Treasuring Poetry, 2024: Introducing the poetry of DL Mullan and a review #poetry #poetrycommunity #TreasuringPoetry
Posted: January 17, 2024 Filed under: Uncategorized 54 Comments
Today, I am pleased to introduce the poetry of poet and author, DL Mullan, as well as my review of her poetry collection, The Descent.
Over to DL Mullan
Thank you for this opportunity to discuss poetry with your audience. I am grateful to share my love of the creative arts with fellow enthusiasts.
Poetry is a part of the writing craft that is an art and science with a touch of mysticism. It is much more than words on a page. It’s a feeling, a moment… a place engaged inside of our hearts and souls that cannot be duplicated on film or in prose. The science of meter and rhyme meet the art of turning a phrase or metaphor into a memory.
Still verses express an economy of words, which speaks volumes in the empty spaces. Poetry is about reading the content, but also extracting a personal meaning. Sometimes the poet gives the reader the context, and at other times, the reader grasps a connection with the words beyond the initial texture of the composition.
To illustrate, Transcendence, from my Impetus chapbook, is one of those poems that becomes both context and connection:
Transcendence by DL Mullan
I have this little place in me
that will always be alone.
No matter the circumstances
-the outside world,
or anything given to me-
it will forever be there.
It’s that part of me you can never touch.
Never be healed. Never feel redeemed.
A place so isolated from the rest of my life,
it keeps me hungry, destitute-
it’s a fragment that lacks belief.
Don’t try to heal me, or know this place;
this longing need keeps silent.
Without this solitary eclipse that creeps into my life,
I could never find any kind of peace.
This curse cuts me deep.
Penetrates my soul.
Reveals me. Liberates me.
The one place that keeps me from being whole
-is the one place you cannot reach.
Without this lone embrace,
my life, your love would be meaningless.
A poet has to be many ideas to many people: the fire bearer of unrivaled passion; the vocabulary of a priest, lover, and devil’s advocate; the heart of a broken soul; the perseverance of an honorable warrior; the spirit of a wise sorcerer.
People enjoy poetry, because the poet expresses what they wish to hear or say. Words reach through the ages. Consoles us. Enlightens us. Reminds us of our own vulnerabilities.
The Good Morrow by John Donne
I wonder, by my troth, what thou and I
Did, till we loved? Were we not weaned till then?
But sucked on country pleasures, childishly?
Or snorted we in the Seven Sleepers’ den?
’Twas so; but this, all pleasures fancies be.
If ever any beauty I did see,
Which I desired, and got, ’twas but a dream of thee.
And now good-morrow to our waking souls,
Which watch not one another out of fear;
For love, all love of other sights controls,
And makes one little room an everywhere.
Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone,
Let maps to other, worlds on worlds have shown,
Let us possess one world, each hath one, and is one.
My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears,
And true plain hearts do in the faces rest;
Where can we find two better hemispheres,
Without sharp north, without declining west?
Whatever dies, was not mixed equally;
If our two loves be one, or, thou and I
Love so alike, that none do slacken, none can die.
And makes one little room an everywhere… a poet conjures such repleteness and amplifies our innate impulses, if we only have the courage to be as one with another. Do you have the courage to live forever because of love?
This poem by John Donne, The Good Morrow, began my journey into the magical realm of writing poetry. Some may believe that Edgar Allan Poe was the genesis, but the classics generated the progression toward his writings. The Descent: a darker breed of poetry is my genre inspired chapbook. Upon Reading Edgar Allan Poe is in homage to him.
Poetry seemed daunting to write at first. In adolescence, I would rewrite song lyrics for friends. It was easy to complete someone else’s rhythm and rhyme, while my original creations remained in prose. In college is where I met John Donne, and other poets throughout the ages.
In this concise form of narration, I enjoy telling stories. I have embarked on writing short thematic chapbooks as well as publishing long form poems. Effloresce: Earth Changes is my Arizona inspired chapbook, which is under expansion. Eclipse: Cloaked by Totality is a compilation of poetry about how humanity views solar and lunar eclipses from science to legend. My Long Form Poetry like Galactic Ride, Undisclosed, and The Rain take the reader on a journey beyond the norm. This past summer I published a lyrical prose short story piece called The Jonah Collector, based on seafaring lore.
To pick a favorite poem that I have written is difficult. Each poem is my favorite in its own way. I write poems which speak a universal truth. When a poem hovers at that level of mysticism, what isn’t there to love? Either lyrical stanzas or descriptive verses, every poem holds a special place within me.
Here are a few examples:
The Flower Within by DL Mullan
Hear not the silence in the new fallen snow
embankments high of drifted wonder hide
all that winter buries underneath its surface
and cocoons itself in an invisible whisper
when temperatures rise, sounds of rustling begin
from the depths of a volitional quietus
small lives will break beyond their shells
as they ascend toward the sunlit heavens
and discover how to unleash their power
by finding the flower within.
Weather by DL Mullan
Bending.
Resisting.
Opaque patterns web across the aging twilight.
Reflection meets citrine, ruby, sapphire–
Shapes stretch.
Reaching.
Touching.
The placid breeze spreads unevenly. Cumulus formations emerge.
Imagination awakens.
Building.
Sweeping.
Luminous wings expand. Gracious angel, show the world your glory.
Magnificence reigns.
Collapsing.
Fading.
Overcast merges with night. Dreams condense. The rain soaked wind roars.
The future of my lyrical rhymes is to write poetry that matters. A poet should have an authentic voice that reaches across philosophical lines. In addition to topic-based chapbooks, I create my own forms of poetry, including cinquains. I experiment with structure and form, as well as rhyme. I am interested in the challenge of creating something new and unsaid.
I would like to leave readers with a poem that combines art and science with that hint of mysticism:
Asymptote by DL Mullan
The line observed.
Its angles transparent,
Like the fanciful dream of a sliding geometry.
It’s the hint of curve that plagues me
of a slender and willful architecture.
It’s the acute optics that pitch me downward
into a maze of unrevealed canvas
unearthed and unexplained
and spreading into the heart of oblivion.
Thank you, DL Mullan, for this lovely discussion.
The Descent: a darker breed of poetry by DL Mullan
What Amazon says
This chapbook houses “a darker breed of poetry,” from paranormal research topics to metaphysical literary iterations. There is a poem for everyone who is curious about genre-inspired poetry. DL Mullan’s readers praise her work as easy to read, understand… and satisfying:
“The poem [Breathe] is as scrumptious and sensual as it is dark and deep.”
“This is a first for me. I have never read genre poetry before. I love it. Hugely imaginative and utterly unique…”
“As if Poe came right off the page. This homage is literally perfect.”
“The language and flow here is superb, the description detailed. This also has an air of mystery, almost Halloween-ish.”
“‘Until once again, night revisits his kingdom and he is resurrected.’ You know your subject. Are you reminiscing about an owl, or our immortal souls?”
“Both the language (the word choices) and the rich imagery here is exquisite! You have blended sound, description, meaning- all, in a way that shows precise crafting.”
“A lot of thought has gone into this very interesting poem, which made me think, which is what poetry should be all about, 5-star poem
My review
This collection of mysterious and slightly chilling poetry revolves around the topic of death in all it permutations: the process of dying, what it feels like to die or be dead, grievers and grieving, the afterlife, and spirits and the spirit world.
A most intriguing poem about reading Edgar Allan Poe and the influence of his works on the poet, kicks off this collection. As a fellow member of the Poe admiration club, I really enjoyed this poem and identified with the poet’s thoughts and reactions to all his magnificent poems. This is a short quote from ‘Upon Reading Edgar Allan Poe’:
“A peculiar doorway opens inside of me.
Listen to the music playing, hear the voice, of beautiful Lenore.
Sing to me a violent ballad of love.”
Another interesting introductory poem, is entitled ‘Death Replies to Emily Dickinson’, an extraordinary response to Emily Dickinson’s poem ‘Because I Could Not Stop for Death’. This inspirational poem is the perfect introduction to the poems that lie ahead in this collection. For me, this stanza sums up the collection:
“Instead, come. Join the procession into the unchartered
where rarely seen a setting sun and gloom is discarded.”
I really enjoyed this unusual collection of dark poetry. It is certainly unique and inspired. A few of my favourite poems from this book, with short quotes, are as follows:
The Rocking Chair:
“Dusty chair rocks. He used to sit there: in the corner looking out the window.”
Spirit Box (My favourite of all the poems):
“Four different voices sung through the waves.
Each expressing their own distinct individuality.”
Alone with My Thoughts:
“Death can be harsh. Death can be amusing.
Your perspective is needed to see that death is a rite of passage
that all of us will be using.”
If you enjoy Poe and like to experience different perspectives on poetry, this book will enthrall you.
Amazon US purchase link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CKWKCNZ3
About DL Mullan
DL Mullan has been writing award-level poetry for thirty years. Recently, she has showcased her literary talents by self-publishing several collections of her poetry. She also writes novels, designs apparel, and creates digital art. Ms. Mullan‘s creative writing is available in digital and print collections, from academia to commercial anthologies.
As an independent publisher, she produces her own book cover designs and video presentations, as well as maintains her own websites. She is an award-winning digital artist and poet.
Join her Undawntable Newsletter for everything Undawnted. Be sure to enroll in her Substack writing program, RhymeScribe, which focuses on the form and function of poetry. Become a YouTube subscriber for her Poetry Slam updates.
http://www.undawnted.com/p/poetry.html http://www.undawnted.com/p/long-form-poetry.html
About Robbie Cheadle
Award-winning, bestselling author, Robbie Cheadle, has published fourteen children’s books and two poetry books. Her work also features in several poetry and short story anthologies.
Robbie also has two novels published under the name of Roberta Eaton Cheadle and has horror, paranormal, and fantasy short stories featured in several anthologies under this name.
The eleven Sir Chocolate children’s picture books, co-authored by Robbie and Michael Cheadle, are written in sweet, short rhymes which are easy for young children to follow and are illustrated with pictures of delicious cakes and cake decorations. Each book also includes simple recipes or biscuit art directions which children can make under adult supervision.
Robbie and Michael Cheadle have recently launched a new series of children’s books called Southern African Safari Adventures. The first book, Neema the Misfit Giraffe is now available from Amazon.
Robbie’s blog includes recipes, fondant and cake artwork, poetry, and book reviews. https://robbiesinspiration.wordpress.com/
You can find example of Robbie Cheadle’s artwork in her art gallery here: https://www.robbiecheadle.co.za/art-gallery/
Share this:
Growing Bookworms – The importance of character names in children’s fiction #GrowingBookworms #childrensfiction
Posted: January 10, 2024 Filed under: Children's Books, Fiction, Growing Bookworms | Tags: Character Names, characters, Enid Blyton, Growing Bookworms, Names, Robbie Cheadle, The Land of Far Beyond, Writing to be Read 57 Comments
The name of a child is important to him/her as well as to their community.
From an individual point of view, a child’s name plays an important role in the advertisement and maintenance his/her self identity. The first word most children learn to write is their name. Some children and adults chose to be known by a nickname and others prefer to use their full name.
From a parental perspective, the name they chose is often symbolic of their hopes and dreams for that child. Some families practice namesaking or the naming of a child after the father or grandfather. The practice of namesaking is much more common in male children than in female children. Namesaking can be positive for a child, but it can also result in high expectations being placed on the child if the person after whom they are named is a high performer. Namesaking often happens in wealthy families and royalty and comes with an expectation for the child to live up to the accomplishments of the previous generation/s. John Jacob Astor IV and his son, John Jacob Astor VI, come to mind when I think of failures to live up to an inherited moniker.
From a community point of view, names often have religious or cultural significance. In these circumstances, the name of a child can impact the way in which they are accepted by, and integrate into, a community. Names also have meanings which can be important. I remember smiling when meeting a heavily pregnant lady with the name of Chastity.
Based on the above, it is obvious that the name of a character / characters in a children’s book are important. The names will immediately tell the child a lot about the character and the child will also make assumptions based on the names, as follows:
- the religion of the character/s – does the character have a Biblical name or a Hebrew name or a Muslim name?
- the ethnic background of the character – does the character have an Irish, Spanish, English, American, or Japanese name? In South Africa, there are 11 official languages and each group of language speakers has its own traditional names. For example, popular Afrikaans names are Pieter, Willem, Hans, and Mariska and popular Zulu names are Amahle, Bongani, Lindiwe, and Dumisani.
- does the character use a nickname or their full name? I have always been called Robbie although my full name is Roberta. Both my sons chose to use their full names of Gregory and Michael.
- a name can also tell you about a character’s employment or social position. For example, a lot of native African people who work in service industries chose to either use European names instead of their traditional names or they use a short form that is easier for customers to say and remember.
English author, Enid Blyton, made great use of names in her children’s books. You can always tell what type of character you are dealing with from their names. You can also usually get a good idea about the genre and type of story from her naming conventions, as follows:
The Land of Far-Beyond is a Christian allegory and tells the story of a boy named Peter and his two sisters, Anna and Patience, who travel from the City of Turmoil to the City of Happiness in the Land of Far-Beyond. The three children carry the heavy burdens of their bad deeds on their backs. With them are two other children, Lily and John, and five adults—Mr Scornful, Mr Fearful, Dick Cowardly, Gracie Grumble and Sarah Simple.
The Enchanted Wood series of three books tells of the adventures of three children who live near the Enchanted Wood. One day they discover a great tree that reaches right up into the clouds called the Faraway Tree. The children climb the Faraway Tree and discover that it is inhabited by magical people, including Moon-Face, Silky, The Saucepan Man, Dame Washalot, Mr. Watzisname, and the Angry Pixie, whose houses are built in holes in the great trunk.
I have tried to make good use of names in my children’s book series. Sir Chocolate and Lady Sweet were intended to clearly indicate that the books are fantasy and are about sweet treats. All the illustrations are made from cake and fondant art and the books all include recipes.
Neema the Misfit Giraffe was intended to make it obvious that the book has an African setting. The name, Neema, means grace in Swahili. Neema’s companion, Amhale, has a Zulu name which means the beautiful one.
What are your thoughts on names in children’s fiction? Do you think they are important? Let me know in the comments.
About Robbie Cheadle
Award-winning, bestselling author, Robbie Cheadle, has published fifteen children’s book and two poetry books. Her work has also appeared in poetry and short story anthologies.
Robbie also has two novels published under the name of Roberta Eaton Cheadle and has horror, paranormal, and fantasy short stories featured in several anthologies under this name.
The eleven Sir Chocolate children’s picture books, co-authored by Robbie and Michael Cheadle, are written in sweet, short rhymes which are easy for young children to follow and are illustrated with pictures of delicious cakes and cake decorations. Each book also includes simple recipes or biscuit art directions which children can make under adult supervision.
Robbie and Michael’s new Southern African Safari Adventures series is aimed at teaching young children about Southern African wildlife in a fun and entertaining way. Each book contains a rhyming verse story about a particular animal, as well as illustrations by Robbie Cheadle, photographs and links to video footage about that animal.
Robbie’s blog includes recipes, fondant and cake artwork, poetry, and book reviews. https://robbiesinspiration.wordpress.com/
Share this:
Treasuring Poetry – Thinking of cancer sufferers and survivors at Christmas, as well as those who have passed #cancerpoetry #bookreview #TreasuringPoetry
Posted: December 20, 2023 Filed under: Uncategorized 51 Comments
I like to keep this final Treasuring Poetry post for the year as a tribute to wonderful blogger, poet, and author, Sue Vincent, who passed on the 29th of March 2021. This year, I am adding blogger and writer, Mary Smith, who passed on Christmas Day 2021. Both Sue and Mary died of lung cancer, and were a huge loss to the blogging community which still remembers their community spirit, talent, and generosity.
This post is also a celebrating my mother, Elsie Hancy Eaton, a breast cancer survivor who has been in remission for nearly 7 years, and talented author and poet, Freya Pickard, who is a bowel cancer survivor.
Sue Vincent
Sue Vincent’s wonderful blog: Sue Vincent’s Daily Echo is still available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeXvcrOUl5I. You will find all her books listed there.
This is my reading of one of Sue’s poems which features in Poetry Treasures published by WordCrafter Press:
Mary Smith
I had the good fortune to meet Mary Smith in Dumfries during my family’s tour of Scotland in 2019. This is the post I wrote about our tour of Dumfries, with Mary as our marvelous guide, and my review of her book, Secret Dumfries:
Freya Pickard
Freya Pickard is a talented poet and fantasy author.
You can find Freya on her blogs here: https://dragonscaleclippings.wordpress.com/ and here: https://purehaiku.wordpress.com/
My review of Vampirical Verse by Freya Pickard
What Amazon says
This book is for the broken, the damaged and scarred.
This book is for the walking dead who have learnt to live as best they can with hollow hearts and gaping wounds.
“They (the poems) are straight from the heart, soul and gut. They are never trite, never overblown but wonderfully, articulate and rich in imagery.” S Moore
Broken people get through the experience of brokenness and then have to adapt to living with it and its effects on the other side.
To deny we are broken is wrong. To try and forget the horror is wrong. Who we are today has been forged out of the trauma we have been though. Our lives now take a different, somewhat darker turn.
Vampirical Verse reflects the emotional, mental and spiritual fallout from cancer. These poems are an attempt by Freya Pickard to express the inexpressible.
Warning – the poetry in this volume contains themes of death, suicide, cancer and sexual acts which some readers may find upsetting.
My review
“This book is for the walking dead who have learnt to live as best they can with hollow hearts and gaping wounds.”
The author says her brokenness comes from nearly dying of bowel cancer, having open surgery to remove the tumour, a uterine fibroid, and her womb. She then had six months of chemotherapy.
I have had several first hand experiences of the emotional, mental, and physical devastation caused by chronic illness, and dreaded disease. It impacts on the patient and on everyone around them. My own experiences include nursing family members through breast cancer, a pulmonary embolism, a venous sinus thrombosis, and chronic and on-going illnesses suffered by both of my two sons. My younger son is a ‘medical mystery’ or a ‘medical miracle’ depending on your viewpoint.
People react differently to chronic illness and near death experiences, but no-one escapes unscathed. The poems in this book are the author’s expressions of the fear, anger, and stoic numbness which accompany different stages of treatment and survival. Experiencing these poems will change you, as the disease itself changed the author. They will teach you compassion, appreciation, understanding, and gratitude.
A few of the stanzas in this book that resonated with me the longest.
From: The Dead
“the dead feel –
I am not in stasis as you believe
I fluctuate between despair and hope
empty days, lonely nights”
From Camouflaged
“if you blink
you’ll catch a glimpse
and wish you’d not;
I am the thought
you didn’t want to think”
and a haiku
“on this side of death
shadows remain long, gaunt, thin
light never expands”
If you know someone who is, or has, suffered chronic illness or dreaded disease, these poems will give insight into their world. I encourage lovers of poetry to read this book and allow yourself to change and grow.
You can purchase Vampirical Verse from Amazon US here: https://www.amazon.com/Vampirical-Verse-Dragonscale-Delvings-Book-ebook/dp/B0CH4Q8KD8
This is a performance of Wake up and smell the corpses by Freya Pickard:
Elsie Hancy Eaton
My mum was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2014. She had 19 months of treatment including chemotherapy and herceptin.
Mum is my co-author for While the Bombs Fell. This is the most successful of my books and has 64 reviews on Goodreads. You can purchase a copy here: https://tslbooks.uk/product/while-the-bombs-fell-robbie-cheadle-and-elsie-hancy-eaton/
While the Bombs Fell is my mother’s story, growing up in Suffolk, UK during World War 2.
Wishing all my blogging friends a very Merry Christmas and all the very best for 2024.
About Robbie Cheadle
Award-winning, bestselling author, Robbie Cheadle, has published fourteen children’s books and two poetry books. Her work also features in several poetry and short story anthologies.
Robbie also has two novels published under the name of Roberta Eaton Cheadle and has horror, paranormal, and fantasy short stories featured in several anthologies under this name.
The eleven Sir Chocolate children’s picture books, co-authored by Robbie and Michael Cheadle, are written in sweet, short rhymes which are easy for young children to follow and are illustrated with pictures of delicious cakes and cake decorations. Each book also includes simple recipes or biscuit art directions which children can make under adult supervision.
Robbie and Michael Cheadle have recently launched a new series of children’s books called Southern African Safari Adventures. The first book, Neema the Misfit Giraffe is now available from Amazon.
Robbie’s blog includes recipes, fondant and cake artwork, poetry, and book reviews. https://robbiesinspiration.wordpress.com/
You can find example of Robbie Cheadle’s artwork in her art gallery here: https://www.robbiecheadle.co.za/art-gallery/
Share this:
Growing Bookworms – Guest post with children’s author, poet, and memoirist, Miriam Hurdle #GrowingBookworms #childrensfiction #readingcommunity
Posted: December 13, 2023 Filed under: Uncategorized 138 Comments
Today, I am delighted to welcome children’s author, poet, and memoirist, Miriam Hurdle, as my final Growing Bookworms guest for 2023.
Miriam is a diverse author with a poetry book, memoir about her cancer journey, and a delightful children’s book called Tina Lost in a Crowd. Welcome, Miriam.
What is your history of writing for children?
I was the Director of the Children’s Department in a literacy organization in Hong Kong. My job was writing for a children’s magazine and promoting literature in elementary schools.
After I came to the U.S., I always wanted to write children’s stories again. In 2006, I took an online writing course at the Institute of Children’s Literature https://www.instituteforwriters.com for a year. An instructor corresponded with me to provide feedback and suggestions on my assignments and revisions. The Institute also provided marketing tools and an annual catalog of 800 magazines accepting submissions. The goal of the course was to have my essays published.
The Institute suggested that children’s literature writers observe the children. If the writers were not teachers or adults with young children at home, they could volunteer at organizations such as libraries or Boy/Girl Scouts to get first-hand experience to understand their behaviors and language.
At the time of taking the writing course, even though I was a school district administrator, my interaction with the elementary school students was still fresh in my mind.
There were many fun memories of activities with my daughter, Mercy. I combined one story about Mercy, my understanding of the children’s behaviors, and my writing skills to write my first assignment entitled “Tina Goes to Hollywood Bowl.”
I kept the stories written during this course in a computer folder for many years. Early in the year 2020, during the lockdown, I revised the Tina story to prepare for publication.
Your book, Tina Lost in a Crowd, involves lost children. Was it based on a personal experience of some kind?
The story of Tina Lost in a Crowd is partly based on fact. When my daughter Mercy was eight years old, my sister Yolanda, her husband Patrick, and their son Enoch, who was Mercy’s age, came from Hong Kong to visit us. We took them on tours in northern and southern California. One activity was going to a concert at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. I drove the five of us to Rowland Heights Regional Park, then we took the Park & Ride bus to the Hollywood Bowl.
The sky was dark with bright stars when the concert started. Mercy and Enoch swayed side to side when they listened to Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake and smiled at each other. During the intermission, Patrick left his seat to buy some popcorn. Mercy and Enoch wanted to use the restroom. Yolanda and I urged them to catch up with Patrick.
Later, when Patrick came back without them, I panicked. Imagine losing 8-year-old kids in a crowd of 18,000 people. How would I find them? Yolanda and Patrick stayed in their seats while I followed the descending steps between the sections of seats to where I thought they could have gone.
I found them standing against a wall! It was such a relief, but I was curious about what made them stand there. “Were you scared?” I asked them.
“Not too scared,” Mercy said, “I learned from the Girl Scouts that if I get lost, I should stay at one spot to wait for the adults to find me.”
This was one of my fondest memories. I asked Mercy, “Should I write a story about this experience?” She answered me with no hesitance, “Of course!”
The story became Tina Lost in a Crowd.
The illustrations in your book are outstanding. How did you go about choosing an illustrator for your story? Did you have much input into the illustration process?
I’m a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). On one blog post, it featured an illustrator and her work. I liked the style of her artwork, so I contacted her and got an idea of how much she would charge for the number of pages in my book and how long it would take to complete the job. She charged more than my budgeted amount.
Some blogging friends recommended some websites with illustration services, and I checked them out. Some illustrators charged by hours. They didn’t have a portfolio with sample artwork, so I couldn’t tell if I liked their style. I preferred using services charged for the job not by hours.
Another recommendation from a blogger was Fiverr. I decided to search for an illustrator on Fiverr.com. https://www.fiverr.com The “gigs” provide their bio, sample work, and prices. Some would provide limited, and some unlimited revisions.
I do watercolor painting and wish to illustrate my book, but I don’t do portrait painting. There are thousands of gigs out there, and it would take forever to scroll through all the pages to find one. I entered watercolor as the criteria for the children’s illustration and got 660 services. It took me six months to find one I liked. I paid for one sample page. It was the style I liked so I ordered the rest as part of my entire book.
After I accepted the sample page, I sent the story summary and the description of each page to her. She then sent me a few sketches at a time. I gave her my feedback and suggestions. She revised them and sent them to me. Sometimes I respected her creativity and approved it. But if they didn’t correspond with my story, I asked for further revisions until they were done to my satisfaction. It was a pleasant experience working with Victoria Skakandi.
What do you like best about writing for children?
I was an elementary school teacher for 15 years before becoming a school district administrator. I loved teaching small children. They love to learn and are receptive to new ideas. I started by teaching kindergarten and eventually taught first to fourth grade before doing administration. I had lists of students’ first 100, 200, and 1000 words, etc. So, I had a good idea of their vocabulary level. Some immigrant students might not have the same vocabulary levels but they were expected to understand the subjects of studies. Teachers would have to use teaching materials with high content with low vocabulary to teach these students.
From my teaching experience, I love to use grade-level-appropriate words to write stories that boost their creativity, stimulate their imagination, build their confidence, encourage self-confidence, or for them to read for fun.
What is your favorite children’s book or series for children?
When I was a kid, I loved to read Aesop’s Fables. When I read them to my students, they would shout with me at the end of the fable “The moral of the lesson is…” My granddaughter, Autumn, loved The Magic School Bus series. Between my daughter and I, we accumulated a good collection of different subjects. She loved to look at the illustrations and followed the school bus transforming into a submarine, an airplane, and other transportation. One subject of the Magic School Bus was dinosaurs. After introducing the names of the dinosaurs, it created some fun names with illustrations, such as “bananasaurs,” and “sockosaurs.” We laughed and made up our own funny dinosaur names.
My review of Tina Lost in a Crowd
What Amazon says
Tina invited her friend Erica to attend a popular Tchaikovsky’s Spectacular concert on a summer evening with her parents. During the intermission, her dad left the seat to buy some snacks. Tina and Erica followed him wanting to use the restroom. The shoving crowd pushed them away, and they lost sight of him. It would be impossible to fight through the 18,000 people to find him or go back to Tina’s mom.
This story tells about what happened to Tina and Erica after they got lost. Children can adapt to learning from different situations they may observe or encounter. Adults could have discussions with the children about the situations to help them develop problem-solving skills.
My review
Tina Lost in a Crowd is a charming book for children about two young school friends who attend a busy concert with Tina’s parents and get lost on their way to the restroom.
I enjoyed the character of Tina, a lovely and friendly girl who demonstrated politeness and respect towards both her teacher and her parents as well as consideration towards her friend. She has sufficient presence of mind not to panic in the scary situation of being lost in a big crowd.
The depiction of Tina’s family life and her mother’s interest in her and eagerness to plan some fun family outings for the summer vacation are heart warming and lovely to see in a children’s book. I liked the fact that Tina’s mother made a picnic for her family and Tina’s friend, Erica, to enjoy at the concert with good, wholesome food.
The illustrations in this book are a real treat and every page is a visual delight. I would recommend this book to parents and caregivers who like books that encourage good family values and level headedness by children in difficult situations.
Purchase Tina Lost in a Crowd from Amazon US here: https://www.amazon.com/Tina-Lost-Crowd-Miriam-Hurdle-ebook/dp/B095TWG9VS
About Miriam Hurdle
Miriam Hurdle is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). She published four children’s books at twenty-six years old. Her poetry collection received the Solo “Medalist Winner” for the New Apple Summer eBook Award and achieved bestseller status on Amazon.
Miriam writes poetry, short stories, memoir, and children’s books. She earned a Doctor of Education from the University of La Verne in California. After two years of rehabilitation counseling, fifteen years of public-school teaching and ten years in school district administration, she retired and enjoys life with her husband in southern California, and the visits to her daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughters in Oregon. When not writing, she engages in blogging, gardening, photography, and traveling.
Learn more about Miriam at:
https://theshowersofblessings.com
https://www.goodreads.com/author/edit/17252131.Miriam_Hurdle
About Robbie Cheadle
Award-winning, bestselling author, Robbie Cheadle, has published fifteen children’s book and two poetry books. Her work has also appeared in poetry and short story anthologies.
Robbie also has two novels published under the name of Roberta Eaton Cheadle and has horror, paranormal, and fantasy short stories featured in several anthologies under this name.
The eleven Sir Chocolate children’s picture books, co-authored by Robbie and Michael Cheadle, are written in sweet, short rhymes which are easy for young children to follow and are illustrated with pictures of delicious cakes and cake decorations. Each book also includes simple recipes or biscuit art directions which children can make under adult supervision.
Robbie and Michael’s new Southern African Safari Adventures series is aimed at teaching young children about Southern African wildlife in a fun and entertaining way. Each book contains a rhyming verse story about a particular animal, as well as illustrations by Robbie Cheadle, photographs and links to video footage about that animal.
Robbie’s blog includes recipes, fondant and cake artwork, poetry, and book reviews. https://robbiesinspiration.wordpress.com/
Share this:
Treasuring Poetry Special Remembrance Month Edition: Poet, Frank Prem, discusses his war poetry #poetrycommunity #warpoetry #TreasuringPoetry
Posted: November 15, 2023 Filed under: Book Review, Books, Collection, Interview, Poetry, Review | Tags: Book Review, Frank Prem, From Volyn to Kherson, Interview, Poetry, Poetry Collection, Review, Robbie Cheadle, Treasuring Poetry, War, War Poetry, Writing to be Read 51 CommentsToday, I am delighted to welcome prolific and masterful poet, Frank Prem, back to Treasuring Poetry. Frank writes incredibly relatable poetry that covers a wide variety of topics relevant to modern life including the bush fires that raged in Australia a few years ago, Devil in the Wind, working as a psychiatric nurse in an institution, The New Asylum: A Memoir of Psychiatry, as well as collections about war. I have read Frank’s beautiful and moving collections about World War 1, Sheep on the Somme, and the war in the Ukraine, From Volyn to Kherson: Interpretations of the War in Ukraine. Frank also writes romantic poetry, interpretive modern poetry and verse books for children. In the nicest way, nothing is safe from Frank’s poetic pen.
Tell us a bit about your war poetry collections
I developed an interest in the First World War many years ago and was particularly interested in the stories of Australian soldiers and their seeming need to volunteer to fight half a world away on the basis of loyalty to the British Empire and the Mother Country that was England, but also on the basis of a kind of chivalric principle. A moral fever that swept the nation.
I came across books that were written in the more modern historical style of telling stories to illustrate events – using the example of an identified soldier, from an identified town, with family details and background, then tracing their movements into the war and its various theatres and actions.
I found I was able to understand these individuals a little better and to empathise with them and their loved ones a little more than I otherwise could.
I also found myself interested in using images for my own poetic inspiration and that led me to the images held by Australia’s War Memorial. There was one image in particular that started me looking at pictures taken during the war. The image was of a white cross in a field of muddy and bloody craters. The cross marked the grave of Captain Ivor Margetts, much loved and respected by the men he led in battle. By the following day the cross and the grave were gone. They’d been blown to hell by the shelling.
I was tremendously moved by this, and as I searched for a version of that particular image online, I encountered many more, each with a poignant story to tell and many were destined to feature in my book Sheep On The Somme (https://www.amazon.com.au/Sheep-Somme-World-Picture-Poetry/dp/1925963144 ).
More recently, I found myself watching the sabre rattling over the Ukraine that was being perpetrated by Russia and was reminded very clearly of reading I’d done long ago about the beginnings of the Spanish Civil War back in the late 1930s and of the rise of Right-Wing Fascism in Europe during that same period of the 1930s. I was struck by the similarities and the ways in which those events and movements evolved into what became World War II. It was – and remains – quite concerning to see these way events continue to unfold.
As the news and pictures of Russia’s military build-up on the Ukraine border kept emerging, along with the seeming inability on the part of Ukraine to do anything to stop it, I watched events more and more closely.
When Ukraine’s borders were finally breached, there were more photographers and journalists on the spot than has ever been the case previously in a conflict. We were flooded with formal and informal news and masses of un-curated and un-censored images.
During the first nine weeks of the conflict I became engrossed in reading the news and studying the images. And – of course – I began to write.
I produced 3 volumes of poetry interpreting the Ukraine war – two of them will not be released because they used images taken by journalists in the field and I don’t have rights to use those images. The volumes (Bullets Into The Starichi Sky and I Call The Hole The War) sit on my private bookshelf here in my writing studio.
The third volume – From Volyn to Kherson – is a collection of poems in which I have attempted to use such talent for empathy as I possess to interpret the news stories I was reading in a way that enabled any of my own readers to get a sense of what the invasion and the conflict was like as an experience for the everyday people of Ukraine. What if it happened here, in my town? What would it be like to have seventy kilometres of armoured assault vehicles coming to surround and destroy my home town? Or yours?
I like readers to know where the inspiration for these writings has come from and so each individual poem is referenced and has a link to the online sources that I relied on in my writing. After nine weeks I was a little burnt out and had to stop writing, but I follow events over there diligently and worry about what I see happening in the wider world and which still so resembles the events of the 1930s.
What draws you to writing about wars?
I’ve encroached a little on this question with my answer above, I think, but I’ll try to elaborate a little more.
In my professional life I was a psychiatric nurse. Back (so many years ago) when I was a student nurse one of the areas of interaction with patients that was taught and stressed was empathy.
As I understood it, empathy was the ability to walk in another person’s shoes. To see things from the perspective of the other person, but not to necessarily sympathise, or accept, merely to understand in order to be able to reflect that understanding back to the patient.
The patients that came my way in psychiatry were invariably involved in and generally overwhelmed by personal chaos. This might have been due to illness, or it might have been due their life being in a mess they could not resolve. They might have been psychotic, depressed, suicidal, or experiencing any number of out-of-control situations.
That tool of empathy has stayed with me, I think, and now reveals itself in my writing. The experience of chaos by a person finds itself being reflected back in my writings.
I think it is in this way that I am attracted to attempt to unravel what a person may be feeling or experiencing in a war zone. Similarly, I find myself writing a lot about the human toll of natural disasters that come close to me or to my little place in the world.
I have always tried to develop my understanding of these things by writing my way through them. To help myself and any subsequent reader to understand by feeling what is happening through my words.
Tell us a bit about how you use photographs and newspaper articles to assist with writing your war poems
With newspaper articles, I try to extract the meat of the story. That part of the article that is the actual purpose – the reason that it is a story in the first place.
Often enough, there is human interest in the genesis of the article. I then allow the information to assemble itself in a way that I can present it to a reader. For example
What is grandmother doing in the kitchen? Is she cooking Sunday lunch? No. She is cooking Molotov cocktails for others to throw at invading vehicles. And . . . wouldn’t you or I, each do the same if this was happening in our back yard?
With an image, I anticipate that it will have a story to tell. I try not to impose myself and my own current thoughts or fears or desires on it, but to allow the story to be whatever comes.
For example, a golden paper daisy with a bright glow might well have a story to tell that reflects light, and the sun. But equally, it might be a harbinger – a prophet of some kind that draws attention to itself in order to be heard. I don’t know in advance what the story will be, but I try to keep myself out of its road and not to shape the narrative too much.
I have come to know, also, that each image will have a different story to tell to each viewer, so to the extent that I can, I try to facilitate a receptive space for that to occur through what I end up writing. I’ll give an example of how I find a story in a tiny image taken during wartime over a hundred years ago.
The image above is the view from inside a German army dugout in World War I – around 1916. It is from within this space that a small group of individuals fought their war.
When I look at this image, I notice a few things and I feel a few things. In no particular order:
- From pitch darkness up into light. A very small doorway.
- Claustrophobia.
- Fear.
- The smell of habitation. Bodily odours – where would the latrine have been?
- The knowledge of death and destruction and battle rage just outside
- Movement of the ground as shells fall outside. Perhaps close.
- Maybe the sound of enemy troops approaching the bunker to destroy it.
- What of family. Has this soldier (have I) written them a note to say goodbye?
I don’t have a personal experience of war, but I know what fear feels like. I know claustrophobia and the smells of my own body . . . and so on. I can draw on these to understand a little of what the soldier in the dugout might have felt.
The willingness to engage with these elements that come from the image allow me to engage my empathy and to allow a story – which the image itself contains – to be told.
What is your own favourite war poem?
I think that my personal favourite of my own written war poems is one that hasn’t featured in a book to date, but was written to be read for a spoken-word poetry slam 2 years ago. The criteria were that it needed to be 2 minutes reading time or less and to include the term ‘full circle’.
The poem told stories in word pictures and referenced images, without actually including them, if that makes sense. I have since recorded it for my YouTube channel and included there the images that the poem references, spanning both World War I and the current Ukraine war.
The link to the poem on YouTube is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JI3vRaTg0tI .
The text of the poem is below:
THE TRUTH OF TIME
(AS TOLD BY THE PICTURES)
picture 1
a group
of soldiers
are hanging out
of the doors
and windows
of a moving train
leaving Egypt
heading
to the western front
ready
for a stoush
a bit
of a barney
it’s time
to come to grips
with the enemy
and they’re cherry ripe
for a
blue
picture 2
dimitriy
is holding olga –
tightly –
on the platform
a blue train
is nearly ready to leave
she’ll go
to poland
across the border
dimitriy
will join his friends
in the territorials
a week
to practice
how to hold a rifle
and to learn
first aid
then away
he must forget
to be an accountant
he’s
a front-line fighter
now
picture 3
a heap of rubble –
bricks
and half-bricks
timber and concrete
and dust –
lies as a mound
among mounds
it is
a streetscape
an avenue
of homes
destroyed by artillery
a soldier –
rifle
slung over a shoulder –
picks his way
toward camera
there is nothing left
that might hold
use
or meaning
picture 4
the village near kyiv
is a series
of mounds
rubble
that was homes
and houses
a month or so
ago
a woman
is sifting
searching
for something –
anything –
that might
have a use
it’s all been destroyed
by missiles
and artillery
she hasn’t found
a lot
that will be helpful
~
pictures
pictures
they won’t
let me sleep
in the night
they shout at me
that we have come
full circle
and the ukraine
is in 1916 all over again
Who is your favourite war poet?
I can’t honestly say I have a favourite war poet, but I have read with a deep sense of connection stories such as All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque with its empathy for the soldiers of the day. Here is the Wikipedia link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Quiet_on_the_Western_Front .
What is your favourite war poem?
I’m aware of many of the great poet writers of the First World War, such as Owen, Sassoon, Brook and Graves, among others, but for my response to this question I have to refer you and readers to a song that I first encountered back when I was a teenager (50 years, who would ever have thought . . .).
The song was performed by a wonderful English Folk ensemble called Steeleye Span, and the song is called Fighting For Strangers. Here is the YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JI3vRaTg0tI
YouTube Links
In addition to the links given above, I would welcome viewers, new followers (if any so desire) comments and feedback on my YouTube Channel, where there a re a number of video readings from my war poetry collections (and natural disasters and psychiatry and others). Click on the link below to be taken along to the Playlists available on the Channel.
https://www.youtube.com/@frankprempoetandauthor726/playlists
Robbie and readers, thanks so much for having me along to chat for November’s Treasuring Poetry post.
My review of From Volyn to Kherson: Interpretations of the War in Ukraine
This book is a ‘hard’ read. It exposes the realities of war; the filth, the noise, the fear, and the destruction and death. No civilian wants war, it is something that is imposed on individuals because of factors outside of the man on the street’s control. Civilians, however, bear the brunt of war as the women lose their husbands and sons. The entire population generally loses its collectively homes, food stability, economic stability, access to sanitation, food, and healthcare. Many countries and populations never recover from wars and their populations become unwanted refugees. The sympathy of the unaffected world shrinks rapidly when wars and the resultant refugees impacts on their economies, making the slices of the economic pie for their own populations smaller.
The war in Ukraine hit me especially hard when I read about the Russian soldiers who froze to death in their tanks. Although the Russians were the instigators and aggressors in this war, many of those young men are the same ages as my own two sons, and their dreadful fate couldn’t fail to stir compassion. Young men frequently have a glamorous and inaccurate picture of war when they enlist or are called up. The realities of war quickly displace these notions but it is already too late.
A few stirring stanzas from this collection of freestyle poems:
From fallen (quietly weeping)
“here it is safe
safe enough
to shed
a tear”
From the metro (is also home)
“let the fear
fall away
for a moment while
the anthem
sounds”
From vasylkiv (is fighting on)
This footnote made me shiver: “People used to think about new car or iphone, but nobody was thinking about peace. Now, we are dreaming of it. When old people used to wish each other peace, we didn’t understand what they meant. Now we do.”
and finally, from in okhtyrka (the tsentral’ne)
“they are preparing
the cemetery now
in okhtyrka
adriy
and his platoon
are gone
vacuum bombed
air taken
out
of them
and then
they died”
This is a beautiful and emotion book of poems that will change the way you view war forever.
You can find out more about Frank Prem here:
You can find out more about Frank Prem on his website here: https://frankprem.com/
and on his wordpress blog here: https://frankprem.wordpress.com/blog/
On amazon US here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Frank-Prem/author/B07L61HNZ4
About Robbie Cheadle
Award-winning, bestselling author, Robbie Cheadle, has published fourteen children’s books and two poetry books. Her work also features in several poetry and short story anthologies.
Robbie also has two novels published under the name of Roberta Eaton Cheadle and has horror, paranormal, and fantasy short stories featured in several anthologies under this name.
The eleven Sir Chocolate children’s picture books, co-authored by Robbie and Michael Cheadle, are written in sweet, short rhymes which are easy for young children to follow and are illustrated with pictures of delicious cakes and cake decorations. Each book also includes simple recipes or biscuit art directions which children can make under adult supervision.
Robbie and Michael Cheadle have recently launched a new series of children’s books called Southern African Safari Adventures. The first book, Neema the Misfit Giraffe is now available from Amazon.
Robbie’s blog includes recipes, fondant and cake artwork, poetry, and book reviews. https://robbiesinspiration.wordpress.com/
You can find example of Robbie Cheadle’s artwork in her art gallery here: https://www.robbiecheadle.co.za/art-gallery/
Share this:
Growing Bookworms – War in Children’s Literature: yes or no? #GrowingBookworms #childrensliterature #warbooks
Posted: November 8, 2023 Filed under: Books, Children's Books, Classics, Fiction, Growing Bookworms, Historical Fiction | Tags: Children's Books, Growing Bookworms, Historical Fiction, Robbie Cheadle, War and children, Writing to be Read 68 CommentsThe world is full of conflict currently, and this has been the case throughout the reign of ‘civilized man’ on this beautiful planet of ours.
According to save the children US, a total of 93,236 children have been killed or maimed in conflicts in the last ten years (this figure is from November 19, 2020 before the two recent conflicts centering around Ukraine and Israel), which equates to 25 children (an averaged size school classroom) of children every day.
These children were mainly victims of airstrikes, shelling, landmines, and other explosive weapons used in populated areas.
War and conflict is a very real factor of human society. Wars displace people and create refugees; people who are unable to continue living in their homes and carrying on with their daily lives because of violence. Refugees are a huge concern and area of focus in Western society.
With these thoughts and figures in mind, I ask, should children read books about war?
My answer is yes. Books and stories are a way of teaching empathy, understanding, and raising awareness.
Jennifer Armstrong is quoted as saying: “if we don’t encounter war in the safe way, by experiencing it through literature and art, how will we be moved to avoid the real thing? Reading about was doesn’t imply an endorsement of it: it’s a way of acknowledging part of the human experience that has been with us since the days of the Trojan War and long before. If you really want to teach young readers about peace, give them books about war.”
Jennifer Armstrong is the author of over 50 books for children from kindergarten through to high school. She is best known for writing historical fiction. You can read more about Jennifer Armstrong here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer_Armstrong
To:You
Mon 2023/11/06 09:29
Isaac Bashevis Singer wrote: “Children think about and ponder such matters as justice, the purpose of life, the why of suffering. They often find it difficult to make peace with the idea that animals are slaughtered so that man can eat them. They are bewildered and frightened by death. They cannot accept the fact that the strong should rule the weak.” You can read more about Isaac Bashevis Singer here: https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/hebrew-literature-biographies/isaac-bashevis-singer
I’ve always been fascinated by war and have been reading about children and adults in war situations since I was a young girl. These are a few of the books about war and conflict situations I was given by Sister Agatha when I was a young student (10, 11 and 12 years old) at Holy Cross Convent in George in the Western Cape of South Africa:
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
Discovered in the attic where she spnt the last years of her life, Anne Frank’s remarkable diary has become a world classic—a powerful reminder of the horrors of war and an eloquent testament to the human spirit.
In 1942, as Nazis occupied Holland, a thirteen-year-old Jewish girl and her family fled their home in Amsterdam and went into hiding. For the next two years, until their whereabouts were betrayed to the Gestapo, they and another family lived cloistered in the secret upstairs rooms of an old office building. Cut off from the outside world, they faced hunger, boredom, the constant cruelties of living in confined quarters, and the ever-present threat of discovery and death.
In her diary Anne Frank recorded vivid impressions of her experiences during this period. By turns thoughtful, moving, and amusing, Anne’s account offers a fascinating commentary on human courage and frailty and a compelling self-portrait of a sensitive and spirited young woman whose promise was tragically cut short.
I am David by Anne Holm
David escapes from the concentration camp where he has spent his entire life and flees across Europe. He is utterly alone – who can he trust? What will await him? And all the while, how can he be sure that they won’t catch up with him…David learns that his polite manner, his haunted eyes and his thin features are strange to other people. He must learn to fend for himself in this strange new world.
When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr
This semi-autobiographical classic, written by the beloved Judith Kerr, tells the story of a Jewish family escaping Germany in the days before the Second World War.
This beautiful new edition celebrates the fifty year anniversary of an adventure that Michael Morpurgo called “The most life-enhancing book you could ever wish to read.”
Suppose your country began to change. Suppose that without your noticing, it became dangerous for some people to live in it any longer, and you found, to your surprise, that your own father was one of those people. This is what happened to Anna in 1933.
Anna is too busy with her schoolwork and tobogganing to listen to the talk of Hitler. But one day she and her brother Max are rushed out of Germany in alarming secrecy, away from everything they know. Their father is wanted by the Nazis. This is the start of a huge adventure, sometimes frightening, very often funny and always exciting.
Judith Kerr wrote When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit fifty years ago, based on her own journey, so that her own children would know where she came from and the lengths to which her parents went to keep her and her brother safe. It has gone on to become a beloved classic that is required reading for many children all over the world and is an unforgettable introduction to the real-life impact of the Second World War.
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
A powerful story set in Nazi occupied Denmark in 1943. Ten-year-old Annemarie Johansen is called upon for a selfless act of bravery to help save her best-friend, Ellen – a Jew.
It is 1943 and for ten-year-old Annemarie Johansen life is still fun – school, family, sharing fairy stories with her little sister. But there are dangers and worries too – the Nazis have occupied Copenhagen and there are food shortages, curfews and the constant threat of being stopped by soldiers. And for Annemarie the dangers become even greater… her best-friend Ellen is a Jew. When Ellen’s parents are taken away to be ‘relocated’ by the Nazis, Ellen is taken in by Annemarie’s parents and suddenly Annemarie’s family are under threat too.
Annemarie has to call upon all her resources for courage and bravery as she helps her friend make a daring escape.
A Newbery Medal winner by an acclaimed author *For readers from 8 to 12 *
I still enjoy reading children’s books about war, and have written one, While the Bombs Fell, myself. These are few I’ve enjoyed.
War Horse by Michael Morpurgo
Michael Morpurgo has a number of children’s books that centre around war and conflict situations. This blurb is for War Horse.
An unforgettable tale of war, redemption, and a hero’s journey. It is 1914, and Joey, a farm horse, is sold to the army and thrust into the midst of World War I on the Western Front. When Joey is dragged away, his heart aches for Albert, the farmer’s son he is forced to leave behind. In the army the beautiful red-bay horse is trained to charge the enemy, drag heavy artillery, and carry wounded soldiers not much older than Albert off the battlefields. Amongst the clamoring of guns, and while plodding through the cold mud, Joey wonders if the war will ever end. And if it does, will he ever find Albert again? War Horse joins the Scholastic Gold line, which features award-winning and beloved novels. Includes exclusive bonus content!
Elizabeth’s War by DL Finn
It’s April of 1917, and World War I has reached Elizabeth’s family on their wheat farm in North Dakota. Although the battles are being fought overseas, the war has affected her in ways she couldn’t have imagined. Elizabeth is thrust into a new role after her brother and father leave the farm to do their part in the war. And she’s only eleven years old! Having almost died as a toddler, Elizabeth has been babied most of her life. Now she must learn to help out around the farm; cooking, cleaning, and tending to the garden and livestock. No longer can she run from her responsibilities, as she did when her horse Rosie was giving birth. There were complications during the delivery, and Elizabeth panicked and froze. The foal didn’t make it. Elizabeth faces her biggest challenge yet as a huge Christmas Eve snowstorm rages outside, cutting her family off from any help; and her mother is about to have a baby! Her brother and sister are laid up with chicken pox. Does Elizabeth face her fears or run from them? Can she help her family, who need her more now than ever? Or will she retreat like she did when Rosie needed her?
You can find out more about DL Finn’s latest book here: https://dlfinnauthor.com/2023/10/30/new-release-the-destination-harbor-pointe-series-book-3-dlfinnauthor-harborpointeseries-storyempire-writingcommunity-whattoread/
My Gentle War: Memoir of an Essex Girl by Joy Lennick
The affection Joy Lennick nee Mansfield felt and feels for Wales is immediately evident in this charming memoir.
Separated in World War 11 from her parents – with her father serving in the Royal Air Force abroad and her mother working in munitions – she finds herself living on a mountain with her two brothers. It is a world away from the cosy environment of her home in Dagenham, Essex.
You can read one of Joy Lennick’s blog posts here: https://joylennick.wordpress.com/2017/12/21/a-labyrinth-of-meanings/
While the Bombs Fell by Robbie Cheadle and Elsie Hancy Eaton
What was it like for children growing up in rural Suffolk during World War 2? Elsie and her family live in a small double-storey cottage in Bungay, Suffolk. Every night she lies awake listening anxiously for the sound of the German bomber planes. Often they come and the air raid siren sounds signalling that the family must leave their beds and venture out to the air raid shelter in the garden. Despite the war raging across the English channel, daily life continues with its highlights, such as Christmas and the traditional Boxing Day fox hunt, and its wary moments when Elsie learns the stories of Jack Frost and the ghostly and terrifying Black Shuck that haunts the coastline and countryside of East Anglia. Includes some authentic World War 2 recipes.
The ebook of While the Bombs Fell is available from Lulu.com here: https://www.lulu.com/shop/robbie-cheadle-and-elsie-hancy-eaton/while-the-bombs-fell/ebook/product-23768958.html?page=1&pageSize=4
You can find out more about the South African concentration camps in my book, A Ghost and His Gold. IT IS NOT FOR CHILDREN. https://tslbooks.uk/product/a-ghost-and-his-gold-roberta-eaton-cheadle/
About Robbie Cheadle
Award-winning, bestselling author, Robbie Cheadle, has published fifteen children’s book and two poetry books. Her work has also appeared in poetry and short story anthologies.
Robbie also has two novels published under the name of Roberta Eaton Cheadle and has horror, paranormal, and fantasy short stories featured in several anthologies under this name.
The eleven Sir Chocolate children’s picture books, co-authored by Robbie and Michael Cheadle, are written in sweet, short rhymes which are easy for young children to follow and are illustrated with pictures of delicious cakes and cake decorations. Each book also includes simple recipes or biscuit art directions which children can make under adult supervision.
Robbie and Michael’s new Southern African Safari Adventures series is aimed at teaching young children about Southern African wildlife in a fun and entertaining way. Each book contains a rhyming verse story about a particular animal, as well as illustrations by Robbie Cheadle, photographs and links to video footage about that animal.
Robbie’s blog includes recipes, fondant and cake artwork, poetry, and book reviews. https://robbiesinspiration.wordpress.com/
Share this:
Treasuring Poetry – Meet the poet, Merril D Smith, and a book review #poetry #poetrycommunity #bookreview
Posted: October 18, 2023 Filed under: Book Review, Books, Interview, Poetry, Review, Treasuring Poetry | Tags: Book Review, Merril D. Smith, Poet Interview, Poetry, River Ghosts, Robbie Cheadle, Treasuring Poetry, Writing to be Read 65 CommentsToday, I am delighted to welcome talented poet, Merril D Smith as my October Treasuring Poetry guest. Merril has recently launched River Ghosts, a beautiful book of poetry which I have reviewed below.
Tell me a bit about your poetry collection, River Ghosts. What inspired the poetry in this book? Does it have a particular theme?
I had submitted a chapbook to Nightingale & Sparrow Press, which was longlisted, but ultimately not chosen for publication. The editor gave me some positive feedback, and I decided I would submit a full-length manuscript the following year. Of course, I did not expect a pandemic, nor that my mom would die from it in April 2020 during the first wave and lockdown. By that time, she was in a nursing home, and we were not allowed to be with her. I compiled River Ghosts in the months after her death with some already written poems—some published—and some new poems.
I walk by the Delaware River nearly every morning. Sometimes I go to a nearby park, which is also a historic battle site. The battle took place during the American Revolution, and there is an eighteenth-century house there. Recently, they’ve found more remains of soldiers—Hessians who fought for the British. If ghosts exist, I think they are at rivers, which carry so much history, and because of the battle and soldiers killed, I imagine them here.
So, the collection’s title comes from my musings about rivers and ghosts, including the ghosts of memory. However, I don’t think River Ghosts is all about sadness and grief by any means! I also want to mention that my older child, Jay Smith, designed the cover art, and the book is dedicated to my mother’s memory.
Do you do a lot of editing of your poetry or does the poem manifest itself fully formed?
That really depends. I nearly always do some editing, even for poems written for prompts. Sometimes, I go back to poems though, and I revise them. Then again, I’ve had some poems published that I pretty much wrote and sent off.
What do you find to be the most effective way of sharing your poetry with fellow poetry lovers?
I don’t know about effective. I suppose more people read my poetry on my blog, especially in response to a prompt, than anywhere else. I’ve also shared poems on Twitter /X for Top Tweet Tuesday (run by Black Bough Poetry), and I’ve read at some online open mics.
Do you think poetry is still a relevant form of expressing ideas in our modern world? If yes, why?
I think it’s relevant. I think I’ve read there’s been an upsurge in poetry, both reading and writing. Perhaps that’s because of social media and Covid lockdowns. I think most people enjoy poetry, especially if it’s read. For example, so many people were energized by Amanda Gorman’s reading of her poem, “The Hill We Climb,” at the inauguration of President Joe Biden in 2021. She is the youngest poet to have read a poem at a US presidential inauguration, and she is also an activist.
Which of your own poems is your favorite and why?
I don’t have a favorite anything—book, movie, song, or poem– it depends on my mood. But I will share one of my favorites from River Ghosts. “Moon Landing” was originally published by Black Bough Poetry.
Moon Landing
On that warm July night,
my father watched moonstruck
as Neil Armstrong took his giant leap.
I remained firmly earthbound,
watching our new puppies in the TV screen light,
their small black and white bodies tumbling,
stepping hesitantly into their futures.
Now—ensorcelled by moon-glow—
I plummet back, landing my time-rocket
on the rocky surface of memory.
Which poem by any other poet that you’ve read, do you relate to the most and why?
Again, I can’t say there is any poem that I relate to the most. I like many different types of poetry.
I think this is the poem I wish I had written. You will see in a way it’s connected to the poem of mine that I shared. “My God, It’s Full of Stars” is by Tracy K. Smith, who was US Poet Laureate, and who won a Pulitzer Prize for her collection Life on Mars.
My God, It’s Full of Stars by Tracy K. Smith
We like to think of it as parallel to what we know,
Only bigger. One man against the authorities.
Or one man against a city of zombies. One man
Who is not, in fact, a man, sent to understand
The caravan of men now chasing him like red ants
Let loose down the pants of America. Man on the run.
Man with a ship to catch, a payload to drop,
This message going out to all of space. . . . Though
Maybe it’s more like life below the sea: silent,
Buoyant, bizarrely benign. Relics
Of an outmoded design. Some like to imagine
A cosmic mother watching through a spray of stars,
Mouthing yes, yes as we toddle toward the light,
Biting her lip if we teeter at some ledge. Longing
To sweep us to her breast, she hopes for the best
While the father storms through adjacent rooms
Ranting with the force of Kingdom Come,
Not caring anymore what might snap us in its jaw.
Sometimes, what I see is a library in a rural community.
All the tall shelves in the big open room. And the pencils
In a cup at Circulation, gnawed on by the entire population.
The books have lived here all along, belonging
For weeks at a time to one or another in the brief sequence
Of family names, speaking (at night mostly) to a face,
A pair of eyes. The most remarkable lies.
2.
Charlton Heston is waiting to be let in. He asked once politely.
A second time with force from the diaphragm. The third time,
He did it like Moses: arms raised high, face an apocryphal white.
Shirt crisp, suit trim, he stoops a little coming in,
Then grows tall. He scans the room. He stands until I gesture,
Then he sits. Birds commence their evening chatter. Someone fires
Charcoals out below. He’ll take a whiskey if I have it. Water if I don’t.
I ask him to start from the beginning, but he goes only halfway back.
That was the future once, he says. Before the world went upside down.
Hero, survivor, God’s right hand man, I know he sees the blank
Surface of the moon where I see a language built from brick and bone.
He sits straight in his seat, takes a long, slow high-thespian breath,
Then lets it go. For all I know, I was the last true man on this earth. And:
May I smoke? The voices outside soften. Planes jet past heading off or back.
Someone cries that she does not want to go to bed. Footsteps overhead.
A fountain in the neighbor’s yard babbles to itself, and the night air
Lifts the sound indoors. It was another time, he says, picking up again.
We were pioneers. Will you fight to stay alive here, riding the earth
Toward God-knows-where? I think of Atlantis buried under ice, gone
One day from sight, the shore from which it rose now glacial and stark.
Our eyes adjust to the dark.
Continue reading here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/55519/my-god-its-full-of-stars
Here is the last part of the poem with a reading by Tracy K. Smith:
My review of River Ghosts
River Ghosts is the perfect name for this beautiful collection, which gives the reader glimpses into the poet’s life in the present, shadowed by memories, and coloured by traditions and behaviours passed down by her parents, and the ancestors that came before them. It is, in essence, an insight into the factors that make the poet who she is, and that have shaped her thoughts, ideas, and actions.
I found the ideas of loss contained in this book, interwoven with the concepts of long-lasting memories and loved ones living on through us, their offspring, compelling and delightful. For me, it made the overwhelming thought of the losses that must come, more bearable. Love, and the family traditions and behaviours we continue to honour, and pass down to our own children and grandchildren, bind us strongly to those who came before and to those who will come after. I love that idea.
A few examples of beautiful stanzas and/or lines:
“a tiny glove in the street,
the small hand grows colder
now unclasped from a larger one.”
From Observe, And Again
Above and about, dreams soar –
I pluck one from a thousand –
of red petals crushed beneath rocks
after a storm, like blood drops growing, glowing”
From Almost, and Never
“Once some brilliant star breathed time
in the after-wake of explosion and danced across a universe
exploring eternity”
From And If Always Lives
This poetry collection is a wonderful investment of time and mental energy.
River Ghosts Amazon US purchase link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09WZ8F9XJ
About Merril D. Smith
Merril D. Smith is a poet living in southern New Jersey. Her work has been published in poetry journals and anthologies, including Black Bough Poetry, Acropolis, Anti-Heroin Chic, The Storms, Fevers of the Mind, Humana Obscura, and Nightingale and Sparrow. She holds a Ph.D. in American history from Temple University in Philadelphia and is the author/editor of numerous books on gender, sexuality, and history. Her full-length poetry collection, River Ghosts (Nightingale & Sparrow Press) was Black Bough Poetry’s December 2022 Book of the Month.
Twitter: @merril_mds
Instagram: mdsmithnj
Blog: merrildsmith.org
US Amazon Link for River Ghosts: https://www.amazon.com/River-Ghosts-Merril-D-Smith/dp/B09WZ8F9XJ
UK Link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/River-Ghosts-Merril-Smith-ebook/dp/B09XKLDG6Q
Share this:
Growing Bookworms – Great Halloween reads for children #Halloween #GrowingBookworms
Posted: October 11, 2023 Filed under: Children's Books, Growing Bookworms, Reading, Teaching children | Tags: Children's Books, Children's Stories, Growing Bookworms, Halloween, Writing to be Read 67 Comments
I didn’t grow up with Halloween. In fact, I learned about the Halloween festival much later in my life through social media and books.
Looking back on my childhood reading though, I always had a fascination with all things creepy and chilling. Below I’ve discussed two of my favourite childhood books about witches, monsters, and other fantasy and mythological creatures, as well as Michael and my latest Sir Chocolate book: Sir Chocolate and the Chinese Candy Dragon.
The Witches by Roald Dahl
Blurb
This is not a fairy-tale. This is about real witches. Real witches don’t ride around on broomsticks. They don’t even wear black cloaks and hats. They are vile, cunning, detestable creatures who disguise themselves as nice, ordinary ladies. So how can you tell when you’re face to face with one? Well, if you don’t know yet you’d better find out quickly-because there’s nothing a witch loathes quite as much as children and she’ll wield all kinds of terrifying powers to get rid of them.
My thoughts
I loved The Witches. The main characters of the book are a grandmother and her young grandson. Grandma comes from Norway and has had several experiences with real witches disguised as lovely and kind ladies. There are lots of way of identifying ‘real’ witches and Grandma passes this wisdom on to her young grandson. The story is told from the perspective of the unnamed grandson.
Following an illness, Grandma and her grandson book a holiday in a hotel near the sea. Grandma needs fresh ocean air to convalesce. When the pair arrive, a conference of the “Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children” is in progress. The grandson manages to get himself trapped behind a screen in the ball room where the conference is being held. It doesn’t take long before the lovely attendees of the conference are revealed to be witches. The Grand High Witch has come up with a plan to rid the world of its children and she is sharing this plan with all the witches of England.
It is up to Grandma and her grandson to stop the witches and save the children of England from a ghastly fate.
Grandma was such a wonderful character, full of creepy stories and antsy comments. I really enjoyed her, and this is one of my favourite Roald Dahl books.
You can purchase The Witches by Roald Dahl here: https://www.amazon.com/Witches-Roald-Dahl-ebook/dp/B00INIYHJQ
Which Witch by Iva Ibbotson
Blurb
Arriman the Awful, feared Wizard of the North, has decided to marry. But his wife must be a witch of the darkest powers…
A sorcery competition is held to discover which witch is the most potent and fiendish, and glamorous Madame Olympia conjures up a thousand plague-bearing rats! Belladonna, the white witch, desperately wants to be a wicked enchantress, but her magic produces flowers instead of snakes. How can she become more devilish than all the other witches?
My thoughts
Iva Ibbotson has many entertaining children’s books that feature witches, monsters, and other fantasy creatures. This one was the first of her books I read, and I never forgot it. When I had my own children, I searched for this book and purchased it to read to them.
Arriman the Awful, a dark and powerful wizard, lives in Darkington Hall. Arriman has become bored with his dark magic and decides to choose a wife from his hometown of Todcaster. He is aware of a prophecy that he will be replaced by a wizard with much greater powers than his own and believes this great dark wizard must be his son. Arriman doesn’t have any children and isn’t married so he decides to remediate this situation as quickly as possible.
Arriman decides to choose his wife through the holding of a contest between the seven witches of Todcaster: (Mabel Wrack, Ethel Feedbag, Mother Bloodworth, Nancy Shouter, Nora Shouter, Madame Olympia, and Belladonna). The witch who performs the darkest magical act will become his wife.
All the witches are black witches except for one: Belladonna. She is a white witch and is not able to perform acts of dark magic. Belladonna is, however, in love with Arriman the Awful and wants to win the contest.
Shortly before the contest, Belladonna meets an orphan boy named Terence Mugg. Belladonna is able to perform a really dark act of magic to rescue Terence from the dreadful and unking matron of the orphanage. The pair believe that Terence’s pet worm, Rover, is a powerful familiar and has enabled Belladonna to perform this black magic.
Belladonna and Terence, with the help of Rover, come up with a plan to ensure Belladonna wins the contest.
However, the best laid plans often go astray and this one is no exception.
You can purchase Which Witch by Eva Ibbotson here: https://www.amazon.com/Which-Witch-Eva-Ibbotson-ebook/dp/B003GGST7Q
Sir Chocolate and the Chinese Candy Dragon
How this book came to be published
Sir Chocolate and the Chinese Candy Dragon is the third book in Michael and my new “Sir Chocolate High days and Holidays” book series.
We decided to self-publish this new series which celebrates various Christian holidays and other international celebration days like Valentine and Halloween.
The source of these stories is mainly promotions for the Sir Chocolate book series that we have written over the last seven years since the first Sir Chocolate book, Sir Chocolate and the strawberry cream berries story and cookbook was published.
Our intention with this series is to share a fun, rhyming verse themed story and to include some fun activities (mainly baking and food art but there are some other activities included) that parents or caregivers can make with their children in line with the holiday or theme that is the focus of the book.
Sir Chocolate and the Chinese Candy Dragon is a Halloween themed book and includes three fabulous themed baking activities that children can make under parental guidance.
This book includes five fun limericks for children. This is one example:
Blurb
The Chinese Candy Dragon has taken all of Sir Chocolate and Lady Sweet’s Halloween treats. Will he return the stolen goodies and mend his relationship with the villagers?
Includes three fun Halloween activities for children.
Book trailer
About Robbie Cheadle
Award-winning, bestselling author, Robbie Cheadle, has published fourteen children’s book and two poetry books. Her work has also appeared in poetry and short story anthologies.
Robbie also has two novels published under the name of Roberta Eaton Cheadle and has horror, paranormal, and fantasy short stories featured in several anthologies under this name.
The eleven Sir Chocolate children’s picture books, co-authored by Robbie and Michael Cheadle, are written in sweet, short rhymes which are easy for young children to follow and are illustrated with pictures of delicious cakes and cake decorations. Each book also includes simple recipes or biscuit art directions which children can make under adult supervision.
Robbie’s blog includes recipes, fondant and cake artwork, poetry, and book reviews. https://robbiesinspiration.wordpress.com/
Share this:
Treasuring Poetry: Meet poet, Selma Martin, and a review of her poetry book, In The Shadow of Rainbows: A Collection of Songs of Presence
Posted: September 20, 2023 Filed under: Book Review, Books, Collection, Interview, Poetry, Review, Treasuring Poetry | Tags: Book Review, Books, In The Shadow of Rainbows, Interview, Poetry, Robbie Cheadle, Selma Martin, Writing to be Read 70 CommentsToday I am delighted to introduce poet, Selma Martin, who has just published a beautiful book of poetry entitled In The Shadow of Rainbows.
Selma has started her interview with a quote and a truly lovely commentary about my book, Lion Scream. I have included it because it is so kind of Selma to have written it, and I appreciate her comments and review a great deal, but please remember that this post is about Selma and her poetry and gorgeous book.
Poems are made by fools like me
But without support, I’ve nowise to be
Robbie, you’ve no idea how much my enthusiasm level has risen just at the thought of being here with you for this interview. I’m truly honored. And I wish to begin by telling you that I respect you all the more after completing your lovely poetry collection, Lion Scream which I read from start to finish several times. What a lovely book you blessed the world with, Robbie. May we all continue to find grace and compassion in books that enlighten our optimistic approach to everything our world is experiencing at the moment. As someone once wrote, the solutions are there when the problems are recognized. I think that collectively we’ve come to recognize that we have a big problem. So it’s my sincere hope that in this lifetime we figure out where we should put our collective efforts. Your book provides a venue to initiate constructive markers of where we need to start. And together work to narrow the gap between our two realities. Yes, there are two realities:
- Objective reality – “the world out there.” The world of your senses
- Subjective reality – “the world in here.” The world of our minds; the world of emotions and feelings–composed of thoughts, opinions and judgments, and emotions.
I stand by what I wrote on Amazon: Your book is a must-read!
Now onto the questions that I’m ever so happy to respond to:
You have recently released your first poetry collection, In the Shadow of Rainbows. What inspired the poetry in this book? Does it have a particular theme?
SELMA: Inspiration waits for us at every corner, and one is always hoping that it will pat us on the shoulder and remain with us for the duration of the journey. For me, it got a nudge after I completed my 60th trip around the sun. Nothing is more inspiring than realizing that I have lived more life than I have left to live. This is the truth. And the only gauge I went by with my collection was to amass sixty poems. Well, I wrote more than sixty, thinking that a few wouldn’t make the cut but my editor, Ingrid Wilson of Experiments in Fiction allowed me a little more than sixty; sixty-four resulted. I am grateful.
As I mentioned in the book, I set sail without a strict theme but kept the faith that one would appear. That of shadows was so strong that at one point I fancied naming the collection Shadows, Whispers, and Echoes. But then, as I mention in the book, an old memory of finding rainbows on my eyelashes acted as my rudder and so there you have it: In The Shadow of Rainbows. I think the title fits the theme so well. Deep bow to my editor. Deep bow to my cover photographer.
Do you do a lot of editing of your poetry or does the poem manifest itself fully formed?
SELMA: Oh my, let me quote from a haiku from Tachibana Genjiro(1665-1718): I write, erase write, erase again, and then a poppy blooms.
It’s a lot of writing, deleting, and rewriting indeed. And even after my poppy blooms I still find incidents where I wish to start over. So, yes, I do lots of editing; and no, so far no poem has ever manifested itself fully formed for me.
What do you find to be the most effective way of sharing your poetry with fellow poetry lovers?
SELMA: Writing and sharing my work here on WordPress is the only way I know and feel comfortable sharing my work with other poetry lovers. I’m fully aware that there are other online magazines where I can share my work, but for some reason, I hold back from going the distance because sometimes I don’t feel deserving enough. Or perhaps it is that I need to feel a connection to my readers like I’ve begun to feel with my readers here on WordPress?
Also, there is the issue of time and timing. I never want to overdo it; I think we need variety, and so I refrain from posting even on my website at times.
At the moment, I’ve created a beautiful respectful relationship with the Editor of Masticadores USA, Barbara Leonhard, and so I sometimes submit my work there. I’m so grateful that Barbara helps me to reach other audiences and I’m working hard to jump on the bandwagon the next time someone calls for submissions to an anthology that fits my writing.
Do you think poetry is still a relevant form of expressing ideas in our modern world? If yes, why?
Poetry is not new–we know this. It’s the oldest, or at least one of the oldest forms of intimate expressions we humans have had. In today’s fast-paced society, the extraordinary value of the word hasn’t diminished. (Take that, emojis) and we humans will never be irreverent to this art form. Poetry will always rank high in relevance as long as there exist people like you and me. Me think so.
Which of your own poems is your favorite and why?
Oh, no no no. I don’t have a favorite; I like them all, really I do! But I will share one and honestly hope you find it to your taste.
Slice of Life
Flanked between two wanings, I live you,
planting the light hours with loving acts,
for you, for us, for our ménage,
and when I meet the dusk, filled,
ready for our mingling at the table,
where we swap slices of lived moments
of the same day, hearts swell replete.
I chose one of the shortest poems in the collection to share with you. It’s strategically placed as the penultimate poem in the book, and I’m happy to elucidate on this poetry form that touched me.
In its true form, it’s a Kwansaba poem, an African-American verse form of praise: a praise poem that celebrates family. The Kwansaba (Swahili kwan -first fruit/saba -principle) was created in 1995 by Eugene B. Redmond, East St. Louis Poet Laureate and professor of English at Southern Illinois University-East St. Louis. The form was developed in honor of the celebration of Kwanzaa. The poetic form adopts the number 7 from Kwanzaa’s Nguzo Saba (7 principles) as well as embraces its roots in the South African tradition of the Praise Poem.
The 7 principles of Kwanzaa are unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith. Each day of the celebration focuses on one of the principles. Isn’t this just such a beautiful principle? I think it is, as all the principles take off at unity which starts at the family level.
I wrote it originally for a dVerse prompt in December 2021–then, I abbreviated some words to meet the exact count of sevens but changed it a bit for clarity to include in the book. It’s about family, and I hope you like it.
Which poem by any other poet that you’ve read, do you relate to the most and why?
SELMA: Oh, you got me on this question again, Robbie. There are so many poems to choose from. And I relate to them when I read them. Indeed it’s like asking which is your favorite color today or your favorite sunset… but I will share one of the poems I like. As to why this poem, I dare say it’s because I love it when we enter this season. Also, I adore the poet’s style and the vernacular he uses in this gorgeous poem. I found it on Poetry Foundation to share here with you. Take a look:
When the Frost is on the Punkin
BY JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY (1849–1916) When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock,
And you hear the kyouck and gobble of the struttin’ turkey-cock,
And the clackin’ of the guineys, and the cluckin’ of the hens,
And the rooster’s hallylooyer as he tiptoes on the fence;
O, it’s then’s the times a feller is a-feelin’ at his best,
With the risin’ sun to greet him from a night of peaceful rest,
As he leaves the house, bareheaded, and goes out to feed the stock,
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock.
They’s something kindo’ harty-like about the atmusfere
When the heat of summer’s over and the coolin’ fall is here—
Of course we miss the flowers, and the blossums on the trees,
And the mumble of the hummin’-birds and buzzin’ of the bees;
But the air’s so appetizin’; and the landscape through the haze
Of a crisp and sunny morning of the airly autumn days
Is a pictur’ that no painter has the colorin’ to mock—
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock.
The husky, rusty russel of the tossels of the corn,
And the raspin’ of the tangled leaves, as golden as the morn;
The stubble in the furries—kindo’ lonesome-like, but still
A-preachin’ sermuns to us of the barns they growed to fill;
The strawstack in the medder, and the reaper in the shed;
The hosses in theyr stalls below—the clover over-head!—
O, it sets my hart a-clickin’ like the tickin’ of a clock,
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock!
Then your apples all is gethered, and the ones a feller keeps
Is poured around the celler-floor in red and yeller heaps;
And your cider-makin’ ’s over, and your wimmern-folks is through
With their mince and apple-butter, and theyr souse and saussage, too! …
I don’t know how to tell it—but ef sich a thing could be
As the Angels wantin’ boardin’, and they’d call around on me—
I’d want to ’commodate ’em—all the whole-indurin’ flock—
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock!
***
I love love love this poem. Golly, Robbie, I hope you liked it too.
My review of In The Shadow of Rainbows by Selma Martin
A most enjoyable collection of poems that seeks to find the upliftment, or silver lining, in the ordinary and everyday experiences of people, including the poet herself. The poems acknowledge human failings and short comings but attempt (successfully I thought) to put them into perspective and find the happiness and joy in life despite the imperfections humans, as a species, tend to exhibit when faced with challenges and dealing with experiences, both good and bad.
A few short quotations from some of my favourite poems in the collection are as follows:
“perfect specimens
of imperfection
you and I” from Give Back
“When death comes
I want to be led into eternity
curious, full of joy” from When Death Comes
“One fine day, I recognized the smell of summer,
the languid air of the somnolent noon,
so I rose and walked away from the wheelchair
hands outstretched, to the hollycocks there.” from Angel August
All of us experience ups and downs in life. Anything that can help us find perspective thereby gaining understanding and solace, is worth embracing. This book does that and is an inspired and inspiring read.
About Selma Martin
Selma Martin is a retired English teacher with 20 years of teaching children ESL. She believes in people’s goodness and in finding balance in simple living. She lives in Japan with her husband of thirty-three years. In 2018, Selma participated in a networking course whose final lesson was to publish a story on Amazon. After many failed attempts, she completed the course and self-published her short story, Wanted: Husband/Handyman, in 2019. Later, collaborating with peers from that course, she published Wanted: Husband/Handyman in an anthology, Once Upon A Story: A Short Fiction Anthology. Selma has published stories on Medium for many years, in MasticadoresUSA, The Poetorium At Starlight, Short Fiction Break, and Spillwords. After her first NaPoWriMo 2021, Selma writes poetry on her website, selmamartin.com, and in July 2023, published a debut poetry collection on Amazon.
You can find Selma, selmawrites, on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. But if you wish to engage and create a meaningful interaction with Selma: add value, nurture trust, and share engaging content from the ordinary perspective of someone navigating life in today’s fast-paced culture, you may join her once-a-month pen pal newsletter.
Other ways of contacting Selma
EMAIL: selma@selmamartin . com OR selmagogowrites@gmail .
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/selmawrites/
TWITTER/X: https://twitter.com/SelmaWrites
About Robbie Cheadle
Award-winning, bestselling author, Robbie Cheadle, has published thirteen children’s book and three poetry books. Her work has also appeared in poetry and short story anthologies.
Robbie also has two novels published under the name of Roberta Eaton Cheadle and has horror, paranormal, and fantasy short stories featured in several anthologies under this name.
The ten Sir Chocolate children’s picture books, co-authored by Robbie and Michael Cheadle, are written in sweet, short rhymes which are easy for young children to follow and are illustrated with pictures of delicious cakes and cake decorations. Each book also includes simple recipes or biscuit art directions which children can make under adult supervision.
Robbie’s blog includes recipes, fondant and cake artwork, poetry, and book reviews. https://robbiesinspiration.wordpress.com/
Share this:
Growing Bookworms – Tongue Twisters and a review of A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
Posted: September 13, 2023 Filed under: Book Review, Books, Children's Books, Classics, Fiction, Growing Bookworms, Literacy, Nursery Rhymes, Reading, Review | Tags: A Wrinkle in Time, Growing Bookworms, Madeleine L'Engle, Robbie Cheadle, Tongue Twisters, Writing to be Read 57 CommentsThe benefits of Tongue Twisters for children (and adults too)
What is a tongue twister?
A tongue twister is a sequence of words or sounds, usually of an alliterative kind, that are difficult to pronounce quickly and accurately.
An example of a tongue twister
One of the tongue twisters I grew up with is Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled Pepper.
This is a video of the tongue twister:
Benefits of tongue twisters
Tongue twisters are fun and often results in lots of laughter, but they also have benefits for children.
Tongue twisters are a great way of introducing different consonant sounds to small children. They help pronunciation by teaching the brain how to form the necessary signals and organs of speech to make the required movements.
Regular recitation stimulates control of the muscles used for speech, ensuring clearer pronunciation of words with difficult syllables. Tongue twisters help children to decease instances of pauses in speech and reduce hesitation over pronunciation.
Listening to a parent or caregiver reciting tongue twisters helps to improve a child’s listening skills and comprehension of spoken English. Learning a tongue twister, promotes memorization which improves memory and cognitive skills.
Disadvantages of tongue twisters
The disadvantage of tongue twisters is that they take children a long time to master and thus a lot of patience from the teacher.
Did you learn tongue twisters as a child?
Did you teach tongue twisters to your children?
Let me know if the comments
My review of A Wrinkle in Time By Madeleine L’Engle
I was recommended this book by a friend of mine as I am unfamiliar with American children’s books and wanted to try a few.
I enjoyed this extraordinary science fantasy which involves three children with unique characteristics, a missing father, three fascinating good witches, time travel, different planets with unusual inhabitants and culminates in a battle for the preservation of creativity and difference against robotic sameness and loss of individuality represented by a disembodied brain called IT. I thought the author used an intriguing storyline and set of characters to support her central themes of rejection of difference and pressure to conform, the importance of love, not judging based on appearances, and that total understanding of everything in life is not possible.
Ultimately, I saw this as a book that celebrated individuality and uniqueness in people and reminded the reader about the importance of art, music, prose and poetry to society. The world of Camazotz, a world controlled by IT where sameness is glorified and exceptions to the accepted normal destroyed, is not portrayed in an appealing light. It is the main character, Meg Murray’s, individuality and difference that help save her father and brother and the greater world of humans from IT.
I liked the message of acceptance of difference in this book and think it will be a great read for all children. Reading about difference goes a long way towards acceptance.
About Robbie Cheadle
Award-winning, bestselling author, Robbie Cheadle, has published thirteen children’s book and three poetry books. Her work has also appeared in poetry and short story anthologies.
Robbie also has two novels published under the name of Roberta Eaton Cheadle and has horror, paranormal, and fantasy short stories featured in several anthologies under this name.
The ten Sir Chocolate children’s picture books, co-authored by Robbie and Michael Cheadle, are written in sweet, short rhymes which are easy for young children to follow and are illustrated with pictures of delicious cakes and cake decorations. Each book also includes simple recipes or biscuit art directions which children can make under adult supervision.
Robbie’s blog includes recipes, fondant and cake artwork, poetry, and book reviews. https://robbiesinspiration.wordpress.com/
