SLJ's Battle of the Kids' Books

I'll just urge you quickly to take a look at School Library Journal's Battle of the Kids' Books. Even if you're not completely invested in which book wins, you can't help but be entertained and enlightened by the intelligence of the writers chosen as judges for each bracket. So far, Jim Murphy, Nancy Farmer, Candace Fleming, Helen Frost and Gary Schmidt have all chosen winners for their respective brackets, and the comments about their decisions (both pro and con) make for lively reading, too. You can see which books have gone/will go up against each other, as well as which other judges are coming up, at the link above.

Poetry Friday: Ferry Boats, Apples, Pears, Puget Sound etc.

 Ferry Boat on Puget Sound (taken by Wm. Doran)

Recuerdo
 
We were very tired, we were very merry­
We had gone back and forth all night on the ferry.
It was bare and bright, and smelled like a stable­
But we looked into a fire, we leaned across a table,
We lay on a hill-top underneath the moon;
And the whistles kept blowing, and the dawn came soon.

We were very tired, we were very merry­
We had gone back and forth all night on the ferry;
And you ate an apple, and I ate a pear,
From a dozen of each we had bought somewhere;
And the sky went wan, and the wind came cold,
And the sun rose dripping, a bucketful of gold.

We were very tired, we were very merry,
We had gone back and forth all night on the ferry.
We hailed, "Good morrow, mother!" to a shawl-covered head,
And bought a morning paper, which neither of us read;
And she wept, "God bless you!" for the apples and pears,
And we gave her all our money but our subway fares.

                                                           - Edna St. Vincent Millay
                               

If I ever move away from Seattle, I'll have to move somewhere with ferry boats. How can people live without them? I suppose if you don't have them, don't ride them, don't see them slide slowly across the saltwater and into the dock, don't know how powerfully the motors rev underneath your feet as they pull out onto the water again, don't know what that cold air feels likes on your face when you're standing out on the bow, you wouldn't miss them. But I would. The poem above, by Edna St. Vincent Millay, opens so perfectly that I sometimes (like today) find the lines running through my mind for no reason whatsoever. And since Millay is undoubtedly talking about the Staten Island Ferry, I'll add in a photo of one of those beauties, sailing past the Statue of Liberty over and over without so much as sputtering, as if that lady were just a woman waiting for a bus. I love New York, and I love Seattle, and I love ferry boats.

The Poetry Friday round-up is over at SOME NOVEL IDEAS today. Head over there to see links to what bloggers are sharing.

Poetry Friday - Just a Few Lines from Dylan Thomas

Dylan Thomas, Age 19

 Dylan Thomas in the Grass

"...And playing, lovely and watery
And fire green as grass.
And nightly under the simple stars
As I rode to sleep the owls were bearing the farm away,
All the moon long I heard, blessed among stables, the nightjars
Flying with the ricks, and the horses
Flashing into the dark."

--------------------
Those lines are from Dylan Thomas's's FERN HILL, one of the most beautiful poems ever written in the English language. Every time I read it, I want to pack my bags and head for Wales. Click here to read the whole poem. 

POETRY FRIDAY this week is being hosted over at the TeachingBooks.net forum. Head over to find the links!

Blizzards Back East

I love this photo from the Library of Congress archives - Senate pages having a snowball fight in front of the Capitol Building. Wish our Senators and Representatives could get along as well as these boys seemed to do while on opposite sides.

Hope all of you caught in the blizzards are staying warm, drinking cocoa, and cuddling up with good books.

For Poetrrrry Frrrriday...Brrrr....What Snow Knows

 Watercolor by David Heyward

Tricia over at The Miss Rumphius Effect asked for snow poems for the Monday's Poetry Stretch. Here's my contribution: 

What Snow Knows 

Snow knows

the junco -

she's white-bellied and feather-light.

Snow knows

the black crow -

she's cold and unruffled in flight.

Snow knows

moonglow - 

 lips sealed, she ignores the night.

 

Poetry Friday this week is being hosted by Mary Ann over at Great Kids Books.  Head over there to see what other people have posted!