Finds tongues in trees, books in running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in everything.
— William Shakespeare
If you love books pulsing with voice, that magical quality that brings characters to life, you’ll love It’s Not Jack and the Beanstalk, by Josh Funk, illustrated by Edwardian Taylor, Two Lions, 2017. Continue reading
firecracker red roses
bring back sangria-sweetened
hot afternoons
Copyright 2018 Brenda Davis Harsham Continue reading
Finds tongues in trees, books in running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in everything.
— William Shakespeare
Finally an author explores an impulse I’ve had: to explore an abandoned house. Julie Fogliano’s new book, A House That Once Was, illustrated by the phenomenal Lane Smith, is that book with stellar imagination and vivid color-magic! It makes me remember such a house in rural, Kudzu-draped North Carolina and another stripped of color by the salty, Maine air.
I wanted to explore an abandoned barn, far in Northern Michigan when I was a kid, but my father told me the floorboards might be rotten. That makes it all the more magical to see this in a book — no risk of life or limb! Having always wanted to go inside…
Copyright 2018 Brenda Davis Harsham
Notes: What is more magical than possibility and wonder?
She cannot give her name.
She cannot give her address
for fear ICE will come Continue reading
when the bread-oven sun
summer-bakes the earth
still the rain will fall, cooling
Copyright 2018 Brenda Davis Harsham Continue reading
girls gather
on swings, flying high
laughter on the wind
Copyright 2018 Brenda Davis Harsham Continue reading
Finds tongues in trees, books in running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in everything.
— William Shakespeare
Warning, geek alert! My geek flag flies high in my love of Grace Hopper: Queen of Computer Code, by Laurie Wallmark, illustrated by Katy Wu, Sterling Children’s Books, 2017. Continue reading
be the flower
growing in dry spaces,
roots dug deep Continue reading
Finds tongues in trees, books in running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in everything.
— William Shakespeare
Lulu, an adventurous redhead who gets chicken pox, finds a clever way to climb a tree while staying inside her bedroom in Another Way to Climb a Tree, by Liz Garton Scanlon, illustrated by Hadley Hooper, A Neal Porter Book, Roaring Book Press, 2017. Continue reading
An ocean of thanks
to dads who raise faces
to the dawn, holding
up the sky on broad shoulders,
for their children.
Copyright 2018 Brenda Davis Harsham Continue reading
June Song
–by Irene Latham
Let me be sun
kissing horizon each morning
warming lake
to bathwater. Continue reading
Finds tongues in trees, books in running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in everything.
— William Shakespeare
Little Kelp isn’t like the other narwhals, being short-tusked and a weaker-swimmer, but eventually he finds land-narwhals just like him. I won’t spoil the revelation in Not Quite NARWHAL written and illustrated by Jessie Sima, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2017. Kelp has to figure out how to reconcile fitting somewhere new while still longing to be home.
Notes: A great picture book for anyone who’s just a little different than the others. Isn’t that all of us? Have a magical week!
Friendly Fairy Tales 