making space for creativity
The Joy. After seven months of trying, the end of the month was drawing once again to a close. I was that guarded hopeful that I had come to know, counting the days until it would be “reasonable” to take a pregnancy test. That month (March) it was Evan’s birthday, five days after…
At the end of January, my friend, and recommender of fabulous books, Loren, went to the American Library Association mid-winter conference. I too was invited to trek down to Chicago and drool over the hundreds of 2015 upcoming releases in the exhibit hall, but for various boring reasons, mostly having to do with grading…
Twenty-Five Newberies in, I thought I’d pause and reflect on a quarter century’s worth of award winning children books from 1922 to 1946. I started this project with pretty high hopes about the delight of reading so many wonderful children’s books. However, it became apparent only a few books in that this was going to…
We’ve been trying to conceive for six months. Six months is a funny amount of time. It’s both short: only half a year. Yet it’s also long: 26 weeks, 182 days. And every one of those days I’ve thought about it. Some days in tears, a few days in calm acceptance, most days…
Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski tells the story of Biddie Boyer and her family as they move south to a new town in northern Florida in the early years of the 1900s. This lovely historical fiction Newbery captures the rural poverty and toughness of the Florida “Crackers” as the Boyers begin to farm (strawberries)…
When I was tiny, vacation felt like leaving for the airport before dawn. It was exciting to feel the bumps of an empty highway as we rushed with our bags full of swimsuits and books to make an early flight. And once we were there, Florida or California, vacation was full. It was full…
The 1945 Newbery, Robert Lawson’s Rabbit Hill, tells the tale of a community of wild animals that live near a vacant farm house. They receive news that a new family is moving in that spring. Rumors are that the new family are farmers, and times of plenty may be around the corner for the…
Today, I am highly honored to be a part of celebrating the upcoming release of Caroline Starr Rose’s newest verse novel: Blue Birds. It’s a tale of going to a strange land and being brave. At the end of high school I went to France for a few weeks with about 8 girls…
This year has been filled with good books. In addition to reading the first 23 Newberies, here are some of the other books I’ve enjoyed this year in no particular order. 30 books in honor of turning 30 last Saturday. May 2015 be filled with even more! Memoirs 1. A Good…
Dear Friends & Family, What a great, wonderful, difficult, beautiful year! We moved from Maryland to Wisconsin, became an aunt and uncle to the beautiful Anika Eve, and started a new job at Hope Christian High School teaching US History. Well, technically, only Evan has that new job, but I have been doing so…
The 1944 Newbery winner Johnny Tremain by Esther Hoskins Forbes came at the exact time that I’ve been helping Evan’s 10th graders study the American Revolution. I wanted to get 65 copies of the book and make them all read about this Boston silver smith who at their age got wrapped up in…
Yesterday was Christ the King Sunday. For Anglicans and Catholics, and anyone following the Revised Common Lectionary, it’s the last Sunday before Advent and the start of a new Church year. It’s a fairly new feast day, Pope Pius XI inaugurated it only in the 1925, and it joined the Revised Common Lectionary in…
Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray was the first re-read in this Newbery journey. I read Adam of the Road for the first time less than two years ago. Adam of the Road was a favorite of my husband’s, and we own a well loved copy. It is about a 13th century…
One aspect of the writing life that can be challenging is all the sitting. In my most glamorous writing dreams it’s sitting at a wrought iron round table at some French Bistro all morning with espressos and leather bound journals, and in the more realistic version it’s sitting in the corner of a bedroom…
Walter Edmond’s, The Matchlock Gun is the 1942 Newbery winner. This little tale is the story of Edward Van Alstyne, a ten year old boy of Dutch and German descent living in upstate New York about the time of the American Revolution who helps his mother protect his home and sister against warring local…