Read. Imagine. Talk.

Back to Teaching...

It's been a hectic couple of weeks for me, with lots going on.  One bit of big news is that it looks like I am going to be teaching next year.  I've been offered a position teaching the class that Ethan and I took this year at his school, their mommy-and-me class, and the more I think about the opportunity the more excited I become. 

It's the chance to get back in the classroom that excites me, having colleagues, learning from the kids that I teach -- but I am especially looking forward to the curriculum piece of the puzzle.  When working with toddlers, just how much can they handle? 

 

A New-to-Me Series

One of the best gifts anyone can give me is turning me on to a new series of books.  Adult books, kid books -- it really makes no difference to me as long as the series is something I can sink my teeth into.  Long books are always particularly welcome since they make the series last longer.  I love the predictability of a series, of knowing that each book will be engaging and fun to read, of falling in love with the characters in each book and of trusting the author to write well.  After that build-up, it will hardly be surprising, then, that I have recently found a new series for adults that I love.

Mother's Day Books

In this week before Mother's Day, I thought I would post a short list of my favorite mother-related kid's books.  These are books for young readers that I adore because of the stories, the illustrations and the mothers or mother-child relationships in each. 

Book Review: Come to the Castle

I just reviewed Linda Ashman's new book, Come to the Castle, on my book review site (Ethan's Bookshelf) but loved book so much that I also wanted to share the review here...

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As always, Linda Ashman has written a wonderful book -- Come to the Castleis a perfect blend of humor and fact.  It is a book written in poetry -- which in and of itself is a marvel: Ashman's rhymes contain words such as "dominion," "burgeoning," and "tribulation" -- not easy words for early readers to get through, but language that is engaging, challenging and ideally suited for this book.  

Poetry Exchange: Favorite Kids Poetry Books

April is National Poetry Month, something I loved to celebrate when I was teaching.  Each year, my class had a poetry exchange where every child selected another at random (much like a Secret Santa) and left them little poems for a week.  At the end of the week we had a poetry celebration.  It was always one of my most favorite traditions -- something I haven't thought about in quite a while and something I didn't realize that I miss.

Since I no longer am in the classroom running poetry exchanges, here is a list of five of my favorite children's poetry books.  For my full reviews of each, click on the links below...

All the Small Poems and Fourteen More

Hawk, I'm Your Brother

Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices

Stella, Unleashed: Notes from the Doghouse

I'll See You in the Morning

I hope you enjoy these!

Writing in Solitude

Writing is a funny, strange thing.  I am spending time each day working on a book and as soon as I begin to immerse myself in my work it occurs to me how bizarre it is.  I am writing because I love it and because I feel compelled to -- because I have something to write about and something to communicate to people.  Which is, I assume, why most people decide to write.  If, then, we have so many things that we want to say, isn't it odd that we do it in solitude? 

Reading Maus...

A while back, I wrote about graphic novels and how I never really understood the appeal.  I didn't read graphic novels and never encouraged the kids that I taught to read them.  I recognized that I was wrong, but had never really read an adult graphic novel.  Until now.  Now I am reading Maus, by Art Speigelman.

Loving Books

On some days, days when I generally am running around and don't sit down at the computer to write, I have lots to say.  On other days, however, I sit down with all the time in the world and have nothing.  Today, of course, is one of those nothing days.

One thing that is on my mind is a new blog powered by all of the brilliant kid-lit bloggers out there, called Share a Story - Shape a Future.  The goal of the site is to encourage parents to read aloud to their children.  It's part of a larger kid-lit conversation about how critical it is to read with young children and this site is full of wonderful, practical ideas.  Parents should definitely check this site out.

Getting-Ready-for-School Books

I have a couple of months until I drop Ethan off anywhere -- in June he'll go to camp at his school.  The other day, though, I mentioned dropping him off and he was not happy.  At all.  So I started thinking about books to read with him to get him ready.  I'm still compiling my list (as soon as it's through I'll share it) but found one new book that I love and wanted to write about today.

Sticking With It

I have a confession to make: I tend to give up on things when they get difficult.  And this bothers me.  I've been this way, it's nothing new, but I've been getting increasingly upset by this unattractive piece of who I am.  It's a confidence thing, and probably a bit of a laziness thing, and I hate to admit it.  But it's true and so, for the sake of keeping myself honest, I've decided to cop to it and then I can move on.

Now that I've said all that, I can say that I'm pretty proud of myself.  It's only been a week since I last blogged about the fact that I am writing a book about my grandparents experiences during the Holocaust but I haven't given up yet.  Which, for me, is an accomplishment.  Because it's not easy and it's emotionally draining and I don't have the research skills I need to do this naturally.  But it's also fulfilling and it feels important and I love it.  I love the fact that instead of talking about wanting to be a writer I am actually doing it.  What's the worst that can happen -- I can quit at any point -- but the payoff for sticking with it is too worth it for me to give up.