A few months back I attended a SCBWI webinar honoring April Pulley Sayre (whose work I loved).  I was surprised at the touching and wonderful presentations, each one a gem unto themselves.  I was captivated the most by the one given by Lita Judge who mentioned an earlier poetry book she’d written that I had somehow missed.  I have since rectified that and now share it with you.

.ONE THOUSAND TRACINGS is a story told through a collection of poems written by Lita Judge, based on a real story from her own family.  It’s set right after WWII when an American family writes letters back and forth with a family that they are friends with in Germany.  This becomes packages of food and shoes, which in turn becomes much more.  Soon many people are sending tracings of their feet as many were in desperate need of shoes.  It was these tracings that Lita found in her grandmother’s attic one day that inspired this story that she also illustrates.  It’s an incredible story told through both poetry and the epistolary form.  The book originally came out in 2007 and I was astonished I had never seen it (given my love of picture books, poetry, and WWII topics!).  I share one of my favorite moments from the book.  The poem is on the right of the book, and the illustration is on the left.  I share them in reverse order here.

And if you’re looking for more poetry fun this month, be sure to check out the Kidlitosphere Event Roundup!  Thank you for stopping by!