A Trip to Grandmother's House...

This is another book from my shelf of favorites... one that my friend, Randi, introduced me too years ago.  It is one of the books I to use during a study of sensory images or when helping children learn to use a piece of text to write a memory write in their notebook.  It's an interesting book because it's written in a haiku form, but to be honest, I never focus on its form.  I focus on the images it creates.  The way the dust particles play in the sunlight of the barn, the way the screen door slams, the way the red water pump squeaks.  All wonderful memories of a little girl's trip to her grandmother's house. 
     I've used it for a think aloud at the beginning of a strategy study of schema (background knowledge and background experience)... because there are so many things that get my mind going as I read the text.  It's a perfect think aloud... Ruth Tiller makes it so easy for me to share my metacognition.
     Cinnamon, Mint, & Mothballs is a perfect cousin text to Cynthia Rylant's Night in the Country or Patricia MacLachlan's All the Places to Love.  It's a bit hard to find these days, but well worth the search.