Not a Picture Book Post

This weekend has been consumed with family (mom is in town visiting and it is the first niecling’s 7th birthday today).  SO I’ve had no time to research activities to go with my picture book recommendation.  I will work on that for next week. 

However, I brought my own tea with me to brunch at a restaurant today and my niece wanted to smell it (she had smelled a cup of tea I made yesterday as well).  I let her and she said “Yum!  What kind is it?”

“It’s a Caramel Black tea with extra caffeine in it,” I said.

“But it doesn’t look black,” she said with confusion.  “It looks kind of brown.”

And I went on to explain that the black isn’t referring to the color of the water (that would be gross!) but the tea leaf and that there were different types of tea leaves.  Once again, I’m left wondering if there is a book about tea for kids that explains TEA (not just parties and manners).  Something I must research.

AND being the good Auntie that I am, I gave her books for her birthday.  She is now a bookaholic (in good company) and reading voraciously.  I thought I would track down this year’s winner of the Sid Fleischman Award and Golden Kite winner (https://www.scbwi.org/2016-golden-kite-winners/) Teddy Mars Book #1 (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22138391-teddy-mars-book-1?from_new_nav=true&ac=1&from_search=true).

She dove right into it (despite the other books in her back) and was reading very busily by the time the food arrived (and was reluctant to put the book down).  Besides, you can’t beat a book that gets rave reviews on Amazon from 9 year olds (http://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R2MD2TIF707027/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=0062278118).  So if you want a good chapter book recommendation, I guess that would have to be it.

Finally, as it is April and National Poetry month, I must end by sharing a new-to-me poem.  I’ve been reading lots of poetry lately and I found this one in a picture book “The Death of the Hat” (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22747820-the-death-of-the-hat?from_search=true&search_version=service)

“Grass”

by Bai Juyi

translated by Lan Hua

(written in the early middle ages, 400-1000)

Far far across the plain

spreads the grass

one year to another

it withers and returns

never extinguished

by the prairie fires

with Spring wind

it leaps back to life

bringing near a fragrance

from an age-old path

as the green sward overgrows

crumbling city walls

so once again my friend

we must part

with feelings deep as grass

overtaking my heart

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