ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT by Erich Maria Remarque How do I even begin to talk about All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remargue? Once upon a time there was a group of seven men mostly in their early twenties who fought on the Western Front of World War 1. They quickly formed a bond closer than brotherhood as experiences caused them to rely on each other in ways that normal life humans never had to rely on each other. Death was their constant companion. Even if they made it out alive, going back to a normal life could never be possible. There was no longer the dreaming of long term plans and goals. It was only survival moment by moment. This powerful novel was written by Remarque who had experienced World War 1 and was wounded 5 times. By stepping into the pages you live the bond, the environment, the hope, the loss. It is very powerful. When you close this book ask yourself why it is titled All Quiet on the Western Front. HEADS UP- This is a war book so there is some description of battle scenes and casualties. There is a point where there is some planned time spent with the ladies. No direct detail is given. It is easy to skip this part if you prefer.

BEAUTIFUL USEFUL THINGS: WHAT WILLIAM MORRIS MADE by Beth Kephart. Illustrated by Melodie Stacey. "Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful."                                                         - William Morris Now that we are in the full beauty of spring, it is time to share a picture book that I have had stashed away in my closet. I was not familiar with William Morris until I read the picture book Beautiful Useful Things: What William Morris Made by Beth Kephart. But when I did I found, as Anne of Green Gables once said, "a kindred spirit." Morris was a lover of nature. He spent many happy hours surrounded in its beauty. He didn't just pass by it, though. He noticed it's details. When he grew older he desired to make beautiful things for homes. So he gathered artists around him and began to make dishes, wallpaper, rugs, stained-glass windows, and many other useful home products depicting nature scenes. This book is a testimony of one man's dream coming true in his life through hard work and innovation! It takes a special illustrator to be able to portray the life and works of an artist like William Morris. Melodie Stacey is just that illustrator! It was the illustrations that first caught my eye and caused me to pick up this book. Large, glorious works fill the pages with generous amounts of greens that draw us in and make us feel as if we are on a nature walk while going through the book! It is well done! After putting the book down and doing a little goggling on Morris, imagine my surprise when I discovered that a tapestry I have hanging in our living room is one of his designs. It's called The Tree of Life. We live in the middle of the woods, and it was my desire to bring the outside in. I can't help but feel pleased that his desire of using beautiful things is still being accomplished today! ALONGSIDE ACTIVITIES- It is fun to take a look at Morris and Co. The beauty still exists today in the company William Morris started. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://morrisandco.sandersondesigngroup.com/&ved=2ahUKEwi_sZ_ozcL-AhV8JkQIHaVNBhcQFnoECBYQAQ&usg=AOvVaw26sGuvM7c97it8GtrzV8W4 -Give your kids a sheet of cardstock to make nature prints on it in a wallpaper-type fashion. Gather leaves and blooming flowers. Flatten them out (flowers) and dip them in a light coat of paint. Stamp the design onto the cardstock.

HONEYBEE by Candace Fleming. Illustrated by Eric Rohmann Our apple trees are decked out in all their spring finery, and that means an appearance of the bees. The trees are surrounded in an endless song, as the honeybees hum from one blossom to another. They are busy, busy, busy and are difficult to get a picture of! It's a perfect day for reading Candace Fleming's Honeybee: The Busy Life of Apis Mellifera. These hard little workers have an amazing life, and Fleming walks us through it in beautiful description from start to finish. When you close the cover, it will be with admiration for this tiny insect. Accompanying Fleming's writing is Caldecott Honor winner Eric Rohmann's amazing artwork. Rohmann uses oil paints to create pictures with lots of detail. When studying the pictures you feel as if you have entered the hive and are seeing everything first hand. It is incredible! ALONGSIDE ACTIVITIES-There are so many things you can do with this book! -First, always use caution around bees! They are there to do a job. They don't want to hurt you, but will sting if they feel threatened! -Observe bees around you! Find different types of flowers and note what kinds of bees are attracted to the different flowers. -Connect with someone who raises bees and see if you can visit. If that isn't possible, goggle beekeeping videos online. -It's almost Farmers Market season. At our market we have beekeepers who sell different kinds of honey. Try a couple different varieties and decide what your favorite is. Different flowers affect the taste of the honey!

WONDERLAND by Barbara O'Connor Barbara O'Connor's Wonderland is the story of an unlikely friendship between two girls who come from "different sides of the tracks." Rose Tully comes from a very wealthy family. She really doesn't fit in with the girls of the other wealthy families in her family's social circle and longs for a best friend. Her mom is on the search for a new maid. Mavis Jeeter is tired of moving from place to place as her mom quits one job after another. She's really never had the opportunity to have a best friend, because they never stay in one place long enough. Her mom has now decided to apply for the housemaid position. Thus begins an unlikely friendship, but the friendship isn't the end of their adventures. When the gatekeeper's, of Rose Tully's housing community, dog dies, he is no longer the happy, go-lucky man he used to be. Rose and Mavis take it upon themselves to help him out. The question is will he like the solution they have in mind for him? Overall this is a book celebrating friendship, dogs, and caring for others. HEADS UP- There are a couple of times that Rose goes past the boundary her mother said she could to.

100 BIBLE VERSES THAT MADE AMERICA by Robert J. Morgan This is one of those books that spoke directly to my soul over the past few weeks. You know the kind I'm talking about. The book that you look forward to picking up each evening and reading before you fall asleep. The kind that helps to refill your soul instead of taking or leaving you just as empty. Robert J. Morgan's 100 Bible Verses That Made America: Defining Moments That Shaped Our Enduring Foundation of Faith is the type of book that you can pick up and leave off at any point, because it is a collection of 100 snippets in history with a verse that was directly anchored to each of the events. What makes this book so beautiful is that the majority of these events were during very trying times. On days where you question why you stay in the trenches of a difficult situation, this book will come alongside and show you the blessing of staying the course. I marked this book for high school and above, but there are definitely stories that I am going to share with my younger kids over the next few weeks.

ONCE UPON A BOOK by Grace Lin and Kate Messner It is cold and rainy today here in our part of Ohio! What a shock after some really warm days! I feel like a parrot telling my kids over and over to not get used to the warm weather, because this is the time where the weather bounces back and forth between warm and cold. Grace Lin and Kate Messner invite us into a little girl's adventure as she escapes the snowy, cold weather outside by jumping into her books in Once Upon A Book. Note her little dress change with the illustrations as she moves from story to story. Speaking of the illustrations they are absolutely delightful in this book. Jewel tones invoke a warm feeling as we walk into a rainforest and desert, and swim in a tropical sea. But then it switches to blacks and grays as we further explore. (I won't give it all away!) The sweetness of this book is when Alice realizes she is ready to go home. Be sure and check out the back inside cover versus the front inside cover. Oh, and an extra little fun nugget about this book. Look for the rabbit in each picture.

NURSERY RHYMES  One of the first gifts we were given after the birth of our first child, Claire, was a book of nursery rhymes. It was a gift from my parents to my husband for reading aloud to her, and read aloud we did! Fast forward almost 21 years, and here I am this morning pulling out the nursery rhyme books for my 4th, 7th, and 10th graders. No, I'm not cuddling them up for a reading time, I'm challenging them to write their own version of a nursery rhyme over the next couple of days. They are allowed to use the beginning line of a familiar rhyme and branch off with their own or they must follow the rhythm structure of a well known rhyme and create a new one. I was going to write that you never know what type of rhymes I'll get, but then I remembered the originals have to do with being kept in a pumpkin or shoe, jumping over a candle, flying on a goose, etc. I think we're good!

THE ONE THING YOU'D SAVE by Linda Sue Park I wasn't a big fan of this book at first, but once I understood it, it has been a great launching pad for myself and my kids. Linda Sue Park is the well known author of A Single Shard and A Long Walk to Water, so when I came across this little book with the title The One Thing You'd Save, I was intrigued. In the book, Ms. Chang asks her class a question, " If your house is on fire and your family and pets are safe, what is the one thing that you'd save?" What follows is a series of students' answers. We don't know anything about these kids, but we learn a little about their lives in their short responses. Some students share out loud and some we read their thoughts as they wade through the difficult decision of what they'd grab. I finished the simple book, set it down, and was a little disappointed. The responses were interesting. It made me feel a bit like I was back in a classroom again, but there was no back info or explanation to each answer. Then I flipped to the back and read the author's note. This book is a series of poems written in a traditional Korean form called Sijo (Shee-zho). Park explains the characteristics of this style, and suddenly the text form made sense. Now my kids are working on writing Sijos. We're using the original topic and then branching out from there. One thing that makes writing certain types of poetry challenging is that you only have a certain number of syllables to work with so word choice is everything to make your message understood. So, if you could save just one thing what would it be? Oh wait ...could you please write that in a Sijo?

SING A SONG OF SEASONS by Frann Preston-Gannon. Illustrated by Fiona Waters My Easter basket wasn't made up of the traditional candies this year (although I do admit a love for Robin's Eggs- those delicious chocolate malt balls with the colored crunchy shells!). Instead I had a beautiful bouquet of flowers and imagine this - two new books! One I'll share about today! If you struggle with finding great poetry books to share with your kids, Sing a Song of Seasons: A Nature Poem for Each Day of the Year selected by Fiona Waters is an absolute winner! This anthology is not a small book. With 319 pages, you and your children will experience all different types of poetry from many different poets. Great names like Shakespeare, Robert Louis Stevenson, Christina Rossetti, Beatrix Potter, Margaret Wise Brown are mixed with many names I wasn't as familiar with. An additional bonus is Frann Preston-Gannon's beautiful artwork throughout this book. Flipping through the pages and looking at the pictures is as much a treat as the poetry! This book is truly a worthy "coffee table" book for kids. ALONGSIDE ACTIVITIES- - For the month of April put a poem in your day for your kids! Start the day off with one or share one around the supper table.

THE BEST LOVED DOLL by Rebecca Caudill. Illustrated by Elliott Gilbert It's time for a flashback to my childhood. When I was in 5th grade and my sister in 2nd grade my dad had a job transfer to Dayton, Ohio for 1 year. That was not an easy year for our family. I went from a small, country elementary to a city elementary, and I did not settle in well. My parents ended up pulling me out and my mom, who was an elementary teacher, ended up homeschooling me. (This was in the mid 80s) My sister did well in the new school, and so she remained there. My entire family longed to go home. However, in the middle of the struggle, there were some bright spots and interestingly, a couple of them revolved around books. The first one was we read Heidi together. My dad read it out loud to us all, and oh how we could relate to that little displaced girl. But this post isn't about Heidi. The second is a book my sister fell in love with called The Best Loved Doll by Rebecca Caudill. The Best Loved Doll is based on a true story of the author's daughter. Betsy is invited to a friend's birthday party where she is to bring one doll. Prizes will be awarded for the oldest, best dressed, and the doll who can do the most things. Betsy has dolls that would fit each of those categories, but they aren't the ones she loves the most. Jennifer is, but Jennifer's hair is loose, only one eye closes, her toes are worn away, etc. Betsy chooses to take Jennifer with her anyway, and in the process her best loved doll is honored in a special way. This story is absolutely magical if you have ever had a doll like Jennifer. My mother knew my sister's love for this story, and somewhere there is a photo of neighborhood kids each holding their own precious doll or stuffed animal at my sister's birthday party. Each doll and animal is wearing a homemade ribbon that honors them in some way. Now meet Katie, one of the very loved dolls from my own childhood. She was made by my aunt and was a constant companion in my younger years. While she still has all her parts, she bears the stains of a little girl who loved her immensely-me! So here's to all the best loved dolls and stuffed animals that we have had in our lives. If you have the chance to read this book with a younger child, do so. Grab their favorite doll or animal and cuddle up. Don't forget to share your own memories in the process!

SWEET HOME ALASKA by Carole Estby Dagg Sweet Home Alaska by Carole Estby Dagg is a wonderful story about a family that has a 9 year old girl named Terpsichore, her younger twin sisters named Cally and Polly, and a little brother named Matthew. Their father wants to move to Alaska to make a new start but their mom's not so sure. Terpsichore doesn't mind the idea so much as long as she and her best friend are able to move to Alaska at the same time. Terpsichore and her family make the move to Alaska, but her mom agrees to give it one and a half years and then she will decide if the family will stay or not. Terpsichore and her sisters want to stay. Before they left, to head to Alaska, Terpsichore's mother had to sell her beloved piano. Now, Terpsichore's teacher is going to sell her piano for 75 dollars. Terpsichore wants to buy it before her mother makes her final decision and just maybe change her mother's mind, but will it be enough?

DREAM, ANNIE, DREAM by Waka T. Brown For those of you that know my Annie, she loves basketball and dramatic arts. When I came across the book, Dream, Annie, Dream whose protagonist has the same loves, I couldn't pass it up. Annie is entering seventh grade. This opens a whole new world of opportunities such as basketball teams, plays, and crushes. At the same time it brings a whole lot of challenges. Who could have guessed that one of the greatest challenges that Annie would face would be her Japanese American heritage? Then she has an opportunity to write her own play, a spin-off of her all time favorite book, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Only her version is going to be a middle school take of the classic. Where else does a kid have so many obstacles to overcome? HEADS UP- There is some language in this book including using the Lord's name in vain.