Homeplace by Anne Shelby & Illus by Wendy Anderson Halperin

I fully intended to have an amazing array of women's history books for March, but.... that didn't happen. I am a little behind things! 

This book isn't strictly women and it isn't nonfiction, but I love thinking about the women who have come before me. Those farm women on the Canadian shield, the Irish immigrants in 1920's New Jersey, the Scottish potato farmers in New Brunswick.... 

All the amazing things women have done to break down barriers is more important to my everyday life, but the stories of my women is much more personal and deeply felt. 

A little girl learns about her family history from her grandmother. 

All those years ago, this person whose blood runs in your veins conceived of the very house you are living in. The summer before last, I visited the farmhouse all those farm wives lived in on the Canadian shield. I saw the tools and creations used by all those generations and it was incredibly moving. I had expected to be interested, but I hadn't expected to feel so much. 

I think that connection to the past, that rootedness is something we are losing in this global, transient world of ours. Sometimes that is good--we don't want to be stuck in one place just because someone before us couldn't go anywhere else. Yet, I think that feeling of belonging, of a deep connection to a certain place can be very steadying influence in life. Even the pioneers, as they headed west, it was always with the intent of making a new family homestead, a place where future generations would come to. 

There is no denying that history can be a burden at times, but there is something in me that feels nostalgic for that feeling of belonging. Maybe that has something more to do with not having grandparents around when I was little--my mother's parents died when she was young, and my father's grandparents were older and died when I was 3 (grandfather) and 9 (grandmother).  

As the grandmother tells about each generation, we get a sense for what they were doing, how they were living, and what the tools they had. 

I adore this kind of day-to-day history. 

Much more interesting to think about how women cooked 200 years ago than how some men argued and got into wars. 

SHEEP. I also feel very nostalgic about owning sheep. Mostly because my husband thinks sheep are a scourge on the earth. One of these days, I am going to buy some. I am sure he just has confused memories from his childhood year on a sheep farm... 

Family love. This makes my heart happy.

The illustrations are just jammed full of details. So much to look at. And look at again. 

Mother love

Women on tractors

And then to the grandmother's personal life. 

I love the connection between the grandmother and child

And now, here you are, growing like a melon in the patch, like tulips in the springtime of the year, like a young tree coming up from old roots deep down in the ground. 

And those deep roots help you stand strong and tall. 

I LOVE THIS BOOK. 

Hooray for Birds! by Lucy Cousins

This is a delightfully colorful book celebrating birds. 

So. Much. Color! 

I think this book will be really fun to do with little kids and have them act it out. Of course, I can just imagine a room full or Pre-K-ers running into each other, but... 

THESE COLORS!

There are so many fun things to do with kids in here!

Sing like a bird

And cuddle up close. 

This is probably meant more for a mother-child read, but it is such a riot of color and movement that I am pretty sure it would work for pretty much everyone. 

Heart and Soul by Kadir Nelson

Okay, listen. I KNOW I took too many pictures. I am fully aware of that. But I would like to see you try to narrow it down to only a handful. Kadir Nelson is INCREDIBLE. That cover? Swoony. 

This book is an "everywoman" sharing her story. While historically accurate, this is not a biography. Rather it telling the American story, adding in the parts black people played that were later left out of the history books. 

Slaves fighting for the American colonies in the Revolution. Those that fought were freed.

All the slaves could have been freed right then and there while they were writing the constitution, but as our narrator says, slavery was like mother's milk to America. The founding fathers thought they had to have slaves to keep the country going. 

I love how Nelson paints this black into the shadow, just as the founding fathers did with the slaves.

Importing slaves became illegal in the early 1800's but still happened up until the Civil War. 

Cotton picker

There are several different sections in this book, focusing on different parts of the African-American experience. 

Each one begins with several quotes and the section itself is the perfect length for reading to my fourth grade class in one half hour class. Of course, we had to stop and discuss it, so the actual reading time is shorter, but you kind of NEED to discuss it. We had some really great discussions. 

Honestly, this might be one of the greatest books to open this conversation. It really made an impact on my fourth graders. Or.... at least it did for the half hour class I had them for. After they left the library and went to the lunchroom, it may have gone completely out of their head, but I like to think it didn't. Because, otherwise, most of what I do is pointless. Sigh. 

There have been some difficult days with middle schoolers recently, which makes me question the whole school librarian thing. So I try to convince myself I AM making a difference and expanding student's minds....

I was enchanted with spanish moss covered avenues when I was young. I cut out a picture from a magazine and tacked it up to my wall when I was ten. 

Fighting in the Civil War

Freed slaves

Intimidation tactics

Teacher

On of the reasons I love Kadir Nelson's pictures so much is the dignity, love, and humanity radiating from these images. I want to be this woman's best friend. She looks like she could teach me a thing or two about handling middle schoolers effectively. 

The Great Migration north

Civil rights protests

The jazz age

Integrating schools

The march on Washington

And finally, at long last, voting rights. 

My Friend Isabelle by Eliza Woloson & Illus by Bryan Gough

Today is National Down's Syndrome Day! I saw this book in the library a few weeks ago and brought it home because it was so cute. After reading it, I realized it was about a little girl with Down's Syndrome. 

It is such a delightful little book. And it was written by the mother of a little girl, Isabelle, with Down's in Colorado, which makes it even more delightful! 

The illustrations are so dear and sweet. 

I like all the bright clear colors.

Charlie and Isabelle are good friends that are not the same. 

Charlie is tall, Isabelle is short. 

Isabelle is a little slower on her feet. 

One of the reasons I love this book is that it doesn't talk about Down's Syndrome. In a book for older kids, a discussion of Down's would be great, but for a younger age, it would be useless words. This book just focuses on things young children would notice and understand. 

As a Down's mother, I adore the message this book sends. 

We are all different, but being different can make things interesting and fun! 

Spring for Sophie by Yael Werber & Illus by Jen Hill

Happy Spring!!

It is not very springy here in Northern New York--below zero temperatures the past three mornings and 2 feet of snow on the ground. But it IS spring, so the cold and snow can't last much longer. Already I can feel the increased strength of the sun--icicles dripping even at 20 degrees--the roads clearing off faster than they did in January. 

I am ready for warmth and sunshine!

This is an adorable book.

Sophie apparently has a spring like ours--it seems like it will NEVER come. 

These pictures! Love, love, love.

Have I already discussed my prejudice for northern things? I have always lived in northern-ish places, (Alaska, NY, and Colorado--which is a little northern feeling on the Western Slope where we lived) and who doesn't love books you can identify with? 

I want this house. That window! The fireplace! 

Sophie is full of questions--how can she tell when spring is coming? 

Her mother tells her to use her ears--she will begin to hear birds chirping.

She finally begins to hear the birds!

So more questions--how can you tell besides using your ears?

Use your feet. When the ground begins to feel softer, that is spring. 

Then Sophie learns that she must use her eyes and nose to tell when spring will come.

Those spring happenings and spring smells!!

I love this idea of connection with the natural world. Observing, feeling, and talking about. 

I am of the opinion that people, kids in particular, need a LOT more outdoor time than they are currently getting. So I am a little biased towards any book that encourages interaction with nature. 

Now you know about a few of my biases. Outside in the North. Any book with that focus is going to delight me. Well, probably.