You’ve Got This! by Lindsay Bonilla illustrated by Keisha Morris Holiday House, 2024
We all need some encouragement at times. Life can be hard.
Whether it’s learning to ride a bike…
…or taking a test…
…it helps when there’s someone there who cheers us on with, “YOU’VE GOT THIS.”
Stepping out on stage? Getting a shot? Standing up to bullies? Admitting your mistakes? YOU’VE GOT THIS!
But the best part is
This book, with its catchy rhyming text, was made for the beginning of the school year (and frequent re-reads thereafter), the week before state tests, graduations (all ages and stages), and for anyone who needs a reminder that you’re there for them, believe in them, are rooting for them.
Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.
There was a hit-and-run vehicular homicide on the street in front of our house last week.
An SUV hit one of our neighbors and took off without checking to see if she was okay. She was not. The Division of Wildlife was called, who redirected the call to the police. Two squad cars came. A shot was fired. A body was removed. Her herd came back that evening to check on her, but she was gone.
A couple of weeks ago, it was The Squirrel With The Short Tail who I found murdered in the street in front of our house. She received a solemn trashcan funeral and a prayer for the forgiveness of humans in too big of a hurry to let little ones get across the street to the Burr Oak Buffet. With sassy Short Tail gone the squirrel crew who cleans up under our bird feeder was a little lost before they finally held auditions for Big Boss Squirrel.
In happier news, the hawks who sit on the power lines that run alongside the railroad tracks up the block are still helping to keep the population of rodents in check (cycle of life, not murder), and the mockingbird who flits from the woods at Bull Moose Run to those same power lines (further down the road) is still flitting. My nose tells me that our skunk friends are starting to wake up, and the chipmunks have come out from under our neighbor’s fence to hide in our woodpile between seed-grabbing forays under the bird feeder when the squirrels aren’t looking. The birds are getting loud — wrens, chickadees, cardinals, downies and hairies and flickers, robins, nuthatches, titmice, finches, and even still a few juncos. A couple of the turkey buzzards are back from their vacation down south. Most are waiting until it’s warmer. This week, friends. This week. Soon it will be time to take the two black swallowtail chrysalises out of the garage and welcome the first butterflies of the summer to fly free and help to hold off their Lepidoptiral decline.
We love our more-than-human* neighbors. Can you tell?
*The phrase “more than human” is borrowed from Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of BRAIDING SWEETGRASS and explained nicely here.
Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.
I sat down to read a book I’d been excited about the other day but I couldn’t get into it and I didn’t have hours to read so I just quit. I do this often lately. I am not sure what’s happened but my reading habits have changed in a way that I don’t love. I have always loved being immersed in a book and living with the characters for a week or two. I’ve been reading books for as long as I can remember and I clearly remember living alongside Nancy Drew, Betsy, Harriet and others throughout my childhood. I loved reading a bit each night before bedtime so that the story lived with me until I could get back to it. And that continued until just a couple years ago.
Over the last few years, something has changed. I have become a kind of binge reader. I want to read for hours at a time–read a whole book on a weekend–or not start a book at all. And it makes no sense.
Over the last several years, I have read a lot-pretty much the same number of books as always-but I can’t say I am always reading something. It is something new I’ve just realized and I don’t like it. I like living my days in the midst of a story that I’ll get back to each day. I’m not sure what happened. It has been a slow process and I am just now realizing how much I miss always having a book and lingering with a book rather than rushing through.
I have started so many books over the last months, books I just didn’t have hours to read at one time. So, I just quit. That is not who I am (or who I want to be) as a reader. I am not sure when this speed-reading goal came about but I am going to work at getting back to it. It will probably mean putting down my phone at bedtime, finding different times during the day to read and being okay with reading a few pages at a time. I like a good binge read once in a while but I don’t want binge reading to be my whole reading life. We’ll see how it goes.
4 cakes compressed yeast Almost a century separates us and yet time compresses – you are here with me in my kitchen.
1 cup lukewarm water I cup my hands around the story that you once held infant me.
6 tablespoons sugar It would have sweetened our lives had the car wreck not happened – my father anchored by family my mother loved as a daughter we children connected to ancestors
1 qt. skimmed milk but all those possibilities were skimmed away like the thick, rich cream that rises to the top of the morning milking brought straight to the kitchen from the barn.
4 tablespoons shortening I made your bread once for Dad, attempting to shorten the distance that had formed between us. It was good, he said, but
about 14 ¼ cups Mother’s Best not the same as yours.
7 ½ teaspoons salt It’s not the same as yours, but this three-rise half-day project is as close as I’ll ever get to the flavor of your love, Grandma Hahn.
Molly challenged the Inklings to write Hermit Crab poems this month. Think of the form as a poem that climbs into the shell of another kind of writing. A little bit mind-bending at first, but if you find the right “shell,” you’ll be off and writing.
As for the recipe, yes, this is bread I bake every few weeks. I can’t remember the last time we bought bread in a store. And no, I do not bake in that volume! I cut the recipe in half and make two loaves. I use granular yeast, Snowville Creamery whole milk to come close to “skimmed” milk, and I’ve never been able to find Mother’s Best flour, so I make do with King Arthur.
I can’t wait to see what the others came up with this month! Thanks for the great challenge, Molly! Yes, I do realize that this is the second Inkling challenge in a row that has resulted in a bread poem. No, I’m not going for a trifecta, though you just never know…
Here’s what the rest of the Inklings came up with, if life gave them the elbow room this month to write:
Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.
I admit that I am spending far too much time reading the news these days. I haven’t figured out if it’s better to keep up all day or waiting to then get a huge shock with all that’s happened later in the day. Regardless, I am spending lots of time on social media where I have found many great independent reporters.
But I have also discovered a new account that I am in love with. Tocarra Elise (@tocarraelise) is a writer, comedian and “Certified Kid Lit Enthusiast”. I am not sure how I happened upon her but I am so glad I did. Her reels are a great break from the miserable news I read all day. A little break of sunshine and joy.
Tocarra reviews books with a uniqueness I have not seen anywhere else. Her reviews are brilliant and fun and truly capture the essence of each book. Even though I know so many of the books she reviews, I love her take on them. And I am in love with her presentation style. I am so happy every time I see a new book review in my feed. (One of my favorite reviews is Chrysanthemum but there are so many I love!)
Her reviews are happy to watch but they’d also be great mentors for our students.
Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.
I bought my first 10-year diary in 2001. Each page is the same day through the decade, with about an inch of space to write a snapshot of that day in that year. In 2023, I had to switch to a 5-year diary because the original company folded. In 2028, I’ll likely make my own, because you can probably guess from which online store I ordered the current volume. But I digress. Let’s take a little trip through history and find out what March 5 was like for me for the past 23 years.
2001 PMS. Definitely a lifetime ago. 2002 Proficiency Tests. Which have morphed again and again… 2003 International Day of Poets Against the War. Went to a reading at the UU Church. Good reminder that we’ve never stopped working for a better world. It’s just way closer to home now and way more dangerous. 2004 74°. The bird clock fell. New trauma for Troy. I’m sticking a pin in this one so I can write a whole slice about Troy and/or the bird clock. Stay tuned. 2005 Snow. 2006 Dog play with Bender. This brings back bittersweet memories of our dog Bess and her buddy Bender. Another future slice. 2008 Snow and ice. 2009 Gave up on science and popped popcorn at the end of the day. The push-push-push can wait until next week. Yes, I kept a popcorn popper, oil, salt, and popcorn in my classroom for most of my career. Yes, I often needed the treat and the break from routine as much as my students did. 2010 Took a spinning class at McConnell. Another marker of a lifetime ago. 2013 I hate my job. There were definitely days like that. But luckily, more of the “I love my job” kind. 2014 Signs of spring in the change of light at the end of my 6am walk and in the tornado drill. 2015 I have poems in 3 anthologies: Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations, Dear Tomato, and the National Geographic Book of Nature Poetry. 2016 Cake baking day. Maybe I’ll write a slice about the birthday tradition of my three-layer from-scratch chocolate cake… 2017 Waited until 2:00 for the PT to come check for swallowing. Mom was in the ICU. Hard memories. My brother had gone back home. I was in limbo. Six days later, Mom was gone. 2018 Book Club at City BBQ. Elinor Oliphant. So many book club memories! Some of the core group has been together since 1991! 2019 I’ll keep a gratitude journal for Lent. For so many years my college friend and I have cheered each other on as we set goals for Lent. I’m going to pass this year. It’s enough to keep up with the 100 Day Stitchbook Challenge and Slice of Life! I have even quietly let go of the Stafford Challenge. There are only so many hours in a day! 2020 Nothing noted on this date in 2020. One week later, it was announced that schools would shut down. 2021 Lost two more to hybrid. I was an online teacher in 20-21. In the spring after the COVID shutdowns, things were starting to loosen up a bit. Some learners really needed to be back in and in-person setting. 2022 75° 2023 Bluebells are pushing up, there was a bee on one of the new hellebores. 2024 I broke the bathroom glass. I figured it would happen sooner or later. Almost every day I told myself to be careful, that it was risky to have a glass glass on the vanity. This was the day I bumped it and it fell into the sink and shattered. It was a glass that I had snuck out of a bar when I was an undergraduate. Moral of the story: nothing lasts forever.
Which is also the moral of the story of keeping a daily diary of snapshots of life. Except it’s not, really. The moral of the daily diary is that each day and each year have a warp of strands that are core to who we are. This warp is woven with an ever-changing weft of experiences that come and go, making each of us a tapestry.
Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.
So, it’s been 43 days since I bought anything from Amazon, Target or Walmart. Target and Walmart have been easy. I don’t tend to rely on them. But, Amazon. That’s a diffeent story. If you know me, you know for the last lots of years, the Amazon truck came to our house at least once a day delivering things I had ordered. So, saying goodbye to Amazon has been a bit of a lifestyle change.
I decided to boycott Amazon (along with lots of the world) soon after the inauguration. I believe in the collective power of people and I knew that changing my shopping habits was a thing I could and should do.
Not buying books on Amazon has been easy. We are lucky in Columbus to have many, many independent bookstores and I visit those frequently anyway. I have learned that I can wait a few days for a book–who knew? And I enjoy the excuse of a book pick up to visit the local bookstores. We also have a fabulous library system in Columbus and I can get nearly any book I want to read.
But it was the other things that I realized I came to rely on Amazon for that have been a challenge. I think it was a slow process, my Amazon shopping—as it’s been for many of us. I bought some things, then during the pandemic, I started buying all the things. I stopped going to local stores because I could order things late at night and they’d arrive at my doorstep by 7 am the next day. Convenience was the draw.
Yes, it takes a bit more planning to get the things I buy. Like where did we ever get computer ink before we started getting it from Amazon? But over the last 43days, I’ve realized that I’ve missed going out and about, to local stores, on a regular basis. And I don’t really need something coming to the door every day. The number of boxes alone were overwhelming and I don’t miss that. I don’t mind paying a bit more for a book when I am supporting local bookstores that I love. It is almost less stressful to plan ahead than to have so many things at my fingertips. I am not sure how to explain it but it is a bit freeing—the inability to have the convenience that Amazon provides.
Yes, I got rid of Kindle Unlimited and Audible. (I have been an Audible subscriber since 2012…) I unsubscribed to Amazon emails. I moved from Goodreads to Storygraph. I have loved Goodreads over the years but it is a very easy sacrifice to make and I am happy to support Storygraph. Unfortunately, my Prime membership renewed in early January so I couldn’t cancel that–although I will not be using it.
Halting Amazon purchases was my first step to really thinking hard about how I spend my money, who I support and what I can do during these horrible times. Shopping local is great fun and apps like Goods Unite Us have helped me research larger companies so that I can decide which ones I want to support.
This is one small part of what I am doing these days. It is easier than I thought it would be. It has actually been a good thing, realizing how capitalism has such a hold on us all. If I can do it, you can do it. Highly recommend.
*I am no longer posting to Twitter but you can find me at Bluesky @frankisibberson.bsky.social–if you haven’t joined Bluesky, now is a good time!
40 Poems for 40 Weeks edited by David L. Harrison and Timothy V. Rasinski Routledge, 2025
It is a huge honor to have one of my poems living inside this book with poems by so many poets whose work I admire!
This book was inspired by a school librarian who wanted a source for poems that she could share, one a week, in her library. As a bonus, a word play activity — a word ladder — was created to accompany each of the poems. The joy of poetry and the fun of word games, combined! What’s not to love?!?!
In her introduction, Sylvia Vardell, who blogs at Poetry for Children and who, with Janet Wong (Pomelo Books), has worked tirelessly to encourage the use of poetry for developing language skills, lists fifteen solid benefits for sharing poetry with children. One of my favorites is #7 “Poetry has built-in opportunities for choral reading, group presentations, recitals, and performance.” Almost every Friday in my classroom was Poetry Friday. Students would choose a poetry book and a partner (or go it alone), find a poem, practice reading it aloud, then perform for the class. It was a favorite time of the week for the students and a weekly opportunity for me to do informal assessments of oral fluency!
Do you need to get a little more poetry into your classroom EVERY week and month of the year (not just in April)? This is the book for you!
Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.
Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.
The first way to be a better teacher is to join Choice Literacy. Even if you just sign up for the Big Fresh newsletter, you will remember that you are not alone, gain a few new tools or insights, and have the courage to keep going. Take it up a notch and write for Choice Literacy. You’re already doing Slice of Life; what’s to be afraid of? My years writing for Choice Literacy made me a better writer AND a better teacher. You’d be amazed what you can learn about yourself and your students when you look through the lens of a writer.
The second way to be a better teacher, and unfortunately this one came about too late for me, but if I’d had it when I was in my early years it would have been a GAME CHANGER for the rest of my career: Sticky Hope.
Sticky Hope is a movement that helps hope stick, even in the toughest, stickiest situations. We provide tools, resources, and straightforward conversations to support healthy emotional regulation and bring calm back to your day.
In their 15-20 minute podcasts, Ruth and Becca are working through all the hardest things about teaching: behaviors. Both kid behaviors and the teacher behaviors — because there isn’t any among us who haven’t had their very own unregulated moments, if we’re being honest with ourselves.
You’re welcome. Now, go forth and keep doing your good-better-best every day. Your work is sacred, and you are appreciated.
Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.
I’m coming to the end of my time as the reading specialist for an after school program. I didn’t have to think very hard about the book I would feature in my final lesson cycle:
Do you know this fable? The forest is on fire and all the animals run away in fear. All except the Hummingbird. She carries single drops of water from the stream to the fire over and over again. Finally, the bear asks her, “What are you doing?” And the Little Hummingbird answers, “I’m doing everything I can.”
If you are feeling bleak about the world these days, read this book with small humans and let them tell you what they know about the ways small actions can add up to a big difference.
Several groups didn’t like that the book ended the way it did. They wanted more. They knew for certain that the Little Hummingbird’s choices were influencing the other animals and that they, too, would get involved and help put out the fire, each using their own talents. “When they work together, they can put out the fire.”
A(nother) Year of Reading 