LEE & LOW BOOKS celebrates its 25th anniversary this year! To recognize how far the company has come, we are featuring one title a week to see how it is being used in classrooms today and hear from the authors and illustrators.
Today, we’re celebrating one of our favorite poetry titles: Confetti: Poems for Children. This book celebrates the vivid Southwestern landscape of the United States through poems about the natural world. Featuring words from award-winning author Pat Mora and fine artist Enrique O. Sanchez, Confetti is an anthem to the power of a child’s imagination and pride.
Featured title: Confetti: Poems for Children
Author: Pat Mora
Illustrator:Enrique O. Sanchez
Synopsis: In this joyful and spirited collection, award-winning poet Pat Mora and fine artist Enrique O. Sanchez celebrate the vivid landscape of the Southwest and the delightful rapport that children share with the natural world.
Awards and honors:
- Children’s Books Mean Business, Children’s Book Council (CBC)
- Choices, Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC)
Other Editions: Did you know that Confetti: Poems for Children also comes in a Spanish edition?
Confeti: Poemas para niños
Purchase a copy of Confetti: Poems for Children here.
Resources for teaching with Confetti: Poems for Children:
Other Recommended Picture Books for Teaching About Poetry:
Water Rolls, Water Rises/El agua rueda, el agua sube, by Pat Mora, illus. by Meilo So
Lend a Hand: Poems About Giving by John Frank, illus. by London Ladd
The Palm of My Heart: Poetry by African American Children, by Davida Adedjoua, illus. by R. Gregory Christie
In Daddy’s Arms I Am Tall: African Americans Celebrating Fathers, by various poets, illus. by Javaka Steptoe
Have you used Confetti: Poems for Children? Let us know!
Celebrate with us! Check out our 25 Years Anniversary Collection.
he Vicereine picked her way down the gentle slope of the gully step by step. She stopped near where Cici had fallen and very slowly began to crouch down. Using her staff for support, she allowed her hands to slide down the smooth twisted wood bit by bit. She winced and groaned in pain several times before coming to rest on her knees. She sat hunched over for a moment as if exhausted, clutching her staff to the side of her head. Her cowl hung down, covering her face. A few locks of white hair were visible along her back and along the edge of the cowl. Cici tried again to stop crying, but her ankle was very swollen by now, and her shoe was beginning to hurt her foot.
After a few moments, Reina finally placed the staff flat on the ground next to her. Cici felt a hand under her own and turned her head. She gasped as she saw a grayish slender hand with jewel-encrusted rings on all four fingers reach down and take her by the wrist. Cici sniffled and looked up. The woman seemed to be busy concentrating on something.
“Do not pull against the tree trunk.” Reina said.
Cici sniffled again. She didn’t know what to think. She was sure the robed woman was really mean, but now she sounded different. Reina looked at Cici’s dirt-streaked and astonished face. The woman’s gold-colored eyes made Cici feel better.
“I am not your enemy,” Reina said. “Sit up.”
Cici realized she wasn’t really stuck. She was just snagged on the tree and had been pulling in the wrong direction. She stopped pushing against the ground and gradually crawled sideways far enough that she could push herself up. The moment she tried to move her foot, however, she was rewarded with a stab of pain from her ankle. Cici cried out and pulled her foot up to her hands.
“Will you help me cast a healing spell?” Reina asked. Cici looked down through the blur of tears at her right foot. Her ankle was swollen and the skin around it was darker. She sniffled and looked up at Reina, then nodded.
“Sit up slowly this time,” Reina said. “Place your foot flat against the Earth. Gently.” Cici gingerly pushed herself up with one hand as Reina reached over and retrieved the Chronicler’s Lantern lying sideways on the ground. The robed woman placed the shining gold lantern upright next to her staff. The light from the lantern illuminated the side of the gully nicely. By now Cici was sitting up and rubbing her face with her hand, only succeeding in adding another layer of dirt.
“I am called Reina. What is your name?”
“I’m Cici. How come you wear so many rings?” Cici asked quietly, pointing at Reina’s hand while still rubbing her nose. Then she sniffled again.
“Because I like to collect beautiful things,” Reina replied, impressed by Cici’s inquisitiveness. “Do you like this ring, Cecilia?” she asked. Cici nodded, eyes wide. Reina indicated a heavy gold ring on her right hand set with a nearly transparent delicately faceted blue stone and decorated with a dozen smaller white gems.
“This ring is called the Soaring Chime. It was given to me long ago by a scribe named Giho skilled in the arts of gemcutting. He lives on an island in a place called the Princesses Crowns far away in the eastern sea. There are men there who dig deep into the mountains to find raw stones such as this one. The scribe spends years cutting and shaping them into Chimes. Chime stones can make sounds with magical properties.”
“What’s magical properties?” Cici asked, enthralled.
“It means this stone can ring, and the sound from it can heal your ankle,” Reina replied. “Will you help me make the Soaring Chime ring?”
“Can I?” Cici asked.
“Look carefully at the stone,” Reina said, offering her hand so Cici could see. “Do you see the upper edge? Where the tiny symbol is carved into the gold?”
Cici looked carefully and saw that the edge of the setting just above the oval-shaped sky-blue stone had a tiny symbol carved into the polished gold. If Reina hadn’t mentioned it, Cici would never have noticed it.
“All you must do is tap that symbol with your finger as if you are trying to make a bell ring,” Reina said. “Then, listen for the sound.”
Cici peered at the stone and the tiny symbol, then slowly reached up with her hand and held her finger over the ring for a moment. Then she flicked her hand, tapping the edge of the ring with her finger as if testing something she had been told was very hot.
A very soft and faint glow appeared in the center of the stone and Cici began to hear the sounds of chimes and bells all around her. First one, then a second. They began to play cascades of three tones, then five. Then ten. It sounded like someone drawing a stick along a series of bells, each one larger than the one before it, making a luxurious sound like the playing of all the strings of a harp from smallest to largest.
Cici looked at her foot and was startled by the greenish swirl of energy around her ankle. She saw a pale blue glow along the outer edge of her hand where she had been cut, and a silver shower of sparkling energy around the bruise on her knee. Her ankle felt much better. The music was so beautiful that Cici didn’t want it to end. All of her wounds and bruises were healed, and the music faded peacefully along with the glow of the Soaring Chime.
“It’s magic just like my lantern! Are you a warrior like me?” Cici asked. Reina’s expression changed.
“I am all that remains,” Reina replied.
LadyStar™ Call of the Huntress is Copyright © 2007 2008 Heavy Cat Multimedia Ltd. All Rights Reserved
Teko’s Magical Treasure of the Week!
“Looks like this week’s Magical Treasure is our brand new Ajan Warrior of the Sunrise black t-shirt.”
“Ooh, nice design. I guess this means we’re going to have a new Sunrise page in the Hall of Warriors pretty soon.”
“Yeeeee! I can’t wait. The best part is Shannon-sama donates some of what the Gift Shop makes to benefit the Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls! We got lots more gifts in Shannon-sama’s shop too. See ya!”
“Hiiii everybody, it’s me Jessie! This week’s LadyStar Chapter of the Week is a real neat one. It’s from our first book, The Dreamspeaker, and it’s a chapter that’s called Swifty River. It’s about when Talitha found this real spooky forest where these little lights float around the trees and a pond. There’s this little bridge that’s real important later too. We hope you like our story! Be sure to visit us every week for a new best chapter! Ja!”
I have so many favorites, many I didn't discover until I was an adult!
Jeez, where to start?
Tell you what. I’ll begin if you guys will add your own.
It would be too difficult to choose only one, so I will narrow my selections (for all time favorite children's picture books) down to THREE... Wow, even choosing three is difficult... OK FOUR then... Here goes...
1-Alexander and the Wind-up Mouse-Leo Lionni
2-The Giving Tree-Shel Silverstein
3-Where the Wild Things are-Maurice Sendak
4-Old Turtle-Douglas Wood
I also loved and love Many Moons by James Thurber, & Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown.
And so many others by Jane Yolen, Jack Prelutsky, Dr Seuss, & Madeleine L'Engle, I adore modern classics like Don't let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, Knuffle Bunny & Leonardo the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems!
Have you ever read David Wiesner's brilliant children's book Tuesday? It is incredible! Other favorites include... Stellaluna & NO David! & The Snowy Day & Make Way for Ducklings & Blueberries for Sal & Strega Nona & Harold and the Purple Crayon & I'll Love You Forever & Mrs. Biddlebox & Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse & Angelina Ballerina & Miss Spider's Tea Party & Rainbow Fish....
& on and on...
I'm curious to know what some of your favorite picture books are... and why?
Thanks,
Todd-Michael St. Pierre
From the book "A Woolly Mammoth on Amelia Street: Read Aloud Poems4Kids" by Todd St. Pierre.
A Piece of Sky
No one can own a color; no one can own a cloud.
No one on Earth could ever, I'm glad it's not allowed!
No person owns a person, though some may think they do.
No person owns the ocean; I know this to be true !
I cannot own a sparrow, I cannot own a tree.
Even in my own backyard they don't belong to me!
No one can own the starlight; no one can own the sun.
No person owns a river, it simply can't be done!
No one can own a desert, the planets or their moons.
We’re all just One Race: Human, same words with many tunes!
No one may claim ownership to TEAR or SMILE or SIGH!
Or take away your DREAMS so...
let's share a piece of sky!
From "A Woolly Mammoth on Amelia Street: Read Aloud Poems4Kids." By Todd St. Pierre
GROUNDED!
(Try sounding like your Dad as you perform this one!)
I saw the report card you brought home from work!
Punished! You're punished! You drive me berserk!
No Internet surfing! Here's my decision...
No cell phone use and no television!
Just go to your room and don't make me shout!
Go straight to your room and do not come out!
No car for a month, so give me the key!
Stop pouting this instant! I'm counting to three!
Don't disobey me! Why must you be bad?
Why can't you just be a good little Dad?
Grounded! You're grounded! You know what you did!
Hey, how does it feel, Dad, being the kid???
---It's fun to imagine trading places!---
From "A Woolly Mammoth on Amelia Street: Read Aloud Poems4Kids"
By Todd St. Pierre.
Pulling Habits Out of Rats
I’m no genie or Houdini,
I’m The Famous Rob Kabob.
Hocus-pocus I must focus,
I must think to do my job.
First I get in this position,
While the rat sits very still.
I’m part Shrink and part Magician,
And it takes a secret skill.
People ask, "Rob what’s your job?"
But they figure I am joking,
When I tell them I help rats
To stop drinking and stop smoking.
Some rats are such nail-biters,
Still others tend to overeat.
I wave my magic wand 3 times,
And PRESTO my work is complete.
I no longer miss my old job,
Pulling RABBITS out of HATS.
I’m The Famous Rob Kabob,
I pull HABITS out of RATS!
www.AuthorsDen.com/Todd
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From "A Woolly Mammoth on Amelia Street: Read Aloud Poems4Kids" By Todd St. Pierre.
Click Image to Enlarge (for better reading)
Featured title: Confetti: Poems for Children
I like poems. Thanks for sharing. Online News Publish