Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team by Steve Sheinkin

Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team by Steve Sheinkin

Roaring Brook Press

Rating: 5 stars

I'm a big, huge fan of this author. Steve Sheinkin writes nonfiction middle grade books that are well-written, well-researched, fast-paced and informative--I really wish they were around when I was growing up. My favorite of his is Bomb: The Race to Build--and Steal--the World's Most Dangerous Weapon. C'mon, with a title like that, how can you not pick it up?! 

Undefeated is about Jim Thorpe, a Native American athlete who dominated almost any sport he attempted (baseball is the notable exception, as documented in the book). Born around the turn of the century, when Native Americans were being herded onto reservations and assimilated into white American culture, Thorpe was forced to go to the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. The story centers around the meeting of and relationship between Thorpe and Pop Warner. Warner, in case, like me, you're not a football fan, was a football mastermind who hailed from the top of society, having graduated from, then coached in, the Ivy League.

These two men could not have had more different backgrounds.

Yet, Pop Warner realized Jim Thorpe was the most gifted athlete he had ever seen. He knew that within moments of meeting Thorpe, after watching him outrun a pack of Warner's well-trained and well-seasoned football players. And so the two began their relationship, which has been lauded the "most winningest" combination in sports history.

Sheinkin chronicles Thorpe's rise in football, and how he crossed over to track and field to take advantage of his speed. From there, he volunteered to give decathlons a try. Turns out he was a shoo-in for such a demanding sport, and he represented the United States in that sport and the pentathlon in the 1912 Olympics. He was the first Native American to earn a gold medal. (Later, due to the fact that he accepted payment as a minor league baseball player, Thorpe was stripped of his medals.)

In addition to Thorpe's fascinating life and sports career, Sheinkin reports on the history of Native Americans in the United States. The chapters about how Native Americans were forced to schools such as the one at Carlisle, stripped of their birth name and given a "white" name, and then punished for remembering or practicing anything from their native tribes is eye-opening and humbling. In addition, Sheinkin writes about the early years of football. I'm pretty much the opposite of a football fan (don't tell my Seahawks-crazed neighbors that), but found that part of the book really interesting.

Clearly, this is not a book for really young children. But it is an excellent choice for curious, history-minded readers age ten or older, and could be read aloud to a slightly younger child (so that younger readers could have their inevitable questions about Native American policies answered right away).

The Courage of Sarah Noble and The Bears on Hemlock Mountain, by Alice Dalgliesh

The Courage of Sarah Noble and The Bears on Hemlock Mountain, by Alice Dalgliesh
Aladdin Books

Rating: 4 stars

The other day I was at our new neighbor's house, checking out the impressive homeschool supplies she has laying out on her dining room sideboard. Books! Workbooks! Lesson plans! Books! Art supplies! And more. But really, she had me at books. I was having trouble paying attention to the answer to my own question about homeschooling while I browsed through the large stack of middle grade books. It was so fun to see what books she had lined up for her boys for the year.

My favorite of all favorite book genres, middle grade is where it's at for me (memoirs come second)--mostly, I think, because there are happy endings. (I'm just not ready for Young Adult, which comes next, which are about super serious topics such as substance abuse, sex, and suicide and can leave you with a lurch-y feeling at the end.)

These two little middle grade books, both by Alice Dalgliesh, The Courage of Sarah Noble and The Bears on Hemlock Mountain were among the stack in my neighbor's house. We have Courage on our Newbery shelf, so I checked out Bears from our new library. Lorelei read them first, and I read them a few days later. They are very short reads, thus making them really good first chapter books or books you can read with your child if their desire for and interest in long, drawn-out plots is still building.

The Bears on Hemlock Mountain, written first in 1952 and a Newbery Honor book, is about a boy named Jonathan, whose mother asks that he climb up over the local mountain (really, a "big hill," he says of its size) to fetch a large pot from his aunt on the other side. Jonathan has heard rumors of bears on Hemlock Mountain, but his uncles and mother all shake their heads at this rumor. But Jonathan doesn't believe them. He sets out, a little nervous. When he returns with the pot after several delays, guess who he runs into?

This is a nice coming-of-age story set in the 18th century with good pacing and an adventurous topic, and I really liked it. Jonathan's solution to hiding from the bears is great, and I love how he calls his father out when his father comes to retrieve him on the mountain with many hunter friends, each with his own rifle. "Rifles? So you did know there are bears on Hemlock Mountain!"

The Courage of Sarah Noble, written two years later in 1954 and another Newbery Honor book, is an early version of Laura Ingalls in two ways: First, it was written before Ingalls' books; second, Sarah is just eight years old, younger (I think, if I remember correctly) than Laura was when she first moves West. Sarah and her father travel together to set up their home in Connecticut, leaving behind her mother and siblings until the house is ready for them. Sarah helps cook for her father, then, after befriending them for what seems to be a short time, stays with a local Native family while her father goes to fetch the rest of the family.

Sarah reminds herself to "have courage!" throughout the book, and it's a nice reminder that little acts of courage are often required in children's daily lives--courage to be honest, courage to be kind, courage to speak up for something unfair or wrong. The story is inspired by real-life settlers in 1707, and sure, it's dated. Sarah's initial comments of the Native Indians made me cringe a little, but by the time her mother arrives and has similar opinions of them, Sarah defends the Natives she's grown to love. Sarah's maturation, fortitude, and yes, courage, are sweet and inspiring.


What was the most fun for me, though, was debating with Lorelei which was the better book. I was surprised she liked Sarah Noble better--I liked Bears on Hemlock Mountain a bunch more. Who really cares who was right...the more important thing was that I had a nice long conversation with my daughter about the lives of two children who lived long ago as we walked our puppy along our new road. Books continue to be one of the many bonds between my daughter and me, and I'm counting my lucky stars for that!

Growing Up Pedro by Matt Tavares

Growing Up Pedro by Matt Tavares
Rating: 5 stars

Candlewick

I'm so happy it's baseball season again. I'm thrilled to spend many afternoons throwing the ball around with now both of my sons, and sometimes pitching to them in our backyard. I love watching Ben practice, and I love watching the games.

I've said it before here, but one of the things I love so much about baseball is that there are so many wholesome, heroic, hard-working, and dedicated ballplayers. Many of these great men lived and played in the past--but their memories live on through their stats and their lore, so their lessons are still accessible and easy to discuss with my sons. But how great to find a man from the present whose life and character are worth knowing and emulating.

The talented Matt Tavares shows and tells us of how Pedro Martinez grew up in the Dominican Republic. He followed in his big brother Ramon's footsteps as he played baseball, practiced pitching by aiming at mangoes in trees, and dreamed big. Ramon made it to the minor leagues, then the major leagues, and soon Pedro, despite his small size, got a chance. He pitched his way through the Dodgers' minor league system and finally played alongside Ramon. The two boys were ecstatic--it's a big dream come true!

Then what always happens happened: Pedro got traded to the Montreal Expos, but Ramon's advice to the upset Pedro turned out to be true. Ramon explained how the Dodgers would never make Pedro their starting pitcher, but the Expos will. The Expos do, and Pedro started to make headlines as a great pitcher, possibly even better than his brother.

The two brothers continue to play and excel and win awards--Pedro even more so than Ramon--until they finally play together again, this time on the Red Sox, and this time with Pedro as the star pitcher with heaps of talent and grit. The two return to the Dominican Republic often, where they've paid for a fantastic gathering space for their whole family in the spot on which they first learned to play the game.

I know this post is long enough, but the best part of the book for me is the brotherhood part. I know Kiefer keeps choosing this book because of the story of two brothers, making it to the big leagues together--and the little brother comes out on top. But I hope he's listening to the fact that the brothers don't care who is a bigger star. They love each other fiercely still now. When the boys were young, Ramon always looked out for him, and Pedro was smart enough to recognize this and humble enough to keep working hard. The brotherhood bond is awesome and strange right now for my boys--they can't stand being apart even when they can't figure out how to get along at that minute--but it's so important that they figure it out and trust in and believe in and root for each other...

I hope my boys continue to play baseball and be good team players and role models, but I hope even more they continue to be good brothers to each other.

Matt Tavares has several other great baseball (and non-baseball) picture books. Click HERE for a list of titles.

Sweet Home Alaska by Carole Estby Dagg

Sweet Home Alaska by Carole Estby Dagg
Rating: 5 stars

Nancy Paulsen Books

We're moving West this summer--nearly as West as one can move when you live in Virginia. We're moving to Washington State. As a Seattle University alum and a fan of the great Pacific Northwest, I'm pretty excited. To prepare or just get excited for the move, I'm reading books about or by authors from the "other" side of the country.

And that goal led me straight to Sweet Home Alaska.

Carole Estby Dagg writes out of Everett, Washington, a town an hour or so north of Seattle, and the city in which my husband will work. When our family was out in Washington to visit schools and the area in general, Mrs. Dagg was speaking at a local bookstore to promote Sweet Home Alaska, her just-released second book. I didn't go, but the book piqued my interest and I requested it from our local library.

The book is about a girl who does the same thing my kids will do this summer: she moves about as far away as possible.

Terpsichore's family start the story in Wisconsin during the Great Depression. Like many families during that era, times were tough. Her father loses his job at the mill. Her mother sells her beloved piano for money. Terpsichore makes a million things out of pumpkin because pumpkin is what they've got to eat.

But they have one big chance: a move for a better life. Thanks to a New Deal Pioneer program set up by Franklin D. Roosevelt, Terpsichore's family has the opportunity to move to faraway Alaska and receive land from the government. Better yet, they get a new start on life.

With a little finagling, their family is selected to go. There's a string attached to the adventure: Mother is not happy about it, and she insists that after one year she gets to decide if they remain in Alaska or return to Wisconsin to live with her (straight-laced, well-off) mother.

With that tension set in the story, the family sets off. First, they take a train across the country to Seattle, then head north on a boat. They reach Palmer, Alaska, and receive their plot of land. The challenges they meet are realistic and eye-opening--the bugs and living conditions smack them in the face, but they all prove to have the necessary pluck to keep going.

Terpsichore is determined to remain optimistic about Alaska and about changing her mother's mind, but she jumps right in to make Palmer what she wants, too. She misses her library from home, and decides to start her own. She writes letters to people and organizations back in the lower 48 with a plea to "help start the pioneer library" and she gets boxes of books--the first from her wealthy grandmother, including one book that sets another mystery in motion. She's the first librarian in the "pioneer library."

The book is very well done--I love how it was inspired by the author's son's move to Palmer, Alaska. A little digging into the town's history and Dagg knew there was a story (or two! or more!) that could be made from the plucky people who dared to move so far away all they knew. Terpsichore is a great little hero--she jumps right into her community and aims to make it a better place. She misses home and has her own friendship woes, but she is exactly the kind of character you want your child to read about and love.

Fingers crossed that my own children remain optimistic about their first big move in life and that they have some of Terpsichore's moxie, cheerfulness, and interest in a world new to them!

Thomas Jefferson Grows a Nation by Peggy Thomas

Thomas Jefferson Grows a Nation by Peggy Thomas, illustrations by Stacy Innerst
Catkins Creek: An Imprint of Highlights

Rating: 5 stars

I'm one of those geeky parents who stays on top of what my children are learning in school and tries to augment the lessons at home. I figure if I'm going to be a full-time mom, I'm going to be a great one.

Lorelei is going to start a big Lewis and Clark unit in social studies this Spring. It comes at a particularly interesting time because this summer we'll be making our own trek across the continent as we move from Virginia to Washington State. Lewis and Clark met wild savages along with a whole lot of Great Unknown; I'll just be driving with three kids. We both have some challenges on our journey...

When I saw Thomas Jefferson Grows a Nation at the library, I grabbed it. It was Kiefer who wanted it read as a bedtime book, but Lorelei heard me read the title, so she ran in to join us. It's a long, necessarily wordy, nonfiction picture book. I had to pause every other page for a little bit of background or just explain something. But both Lorelei and Kiefer were curious, and learned a lot about one interesting, complicated, hugely important figure in our country's history.

The book begins: "Thomas Jefferson loved to grow things." He literally grew plants and vegetables at his home in Monticello, but he also planted seeds of freedom, the idea that America was just as important as Europe, several crops that worked elsewhere but failed in America (he remained optimistic through failure), and a nation through the acquisition of land from France.

There are many illustrations in the book that help young readers understand the text. My favorite is an illustration of Jefferson and Hamilton in a tug of war between farms and cities--would American be a nation of cities and factories or a nation of small towns and family farms?

As President, he began to plan an expedition across the continent, even before France sold the land west of the Mississippi River in what became known as the Louisiana Purchase. (This was news to me; I hadn't realized he would have authorized the journey even it wasn't American territory.) Jefferson wanted to know what was out there--Lewis and Clark sent dozens of reports back to Jefferson about the fauna, wildlife, topography of the newly acquired land. After his White House years, Jefferson returned to Monticello to savor time in his garden and fields growing things--not figuratively this time, but literally.

This book helped Lorelei have a better understanding of why the Lewis and Clark journey took place by teaching her about Jefferson and the events in his life hundreds of years ago. This is a great book to have on the shelf in a classroom, or just a perfect bedtime book for any overachieving mom to read to her naturally curious kids.

Marvelous Cornelius: Hurricane Katrina and the Spirit of New Orleans by Phil Bildner

Marvelous Cornelius: Hurricane Katrina and the Spirit of New Orleans by Phil Bildner, illustrated by John Parra

Chronicle Books

Rating: 4 stars

Cornelius Washington is not a typical subject for nonfiction picture books. He was a garbage man in the French Quarter in New Orleans before and when Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005. He once was written about in the Times-Picayune and described as "a wizard of trash cans."

Cornelius did his job as a garbageman, usually thought of as nasty but necessary, with flair. He seemed to have fun with it, but also take it very seriously. The people in the Quarter knew him and waved as Cornelius danced with lids, threw trash bags into formation, and kept the streets "sparkling."

When Hurricane Katrina hit, Cornelius was devastated to see the city he loved so devastated. Water flooded the city; the city was "a gumbo of mush and mud." New Orleans was destroyed. Cornelius was overwhelmed with the amount of work to do--there was so much to clean up and rebuild. Cornelius, like many others, dried his eyes and got to work. The same people who waved to him weeks and months and years before pitched in to help--the people of New Orleans all helped. And others from far away came to help, too.

(He leaves out the looting and lawlessness--probably a good idea for this age group.)

The story ends the way all picture books do: happily. The city is rebuilt to its former glory in a couple dozen pages. Even though Cornelius Washington passed away soon after Katrina, Bildner writes that he symbolizes the spirit of New Orleans--the determination, flair, and friendliness that will always be a part of the city.

Without getting too stuck in the murkiness of history, I think Bildner does a great job of shining the spotlight on a person who doesn't normally show up in picture books. The quotation at the beginning of the book by Martin Luther King, Jr., sets the scene well:

Even if it's called your lot to be a street sweeper, go out and sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, sweep streets like Handel and Beethoven composed music, sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to phase and say, "Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well."

Whatever you are, do it well. And Cornelius seems to have done this.

I think it's important to note that Phil Bildner admits to taking some liberty with the true story of Cornelius. He first becomes interested in Cornelius because he sounded like a legend, like a myth, like a story from the American folk tradition. He admits to exaggerating the facts he has about Cornelius in order to carry on the spirit of his story. I hope Cornelius' surviving family supports the book.

Dare the Wind: The Record-Breaking Voyage of Eleanor Prentiss and the Flying Cloud by Tracey Fern

Dare the Wind: The Record-Breaking Voyage of Eleanor Prentiss and the Flying Cloud by Tracey Fern, illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully

Farrar Straus Giroux

Rating: 5 stars

Ellen Prentiss wasn't like other girls. She fell in love with sea at an early age. Her father, loving and appreciating that she loved the water as much as he loved it, taught her all that he knew about hoisting sails, steering a schooner, and most important of all: navigating. Every chance she got, she was practicing one of these skills with her father's trading schooner.

She loved racing any and all ship around her. Her father's advice was always the same: "A true navigator must have the caution to read the sea, as well as the courage to dare the wind."

Decades later, when Ellen found a man who loved the sea as much as she did and who encouraged her sea skills as much as her father did, she married him. The two soon were charged with navigating the Flying Cloud on a fifteen-thousand-mile journey from New York City down to Cape Horn and up to San Francisco. The Gold Rush was on, and they were hurrying to get passengers and cargo to America's West Coast.

If they could make the trip faster than any other ship, they would receive a bonus and the world record. Ellen was excited--and determined.

Ellen pushed the Flying Cloud hard at the start of the ship, covering hundreds of miles each day. But she pushes it too hard and the mainmast rips. The damage humbles Ellen, and makes her reconsider how hard she pushed the ship. The next few weeks she sets a cautious course, catching only gentle breezes. Then she remembers her father's advice and thinks "There is no glory in second place. Now is the time for courage."

And so, Ellen dares the wind and leads the Flying Cloud through dangerous waters, a frightening storm, and around the cliffs of Cape Horn. They charged north again, once again covering hundreds of miles each day. After eighty-nine days at sea, they reached San Francisco in world-record time.

This is an exciting true story--an example of how history really does churn out the best stories around. (Congratulations to Tracey Fern who writes the story with such suspense.) I really want to imprint Ellen's father's words in all of my kids' brains. You must have caution and courage, I want them to see, and the wisdom to know when to use which. Caution and courage, caution and courage, caution and courage.

The Streak: How Joe DiMaggio Became America's Hero by Barb Rosenstock

The Streak: How Joe DiMaggio Became America's Hero by Barb Rosenstock, illustrated by Terry Widener

Rating: 4 stars

Of course I'm a sucker for a baseball book.  And, like I've written so many times, baseball is a wonderful vehicle for teaching about life--history, character, decision making, consequences...  You name it, you can explain it through baseball.  None of this is very helpful for those of you with kids who dance or play hockey, but... This one goes out to all of you who have, like we do, bats and gloves and balls either in use or planted in the middle of the yard, ready at a moment's notice.

This isn't my favorite baseball book, but it does teach a wonderful American history lesson and provides insight into one of the greats, Joe DiMaggio.

In the summer of 1941, Joe DiMaggio of the New York Yankees began a hitting streak in which America happily got swept up. In one game after another, DiMaggio came to bat and earned hit after hit.  Thousands became followers of this streak, and they didn't have to love the Yankees. Why? Well, it's not like they had a ton of distractions like we do today, and Americans were happy to be distracted that summer because the country was readying itself for war. Up to this point, the biggest streak in American baseball stood at George Sisler's 41 games and Wee Willie Keeler at 44 games. When DiMaggio tied and then surpassed these streaks, everyone took notice.

Now the papers shouted Streak loud and clear,
pushing back news of the war marching overseas.

Rosenstock writes in a thrilling way, and she builds suspense well. This suspense builds nicely to the problem in the book, when DiMaggio's lucky bat, named Betsy Ann, goes missing. Up to this point, she writes as if the streak was a partnership, with equal responsibility going to man and bat. She doesn't talk of the superstition in baseball--or in all sports--but I'm guessing many kids understand the need for a certain bat, a certain hat, certain shoes or certain socks that they need in order to win. She remains missing throughout the game, and the streak looks dead in the water until "DiMaggio went to work anyway." And he got the job done.

It's a good story and I like that baseball is placed accurately in the context of a war that kids will soon learn about.  Even if kids don't fully appreciate the difficulty--the near impossibility--of a streak of 56 runs, this is a fun book to read to any baseball-loving kid (and his big sister). The end of the book is filled with statistics and a longer Author's Notes for parents or kids who want more information.


Baseball books are some of my favorite to review. For a list of all reviewed baseball books, click HERE.

A Dance Like Starlight by Kristy Dempsey

A Dance Like Starlight by Kristy Dempsey, illustrated by Floyd Cooper

Rating: 5 stars

I'll get right to the moral of this story: Dreams do come true.

Don't you just love it already?

Meet one little girl--a little black girl--growing up in the 1960s who wants, more than anything, to be a ballerina.  Her mother works at the ballet school; she cleans and sews costumes there. She is heartbreakingly close to where she wants to be, but is not allowed in. (Do they not have the money? Or is it because black students are not allowed? Dempsey never says, though I infer the latter.) This little girl tries on the costumes, and twirls around and around, practicing moves she's seen but not been taught in the fanciest of all fancy costumes. She wishes on stars and cradles hope for her dream to come true.

"Brava, ma petit," he told me.

One day, while waiting in the wings with her mother during a show, this little girl dances the entire dance, having memorized it from the wings.  The Ballet Master sees her, watches her. When she finishes, he cups her face with his wise, white hands and says, "Brava, ma petite. Brava."

Her hope grows a little.  In Dempsey's words, "That's when hope picked my dream up from the floor of my heart, and it started growing."

The Ballet Master made an arrangement for this little girl to dance in the back of the class each day, one black girl behind many white girls.  But all have the same dream: to become a prima ballerina.

Then one day, her mother tells her that it has happened. The first African American has become a prima ballerina at the Metropolitan Opera House! Her mother scrapes up the money for the two of them to go, to watch Miss Janet Collins on opening night.

It's like she's dancing for me, showing me who I can be.

This one little girl in the audience stands to applaud and yell "Brava!" at the top of her lungs and her hope soars just like Miss Janet Collins soars across the stage.

This is a beautiful book in many ways.  I love the simple story of a little girl dream that might become true, and I love how she works hard for her dream, and doesn't give up on herself. I love how her hope grows and grows and grows throughout the story.

If there is a little dancer in your family, I hope this book finds its way to a shelf near her (or him!).

Papa Is a Poet: A Story About Robert Frost by Natalie S. Bober

Papa Is a Poet: A Story About Robert Frost by Natalie S. Bober, illustrated by Rebecca Gibbon

Rating: 4.5 stars

Sometimes I think I'm overdoing it just a bit.  I mean, how many serious-ish nonfiction books do kids really want to read?  I rationalize my filled-to-the-brim-with-books household by telling myself that I pick out books and leave them lying around, available, in case curiosity motivates one or two or all of my children to pick it up and read it. I also let them choose plenty of books on their own; they are not left to my nerdy selections.

Papa Is a Poet is long and wordy and serious, so it is definitely in that last category.  Bober tells the story of Robert Frost--as told from the perspective of Lesley, one of his daughters.  She tells us, the reader, of the day they returned from a two year, poetry-writing stint in England, when her father saw at a newsstand a published collection of his works, North of Boston.  He was surprised! Frost hadn't been told by any American publisher of its creation, but was overjoyed to have met success on this side of the Atlantic.

Lesley thinks back to simpler times, before her family sold their farm to raise the funds to go to England.  They lived on a farm, and Robert Frost was a poultry farmer.  Theirs was a nature-filled childhood, with streams and flowers and trees and each other to play in and around and with. Robert and his wife home schooled their children, and their life was full of books.  Their days were "ordinary but meaningful. The cupboard was often bare, yet life was filled to the brim."

Poetry--playing with words, finding the humor or beauty in simple things, and creating metaphors--ran through his veins, but he felt that it wasn't an acceptable pastime for a father of a large family.  He felt he was a "disappointing failure" in the eyes of neighbors and family, so they sold the farm and moved. They flipped a coin to decide where to go. The coin landed on heads, so they went to England--if it had landed on tails, they'd have gone to Vancouver. Choosing to be a full-time poet was a crazy, almost reckless decision, but he did it. And look, he did it so very well.

Why tell this story, read this book to young girls and boys like Lorelei (age 7)?

1. Robert Frost is one of the greatest American poets, and now she has a little background, a little context to the lesson she'll soon get from a teacher. She'll know he was a dad and had kids and made up little rhymes for his family, and maybe...maybe his poetry will be not be so intimidating.
2. I don't love how Bober sprinkles in Frost's poetry.  I think she feels obligated to, and I appreciate her attempt. While I don't think it usually works, I love that his most famous lines (see below) are in there, and that Lorelei knows about them and we can talk about them when making choices.
3. Speaking of choices, I really like that this story is about one man struggling to make a choice--and it's a tough one for a man with poems in his head but mouths to feed.  I'm always telling Lorelei and her brothers that there are lots of choices, but no perfect one, but you have to trust your gut, take a risk, and then give that choice your all. Robert Frost did that.
4. Personally, poetry didn't make a lot of sense when I was in school.  I realize now how fun it can be, how poets play with words and say things in tricky ways that challenge the reader to think, and I want to introduce that concept to my kids little by little, stanza by stanza.
5. Their days were "ordinary but meaningful." The book is worth it for just that--a reminder that we don't need lots of gizmos and gadgets.  The simple things, especially when done with humor and appreciation, sure do mean a lot.

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Other books on poetry you might want to check out:
Guyku: A Year of Haiku for Boys (Raczka)
Poem-Mobiles: Crazy Car Poems (Lewis)
Runny Babbit (Silverstein)
And pretty much anything by Dr Suess, of course!

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch by Anne Isaacs

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch by Anne Isaacs, illustrated by Kevin Hawkes

Rating: 4.5 stars

You could hear a pin drop when I read this very wordy picture book to my trio a few days ago.  Storyteller Anne Isaacs writes a fun tall tale about a rich widow ridding herself of suitors. I would never have predicted each of my children would care so much about the story!

And here's a brief synopsis of that story:

In 1870, the widow Tulip Jones inherits 35 million dollars and a ranch at By-Golly Gully, Texas.  She immediately hops the next boat over to America from her native England (she brings "two trunks of tea and her twelve pet tortoises" and three servants that would soon serve as ranch-hands). When the Widow Jones gets there, she and her three ladies-in-waiting soon realize that everything grows bigger in Texas.  "Potatoes are so big it only takes seven of them to make a dozen."  Her turtles grow to the size of thoroughbreds, and she treats them as the speedy steeds they become.

By Golly Gully was so hot that chickens laid hard-boiled eggs,
and lizards hobbled around on stilts to avoid
burning their feet on the ground.

But it's her money, not her green thumb or animal husbandry, that makes men line up for miles to propose to her. Every day she fends them off one at a time, and every night she sits and chats with Charlie, the ranch's baker, and eats the delicious things he makes for her to try.

She comes up with a plan to get rid of the suitors by making her hand in marriage something to be won in an impossible contest.  Meanwhile, back at the ranch, her three ranch hand pals come up with their own plan: to invite a thousand brides to come and take the thousand suitors off of the Widow Jones' hands.

These two plans unfold simultaneously and seamlessly, and my kids were wrapped up in the drama as Anne Isaacs builds up the story in a great, too tall Texas way.  I won't spill all the beans, but you've probably guessed that there were some very entertaining hiccups in each of the plans, and the thousand brides end up scaring away the main bad guys--the Hole in the Pants Gang--because these guys would rather go to jail than get married.

(I did my best not to laugh out loud and then explain why that was so funny on that point while reading to my kids.)

Anyway, the three ranch hands also find husbands so the Widow Jones is left...alone.  Just for the moment, because her baker Charlie has more to offer her than a baked good at the end of her last day of suitors.  He has a diamond ring for her to try.  It's a happy ending after a long, rollicking tale that just feels good to everyone.

Hats off to Anne Isaacs here for writing such a break-the-rules long picture book that really would be less good if it was less wordy.  I'm surprised I like it so much because the story is all about getting hitched, and I think the normal picture book audience is too young to think much about that.  And it's looooong...I'm surprised three year old Kiefer sat through it.

Illustrator Kevin Hawkes might be a big part of the reason he did.  Hawkes is incredible, crazy talented, excelling at making downright impossible things look like they could happen tomorrow morning, if only you were in the right place.  He illustrated one of my favorite holiday books, Santa From Cincinnati, as well as two books I've not reviewed but bought because the illustrations just blew me away (the stories are wonderful, too!): The Library Lion and Velma Gratch and the Way Cool Butterfly.

For me, Isaacs and Hawkes make a fantastic duo.  I'd like to see them pair up again!

Satch & Me (A Baseball Card Adventure) by Dan Gutman

Satch & Me (A Baseball Card Adventure) by Dan Gutman

Rating: 4.5 stars

Ben is a sports nut.  This is not news for those who know him.  He knows right where the nonfiction sports section is in the library, and he spends most of his library time there, in his happy place.  He happily checks out the same books on baseball, soccer, football, and rugby again and again and again.

In the juvenile fiction section, he goes right to the CHR section, where he chooses a few Matt Christopher books to "read" by himself.  (We've read one together, The Lucky Bat.  Read that review here.)  But when I came across this Baseball Card Adventure series, I couldn't help but share it with him.  He quickly chose one to read together with me at night; I was thrilled he chose Satch & Me.  After reading Something to Prove: The Great Satchel Paige vs the Rookie Joe DiMaggio I wanted to know more about Satch.

The Baseball Card Adventure books all have the same premise: Joe Stoshack, or "Stosh," can travel through time by holding baseball cards from the year to which he wants to travel. In each book, Stosh has a unique reason to want to travel to meet that particular ball player.  In Satch's case, he and his Little League coach want to track the speed of Satch's famous pitch: Just how fast can this guy throw?

Though Scholastic suggests this book for kids in grades three through five, I thought it was completely appropriate for Ben, who enters kindergarten in a little over a month.  There were many things I loved about the book:

• The story started strong at the first page, and Ben was hooked quickly.  He learned the word "cliffhanger" because many of the chapters really did leaving him begging for me to read just one more chapter…that's always a good sign!
• Stosh tells the story in the first person.  He's a normal kid and a likable character as he makes mistakes and weighs decisions and sometimes gets in a bit of trouble.
• As always, I'm awed and grateful by how much I can teach Ben through baseball.  Stosh goes back in time and witnesses segregation and prejudice and bigotry first-hand, and Gutman doesn't shy away from pointing out injustices through Stosh's eyes.  I never once had to change the wording to explain something. I did, however, stop to explain things and answer Ben's many questions...
• Gutman does an excellent job of having his older characters--in this case, Satch and Flip--instill some wisdom in young Stosh.  And, in some instances, Satch teaches Flip a thing or two (mostly about women "The things you do for women you wouldn't do for anything else.  Same with money").  And Stosh has some advice for readers, too, even though he's still mighty young himself.  My favorite line of his: "Sometimes you just have to take a chance and hope you made the smart decision."
• Satchel Paige was an interesting character both in the book and in real life--and an important one.  In the back of the book, Gutman spends a few pages spreading the facts out for the reader.  Paige was the first player from the Negro League to be inducted in the Baseball Hall of Fame, and most players who played with him believe him to be the best pitcher in the history of baseball.
• I loved sharing Ben's passion a little every night.  I hear about it all day, yes, but learning about one of the great ball players with him was my kind of fun, and after a phone call with my ball playing grandfather, Ben and I were equally floored to hear that Grandpa played against Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson (another player who pops up in the book).  Neither of us can wait to get the rest of the story from Grandpa!

Things you might want to know before reading this with your child:

• Stosh's parents are divorced.  This fact surfaces a little in each book that we've read (we're reading Jackie & Me now).  They have a good co-parenting relationship, but are not overly chummy.
• In this book, Stosh takes his 70-something, single Little League coach, Flip, back in time with him, and Flip meets a girl and they fall in love. She runs away from her father to catch up with Flip and Stosh, and Stosh considers leaving Flip in the past so he can be with her.  This little romance is appropriate for older kids, but I edited out a few sentences for Ben. (I couldn't do this with Lorelei, who corrects me when I'm reading!

Yesterday I took the kids to the bookstore and let them choose two books or games (or, in Kiefer's case, a mean-looking Lego policeman alarm clock…something that this smiley child who wakes up around 5:30 most mornings definitely does NOT need…).  Ben went right to the "G" area of "Middle Grade Fiction" to see which books from the Baseball Card Adventure series were there.  Only one: Babe & Me.  "That's the one I wanted!" Ben exclaimed with Willy-Wonka gold ticket excitement.

So, looks like I'll soon be reporting back about Babe, too…!

The Tree Lady by H. Joseph Hopkins

The Tree Lady: The True Story of How One Tree-Loving Woman Changed a City Forever by H. Joseph Hopkins, illustrated by Jill McElmurry

Rating: 5 stars

Katherine Olivia Sessions lived in Northern California in the 1860s.  In a time when girls were supposed to be prim and proper, clean and courteous, Kate roamed the redwoods, collected pine needles, and got dirty.

(Don't you like her already?)

She was one of few girls interested in science, and she left home to study plants and soil and water at the University of California.  In 1881, she and a handful of other women held a degree in science.

(Hooray for Kate!)

She moved to Southern California, to San Diego, for a job after graduation.  Unlike her childhood in the north, she was now surrounded by desert and a landscape without trees.  She was a teacher at a local school for a few years, but missed science.  She missed trees, too.  She became determined to find trees to grow in her new home. Few believed this was possible.

(Kate had determination and faith and smarts…enough to solve any problem.)

Her friends worried Kate wouldn't find trees to live in dry
soil with lots and lots of sunshine.
But she did.

It took years of tree hunting to find trees that would grow, but found trees, planted trees, and then opened a nursery to sell trees. All of the trees grew, enriched the landscape, and made city leaders believe that Balboa Park needed trees to become a better setting for a fair that would soon be held there. They turned to Kate, and Kate turned to the community for volunteers to help.  Together, they planted trees and created a lush backdrop for the fair.

I admit that I got this book and a few others like it at the start of Lorelei's nature science camp as further inspiration for her curiosity and interest in the camp.  I read a while back that around the age of seven, girls have a significant decline in their interest of science and math.  Something happens, and I'm not expert enough to understand the nuances of how girls act in school in these subjects in most schools, or what happens psychologically as girls develop and approach things that are Typically Boy and Typically Girl.

But.

I do know that I have a daughter who gasped at the cover of this book and said, "That could be me!" before even opening it.  She identified with Kate Sessions; both girls find solace and wonder among nature and trees.  Both are curious and capable, and care enough about things besides themselves to make a difference in others' lives.  So yes, I want this book lying around to quietly and beautifully remind Lorelei: Individuals matter.  And girls can do great things.

(I believe that Lorelei can.  And will!)

She Loved Baseball by Audrey Vernick

She Loved Baseball: The Effa Manley Story by Audrey Vernick, illustrated by Don Tate

Rating: 4.5 stars

Have your kids ever watched the credits after a show or movie, and asked you who all those people are?  It's always a good moment for me when one of my kids gets to this stage of questioning.  I like helping them realize that it takes a lot of people to make one of their favorite shows.  It takes a team of people to do nearly anything, really, even if there's just one person who seems to get all the credit.

For that reason, I am grateful that we stumbled upon She Loved Baseball: The Effa Manley Story. The book tells the story of a behind-the-scenes woman.  Young Effa moved to New York City after high school at a time when Babe Ruth and the Yankees were all people talked about.  She fell in love with the team, the sport, and with a young man who also loved the Yankees and baseball--Abe Manley.

After the two married they lived in Harlem.  During that time, even in black communities, most businesses were owned by white people, and white people worked in those businesses.  People told her "That's how things are, Effa," but she didn't listen. She organized rallies and protests and boycotts until black people were working in white businesses in Harlem.

Also after they married, they started a team--the Brooklyn Eagles--in the new Negro National League.  Despite the fact that women usually weren't usually part of a business, Effa did all the behind-the-scenes work: "organizing schedules, ordering equipment, arranging transportation." She took care of the men on the team; they called her their "mother hen."

In 1947, Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers--the first black player in the major leagues.  This was a huge achievement, but…what did it mean for the Negro League?  Major league teams started to turn to Negro League teams for players.  They didn't bother asking whether or not these black ballplayers had contracts.  They didn't bother paying the Negro League team for the ballplayer.

Effa was outraged.  "That's how things are, Effa," people told her.  She refused to believe it, and talked to the press about it.  When Cleveland Indians owner knocked on the Brooklyn Eagles' door for one of their players, Larry Doby, she stood up to him and insisted the team get paid for his contract.  The Indians paid $15,000, and Doby became the first black player in the American League.  After that, Negro League teams always got paid.

Long after this turning point in baseball history, and probably because Effa wrote long letters to them about how much they added to the sport, the Baseball Hall of Fame inducted many Negro League players.  And, in 2006, Effa Manley was the first woman to also be inducted.  "She was recognized for all she did for her players, for her civil rights work, and for getting the major leagues to treat Negro League teams with respect."  Pretty amazing, pretty cool.

There's so much kids can learn from this not-so-traditional baseball story… I would stick around to say more, point out the obvious here and there, but I've got to return this baseball book and all the others I've had on loan from our library.  It's baseball season and I think I've got them all!

P.S.  We like this book by Audrey Vernick.  But we love her Brothers at Bat even more!

There Goes Ted Williams: The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived by Matt Tavares

There Goes Ted Williams: The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived by Matt Tavares

Rating: 5 stars

Ben read the title and retorted: "Wait.  I thought Babe Ruth was the greatest hitter who ever lived!"

Ah, another chance to enhance his life with a little life lesson: the difference between fact and opinion.  And Matt Tavares, in his afterward, explains his bias: His father loved Ted Williams, and grew up following Williams' every move.  How fitting, then, that Tavares wrote an homage to Williams.  Or was it an homage to his father?  Let's face it: both.

And it's a very positive, very respectful homage indeed, full of life lessons for Ben and other kids like the one above.  I admit not to know a whole lot about Ted Williams.  I've not read the recent book The Kid: The Immortal Life of Ted Williams by Ben Bradlee, Jr.  But I've read enough reviews of it and listened to enough of my grandfather's stories to know that he's not exactly my first choice for one of Ben's heroes.  While he was a sensational hitter and his batting average remains to be beaten, he was a brutal, mean man outside of baseball.

The book, of course, says nothing of that.  And that's okay. His life has good lessons for Ben and other boys and girls in this generation.

There Goes Ted Williams speaks of Ted Williams' commitment to baseball--his insistence at being excellent at it.  He practiced and swung and practiced and swung hours a day because he wanted to be the best.  And--whaddya know--he achieved his goal.  He really did become the best.  But his baseball career was interrupted by war: In May 1942, Williams walked away from the spotlight to become a pilot in the navy's V-5 training program.

Williams begins another commitment: this one to his country--and he focuses all of his energy on being excellent at it.  After he finishes his training and is awaiting his orders for combat duty, Japan surrenders.  He can go back to baseball.

And so he does.  In a terrific way, he picks up the bat right where he left it.

Yet his career is interrupted again, this time by the Korean War.  The navy needs pilots, and the navy needs him.  After 39 successful missions, after one emergency landing (which serves as the climax of the book in a gripping way), he goes home.

And Ted Williams picks up the bat once more.

For kids today (am I old enough to start a sentence like that?!), I think there are many good lessons in this great book.  I like how the book teaches how success takes time and effort: it involves a whole lot of practice, a whole lot of putting-in-the-time to achieve a goal.  I like how the book shows how Williams threw himself into his time as a pilot just as much as he threw himself into baseball.  I love how it illustrates his commitment to something even bigger than baseball: his country.

Ted Williams was, just as we all are, terribly and wonderfully human.  Bravo to Matt Tavares for selecting a lot of the good and presenting it so well, in both words and pictures.

Something to Prove: The Great Satchel Paige vs Rookie Joe DiMaggio by Robert Skead

Something to Prove: The Great Satchel Paige vs Rookie Joe DiMaggio by Robert Skead, illustrated by Floyd Cooper

Rating: 4 stars

Most of this book flew over my children's heads like one of Satchel Paige's fast balls.  They just aren't old enough.  They are still learning America's history.  They are still learning what prejudice is, let alone how deep racial prejudices once were--and still are, in many ways.  They are only beginning to understand the concept of "proving something," though I sure hope that they are mostly proving that something to themselves.  But let's face it, it'll be more than themselves at some point in their lives.

Satchel Paige was a sensational black pitcher in the 1930s.  Some say that he was the best pitcher that was around during that heyday of American baseball, and still others say he was the best there ever was--then and now.  He pitched in the Negro League, but he was known to anyone who knew anything about baseball.

That included a young, rookie Joe DiMaggio, who was just getting started in his baseball career.  We turn our heads at the name now, but in the late 1930s he was still being watched, still trying to prove his greatness to agents and team managers and other players and, of course, to himself.

"Now I know I can make it with the Yankees. I finally
got a hit off Ol' Satch," he said.  Satch overheard.

Something to Prove chronicles one game in the life of these two men, when their two lives and two careers crossed paths.  New York Yankees general manager Ed Barrow wanted to see how good DiMaggio was, so he wanted DiMaggio to "face the best."  He called Paige.  He was the best, but "because of the color of his skin, he was not permitted to play in the major leagues."

When they do meet--a black team against a white team (the illustrations by Cooper are beautiful works of art)--it's memorable.  Their meeting is eye-opening; the great DiMaggio fares well, but he shows a deep reverence for the greatness he sees and experiences in the awesome pitches that fly his way.  He hits one of four, and is completely proud of that record because, as DiMaggio himself said throughout his career, Satchel Paige was "the best and fastest pitcher I ever faced."

What happens after this one game is sad and unfair, and hard for kids today to really comprehend (in a good way--they don't yet realize that some things are impossible): DiMaggio goes on to become Great, and Satchel Paige returns to the Negro League to be great.  After Jackie Robinson becomes the first black man to play for the major leagues, Paige finally plays for the major leagues for a brief time--at 42!--for the St. Louis Browns.  It is a book that my kids could walk away from, but the sad and unfair aspects to the story are still with me, weeks after I first read it.  That's how you know a good book from a just-fine one: it gets under your skin.

There's so much to be learned in baseball.  So many conversations with our kids to be had about all of this important history, and while Something to Prove is really a book for second and third graders, I'm still grateful it exists to push us to start talking with our kids, and keep talking with them.

P.S.  For more books by Robert Skead, click HERE.

Brothers At Bat by Audrey Vernick

Brothers at Bat: The True Story of an Amazing All-Brothers Baseball Team by Audrey Vernick, illustrated by Steven Salerno

Rating: 5 stars

I love this book.  Love it!

Meet the Acerras: The best way to meet them, methinks, is to go back in time and stand outside their house on a nice Spring day like today (here in Northern Virginia) and count how many boys run out.  Count how many gloves and bats fly out the door with those boys.  Count how many times the back door slaps against the frame as they come out, running, to the ball field.

It'll slap twelve times.  Twelve.  Twelve!  There were twelve baseball-playing brothers.  (And four sisters, too.  They didn't play ball because "back then, most people thought sports were just for boys.")

Their uniforms all said the same thing: Acerras.

Their story is fun and sweet and full of SO many little and big opportunities to compare and contrast today's childhood and yesteryear's childhood. The Acerras' house was crowded, and they entertained themselves, mostly with outdoor sports.  (Those two things are certainly related!)  Smaller house equals more outside play time.  In 1938, the brothers ranged in age from seven to thirty-two.  Their was an Acerra on the high school baseball team for twenty-two years in a row.  The facts are mind-boggling, and smile-inducing.

There were so many brothers that they formed their own semi-pro team and competed against other New Jersey teams.  Their coach?  Dad.  Each brother had their own nickname that matched his own personality. There was no rivalry or fighting--"we stick together," Freddie said.  And when that same guy, Freddie, suffered an accident and lost an eye, his brothers helped him through it and helped him get back on the field.

This is a feel-good book of all feel-good books.  The tight-knit, huge family; the all-American game of baseball; the nostalgic illustrations by Steven Salerno; the gut-wrenching moments when they all went off to war (and came back--each and every one--I have to spill the beans so you don't worry)…  All of this makes for a great read and a huge appreciation for the type of childhood that built characters I know and love.  Characters like my two grandfathers, my dad, my uncles.

The all-brother team always drew big crowds.

I kinda want to buy Brothers At Bat for those characters.  For my Grandpa K, whose excellent playing put him in the Pennsylvania Baseball Hall of Fame (but he went to serve his country rather than join the major leagues).  Or maybe for my other Grandpa, who coached--baseball on the field and life lessons off the field--his three boys and  all the neighborhood boys.  Or maybe for those three boys, who are now my dad and my two uncles.  Or…

Or maybe I'll just read it to Ben, who leapt off the sofa just a dozen minutes ago, where he was comfortably watching an afternoon cartoon, because the neighborhood brothers (all three of them) plus their cousin (all one of him) invited him to play baseball.  And he's out there now on this warm Spring afternoon, throwing and catching and hitting like so many boys before him.

Barbed Wire Baseball by Marissa Moss

Barbed Wire Baseball by Marissa Moss, illustrated by Yuko Shimizu

Rating: 4 stars

There's just so much you can learn through baseball.  I'm talking about sobering American history: what happened to Japanese-Americans during World War II after Pearl Harbor was attacked.

Kenichi Zenimura was born in Japan then immigrated to America when he was eight.  He was small and slight--barely five feet tall and only one hundred pounds!--but fell in love with baseball the first time he saw a ball game.  His parents wanted him to become something more serious and important--a lawyer or doctor, perhaps--but "Zeni" coached and managed and played baseball. He was selected to play with star members of the New York Yankees, and even arranged for Babe Ruth to play in Japan.

But that world collapsed for him when the Japanese
attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941.

But in 1941, when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, his world changed.

As you probably know, but as your children probably yet do not, Japanese-Americans were sent to camps in the west because the government considered them possible spies.  Zeni was heartbroken not to continue his work in baseball, but since that was what gave him joy and made him feel happy, he brought it to the camp.  Zeni mobilized his friends and family and, with many hours of hard labor, built a true baseball field in the dry Arizona camp.

Most of the book is about the building of the field--Moss writes how Zeni was focused on creating a real ballpark, not just a thrown-together one.  "We have to do this right," he explained.  I love the focus on doing a job well and right, with a focus on excellence.  All of this gets you, and got Zeni and his helpers, a huge sense of pride when the job is done.

Zeni is between Lou Gehrig (second from left)
and Babe Ruth at an exhibition game in Fresno, CA

The mood around camp shifted as the first game approached, as people had something to look forward to and enjoy.  People filled the bleachers and spilled over onto the ground, excited to watch as Zeni, his sons, and their friends simply played ball.  And felt free.

This is a really good book, though definitely for an older reader and best read while in your lap--it is sure to raise a few very good, very serious questions, and hopefully a patient parent or grandparent or teacher can answer those questions.

Becoming Babe Ruth by Matt Tavares

Becoming Babe Ruth by Matt Tavares

Rating: 5 stars

I suspect that this will only happen once, and it's happening now: Lorelei and Ben are playing the same sport, and they're on the same team.  They're both playing for the Cincinnati Reds in our local Little League--at the t-ball level.  Lorelei likes it, Ben loves it; they are both soaking up some of the rich history of the oh-so-American, oh-so-tradition-rich sport by the stories they are reading.

Dozens of wonderful nonfiction books exist about baseball that bring out the excitement of a previous era, teach about a famous sportsman, and hold the interest of almost any age of reader.  This is one of those books.

Becoming Babe Ruth came out last year--I read about it in the NYTimes Book Review (click HERE) one Sunday when I actually did read the paper.  The story starts off with a slightly shocking image and with a fact I didn't know: In George Ruth's early years in Baltimore, Maryland, he was a rascal of a kid who skipped school and caused trouble.  Yikes! What else was I about to read my kids?! I wondered as I read this page out loud.

But then the story unfolds: in an effort to straighten him out, George's parents send him to the strict St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys.  There, he first chafed under the tight control...until he found baseball.  He was soon slugging away nearly every afternoon, and the balance of finding something he loved (and that something he loved came along with someone he loved, the brother/coach of the team) made the strictness of the school bearable.  Years later, after he'd been playing baseball there for a decade or so, a scout came to watch him.  He was signed onto the Baltimore Orioles the next day.  While he played for them (for just half a season, before being traded to the Red Sox), he often returned to St. Mary's to play with his pals after practicing all day.  Also while playing for the Orioles, he got his nickname "Babe," which obviously stuck.

He got traded to the Red Sox, pitched less and slugged more, and became a sensation unlike any other ball player had before.  Tavares doesn't highlight his trade to the Yankees, and doesn't bring up the curse that trade famously causes (you and your child can--and should!--read about that in the fine, informative The Legend of the Curse of the Bambino).

Instead, Tavares highlights a story that highlights Ruth's character--which gave me the opportunity to talk with Ben about the importance of being a good man while also being a fantastic ball player.  While Babe Ruth was at his peak, out slamming balls left and right in any field in which he played, he got word that there had been a fire at St. Mary's.  Everything burned to the ground.  He was shocked and concerned--this was his home for so many years, and he loved it.  He returned and figured out a way to help.  He took the St. Mary's baseball team on tour with him--letting them lap up hot dogs and ice cream like they never had before, and letting them soak up games as they traveled around with the Yankees for a good part of the season. At the games, Babe Ruth asked people to donate money to have St. Mary's rebuilt.  They did, and St. Mary's was, in fact, rebuilt.

This is a fantastic book about a sportsman every kid needs to know about--a must-read for sure.

There's so much to love about this sport even if, like me, all the joy of playing it comes from pitching to your kid and watching the joy and pride wash over his face when he actually hears the SMACK of the bat meeting the ball.  It's really the first time in parenting when I've sat on the side and watched my children being coached (by my great friend and great coach for this sponge-like yet attention-challenged age group).  I'm learning so much about it all.

United Tweets of America: 50 State Birds by Hudson Talbott

United Tweets of America: 50 State Birds by Hudson Talbott

Rating: 4.5 stars

This (pretty random) book illustrates perfectly the truism: it pays to have a good relationship with one's librarian.  Once again, I have Ben to thank for this lesson.  Mr. Steven, his current favorite librarian, is oh-so-patient with Ben's imperfectly-spoken but always-earnest requests.  Of Ben's current current interests, sports is still at the top.  But, thanks to a long unit on birds in his pre-Kindergarten class, he's been looking for books on birds in between looking for birds out his window.  And, he's very interested in the United States.  In the past, Mr. Steven found him a DK Book on the United States and Texas, which Ben pored through quietly in one sitting.

Jonathan's home state is home to:
the Mardi Gras-partying Brown Pelican

One day about a month ago, Ben boldly walked up to the Circulation Desk with his "library list" in hand.  He asked Mr. Steven for a book on birds.  I think this was the beginning of the bird phase, the second time he asked Mr. Stephen about bird books.  So Mr. Steven strode off to the appropriate section, with Ben trotting happily behind him, dimples deep with joy.  (Who doesn't love joy in a library?  It's a good story already, methinks!) And Ben came back with this book, dimples impossibly deep with excitement.

"LOOK!" he said.  "It's a book about birds AND the United States!  Mr. Stephen found it for me!"

We've renewed it once already, and I think Ben might cry the day we actually have to return it.  We've read it cover to cover twice.  It's such a funny little book with funny little drawings--and that funniness is actually largely adult humor (for example, on the Tennessee page the bird is made to look like Elvis, and I had to explain why that was funny to Ben...although he knows what Elvis sounds like, he doesn't know what he looks like.  Well, until now!).  But Ben loves it.

Each page is dedicated to a state, and a big, usually silly illustration covers most of the page.  There are facts about the state--state anthem, state song, state capital, notable people from the state.  Also included are lots of little random things about the state that are fun to know.  For example:

• Kool-Aid was invented in Nebraska.
• Maine supplies 99% of the blueberries consumed and 90% of the toothpicks used in the U.S.
• Illinois is home to the world's largest cookie producer, Nabisco.  In 1995 they made 16 billion Oreos!
• Inspired by the view from Pike's Peak, CO, Katharine Lee Bates wrote "America the Beautiful."

Ben and Kiefer look for birds on a snowy morning...

Ben loves this book, and I have to say I've been really impressed with the big push about birds from his school.  Somehow it encapsulates all that I want for Ben that he doesn't naturally gravitate towards.  While he normally rushes through his day, expending endless amounts of his endless energy doing and chasing and running and laughing exuberantly, I think there's so much to be learned from quiet observation in nature.

I've written before about the huge effect the book Last Child in the Woods had on me eight years ago, but this unit on birds reminds me how great it is to:

1. Be in a natural environment as much as possible (breathing in that fresh air)
2. Be quiet and still in that environment (and, therefore, practicing quietness and stillness)
3. Observe things happening in that environment with all of your senses (with birds, definitely sight and sound, but how can kids not also listen to the wind and feel it on their skin?)
4. Note the uniqueness of each bird's markings and calls (what a lesson: within a group, each is different and special in their own way!)

Really, this blog post turned out to be a shout out of appreciation for those great people in our great community who are, luckily for us, having a wonderful affect on Ben's growth: a special librarian, and a special team of teachers.  Thank you!