Hello Book Bums families!
We hope this finds you soaking up summer. This week in the newsletter we share a book about the Super Soaker as well as a recipe, a summer poem, and more of Dr. Christy's picks from her bookstore shopping.
What are you up to this summer? Respond to this email to share your adventures (reading or otherwise) with us.
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Word of the Week
tend (tend) verb/action word - to pay attention to or take care of
After a few days of vacation, I tend to my full inbox of emails.
Literary Calendar
- On July 11, 1960 To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee was published.
- The novel is both beloved and banned. Read this short article from 2022 to learn ten things you didn't know about the American classic.
From our Bookshelves
Whoosh!, by Chris Barton, is a great summertime read for kids—especially kids who like to take things apart to learn how they work. You will discover engineer Lonnie Johnson and some of his inventions which include . . . the Super Soaker and the Nerf dart gun! Johnson is the same scientist who worked with NASA to send an orbiter and probe called Galileo to Jupiter! Inventing has its challenges, but solving problems and building things are what Lonnie loves to do—whether on his own or as a part of a team.
In the Author’s Note, Barton shares that his idea for writing this story came from some librarians who’d invited kids to draw a picture of a scientist. The kids all drew a white guy in a lab coat who resembled Albert Einstein. A desire to share that scientists are as vastly varied as the problems they strive to solve inspired this story about this guy, Lonnie Johnson.
Tips for Families
It’s that time of year when you can pick your own blackberries and make some homemade blackberry cobbler!
If you’re looking for blackberries, I recommend you visit the Spellmire Farm Stand at 3100 Hamilton Rd.
While you’re there, you can also cut your own flowers. That’s where I got these beauties.
Next week, farm fresh tomatoes will be ready for purchase, and a few days after that . . . sweet corn!
I had stopped by this farm stand many times in the past, but last fall I learned that my former student, Hannah, had married Jason Spellmire, and we just love spotting those two on the farm together on the weekends.
Now, what should you do with those gorgeous berries? Make homemade blackberry cobbler! It’s delicious and so easy to make that some kids you adore can easily join in the fun.
Blackberry Cobbler
Ingredients:
1 ¼ cups sugar
1 cup self-rising flour
1 cup milk (oat milk works too)
2 cups blackberries
Whisk together 1 cup of sugar, 1 cup of self-rising flour, and 1 cup of milk. Whisk in the melted butter. Pour the batter into a buttered baking dish. Sprinkle the berries on the top and add the last ¼ cup of sugar on top. Bake at 350 for 1 hour. If desired, add another teaspoon of sugar on top for some sparkle.
It serves 6-8 people, and it’s delicious with some vanilla ice cream and/or whipped cream. YUM!
Tips for Raising Readers and Writers
Barnes & Noble Recs Part 2
The books I’ve read from this side of the Barnes & Noble “buy one get the second one for half price” sale table include:
Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli An unexpected friendship forms between families each from a very different side of town. This novel deals with themes of race.
Mr. Popper’s Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater A South Pole-crazed man welcomes some silly penguins into his family and that changes everything.
Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo (This was on the other side of the display as well), A ragamuffin dog helps Opal make friends in her new town.
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume This is a classic book about Fudge and the crazy antics of adorable siblings who don’t always get along.
Lemonade War by Jacqueline Davies Siblings set up lemonade stands, battling to see who can raise the most money. This novel combines great storytelling with fun math highlights.
Spiderwick Chronicles by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi A family moves into an estate and the kids are intrigued (and scared) by the mysterious happenings. This one is scary-ish and includes some supernatural elements such as fairies.
The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley This novel tells the story of a young girl whose life was saved due to World War II because courage and compassion are more powerful than a disability. It’s so good.
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson A fleet footed boy and his new neighbor build an imaginary kingdom where they reign as king and queen. This one’s a heartbreaker.
Practical Grammar
I have been perplexed by the words intention and intentionality.
I thought, Why don’t they just say intention? They’re nouns, and they’d both work. But I was wrong about that. That suffix (-ality) changes the meaning a bit.
Intention vs intentionality (both nouns)
Intention is the mental state of having a plan or goal in mind, while intentionality is the capacity of those mental states to be directed towards something.
That minute difference is stretching my brain’s capacity. Whew.
News from Book Bums
Most of our students will head back to school in just over one month. Can you believe it?
Note: Book Bums will be closed August 14th-17th.
Tips for Teachers
I always claimed to be a great stay-at-home mom for almost an entire summer break. About this time of year, I began looking forward to routine. But I want to encourage you, teacher friends, to lavish in whatever leisure time you have left. Sit in the sun—or the shade—a moment longer than you feel you ought. Catch a firefly and set it free again. Read that extra chapter before you drift to sleep. Let the butterfly hovering around your flowers fully fascinate you as it should. Skip making dinner and go out for ice cream instead.
You deserve to linger a little longer in summer’s sway.
Pause for Poetry
Nostalgia (The Lake at Night)
by Lloyd Schwartz
The black water.
Lights dotting the entire perimeter.
Their shaky reflections.
The dark tree line.
The plap-plapping of water around the pier.
Creaking boats.
The creaking pier.
Voices in conversation, in discussion—two men, adults—serious inflections
(the words themselves just out of reach).
A rusty screen-door spring, then the door swinging shut.
Footsteps on a porch, the scrape of a wooden chair.
Footsteps shuffling through sand, animated youthful voices (how many?)— distinct, disappearing.
A sudden guffaw; some giggles; a woman’s—no, a young girl’s—sarcastic reply; someone’s assertion; a high-pitched male cackle.
Somewhere else a child laughing.
Bug-zappers.
Tires whirring along a pavement... not stopping ... receding.
Shadows from passing headlights.
A cat’s eyes caught in a headlight.
No moon.
Connect-the-dot constellations filling the black sky—the ladle of the Big Dipper not quite directly overhead.
The radio tower across the lake, signaling.
Muffled quacking near the shore; a frog belching; crickets, cicadas, katydids, etc.—their relentless sexual messages.
A sudden gust of wind.
Branches brushing against each other—pine, beech.
A fiberglass hull tapping against the dock.
A sudden chill.
The smell of smoke, woodstove fires.
A light going out.
A dog barking; then more barking from another part of the lake.
A burst of quiet laughter.
Someone in the distance calling someone too loud.
Steps on a creaking porch.
A screen-door spring, the door banging shut.
Another light going out (you must have just undressed for bed).
My bare feet on the splintery pier turning away from the water.
Just for Fun
I just thought of something . . .
People who take care of chickens are literally chicken tenders.
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