And Still They Bloom by Amy Rovere

Posted on 10/09/2012

And Still They Bloom: A Family’s Journey of Loss and Healing by Amy Rovere

Cancer is a powerful word. Depending on your personal experience, it can be the word that changed everything. The word that turned your own world and the world of those closest to you, upside-down.

For those grieving the loss of a loved one, Amy Rovere’s book, AND STILL THEY BLOOM (American Cancer Society, 2011) offers solace and a way to share the difficult feelings, questions, and realities one must address after losing a loved one. It tells the story of Emily and Ben, two children who’ve recently lost their mother to cancer. Confused, angry, sad, neither child knows how to address their overwhelming feelings of grief.

Organized into short 2-3 page vignettes, readers walk through Emily and Ben’s days as they begin the long process of trying to make sense of the changes cancer has brought to their small family. These short scenes provide both children and adults touch points for conversations that can begin a journey towards acceptance. It’s a book parents will want to share with their children. A book readers will find invaluable in attempting to make sense of and bring hope after the loss of a loved one.

When she was still a young girl, only nine years old, the author, Amy Rovere, lost her mother to cancer. Her personal loss at such a young age, and her work now with the American Cancer Society make AND STILL THEY BLOOM an honest and powerful resource for those looking for a way through grief to acceptance and healing.

 

 

 

MOOSHKA, A QUILT STORY

Posted on 10/07/2012

MOOSHKA, A QUILT STORY  written and illustrated by Julie Paschkis, Peachtree Publishers,  2012, ages 4 – 8.

A quilt can be many things besides a cozy coverlet.

In this picture book, MOOSHKA, A QUILT STORY,  for Karla, her very special quilt that was sewn by her grandmother, is a friend, a companion and a story-teller.    The quilt’s name is Mooshka and with each strip of fabric, Mooshka smells different – sometimes even yummy- toasty – and talks different.  Every night Karla listens and Mooshka talks. Every night, that is, until new baby sister, Hannah, arrives.

For Karla her whole world changes when baby Hannah is moved into Karla’s room.  Karla’s room changes, but also her whole family.  Karla is angry. Mooshka becomes silent.  No more stories.

The illustrations are a dazzle of fabric patterns.  The story about the connection between generations and making room for a new one, is heart-warming, realistic and with a surprise ending.

What’s Your Story, Joan Bauer?

Posted on 10/04/2012

Hello, Joan Bauer. Welcome to ReaderKidZ!

Would you mind telling us a little about your childhood?

My mom was a high school English teacher and my grandmother was a storyteller, so stories always seemed to be bouncing off the walls of our house.  I always felt that stories helped explain the world.  I always wanted to write, and I did write, short stories and poems and songs and pieces of dialogue.  I grew up in River Forest, Illinois and I loved to bake and read and ride my bike and play my flute — oh, I loved that flute.  I would practice every day, sometimes several times a day.  I wanted to get so good — okay, confession:  I wanted to be the best in the school  I wanted to be first chair in the orchestra and when I was in 8th grade, I did achieve that.  I remember the first time I ever went to the symphony orchestra.  My music teacher took our class and it was a concert for young people — we sat in the balcony, and I was so excited by the sound of a full orchestra.  For a long time I wanted to be a professional musician.  I moved from the flute to the guitar, I taught myself to play.  I wrote songs.  Music was my joy.  It still is!

I had lots of best friends over the years — we had lots of pets, like cats and a mangy dog my sister named Wolfie.  We had parakeets and turtles and fish and hamsters.  I actually snuck a hamster on an airplane — my dad bought it for me when I was visiting him in Des Moines.  And I remember sitting next to a man in a uniform, and I had covered the hamster cage with my coat, but you know hamsters — they never stay still.  Any my hamster Brennan wasn’t too crazy about airplanes, so he got in his wheel and started going round and round.  The wheel was noisy and I tried to hum so the guy sitting next to me wouldn’t notice.

“What have you got in there?” he asked.

“Well, uh…”

It was a long ride, but the guy didn’t turn me in.  I never tried that again, although, since I’m confessing, I used to sneak my adorable kitten Love onto the bus.  She had golden and cream fur and I had a winter coat with fake fur that looked just like her.  So she would snuggle on my chest and her nose would poke out, but you could hardly tell because of my coat.  We went everywhere together. (more…)

Almost Home, by Joan Bauer

Posted on 10/02/2012

In Almost Home, the reader gets a sense of protagonist Sugar Mae Cole’s progressive downward spiral into devastating poverty, homelessness, and life as a foster child. Sugar Mae is a good kid working to maintain a positive outlook on life as the walls of stability shatter all around her. In the novel, author Joan Bauer also reveals the life-changing influence that a teacher can have with an at-risk child, such as Sugar Mae. Yet, in real life, how can an educator succeed in instructing on an academic level when the vital needs of a kid like Sugar Mae cannot be met in the classroom alone? How does one teach a kid in such deep despair? The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction has published an informative document that seeks to answer these daunting questions.

In How Teachers Can Help Students that are Homeless, State Superintendent Tony Evers states, “Teachers must remember that they cannot possibly meet all the needs of a child who is homeless. However, if they can remove just one frustration, it can make a tremendous difference for that child.” He goes on to list an number of ways to lessen the stress of assimilating into the traditional classroom setting, all the while maximizing the instructional time the student is spending in school. Evers touches on ways to minimize frustrations and feelings of shame and hopelessness. He does so by suggesting ways to stabilize the emotional, social, and physical needs of the troubled child, even though their presence in the classroom community may be sporatic.

Evers also says that, “… school may be the only place of stability in a child’s life,” which is a crucial plot point that wonderfully weaves throughout Bauer’s Almost Home. Read this book and walk beside a child in need…a child who very well may be a member of your classroom community today.

October: Families in Change

Posted on 10/01/2012

We’re in difficult times for many families. The economy has led to a degree of  job loss, relocation, situational poverty, and homelessness that is creating havoc in the lives of many children. Families are being reconfigured out of necessity. Military conflicts are causing additional separation and heartbreak. The foster case system is over-burdened, the daily lives of the children affected by these changes are under huge stress. Never have books been more necessary.

This month, ReaderKidZ will recommend books that can help. Books in which children can find others in the same situation. That will help them feel less alone and more hopeful. ALMOST HOME by Joan Bauer is one of these books….

No Limits!

Posted on 09/26/2012

For Younger Readers

HOOWAY FOR WODNEY WAT by Helen Lester, illustrated by Lynn Munsinger (Houghton Mifflin 1999)

Rodney Rat has a problem. He can’t pronounce his “r’s.”  What’s worse? He’s a rodent. A wodent. Not surprisingly, Rodney is teased by his classmates with questions like “… how does a train travel?” (Wodney’s reply? “A twain twavels on twain twacks.”)

Wodney tries to keep a low profile. He hides inside his jacket. He gnaws lunch alone. But then, a new student, Camilla Capybara, arrives and ALL the rodents are overwhelmed. Camilla is bigger  meaner, and smarter than everyone put together.

When the teacher selects Wodney to lead the afternoon game of Simon Says, he figures he’s toast. But those “r’s” that come out as “w’s” help Wodney save the day. And smartypants Camilla Capybara? She heads out west, never to be seen or heard from again.

MOSES GOES TO A CONCERT written and illustrated by Isaac Millman (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998)

Moses is going on a field trip with his class, and his teacher, Mr. Samuels, has a surprise. Balloons. The children are deaf, so they can’t hear the music, but they can feel it in the balloon’s vibrations.

There’s another surprise, too. Mr. Samuels introduces the kids to his friend. Ms. Marjorie Elwyn lost her hearing after a childhood illness. She lets the kids play her instruments and tells them she worked hard to learn to play. “My heart was set on becoming a percussionist…”

Children are curious about kids who are physically different and need to know that different doesn’t always mean limited. The Moses series of books is one way to introduce children to what it’s like to be hard-of-hearing.

MAMA ZOOMS written and illustrated by Jane Cowen-Fletcher (Scholastic 1995)

“Mama’s got a zooming machine and she zooms me everywhere.” Together, Mama and son zoom through puddles, down ramps, across bridges. Together, they are racehorse and rider, captain and ship, pilot and airplane.

Inspired by the author’s sister, a wheelchair mom (and practicing veterinarian), MAMA ZOOMS captures the joy of the mother/child relationship and reminds readers that physical differences don’t have to mean “limited.”

The Fantastic Jungles of Henri Rousseau

Posted on 09/25/2012

THE FANTASTIC JUNGLES OF HENRI ROUSSEAU by Michelle Markel, illustrated by Amanda Hall.

“Henri Rousseau wants to be an artist. Not a single person has ever told him he is talented … But he buys some canvas, paint, and brushes, and starts painting anyway.”

Can you imagine? A toll collector, with no formal training, Rousseau begins his painting career at the age of forty. He goes to the Louvre and examines the work of other artists. He studies photographs and illustrations, teaches himself anatomy, and walks the streets of Paris collecting ideas for his paintings. Each time he enters an art exhibition, Henri is hopeful. But, year after year, the art experts make fun of him. Some even say his work “looks like he closed his eyes and painted with his feet.”

THE FANTASTIC JUNGLES OF HENRI ROUSSEAU is the beautifully told and inspirational story of a man who came to his dream later in life. His passion fueled his work, and saw him through the years when other, more prominent painters, mocked his “naïve” style. It’s as much a story for young budding artists, as it is an inspiration to us all to follow our dreams.

Markel’s words sing and Hall’s lush illustrations draw the reader into Henri’s world of far-away jungles, a world he imagined and created without ever leaving Paris! Take a peek and enjoy the trailer. Then share THE FANTASTIC JUNGLES OF HENRI ROUSSEAU with the ReaderKidZ in your life!