The Dreamer ---- Fourth Grade and Older

Yesterday I read

The Dreamer

By Pam Munoz Ryan & Peter Sis

Sometimes I wonder if children’s books are really written for children.  I wonder if I would have read this book as a child.  I wonder if I would have loved this book the way I love it as a grandmother. 

Printed in green, the color of hope, the story of Neftali  Reyes,  who grows up to become Pablo Neruda, is told in verse, illustration, and prose, a sweet, tender reflection on the resilience of childhood.   The timid stuttering boy belittled by his father and without friends finds his voice in the written word.

When his step-mother reads to him:

“Between the pages, he forgot that he stuttered when he spoke.  He saw himself healthy and strong like his older brother, Rodolfo; cheerful like his little sister, Laurita; and confident and intelligent like his uncle Orlando, who owned the local newspaper.  While the pages turned, he even dared to imagine himself with a friend.”

Maybe these children will like it . . .











April the Arts and Pottery

Have a dear friend, Karma,  who made this for me:

Noah

and the Dove

And I have a cousin who is a potter

(his mom is an artist)

I've even thrown a pot or two myself, wonder where they are . . . so many years ago.

Pottery is poetry fired and glazed,

tangible.

They will love this picture book: 

Dave the Potter

"Like a

magician

pulling

a

rabbit

out

of

a

hat,

Dave's hands, buried

in the mounded mud,

pulled out the shape of a jar."

I love  stories of real people and how they make meaning of their lives. Sometimes we think we are nothing special, but stories like this show  us hope and beauty in the work of life.  

Cousins

COUSINS

It is so much fun to have cousins! 

When we were . . .

Little Girls . . .

So many years ago, we loved fairies

and especially the books by Cicely Mary Barker.

Complete Book of the Flower Fairies, The (Special Edition)

Inside were fairies like this: 

We loved the poems, here are two: 

Fairy Poems by

Cicely Mary Barker

Spring Magic

The World is very old;

But year by year

It growth new again

When buds appear.

The World is very old,

And sometimes sad;

But when the daisies come

The World is glad.

The World is Very old;

But every Spring

It growth young again,

And Fairies sing.

The Song of the Primrose Fairy

The Primrose opens wide in spring;

Her scent is sweet and good:

It smells of every happy thing

In sunny lane and wood.

I have not half the skill to sing

And praise her as I should.

She’s dear to folk throughout the land;

In her is nothing mean:

She freely spreads on every hand

Her petals pale and clean.

And though she’s neither proud nor grand.

She is the Country Queen.

Click here to learn more about the flower fairies

Happy Spring!