Happy meteorological summer! I am happy to host today’s Poetry Friday. Please leave your link with Mr. Linky at the end of this post.
I am trying to get back on the proverbial horse and commit to a more regular writing schedule. There are a few practices that usually help me be more productive. First is a deadline, especially one imposed by the outside world. Second is scheduling writing days with friends–I feel too guilty to not write when I see my comrades hard at work! And finally, perusing a stack of new books at my local library or previewing those that land in my inbox usually gets my wheels turning. What helps motivate you to keep writing? I welcome your suggestions in the comments!
I’ve recently previewed two upcoming titles and would like to share them today. I hope they will offer some inspiration to you and to me! Both are books that make me see what’s possible and that I will use as mentor text for my own writing. The first is Flurry, Float, and Fly! by Laura Purdie Salas. The second is Wonder Why by Lisa Varchol Perron, an author who might be less familiar to the Poetry Friday community. Both are lyrical STEM titles for younger readers–written with deceptively simple language that is not simple to write.
Flurry, Float, and Fly explains a winter snowstorm in language that appeals to a young child–accurate but not overwhelming. Consider how the text masterfully slips in the jet stream:
High above the winter land,
the jet stream flows–
a narrow band
whose roaring, gusting winds divide
and pull in air from either side.
The developing storm continues:
Crystals form, flakes form, snow falls and falls until “Snowflakes sing a lullaby/ in notes that flurry, float, and fly.” The gorgeous illustrations show animals curled and sleeping. Then the next day the fun begins and kids play! Back matter further explains the science of snow and the formation of flakes. I love how the book captures both the wonder and science of a winter storm.
Wonder Why asks kids’ questions about natural phenomena and answers them from unique viewpoints–the phenomena provide the explanations. The sky explains why it’s blue, the wind explains why it blows, the rain why it storms, the rainbow explains its arc. Here is the cloud answering a question about its dark gloom:
This is another title that infuses science with wonder–and that’s a winning combination in my opinion! Again, back matter gives clear and more thorough information for curious kids. I hope you’ll ask for both of these titles at your library.
Mary Lee has put out a call for Poetry Friday hosts for July-December. Please sign up here. Add your blog link below, then enjoy visiting today’s poetry blogs. Happy reading!
Buffy, I am sorry for being late to comment on your blog. Thank you for hosting PF. I enjoyed reading the pages of Laura’s books. Children need to have opportunities to see science blending with literature and poetry. Both of these titles will bring STEM into the classroom conversions.
Thanks for hosting, Buffy, and for sharing two books that will definitely be on my must-read list. My motivation comes and goes. Hope to be back next with a poem to post!!
I am so enjoying poetry Fridays and visiting all these wonderful blogs. It is so rewarding, and so inspiring.
Buffy,
Thanks for hosting this week. I do well with the pressure of a deadline, too. And, I’m trying to be beholden to a new group of poetry friends – keeping the date and showing up! It’s been helping. Payment is also sweet, so I write on Medium.com regularly since I have a following there as well. Nature and science are both inspirations to me. Thanks for sharing these books.
Buffy, thanks for hosting us today. Your post is blooming with new beautiful picture books. I didn’t know yet about Laura’s book. She says she is relaxing and not producing, but here she is with another gorgeous book.
I can also relate to getting back on the writing horse. One thing I love about the PF community is that I always feel welcome, even if I’m not producing much. Keep writing. We need you!
Very cool to see two very similar books with unique features shared side by side–like a literary, scientific wine-tasting! And I feel like the more we let nature speak in human languages, the closer we bring ourselves back to what kids instinctively feel–that we humans are not separate from but OF nature. Thanks for hosting, Buffy!
Thanks, Buffy for hosting! The thing that pushes me to write has been Poetry Friday, so thanks for the reminder to sign up. Now I’m thinking how much I miss my writer’s group, many who have moved away. I love books about nature and the weather and both these books look I will check out. I’m in California and have been fascinated by the fog. I wake up in a cloud almost every morning and I enter a fine mist when I walk outside.
Thank you for hosting and for the glimpse into these inspiring approaches to science and wonder! I will definitely check them out. I start most days with Morning Pages, hoping my scribbling will evolve into writing worth pursuing. Repetitive motions like walking, pulling weeds, hanging laundry, or chopping vegetables sometimes help me dwell on rhymes or phrases. I miss my old critique group and would surely benefit from regular deadlines.
Science and wonder. Exactly the words I think of when I think of work by Buffy Silverman! Thanks for hosting us. xo
Aw shucks, Irene.
Thanks so much for including Wonder Why! It’s a special treat to see it featured alongside Laura’s beautiful book.
Critique group meetings and time outside are my biggest motivators. Thanks again, Buffy!
Thanks for writing a wonder!
Thank you, Buffy, for hosting today…and for sharing these two new beautiful books. I share your goal and will think about you as I work to get myself to the page more frequently this summer. Once the habit builds, it’s so much easier…but getting there can be tricky. It is good to know we are in it together. Take good care. xo, a.
It is good to know that others are working on this, too, Amy.
Hooray for beautiful books about science! And thanks so much for hosting us. Good luck as you make a new writing habit!
Always interesting to see what fellow writers and poets make of potential mentor texts and what gives them inspiration to spark more ideas and further writing projects. It’s like standing on the launch pad. Thanks for these insights Buffy and thank you also for hosting.
Thanks for hosting and for sharing this fabulous pair of STEM books! I’m putting them on reserve asap!
Very cool books – congrats to both authors, and thank you for sahring them, Buffy!
Thanks for sharing my book, Buffy! Chiara’s illustrations are so gorgeous. They really bring the magic! I prefer outside deadlines to keep me motivated, but I’m pretty good at setting goals and sticking with them. A critique group meeting always helps, too. I don’t want to waste the opportunity for helpful feedback. Thanks for hosting!
Definitely a book worth sharing, Laura. When I grow up I aim to be as disciplined as you.
Can’t wait to read both of these books!!
ooooh! Cool books. I always get excited when one of ‘ours’ such as Laura Purdie Salas has a new book out. I will be sure to order for my public library. I love knowing that you need to get back into writing sometimes, too. I get cranky when I’m out of the regular habit of producing writing. I get out by just writing lots and lots and LOTS of drivel. I make lists, I do ‘dear diary’ notes, letters to others, my weekly political postcards and lots more drivel. Eventually, after at least a notebook worth of drivel I start to get a few things I like. I wish you lots of words as you crank up the writing practice!
Thanks for featuring such inspiring books, Buffy! As for motivation, I need some right now. 🙂 Accountability to writing friends sounds like a good place to start. And yes, deadlines definitely help!
Thanks for hosting!
Wishing you motivation, too, Karen!
Thanks for featuring these two books, Buffy. Am familiar with Laura’s, but not Perron’s. I like collections that blend science/nature with a sprinkle of wonder, and I also like that in Perron’s book, the phenomenona themselves speak. 🙂 I’ll have to look for it! Thanks for hosting this week.
I find that I get a lot of my best ideas while walking. I’m currently working on a rhyming story, and I’d reached a point that really stumped me, I just couldn’t seem to make it work. Thankfully while walking to work this morning I had a breakthrough, and idea that seemed so obvious but which had eluded me for ages! Just staring at the computer screen doesn’t cut it when I’ve hit a creative wall, but getting outside into nature really seems to do the trick.
Laura is such an inspiration, I just spotted one of her board books at work yesterday! I’m so in awe of her ability to blend information, education and inspiration!
Jaunty June Jottings, to you wonderful Buffy, Appreciations for the tip-off to these two important picture books. It’s always great to learn a new name in Nature writing but also so sweet to see another Nature gem from Laura. As for what dislodges me from a non-writing phase… great great Q! Maybe just enough recharge time has gone by? On occasion a doodling return to my gratitude journal juices me, but really, it’s always a mystery… Thanks again.