Show & Tell: January 29, 2016

The first sign of spring in my backyard are the elongated catkins and diminutive blooms of the beaked hazelnut. Though there are other hints of spring lurking everywhere, the hazelnuts are the first to openly defy winter. Later in the spring, a pair of nuts will grow from eat tiny flower. The nuts will spark a raucous feeding frenzy of jays and squirrels later in the year, but for now, all is quiet except for the buzz of a few hardy honeybees dodging raindrops to visit the first flowers.

The first sign of spring in my backyard are the elongated catkins and diminutive blooms of the beaked hazelnut. Though there are other hints of spring lurking everywhere, the hazelnuts are the first to openly defy winter. Later in the spring, a pair of nuts will grow from each tiny flower. The nuts will spark a raucous feeding frenzy of jays and squirrels, but for now, all is quiet except for the buzz of a few hardy honeybees dodging raindrops to visit the first flowers.

Books & Such

I have an eclectic group of books to share this week. The first is The Grand Mosque of Paris, by Karen Gray Ruelle and Deborah Durland Desaix. This storybook (a narrative picture book with longer text) tells how people at the Grand Mosque of Paris helped save Jews during the German occupation of France in WWII. This little-known story was new to me. In light of post WWII Muslim/Jew relations, it is at once heartwarming and heartbreaking.

The book is perfect for story time with older elementary students or for kids to read on their own. School Library Journal recommends the book for Grades 4-6. I think it’s lovely for older kids and adults too.

The second book is I, Fly, by Bridget Hoes. Illustrated by Jennifer Plecas. This fun and funny book features a fly trying to convince kids that they should study flies instead of butterflies. The fly giving the students a lesson gives the book a nice narrative arc, and it’s stuffed with all kinds of kid-friendly amazing facts and disgusting details.

School Library Journal recommends the book for Grades 2-4. I think younger kids would enjoy it as well, even if they don’t make it through the entire book.

Image credit: IndieBound. Please support your local, independent bookseller.

The last book is Book of Nature Poetry, edited by J. Patrick Lewis. I really adore this and Book of Animal Poetry, also edited by Lewis. Both bring together a collection of new and classic poets, perfect for sharing poetry with kids in bite-sized pieces. I’ve been known to interrupt evening TV time to read a poem from these collections that I found especially wonderful. Sharing poetry in this way feels so much more organic than “now we shall study this great poet—tada!” Start reading this book to kids a bit a time when they are little, and poetry won’t seem like such a strange and foreign beast when they encounter it in formal study.

I Can’t Wait to Read . . .

Jess Keating (My Life is a Zoo series) has a new nonfiction picture book releasing February 2. I’ve been waiting for Pink is for Blobfish for a long time. Who can resist a book that turns princess-y pink on its ear? Monster slugs, poisonous insects, and an adorable blobfish—count me in!

Upcoming Appearances

I’ll be presenting my writing workshop, “A Dark and Stormy Night: The Importance of Setting,” to the Young Willamette Writers next week. If you have young writers in your family (5th-10th grade) and are in the Portland Metro area, please join me. For more details, click here.