The ABC of Poetry Books

Poetry is one of my favourite genres.
Poetry can be rhyming but it doesn't need to be! Alliteration is one of the oldest forms of poetry and gives stories and songs its rhythmic flow. Poetry is perhaps the best form of story to read aloud, to share at bedtime or any time. Poetry can instil a life long love of language in a child, so use it often regardless of which language you speak.

Here is a list of some of my favourites. As always, the hardest thing is to limit it! There are so many wonderful poets, so many beautiful, funny, touching books! Enjoy sharing these with your favourite reader, or curled up by yourself:

African Acrostics, Avis Harley and Deborah Noyes

Barn Dance, Bill Martin Jr, John Archambault

Canoe Days, Gary Paulsen 

Dinosaurs, Lee Bennett Hopkins

Edward The Emu, Sheena Knowles

Falling Up, Shel Silverstein

Good Night, Sweet Pig, Linda Bailey 

Hooray for Diffendoofer Day, Dr. Seuss + Jack Prelutsky

I Did It Because, How A Poem Happens, Loris Lesynski

(The) Jolly Postman, Janet and Allan Ahlberg

Keep A Poem in Your Pocket, collected by J. Patrick Lewis

(The) Little Blue Truck, Alice Schertle

Mabel Murple, Sheree Fitch

North Country Night, Daniel San Souci

Out of the Dust, Karen Hesse

Pearl Versus The World, Sally Murphy 

Quiet as a Cricket, Audrey and Don Wood

In the Red Canoe, Leslie A. Davidson

Sleeping Dragons All Around, Sheree Fitch 

There’s A Wocket in My Pocket, Dr. Seuss

yoU Nest Here With Me, Jane Yolen and Heidi Stemple

Valentine Hearts, selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins

(The) Waterhole, Graeme Base

eXtra Innings, Baseball Poems, Lee Bennett Hopkins

Yertle The Turtle and Other Stories, Dr. Seuss

Zombies! Evacuate The School, Sara Holbrook

The ABC's of Picture Books

Having written several alphabet books, I love to play with language.
I wanted to share a list of some of my favourite picture books with you and decided to do that in alphabet format. The hardest part was leaving some of my favourite reads ply because I already had one for 'B' or 'W'! But... here it is. Some are brand new books, others are classics. I hope you know some of them but that this might also help you to discover new ones.
More lists to come. Enjoy this one.

Happy reading!

Amos’ Sweater, Janet Lunn

(The)Boy Who Was Raised By Librarians, Carla Morris

Clack-Clack Moo, Doreen Conin

Diary of a Worm, Doreen Cronin

(The) Empty Pot, Demi

Fourteen Cows For America, Carmen Agra Deedy

Gifts, Jo Ellen Bogart, Barbara Reid

Hope Springs, Eric Walters, Eugenie Fernandes

If You Happen To Have A Dinosaur, Linda Bailey, Colin Jack

Jeremiah Learns to Read, Jo Ellen Bogart,

Laura Fernández

Knuffle Bunny Free, Mo Willems

Last Day Blues, Julie Danneberg

M ama Miti, Donna Jo Napoli 

Not a Box, Antoinette Portis

One Word from Sophia, Jim Averbeck

Pog, Lynn Lee

Be Quiet!, Ryan T. Higgins

Round Trip, Ann Jonas

Something From Nothing, Phoebe Gilman

Totem Tale, Deb Vanasse

Up The Creek, Nicholas Oldland

Violin, The Man With The… , Kathy Stinson

Waiting For The Whales, Sheryl McFarlane

EXcellent Ed, Stacy McAnulty

Yetsa’s Sweater, Sylvia Olsen

Zoom, Istvan Banyai

Special Books About Special Kids - novels about learning difficulties

I’ve read some powerful books about children who are different; kids who face more challenges than most people.


Wonder by R.J. Palacio is one of the most recent ones and received a lot of attention, also thanks to the movie with Julia Roberts.


I liked A Mango Shaped Space by Wendy Mass a lot.

And Rules by Cynthia Lord is one of my favourites.

But Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper wins the prize.
Wow.
What a powerful story.
Written so perfectly.


Out of My Mind is written in the first person, which is a brave and bold move by this award winning author. Because Melody, the main character, has cerebral palsy. She cannot speak, her limbs move involuntarily, she drools and makes funny sounds. What no one realizes is that Melody’s brain works perfectly. She remembers facts, she gets match, she can spell like the best of them but she cannot let anyone know. Imagine the words and thoughts all stuck inside your brain and no way to let them out… Thanks to Draper's skillful writing, we are inside Melody’s head and feel her frustration.
Melody is mad and frustrated to no end. She ends up in a special class of kids who cannot learn.
Eventually, however, classroom integration allows her to be in a class with “normal” kids and learn more. It isn’t until a new computer allows her to communicate, much like Stephen Hawkins, that her family and friends realize her potential. But even when they do, Melody faces obstacles that make life more difficult for her than for most people. With her strong determination, she overcomes it all.
This book is a must-read for all booklovers, but a special eye opener for all those (educators) who work with children who have physical challenges.

ISBN 141697170X (ISBN13: 9781416971702)

Flat Stanley Inspired Travels

Do you know the Flat Stanley books?

(see: https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/books/flat-stanley-by-jeff-brown/)

These fictional books are fun stories about Stanley, who was a regular boy until he got flattened by a bulletin board that fell on his bed. Since then he’s had amazing adventures because he fits under doors and through mail slots.

My dream is for my grandsons to be able to travel, albeit it not in a flattened state. I’d love it if, one day, they can come along on some of my travels to schools around the world. I would dearly love to show them Hong Kong, have them meet kids in Cambodia or see life in Dubai. One day I hope I can realize this dream. But for now, I decided to take two flat grandchildren with me on my latest trip.

The boys each coloured a ‘flat Nico’ and a ‘flat Aidan’, giving them the clothes they were wearing that day, as well as an attractive hairdo.

The two flat boys were tucked neatly in our daypack and they came along on the airplane!

They made new friends in a school in Cambodia and visited one of the most amazing sites in the world: the Angkor Wat temple complex.

Flat Aidan and Flat Nico made a trip on a wooden boat on the Mekong river but mostly they loved the white sand beach of Koh Rong in southern Cambodia.

Then the flat boys visited Hong Kong - they saw skyscrapers and a metropolis of apartment buildings and green hill sides. They saw the Star Ferry and bowls of rice with chicken.

Peace is achieved when people make friends, when cultures understand and respect each other. My dream is to help my grandsons make friends around the world. I can’t wait for that to happen. 

Fun Books for (grown-up) Reading

Usually I share children's books with you here.
This time, I'd like to bring your attention to some books that I have really enjoyed reading for myself. If you are looking for fun reads during spring break or for summer holidays, you might want to try these. If, like me, you not only like reading but traveling as well, you'll really enjoy these (true!) stories.

Two Old Fools series by Victoria Twead.
The first book in this series is called Chickens, Mules and Two Old Fools. Victoria and her husband are British but tired of English rain and uncertain summers. They decide to make a major life style change by moving to Spain, where they buy a funky house in a small hillside village.
Throughout the series, you get to know all of the characters in the (real) village: the mayor who has the hots for Victoria, the shopkeeper who loves gossip, the old and the young Spanish people as well as the mules and dogs around the village.

The series is hilarious and as comfortable as a pair of summer sandals. In Two Old Fools on a Camel you go along with Joe and Victoria as they spend a year teaching abroad in Bahrain during a tumultuous time in the Middle East.
Eventually, in Two Old Fools in Turmoil, they move countries again and you will recognize your own travel experiences in her descriptions of lost luggage and paper trails.
All titles are available as e-books.
Check out:
https://www.victoriatwead.com

I was also excited to come across books by Brigid Keenan.
Diplomatic Baggage, The Adventures of a Trailing Spouse is a pretty hilarious account of life as a diplomat's wife in various countries, including Kazakhstan.
Her follow-up title is Packing Up, Further Adventures of a Trailing Spouse. These are fun books about travel and new experiences in different countries, books that I thoroughly enjoyed.

The next book that was an eye opener for me. A woman, turn of the century, traveling alone into the Middle East. She became instrumental in the establishing of the borders of Syria. She was the female Lawrence of Arabia but likely more important to history. She advised Churchill on politics of the Middle East. I loved this book: Gertrude Bell, Queen of the Desert by Georgina Howell. Hope you will be fascinated with this true story also. Like many good books, it was made into a movie with Nicole Kidman as Gertrude Bell. But... the book is always better.

And, if you love books as much as I do, have you read The Bad Ass Librarians of Timbuktu by Joshua Hammer? Also an amazing true story of how caring historians and librarians saved important ancient Arabic scrolls and books from destruction by Al Qaeda. Learn how an underground network smuggled and moved these important documents throughout northwest Africa in hopes of saving them for future generations. A true, nail biting adventure.

Happy Reading!

Around The World - in 80 Children's Books

It took me almost a year to compile this list since I wanted to use many different countries, my favourite books, a combination of classics, brand-new titles and everything in between. But here, finally, is my 2018 gift to you: 80 books for children from and about countries around the world. 

I know there are many more amazing stories. But I hope these will jump start you and help in your library or classroom or home - wherever you are.

I have indicated whether they are picture books, novels, nonfiction or graphic novel.

Wishing much happiness in reading and sharing these books. I hope they will add to your virtual trip around the world and help to create awareness and understanding of other cultures.

Picture Books (PB), YA Novels (N) and Non-Fiction (NF), Graphic Novel (GN):

Afghanistan

The Bread Winner, Deborah Ellis (N)

Africa

Chandra’s Secrets, Allan Stratton (N)

Argentina

Out of the Box, Michelle Mulder (N)

Australia

Possum Magic (PB)

Outback Alphabet, Norah Countout (PB)

Brazil

The Great Kapok Tree, Lynn Cherry (PB)

Journey to the River Sea, Eva Ibbotson (N)

Canada

Waiting For The Whales, Sheryl McFarlane (PB)

My Arctic 1, 2, 3, Michael Kusugak (PB)

The Freedom of Jenny, Julie Burtinshaw (N)

Counting on Hope, Sylvia Olsen (N)

Speaking Our Truth, Monique Gray-Smith (NF)

Chile

The Dreamer, Pam Munoz Ryan (PB)

China

The Empty Pot, Demi (PB)

Bejing Through Time, Richard Platt (NF)

Throw-away Daughter, Ting Xing Ye (N)

Cuba

Cuba 15, Nancy Osa (N)

Curacao

The Cay, Theodore Taylor (N)

Dominican Republic

Not A Chance, Michelle Mulder (N)

East Germany

The Wall, Peter Sís (PB)

England

Two Weeks With The Queen, Morris Gleitzman (N)

The London Jungle Book, Bhajju Shyam (NF)

Charles and Emma, The Darwin’s Leap of Faith, Deborah Heiligman (N)

Eritrea

The Mangrove Tree, Susan L. Roth (PB)

Germany

The Book Thief, Markus Zusak (N)

Ghana

One Hen, Katie Smith Milway (NF)

Greece

Adventures in Ancient Greece, Linda Bailey (PB)

India

Mission Mumbai, Mahtab Narsimhan (N)

Follow The Elephant, Beryl Young (N)

A Basket of Bangles, Ginger Howard (PB)

Homeless Bird, Gloria Whelan (N)

Ireland

Tim O’Toole and the Wee Folk, Gerald McDermott (PB)

Israel

Something From Nothing, Phoebe Gilman (PB)

The Magic Dreidels, Eric Kimmel (PB)

Jamaica

J Is For Jamaica, Benjamin Zephaniah (PB)

Japan

The Way We Do It In Japan, Geneva Cobb Iijima (PB)

Kenya

14 Cows For America, Carmen Agra Deedy (NF)

Walking Home, Eric Walters (N)

Mama Miti, Donna Jo Napoli (PB)

Korea

The Royal Bee, Frances and Ginger Park (PB)

Bee-bim Bop!, Linda Sue Park (PB)

Mexico

The Corn Grows Ripe, Dorothy Rhoads (N)

Mongolia

Mongolian Folktales, Dashdondog Jamba (N)

Morocco

Mirror, Jeannie Baker (PB)

Namibia

African Acrostics, Avis Harley and Deborah Noyes (PB)

Nigeria

Chicken in the Kitchen, Nnedi Okorafor

The Netherlands

Holland by Charlotte Dematons (PB)

Anne Franks Diary (N)

Pakistan

I Am Malala, Malala Yousafzai (NF)

Listen to the Wind, Greg Mortenson (PB)

The Best Eid Ever, Asma Mobin-Uddin (PB)

Palestine

Habibi, Naomi Shihab Nye (N)

Lydia, Queen of Palestina, Uri Orlev (N)

Persia

Alphabet of Dreams, Susan Fletcher (N)

Shadow Spinner, Susan Fletcher (N)

Peru

Go And Come Back, Joan Abelove (N)

Poland

The Devil’s Arithmetic, Jane Yolen (N)

Russia

Anastastia’s Album, Hugh Brewster (PB)

Sierra Leone

The Bite of the Mango, Mariatu Kamara (N)

Solomon Islands

Jungle Islands, Maria Coffey (PB)

South Africa

Nelson Mandela, Kadir Nelson  (PB)

Sudan

Brothers in Hope: The Story of the Lost Boys of Sudan, Mary Williams  (PB)

Syria

Stepping Stones, Margriet Ruurs and Nizar Ali Badr (PB)

Tanzania

Countdown, Ben Mikaelsen (N)

The Orphan Boy, Tololwa Mollel (PB)

The Banana-Leaf Ball, Katie Smith Milway (PB)

Tibet

Tibet, Through The Red Box, Peter Sís (PB)

Turkey

Dare to Disappoint, Ozge Samanci (GN)

USA

Night John, Gary Paulsen (N)

Out of the Dust, Karen Hesse (N)

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian, Alexis Sherman (N)

Brown Girl Dreaming, Jacqueline Woodson (N)

Virgin Islands

Rata-Pata-Scata-Fata: A Caribbean Story, Phillis Gershator (PB)

Vietnam

Adrift At Sea, Marsha Skrypuch (NF)

One Step at a Time, Marsha Skrypuch (N)

Zambia

The Elephant Keeper, Margriet Ruurs (NF)

My Favourite Global Books:

Gifts by Jo Ellen Bogart (PB)

What A Party!, Ana Maria Machado (PB)

People, Peter Spier (PB)

The World in Your Lunch Box, Claire Eamer (NF)

Books - Free Christmas Fun from your Local Library!

So what is it about some of these Christmas songs that we happily belt out each year?
While Thomas' Snowsuit (Robert Munsch) gets banned because the kid says no-no-no to his teacher, we keep cheering on those two-faced reindeer who exclude one of their own....
Why didn't Santa or Mrs. Claus call those reindeer on their behaviour when they didn't let poor Rudolph join in any of their games, just because he looked different?
And then, suddenly, when Santa finds a use for him, they all want to be friends. Well, I would have said 'tough gingerbread, where were you when I needed a friend?'

And that fun sleigh ride through the snow is debatable too, when you actually listen to the words:
The horse was lean and lank
Misfortune seemed his lot
We got into a drifted bank,
And then we got upsot.

Oh, what fun... And what is 'upsot'anyway? Is it just 'upset' that didn't rhyme? Or some old word like 'hark'? I had to google that one. It means 'listen', as in 'hark, children!'

So, in this hap-happiest time of the year, when we're finally all gay, I'd recommend curling up with a well written book rather than a questionable song. Picture books, of course, are the best. Not just to read for yourself but to share with loved ones by the fire when you watch those chestnuts pop.

Why not make a trip to the library, just before it closes for Christmas - it's still the best free thing around - and check out these wonderful, timeless stories:

I Stood Upon A Mountain, Aileen Fisher, ISBN 0-690-03977-8
This gentle story puts to rest the debate of where we all came from. Creation? Explosion? It incorporates first nations ideas and other explanations of life on earth in a beautiful, simple and totally acceptable manner.

Another simple, timeless story is The Christmas Book by Dick Bruna, ISBN 0-416-24170-0. Likely it is out of print but try to find one in the library. We all know Bruna from the Miffy books. His Christmas story is plain and simple: a star, some shepards, a manger, a mother, a baby. The essence of a birth in Bethlehem.

The Christmas Candle, Richard Paul Evans, ISBN 0-439-15837-0, with unbelievably beautiful paintings by Jacob Collins. This story reads like an old folk tale. It is about the magic of seeing every day things in a new light, enriching not only the lives of those around you, but your own at the same time.

Island Santa, Sheryl McFarlane, Sheena Lott, ISBN 9-780988-053601 is a beautiful story based on the real Santa Ship that visits the Gulf Islands in BC where I live. McFarlane combined this with the real story of Jeneece Edroff who fundraised to make a home for families of sick children a reality near Victoria's General Hospital. 
Check out: https://islandkidsfirst.com/jeneece-place/

When Santa Was a Baby, Linda Bailey, ISBN 978-1770495562
What kind of baby was Santa? And what was he like as a child and a teenager? In this story it becomes clear that Santa knew his own mind from a very young age. From his fondness for the colour red, to his interest in chimneys, to his habit of giving his toys away . . . Santa was unusual right from the start. Luckily he had doting parents who supported him through every eccentricity, whether they understood or not. A warm, funny story about an odd boy who succeeds. 

Thank You, Santa by Margaret Wild, ISBN 0-590-45806-X
A correspondence between Samantha and Santa, throughout the year. Santa is thrilled when someone actually writes him a thank you card after Christmas, rather than just always letters of what everyone wants before Christmas. A nice twist.

And finally The True Story of Santa Claus, by Eric Walters and his daughter Christina, ISBN 1-894601-11-4 This is the account of how Mrs. Claus is the real hero behind all the hard work at the North Pole. While her husband gained weight and was down to one day per year of work, it was her slaving away making toys and meals, that kept the whole Santa thing going. A fun read for the whole family, especially exhausted moms.

Happy reading this Christmas season!