if he wrote one about his youthful experiences hitchhiking about the country.

I read the first couple of chapters of Diary of a Nobody by George Grossmith, a book I picked up while Engineer Husband and I were in Oxford. It’s a fictionalized diary of an ordinary man in the late nineteenth century who lives in a small house outside the City (London?) with his wife Carrie. The man’s name is Charles Pooter, and he’s a perfectly ordinary little man who takes himself quite seriously, which makes the book quite funny. The humor is dry and unassuming, but definite. For example, it begins:

“Why should I not publish my diary? I have often seen reminiscences of people I have never even heard of, and I fail to see—because I do not happen to be a ‘Somebody’—why my diary should not be interesting. My only regret is that I did not commence it when I was a youth.”

CHARLES POOTER
The Laurels
Brickfield Terrace
Holloway

George Grossmith went on to become a famous comic actor, starring in many of Gilbert and Sullivan’s most famous operas: as The Sorcerer, The First Lord in H.M.S. Pinafore, Ko-Ko in The Mikado, Robin Oakapple in Ruddigore, Bunthorne in Patience, and Jack Point in The Yeoman of the Guard. George’s brother, Weedon, illustrated Diary of a Nobody, and the illustrations are a great part of the charm of the book. I’m looking forward to savoring it over a period of several days.

This post is probably the first time that Emily Bronte’s Heathcliff and Cathy and George Grossmith’s Mr. Pooter have been referenced in the same piece of writing, but perhaps there will be connections as I continue reading Diary of a Nobody.

Revive Us Again by W. Leslie

Jul22

We just returned to Houston from the trip of a lifetime, ten days in Ireland and England. We began the journey with three days in southern Ireland, near Cork. We were able to stay with some friends of my daughter in a small Christian community there, and we were blessed to worship with the church there on Sunday. Engineer Husband accidentally carried the two hymn books out of the church with him, and when he tried to give them back one of the leaders there asked if we would like to take the two hymnals with us. I was delighted to say yes since I wanted a chance to study the hymns in these Irish/UK hymn books more closely.

This hymn is the first one in the book Songs of Victory. The book is undated, and this first hymn by “W. Leslie” is, I think, probably written by William Leslie, for whom hymnary.org has a brief biography. Mr. Leslie was a Scottish Methodist lay preacher and “proprietor of a drapery shop”, and he wrote several hymns. This particular hymn is not listed at Hymnary, nor can I find it anywhere else online. And the hymn book only gives the lyrics for the hymns, no tunes, so I have no way to sing it.

Still, the words of of this poem/hymn spoke to me this mornings I was reading it, echoing some of the thoughts I have had lately about myself, my country, my children, and others.

LORD, Thou has with favour
Smiled upon our land,
Yet the powers of darkness
Press on every hand;
And the hearts that love Thee
Often cry in pain—
“Wilt Thou not revive us,
Revive us again?”

Wilt Thou not revive us,
Revive us again?
For our nation’s sake
And for Jesus’ sake,
Revive us again!

2. Precious, guileless children
To our homes are given,
That our love might win them
To the life of Heaven.
Yet what snares and pitfalls
Make our labor vain!
Oh, to save the children,
Revive us again!

3. Kindly friends and neighbors,
Kindred, near and far,
Learn the love of Jesus
Just by what we are;
Make our daily witness
Patient, pure and plain!
By Thy love o’erflowing,
Revive us again!

4. Deep in heathen darkness
Blood-bought millions wait
For a voice to tell them
Of their ransomed state;
Break the spell that binds us
But to selfish gain!
By Thine own compassion,
Revive us again!

Don’t we need daily, even hourly revival? And the lives of the children, the friends, the neighbors, the kindred, and the millions, all depend on the reviving power of the Holy Spirit at work in us and in them. For Jesus’ sake, revive us again!

Summer Reading Challenge: Books Set in the Summer

Jun28

I’m sponsoring a summer reading challenge in my library. The rules are as follows:

Out of the forty categories listed, choose the number your child intends to complete, one book per category from Meriadoc Homeschool Library.Children in grades K-12 can choose to read 10, 20, 30 or 40 books between June 1, 2019 and August 31, 2019. Books must be recorded and responses given on the official record sheet. You do not have to check out your books from Meriadoc Homeschool Library, but many categories may be easier to find in MHSL than in other libraries or at home. Books can be read and recorded in any order you choose.

The fifth category for this challenge is to read “a book about or set in the summer.”

Summer books for primary readers (grades K-3)
The Camping Trip That Changed America by Barb Rosenstock. Naturalist John Muir and President Teddy Roosevelt go on a camping trip to Yosemite.

The Seashore Book by Charlotte Zolotow. A beautiful, poetic picture book story about a trip to the beach.

Roxaboxen by Alice McLarren. A group of children in Arizona or New Mexico, somewhere dry and desert-y, make a play town out of old woden crates, rocks, cacti and desert glass.

Sailor Jack and the Ball Game by Selma Wassermann. An easy reader about submarine sailor Jack and his friend Beanpole and jack’s parrot, Bluebell, and a rather chaotic baseball game.

Betsy’s Busy Summer by Carolyn Haywood. All of Haywood’s Betsy and Eddie books are delightful, but most of them are school stories. This one tells about Betsy and her friends and their neighborhood adventures during one fun summer.

More summer reading for younger children

Summer books for middle grade readers (grades 4-7)
Gone Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright. Summer has a magic all its own, but this summer is different in many ways. Portia Blake and her younger brother Foster are going to the same place they always go in the summer, to visit their cousin Julian. However, this summer they’re going all by themselves while their parents spend the summer in Europe. And this summer Portia and Julian discover a deserted resort town next to a nearly dried up lake. And this summer the children also become friends with the eccentric Minnehaha Cheever and Pindar Payton, elderly sister and brother who are the only inhabitants of the ghost town across the lake. What other “magic” will the children conjure up as they listen to tales of long ago and explore the remains of Gone-Away Lake?

The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy by Jeanne Birdsall.

Henry Reed, Inc. by Keith Robertson. A great old-fashioned book about a boy who spends the summer in a small town with his uncle and aunt. Exciting things happen whenever Henry is around!

Galveston’s Summer of the Storm by Julie Lake. Very lazy Texas summer with Texas foods and hot weather and front porches and grandmother’s house. Then disaster!

Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome. Originally published in 1930, this book is the first in a series of books about a group of adventurous children and a sailboat. Swallows and Amazons introduces the Walker children—John, Susan, Titty, and Roger—their camp on Wild Cat island, the able-bodied catboat Swallow, and their frenemies the two intrepid Amazons, Nancy and Peggy Blackett. The children are living the free range kids’ dream as they camp all by themselves on a small island, cook their own meals, sail their boat up and down the lake, and engage in all sorts of mock-battles and adventures.

Ash Road by Ivan Southall. This one takes place in January, summertime in Australia. A small group of children are cut off by a raging wildfire in the wilds of the Australian outback. They have only two elderly adults to help them, or perhaps it is the children who must help each other to get them all out of danger.

More summer reading for middle graders.

Summer books for teen readers (grades 8-12)
Shaking the Nickel Bush by Ralph Moody. “Skinny and suffering from diabetes, Ralph Moody is ordered by a Boston doctor to seek a more healthful climate. Now nineteen years old, he strikes out into new territory hustling odd jobs, facing the problem of getting fresh milk and leafy green vegetables. He scrapes around to survive, risking his neck as a stunt rider for a movie company.” This book is the sixth book in a series of eight autobiographical novels by Ralph Moody, the author and protagonist who had to grow up fast after his father’s death when Ralph was only eleven years old. High schoolers may want to start with the first book in the series, Little Britches, or just begin with this one, a gripping tale of a young man’s adventures and growth.

I Kill the Mockingbird by Paul Acampora. Set during the summer between eighth grade and high school, this mystery adventure tells the story of how three Mockingbird fans created a conspiracy to make Harper Lee’s famous novel into the hottest property on the shelves of all of the libraries, bookstores, and other book distributors in the state of Connecticut, maybe the whole U.S.

The War for Independence: The Story of the American Revolution by Albert Marrin.

An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 by Jim Murphy.

My Hands Came Away Red by Lisa McKay. Eighteen year old Cori decides to spend her summer in Indonesia, building a church, out of mixed motives. Yes, Cori is a Christian, and she wants to do something meaningful in God’s service. She also wants to get away from her confusing relationship with her boyfriend, Scott, and she just wants to experience her own adventure. She gets a lot more “adventure” than she bargained for.

More summer books for young teens

Do you have any favorite books set in the summertime?

Summer Reading Challenge: Biography

Jun17

Out of the forty categories listed, choose the number your child intends to complete, one book per category from Meriadoc Homeschool Library.Children in grades K-12 can choose to read 10, 20, 30 or 40 books between June 1, 2019 and August 31, 2019. Books must be recorded and responses given on the official record sheet. You do not have to check out your books from Meriadoc Homeschool Library, but many categories may be easier to find in MHSL than in other libraries or at home. Books can be read and recorded in any order you choose.

The fourth category for this challenge is to read “a biography of your choice.”

So, your biography could be anything from a picture book biography to a young adult level Messner biography or anything in between. Since I did a whole series of posts on picture book biographies just a couple of months ago, here’s a list of some of my favorite biographies for elementary, middle school, and high school readers.

Unbroken: An Olympian’s Journey from Airman to Castaway to Captive, Adapted for Young Adults by Laura Hillenbrand. Did you know there was a “youth edition” of this justly popular biography about Olympian and war hero Louis Zamperini? It’s just as good as the adult book, and just as inspiring.

Abe Lincoln’s Other Mother: The Story of Sarah Bush Lincoln by Bernadine Bailey. Excellent biography of Lincoln’s stepmother and a good introduction to the life of Lincoln himself. This book is one of the aforementioned Messner biographies, published by Julian Messner Publishing in the mid-twentieth century, and if you go to the link above, you can find a list of some of the other Messner biographies that I’ve read and reviewed. I’ve enjoyed all of them.

Texas Yankee; The Story of Gail Borden by Nina Brown Baker. Did you know that the inventor of condensed milk, a great step in preventing health problems and starvation for babies traveling across the ocean or the continent with the pioneers, was a Texan? Gail Borden, inventor and Texas pioneer, is a man worth reading about, even though some of his ideas and inventions were not quite as successful as condensed milk. There’s a good reason you’ve never heard of the Borden Meat Biscuit (condensed meat!).

The Boy Who Became Buffalo Bill: Growing Up Billy Cody in Bleeding Kansas by Andrea Warren. Good biographies are being written and published nowadays, too. This one about Buffalo Bill Cody concentrates on his boyhood and young adulthood growing up in Kansas before, during and immediately after the Civil War. An exciting story, well told.

Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad by M.T. Anderson. This bio of the famous Russian composer was absolutely fascinating and sent me to listen to his Symphony for the City of the Dead, which is spine-chilling in light of the information in the book. The war story of Shostakovich is horrible and distressing to read about, so it should be reserved for young adults who are prepared to read about the horrors of war and of Communist persecutions. Nevertheless, this book is highly recommended for those who are reading about World War II and all of its atrocities and after-effects.

Lone Journey: The Life of Roger Williams by Jeanette Eaton. Lone Journey was published in 1944, and was a Newbery Honor book in 1945. I found the book quite fascinating in its portrait of a man who was ahead of his times in many ways.

Wilderness Pioneer: Stephen F. Austin of Texas by Carol Hoff. The author of Johnny Texas and other Texas-themed books gives us an absorbing biography of the Father of Texas, Stephen F. Austin.

Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly. There’s also a “young reader’s edition” of this biography/history about the mathematicians who helped get America into space: Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Christine Darden.

Seven Kings of England by Geoffrey Trease. Alfred the Great, William the Conqueror, Richard the Lion-Hearted, Charles I, Charles II, William III, and George VI all are profiled in this highly readable collection of biographies of kings who ruled at specific turning points in English history. “The particular seven kings in this book have been chosen for the dramatic quality in their lives and the interest (though not always the excellence) of their characters.”

Healing Warrior: A Story About Sister Elizabeth Kenny by Emily Crofford. This biography of a self-educated Australian nurse is a part of the series of Creative Minds Biographies, published by Carolrhoda. Sister Kenny was considered by many to be a fraud and unqualified, but she developed methods of physical therapy that have helped millions of polio victims to live useful and mobile lives.

Summer Reading Challenge: The 1700’s

Jun14

I’m sponsoring a summer reading challenge in my library. The rules are as follows:

Out of the forty categories listed, choose the number your child intends to complete, one book per category from Meriadoc Homeschool Library.Children in grades K-12 can choose to read 10, 20, 30 or 40 books between June 1, 2019 and August 31, 2019. Books must be recorded and responses given on the official record sheet. You do not have to check out your books from Meriadoc Homeschool Library, but many categories may be easier to find in MHSL than in other libraries or at home. Books can be read and recorded in any order you choose.

The third category for this challenge is to read a “book set in the eighteenth century (1700’s).”

For preschoolers and primary ages (grades K-3)

Sam the Minuteman and George the Drummer Boy, both by Nathaniel Benchely are easy readers that tell the story of the Battle of Lexington from two different perspectives. Sam and his father refighting the British soldiers at Lexington. George is a drummer boy in the British army that was sent out to capture the weapons that the American patriots were hiding at Lexington and Concord. These are great stories and great for making comparisons and contrasts between the British and the American viewpoints about the War for Independence.

The Courage of Sarah Noble by Alice Dalgliesh. “An eight-year-old girl finds courage to go alone with her father to build a new home in the Connecticut wilderness, and to stay with the Indians when her father goes back to bring the rest of the family.” This story, based on the true story of a pioneer girl, is rich in its language and inspiring in its themes.

Pirate’s Promise by Clyde Robert Bulla. Young Tom Pippin is sold by his greedy uncle into indentured servanthood, but in a strange turn of events it’s a pirate captain who eventually helps Tom to gain his freedom. Bulla is such a great author, and his books are easy enough for young readers to comprehend, but exciting enough to hold their interest.

George Washington’s Mother by Jean Fritz. Mary Ball Washington, the mother of our first president, sometimes smoked a pipe and hated to get all dressed up. This book shows a very human, down-to-earth founding mother who nevertheless loved little George very much. Don’t read it if all you want is a flattering portrait of an early American, but if you want relatable, this book is great. Several other books by Jean Fritz fall into this time period including Why Don’t You Get a Horse, Sam Adams, Can’t You Make Them Behave, King George?, and And Then What Happened, Paul Revere?.

Ben Franklin and the Magic Squares by Frank Murphy. Benjamin Franklin was such a polymath–politician, inventor, scientist, author, publisher, and diplomat. While he was serving as clerk for the Pennsylvania Assembly, he became bored and came up with a math game to amuse himself. He called the game “magic squares”, and this easy to read book explains the magic square game and also talks about other ingenious ideas and devices that Franklin invented.

For upper elementary ages (grades 4-6) and middle schoolers (grades 7-8)

A Heart Strangely Warmed by Louise A. Vernon. Fiction based on the life and work of Methodist evangelist John Wesley.

Jonathan Edwards (Christian Biographies for Young Readers) by Simonetta Carr. This series of picture books with advanced text for older children has several books that are both beautiful and readable. Jonathan Edwards was a fascinating character and one of the true luminaries of colonial America. This biography serves as a lovely introduction to his life and ministry.

Handel at the Court of Kings by Opal Wheeler. Read about the life and times of composer George Frederic Handel who was court composer to Queen Anne and to George I, her successor. Opal Wheeler tells the story of Handel’s music and his life with such engaging text that the reader can’t help but be interested in listening to Handel’s music.

Stowaway by Karen Hesse. Eleven-year-old Nicholas Young is a stowaway aboard Captain James Cook’s ship Endeavour in 1768 as Cook and his crew voyage around the world.

For adults and young adults:

In Mozart’s Shadow by Carolyn Meyer. A fictional story about Nannerl, Mozart’s sister, who was a musician and composer in her own right but never got the chance to rival her little brother, Wolfgang Amadeus.

Or Give Me Death by Ann Rinaldi. Patriot and Virginia statesman Patrick Henry has a daughter and a family secret. In this fictional account we can read about the American revolution in Virginia from the point of view of Patrick Henry’s daughter and his wife. Ann Rinaldi also wrote several other historical fiction books set during this time period, including Cast Two Shadows, Mutiny’s Daughter, Takng Liberty, The Fifth of March, and The Secret of Sarah Revere.

Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson. A girl slave sold to a master loyal to England during the American Revolution. She must decide whether to become a spy for the American rebels; this book is the first in the Seeds of America trilogy. The other two books, which follow the same characters throughout the American Revolution, are Forge and Ashes.

Since the books in my library that deal with history, both nonfiction and historical fiction, are shelved in chronological order, it’s easy to find a multitude of books set during the 1700’s. Just check the correct shelf and find one that suits your reading interests. Or check out one of the books on this list. What books do you know and love that are set during the eighteenth century?

Summer Reading Challenge: Poets and Poetry

Jun12

I’m sponsoring a summer reading challenge in my library. The rules are as follows:

Out of the forty categories listed, choose the number your child intends to complete, one book per category from Meriadoc Homeschool Library.Children in grades K-12 can choose to read 10, 20, 30 or 40 books between June 1, 2019 and August 31, 2019. Books must be recorded and responses given on the official record sheet. You do not have to check out your books from Meriadoc Homeschool Library, but many categories may be easier to find in MHSL than in other libraries or at home. Books can be read and recorded in any order you choose.

The second category for this challenge is “a book about poetry or about a poet.”

What Is Poetry? The Essential Guide to Reading and Writing Poems by Michael Rosen. If you’re interested writing your own poetry (or song lyrics), this book is a great guide for getting started. It covers definitions, ways to start a poem, editing, technical points about reading and writing poems, and more. Summer is a great time for daydreaming and brainstorming and writing poetry.

Picture books and picture book biographies of famous poets:
A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams by Jennifer Bryant. Williams was both a doctor and poet, and his life story as told in this picture book is inspirational and absorbing.

Emily by Michael Bedard. This picture book is a fiction story about Emily Dickinson and the little girl who lives across the street from Emily and comes to visit one day. Such a good story.

Custard the Dragon by Ogden Nash. One of my favorite poems just for fun.

Belinda lived in a little white house,
With a little black kitten and a little gray mouse,
And a little yellow dog and a little red wagon,
And a realio, trulio, little pet dragon.

Biographies for chapter book readers:
Phillis Wheatley : Young Colonial Poet by Helen Ross Speicher. In the Childhood of Famous Americans series, this biography tells about the first African American women to have her poetry published and acclaimed in colonial America.

James Whitcomb Riley: Hoosier Boy (Childhood of Famous Americans) by Minnie Belle Mitchell. Another COFA that you can pair with the picture book version of Riley’s poem, The Gobble-Uns ‘ll Git You Ef You Don’t Watch Out! James Whitcomb Riley’s Little Orphant Annie.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, His Life by Catherine Owens Peare. I love Longfellow, and this is a great biography, easy to read but really informative. I think if you read a couple of Longfellow’s poems together, children will be interested in learning more about the poet. The picture book that goes with this biography is Paul Revere’s Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Poetry and fiction:
The Mouse of Amherst by Elizabeth Spires. Another fiction book about Emily Dickinson and her friend; this time the friend is a little mouse who lives in Emily’s house.

May B. by Caroline Starr Rose. “When a failed wheat crop nearly bankrupts the Betterly family, Pa pulls twelve-year-old May from school and hires her out to a couple new to the Kansas frontier.” Verse novels are stories written in poetic form, usually free verse. The poems tell the story, and this one is a good tribute to perseverance and determination. Two other verse novels that I can recommend are Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate and Hate That Cat by Sharon Creech.

I have lots of other poetry books in my library. I didn’t even get to the regular poetry collections like Shel Silverstein’s Where the Sidewalk Ends and others and the subject-related collections of poems, for example Beat the Drum, Independence Day Has Come and Marvelous Math: A Book of Poems, both by Lee Bennett Hopkins.

What are your favorite poetry-related books?

Summer Reading Challenge: Nature Study

Jun11

I’m sponsoring a summer reading challenge in my library. The rules are as follows:

Out of the forty categories listed, choose the number your child intends to complete, one book per category from Meriadoc Homeschool Library. Children in grades K-12 can choose to read 10, 20, 30 or 40 books between June 1, 2019 and August 31, 2019. Books must be recorded and responses given on the official record sheet. You do not have to check out your books from Meriadoc Homeschool Library, but many categories may be easier to find in MHSL than in other libraries or at home. Books can be read and recorded in any order you choose.

The first category is “books about nature study.” Here are a few suggestions from my library:

Out of School and Into Nature: The Anna Comstock Story by Suzanne Slade, illustrated by Jessica Lanon. A picture book biography of the well-known educator and naturalist. Here’s a link to my review of this lovely story of a girl who was in love with nature.

The Boy Who Drew Birds by Jacqueline Davies is another picture book biography, this one about John James Audubon.

Jim Arnosky has a plethora of wonderful nature books. I have the following books in my library:
Sketching Outdoors in Summer
Secrets of a Wildlife Watcher
Turtle in the Sea
Raccoons and Ripe Corn
Crinkleroot’s Guide to Knowing Animal Habitats
Come Out, Muskrats
All About Turkeys
All About Frogs
All About Owls
Thunder Birds: Nature’s Flying Predators
Hook, Line, And Seeker: A Beginner’s Guide To Fishing, Boating, and Watching Water Wildlife
Read more about Mr. Arnosky and his fabulous books. You can find more of them at the bookstore or at the public library.

The Adventure Book of Nature Craft by Richard F. Dempewolff. This book is from an old series that used to be sold in hobby shops and craft stores. Other books in the series that would qualify as “nature study” are The Adventure Book of Birds, The Adventure Book of Insects, The Adventure Book of Leaves, and The Adventure Book of Growing Plants. These are for the child (or adult) who wants to start a new hobby or collection: a leaf collection, a garden or terrarium, bird-watching, or an insect collection. Good reading and lots of good fun to go with it.

Right in Your Own Backyard: Nature Math by Anne Miranda. From the I Love Math series, published by Time-Life Education. Discover patterns in nature, study animals tracks with Professor Guesser, and learn about the geometry of a spider’s web.

In Woods and Fields by Margaret Waring Buck. “This book is for boys and girls and other beginning naturalists. Every effort has been made to make it as accurate as if it were written and illustrated for scientists.It is the result of years of firsthand observation and study.” Ms. Buck describes the birds, insects, and plants that a nature lover is likely to encounter during each season of the year, with detailed drawings of each one of the flora and fauna mentioned. I also have In Yards and Gardens, a similar books by the same author.

Ruby Throat: The Story of a Hummingbird by Robert M McClung. Mr. McClung is another author whose books are all worth reading —over and over again. In this one, the author tells about the life and habits of Ruby Throat, a hummingbird, only three and a half inches long.

The Bug Club Book: A Handbook for Young Bug Collectors by Gladys Plemon Conklin. Ms. COnklin was a librarian who hosted a bug club for “young bug collectors” at her library. Read her book and find out how to start your own bug club.

For parents who want to join in the nature fun:

Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv. Mr. Louv, father of boys himself, describes “the human costs of alienation from nature.”

Wild Days: Creating Discovery Journals by Karen Skidmore Rackliffe. Learn how you and your child can start a nature discovery journal of your own.

The Country Diary of An Edwardian Lady by Edith Holden. This book I’m going to read to see what I can learn about Edwardian ladies and their affinity for nature.

Do you have a favorite nature study book? Are you planning to make some time to get outdoors this summer and experience nature with your children?