This year (2025) finds me with 53 years of teaching “under my belt.” I have taught all levels from pre-K “(library lady” or “book lady”–volunteer) to juniors, seniors, and graduate students enrolled in my Advanced Writing class at the university where I have just completed 34 years. My first paying teaching job was junior high, and I spent 13 years with ages 12-13, the “difficult years.” I had some of the “funnest” experiences with this age group. When I was no longer the “young, fun teacher,” I taught in an elementary school setting before sixth graders went on to junior high, teaching language arts blocs, an assignment that was a “dream-fit” for me. After completing graduate school in my 40s, I went on to community college, then university teaching. This past fall I accepted a part-time teaching job at Apogee Gulf Coast Schools in its first year at the Alvin campus. After my Better Half died n 2022, I achieved a lifelong dream: opening a bookstore of my own, Rae’s Reads. A year later, I sold the house we had lived in for 47 years and moved into the bookstore. My goal is to circulate and repurpose books.
Just as teaching is “in my blood,” so is a passion for reading, writing, libraries, and everything bookish.
This blog will be open to anyone who loves books, promotes literacy and wants to “come out and play.”
This meme started by The Purple Booker asks the reader to open a current read at random and copy a couple of sentences that might “tease” other readers to choose the book to read themselves.
My Tuesday Teaser for 5/17/22 is
I thought I had read this book, but upon examining it, I was wrong and was captivated by its profoundness.
My attention was already captured by the introduction, and the first chapter, “Fu Manchu’s Goatee,” only solidified my curiosity about this man who was about to interview one of the wisest men on earth. Chapter Two, “The Monks on the Parapet ,” begins like this:
“The Dalai Lama’s meditation room was bathed in soft, early-morning light. Meticulously crafted wooden cabinets lined the walls, within them. I could see numerous bronze statues and myriad religious artifacts… The place was serenely gorgeous, its elegance understated.”
For a man who spends hours in mediation daily, this space seems like the perfect setting in which to receive sage advice and counsel.
I am looking forward to “getting into” this book.
just thinking about a sunrise or sunset oner the water like this photo taken used in an essay by one of my students makes me believe in the power of meditation. (Photo by Abdullah Ghatasheh on Pexels.com)Thanks, Evin for the sign off.
LIKE SATURDAY MORNING TV PROGRAMING BACK IN THE 50’s and 60’s, SATURDAY MORNINGS ON PWR IS RESERVED FOR KIDS.
Being only certified to teach sixth grade through twelfth, I never taught fifth grade during my almost twenty years in public schools. I have, however, taught fifth graders in Sunday school for a couple of years. Candace Fleming, author of The Fabled Fifth Graders of Aesop Elementary School, describes the adventures and misadventures of “almost sixth-graders”in a way that can only be captured by someone who has taught elementary school, or who has had kids in fifth grade, or who has a remarkable memory of her fifth grade year of school.
A humorous, warm book that will appeal to readers in grades four through sixth.
Mr. Jupiter’s fifth grade class has a definite reputation. They are remembered vividly if not fondly, as a group by their first through third grade teachers, some of whom, thanks to these “characters” are no longer teaching or are on “medical leave.” Mr. Jupiter was their fourth grade teacher, and now, when no one can be found to take on these “special” group of fifth graders, he moves up to teach fifth grade. Readers are carried on a journey of “the zaniest school year yet.”
The book is appropriately arranged in fables, complete with morals, chronicling the stories of individual student’s experiences during their fifth grade year. Evidently, a budding attraction between Mr. Jupiter, then their fourth grade teacher, and Miss Turner, the librarian, blossoms into a full-fledged romance during the course of the story. Perhaps it would be even more fun to meet these kids during their fourth grade year before reading this 2010 publication. However, the Fifth Graders works well as a standalone. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it.
SATURDAYS ARE RESERVED FOR RECOMMENDATION OF KIDS’ BOOKS ON PWR.
In honor of National Poetry Month, we feature one last book of kids’ poems:
This 1975 book of kids’ poems was in a donated box of old books a neighbor was throwing out.The illustrations are delightful. One of m y favorites from the book
I hope you enjoyed looking at this old book; I know I did. Exploring See My Lovely Poinon Ivy reminds me of the phrase, “They just don’t make ’em like they used to.”
First Line Fridays, hosted by Reading Is My Superpower asks participants to copy the first line or two of a book they want to read, are reading, or have read in order to tempt someone into reading the book also. Here are the first couple of lines from…
My copy from our local library looks a bit different because it is the large print version.
As the subtitle states, “A Bookshop Keeps Many Secrets.” Indeed, this is a book filled with secrets, and the unveiling and solving of them provides many twists and turns for the reader as the author tweaks the formula of the stand-offish, girl who works in the bookshop. This girl, Loveday Cardew mostly sorts and seeks book “finds” from the boxes of donated or purchased books for the bookshop she works at. The tattoos of the first lines of books which decorate her body brands her as a girl with secrets in her past. Into this murky background comes Nathan, poet and gentleman. Foiled against Rob, the discarded, surly previous lover, who seems bent on revenge, Nathan is every girl’s dream-come-true.
Three suspicious boxes are delivered for Loveday to sort through, which slam her back into her foster care past and the horrible act which alienated her from her mother. Secrets abound, are revealed, and misinterpreted, swirling around Loveday until the action-packed, hold-your-breath conclusion.
Here are the first lines:
“A book is a match in the smoking second between strike and flame.
Archie says books are our best lovers and our most provoking friends. He’s right, but I’m right too. Books can really hurt you.”
Saturday mornings were mornings not to disturb parents who were sleeping in, grab a bowl of Frosted Flakes in our Tony the Tiger bowl we received from sending in cereal boxtops, and to sit down in front of the TV to watch cartoons. That was the 50’s and 60’s go-to plan. TV programming was tuned in to this phenomena, running cartoons from 6:30 a.m. until the 9:00 a.m. news. This blog dedicates Saturday mornings toward the same “target audience.” Here is a recommendation for the kid or grandkid in your life:
In honor of National Poetry Month, here is our recommendation for 4/23/22:One of the “Gutsy Women” mentioned in this wonderful book by Rosemary Rosenfanz, is the poet, Gwendolyn Brooks.
In Gutsy Women, Roenfanz presents gutsy women poets and authors as the daily readings for Thursdays of every week. She heads up her article about Gwendolyn Brooks with a quote: “Poetry is life distilled.”
Brooks lived from 1917-2000, and was “one of the most highly respected, influential, and widely read poets of the 20th century.” In 1950, she was the first African American author to win a Pulitzer Prize ,” which she did with Annie Allen. ” [She] was the Illinois’ poet laureate (from 1968-2000) and the first Black woman consultant to the Library of Congress.”
“After working for the NAACP, Brooks developed her writing in poetry workshops,” publishing her first collection A Street in Bronzeville, in 1945. Her poetry showcased the plight of the Black, urban poor. In later years, she traveled extensively as an activist dealing with “the problems of color.” Her poetry influenced many young, Black poets of the 21st. century.
This book has been a delight to me, allowing me to read about “gutsy women” of my era, and those who came before. Each day upon reading the short piece on a woman, I think, “You go, girl!” and am inspired to attempt to be “gutsy” in my own life. Thank you, Rosemary, for such a lovely daily “read.”
(This book was reviewed earlier on PWR.)
Let’s celebrate poets and poetry
A peek at my poetry shelf in my office–
A poetry collection for youngsters that they can read themselves–
Poems about Fur and Feather Friends (Selected by Leland B. Jacobs) is a collection of poems written in the 1960s, mostly about pets. They are simple to read, yet appealing to kids. Here is one of the simple poems illustrated by Frank Aloise:
“Silly Puppy”
“Although he hates
To have his bath, He seems to think
It’s fun
To dip his paws
Into the tub
When I am having one.”
Kathryn Jackson
Almost any second grader could read this poem aloud, enjoy the picture of the puppy pawing the little boy’s bath water, and share it with a parent or a younger sibling.
Another puppy poem is “One Little Puppy”
“One little puppy
Can run down the street,
One little puppy
On four little feet.
One little puppy
Is always a joy,
One little puppy
For one little boy.”
Pauline C. Peck
These simple verses express a boy’s love for man’s best friend in a way a primary school student would understand and identify with it.
This book was discarded by a primary school library near my home and slipped into my Little Free Library as a donation. I spent a lovely time turning the pages, admiring the drawings and musing on a time when life for our children was easier, simpler, and less complicated–similar to the fifties and sixties of my own childhood. Thank you teacher, librarian, student–whoever you are–who gave me this little book.
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