Storytime this week was a wee bit crazy. The theme was 'boxes,' which I've been saving up for a while. Before the library opened I turned our activity space into a fort made with furniture, boxes, and some sheets and flashlights from one of the library's system-wide kits. We have a handful of really great system-wide kits we often use - duplos & dinosaurs (a great combination), legos, games etc. We also have a forts & flashlights kit, which we've used at my location before with great success. The fort survived two storytime crowds and appeared to be a big hit. I will definitely do it again.
Books we read: Big Box Little Box by Caryl Hart and Edward Underwood
This was the clear winner of the day. The first storytime loved it, and though the second storytime was crazy (unlike my first two storytimes of the season), they were able to get involved with the story somewhat. We had a lot of fun talking about shapes and colors with this book and looking for the mouse and cat too.
What To Do With a Box by Jane Yolen and Chris Sheban
This book wasn't nearly as big a hit as the first book, but the kids still enjoyed it. The second storytime named the dog "Bassy," which was pretty adorable.
Activities:
Downward Dog Yoga Pose: The first storytime enjoyed this, but the second storytime loved it. I would say about 90% of the kids were able to do the pose with ease. We spiced things up a big and wagged our tails (bums) and barked heartily.
Fox in a Box: I made a magnetic version of the felt one on AnnesLibraryLife and didn't have much success with it when I tried it out last year. It was a big hit this time! Both storytimes enjoyed this, and even though the second storytime was a little grabby, we were able to complete a couple rounds of the game.
Parachute play: Because the instruments weren't a big hit this season, I brought out the parachute early. My hope was to change up the big activity every 2-3 three weeks, but we'll spend four weeks with the parachute unless they grow bored with it. We sang a song I cobbled together from a myriad of sources in addition to writing some of it (ahem, wombats sitting down on their bottoms). The Animals on the Bus The fish on the bus swim round and round X3 The fish on the bus swim round and round all through the town. The birds on the bus go flap, flap flap... The seals on the bus slide back and forth... The horses on the bus stand tall and high... The kangaroos on the bus all jump, jump, jump... The wombats on the bus sit down on their bottoms... The lions on the bus go swish with their tails... The mice on the bus go run and hide... When the mice run and hide that's the cue for all the kids to run under the parachute. This never grows old. I tried yet another version of "Ring Around the Rosy," but like the other versions, it failed. I will be bringing out the bean bags next week for popcorn to replace what I had hoped was the perfect "Ring Around the Rosy." No matter. Not everything can be awesome. Songs: We sang "Row Row Row Your Boat," "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," "The ABCs" and "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" in the first storytime because we had a little too much time left over. The same thing happened in the second storytime too so we sang "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" and "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed." No weird song choices this week (kind of a bummer), but more importantly no hokey pokey. Cute Moments: The little boy who adores the buffalo in the goodbye rhyme came this week! He brought his stuffed buffalo and his buffalo gave a high-five to my greeting puppet, which was a monkey. Watching kids enjoy the fort this week in addition to older siblings helping younger siblings get in and out of the fort was the highlight of my week. Learning Moments: I had some tough learning moments this week. I foolishly forgot to include another parachute activity even though I was trying something new. Next time I'll be more prepared. Also, during the finger fiddle meditation/fingerplay a boy roared so loud he made another little boy cry. So next time we will have a conversation about how we still need to use our indoor voices to roar.
Just like last week's storytime, I had a full house for my first storytime and a much smaller group for the second storytime. My original theme fell apart so there really wasn't a theme this week. Books we read: Bats in the Library by Brian Lies The first storytime had too much energy to sit through this longer book, but my second storytime was more than ready for it. At one point while reading the book the room was so quiet you could hear a mouse fart. Bats in the Library is just that good. There was a small reference to Autumn in the book but I changed that to winter and no one noticed. 5 Little Ducks by Denise Fleming Even though the first storytime was totally ready to run a marathon, they did stay engaged with this book. I had three older girls in the group due to school being out, and one of the girls kept trying to read the book with me. Finally she said, "I'm in second grade but I still love storytime." I'm sure all the younger kids were truly in awe of her ability to jump in and read with me here and there. 5 Little Ducks is a great way to talk about the days of the week while making delightful quacking sounds the entire time you're learning. There's a Bear in My Chair by Ross Collins This was the favorite book of both storytimes. The kids shrieked with laughter and the grownups were all delighted when the polar bear dressed up as Elvis. We had a good time with the rhyming and talking about the meanings of some of the crazier word choices like 'lair.' Overall, all three books were giant successes and I didn't feel quite so weird having a storytime about so many different kinds of creatures. Activities: This week we did the seahorse yoga pose from the board book, Yoga Whale. Though I recognize this isn't technically a pose, it was too adorable to pass up and the kids really loved this pose. In the second storytime a little boy pointed out the seahorse's back fins and so we all flapped our back fins together.
The morning of the storytime I hurriedly looked up something to do with the socks I made over the winter break. I chose Singin' in the Stacks' idea of asking the kids to help sort the laundry she didn't finish over the weekend, and everyone had a blast matching the socks. I put up one of each sock on the magnetic board and passed out the rest of the socks to the kids, who matched them up. We then talked about the colors/patterns of each pair of socks, which was fun.
Songs we sang: I asked both storytimes what they would like to sing. In the first storytime a kid requested a Mary Poppins song that just wasn't going to happen. She did sing a few lines, which we all enjoyed. Another kid asked for the Addams Family theme song, but wasn't able to help us learn it because he didn't know the lyrics. But a wonderful thing happened. A parent suggested we sing a song about the days of the week, which was sung to to the tune of the Addams Family theme song. We all loved it. I loved it so much I kept singing it the rest of the day. In the second storytime something truly ghastly happened. I think we all know what ghastly thing I'm talking about. A boy asked to sing...The Hokey Pokey, so that's what we did. We put our ears, head, nose, arms and feet in. It was a strange mixture that left me a little dizzy. But everyone loved it, so I'll keep my thoughts about the hokey pokey to myself.
Life has been a little crazy so I've been behind on pictures. I did a bit of organizing today and stumbled across these treasures and wanted to share them. Izzy officially got braces early in December.
She has been doing a fantastic job taking care of them.
She also recently started using contacts and is also doing a fabulous job with them.
When we've had decent weather we've been doing some hiking, and I am so thrilled to be back out in the woods, climbing over things and racing through the trees like an idiot with the dogs and Izzy.
We officially got a mirror in our bathroom last month, and are now saving up for the lights that go above the mirror. Because the lighting is better in our closet, it's where I usually put my makeup on in the morning.
Well, just when you think your dogs can't get any more adorable, they go and melt the heck out of your heart. When I do my makeup in the morning Margo comes in and lies down behind me, usually smooshing herself against me. She's also been doing my morning yoga with me. When I go from standing poses to floor poses her tail starts thumping madly and she'll army crawl her way over until she's squished herself into me. She will also paw at my arms when I do the dead bug exercise or jab one of her toys into me if I've ignored her too long. For awhile I was calling her Margope (rhymes with dope), which has now evolved into what I consider her perfect nickname, Goper. So she has graduated to nickname status like my Ella Bella, aka Thug Muffin.
Over the holidays Robert's sister was here, and as usual, we had a total blast with her.
We've had a couple snow days and Josie is a big fan. She's still totally crazy, but I can walk her now without hurting my back. I have also been given permission to slowly try jogging, bicycling, and tennis, which has me wishing for better weather.
We've had a handful of things to celebrate recently - Izzy's successes (school, braces, taking care of herself, just her overall tenacity and positivity in general through the tricky holiday season), my successes (published poems, completing art projects, and feeling comfortable in my body again). My latest triumph has been creating a move and groove library program for littles that will begin this summer and officially submitting the program information for our promotional materials. Robert's also been doing big things with his business that will hopefully allow him to spend more time with us in the future. I told Robert I wanted to go to our local kitty cafe and cuddle kitties to celebrate all these things. So yesterday Izzy, Robert, and I did just that. We're nowhere close to adopting a cat of our own, sadly, so we couldn't bring one home. I also spent the whole hour with Deetle, who is a permanent resident at Whiskers, the cafe we went to. But we all loved it. Izzy and Robert gravitated toward the playful cats, and zipped all over the place playing with them. We'll definitely be going back and I highly recommend it. If we get to a point in our lives when Robert's face doesn't turn into a faucet whenever he's around cats, the kitty cafe idea seems like a great way to get to spend some time with a cat before adopting. But for now, I can't think of a better way to celebrate all our small victories together.
While sitting at the library desk today an elderly gentleman approached the desk with a look of urgency on his face. He leaned in and whispered loudly, "you're going to die if you keep sitting all day like that." Then he rushed off before I could say anything. The funny thing about this, well other than the fact that it happened, is that I had just finished crawling around on the floor in our activity area on booger patrol (cleaning toys) and was thinking about how nice it was to sit for a moment. But he's not wrong you know.
This was our first week of storytimes after our holiday break. This winter/spring I have preschool storytimes, which is just code for expect anything. I think an accurate way to describe all of our storytimes is to simply call them family storytimes. We try to create storytime plans for a specific age group but have all kinds of modifications and backup plans in place in case a majority of the kids are not the age group of the planned storytime.
So I have everything from lapsits to complex preschool activities planned. I had about half toddlers, half preschoolers at both storytimes today and both went beautifully.
A few things I'm doing differently this spring:
* Playing a song at the beginning of storytime so nobody is walking into a quiet room. Naturally I forgot one of my regular kids does not like loud noises. He was horrified. So I asked him if he thought it was too loud. He nodded his head and I turned it down. He took his hands away from his ears so I'll call that a win. The rest of the families seemed to like the music. They were all be-bopping as I came in and out of the room, rounding everyone up and forcing them to interact with a savage monster kitten encouraging them to give high fives to the puppet as they arrived.
* Asking the kids to guess the theme of the storytime by giving them the titles. This is a simple thing I read about recently that I think the older kids will enjoy.
* One yoga pose and one ASL sign for each storytime. I met with a librarian last week who told me about how she builds a story around the yoga pose instead of showing them the yoga pose and then telling them to do it. I don't have this kind of imagination currently, but I'm definitely receptive to the idea. Today we did the cat pose so I asked them to pretend to be cats. Next I asked them what kinds of things cats do. In the first storytime we all ended up in cat pose like magic. In the second storytime it devolved into a pretend preening session that looked nothing like the pose.
* Giving a bubble parade from the storytime room to our play area. I didn't have time for this in the first storytime, but during the second storytime one kid spotted the bubble machine in the corner where I had tried to hide it. That's all it took. We were doing the bubble parade no matter what. The parade went fairly well but once the bubbles ran out it was a little awkward. So I'm not sure how I feel about it at this point. * No Hokey Pokey. Muahahaha. Nobody asked about it today so I think I'm going to pull this off. We'll see.
Here's this week's storytime all about feelings:
Hello Song: When Cows Wake Up in the Morning This adorable song was a pretty big hit. It goes like this:
When cow wakes up in the morning he always says hello X2
And what does he say? (This is where everyone makes a cow sound, although one child said 'hello,' which is totally something a cow would say.)
And that is what he says.
I did this song with PUPPETS! I hung a bag around my neck and while one hand was holding up the cow, the other hand was finding the next puppet. As long as I stayed focused, this worked out ok. The pig puppet came out a little backwards, but thankfully no one was traumatized. After we sang hello with a few puppets, the puppets went back to sleep in the bag and I tucked them away. I will be tinkering with this during the season to see if I can figure out a better way to keep the puppets awake, but the kids loved it so I'll keep the bag method for the time being.
ASL sign: Happy
Yoga pose: Cat
Quieting Down Fingerplay: Finger Fiddle
Currently my first quieting down fingerplay is the beloved Finger Fiddle, which I may change week to week, but am not sure yet. As we were taking our deep breaths one kid already had his hands together in front of his chest. He was ready for the counting part and remembered it from the last couple seasons! Adorable!
First Book - Pete the Cat and His Magic Sunglasses
Here are a few delightful things that happened while reading this book: * When I asked the kids, "where do sunglasses go?" during the first storytime I pointed to a couple places on my body that were not appropriate for sunglasses. One of those places was my bottom. A little girl thought this was hilarious. I normally don't get laughs when I try to be funny so this was a huge win for me. So my advice is to definitely point to your bottom when you're asking kids where your sunglasses should go. This may be my first piece of official storytime advice. * Later, when I asked why everyone thought the squirrel was upset, one kid smugly said, "because he only has one acorn." Naturally everyone looked at him in wonderment when it came true. I have a feeling this kid is going to grow up and become the person who gives away the ending of a movie before his friends have seen it. * Lastly, whenever I got to the line, "everything's alright" I encouraged everyone to say "alright" with me, and so by the end of the book the entire library could hear that word.
Emoji Faces Activity
This was popular last season so I was eager to do it again. I bring out five emojis I've laminated and put magnets on and ask everyone what emotion each face represents. Then we sing a song I found on the Sunflower Storytime blog that I've tinkered with a bit.
It goes like this:
If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands.
If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands.
If you’re happy and you know it, then your face will surely show it.
If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands.
surprised - say "oh wow"
sad - hug it out
mad - take a deep breath
silly - make a face
scared - shout "I am brave"
Instrument time!
Everyone picks out an instrument from a giant box of instruments and then we make a lot of noise and try to do a few things like count to ten with the instruments and sing a song. Mostly it's just controlled chaos, and it's fantastic.
Quieting Down Rhyme: Quiet Hands
My hands upon my head I'll place
on my shoulders
on my face
at my waist and by my side
then behind me they will hide
then I'll raise them way up high
and let my fingers fly fly fly
clap 123
now let's see how quiet they can be
This is one of my go-to quieting down rhymes. It almost always works.
Second Book: Grumpy Pants
This is a such a great book for lots of reasons. The penguin is wearing lots of shapes, including heart underwear. Heart underwear! Also, the kids get to pretend to be a grumpy penguin, which is a lot of fun.
Song: I asked everyone for a song to sing. A girl requested "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" in the first storytime. The whole storytime was a giggly, exhausted mess after Mr. Jon's funny version (I have a handful of popular songs ready to play in one of my slides). In the second storytime no one requested a song so I rolled my song cube. Old MacDonald came up, and because it was a small group, the kids took turns picking "animals." They chose robots, fire trucks, and legos. Thankfully, with a little help from the grown-ups we made everything work except legos, and that one stumped everyone. The kid who had seen the bubble machine at the beginning tried to trick me when it was his turn. "Old MacDonald had a Farm, and on that farm he had a..." BUBBLE MACHINE, he shouted. But he couldn't fool me. I quickly came up with "a pop pop here..."
Goodbye Rhyme: See you later, alligator gotta go, buffalo see you soon, raccoon take care, polar bear bye bye, butterfly toodle-loo, kangaroo gotta scoot, purple newt gotaa bail, slimy snail give a hug, ladybug blow a kiss, goldfish I added two new animals, "give a hug, ladybug" and "gotta bail, slimy snail," and the hippos and toad are officially on vacation for a little while. Surprisingly, no one noticed the two new animals, and the boy who adored the buffalo didn't show today. We ended the storytime with no hokey pokey, and no one cried because of it, so we have officially made it through one storytime without it.
2019 was an excellent year for music. There were about thirty albums on my list this year and I spent most of my waking time (except when I was helping patrons and Izzy with her homework) listening to music. This is my first year ladies did not show up in my top ten. They were certainly in my top twenty, but 2019 was all about the gents. As always, there are a few albums from 2018. These are albums I couldn't get or didn't' have time to listen to until after the new year.
If I were to describe 2019 in a few words, this would be it:
* serious but hopeful
* spontaneous bursts of raw emotion that lifted me up, made me feel a little uncomfortable, sometimes leaving me dazed and perplexed, and motivating me to give life 100% (and feel a little cheesy about it)
* uplifting
* surprising
* life-changing
* Strange noises and mumbling
* A few hymns, some choral elements, but not as much banjo as I was hoping for
Here is my top ten. Enjoy!
10. Josh Turner - I Serve a Savior (favorite song - Doxology)
9. Calum Scott - Only Human (favorite song - Dancing On My Own Tiësto remix)
8. James Blunt - Once Upon a Mind (favorite song - Champions)
7. American Authors - Seasons (favorite Song - Deep Water)
6. Andy Grammer - Naive (favorite Song - I Found You)
5. Vampire Weekend - Father of the Bride (favorite Song - Hold You Now)
If you've every wondered what it would be like to take a journey in the dryer with a fluffy comforter, listening to Vampire Weekend's album is about as close as it gets. I don't always know what's going on in a Vampire Weekend song, and I've sometimes stared at their lyrics until the words blur. But I always feel so much more receptive to what I call 'peopling,' which means going out into the world and doing things in the presence of other humans like working, shopping, and other things that fall under the adulting category. I can't believe I'm saying this but perhaps my favorite thing about Vampire Weekend is how friendly they sound, and how that friendliness tiptoes through my prickly self. Father of the Bride is by far the friendliest of their albums. I usually wait to read the reviews until I've written mine, but I listened to this album for about five minutes before I had to find out who the mystery lady singer was. I read this beautiful thing by Mike Powell, who is both brilliant and frustrating depending on the article -
"Several of the songs (“Hold You Now,” “Married in a Gold Rush,” “We Belong Together”) are literal duets between Koenig and Haim’s Danielle Haim—the sound not of one person thinking it through but two people hashing it out, of yin slowly reconciling itself to yang."
Hold You Now is my favorite song on the album. I love the conversation between Ezra Koenig and Haim, but more importantly, it reminds me of the song, Missa Luba: Kyrie, which is one of my most favorite songs. I nearly fell out of my chair when I heard Hold You Now the first time.
4. NF - The Search (favorite song - Nate)
The desolate landscape with the empty shopping cart and black balloons looks like your typical NF cover, but the music on The Search is a bit different. NF even talks about this difference on one of the tracks, how he has stepped away (but not completely) from the apocalyptic trailer music and choral elements. At first I wasn't thrilled by this. It's one of my favorite things about his previous albums. But his raw honesty, how he probes and interrogates the trauma he's endured, shines a spotlight on his insecurities while grasping for any kind of confidence he can, and occasionally slips back into the darkness that tries to consume him, keeps me listening. I was hooked the moment his empty shopping cart creaked through the opening of the first song and sliced open a torrent of emotions (none relating to shopping carts though).
When I listened to Nate the first time I was driving to work and had to pull over. I was so overwhelmed by all the different emotions I needed space to process them. Since Izzy came to live with us, the word 'trauma' went from a word we never used to one that peppers into our everyday language. After listening to Nate, I decided to do something that probably wasn't very responsible, but I played that song for her later. She was completely quiet the whole way through the song, which isn't like her. She likes to talk. A lot. At the end of the song she looked at me and said, "that song speaks of my past." We talked about why it spoke to her, and I think the door between us opened up just a bit more.
That's the beauty of NF. His torment, the quicksand of his trauma that he's constantly battling, and how he shares that battle through music, helps others battle their own demons. I can't imagine how battle-weary he is after four albums of this, but my gratitude is immeasurable, especially at this point in my life. I think I'm speaking for a lot of people when I say this, but some times the only way I can face myself or get rid of the negative energy I feel when I think about the people who have hurt Izzy is to take a moment and listen to his lyrics. His music gives me a safe place to process some big hurts. His story is a little bit my story, Izzy's story, and so many others. I have nothing but praise.
3. Avicii - Tim (favorite song - Fades Away)
In most of the songs on Avicii's album, Tim, there's this moment when it sounds like someone drops the plinko puck on The Price is Right. It's a really shallow and simple reason to love an album as much as I love this one, but that's why I love it. I also appreciate the variety of artists he collaborates with - artists I know (Imagine Dragons) and artists I've never heard of (Noonie Bao).
2. Mumford & Sons - Delta (favorite song - Rose of Sharon)
I'm pretty predictable, even to myself. If you tell me there's rosemary in something I'll make a stink about it and probably won't eat it. But if you don't tell me there's rosemary in something there's a possibility I'll like it. Rachel and I were sharing a blueberry polenta scone recently and really enjoying it. We found a little twig, which prompted more searching. Turns out it had rosemary in it too. So what the heck does this have to do with Mumford & Sons. Everything. When Delta came out I knew it was going to be in my top ten albums of 2019, and I hadn't yet listened to a single song.
I did eventually listen to it (about a minute after getting it), and just like their other albums, loved it. But it was too obvious a choice for me so I tried to talk myself out of how much I loved it, because it was such an obvious choice. At some point I had to get over it, because Rose of Sharon ended up being my favorite song of the year, and pretty much my anthem. It's a burst of joy right at the very beginning, building to this incredibly sweet love song that has done to my soul what ivy does to a stark house. I always have a Robert song of the year, and this is it. It's a beautiful reminder that love can make us stronger and better if we surrender to it.
1. Hozier - Wasteland, Baby! (favorite song - Would That I)
Like Vampire Weekend, Hozier's lyrics occasionally baffle me. But I love his music enough to pluck lines that work for me and let his soulful voice do the rest. On his latest album, he's still very much a soulful, powerful singer, but there are some upbeat, mainstream-sounding tunes, which is an interesting blend I've been calling soul pop (this is probably already a thing and may not have anything to do with Hozier). My favorite thing about Hozier is how he can go from mellow to yelling with absolutely no transition. It just happens and always lifts me to my feet. This album is my number one this year because it was the album I listened to most while writing in 2019. Other than "Big Pimpin," anything System of a Down, and a small handful of other songs, I listen mostly to classical music with absolutely no words, not even opera, which I love, while I write. I find myself starting to think about the lyrics too much and I also worry about the lyrics influencing my writing. A few songs on Hozier's album made the list of songs that I can not only listen to while writing, but songs that also inspire and motivate me. My favorite songs are 'Would That I," which has some of that spontaneous and powerful yelling I love and "To Noise Making (Sing)," which not only has a choral element but also some incoherent mumbling at the end, which I'm always a fan of.
Each holiday season I try to make a gift for a loved one. For years I've been wanting to make a djembe piece for my brother, Scott, who plays the djembe and has a music room in his house with just about every kind of musical thing you can think of - everything from a melodica (which I used to play) to an organ.
Early in 2019 I came across step-by-step instructions for drawing and painting wings. I decided to take those instructions and see how they would translate to collaged feathers. It was one of those moments when the whole picture came together in my mind, and the first time I sketched it on a piece of paper it looked pretty darn close to what I had pictured.
Well.... Sort of.
This is one the early sketches, which is a perfect example of how things don't look right for me until they're on fabric or wood. Also, I drew about ten of these sketches, all while in the middle of doing something else, like work. It's a wonder I get anything done.
So in August I bought the wooden canvas and went for it. The first thing I did, after painting the canvas and sketching the image, was cut about a thousand feathers out of chocolate, tea, and perfume boxes. Thankfully, the step-by-step wing-making guide worked really well. The wings looked absolutely terrible after the first layer so I didn't take a picture. It took everything I had to keep going because of how awful it looked. I told Robert this was going to be a tweezer piece, and it really was. I used two sets of tweezers for the wings and my brother's image, swapping them out whenever they gummed up. It was meditative work, and occasionally I would stop and cuss for awhile before moving on.
I gathered up all my favorite white paper scraps, painted them blue, white, and gray, and then tore them up for the sky. The sky was my favorite thing to make.
Here is just one of two towers of paper scraps.
It took some time, but they're all sorted by color and type. Looking for white paper scraps was a little like trying to find the needle in the haystack, and it definitely helped me organize my scraps for future projects.
For the clouds I used this homemade, stringy floral paper I've been saving for a special occasion. I bought a giant box of super fancy paper scraps for $5 at Scraps KC, and have been waiting for the right project to dig into the box.
This is the box:
Scott's shirt is an Arizona map I found in the donations bin at the library. I tried to find a bunch of special places and refrained from the goofy-sounding places because I can adult some times. Also, there isn't a buttface, AZ, so that helped in the maturity department.
Scott's shorts are the packaging from one of Rachel's go-to peppermint teas and surprisingly, the toughest paper to figure out. Rachel saves her tea packaging at home, but I nearly lost my shit when she brought home a bag of scraps about halfway through the semester. It was one of the most thoughtful things she's ever done.
I have to mention another special thing about this piece. I've always collaged standing up, with the piece flat on a table. It was a lot of hunkering over, and with a back injury I realized I could no longer collage this way. I brought out an easel my dad found at a thrift store and gave me years ago, and decided to try it out. It's been working beautifully and I won't be going back to the old method ever again.
So there's a lot of love, memories, and sacred time in this piece. I was pretty much finished with it by Scott's wedding, but I waited to start the layers and layers of mod podge until I could put in a tiny piece of paper from their wedding. I nearly spontaneously combusted from glee when I glued that piece down.
Over the holidays we facetimed each other to open presents. Here are a couple shots I snapped of Scott opening it.
Here are my favorite December reads - lots of great poetry and picture books this month.
Heroes in Disguise by Linda Pastan (adult nonfiction)
Favorite poems and lines:
From The Myth of Perfectability - "...I sit here at the typewriter, putting in a comma to slow down a long sentence, then taking it out, then putting it back again until I feel like a happy Sisyphus, or like a good farmer who knows that the body's work is never over, for the motions of plowing and planting continue season after season, even in his sleep."
From Hibiscus - "...torn last winter from a Florida pavement...You wrapped it in brown paper, hid it under your airplane seat...Now it trumpets its honky-tonk song here in a northern window..."
From Crocuses - "They come by stealth...mothers of saffron, fathers of insurrection..."
Oh, So Many Kisses! by Maura Finn and Jenny Cooper (board book)
The illustrations are stunning and full of all kinds of people and animals. I can't get over how expressive the faces are. This book a bit too small for large storytimes but definitely a great book to bring just in case a smaller crowd shows up. Because of the variety of ages represented, I think it's a great book for any kind of storytime. I enjoyed the rhymes and only tripped over one spot so the language is lovely as well. I think anyone who reads this is going to think of all the people who love them and feel all warm and gushy inside.
The Sonoran Desert: A Literary Field Guide (adult nonfiction)
Favorite poems and lines:
From Arizona Sycamore - "Nests rest upon the losses and you quiver with song, while you reach upwards, shedding sheaths of skin like drafts of letters."
From Jumping Cholla - "Drinker of sand, halo of bones, chain-hanger, Cylindropuntia fulgida - a bit of sun, earth-fallen, taken aroot."
From What the desert is thinking - "The saguaros all hum together like Tibetan or Greorian monks one green chord that people hear when they drive through Gates Pass and come to the place where they gasp."
From Sonoran Whiptail Lizard: Personal Ad - "SWL seeks independent companion for fun in Sonoran Desert. Must appreciate...Lingering midmorning sunbaths...Sensuous, lethargic movements, with possible scurrying from one shaded area to another."
This is a phenomenal read that alternates between poems/prose and habitats/descriptions about desert plants and animals. I enjoyed the descriptions as much as the poems, and occasionally was surprised by how poetic they were. The saguaro's description, for example, reads, "Blossoming in April, at the end of spring, and into early June, during the arid foresummer, a saguaro's tips will be covered with thick white flowers, many corsages for courting desert pollinators. The flowers open two hours past sunset, and, like a good honky-tonk, stay open all night long and well into the following afternoon, when they close against the heat." This is, hands down, the best poetry book I read in 2019.
My Forest is Green by Darren Lebeuf and Ashley Barron
An exploration of nature experienced through the senses and recreated through a child's artwork. It's an adjective lover's dream. I love how the colors are described, especially the greens (twisty, shiny, jagged, wavy) and the illustrations are exceptional - so vivid and happy.
Daniel's Good Day by Micha Archer
I was sitting in a poorly lit room while reading this and the illustrations just lit the place up. It's a gorgeous book with a positive message about what makes a good day for different people, and how their good days can make your day great too.
