Read this confession, The Harrowing Silence by Wyman Richardson at Communio Sanctorum, and then begin your celebration of the death and resurrection of our Lord with silence. I’m going to find thirty minutes of silence myself and discipline myself to pray and meditate.
Pray for me; I’m not any better at this discipline than is Mr. Richardson.
Johanna Spyri, b. 1827. I have found birthdates of April 12, June 12, and July 12, all in 1827, for this author of the beautiful story Heidi. Take your pick, but read Heidi. It’s a wonderful story about a feisty little girl, Heidi, and her friend Peter and how they are tempted to do wrong, confused about spiritual things, and finally loved and forgiven. The themes of the story—broken relationships, reconciliation, forgiveness, sin and temptation–are woven into the story in a way that teaches and entertains at the same time. Modern writers of “Christian fiction” could learn a few things from reading and emulating Johanna Spyri’s classic book.
Henry Clay, b. 1877. He ran for president and was defeated three times. Always a bridesmaid . . .
Hardie Gramatky, b. 1907. Author of Hercules: The Story of an Old-Fashioned Fire Engine and Little Toot.
Beverly Cleary, b. 1916, is 90 years old today, and the celebration includes D.E.A.R. Day. Do all you children’s literature aficionados know what D.E.A.R. stands for? Have you D.E.A.R.-ed today?
I gave Betsy-Bee (age 7) a choice last Saturday between reading Heidi or Ramona the Pest for our next read aloud book. She chose Ramona, so we’re reading all about Ramona Quimby’s adventures in kindergarten. I had no idea until I was writing this post that the two authors might share a birthday.
On this day at sunset, the Jewish celebration of Passover begins. And Wordswimmer, a blog on writing and the writing process, with a special focus on writing for children, shares excerpts from a conversation with Yehuda Amichai, Israeli poet, on the writing process entitled Encouraging Words to a Young Poet.
Last night we had a poetry party. I wish you could have joined us. To start us off, Engineer Husband read two of his favorite poems, Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost and The Wind by Christina Rossetti.
Karate Kid (age 9) recited Sing a Song of Sixpence.
Sing a song of sixpence,
A pocket full of rye;
Four and twenty blackbirds
Baked in a pie.When the pie was opened
The birds began to sing;
Wasn’t that a dainty dish
To set before the King?The King was in his counting house
Counting out his money;
The Queen was in the parlour
Eating bread and honey.The maid was in the garden
Hanging out the clothes,
When along came blackbird;
And snipped off her nose.
Brown Bear Daughter (11) had memorized Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll, but she had trouble keeping a straight face while presenting her poem. So she let Betsy-Bee (7) go ahead of her.
This poem by Kate Greenaway was Betsy-Bee’s contribution. She worked all afternoon to memorize it:
The Tea Party
By Kate GreenawayIn the pleasant green garden
We sat down to tea;
“Do you take sugar?” and
“Do you take milk?”
She’d got a new gown on
A smart one of silk.
We all were so happy
As happy could be
On that bright summer’s day
When she asked us to tea.
Brown Bear Daughter tried again and gave us a wonderful rendition of Lewis Carroll’s nonsense.
Then Z-baby(4) said her poem: Little Miss Muffet sat on a puffet, eating her curds and whey. Along came a spider and sat down beside her and frightened Miss Muffet away.
Brown Bear Daughter had another poem memorized for our edification: Eat-It-All Elaine by Kay Starbird.
Then Mom read Ogden Nash’s Custard the Dragon.
All the poetry presenters got a treat, and even the teenagers scrambled to remember some lines of poetry in order to merit a piece of chocolate.
Moral: Poetry is great, and it goes down even better with chocolate.
Happy Hearts Mom of the blog Sweetness and Light also reads poetry with her young children and helps the older ones to memorize poems. She writes about Poetry at Our House. The poems they’re memorizing? A.A. Milne, of course. The Deputy Headmistress at The Common Room has a wonderful tribute to Mr. Milne from his birthday back in January. Accept no substitutes, says she.
The next Poetry Party at our house is scheduled for Friday, April 21st. The young adults, Dancer Daughter (16) and Organizer Daughter (14), promise to contribute a poem the next time we meet.
Welcome to the Third Carnival of Children’s Literature. Since April is National Poetry Month, the theme for this carnival is poetry. However, we have all sorts of posts, both poetic and prosaic, about children’s literature to give you enough reading to keep you busy all month. You can visit them all today (you glutton!) or bookmark this post and stop in daily for a dose of poetry and children’s literature all April long.
April 1 was, of course, April Fool’s Day, and we have some foolish fun posts just for a late celebration:
Susan at Chicken Spaghetti shares David Moody’s funny literary poem about Laura Numeroff (and other writers).
And then there are The Three Disco Mermaids who are actually three authors discussing writing for children. They must have been on the receiving end of a few rejection letters from publishers because their submission is 12 Form Rejections, a Christmas-time parody of the Twelve Days of Christmas using phrases from form rejection letters. With writers it’s all grist for the mill, right?
April’s not only National Poetry Month; it’s also Mathematics Education Month. So for April 2 (yesterday), head on over to At a Hen’s Pace to read about poetry, multiplication tables, and a very special teacher in the post, My Fourth Grade Poetry Muse.
Melissa Wiley In the Bonny Glen says today, April 3, is her due date (she’s great with child), so today is a great day to read her submission, Peeping at Spring with Poetry. I wonder if Melissa is peeping into the eyes of her new baby today?
April 4: It’s National Library Week (April 2-8, 2006), and Kim Winters, author of Kat’s Eye, an online journal featuring rants, raves, and musings about writing, balancing work and family, and life after the MFA, commits the Faux Pas of all Faux Pas in her post by the same name. Unfortunately, it involved a library book and RAIN.
April 5: Wednesdays are poetry days at The Immaculate Castle, and the family there recently found themselves memorizing Tennyson. Then, mom asked the question: What did Alfred Tennyson’s mother read to him as a child?
April 6: This week is also The Week of the Young Child (April 2-8, 2006). The Queen of Carrots is here with some advice on Poems To Say All Day Long. She writes, “The first introduction to poetry I can remember is the poems my mother would recite at suitable times. These are poems I find myself reciting to my little ones (both still under two) when the occasion arises.”
Meanwhile, Camille at Book Moot ponders Poetry and the Very Young. Do you consider a bookcase to be essential furniture in the nursery? Yeah, me too.
April 7 is the birthdate of the English poet Wiliam Wordsworth, and we join Cindy at Dominion Family as she puts together a bound family poetry book consisting of a few favorites from each member of the family. One of Cindy’s favorites is Lucy II by the birthday boy himself.
April 8: Happy Hearts Mom of the blog Sweetness and Light also reads poetry with her young children and helps the older ones to memorize poems. She writes about Poetry at Our House. The poems they’re memorizing? A.A. Milne, of course. The Deputy Headmistress at The Common Room has a wonderful tribute to Mr. Milne from his birthday back in January. Accept no substitutes, says she.
April 9: Palm Sunday. On April 9, 1865 General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House. The Civil War was over. Unfortunately, the enmity between North and South, and between black and white, was not over. Liz B. at A Chair, A Fireplace, and a Tea Cozy reviews the YA title, A Wreath for Emmett Till by Marilyn Nelson. The book is made up of a series of sonnets about the life and death of Emmett Till, a 14 year old black child who was brutally murdered for the “crime” of whistling at a white woman.
April 10: April is also Autism Awareness Month. The always-insightful blogger who is Blest With Sons talks about her family’s recent forays into poetry, from which she suggests that poems are best for the Asperger kids with which you’ve been blessed. It’s called Rhyme Time and features Mr. Milne—again.
April 11:Karen Edmisten says you are what you read. (Shhh! don’t tell anyone, especially not her husband, but she sometimes dog-ears pages to mark favorite passages—very gently.)
The Prattling Pastor’s Wife once thought poetry was a waste of time, until she discovered children’s poetry and later began to enjoy poetry with her own children. Now it’s Poetry Every Day.
April 12: On this day at sunset, the Jewish celebration of Passover begins. And Wordswimmer, a blog on writing and the writing process, with a special focus on writing for children, shares excerpts from a conversation with Yehuda Amichai, Israeli poet, on the writing process entitled Encouraging Words to a Young Poet.
In addition, Beverly Cleary is 90 years old today and the celebration includes D.E.A.R. Day. Do all you children’s literature aficionados know what D.E.A.R. stands for?
April 13: Maundy Thursday. Also the birthday of Thomas Jefferson and Lee Bennett Hopkins. So Many Books is Celebrating National Poetry Month with a poetry mad-lib. It’s not targeted for the younger set, but I think it would be a fun poetry game for children and young adults.
April 14: Good Friday. Also the anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination in Ford’s Theatre by John Wilkes Booth. Lincoln died on April 15, 1865.
April 15 is the birthdate of Leonardo Da Vinci, so it seems an appropriate date to read about the evolution of a painting. The Bluedorns show us how daughter Johannah creates a masterpiece: Piglet Paints a Picture, or, The Evolution of a Painting. I reviewed Johannh Bluedorn’s beautifully illustrated book, Bless the Lord: The 103rd Psalm here.
April 16: Resurrection Day.
April 17: “In March 1957 Hilary Knight completed a painting of Eloise, which was hung in the lobby of the Plaza Hotel. On December 6, 1960 the Eloise painting disappeared from the hotel, and later that month Kay Thompson offered a reward for its return. It never turned up. On April 17, 1964 a new oil painting was completed by Hilary Knight, which is the one that currently hangs in the Plaza.” Fast Facts about Eloise from KidsReads. At Cajun Cottage they Absolutely Love, Love, Love Eloise! Read and find out why.
On April 18, 1906 the business section of San Francisco, California was destroyed by an earthquake and subsequent fire. Nearly 4000 people died.
April 19: ForKelly at Big A Little a, Wednesdays and poetry are a traumatic combination. Find out why in her post about two well known children’s poems, one a comforting favorite (“The Land of Counterpane”) and the other a trauma (“Monday’s child”).
April 20: Mathematics Education Month continues with Fibonacci numbers. Engineer Husband told me about this special series of numbers a long time ago, but I had no idea they could relate to poetry until I read Gregory K’s post The Fib at GottaBook in which he writes about using a very precise (and geeky!) form of poetry to help train the writing brain… and having fun doing it. I’m definitely going to try this idea out on the urchins. While you’re visiting GottaBook, check out some of Mr. K’s own poetry (links in the sidebar) and this post, Poetry, It’s Not Just for April Anymore.
April 21: San Jacinto Day. On this date, Texans commemorate the Battle of San Jacinto in which the Texicans under General Sam Houston defeated Mexican troops led by Dictator/General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna to gain Texas its independence from Mexico. On this day since author Chris Barton is a fellow Texan, the carnival features two of his posts on children’s literature: first the one he submitted, The Power of the One-Two Punch, and then the one your hostess couldn’t resist, a reflection on poetry called Stop. Me If You’ve Heard This One. Money quote: “I feel about poetry the same way I feel about Chinese food: While I may well find it delicious on the occasions when I partake, if you were to ask me right now if I’d like some, my instinctive response would be ‘No, thanks.'” Chris is a nonfiction kind of a guy.
April 22: Dawn just started her blog in March at By Sun and Candlelight, but she already has a plethora of posts, mostly about poetry. I thought this one, All Things Bright and Beautiful was a particularly good reminder for Earth Day. We can celebrate not just the Earth, but the Lord God who made it all.
On April 23, celebrate Shakespeare’s birthday with my dear cyber-friend MFS of Mental-Vitamin (who was once reprimanded for “dipping into a gilt-edged set of Shakespeare�s complete works. ‘You�ll ruin the pages!’ cried my mother as she swooped in to ‘save’ the books and promptly return them to their purely decorative function as knickknacks on her colonial-style drum table.” Ouch!). MFS has a much more enlightened attitude about books in her post, In the company of books.
Amanda at Wittingshire on The Bard’s Birthday (from last year), including a nine year-old’s reaction to Romeo and Juliet.
And for the last post in today’s Triple Treat, here’s Carmon of Buried Treasure on poetry and Shakespeare: Fun Poetry Lessons With Carmon.
April 24: Verse novels? Author Susan Taylor Brown has made list of novels for children and young adults that are written in verse form. YA author Brandi Lee reviews Ms. Brown’s verse novel, Hugging the Rock and another by Christine Ford called Scout. And Kim, One Over-Caffeinated Mom, also reviews Ms. Brown’s novel.
April 25: National TV Turn-off Week started yesterday. Isn’t a reading good historical novel a lot better way to entertain oneself than watching TV anyway? Henry Cate of Why Homeschool? recommends the historical novel A Thane of Wessex by Charles W. Whistler.
April 26: Birthday of Charles Francis Richter (b.1900), American author, physicist, and seismologist and also of John James Audubon (b. 1780), American artist and naturalist.
April 27: Ludwig Bemelmans was born on this date in 1898, and millions of children have visited “an old house in Paris that was covered with vines” since that time. Students for Literacy Ottawa runs free Reading Circles for Kids to improve their reading skills, so that they can read about Madeline and other heroes and heroines of children’s literature. This post highlights some of the other activities, besides reading, that are done at the circle to help the kids with their reading and to ensure they have fun. And who doesn’t love playing games?
April 28: Arbor Day. With apologies to Joyce Kilmer, Becky of Farm School gives us Poetry as broccoli, and a wrap-up for National Poetry Month,
described as “how to make poetry and broccoli palatable to kids, with links added to recent Farm School posts about poetry, to help celebrate National Poetry Month.” Lots of good stuff for a poetry-appreciating Arbor Day.
It’s also Poem in Your Pocket Day in New York City. Why don’t other cities celebrate this day?
April 29: Catherine Ross would appreciate our perusing her review of The Snail and the Whale by Julia Donaldson on this day. The book itself is “a poetic tale of adventure that reminds us that even the smallest creature are valuable.”
April 30: The bluebonnets should be out in full force in Texas by the end of April, and so we end this edition of the Carnival of Children’s Literature with a post “introducing Miss Rumphius to the lover of children’s literature. She isn’t as well-known as Laura, Anne or Jo, but is a heroine for adults and children, deserving a place on the home library shelf. Barbara Cooney, her author, also illustrates her beautifully.” Read about The Lupine Lady from The Wellspring.
The Carnival of Children’s Literature is registered with the TTLB Ubercarnival.
Past carnivals:
First Carnival of Children’s Literature at Here in the Bonnie Glen by Melissa Wiley, our initiator and fearless leader. Email Melissa if you’re interested in hosting the carnival in future months.
Second Carnival of Children’s Literature at Chicken Spaghetti by Susan.
The May Carnival of Children’s Literature will be hosted at In the Bonny Glen. Submissions are due to Melissa by May 20.
Happy April everyone!
The entries are coming in. Don’t miss it, and don’t be like Ping, the last little duck over the bridge.
Here are the details one more time:
You may submit any post related to children’s literature; however, since April is National Poetry Month, the theme for the carnival is children’s poetry, developing an appreciation for poetry, enjoying poetry with children, poetry for children—you get the idea. Think Poetically.
Email all submissions to me at sherryDOTearlyATgmailDOTcom by 6 PM, Saturday, April 1st. You should include the URL of your post, the title of the post, the URL of your blog, and a short description or teaser telling about the post you’ve submitted. Please include the words “third carnival of children’s literature” in the subject line of your email.
I should have the carnival posted by Monday morning, April 3rd.
Past Carnivals of Children’s Literature:
First Carnival of Children’s Literature at Here in the Bonnie Glen by Melissa Wiley, our initiator and fearless leader. Email Melissa if you’re interested in hosting the carnival in future months.
Second Carnival of Children’s Literature at Chicken Spaghetti by Susan.
I’m hosting the Third Carnival of Children’s Literature here at Semicolon next week, but some of my readers seem to be a little bit confused about what a blog carnival is. So, I’ll endeavor to explain. A blog carnival is a round-up of links to blog posts from all over the internet on a specific topic. The subject for this carnival is children’s literature, specifically poetry. If you have written anything on your blog about children’s literature in general or about poetry for children in specific, you email me the URL of your blog,the name of your blog, the URL of your post, and a brief description of your post. (Example: In this post, I wrote about the poetry of Edgar Allan Poe and about sharing it with children.)
I’ll put links to all the posts I receive together into one mega-post, and you can hop on over to Semicolon on April 3rd, point and click and read your way through a multitude of posts all about children and literature.
Is that as clear as mud? If you’re still confused, go right now to these past carnivals and see for yourself how it works.
First Carnival of Children’s Literature at Here in the Bonnie Glen by Melissa Wiley, our initiator and fearless leader. Email Melissa if you’re interested in hosting the carnival in future months.
Second Carnival of Children’s Literature at Chicken Spaghetti by Susan.
For this Third Carnival of Children’s Literature, email all submissions to me at sherryDOTearlyATgmailDOTcom by 6 PM, Saturday, April 1st. Again, you should include the URL of your post, the title of the post, the URL of your blog, and a short description or teaser telling about the post you’ve submitted. Please include the words “third carnival of children’s literature” in the subject line of your email.
. . . is almost here. I’m hosting the third carnival here at Semicolon. Please send your entries in this week. I’ll be terribly embarrassed if no one submits a post, and the carnival is a bust. You may submit any post related to children’s literature; however, since April is National Poetry Month, the theme for the carnival is children’s poetry, developing an appreciation for poetry, enjoying poetry with children—you get the idea. Think Poetically.
Since I’m a rather prosaic sort of person, here are the prosaic details:
Email all submissions to me at sherryDOTearlyATgmailDOTcom by 6 PM, Saturday, April 1st. You should include the URL of your post, the title of the post, the URL of your blog, and a short description or teaser telling about the post you’ve submitted. Please include the words “third carnival of children’s literature” in the subject line of your email. Everyone is invited, so get those posts in now and beat the deadline.
I should have the carnival posted by Monday morning, April 3rd.
Past Carnivals of Children’s Literature:
First Carnival of Children’s Literature at Here in the Bonnie Glen by Melissa Wiley, our initiator and fearless leader. Email Melissa if you’re interested in hosting the carnival in future months.
Second Carnival of Children’s Literature at Chicken Spaghetti by Susan.
. . . is coming up in April here at Semicolon. You may submit any post related to children’s literature; however, since April is National Poetry Month, the theme for the carnival is children’s poetry, developing an appreciation for poetry, enjoying poetry with children—you get the idea. Think Poetically.
Since I’m a rather prosaic sort of person, here are the prosaic details:
Email all submissions to me at sherryDOTearlyATgmailDOTcom by 6 PM, Saturday, April 1st. You should include the URL of your post, the title of the post, the URL of your blog, and a short description or teaser telling about the post you’ve submitted. Please include the words “third carnival of children’s literature” in the subject line of your email. Everyone is invited, so get those posts in now and beat the deadline.
I should have the carnival posted by Monday morning, April 3rd.
Past Carnivals of Children’s Literature:
First Carnival of Children’s Literature at Here in the Bonnie Glen by Melissa Wiley, our initiator and fearless leader. Email Melissa if you’re interested in hosting the carnival in future months.
Second Carnival of Children’s Literature at Chicken Spaghetti by Susan.
Reading Matters’ Top Ten Irish Novels in honor of St. Patrick’s Day.
Unfortunately, the only one of Kimbofo’s ten picks that I’ve read is Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, and i never thought of that one as an Irish novel. For that matter, did you know that Jonathan Swift was Irish? Gulliver’s Travels does make my Best 100 Fiction books List, but it may be the only “Irish” novel on the that list.
So, I can’t give you a list of ten, but here are a few books I’d suggest if you’re in the mood for something having to do with The Emerald Isle on this fine St. Patrick’s Day:
1. Patrick: Son of Ireland by Stephen R. Lawhead. I thought I had reviewed this book on the blog , but I can’t really find anything other than a mention. Suffice it to say that I have enjoyed all of Lawhead’s books including this one about St. Patrick. Lawhead is a little more into the Celtic Christianity thing than I am, but I really like his books. And they give me food for thought–about the history of Christianity, the meaning of community, and way of discipleship.
2. Pegeen by Hilda van Stockum. This one I just reviewed and am now reading aloud with a couple of the urchins. It gives me a chance to use my (very poor) irish brogue.
3. How the Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill. This nonfiction selection also caused me to think about community and the preservation of culture. Good popular history.
Music: I’d suggest Enya or I like this CD, Revival in Belfast.
Or of course, there’s our best beloved Celtic Thunder.
Movies: The Quiet Man with John Wayne or Dancing at Lughnasa with Meryl Streep.
Does anyone else have any other Irish-related reading, listening, or viewing suggestions? And have any of you read this book, The Celtic Way of Evangelism: How Christianity Can Reach the West . . .Again by George G. Hunter III? I found it while browsing Amazon for this post, and it sounds like something I might like to read. Comments?
Last and least, here are a couple of short posts to get you in the Celtic/Irish mood:
St. Patrick’s Breastplate, or the Lorica
A few Irish blessings for St. Patrick’s Day.
I’m a Baptist at heart, even though we’re now members of an Evangelical Free church. In case you didn’t know, Baptists don’t celebrate Mardi Gras, or Lent or or Good Friday or even Palm Sunday; we go straight from Christmas to Easter. No preparation–just jump right from birth to resurrection, skipping lightly over that nasty old cross and those hard things that Jesus said about loving enemies and carrying your own cross. Actually, Baptists like to talk about the blood of Jesus and the old rugged cross quite a lot, but we usually save that kind of talk for summer youth camps and fall revivals.
We discussed Mardi Gras and Ash Wednesday at the supper table last night over pancakes and sausage. I tried to explain to Karate Kid (who had heard that there was something bad about Mardi Gras) what the celebration of Fat Tuesday was all about and also the meaning of Ash Wednesday. The urchins are all discussing “giving up something for Lent,” but I’m trying to see this time as a time of adding something–some prayer, some silence, a little joy. Adding a little of each of those three disciplines to my life would be a good preparation for the glorious celebration of the Resurrection. And I don’t mind giving up some clutter and some noise and some wasted time to make room for the good stuff. How about you? What are you adding to your life for Lent? What are you giving up in order to make room for the important things?
Also, can anyone suggest a good read aloud book for a sort of Baptist family to read during Lent? Something that leads up to Resurrection Sunday?
The Anchoress: There’s Something About Ashes
Lent and New Year’s by Steven Riddle at FLos Carmeli
Mother-Lode: Thorns & Thistles