April 30: Last Call for Poetry Month... NOT!

 In the recent posts I've focused on picture books that engage with EARTH DAY and environmental topics. Missed them? Check out books that involve restoration/repurposing, HERE, our remarkable planet's precious OCEAN, and the damage that we do to it, HERE,  the power of shared generational experiences to develop environmental values, HERE, animal adaptation in response to habitat changes, HERE, the never-ending need for vigilant attention when progress is made, HERE, and some very specific examples of turning values into action, HERE. 

Whew! There are plenty more books I could have touted, but April is just a wildly busy month when it comes to focusing on important themes and topics.

But... and if you've read my posts in the past this will not be news... THEME MONTHS are a double edged sword! Environmental concern and action is useless unless it becomes a 24/7/365 practice. So, too, it's foolish to think that designating a single week in April to extend thanks to our librarians, library workers and public library services is adequate. As citizens of our communities and members of a literate society, it falls to each of us to speak up for public funding fr those services, join and engage with any library "friends" organizations in our communities, and go out of our way to thank those workers at every opportunity.

As if that's not enough, APRIL is designated as NATIONAL POETRY Month. So, since today is  April 30, I'll feature some poetry books and thoughts here and then ignore poetry for another year. 

As the title for this post indicates: NOT!

Just a year ago, I had a post about the importance of poetry in our lives, HERE. 

I included this poster:

If you don't have time to click back to read the whole post, here are a few lines that I shared then, with deep respect for the young readers who helped develop the definition:

Poetry is literature with special feelings, word choices, forms, and patterns.

I urge you to read their insights. Here are only a few to explore their answers to the question, WHAT IS POETRY?:

Poetry:

·      Needs to use words

·      Does not have to be written on paper

·      Should go through the writing process to polish it to a shine

·      Does not have to be in a book

·      May have things in it to figure out

·      Can rhyme, but doesn’t have to rhyme

·      Can be long or short

·      Can describe things or people

·      Can be about nature

·      Can be about anything

and so much more...

Let's turn that calendar page tomorrow while making it a priority

 to read and recite and memorize and recommend and celebrate 

POETRY- 

EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR!

An "Anti-Theme-Month" Post

One of my earliest posts after launching this blog addressed the question of "Monthly Themes". If you've been a loyal reader, don't bother to link back, because you're already aware of my conflicted views on this practice. But if you're new around these parts (or posts) I urge you to take a moment to read the link above and give some thought to this longstanding literary practice.

Back in March, the official "Women's History Month", I became aware of these three titles but made a conscious choice to save them for now.

Harcourt Children's Books, 2003

It's pretty easy to see why I'd save MAMA PLAYED BASEBALL, by David Adler, illustrated by Chris O'Leary. I'm an avid baseball fan and proud to say that the number of quality picture books featuring baseball greats is extensive and growing. 

David Adler's success with picture book biographies is indisputable, in part because of his ability to cover all the essential details of lives while seamlessly revealing the background and the mid-ground of the world surrounding those lives.
In this case he presents a generic version of a player in one of the women's baseball teams that arose of necessity during World War II. Generic, but only in that it is not an individual's biography, and yet it's so very specific I feel as if I know this family. You will, too, including the daughter who helps Mama practice, the quirky grandparents, and the proud dad returning from war. (Fans of picture books and baseball should check out Stephanie Lowden's recent blog posts, too.)

Simon&Schuster,
Paula Wiseman Books, 2013

World War II forced society to rethink the expectations and limits of gender, but no such force was in place in the previous century. LOOK UP: Henrietta Leavitt, Pioneering Woman Astronomer, by Robert Burleigh, illustrated by Raul Colon offers an accessible and appealing look at a remarkable woman of that time. Henrietta Leavitt pursued her lifelong fascination with the stars, unphased by being the only woman in her astronomy and other science classes.  She worked at Harvard Observatory for years, despite the fact that women were consigned to essential computational analysis tasks but denied access to the telescopes. Women served as human computers and were expected to "work, not think". 
Leavitt's remarkable capacity for detailed observation, measurement, and comparison of the daily star images, coupled with her insatiable desire to understand the universe, led her to make paradigm-changing discoveries about space, stars, and the Milky Way. Her work changed forever our understanding of the size and relationships within space, and she is acknowledged as a landmark figure in the study of astronomy.
Backmatter in this book is a rich resource, including further details of her life and accomplishments, a glossary, other women astronomers, and resources for further study.

Calkins Creek Books, 2012

Back our time machine up another half century to the early 1800's to meet legendary  Molly Williams, an African American servant (not slave) in New York City. A well-researched version of her story is offered in MOLLY, BY GOLLY: The Legend of Molly Williams, America's First Woman Firefighter,  by Dianne Ochiltree, illustrated by Kathleen Kemly. 
Molly's story blends her traditional roles (cook, servant) with her very untraditional sense of self, especially for the times. The precise details of her assistance in fighting a fire in the midst of a winter storm aren't nearly as important as are her confidence and commitment. The fact that the firefighters felt such respect for her competence and courage is seen in the backmatter research notes. The patterns of firefighting described are also well-documented and offer readers real insight into the vulnerabilities of city dwellers in those times. 

Molly, Henrietta, and Mama are women who shaped the world around them rather than conforming to the expectations of their times. By so doing, they changed history, and their stories are far too important to be shelved, waiting for another "Women's History Month" to roll around. 
My concerns about the limitations of theme months, though, do not apply to "appreciation" events. In particular, I  encourage everyone to celebrate National Library Week, April 14-20. In fact, why not head over to your library this week and check out any or all of these titles. While you're there, thank a librarian. The library is often the first (and frequent) stop individuals make as they begin their own journeys to changing history for themselves.