Nature Books: Some Excellent Books to Read or Reread

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard

H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald

Around the World in 80 Trees by Jonathan Drors 

Walden by Henry David Thoreau

Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants

by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses by Robin Wall Kimmerer

World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks and Other Astonishments 

by Aimee Nezhukmatathil

The Overstory: A Novel by Richard Powers

Extraordinary Insects: The Fabulous, Indispensable Creatures Who Run Our World 

by Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson

What It's Like to Be a Bird---From Flying to Nesting, Eating to Singing---What Birds Are Doing and Why by David Allen Sibley

What nature books would you recommend to me?

Thank you, Jessica @ a GREAT read, for this excellent suggestion for a prompt.

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Each Tuesday That Artsy Reader Girl assigns a topic and then post her top ten list that fits that topic. You’re more than welcome to join her and create your own top ten (or 2, 5, 20, etc.) list as well. Feel free to put a unique spin on the topic to make it work for you! Please link back to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own post so that others know where to find more information.      

The Sunday Salon: A Week in Which I Try to Rest and Find Inspiration in the Life of L. Frank Baum

     

Welcome! I'm happy you joined us here at the Sunday Salon. What is the Sunday Salon? The Sunday Salon is a place to link up and share what we have been doing during the week plus it's a great way to visit other blogs and join in the conversations going on there. 

I spent most of this week trying to get over the exhaustion I felt as a result of overdoing it last week. Note to self: Slow down.

What I Read Last Week:

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie (Audiobook)

The English Understand Wool by Helen Dewitt (Novella)

What I'm Reading Now:

The Real Wizard of Oz: The Life and Times of L. Frank Baum by Rebecca Loncraine (Bio)

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens (Classic)

Two quotes from my reading this week in The Real Wizard of Oz: The Life and Times of L. Frank Baum by Rebecca Loncraine give me hope that I will eventually write a novel:

“It would become a painful truth that when Baum stopped trying so hard, success came to him.”

“He (Baum) couldn’t have written such a wise story so full of complex ideas as well as simple ones if he hadn’t suffered and strived for so many years…His experiences as a child and as a man, his extensive reading through which he’d absorbed the oldest archetypes from folktales, had all jumbled together in his mind to make a brilliant cocktail, which surfaced intuitively as this brilliant, hyperreal story.”

Here are the powerful picture books I've read so far for 2024 Black History Month. I hope you will check some of these out and share them with others. 

1 The Me I Choose to Be 

written by Natasha Anastasia Tarpley and illustrated by Regis and Kahran Bethencourt

2 Freedom's School

written by Lesa Cline-Ransome and illustrated by James E. Ransome

3 The 1619 Project: Born on the Water

written by Nikole Hannah-Jones and Renée Watson and illustrated by Nikkolas Smith

4 The Talk 

written by Alicia D. Williams and illustrated by Briana Mukodiri Uchendu

5 That is My Dream!

by Langston Hughes and Daniel Miyares

6 Giant Steps to Change the World

written by Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis Lee and illustrated by Sean Qualls

7 Each Kindness

written by Jacqueline Woodson and illustrated by E. B. Lewis

8 My People

written by Langston Hughes and illustrated by Charles R. Smith Jr.

9 Child of the Civil Rights Movement

written by Paula Young Sheldon and illustrated by Raul Colon

10 I, Too, Am America

written by Langston Hughes and illustrated by Bryan Collier

11 I Am Every Good Thing 

written and illustrated by Gordon C. James

12 This Is Your Time

written by Ruby Bridges

13 Stacey's Extraordinary Words

written by Stacey Abrams and illustrated by Kitt Thomas

14 The Other Side

written by Jacqueline Woodson and illustrated by E. B. Lewis

15 Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

written by Doreen Rappaport and illustrated by Bryan Collier

16 Henry's Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad

written by Ellen Levine and illustrated by Kadir Nelson

17 He's Got the Whole World in His Hands

illustrated by Kadir Nelson

18 Black is a Rainbow Color

written by Angela Joy and illustrated by Ekua Holmes

19 I Am Enough

written by Grace Byers and illustrated by Keturah A. Bobo

20 Juneteenth for Mazie

written and illustrated by Floyd Cooper

21 Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre

written by Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrated by Floyd Cooper

22 The Undefeated

written by Kwame Alexander and illustrated by Kadir Nelson

23 Lillian's Right to Vote

written by Jonah Winter and illustrated by Shana W. Evans

24 The ABCs of Black History

written by Rio Cortez and illustrated by Lauren Semmer

What I Posted Last Week Here at Readerbuzz:

The Sunday Salon: A Week in Which Valentine's Day is the First Day of Lent?

Bookish Superpowers I Have

Poets Clint Smith and Patricia Smith Come to Houston's Inprint Margarett Root Brown Reading Series

Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth by Oliver Jeffers: Book Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop

I began to list 3 Good Things every day during the pandemic. 

Here are 3 Good Things from last week:

Good Thing #1:

Beautiful East Texas,

where we spent last weekend

with my son and his family.

Good Thing #2:

We stayed in a log cabin last weekend, and

we played with this tic-tac-toe board there.

Good Thing #3:

We enjoyed seeing 

granddaughter Annie, 8,

play basketball for the first time.

Weekend linkup spots are listed below. Click on the picture to visit the site.

        

I hope you will join the linkup for Sunday Salon below.

Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth by Oliver Jeffers

Today's Featured Book 

Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth by Oliver Jeffers

Genre: Picture Book

Published: November 14, 2017

Page Count: 48 pages

Summary: 

Oliver Jeffers, arguably the most influential creator of picture books today, offers a rare personal look inside his own hopes and wishes for his child--and in doing so gifts children and parents everywhere with a gently sweet and humorous missive about our world and those who call it home.

Insightfully sweet, with a gentle humor and poignancy, here is Oliver Jeffers' user's guide to life on Earth. He created it specially for his son, yet with a universality that embraces all children and their parents. Be it a complex view of our planet's terrain (bumpy, sharp, wet), a deep look at our place in space (it’s big), or a guide to all of humanity (don’t be fooled, we are all people), Oliver's signature wit and humor combine with a value system of kindness and tolerance to create a must-have book for parents.

There's no way it could be as good as the book, but Apple+ made a short film from Here We Are.

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY is hosted by Rose City Reader. What book are you happy about reading this week? Please share the opening sentence (or so) on BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY! Add the link to your blog or social media post and visit other blogs to see what others are reading.

Happy Friday and welcome to the FIRST LINE FRIDAY, hosted by Reading is My Superpower! It’s time to grab the book nearest to you and leave a comment with the first line.

Well, hello.

Welcome to the planet.

We call it Earth.

It is the big globe,

floating in space,

on which we live.

THE FRIDAY 56 is hosted by Freda's Voice, but Freda is currently taking a break and Anne of Head Full of Books is filling in. To play, open a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% on your e-reader). Find a sentence or two and post them, along with the book title and author. Then link up on Freda's Voice and visit others in the linky. 

People come in many

shapes, sizes and colors.

We may all look different,

act different and sound different...

...but don't be fooled, we are all people.

The purpose of THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, and befriend other bloggers. THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is hosted by Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer.    

February 23rd-29th - How do you organize your bookshelves? (submitted by Elizabeth @ Silver's Review)

As a retired librarian, I am obligated to use the Dewey Decimal System for my personal bookshelves.

  

Poets Clint Smith and Patricia Smith Come to Houston's Inprint Margarett Root Brown Reading Series

It was a full house at the Hobby Center in downtown Houston for poets Clint Smith and Patricia Smith on Monday, February 12. 

Clint Smith's new book of poems, Above Ground (my review), was my choice for my First Read of 2024, and I loved reading his nonfiction book, How the Word is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America (my review) in 2022. So I was eager to hear this poet. I was not disappointed.

In the poetry world, though, it is poet Patricia Smith who has seniority over Clint. I wasn't familiar with Patricia Smith, but I soon learned that she has published nine collections of poetry, the first over thirty years ago. Patricia Smith began as a slam poet, I discovered, in Chicago, and she now lectures about poetry writing at several universities in America. Patricia Smith collects old photographs, and her latest collection of poetry is a series of poems based on those old photos. 

I could have listened to Clint Smith and Patricia Smith speak all night with interviewer and Houston Poet Laureate Aris Kian. 

I feel so much hope for the world when I hear brilliant and articulate poets speak to an appreciative audience.

For more Clint Smith, take a look at his visit to CBS Sunday Morning here.

For more Patricia Smith, take a look at her reading on Poets.org here.

For more photos, link up at Wordless Wednesday, Comedy Plus, Messymimi's Meanderings, Keith's Ramblings, Create With Joy, Wild Bird Wednesday, and My Corner of the World.

Bookish Superpowers I Have

You may not know this,

but I have Bookish Superpowers.

I assure you that 

anyone can acquire these powers 

after years of practice.

So what can I do?

I can...

...scope out all the best books...

...remember all the details of a book, as if I have taken a snapshot...

...write up a review of my thoughts, as if I were mixing up another batch of chocolate chip cookies...

...share my favorite books with others, (hopefully) planting the seeds of a love of reading in everyone I meet...

Here I am...

Super Reader!

 

Submitted by Cathy @ WhatCathyReadNext

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Each Tuesday That Artsy Reader Girl assigns a topic and then post her top ten list that fits that topic. You’re more than welcome to join her and create your own top ten (or 2, 5, 20, etc.) list as well. Feel free to put a unique spin on the topic to make it work for you! Please link back to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own post so that others know where to find more information.      

The Sunday Salon: A Week in Which Valentine's Day is the First Day of Lent?

     

Welcome! I'm happy you joined us here at the Sunday Salon. What is the Sunday Salon? The Sunday Salon is a place to link up and share what we have been doing during the week plus it's a great way to visit other blogs and join in the conversations going on there. 

This was such a busy week that I could have written a blog post every day. I went to hear poets Clint Smith and Patricia Smith speak at the Hobby Center in Houston Monday evening after going to my drawing class in the morning and visiting with my sister, who came down from Waco for the day, in the afternoon...Tuesday was a lovely romantic music night at Rae's Reads with Danny and Victor on trumpet and guitar after meeting with my writing group in Galveston in the morning...Wednesday was a Valentine's Day celebration at my naturalist group meeting followed by a lunch at the Seahorse on the Gulf down in Freeport...Today, Thursday, I have nothing planned, and I'm enjoying this day off before we leave for Big Sandy this weekend...You know the world has gone crazy when Valentine's Day is the first day of Lent...

What I Read Last Week:

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman (Book Club)

Counting Descent by Clint Smith (Poetry)

Relish: My Life in the Kitchen by Lucy Knisley (Cook the Books)

What I'm Reading Now:

The Real Wizard of Oz: The Life and Times of L. Frank Baum by Rebecca Loncraine (Bio)

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens (Classic)

Inspired: Understanding Creativity: A Journey Through Art, Science, and the Soul by Matt Richtel (Nonfiction)

The English Understand Wool by Helen Dewitt (Novella)

Here are the powerful picture books I've read so far for 2024 Black History Month. I hope you will check some of these out and share them with others. 

1 The Me I Choose to Be 

written by Natasha Anastasia Tarpley and illustrated by Regis and Kahran Bethencourt

2 Freedom's School

written by Lesa Cline-Ransome and illustrated by James E. Ransome

3 The 1619 Project: Born on the Water

written by Nikole Hannah-Jones and Renée Watson and illustrated by Nikkolas Smith

4 The Talk 

written by Alicia D. Williams and illustrated by Briana Mukodiri Uchendu

5 That is My Dream!

by Langston Hughes and Daniel Miyares

6 Giant Steps to Change the World

written by Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis Lee and illustrated by Sean Qualls

7 Each Kindness

written by Jacqueline Woodson and illustrated by E. B. Lewis

8 My People

written by Langston Hughes and illustrated by Charles R. Smith Jr.

9 Child of the Civil Rights Movement

written by Paula Young Sheldon and illustrated by Raul Colon

10 I, Too, Am America

written by Langston Hughes and illustrated by Bryan Collier

11 I Am Every Good Thing 

written and illustrated by Gordon C. James

12 This Is Your Time

written by Ruby Bridges

13 Stacey's Extraordinary Words

written by Stacey Abrams and illustrated by Kitt Thomas

14 The Other Side

written by Jacqueline Woodson and illustrated by E. B. Lewis

15 Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

written by Doreen Rappaport and illustrated by Bryan Collier

16 Henry's Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad

written by Ellen Levine and illustrated by Kadir Nelson

17 He's Got the Whole World in His Hands

illustrated by Kadir Nelson

What I Posted Last Week Here at Readerbuzz:

The Sunday Salon: A Month of Black History Picture Books

Wise Quotes from The Little Prince about Love

Relish: My Life in the Kitchen by Lucy Knisley

I began to list 3 Good Things every day during the pandemic. 

Here are 3 Good Things from last week:

Good Thing #1:

Brazoria County Master Gardeners had a citrus tree sale, 

and I bought my first orange tree and my first lemon tree.

Good Thing #2:

The Hobby Center had a wheelchair and an attendant available 

for my friend, Rae, who was in a boot after foot surgery.

What a wonderful service that is for patrons!

Good Thing #3:

Bug-themed valentines for everyone 

at the naturalist group meeting on Valentine's Day.

Weekend linkup spots are listed below. Click on the picture to visit the site.

        

I hope you will join the linkup for Sunday Salon below.