A Wonderful Endeavor...

"The fledgling perched on the edge of her nest preparing for possible flight is a situation I can feel in the pit of my stomach: possible glory, possible failure. We all find ourselves there, and we make a decision. This story is about that choice, the internal debate that accompanies it, and one possible result."                                                        —Holly Meade

     Another wonderful book from our friends at Candlewick Press.  This one I found at The Tattered Cover in Denver and it was the first book that I put in my basket on that shopping trip.
     Holly Meade is an incredible artist (check out her artwork by clicking on her name... some of my favorites prints are Shaker Joy, Stand Jackson, and Holy Trinity... beautiful).  And, she's also an incredible illustrator and author.  If I Never Forever Endeavor speaks to you on so many levels... risk taker, decision maker, contemplation seeker.  It's the perfect book to nudge someone gently into a new phase of life or to overcome an obstacle.  The line, "If I hadn't endeavored and found my wings clever, I never a sky would have scaled, never a world would have seen, and never a friend would have found," blew me away, made me want to fly!  Friends of a feather, indeed!
     Do you ever run across a book at exactly the right time?  Exactly when you need a nudge yourself?  That's what happened to me when I read through this beautiful book.  And, in the classroom I can see it used in some many ways... as a book to develop endurance... as a book to read aloud and let its words soak in... as a book to serve as lyrical text... as a book that deserves a special place in your classroom library.  It has one in mine!