I often think of Einstein’s words: “There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle.” Children live with a sense of awe. Sometimes I’m afraid that the pain in this life will chip away at my sense of wonder until […]
Category Archives: Children’s Book Moments
“This is one I’ll keep when the kids are grown,” my friend said as she handed me a picture book a weekend ago. Reading it made me happy. As my friend put it, the book “sentimentalizes modern life.” I vowed to myself to remember the title, but all I recalled two days later was that […]
I woke up in the pitch black to the ringing of my alarm and thought of a children’s book. “I know it’s autumn when the morning light comes late . . . .” So begins Eileen Spinelli’s picture book, I Know It’s Autumn. It is a mood piece (the kind of picture book children’s writing […]
Has the change in the air given you energy? Are dreams reawakening in your heart? Do you feel a glimmer of holiday anticipation? Then, you have tasted the sweetness of September! The following is a list of “blooms,” some tended, some unexpected, in my actual garden and in the garden of my life during this […]
A haiku is a short poem about nature. At its best, it lets the reader experience a scene—causes her to feel the emotions of being there! I think you’ll find, like I have, that the structure (five syllables in the first line, seven syllables in the second line, and five syllables in the third) creates […]
I looked out the window one morning to see a soccer ball, like a black and white gazing ball, on the ground beside the garden shed. Maybe because I’d recently been thinking about Basho’s influence on me, the scene inspired this haiku: A still soccer ball Hiding beneath iris leaves— How I love my boys! […]
July has been gentle this year. We’ve had miraculously cool breezes and refreshing summer rainstorms. There has been no string of days over 100° F. Friends and family have had the energy to visit, and the flowers have had enough pep to welcome them with petaled smiles. Here is a list of “blooms” in my […]
Fog hovered over the tops of the foothills of the Smoky Mountains. Clouds covered the sun, providing relief from the July heat. Life had been hard in the weeks leading up to that trip, and that very night (unbeknownst to us), we would come down with violent stomach bugs. But on that misty morning at […]
June has brought warm breezes and refreshing rains. Ah, sweet summertime— a deep breath, a peaceful dream, unhurried gatherings with family and friends . . . the stuff children’s books are made of! The pace of life slowed for me to savor the following “blooms” in my garden and in my life this month: Summer […]
“Give us this day our daily bread.” Matthew 6:11 To a tiny town, snug within the Bible belt, I drove to meet my friend beneath a funeral tent. Her younger sister, who had been sick since we were little, had gone home to heaven. When I reached the town, raindrops greeted me, thumping upon my […]
A Children's Book World 