Bill Traylor began to draw when he was in his eighties! Not as a child raised as a slave. Nor as a young adult during the ravages of the Civil War. Most certainly not as a young father struggling to feed his family by working as a share cropper. No. Bill Traylor saved up a lifetime of vivid memories – historically… Read more »
Book Room
We’ve Got a Job: The 1963 Birmingham Children’s March by Cynthia Levinson
Cynthia Levinson’s powerful We’ve Got a Job: The 1963 Birmingham Children’s March may well be one of the most fascinating books about the Civil Rights Movement because she sets her focus on the most unsuspecting yet influential group of individuals – kids. Levinson’s work is founded on solid research and poignant interviews with the actual children, now grown adults, who risked their… Read more »
Let’s Hear it for Poetry!
COWBOYS by David L. Harrison and illustrated by Dan Burr, give readers a close look at the tough experience of being a cowboy on the long cattle drives from Texas to Kansas. We follow a variety of wranglers from bunk house to “big-city”Abilene. Starting in 1866, over 40,000 cowpunchers signed on to ride cattle-drive trails,… Read more »
Poetry Friday!
EMILY AND CARLO by Marty Rhodes Figley, illustrated by Catherine Stock (Charlesbridge, 2012) Uncover another side to beloved American poet Emily Dickinson in this charming picture book about two best friends. With her sister, Vinnie, attending school in a different town and her brother away at college, Emily’s dad notices his daughter’s sadness and brings… Read more »
Poem-In-Your-Pocket
Today is POEM IN YOUR POCKET DAY. What are some of your favorites? Please share titles/ links in the comments! Here’s a link to one of mine: “To Look at Anything” by John Moffitt. And don’t forget to check out Kristine O’Connell George’s “Every-S0-Often Poetry Plus Newsletter,” where you can read about Poem in Your… Read more »
Step Into Poetry
STEP GENTLY OUT by Helen Frost, photographs by Rick Lieder (Candlewick, 2012) With words that convey a reverence for the natural world and stunning photographs by Rick Lieder, Helen Frost’s newest book, STEP GENTLY OUT immediately brought to mind two other favorite poems: “To Look At Anything” by John Moffitt and (the title of)… Read more »
Celebrate Poetry!
Play ball! The short snappy verses in POEM RUNS by Douglas Florian will delight any reader who would prefer to have a baseball bat in his hands hoping to hit a homer. This poetry collection will be a winner with the youngest of baseball fans. The author, Douglas Florian, is a poet and painter, an… Read more »
