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The Beauty of the Trees

August 13, 2014July 8, 2021 Sophie Rosen nature, trees

Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.” – John Lubbock, British advocate for science education and shorter working hours

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In the early 1800s, an American travelled through Ohio and Indiana planting apple trees. John Chapman planted hundreds and hundreds of trees, so many that he became known as Johnny Appleseed. Learn more about him in…

Codell, Esme Raji. Seed by Seed: the Legend and Legacy of Johnny ‘Appleseed’. New York: Greenwillow Books, 2012.

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In the late 1800s, an American moved to San Diego in southern California. Kate Sessions decided her new city needed more greenery, so she planted hundred and hundreds of trees and taught countless people how to grow gardens. She became known as the Mother of Balboa Park. Learn more about her in…

Hopkins, H. Joseph. The Tree Lady: the True Story of How One Tree-loving Woman Changed a City Forever. New York: Beach Lane Books, 2013.

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“I think that I shall never see
A billboard lovely as a tree.
Perhaps, unless the billboards fall,
I’ll never see a tree at all.”
– Ogden Nash, American poet

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At the end of the 20th century, a Kenyan woman was dismayed to discover that her beautiful country was becoming dry and dusty because so many trees were being cut down. So Wangari Maathai started planting trees and teaching other women how to plant trees. In 2004, she became the first African woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Learn more about her in these three beautiful books…

Napoli, Donna Jo. Mama Mita: Wangari Maathai and the Trees of Kenya. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2010.

Nivola, Claire A. Planting the Trees of Kenya: the Story of Wangari Maathai. New York: Francis Foster Books / Farrar Straus and Giroux, 2008.

Winter, Jeanette. Wangari’s Trees of Peace: a True Story from Africa. Orlando, FL: Harcourt, 2008.

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Here is one more picture book about Wangari Maathai. The illustrations are not quite as powerful. The text does not flow as beautifully. But there is so much information…

Johnson, Jen Cullerton. Seeds of Change: Planting a Path to Peace. New York: Lee & Low Books, 2010.

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“The beauty of the trees,
the softness of the air,
the fragrance of the grass,
speaks to me.
The summit of the mountain,
the thunder of the sky,
speaks to me.
The faintness of the stars,
the trail of the sun,
the strength of fire,
and the life that never goes away,
they speak to me.
And my heart soars.“
– Chief Dan George, Coast Salish poet

More biographies: HERE

More books celebrating nature: HERE

Forgiveness

August 9, 2014August 10, 2014 Sophie Rosen

In 1998, a British-Lebanese woman, Alexandra Asseily, had an idea. Her country of Lebanon had suffered from years of civil war, and now her city needed a place for people where people of different beliefs could gather together in peace. Other people agreed with her. And so in the middle of Beruit, surrounded by three mosques and three cathedrals, a garden was built. Known as Hadiqat As-Samah in Arabic and The Garden of Forgiveness in English, this garden has become a reminder that revenge will never bring peace. Only when people forgive will there be lasting peace.

Author Lauren Thompson and illustrator Christy Hale have created a beautiful picture book inspired by this garden.

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“It is not enough to win a war; it is more important to organize the peace.” – Aristotle, Greek philosopher

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“…and when all the wars are over, a butterfly will still be beautiful.” – Ruskin Bond, Indian author of over 30 children’s books

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“A garden is a grand teacher. It teaches patience and careful watchfulness; it teaches industry and thrift; above all it teaches entire trust.” – Gertrude Jekyll, English gardener.

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Learn to forgive: HERE

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Foreman, Michael. A Child’s Garden: A Story of Hope. Somerville, Mass.: Candlewick Press, 2009.
Halperin, Wendy Anderson. Peace. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2013.
Thompson, Lauren. The Forgiveness Garden. New York: Feiwel and Friends, 2012.
Tutu, Desmond. Desmond and the Very Mean Word: A Story of Forgiveness. Somerville, Mass. : Candlewick Press, c2013..

Stories of the Middle East

August 1, 2014September 18, 2014 Sophie Rosen children's literature, israel, novels, palestine

“Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed. If people all over the world…would do this, it would change the earth.” – William Faulkner, American writer

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Abdel-Fattah, Randa. Where the Streets Had a Name. Scholastic Press, 2010, c2008.

“Thirteen-year-old Hayaat of Bethlehem faces check points, curfews, and the travel permit system designed to keep people on the West Bank when she attempts to go to her grandmother’s ancestral home in Jerusalem with her best friend.” – CIP.

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Banks, Lynne Reid. Broken Bridge. London: Puffin, 1997, c1994.

“Nimrod and Nili are two Jewish teenagers growing up on a kibbutz. Their mother Lesley, goes to meet Nili on her return from a trip to London, and at Ben Gurion airport, learns that Nili’s plane has been blown up by terrorists. But Nili never boarded the plane, prevented by a mysterious stranger.” – CIP

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“We must have our say, not through violence, aggression or fear. We must speak out calmly and forcefully. We shall only be able to enter the new world era if we agree to engage in dialogue with the other side.” – Tahar Ben Jelloun, Moroccan writer

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Barakat, Ibtisam. Tasting the Sky: A Palestinian Childhood. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007.

“In this memoir set in Ramallah during the aftermath of the 1967 Six-Day War, Ibtisam Barakat captures what it is like to be a child whose world is shattered by war.” – CIP

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Carmi, Daniella. Samir and Yonatan. New York: Arthur A. Levine Books, c2000.

“Samir, a Palestinian boy, is sent for surgery to an Israeli hospital where he has two otherworldly experiences, making friends with an Israeli boy, Yonatan, and traveling with him to Mars where Samir finds peace over his younger brother’s death in the war.” – CIP.

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“Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.” – Albert Einstein

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Carter, Ann Laurel. The Shepherd’s Granddaughter. Toronto: Groundwood Books / House of Anansi Press, 2008.

“Amani longs to be a shepherd like her grandfather, Seedo. Like many Palestinians, her family has grazed sheep above the olive groves of the family homestead for generations, and she has been steeped in Seedo’s stories, especially one about a secret meadow called the Firdoos–and the wolf that once showed him the path there.” – CIP.

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Clinton, Cathryn. A Stone in My Hand. Cambridge, Mass.: Candlewick Press, 2004, c2002.

“Eleven-year-old Malaak and her family are touched by the violence in Gaza between Jews and Palestinians when first her father disappears and then her older brother is drawn to a radical group.” – CIP.

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“Our object must be to bring our territory into harmony with the numbers of our population.” – Adolf Hitler

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Ellis, Deborah. Three Wishes: Palestinian and Israeli Children Speak. Toronto: Groundwood Books, 2004.

“Young people between the ages of eleven and eighteen share what it is like to live in the midst of the upheaval and violence of the Israeli – Palestinian conflict.” – CIP.

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“An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.” – Mahatma Gandhi

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Kass, Pnina Moed. Real Time. New York: Clarion Books, 2004.

“Sixteen-year-old Tomas Wanninger persuades his mother to let him leave Germany to volunteer at a kibbutz in Israel, where he experiences a violent political attack and finds answers about his own past.” – CIP

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Laird, Elizabeth. A Little Piece of Ground. London, UK : Macmillan Children’s Books, 2004.

“During the Israeli occupation of Ramallah in the West Bank of Palestine, twelve-year-old Karim and his friends create a secret place for themselves where they can momentarily forget the horrors of war.” – CIP

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Macdonald, Margaret Read. Tunjur! Tunjur! Tunjur!: A Palestinian Folktale. New York: Marshall Cavendish, 2006.

“A childless woman’s prayers are answered by the arrival of a talking pot, but the new mother knows that Little Pot must learn right from wrong just like any child.” – CIP [Folklore; Humorous stories; Palestinian Arabs; Theft]

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“I am never proud to participate in violence, yet I know that each of us must care enough about ourselves that we can be ready and able to come to our own defense when and wherever needed.” – Maya Angelou, American poet

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Maes, Nicholas. Crescent Star: a Novel. Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2011.

Avi is Jewish and Moussa is Palestinian. Both boys are fifteen years old and live in Jerusalem. They belong to the same soccer club but do not know each other. As they struggle to find their own paths in life, readers gain a better understanding of the complexity of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Recommended for young adults.

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McKay, Sharon E. Enemy Territory. Toronto: Annick Press, 2012.

“Sam, an Israeli teen whose leg may have to be amputated, and Yusuf, a Palestinian teen who has lost his left eye, find themselves uneasy roommates in a Jerusalem hospital.” – back cover. While not the most memorable novel on this theme nor the best written, this story is nevertheless recommended for readers 11 to 16 years old who want to learn more about the Arab-Israeli conflict.

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Miklowitz, Gloria D. The Enemy Has a Face. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2003.

“Netta and her family have relocated temporarily from Israel to Los Angeles, and when her seventeen-year-old brother mysteriously disappears, she becomes convinced that he has been abducted by Palestinian terrorists.” – CIP.

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Zenatti, Valerie. Message in a Bottle. New York: Bloomsbury, 2005, translation c2008.

“Seventeen-year-old Tal of Jerusalem, dejected over the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict, puts her hopes for peace in a bottle and asks her brother, a military nurse in the Gaza Strip, to toss it into the sea.” – CIP.

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More stories of current and recent conflicts: HERE

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“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

Meow

July 24, 2014July 25, 2014 Sophie Rosen

“The smallest feline is a masterpiece.” – Leonardo da Vinci

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“I have felt cats rubbing their faces against mine and touching my cheek with claws carefully sheathed. These things, to me, are expressions of love.” – James Herriot, British veterinarian and writer

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Bowen, James. Bob: No Ordinary Cat. London: Hodder, 2013.

James, a young homeless man, is befriended by a ginger cat who changes his life, giving him hope, courage and determination. An easy-to-read heart-warming true story for readers 11 years old and up. Fans might also like to follow the two online on James’s Twitter account. [Cats; Homelessness; London; Street musicians]

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“If animals could speak, the dog would be a blundering outspoken fellow; but the cat would have the rare grace of never saying a word too much.” – Mark Twain, American author

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Larson, Kirby and Mary Nethery. Two Bobbies: a True Story of Hurricane Katrina, Friendship, and Survival. New York: Walker & Co., 2008.

Bobbi and Bob Cat survive by staying together after Hurricane Katrina strikes New Orleans in this picture book for readers 8 to 11 years old. [Cats; Dogs; Hurricane Katrina, 2005; New Orleans; Survival]

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“There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats…” – Albert Schweitzer, humanitarian

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More stories about cats: HERE

Floyd Cooper

July 18, 2014July 20, 2014 Sophie Rosen

American artist Floyd Cooper

began drawing when he was three years old,
and he has never stopped.

Notice how he shows emotions and depicts sensory details
in his award-winning stories and illustrations.

Hudson, Wade, selected by. Pass It On: African-American Poetry for Children. New York : Scholastic, 1993.
An illustrated collection of poetry by such Afro-American poets as Langston Hughes, Nikki Giovanni, Eloise Greenfield, and Lucille Clifton. A poem by Langston Hughes: HERE

Littlesugar, Amy. Tree of Hope. New York: Philomel Books, 1999.
“Florrie’s daddy used to be a stage actor in Harlem before the Depression forced the Lafayette Theater to close, but he gets a chance to act again when Orson Welles reopens the theater to stage an all-black version of Macbeth.” – CIP Stories about poverty: HERE and a note-taking lesson on Shakespeare: HERE

Mason, Margaret H. These Hands. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010.
“An African American man tells his grandson about a time when, despite all the wonderful things his hands could do, they could not touch bread at the Wonder Bread factory. Based on stories of bakery union workers; includes historical note.” – CIP More picture books using parallel structure: HERE

McKissack, Patricia C. Ma Dear’s Aprons. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 1997.
“Young David Earl always knows what day of the week it is, because his mother, Ma Dear, has a different apron for every day except Sunday.” – CIP More stories of African Americans: HERE

Ramsay, Calvin Alexander. Ruth and the Green Book. Minneapolis, MN: Carolrhoda Books, 2010.
“When Ruth and her parents take a motor trip from Chicago to Alabama to visit her grandma, they rely on a pamphlet called ‘The Negro Motorist Green Book’ to find places that will serve them. Includes facts about ‘The Green Book.'” – CIP More stories based on historical facts: HERE

Reynolds, Aaron. Back of the Bus. New York: Philomel Books, 2010.
“From the back of the bus, an African American child watches the arrest of Rosa Parks.” – CIP More stories of courage: HERE

Thomas, Joyce Carol. The Blacker the Berry: Poems. New York: HarperCollins, 2008.
A collection of poems – including ‘What Shade Is Human?’, ‘Golden Goodness’, ‘Cranberry Red’ and ‘Snowberries’ – celebrating African-American identity. More poems: HERE

Williams, Karen Lynn. A Beach Tail. Honesdale, Pa.: Boyds Mills Press, 2010.
“When his father tells him not to leave the lion he is drawing on the beach, a little boy starts making a very, very long tail–and a trail to follow back.” – CIP More stories of summer adventures: HERE

Yolen, Jane. Miz Berlin Walks. New York: Philomel Books, 1997.
“Mary Louise gradually gets to know and love her elderly neighbor lady who tells wonderful stories as she walks round the block of her Virginia home.” – CIP More stories based on authors’ own lives: HERE

Imagine!

July 14, 2014July 15, 2014 Sophie Rosen

“Vision is the art of seeing things invisible.”
– Jonathan Swift, writer

Surreal Art: HERE Cubism: HERE

“You seemed so far away,” Miss Honey whispered, awestruck.
“Oh, I was. I was flying past the stars on silver wings,” Matilda said. “It was wonderful.” – Roald Dahl, Matilda

Picture books for artists: HERE

“I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.” – Michelangelo

Biographies: HERE

“Everything you can imagine is real.” – Pablo Picasso, artist

Poetry: HERE Surreal Poetry: HERE

“It is … through the world of the imagination which takes us beyond the restrictions of provable fact, that we touch the hem of truth.” – Madeleine L’Engle, A Circle of Quiet

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Lewis, J. Patrick and Jane Yolen. Self-Portrait with Seven Fingers: The Life of Marc Chagall in Verse. Mankato, MN: Creative Paperbacks, 2013.
MacLachlan, Patricia. Word After Word After Word. New York: Katherine Tegen Books, 2010.
Shulevitz, Uri. How I Learned Geography. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 2008.
Thomson, Sarah L. Imagine a Place. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2008.

Positively Angry

July 10, 2014July 10, 2014 Sophie Rosen

“A man that does not know how to be angry does not know how to be good.” – Henry Ward Beecher, American abolitionist

Stories based on the author’s life: HERE

“Anybody can become angry — that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way — that is not within everybody’s power and is not easy.” – Aristotle, Greek philosopher

Stories about India: HERE

“Let us not look back in anger, nor forward in fear, but around in awareness.” – James Thurber, American cartoonist

Stories about Ireland: HERE

“It is wise to direct your anger towards problems – not people; to focus your energies on answers – not excuses.” – William Arthur Ward, American writer

Bunting, Even. Walking to School. New York Clarion Books, 2008.
Gandhi, Arun and Bethany Hegedus. Grandfather Gandhi. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2014.
Tutu, Desmond and Douglas Carlton Abrams. Desmond and the Very Mean Word. Somerville, Mass.: Candlewick Press, 2013.

Ms. Rosen Reads

Year: 2014