There was a little Island in the ocean.
Around it the winds blew
And the birds flew
And the tides rose and fell on the shore.

So begins Margaret Wise Brown's The Island. It's like a free verse poem: you can almost track the ebb and the fall of the waves in the length of the lines ( Read more... )

The Lake Isle of Innisfree ( Read more... )

One of my Facebook friends linked to this poem about old age: Old Age Requires the Greatest Courage.

It's awfully good.

Another Ladybug Girl book today! This time, it was Ladybug Girl and the Best Ever Playdate, in which Ladybug Girl is super-excited for her play date with her buddy Finny... and Finny's awesome new Rolly-Roo toy, which is like a giant plush rocking horse on wheels that you can ride around anywhere. (Heck, now I kind of want a Rolly-Roo, it looks ( Read more... )

The House Was Quiet and the World Was Calm ( Read more... )

What I’ve Just Finished Reading

I finished Ann Patchett’s This is the Story of a Happy Marriage, which I liked more than I expected per last week’s review. Of course it helped that there are a couple essays near the middle of the book about Truth & Beauty and the controversy that erupted when the book was assigned as summer reading for incoming ( Read more... )

The Second Half
by Kwame Alexander (from The Crossover)

Vondie strips the ball
at center court,
shoots a short pass
to JB, who
skips
            downtown

zips
            around,
then double dips
it in the bowl.
SWOOSH
Man, that was cold.
We're up by two.
These cats are BALLINGJB is on fire ( Read more... )

What I've Just Finished Reading

Jacqueline Woodson's Brown Girl Dreaming. Here, have an excerpt from another poem:

When I hear the word
revolutionI think of the carousel with ( Read more... )

The Butterfly Poems
by Jacqueline Woodson (from Brown Girl Dreaming)

No one believes me when I tell them
I am writing a book about butterflies,
even though they see me with the Childcraft encyclopedia ( Read more... )

I found this poem through the Yuletide posts. It's awfully good ( Read more... )