Book Vine: A Handful of Stars

I will never forget the year that Cynthia Lord came to our local SCBWI conference. She is lovely person (we had some great conversations about sensory processing issues), but what I remember most is this:

Cindy, author of RULES and TOUCH BLUE, reverently took out her Newbery Honor Medal ... and let us all rub it for good luck.

RULES had just come out back then. Cynthia Lord has gone on to write the HOT ROD HAMSTER and SHELTER PET SQUAD series.

Her latest novel is A HANDFUL OF STARS. This contemporary middle grade book launches on May 26.

I was lucky enough to be included in Cindy's book vine. A group of authors are reading the ARC, blogging about A HANDFUL OF STARS, and mailing the book on to the next fan/blogger.

Read about it at Cynthia Lord's website.

Here is the blurb from Goodreads:

A Handful of Stars is set during a harvesting season among the blueberry barrens of coastal Maine. Small-town veteran Lily, and Salma, a Hispanic migrant worker, forge an unexpected friendship.

For me, this was a six flag (I use small Post-It flags to mark my favorite parts) and multiple-tissue book.

The plot kicks off when Lily's blind dog, Lucky, slips his collar in the blueberry barrens. A girl Lily's age who is working alongside her family  helps the old dog to safety. Lily and Salma's budding friendship, and Lily's longing to help Lucky see again, form the focus of the story. A HANDFUL OF STARS is a gentle book, appropriate for younger middle grade readers. It is a great end-of-year or summer read for your third graders and up.

Who will like it?

• Animal lovers
• Artists (both Lily and her friend Salma paint bee houses in the book)
• Children who are on the fence between caring and not caring about clothes, appearances, and crushes.

What will readers learn about?

• Migrant workers.
• Maine.
• Blueberries.
• Small town beauty pageants and small town prejudices.
• Navigating new friendships and nurturing old ones.

Robert Frost's long poem "Blueberries" is mentioned in A HANDFUL OF STARS (the stars are a reference to the bluberries' star-shaped blossom-end). Here is the opening of that poem, which is filled with such wonderful dialogue:

Blueberries

by Robert Frost

“You ought to have seen what I saw on my way  
To the village, through Mortenson’s pasture to-day:  
Blueberries as big as the end of your thumb,  
Real sky-blue, and heavy, and ready to drum  
In the cavernous pail of the first one to come!          
And all ripe together, not some of them green  
And some of them ripe! You ought to have seen!”  

Read the rest at Poets.Org

And here is one of my favorite quotes from A HANDFUL OF STARS. Lily is describing Salma's artwork, but she could be describing one of the reasons that I love poetry.

"Maybe when we see things all the time, we stop really looking at them. And it takes an artist, someone who can look past the ordinariness, to remind us how special they really are."

(For an example of this idea at work in a poem, look at Pablo Neruda's "Ode to My Socks.")

Last, I would like to thank to Cindy Lord for sharing a link to her favorite blueberry enchilada recipe! This is the kind of book research I aspire to do someday.

Another recipe:
Apple Blueberry Enchiladas
from Winter Wheat.

Welcome to Poetry Friday

Happy back to school week to everyone. My daughter started high school on 8/26, but my son's senior year began this week. It's a perfect time to throw a Poetry Friday party.

Poetry Friday is here!
I decorated just for you.
Leave your links in the comments.

Since I'm putting up the Host Post tonight, let's call this a poetry slumber party.

Whether you're the type who keeps everyone up until 2 am singing karaoke, the early riser who wakes the whole crew up at 6 am, or the kid who gets a good night's rest at home but shows up for pancakes in the morning, welcome! Please leave your link and a brief description of your Poetry Friday post in the comments. I'll be rounding up throughout the day.

We can't have a slumber party without some spooky stories, and I've got two to share with you. One is a novel. The other is a poem. Yes -- it's another "Chapter and Verse" pairing.

This is the eighth post in a series called "Summer Reads: Chapter and Verse." Guest bloggers and I are pairing books we've read this summer with a poem that complements the novel.

So far, we've paired:

THE GIRLS AT THE KINGFISHER CLUB (Historical YA)

with Edna St. Vincent Millay's "First Fig"

DARIUS & TWIG (Contemporary Urban YA)

with Gwendolyn Brooks' "We Real Cool"

STARGIRL (Contemporary YA)

with Eileen Spinelli's, "Poem for a Bully" and "Advice to Rapunzel"

Shared by guest blogger Janet Wong

THE IMPOSSIBLE KNIFE OF MEMORY (Contemporary YA)

with W.M. Rivera's "The You That's Left"

THE COLDEST GIRL IN COLDTOWN (YA Urban Fantasy)

with Sarah Beasley's "Grief Puppet"

WALK TWO MOONS (Classic contemporary MG)

with blackberry poems by Galway Kinnell, Sylvia Plath, and Crescent Dragonwagon

ENTHUSIASM (YA Romance)

with Elizabeth Barrett Browning's "Sonnet III"
Shared by guest blogger Kathy MacMillan

Pull up your sleeping bag and get ready for some spooky stories.

At the beginning of the summer, there was a lot of buzz about E. Lockhart's YA suspense novel WE WERE LIARS. It was my first juicy read of the season. (Check out the WE WERE LIARS tumblr.)

After two years away, Cadence returns to the private island where her Kennedy-esque family spends their summers. There, she's in the company of three generations of Sinclairs, a boatload of teenage cousins, and an outsider. Gat is not a Sinclair. He's not white. He's not rich. He is an extended-family hottie who is deliciously forbidden fruit for Cadence.

Cadence is trying to piece together what happened to her two years ago, when an undefined accident sent her to the emergency room with -- among other things -- a head injury and memory loss. No one on the island is talking, though. What Cadence ultimately learns about the accident, and her role in it, is a twist that readers won't see coming.

WE WERE LIARS is a fun read. Probably more fun for teens, who won't see a nod to a classic suspense movie, than for savvy adults or avid fans of thrillers. What I liked most about this novel was the tone. Cadence's voice was perfectly balanced between privileged and broken, making her a likable heroine. The setting -- imagine Martha's Vineyard owned and populated by one small family -- is filled with empty beach vistas that are both romantic and lonely. It's vast and claustrophobic, just right for an angst-ridden teen who is trying to piece her life back together.

Read a review of the novel from the New York Times.

My poetic partner for this novel is one of my favorites. It's a little thriller/mystery tucked into a surreal poem by the masterful Margaret Atwood. This one will play with your head.

Margaret Atwood
Source: Poetry Foundation

This Is a Photograph of Me

by Margaret Atwood

It was taken some time ago. 
At first it seems to be 
a smeared
print: blurred lines and grey flecks 
blended with the paper;

then, as you scan
it, you see in the left-hand corner 
a thing that is like a branch: part of a tree 
(balsam or spruce) emerging 
and, to the right, halfway up 
what ought to be a gentle 
slope, a small frame house.

In the background there is a lake, 
and beyond that, some low hills.

(The photograph was taken
the day after I drowned.

I am in the lake, in the center 
of the picture, just under the surface.

Read the rest of the poem at Poets.Org

If you teach high schoolers, ask them whether they've read WE WERE LIARS. They have? Hand them this poem. I promise, they will want to talk about the art of suspense, and what makes a great twist in a narrative.

Do you have an idea for Summer Reads: Chapter and Verse? I'm still looking for guest bloggers. The series will continue until summer ends on Monday, September 22. For more information, find a full explanation of this series and a sample Chapter and Verse pairing at this post.

Poetry Friday bloggers, please leave your links in the comments. I promise not to jump out and scare you!

*****

Tara Smith at A Teaching Life is getting to know her new students this week. She shares the beautiful poem, "A Happy Childhood," by William Matthews today.

At Random Noodling, Diane Mayr has another entry in her Sketchbook Project -- looking at working children from the early 1900s. The "Little Shaver" is selling a newspaper that's bigger than he is!

In honor of National Chicken Month, Diane is featuring "Poor Patriarch" by Susie Patlove at Kurious Kitty. The poem reminds me of a rooster whose name was Waylon Jennings (all his hens were named after country music singers).

Michelle Heidenrich Barnes continues her series of spotlight author bloggers with Irene Latham. They have an interview (Irene recommends reading in the bathtub) with lots of great insights into Irene's new book DEAR WANDERING WILDEBEEST. There's also a Ditty of the Month Club Challenge for inspiration. You'll find it all at Today's Little Ditty.

An original poem, "Riverwalk," is Becky Shillington's Poetry Friday offering at Tapestry of Words. This poem made me want to get outside for a riverside hike today.

Jama Rattigan's Alphabet Soup is a Mediterranean feast today. She has a tasty, sensory-rich prose poem from Diane DeCillis's book STRINGS ATTACHED, and a recipe for her grandmother's hummus.

From Jan Godown Annino at Book Seed Studio, an original poem about reading work by poet Diane Ackerman. Jan says Ackerman's lines about doubting one's creativity will speak to your older students.

The Poetry Friday summer poem swap was a great success, judging from everyone's posts about it these last few weeks. Let's take a second to cheer Tabatha for creating and organizing the swap. Hooray for Tabatha! At her blog, The Opposite of Indifference, Tabatha has the Ben Jonson poem "Drink to me only with thine eyes" sung by three different performers -- including Johnny Cash and Aretha Franklin.

Our first swap post is from Robyn Hood Black. She received a cinquain from Keri Collins Lewis. Keri's poem is a lovely nod to Robyn's big summer project -- moving house.

There's another poetry swap post at Jone's blog, Check It Out. Jone received a beautiful, summery Ode to Grass from Margaret Simon.

Matt Forrest Esenwine at Radio, Rhythm and Rhyme has been working at the state fair. He's got an adorable little "Black Sheep" poem, part of a series of original animal poems.

There's a new series starting at Penny Klostermann's blog: A Great Nephew and a Great Aunt Present. Meet Penny's great-nephew Landon, who is an amazing illustrator! This dynamic duo's first offering is "Adventuresome Moose."

It's the first Poetry Friday in September. Karen Edmisten is celebrating with the poem "Absolute September" by (Baltimore local) Mary Jo Salter. The link is here.

But while it's September here, Douglas Florian reminds us that it's spring on the other side of the globe. In honor of Rio de Janeiro's rainy March weather, he has a "The Waters of Spring" by Antonio Carlos Jobim at the Florian Cafe. Follow the link at the cafe to hear a jazzy musical version of the poem performed on Youtube.

Many of us are sending love out to Linda Baie this week. It's been a year since her husband passed away. She says, "I have a sad post today, but needed to share a poem I wrote after my husband died one year ago. It's a special one to me, and I hope those who've felt loss will be touched by it." You'll find the poem at Teacher Dance.

The ladies at Gathering Books have been doing a powerful series on poems of conflict, with offerings from around the world. Myra is posting today, with a group of poems that includes Alice Walker's book "Overcoming Speechlessness: A Poet Encounters The Horror in Rwanda, Eastern Congo, and Palestine/Israel;" Naomi Shihab Nye's "Blood" and, Myra says, "the immensely powerful video clip of 'We Teach Life, Sir' by Rafeef Ziadah, a Canadian-Palestinian spoken word artist and activist. Thanks for helping to give voice to the children who are affected by war in their homelands, Myra.

Greg Pincus must have worn his footie pajamas to our Poetry Friday slumber party. He's got an original poem up today, "The Middle Toe Sets the Record Straight." (I'm guessing you don't want sausages with your pancakes, Greg.)

At Wee Words for Wee Ones, Bridget Magee is punning it up. It's been so hot this week, she has a poem about what happens in the desert: "When things get hot, bake cookies." Get it? Her poem features a clever momma, an overworked air conditioner, and a great solution for avoiding the oven on baking day.

There are more sweet treats at Irene Latham's blog, Live Your Poem. All Irene wanted was a DEAR WANDERING WILDEBEEST picture-cake for her book launch. What she ended up with is a cake fail. (Irene includes a link to an NPR piece on Emily Dickinson, baker.)

Slumber party guests, let's walk off those pancakes, cookies, and Irene's cake. Take a hike with Mary Lee. She has an original free verse about her 5:30 am walk at A Year of Reading.

Margaret Simon has an original poem based on two photographs of the beach and how they dialogue with one another. "Dialogue Poem" is at Reflections on the Teche.

There's another ocean-related poem at Teaching Authors, Laura Salas's last post for that blog. Laura says Lilian Moore's "Until I Saw the Sea" is "unsettling and melancholy." Sounds like another good pairing for WE WERE LIARS.

Ms. Yingling has been saying hello to her new students all this week, but she's also saying goodbye to her parents' home. Read her original poem about place and memory at Ms. Yingling Reads.

Those who love both fiction and poetry -- Holly Mueller has a great list of recommended MG and YA novels that include poetry. The list of novels is at Reading, Teaching, Learning.

At Keri Recommends, Keri has summer swap poems from Poetry Friday bloggers Linda Baie and Heidi Mordhorst. 

The verse picture book IN THE WILD by David Elliott is Janet Squires' choice for this week's All About the Books. The book features beautiful, bright woodcut and watercolor illustrations by Holly Meade.

The poem for today at Bildungsroman is "Maud" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. (A veteran English teacher I worked with years ago was still furious that the TV show "Maud" had ruined the name. She was a big fan of the poem.)

A LUCKY THING is the title of one of Ramona's favorite books, by Alice Schertle. She says it's "A great book to use in writer's workshop as you encourage students to closely observe the world around them." Check out the adorable cover of a mouse and a mouse at Pleasures from the Page.

Ruth poem today looks ahead to winter. It's "Lead" by Mary Oliver, at There Is No Such Thing as a God-forsaken Town.

Amy Ludwig Vanderwater is featuring another new book of children's poetry, Lee Bennett Hopkins' anthology, MANGER. She also has an original poem at The Poem Farm, about being the new kid -- something many of our students are coping with this week.

There are two Poetry Friday posts from Lorie Ann Grover: a haiku celebrating her 50th birthday at On Point. (Happy birthday, Lorie Ann!) It's called "Celebrating Fifty." She also has a book recommendation at Readertotz, the free verse picture book, Hello, I'm Johnny Cash (his second appearance at our Poetry Friday party).

More haiku -- it's a popular form this week -- from Carol Varsalona. She says, "My offering this week is a combination of an original haiku, Stillness and Serenity, for the upcoming Summer Serenity Gallery and a reflective poem by the 13th century mystic poet, Rumi." I like Carol's poetic reminder to stay grounded and make time for quiet reflection, even as the busy school year begins.

Let's end this party on a fun note. Joy at Poetry for Kids closes us out with two original riddle poems. That will give you something to think about as you  head home.

Thanks for visiting, everyone. I appreciate all of your contributions this Poetry Friday. It was a joy, as always, to read the posts and to participate in our wonderful community of poetry bloggers.

Summer Reads: Chapter & Verse (Enthusiasm)

Happy last Poetry Friday of August.

Despite having one child back at school, and the other starting on Tuesday, I am -- like many of you -- hanging on to summer. Hanging on as in, you could not pry my fingers off of Labor Day weekend or even bribe me with chocolate. If summer were coffee and we were down to the grounds at the bottom of the cup, I would drink it and savor every little nib of coffee bean.

Recommended end-of-summer read.
This re-issue of the book, signed by
Stephen King and Ray Bradbury,
is available for £375.

But before I lick the bottom of the cup of delicious iced-coffee that is summer, let's visit Jone at Check It Out! She is hosting today's Poetry Friday round-up.

This is the seventh post in a series called Summer Reads: Chapter  Verse. Guest bloggers and I are pairing books we've read this summer with a poem that complements the novel.

So far, we've paired:

THE GIRLS AT THE KINGFISHER CLUB (Historical YA)

with Edna St. Vincent Millay's "First Fig"

DARIUS & TWIG (Contemporary Urban YA)

with Gwendolyn Brooks' "We Real Cool"

STARGIRL (Contemporary YA)

with Eileen Spinelli's, "Poem for a Bully" and "Advice to Rapunzel"

Shared by guest blogger Janet Wong

THE IMPOSSIBLE KNIFE OF MEMORY (Contemporary YA)

with W.M. Rivera's "The You That's Left"

THE COLDEST GIRL IN COLDTOWN (YA Urban Fantasy)

with Sarah Beasley's "Grief Puppet"

WALK TWO MOONS (Classic contemporary MG)

with blackberry poems by Galway Kinnell, Sylvia Plath, and Crescent Dragonwagon

I'm really excited about today's post. We have a guest blogger visiting. And her summer read? I don't know how I missed this book. It's got romance! It's got intrigue! It's got poetry! And it features a character who is an enthusiastic Janeite (as in Austen).

A little bit of back story. As you know -- because you heard me screaming with joy back in June -- my middle grade novel-in-verse is being published in spring of 2016 (read my announcement here). One of the best perks of being a debut author is meeting other debut authors. Today's guest blogger, Kathy MacMillan, is coordinator of The Sweet 16s. We are a group of middle grade and young adult authors debuting in 2016. You can visit our website-in-progress here.

Lucky me, not only was I invited to be one of the administrators for the group, but Kathy lives in nearby Baltimore. We are planning to meet for real and in person this fall.

I am so looking forward to working with the wildly creative and funny people in The Sweet 16s as we all finish up our edits, commiserate about our hopes and fears, and prepare to publicize our books. I hope to introduce you to more of the gang in the coming months.

Welcome, Kathy, to AuthorAmok!

My Book: ENTHUSIASM by Polly Shulman

"There is little more likely to exasperate a person of sense than finding herself tied by affection and habit to an Enthusiast."  But that's exactly Julie's lot: her best friend Ashley is a decided Enthusiast, with passionate interests running the gamut from canning to fashion.  But when Ashley's fancy lands on Julie's own passion—the novels of Jane Austen—Julie finds herself swept along on Ashley's quest to find True Love worthy of an Austen heroine.  Whether crashing a dance at a local prep school (in vintage gowns, of course) or untangling the misunderstandings wrought by the objects of their affection, these smart and funny heroines star in an engaging and satisfying read.

Doesn't the title invoke Jane Austen?
Read a review at TeenReads.

Paired with:

Sonnet III

from Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Sonnets from the Portuguese

Unlike are we, unlike, O princely Heart!
Unlike our uses and our destinies.
Our ministering two angels look surprise
On one another, as they strike athwart
Their wings in passing. Thou, bethink thee, art
A guest for queens to social pageantries,
With gages from a hundred brighter eyes
Than tears even can make mine, to play thy part
Of chief musician. What hast thou to do
With looking from the lattice-lights at me,
A poor, tired, wandering singer, singing through
The dark, and leaning up a cypress tree?
The chrism is on thine head,—on mine, the dew,—
And Death must dig the level where these agree.

I chose this sonnet for several reasons:

1) It *had* to be a sonnet. One of the plot points in ENTHUSIASM centers around the identity of the writer of a certain (wildly romantic, take-your-breath-away) sonnet that appears tacked to the tree between Julie and Ashley's houses—but which girl is it meant for?

2) The poet sees her beloved as someone who is far above her, and is amazed that his attention would turn to her.  In ENTHUSIASM, Julie's insecurity lends her the same attitude—even when the proof of her beloved's affection is right in front of her.

3) Both the sonnet and the book remind us that the art forms we often think of as old, dusty, or stodgy are actually capable of conveying deeply felt passion, and that those passions have been felt by human beings across time.

Portrait of Elizabeth Barrett Browning by Michele Gordigiani.
Source: The Guardian

Kathy MacMillan is a writer, librarians, storyteller, interpreter, and Enthusiast.  Her debut YA fantasy novel will be published by HarperTeen in 2016.  Find out more about her work at www.kathymacmillan.com.  

Thanks for the great recommendation and pairing, Kathy.

Do you have an idea for Summer Reads: Chapter & Verse? I'm still looking for guest bloggers. The series will continue until summer ends on Monday, September 22. For more information, find a full explanation of this series and a sample Chapter & Verse pairing at this post.

I'll see you next week, everyone, when Poetry Friday is HERE.

Summer Reads: Chapter & Verse (Walk Two Moons)

Happy Poetry Friday! It's still summer. Let's enjoy some late summer fruit today, wild blackberries warmed by the sun.

From LivingEarthFarms.net
Blackberries grow wild in Maryland.

Today's Poetry Friday host is Irene Latham
at Live Your Poem. Live it up today -- stop by
Irene's blog for more poetry links.

This is the sixth post in a series called Summer Reads: Chapter & Verse. Guest bloggers and I are pairing books we've read this summer with a poem that complements the novel.

So far, we've paired:

THE GIRLS AT THE KINGFISHER CLUB (Historical YA)

with Edna St. Vincent Millay's "First Fig"

DARIUS & TWIG (Contemporary Urban YA)

with Gwendolyn Brooks' "We Real Cool"

STARGIRL (Contemporary YA)

with Eileen Spinelli's, "Poem for a Bully" and "Advice to Rapunzel"

Shared by guest blogger Janet Wong

THE IMPOSSIBLE KNIFE OF MEMORY (Contemporary YA)

with W.M. Rivera's "The You That's Left"

COLDTOWN (YA Urban Fantasy)

with Sarah Beasley's "Grief Puppet"

I've been working a lot this summer. The educational consulting office where I work part-time is 40 minutes from my home, so much of my summer reading has been audio-books in the car.

Here is my Public Service Announcement for today. Do not listen to Sharon Creech's classic MG novel WALK TWO MOONS on your way to work, especially if you are wearing mascara. You may, like me, find yourself listening to the final chapters of the book, wondering whether you should pull over because you are crying so hard, and eventually arrive at work a bleary-eyed, mascara-smeared, emotional wreck.

Which cover do you prefer?

There are many middle grade and YA novels about a child who is either searching for a missing parent or in search of information about a parent who has died. WALK TWO MOONS sat on my shelf (yes, I have a paperback copy) for years. Maybe I wasn't ready to read about a grieving child. Maybe listening to the book felt more comfortable.

Did I love WALK TWO MOONS? Yes! I loved the story-within-a-story structure. I loved the voice of Sal (Salamanca). I loved the rich descriptions of settings, people, and first kisses. And grandparents in love -- how sweet is that?

It's those grandparents-in-love that made me enjoy the book, despite my messy tears. Because Sal spends most of the novel with her grandparents, the reader *always* knows that Sal is loved and supported, even though she has lost her mother.

Poetry appears in WALK TWO MOONS. Sal and her class discuss Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls." While some students love the musicality of the poem, Sal and her friend Phoebe (whose own mother is missing), focus on the character of the traveler. Sal and Phoebe are angry that their class is discussing a poem that romanticizes death or suicide. (My HS students often had the same reaction when we studied Romeo & Juliet.)

However, I'm choosing something else to pair with this novel. Blackberry poems. Why blackberry poems? Because of this section of the novel, which helps characterize Sal's mother so beautifully:

One morning when I awoke very early, I saw my mother walking up the hill to the barn. Mist hung about the ground, finches were singing in the oak tree beside the house, and there was my mother, her pregnant belly sticking out in front of her. She was strolling up the hill, swinging her arms and singing...  

As she approached the corner of the barn where the sugar maple stands, she plucked a few blackberries from a stray bush and popped them into her mouth. She looked all around her-back at the house, across the fields, and up into the canopy of branches overhead. She took several quick steps up to the trunk of the maple, threw her arms around it, and kissed that tree soundly.

Later that day, I examined this tree trunk... I looked up at where her mouth must have touched the trunk. I probably imagined this, but I thought I could detect a small dark stain, as from a blackberry kiss.

Creech takes this moment and builds the blackberry kiss into a symbol that runs through the rest of the novel.

I have three delicious blackberry poems.

1. Read "Blackberrying" by Sylvia Plath at the Poetry Foundation

2. Listen to "Blackberry Eating" by Galway Kinnell

3. A poem I share with my elementary school students is "Blackberrying" by Crescent Dragonwagon. This poem appears in the (sadly, out of print) anthology FOOD FIGHT: Poets Join the Fight against Hunger with Poems to Favorite Foods. I am only sharing a portion of the poem here, but I hope you will get a copy of the book and read the entire poem.

Available at ABEBooks.Com
Great for teaching food poems!

Blackberrying

by Crescent Dragonwagon

the green arched bramble branches hung thick

with blue-black berries,

summer Christmas trees,

catching at us, we bent to pick

(and only our backs got sunburned)

catching at us, scratching (and we got mosquito-bit too)

now there's a shelf full of blackberry jam

and that night, pie

next winter it will be cold

we will spread that sharp sweet dark

on breakfast toast

and think we remember what hot really felt like

Enjoy the rest of August and the last of the season's blackberries.

Do you have an idea for Summer Reads: Chapter & Verse? I'm still looking for guest bloggers. The series will continue until summer ends on Monday, September 22. For more information, find a full explanation of this series and a sample Chapter & Verse pairing at this post.