This charming picture book offers a simple panacea for everyday transgressions children will be able to relate to: Peace, Baby. Written by Linda Ashman, illustrated by Joanne Lew-Vreihoff, the story depicts children on the playground, in the classroom, at home, during a game of dress-up … in short, everywhere misunderstandings and hurt feelings can be found. “Peace to strangers on the street, Peace to bugs beneath your feet.” There’s only one cookie and two of you? “Break it in half and you’ll have two. Peace, baby.” Simple, short phrases and cheerful illustrations make this rhyming book fun to read aloud. With any luck, the simple refrain will stick in the minds of young readers and be on the tips of their tongues the next time they run into a problem.
Forest Has a Song by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater
The forest is a living, breathing entity, alive with noise and song. Subtle music that can be missed if one is not quiet and still, with ears to hear. Debut author Amy Ludwig VanDerwater has beautifully captured the forest’s delicate melody in her tender Forest Has a Song.
Click HERE to access a Poetry Activity Kit in which lessons for Forest Has a Song are included. Deepen the sensory experience of Amy’s poetry with the activities offered here. Ponder, consider, and celebrate the marvelous, ever-changing, wonderful world of nature with Forest has a Song and the activity kit in hand. You and your youngsters will be glad that you did.
“Dear Reader …” From Amy VanDerwater
This month, ReaderKidZ is delighted to feature poet Amy Ludwig VanDerwater and her beautiful new book, FOREST HAS A SONG, illustrated by Robbin Gourley.
Dear Reader,
I love writing. Why? Because every time I sit down to write, I’m surprised. For me, writing is like opening a mystery cupboard. You start moving your pen and the cupboard door swings wide, pouring out sentences you never knew were there!
My poem book, FOREST HAS A SONG, grew from a whole lot of different forest memories. I don’t remember when they decided to come together into a book, but I do remember walking across moss and wishing that my socks were made of moss. And I do remember holding out my hand, wishing-wishing-wishing that a chickadee would trust me enough to land on my palm.
Sometimes I like to go outside just sit. It might seem like trees and birds don’t really talk to you, but if you open up your heart…they will! I like to quiet myself down enough to hear what nature is saying. And I like to imagine that I hear the voices of trees and animals, to pretend that I know their thoughts.
One of my poems in this book is about singing snowflakes. Do snowflakes really sing? No. But in the poem, I imagine that they all sing different songs. And people are like that too. If every person reading this letter (including you) sat down right now and wrote a memory about being outside, each memory would be different. Isn’t that amazing?
Think for a minute about your favorite outside memories. Close your eyes and take yourself back to a place when you were close to a bird or felt very at home in nature. Try to remember what you saw, what you smelled, what you heard. No one person has this exact memory. See, anything is a good idea for writing, especially if it is something you have really done with your body in the 3-D world instead of on a computer or television screen.
Writing is a present I give myself. It’s a way for me to hold onto the little thoughts that creep across my brain when I’m sleeping or waiting in line or daydreaming in the yard. I love to write ideas down, and then I love to mess with them, revising and playing with every single word.
I encourage you to find creative work that fills you with happiness. It might be making music or gardening, drawing or building. You might love writing or cooking or folding the best paper airplanes ever. Whatever it is, follow it and work hard. Work =surprise=joy!
Your Friend,
For more about Amy, check out these ReaderKidZ posts: What’s Your Story?” , “How I Became a Writer…” , a peek at Forest Has a Song.
Visit Amy’s website HERE and her poetry blog, The Poem Farm, HERE.
“How I became a writer and other tidbits” – Amy Ludwig VanDerwater
This month, ReaderKidZ is delighted to feature poet Amy Ludwig VanDerwater and her beautiful new book, FOREST HAS A SONG, illustrated by Robbin Gourley.
Did you ever get into trouble at home or school?
A little bit. I was a chatty and messy one, and I used to fight with my sister Heidi. Now she and I are great friends, but I’m still chatty and messy.
Did you have a nickname and if so what is it? Is there a story behind your nickname?
When I was a baby, my parents called me Doober because I was always drooling and smiling. Sometimes silly nicknames just stick, and this one did…but only inside our house. (I can’t believe I just told you this.)
Amy’s Family
Why did you become a writer? What would you be otherwise?
Writing is one way to be a maker. About 15 years ago, I decided to stop trying to make every kind of craft (stained glass, oil painting, quilting…) and to focus on becoming good making one thing – writing. I am a teacher too, and that’s another thing I’ve always wanted to be, just like my mom and grandma. I’d love to be an artist too.
What’s the hardest part about writing a book? How long does it take?
I think the hardest part is believing that I can do it. But like anything else, this is just about work. If I sit and make myself move my pen – even when I don’t have ideas – ideas will come. It’s about trust. Ideas come to those who trust them to come.
Amy’s desk with a cat (Sarah) on top
Do you have a special place where you write?
I write in a lot of different places, and that’s one thing I love about keeping a notebook – it goes with me. Sometimes I snuggle up on the floor by our heater, pressing my feet against its warmth as I write. Sometimes I write in bed or at my great desk or on the couch or at the kitchen table or in a restaurant or even in the car! Sometimes I lie in the grass outside and listen to the birds while writing. When I write poems, I mostly write in a notebook first. Then, I do final edits on my computer.
Amy’s pets
What one thing can you tell readers that nobody knows?
I have always loved taking walks in old graveyards.
For more about Amy, visit her website HERE and her amazing poetry blog, The Poem Farm, HERE.
What’s Your Story, Amy Ludwig VanDerwater?
This month, ReaderKidZ is delighted to feature poet Amy Ludwig VanDerwater and her beautiful new book, FOREST HAS A SONG, illustrated by Robbin Gourley.
I grew up in the suburbs, in the town of Vestal, NY, in a house that backed up to what we called “the weeds.” These were fields of goldenrod, Queen Anne’s Lace, and chicory. My sister Heidi and friends I played in the ditches and among the plants, patting down the stems to make our own forts. Way behind our house lay some concrete culvert pipes, and we would crawl in and around those too. There was a huge tree, and lots of space to play. Once we even tried to dig our own in-ground pool in the rocky earth.
When not playing outside, I loved making things. My mom says that I was always making little houses for things: caterpillars, small glass bunnies, stuffed dogs, anything. I spent lots of time drawing and making crafts, and I liked making a cozy place in my closet where I played elevator and read.
Heidi and Me, 1976
As for writing in my family, my great-grandfather was a poet and doodler, and I am happy to have some of his poems and writing. My grandmother loved writing too; she even wrote a poem to the nurses on the maternity ward when my mom was born. And my grandfather wrote long letters home from World War II; I have these scrapbooks and like to go back and read about that time, to wonder about this man I never knew.
I was fortunate to have a beautiful childhood full of happy memories of camping and lemonade, nighttime prayers and play. And I invite these memories back when I write.
Check back here Friday to see what Amy had to say about how she did in school, where she writes, a photograph of her husband and children, and even about a secret that very few other people know.
For more about Amy, visit her website HERE and her amazing poetry blog, The Poem Farm, HERE.
Welcome April with Poetry on ReaderKidZ!
Poetry: the language of childhood. Celebrate National Poetry month with ReaderKidZ and author Amy Ludwig VanDerwater.
Poetry is the language of childhood. It crosses borders and cultures and encourages children to see the world with fresh eyes. From the memorable rhythm of early readers such as Brown Bear Brown Bear and Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb, to the jaunty rhyme of hand clapping games such as “Miss Mary Mack,” the finger plays of preschool circle times, the “picking sides” chants of the playground, and the traditional songs and poems of Mother Goose, poetry can be found everywhere. It speaks to all of the parts of who kids are, allowing ears, eyes, bodies, and senses ample opportunity to savor words, play with language, and discover the world in fresh, unique ways.
This month, ReaderKidZ is delighted to feature poet Amy Ludwig VanDerwater and her beautiful new book, FOREST HAS A SONG. Charmingly illustrated by Robbin Gourley in sometimes vivid, other times soft, watercolor, VanDerwater’s poems sing and whisper and tiptoe their way through the forest in appreciation of all four seasons. No creature is ignored: from a baby owl who’s afraid to take its first flight, to the tiny animals who make their home in a rotten log, to spiders and puffball babies and lichens and squirrels … to the tracks in snow that tell the forest’s news, and the little girl crouched behind a tree, waiting to see a deer – it’s all here. Each poem is an ode to the magic and wonder of a forest as only a child sees it.
An excerpt from the title poem “Song”
Winds whip.
Geese call.
Squirrels chase.
Leaves fall.
Trees creak.
Birds flap.
Deer run.
Twigs snap.
And don’t forget to stop by later this week to read Amy‘s interview and “Letter to Readers,” and to enjoy a Tool Box post that accompanies FOREST HAS A SONG.
The Moves that Make A Man by Bruce Brooks
While this sports book is not new, it is most certainly noteworthy. Published in 1996, The Moves That Make a Man is a timeless story revealing what being an athlete truly is, how the game gets into one’s heart and soul and lingers in every breath a ball player takes. Athletes need not be friends, but when they engage in all-out, physically competitive sport, they grow to understand one another on an intrinsic level like no other.
In the book, protagonist Jerome Foxworthy and troubled neighbor Bix Rivers meet under a rag-tag, broken-down hoop. The two come from extremely different walks of life, yet there’s an honest intensity between them, one that pushes their physical and emotional levels to the brink.
Bruce Brooks’ Newbery Honor masterpiece explores racial issues, mental health, family dysfunction, and – best of all – basketball! The Moves that Make a Man is perfect for that older child who is reluctant to read but bolts at the chance to line up for a free throw.
