A Tale of Two Butterflies

 

Monarch and Mourning Cloak: A Butterfly Journal 

by Melissa Stewart; illus. by Sarah S. Brannen 

48 pages; ages 4-8

‎Beach Lane Books, 2026

themes: nature, butterflies, art

 Look, a monarch!

 Bright orange wings

 keep it safe.

The first spread opens with a comparison and contrast of two butterflies you might find in your backyard: the monarch and the mourning cloak. The monarch is bright orange – a warning to predators that it is poisonous and they should stay away. The mourning cloak is brown – it blends in with the bark of trees so predators have a hard time finding it.

Monarch and mourning cloak are as different as two butterflies can be: one flies south in the winter and the other one snuggles under bark to hibernate. And yet they are surprisingly similar: they hatch from eggs, eat leaves, and undergo metamorphosis.

But this book is more than just an ordinary butterfly book. It’s a nature sketch book, a poetry journal, and an invitation to observe nature more closely. An invitation to engage with the world outside your door. An invitation to grab a sketchbook and head outside.

What I like love about this book: So Many Things! Beginning with the end pages: On the front end pages we meet the Monarch: there’s a quick overview of its life cycle, sketches of it in different stages of its life, and a range map showing where you’re likely to find monarch butterflies. The back end pages introduce the Mourning Cloak butterfly. 

Even before you get into the book, there’s front matter – a letter to readers explaining that this book is a collage of poetry and artwork that not only captures the lives of the butterflies, but shows the creative process Melissa Stewart and Sarah Brannen went through over the few years of creating the book.

Spreads reveal the secrets of the two butterflies in poetry and sketches, along with notes about when and where the butterfly observations took place, annotated illustrations, and even some color palates. These are pages that you’ll want to spend time on, because there is so much to discover. I am absolutely astounded by the awesome renderings of the spiky caterpillars.

There’s luscious language. “Changing, rearranging” – what better description of metamorphosis can you think of?

And there’s back matter (which of course I always love!) beginning with a section about “the joy of journaling” and how to create a sketchbook. And of course there’s more about butterflies, caterpillar time, and some great resources for kids who want to know more. This is a book that I would definitely have in my classroom (and I taught high school bio!). I don’t usually give stars, but I give this one 5 Butterflies.

I’ll be chatting with Melissa and other authors about their buggy books over at the Annual Arthropod Roundtable at the GROG  on Earth Day, April 22.

Beyond the Books:

Make a butterfly journal. This is a quick fold and “pamphlet sew” binding – and I usually use a piece of paper bag as a cover for mine. Directions are here.

Draw pictures of the butterflies and caterpillars you see fluttering (or crawling) around your yard this summer. The first ones I see are the mourning cloaks; they emerge from hibernation and are fluttering about before other butterflies. You don’t have to be exact, but if you can color in the wings, it helps you remember what you saw.

Write a poem about a butterfly you observe. Write a poem about a caterpillar you watch. 

Plant some native flowers for the butterflies in your area. An excellent resource is the XERCES Society.

Melissa is a member of the STEAM Team Books group. You can find out more about her at her at her website melissa-stewart.com. You can find more about recently released STEM and STEAM at www.steamteambooks.com

Today we’re joining Perfect Picture Book Friday. It’s a wonderful gathering where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copy provided by Blue Slip Media.

Home, Sweet Home

Today I've got a couple books about animal homes to share. Our theme: animals, nature, environment. 

Who Nests Here? 

by Karen Jameson; illus. by Ramona Kaulitzki 

48 pages; ages 4-8

‎Beach Lane Books, 2026 

 Who nests here?

Whose baby bed? 

Whose family home? 

Whose winter shed?

Spread by spread readers are introduced to visual clues and invited to guess the animal that each home belongs to. Constructed from mud and sand, rock and snow, and nests high in trees, they shelter a diversity of insects and crabs, frogs and squirrels, fish and foxes. 

What I like about this book: I like the “nature detective” feel of this book. One spread shows three homes – as in the spread below: a nest of twigs, a swelling on a twig, a nest of leaves. It invites the reader to study and make a guess before turning the page. I like that the rhyming text, and the space on the page that provides room for imagining. And I like the back matter where kids can find out more about animals that nest in mud or water, rocks or snow.

This is such a cute book that I had to ask Karen One Question:

me: Where do you nest? 

Karen: I write lyrical picture books from my cozy treetop “nest” in Southern California. My nest is filled with treasured book friends - George and Martha, Chrysanthemum,  Blue on Blue, Pug and Pig, Over and Under the Snow, Home in the Woods and many more. Baskets, bookcases, bins and shelves overflow with stories waiting to be savored. A big, soft, double wide reading chair is where I oftentimes dream and draft my stories. Other times, it is a story nest for me and a grandchild or two. We settle into books and snuggles as time slips away. 

My window seat is the best spot for gazing at the happenings outside. Sometimes the garden calls to me. I wander downstairs and out to the backyard to drink in the scented air of lemon trees, roses, geraniums, bottle brush, pink crepe myrtle blossoms and buds galore. The bees are visiting too, as are glorious, shimmering hummingbirds. In warm weather, small lizards bask on the planters doing push ups and chasing one another. I gather a few blooms, fill a small vase, and bring this little bit of heaven up to my nest to dream some more.

Thank you, Karen. That sounds positively delightful! After digging around in my book basket, I found another book about animal homes. This one is written in poetry.

Home 

by Isabelle Simler; translated by Vineet Lal 

68 pages; ages 6-9

‎Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2024

Here’s my little house, 

hanging from the tip of a willow branch, 

just like a fruit.

From bird nests to an octopus den, woven webs to shell-covered homes, readers are taken around the world to see how animals build their homes. Each poem offers clues to animal lives, and back matter provides more information about each creature. The intricate illustrations invite one to linger on the page.

Beyond the Books:

Look for places where animals in your neighborhood make their homes. Where do you notice ants? What about wasps? Do you notice squirrel nests in trees or gopher holes in your yard?

Build a fairy house out of natural materials you find outside: branches from an old Christmas tree, dried leaves, twigs, stones…  

Imagine your life curled up in a leaf or under a stone. Write a poem or draw a picture about what that would be like.

Create a cozy den or nest for yourself either inside or outside. I’m partial to pillow and blanket forts!

Karen is a member of the STEAM Team Books group. You can find out more about her at her at her karenljameson.com. You can find more about recently released STEM and www.steamteambooks.com

Today we’re joining Perfect Picture Book Friday. It’s a wonderful gathering where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copies provided by the publishers.

Two by Blue Dot Kids

 Every now and then I run across a couple of books that incorporate STEM elements in an imaginative way. Today I’m sharing two new picture books recently released by Blue Dot Kids Press.

theme: nature, imagination, global connection

Moon Sailors

by Naomi Woodward; illus by Rachel Gregg 

32 pages; ages 3-6

Bed sheets billow in solar winds, as we cast our boat adrift…

As a fan of “Wynken, Blynken, and Nod” I was captivated by the idea of “moon sailors in search of treasure…” In this imaginary journey, two children – and their cat – sail off to follow the trails of celestial snails, wake up cockles and crabs, and meet a curious cephalopod. 

What I like about this book: This is a perfect lullaby read-aloud, with a gentle, put-you-to-sleep rhythm. There are wonderful words tucked in: iridescent, tentacles… Presented as an ocean-meets-the-moon adventure, the creatures of sand and sea are anything but imaginary. If you have an opportunity to explore a sea shore or a tide pool, you may meet many of these creatures.

Together, Right Now

by Olga Fadeeva

40 pages; ages 3-7

Right now, you are reading this book. Right now, someone is eating breakfast. Right now, someone is falling asleep.

As you go about your day, doing the things you do, animals and people around the world are doing the things they do. But where they are it might be night, where you have day. They might be planting gardens while you shovel snow. 

What I like about this book: The language is lovely and invites readers to look closely at the place where they live – and then look more broadly at how others are living, from deserts to islands. I like the global connection: eight billion people and millions of species of plants and animals are all breathing and living together on this unique planet. And I like the diversity of color and texture in the artwork.

Beyond the Books:

Listen to the poem “Wynken, Blynken, and Nod” and let your imagination sail with them on their journey. Draw a picture of what you might see on a journey in the night sky.

Visit an aquarium or tide pool to see some of the creatures that the moon sailors might have seen. If you can’t get to a tide pool or aquarium, you can learn about tide pool creatures at Crystal Cove State Park, California, or go on a longer (25 minute) video tour with a marine biologist.

What is it like where you live right now? Is it daytime? Night time? Summer? Winter? And what do you see when you look out a window? 

Find where you are on a globe. Now find a spot on the other side of the Earth – and look for the nearest landmass. Find out who and what lives there. If you were there right now, would it be daytime or night? Warm or cold? What would you see?

Today we’re joining Perfect Picture Book Friday. It’s a wonderful gathering where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copies provided by the publisher.

Up into Space!

Who doesn’t love adventure! And where can you go for the most wild, far-out adventure these days? Up, up, up into the sky … maybe even into space. These three books explore themes of space, exploration, and biography.

Up, Up High: The Secret Poetry of Earth’s Atmosphere

by Lydia Lukidis; illus. by Katie Rewse 

40 pages; ages 8-11

Capstone Editions, 2025

Where does the sky end and space begin? This is one of the questions author Lydia Lukidis sets out to explore in her newest book about the atmosphere. 

Written in poetry, she looks at what is beyond the tallest trees and biggest buildings. 

To find out,

squeeze into a space suit.

Strap yourself

into a spacecraft.

Hang on tight.

Five, four, three, two, one …

      blast off!

What I like about this book: It’s a journey. As we rise into the sky we wave at a climber atop a mountain, pass through tumultuous clouds, and watch as meteoroids streak by.  Higher than the space station! Higher than a satellite! And then it’s time to turn around and head back to earth. Text boxes on each spread explain some of the phenomena we see on our journey, and back matter presents the layers of our atmosphere in an easy-to-understand graphic.

Up, Up High is the companion book to Deep, Deep Down: The Secret Underwater Poetry of the Mariana Trench which I reviewed a couple years ago. Check out Christy Mihaly’s interview with Lydia earlier this month at the GROG blog. Lydia is a member of #STEAMTeam2025. You can find out more about her at her website, www.lydialukidis.com

Reaching for the Stars: A Mission to Space 

by Roxanne Troup; illus. by Amanda Lenz 

40 pages; ages 4-8

Schiffer Kids, 2024   (August 28)

For years, NASA planned and exciting new mission. Just a few more minutes until ignition. 

Suit up for a lyrical space adventure that heads beyond the moon to where stars are born, comets zip, and galaxies come in all shapes. This book celebrates the return to space exploration beginning with the Artemis mission to the moon.

What I like about this book: It's a fun way to encourage kids to imagine themselves going to space. Actual NASA photos are incorporated into the illustrations, making it even more realistic. At the back is a glossary of words that are "out of this world" as well as notes from the author and illustrator. 

She Went to Space: Maine Astronaut Jessica Meir

Fran Hodgkins  

32 pages, ages 5-8 

‎Down East Books, 2025 (earlier this month!)

The sky was black. It wasn’t the sky, really. It was space. And Jessica Meir was stepping out into it.

Jessica Meir hails from Caribou, Maine, the second-largest city in Aroostoock County and just 12 miles from the Canadian border. The county itself is huge, about the size of Rhode Island plus Connecticut, and well-known for potatoes, timber, tourism and – now – birthplace of an astronaut. Not just any astronaut, either. In 2019, Jessica and her partner-in-space Christina Koch made history completing the first spacewalk made solely by women. They spent more than seven hours outside the International Space Station replacing a broken power unit.

What I like about this book: The biography is compelling, but Fran adds more. There’s a checklist of requirements to be an astronaut - do you qualify? And there’s a side-by-side comparison of ocean and space… to help explain why Jessica studied the ocean in order to eventually (she hoped) reach her dream of becoming an astronaut. 

Back in October I interviewed author, Fran Hodgkins about why she wanted to write Jessica’s biography. You can read that interview here.

Beyond the Books:

Where does the sky end and space begin? How far do you think you'd have to go up, up, up to get out of our atmosphere? And does space start before that point or after? Here's how a NASA scientist explains it.

You can find some fun activities in Lydia's educator's guide. One of them is to compare how a rocket (or any object) falls - with and without a safety parachute. Check it out at her website here.

Was an astronaut born in your state? Find out here at this NASA link. Then find out more about them… and write your own Local Astronaut story!

Today we’re joining Perfect Picture Book Friday. It’s a wonderful gathering where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. On Monday we'll be hanging out at Marvelous Middle Grade Monday with other  bloggers. It's over at Greg Pattridge's blog, Always in the Middle, so hop over to see what other people are reading. Review copies provided by the publishers.

The Poetry of Science

There are so many ways to write nonfiction! I love that poets are exploring science, and finding different ways to talk about such things as physics and animals. I intended to review these in April for poetry month, but somehow they got buried at the bottom of my book basket – which I dumped out last week so I could see what all was in there. Besides books: dust bunnies and a sock. I know! So, on to books…

theme: poetry, science, dogs

Push-Pull Morning: Dog-Powered Poems About Matter and Energy

by Lisa Westberg Peters; illus. by Serge Bloch 

40 pages; ages 4-8

Wordsong (Astra), 2023

My new dog has one wet nose.

Me? No.

This fun book explores gravity, magnetism, electricity, friction, and states of matter through the friendship between child and dog. The first one is about “Stuff in Common” comparing things we don’t have in common, such as floppy ears, four paws with clicky nails – but helps us realize that we’re all made of “zillions of wiggly molecules and jillions of jiggly atoms.”

What I like about this book:  I love that a dog in motion will stay in motion until acted on by an outside force, and that you can’t make a dog go where they don’t want to because of the friction of claws digging into the carpet. Also, one of my favorite poems was about states of matter, where the dog was liquid when pouring itself into the basket to sleep. At the bottom of each spread the physics concept is printed in bold (to help parents, I’m thinking!). Oh, and did I say there was humor involved? Back matter provides a short definition for each physics concept, with a longer paragraph to explain the science. 

Galápagos: Islands of Change

by Leslie Bulion; illus. by Becca Stadtlander  

‎48 pages; ages 8-12

Peachtree, 2023   

The biogeographical history of the Galápagos Islands is told through a series of poems, from their beginning as volcanic hot spots through the evolution of life on each island. It is a complex story that begins in a fiery flash, and explores how plants and animals arrived on the rocky islands and adapted to the landscape. Now, the islands are populated with an array of plants, reptiles, and birds ranging from penguins to blue footed boobies.

As the poems celebrate the remarkable plants and animals, they highlight the unique ecosystem that has evolved on each island. One of my favorite poems is a short free verse about Zooplankton, “Mini-swimmers—most no bigger than the head of a pin…”

Another focuses attention on marine iguanas, “basking on a sun-soaked ledge” until they leap into the ocean and dive, their “flat-oar tails” whipping side to side as they plunge down to where the tastiest seaweed grows.

And then there are the penguins. Yes, the desert-dry islands have penguins!

On land they stand umbrella pose,

creating shade to cool their toes,

but underwater, watch them fly—

 

Courtesy of Peachtree Publishing Company Inc

 

 There are poems about the prickly pear cactus and the black carpenter bee and, of course, the very famous finches! The collection of poems is book-ended by expository text that introduces the Galápagos Islands in the beginning, and examines the challenges the unique plants and animals face in a warming climate and human impacts.

There is great back matter, beginning with a glossary and map – I did not know there were so many islands! There are poetry notes for every creature (what kind of poem, rhyme scheme) that will make this a great cross-curricular connection for language arts. And, in addition to the resources, there is a species list. 

Beyond the Books:

Play around with States of Matter and Physics. Here are a couple of resources with experiments and activities for younger kids here and here.

Explore the Galapagos Islands with ABC news and National Geographic Expeditions

Today we’re joining Perfect Picture Book Friday. It’s a wonderful gathering where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website.  On Monday we'll be hanging out at Marvelous Middle Grade Monday with other  bloggers. It's over at Greg Pattridge's blog, Always in the Middle, so hop over to see what other people are reading. Review copies provided by the publishers.

Books that Celebrate Polar Life

 Given the recent temperatures, I decided this is the perfect time to share books about polar life. From North Pole to South Pole, there are a lot of critters that live on ice and snow.

theme: animals, arctic, nature

Polar Bear 

by Candace Fleming; illus. by Eric Rohmann

32 pages; ages 4-8

Neal Porter Books/ Holiday House, 2022

April in the Arctic.

Snow clouds scuttle across the sky. Temperatures barely nudge above freezing.

But this is the time of year when sunshine wakes up the frozen world. This is the time for polar bear cubs to go outside and meet that world. All winter long, mother bear has nurtured her cubs but now it’s time to head out for the long walk to the hunting grounds on the sea ice. But first, Mama bear sniffs the air to make sure it is safe.

What I like about this book: I like the verbs – cubs tumble, scramble, wrestle, squeal. As I read the text I can see those cubs rolling about on the tundra. And I like the adventure of heading to the ice where Mama bear teaches them to hunt seals. But what I love best of all is how the thread holding the story together from beginning to end is the ice. Without ice, how can the polar bears hunt? And what happens to them when a chunk of sea ice breaks off? Mama bear can swim miles, but what about her cubs? Even as Mama bear teaches her children how to survive, the world is changing more quickly than they can adapt.

And of course, there is back matter! This is where Candace gets into the nitty gritty of “it’s all about the ice” as well as sharing cool facts about polar bears. Oh, and did I mention the gorgeous illustrations? I love how Eric Rohmann portrays polar bear expressions.

Ice! Poems About Polar Life 

‎by Douglas Florian

48 pages; ages 7-10

Holiday House, 2022 (paperback)

Sure, the Solstice has passed and we are (technically) headed for longer days. But January and February are cold months here in the northeast. And sometimes, given our crazy climate-chaos-broken jet stream, colder than the north pole! So I thought these poems would be perfect reading for snow and ice days. This book contains poems about life from both polar regions, arctic and Antarctic, where the days can be cold even in the spring. Douglas Florian casts his poetry net wide, sharing observations about penguins and polar bears, caribou and foxes.

What I like about this book: These poems are fun and filled with word play. For example, Florian presents the caribou’s wide hooves as “cariboots” and warns children not to push the musk ox “ox-idently.” My favorite, though, is the ptarmigan. Just like pterodactyl, the p in “ptarmigan” is silent. Florian plays with this, noting that the ptarmigan is a ptimid bird that lives on the ptundra…

I also like that each poem is accompanied by additional information, so readers can learn about the animals. And I really appreciate that the last poem focuses on climate change, with a message that finding solutions is something readers can do. There’s a link so people can explore steps they can take to stop global warming and protect polar creatures. And I also like the illustrations – they are fun, and will inspire kids to make their own drawings of polar animals.

Beyond the Books:

Learn more about a polar creature. Make a few notes about where it lives, what it eats, and whether it builds a home. Then write a story or poem about it.

Make a penguin (or two) from recycled toilet paper tubes. Here’s some directions.

Grab a potato (or that really old kohlrabi at the back of the fridge) to make some polar bear prints. You can find instructions here.

Today we're joining Perfect Picture Book Friday, an event where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copies provided by the publishers.

The Life Cycle of a Desert Poem ~ By Darcy Pattison

During the pandemic, we all looked around for things to keep us occupied. I joined the crowd looking around the internet for classes. At least I could learn something while stuck at home.

What about poetry?

Iambic pentameter. Haiku. Blank verse. Sonnet. As a writer, I’ve delved into poetry at different points in my career because poetry compresses emotion into a small packet. You must carefully choose each word so it evokes the feeling you want the reader to feel.

I signed up for the Language Lyrical Lab with amazing Renee LaTulippe. Her debut picture book, The Crab Ballet, (it came out in March 2022). I’d heard about her poetry class from many sources, always with glowing recommendations. She offers a self-study course, but during the pandemic I wanted interaction with real people so I chose the full class that included feedback on my poetry.

The lessons, clear and concise, prompted me to try different forms of writing. At the time I was working on Friday Comes On Tuesday: An Adventure at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. It is written in prose, but then the editor asked if I wanted to write a dedication. Inspired by the class, this was my dedication to my husband – written as a humorous double dactyl poem. A dactyl is a three-syllable foot with one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables. My husband’s name can be read a double dactyl: DWIGHT Nelson PATtison. The double-dactyl form was a natural choice because of his name and because it’s a humorous form.

QUIPSTER

Comical, farcical,

Dwight Nelson Pattison

Pokes at my prose till it

Warily sings.

Known for his drollery,

Uncompromisingly

Laughing and prodding and 

Keeping me sane.

Poetry Inspires Nonfiction

Inspired by the class, I returned to my files and pulled up one about a desert. I’ve written about deserts before in Desert Baths (NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book) from Arbordale. But I had a new idea.

Years ago, I taught a writing retreat in Arizona, and the excitement of the day was whether or not we’d get a monsoon rain storm. I tried the story in multiple ways, but it never worked. I wondered if the poetry class could inspire a lyrical narrative. I decided to write the story as a narrative, following the growth of plants and animals across a couple days.

Did you just read that synopsis? It sounds … fascinating, right? Um, no.

Kids love stories with predators because the narrative is full of drama and possible danger. Plants? Not so much. To write this story, I had to find ways to build drama into the story.

This time as I wrote, I listened to the words, striving for rhythm, variety of stresses, and a build-up of tension in the story. It developed well with a strong narrative because I chose to write a mask poem. That means the story is written from the point of view of the desert, as if I—the author—had put on the desert’s mask and stepped into its persona. It needed to be a strong, compassionate voice and yet acknowledge the harshness of the habitat. I became the voice of the desert, lamenting the rapid birth, life, and death that its harsh environment demanded.

Hamilton-Inspired

While I was writing drafts of the desert story, the Wall Street Journal published a fascinating study of Hamilton, by Lin-Manual Miranda entitled, “How does ‘Hamilton,’ the non-stop, hip-hop Broadway sensation tap rap’s master rhymes to blur musical lines?” It’s fascinating look at how rappers use language by playing with rhymes at the beginning, middle, and ends of words. Near rhymes and internal rhymes are hallmarks of hip-hop. It includes assonance, consonance, and large-multisyllabic rhymes such as “be Socrates” and “mediocrities.”

The most fascinating thing about this article is that it makes the rhyming patterns visible through a specially designed algorithm. It invites you to input your text to see your pattern of language play. 

And play, I did. Section by section (it only allows a short text input), I evaluated and revised my desert text: 

…I’m flooded with redbluegreenyelloworangepurple

and buzzing with life—

gorgeous, outrageous…

The story developed from a moment of inspiration in Arizona, through a poetry class, and it was polished by an algorithm that visually analyzes hip-hop. And all the while I had to be faithful to the science, the facts of a desert habitat. The result is my newest picture book, I Am the Thirsty Desert (illustrated by Jordan Kim) which releases on March 14, 2023. 

When Darcy Pattison mentioned that she had written a book as a "pandemic project" I wanted to know more. She graciously agreed to share her experience her on Archimedes Notebook. Darcy has written tons of books and founded Mims House to publish books that are fun to read and fit in with curriculum standards. You can find out more about it here. 

Finding Fall Treasures

On a Gold-Blooming Day: Finding Fall Treasures 

by Buffy Silverman

‎32 pages; ages 4-9

Millbrook Press, 2022

theme: autumn, seasons, poetry

On a gold-blooming, bee-zooming, sun-dazzling day…

creatures are busy! Crickets are chirping, butterflies slurping, squirrels nut-burying, mushrooms popping up after a fall rain, and leaves are falling! 

What I love about this book: The language! Lines rhyme and make it a perfect read-aloud. And the language is lively – as in, there are lots of wonderful verbs used in oh-so-many ways. They show action (seeds drift) and describe the sort of day it is (nut-crunching).

I love the photos. They are big, bold, filled with fall colors and scenes of nature.

And (of course) I love the back matter: four pages packed with additional information about the plants and animals you find in fall, a glossary, and a list of books for curious young naturalists (and the adults who read the books to them).

I’ll be interviewing Buffy over at the GROG Blog on the First Day of Fall, but today I just had to ask her One Question about her book!

Me: What are some of your favorite words from the fall season?

Buffy: My favorite fall words from On a Gold-Blooming Day are: "Cranes rattle. Fish skedaddle." In the fall, sandhill cranes gather in large numbers in the swampy end of the lake near our house, rattling late into the night (in fact, I can hear a few cranes right now!) Lots of animals skedaddle during autumn, hurrying to find food or make other preparations for winter. Although it still warm in Michigan, I am looking forward to crisp, crunchy, goose-honking weather!

Beyond the Books:

Go on a fall treasure hunt. Notice the different kinds of leaves on the trees and see if any are changing color. It might be too early – but that’s OK because you can do this activity all fall until the last leaf falls. While you walk, collect different kinds of leaves, acorns, sycamore balls, seeds, and other things for some leaf-art activities.

Make leaf rubbings and leaf people. You can make leaf people by gluing leaves to a sheet of paper like this, or you can create 3-D leaf people puppets like this.

Write your own list of Fall Words. They could be colors, sounds, smells of fall or the things you notice animals and plants doing. If you have crayons, you can write the words in fall colors. Turn your words into a Fall Chant or a song or a wish-list or …. Whatever you want to do.

Need more ideas for celebrating the coming of fall? Check out this list of 100.

Buffy Silverman is a member of #STEAMTeam2022. You can find out more about her at her website, https://buffysilverman.com/

Today we're joining Perfect Picture Book Friday, an event where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copy provided by the publisher.

The Poetry of Nature

 

Step gently out,

be still, 

and watch

a single blade

of grass.

 

So begins one of my favorite nature poems, which is also this book, written by Helen Frost and filled with the luscious close-up photography of Rick Lieder. It is a perfect go-to for Earth Day, or any time this Earth Day month. Or even any month of the year.

 

Going from page to page is like meandering slowly through a meadow filled with wildflowers. I feel like I can almost hear the bumblebees, feel the breeze, smell the fresh tang of spring soil. 

 

Reading this long, languid poem is good for the soul. So, too, is writing poetry.

At least that’s what I read somewhere. And being outside in nature is good for your health, too. I also read that somewhere. Writing poetry can also be a kind of meditation, because you need to take a moment or two to tap into what you are seeing, feeling, and experiencing.

This month is a perfect time to get outside and write some nature poetry. All you need is a pencil and a notebook. 

Find a place in nature that feels comfortable. Maybe it is a warm rock near a pond. Or maybe it’s a nice shady place beneath a tree in a park. It could be a trail or an overgrown hayfield, the bank of a stream or a garden.

Sit (or stand) quietly for a few minutes. Breathe in the fresh air. Listen to the sounds around you. Look at the environment as a whole. Then look at individual plants, insects, birds, stones, and other things that are in the environment.

 

List four or five things you observe about something. Maybe you are looking at a flower, or a worm. What do you notice? Write about what you feel, smell, hear.

Create a poem based on your observations. It can be a short poem or a long poem. It doesn’t have to rhyme, but it can. These small poems were written by my kids when they were about 8 or 9 years old.

Once you've written your poem, put it in your pocket so you can carry it around and share it with other people.

Looking for more Poetry Month ideas? Check out Christy Mihaly's wonderful post over at the GROG blog.

How Poems Grow and (even) take flight

 April is National Poetry Month, so I’m sharing two books that are filled with the movement and flow of poetry. They also highlight nature, sometimes the flowers and insects right outside your door.

theme: poetry, nature

Moving Words About a Flower 

by K. C. Hayes; illus by Barbara Chotiner 

40 pages; ages 3-7

‎Charlesbridge, 2022   

One summer day rain clouds rolled high above a gray city sidewalk.

From rainstorm to dandelion sprouting in a sidewalk crack, to a seed traveling and sprouting somewhere else, this book is all about how a flower grows and moves. Even more fun: it’s written as one long concrete (shape) poem. Words shape the stem, leaves, flower of the dandelion. Words shape the parachute seeds and, when the seeds sprout, the roots reaching into the soil.

Illustration copyright © 2022 by Barbara Chotiner

What I like love about this book: I love the idea of presenting the life story of a plant in poetry – and using the words to create the shapes is such a creative way to do it. For example: yellow lettering provides stripes of poetry on the abdomen of a bee! And I really did like the words forming roots… the shape poems will have kids taking second, third, and fourth looks at each spread.

And there is back matter (which you know I love)! That’s where kids can learn more about the life if a dandelion – including the very important fact that what looks like a flowerhead is really a cluster of many small flowers called florets. There’s info on how dandelions fly, when they bloom, and how tasty they are. 

If This Bird Had Pockets: A Poem in Your Pocket Day Celebration 

by Amy Ludwig Vanderwater; illus. by Emma J. Virján 

32 pages; ages 4-8

‎Wordsong, 2022  

If animals could write poems, what would they write about? What are their concerns, and observations about the world and their daily lives? 

There are no “first lines” to share, as such, but Amy Ludwig Vanderwater shares the first poem in this delightful video.

What I like about this book: I love the idea of animals writing their very own poems, from caribou sharing their thoughts on antlers to horseshoe crabs telling an ancient story. I especially like the monarch butterfly’s letter to a milkweed and “We Farm Fungus” by leafcutter ants. Each poem shares a secret about the animal, something we may not have known or thought about before. Just plain fun, mixed well with science.

Beyond the Books:

Count the dandelions growing in your yard or nearby. Notice the stage of their life: young plant, blooming, producing seeds. For those in flower, what insects are visiting them? You might find bees, beetles, butterflies, and more. You can find a downloadable activity packet at Charlesbridge.

Taste a dandelion – but make sure it hasn’t been sprayed with chemicals. Wash off the flower and taste a yellow floret. Sweet, right? You can sprinkle dandelion florets on top of a salad, or mix them in when you make tortillas, or sprinkle them on top of soup. Very young leaves are great in quiche – or, if you want to go crustless – a frittata. Even the seeds are edible, but take the fluffy parachute off first! And some people roast the roots and grind them up to brew like coffee. If you want a dandelion quiche recipe, check out Diet For a Changing Climate by Chris Mihaly and me.

Write a poem from the point of view of a bird, insect, or other animal that lives in your neighborhood. Then carry your poem in your pocket and go outside and read it to them. 

Today we're joining Perfect Picture Book Friday, an event where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copies provided by the publishers.

Celebrating Poetry

April is National Poetry Month. There are so many ways to celebrate.

You could read a poem a day. You can find a new poem every day at the Poetry Foundation. If you’re looking for new work by contemporary poets, check out poets.org.

You can celebrate National Poem in your Pocket Day (this year it’s April 28). Traditionally, people carry a small poem in their pocket, one they can pull out and share with others. Here’s a great resource for activities related to pocket-poem day.

You can write your own poems. They can be small enough to carry in your pocket or long enough to take up an entire page. The cool thing about poetry: you don’t have to be an expert to write poetry. In fact, you don’t even have to write things that rhyme! All you need is a pencil, a scrap of paper, and this handy-dandy poetic license.

Here’s one I wrote a couple years ago about springtime around my house:

Mom says I have muddy feet – 

playing in the garden feet,

chasing Monarch butterflies 

and watching tiger beetle feet,

standing still while crickets hop across my toes

with tickly feet.

But when mom hollers “grandma’s here”

I race back home on speedy feet.

I invite you to share one of your poems in the comments below. Have fun!

Explore Outdoors ~ End of Winter

 

This is how winter leaves:

bit by bit

one patch at a time

melting into a puddle

soaking into the soil

leaving mud on my boots

and the smell of spring in the air

Itsy-Bitsy Spiders....

April is national poetry month, so it’s only appropriate that I feature a book written in poetry. Or maybe it’s required… I seem to have misplaced my “rules for reviewing kid’s books”. And because I love critters with multiple jointed appendages, I present:

Spi-ku: A Clutter of Short Verse on Eight Legs 

by Leslie Bulion; illus. by Robert Meganck 

48 pages; ages 8-12 

Peachtree Publishing Company, 2021  

“From leafy treetop to forest floor …” and places in between and beyond, We Spy Spiders! Some are busy weaving webs, others riding silk balloons through the air, and yet others on the prowl. There are happy spiders, diving spiders, dancing spiders, and social spiders. 

So Many Spiders to love! Each spread features poems and information about the spiders. Things like how they kill and digest their prey, engage in foolery – and even how they become prey themselves. (I have not eaten any spiders so I cannot speak to how they taste…)

Leslie includes lots of wonderful Back Matter (and you know how I love back matter!). There’s a glossary, some spider identification notes and suggestions for further study. She also includes an activity: how to hunt for spiders at night. And she provides some notes on the poetic forms she uses. Here are four she highlights, with links so you can try writing some poems about spiders – or anything you want to write about – yourself:

• Haiku   
• Tanka  
• Dodoitsu   
• Cinquain   

A couple weeks ago Leslie and a bunch of us hung out at the GROG Blog to talk about why we love bugs. You can read what she said here. And you can learn more about Leslie and the fun books she writes at her website here.

Thanks for dropping by today. On Monday we'll be hanging out at Marvelous Middle Grade Monday with other  bloggers. It's over at Greg Pattridge's blog, Always in the Middle, so hop over to see what other people are reading. Review copy provided by the publisher.

Fun New Series on Animal Adaptations

 theme: animals, nature, poetry

Let’s face it: animals are cool! And most kids I know love to read about animals. What’s even better than a book about animals is a whole series of books about strange and wonderful animal adaptations. 

by Laura Perdew; illus by Katie Mazeika

32 pages; ages 5-8
Nomad, 2020

Laura Perdew has written a whole bunch of books – well, at least five – about animals and their unique adaptations. They are fun and breezy, and a perfect way to introduce young children to the different classes of vertebrate animals: reptiles, birds, mammals, amphibians, and fish.

Did you know that some fish have antifreeze and that archerfish shoot their prey? That water-holding frogs can stay buried for two years? Perdew introduces readers to unsung heroes of the animal world: star-nose moles, blue-footed boobies, and thorny devil lizards. She sings the praises of salamander slime and whale earwax.

What I like about these books: In addition to highlighting animals and their adaptations, Perdew begins each book with a poem. There’s an acrostic, a limerick, haiku, cinquain, and free verse. Back matter for each book includes a glossary and activity that helps kids (and anyone else) learn more about the group of animals.

Beyond the Books:

Write some animal poetry. It could be a poem about one kind of animal, or about a group of animals. Here's a resource for poetry forms.

Observe animals in your neighborhood – or, in the winter, in a pet store. Try to find an animal from each class: mammal, fish, bird, amphibian, reptile. Draw a picture of your animals. What do you notice about them?

Today we're joining Perfect Picture Book Friday, an event where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copies are provided by the publisher.

Amphibians!

It's spring. Tree frogs are peeping and quacking. Soon toads will be trilling. So it's a perfect time to dive into books about frogs! I know, I started the year off with a book about amphibian science, but one can never have too many books about frogs, toads, newts...  So here's one more to add to your "Got Frogs?" reading list:

Amphibian Acrobats
by Leslie Bulion; illus by Robert Meganck
60 pages; ages 8 - 12 years
Peachtree Publishing, 2020


We’re amphibians! We breathe through our skin,
We drink the same way: we soak water in….

Leslie Bulion, who has penned poetic descriptions of leaf litter critters and birds, now turns her attention to amphibians. She introduces us to Olympic jumpers – Fiji frogs that can twist in midair and land backwards to escape predators. She shares the secrets of deep-freeze artists, salamander wrestlers, and marathon walkers that migrate to their puddle home to lay eggs every spring.

What I like about this book: Let me count the ways! First, the science – on each page Bulion introduces one or two amphibians and their amazing behavior. She accompanies each poem with science notes about the frogs, salamanders, caecilians ... and Robert Meganck teams up with scientifically accurate illustrations.

Back matter includes poetry notes. For each poem, Bulion includes notes about the poetic structure and rhymes – a terrific resource for anyone who wants to experiment with different styles of writing.

But what I really like is that she invites readers to help protect amphibians. Her final poem focuses on the importance of protecting habitat. She adds notes in the back matter with specific steps kids – and their adults – can take to help conserve our amphibian neighbors.

Animal Skins
by Mary Holland
32 pages; ages 5-9
Arbordale, 2019

I’m including Animal Skins because Mary Holland provides more information about the skins of frogs, toads, and red efts (newts). She details how frogs shed their skin and why some amphibians have poisonous skins. And she clarifies that, though toads will make some animals sick if eaten, they will not give you warts. And that’s just the amphibians. Holland also shows how feathers and scales protect creatures and provides activities at the back.

Thanks for dropping by today. On Monday we'll be hanging out at Marvelous Middle Grade Monday with other  bloggers. It's over at Greg Pattridge's blog, Always in the Middle, so hop over to see what other people are reading. Review copies provided by the publishers.

Snowman - Cold = Puddle

In some places spring is already poking through. Not where I live - that won't happen for another month. Maybe more, given the unpredictable nature of this winter ... But I couldn't wait for things to totally thaw to share this book, published just a couple weeks ago.

Snowman - Cold = Puddle
By Laura Purdie Salas; illus. by Micha Archer
32 pages; ages 4-8
Charlesbridge, 2019

themes: spring, math, nature

science + poetry = surprise!

"Science is why and how a flower grows," writes Laura Purdie Salas. "Poetry is looking at that flower and seeing a firework." This book may look like math, but it is poetry in disguise. Laura takes us on a seasonal deep dive, exploring spring through a series of equations.

snowman - cold = puddle
breeze + kite = ballet
1 dandelion X 1 breath = 100 parachutes

Smaller text includes more information about these seasonal observations, along with context. For example, dandelions depend on wind to spread their seeds. And some of those seeds can travel hundreds of miles before settling down.

What I like love about this book: What a fun way to explore a season! And turning math into poetry is definitely a plus. I like that she includes a variety of math functions (addition, subtraction, multiplication) and divides her poem into three acts: early, mid-, and late spring. I like that there are two levels of reading this book, the math-poetry and the nature notes.

I love the artwork! In her notes at the back of the book, Micha Archer says that for her spring = color. She used collage to create the illustrations, layering tissue papers, using crayon-rubbing resists with watercolor washes, carving her own stamps, then snipping, slicing, and gluing down the papers. She used oil paints to add the children's faces.

But what I really, really, really love about this book is the equation she has left readers to solve on the very last page.

you + the world = ?

Beyond the Book:

Look for signs of spring in your neighborhood. When does it start? and how do you know? My calendar says spring begins March 20 (despite groundhog predictions).

Make some spring math-poetry of your own. Turn some of your observations into equations. Remember, early spring, mid-spring, late spring... it takes awhile for spring to arrive. Here's my early spring math-poem (from last year): ice - cold = mud.

Spring = color. That's what Micha says. Gather (or make) papers in the spring colors you see and create your own collage art.

Make a map of spring emerging. For a different way to experience the season, try mapping the changes. Here's one way - or come up with your own way to map the seasonal changes.

Today we're joining other book bloggers over at STEM Friday, where you can discover other cool STEM books. And we're joining Perfect Picture Book Friday, an event where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website . Review copy provided by publisher.