Ice Bear - Nicola Davies

I've been rereading a bit of Nicola Davies lately.  There's something reenergizing to thumb through my stakes.  Among her books, I ran across a favorite of mine... Ice Bear: In the Steps of the Polar Bear.  
     I love her narrative... but what attracts me most to her writing is the way she interweaves bits of nonfiction, lines that float through the text.  I've been sitting down to contemplate a writing project lately and I'm using her as one of my mentors (along with Don Brown and Louise Borden).  
     One of the things we know as teachers of writers is how important it is to surround them with the types of writing we want them to explore... the types of writers who can become their mentors.  Of course, the more I work with young writers, the more I realize that often times they are the ones who have to match themselves to a mentor; they are the ultimate decision maker.  They find their own mentors.  Someone they respect.  Someone whose writing inspires them.  Someone who intrigues them.  Someone whose writing nudges them.
      And I've realized that I have an important job:  to expose them to writers, to help them discover great writers, to encourage them to "have a go" with interesting examples of text, and to demonstrate my own passion for writers and great writing.  Expose.  Discover.  Encourage.  Demonstrate.  That's just good teaching, right?  
     So Nicola Davies is one of my "go to" mentors and by sharing what I learn from her with my students, perhaps they will, in turn, find a "go to" writer that inspires them.  Consider this line...

"Its ears sit close to its head, 

neatly out of cutting winds, 

and its feet are furred for warmth and grip."

     What can a young writer learn?  What can I learn?  In 21 words I notice the power of three, the strength of noun modifiers, the effective use of "and" as a coordinating conjunction, the musicality of rhythmic words.  If I read Nicola Davies to my students (and myself)... once for the heart and once for the head, how can her words not engage them in the wonderful thing we call writing.  

     It's time to pull together a Nicola Davies basket... my students will love her.  IF I don't beat them to the basket first.

Michael Rosen's Sad Book

I just discovered Michael Rosen's Sad Book.  "This is me being sad," the opening lines read, "Maybe you think I'm happy in this picture.  Really I'm sad pretending I'm happy..."  Quentin Blake's illustration sits above the lines.

In Sad Book, Mr. Rosen describes how he hide his grief and began to deal with death.  He wrote the book after his son, Eddie, died of meningitis.  Anyone who has suffered a loss - a child - a parent - a pet... well, any loss, really, will understand the author's need to express his sadness in words.

I love the honesty of this book.  The way the illustrations by Quentin Blake parallel the story so poignantly.  The beauty of the language, "Sometimes I'm sad and I don't know why.  It's just a cloud that comes along and covers me up.  It's not because Eddie's gone.  It's not because my mum's gone.  It's just because."  The journey through heartbreak and heartache, though long and lonely, that leads to hope.  The remembering.  In all its sadness, Mr. Rosen's book is somehow comforting.

Michael Rosen's writing is a gift.  Sometimes silly.  Sometimes serious.  And, in the case of Michael Rosen's Sad Book, simply special. 

Note: This is another book published by our friends at Candlewick Press.

Bananas in My Ears

Michael Rosen.  We all know him from We're Going on A Bear Hunt, This is Our House, and Michael Rosen's Sad Book.  Or any of his other 140+ books!

One of my new favorites is Bananas in My Ears.  It's illustrated by Sir Quentin Blake, the very first British Children's Laureate.  They've collaborated on many titles over the years.  Bananas in My Ears is published by Candlewick Press.  

This books is a collection of silly rhymes, stories, and poems.  And what a grand collaboration it is between two brilliant artists.  One supplies the words.  One supplies the illustrations to support the words. 

Sometimes it's fun to run across a text that's just, well, silly!  And, of course, it's fun to read aloud, use for inferring, use for writing nudges.  But above all else, it's just a fun book.  

My favorite bits in the book are the "Nat and Anna" stories.  Mainly because they remind me of my own children.  

• Nat, trying to get Anna's attention.  Anna pretending Nate is invisible.  Hilarious.
• Nat following on the beach, afraid of jellyfish. 
• Nat and Anna having breakfast!  Enter mom!

I think that if you gave this book to two fourth graders (or first, or second, or tenth) and had them read... they'd laugh, they'd want to write, they'd talk.  It's a simple book full of silly stuff!  And, sometimes, we gotta have a little silly in our lives.

Thank you to my friends at Candlewick Press !

Do Good!

Make Magic!  Do Good!  Admire Dallas Clayton!

I could end this blog post right now!  His collection of poetry in Make Magic!  Do Good! is simply stunning.

I wept when I read his poem "Genius" (emotions running high?).  There was something about it that reminded me of our work as teachers... the power of sharing dreams with others.  When I read the line, "...and they'd wake up in the dark of the night with one small idea that would change the world forever..." memories came over me like a steam roller.  

Childhood.  It's so fleeting and I worry about the lives of youngsters.  I had a great conversation with my friend, Katie Keier, this week about play.  And, I think when I got home and sat down to read this book, our conversation was still tumbling through my mind.  The personal connection I had with this poem and others ("Colors," "Try!" "Love Song") makes me excited to get these little poetic gems into the hands of students.

I was joking with a friend about the fact that "blogging" has created a "shopping frenzy" at local independent bookstores around the country.  And, yes, this book is a must have (especially in a certain classroom at Little Elementary, wink!).  And, yes, I'm adding Dallas Clayton's other books to my own shopping list!

Listen to part of the book flap, "I write books and draw pictures, and I travel the world and read stories to children of all ages and talk to them about their lives and jump into water and climb up trees and paint walls and have adventures."  Now who couldn't love a book by an author who says that?  Who does that?  Who lives that?

I'll end this little post with Mr. Clayton's poem, "Travel Stories"

Her quiet stories were best of all

'cause she never wrote 'em down

she lived 'em out by traveling' 

and roamin' in town to town

meetin' folks

and sharin' jokes

as the world went round and round...

Now travel to your local Indy and buy this one!  Make Magic!  Do Good!

• • • • • • • • • • • 

Read this interview of Dallas, it's "awesome" and so captures the spirit of his work... here's a snippet, "Basically, I wake up each morning to a new letter or a new email or a new article or a new photo of someone telling me that what I have made has helped inspire them in some small way. That’s my reality. Every day! Isn’t that crazy!? It’s like waking up each morning to a kiss on the cheek or a gold medal or a really big warm hug."

Thanks to my friends at Candlewick Press for your brilliant work.