LEE & LOW BOOKS celebrates its 25th anniversary this year! To recognize how far the company has come, we are featuring one title a week to see how it is being used in classrooms today and hear from the authors and illustrators.
Today, we’re celebrating one of our favorite poetry titles: Confetti: Poems for Children. This book celebrates the vivid Southwestern landscape of the United States through poems about the natural world. Featuring words from award-winning author Pat Mora and fine artist Enrique O. Sanchez, Confetti is an anthem to the power of a child’s imagination and pride.
Featured title: Confetti: Poems for Children
Author: Pat Mora
Illustrator:Enrique O. Sanchez
Synopsis: In this joyful and spirited collection, award-winning poet Pat Mora and fine artist Enrique O. Sanchez celebrate the vivid landscape of the Southwest and the delightful rapport that children share with the natural world.
Awards and honors:
- Children’s Books Mean Business, Children’s Book Council (CBC)
- Choices, Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC)
Other Editions: Did you know that Confetti: Poems for Children also comes in a Spanish edition?
Confeti: Poemas para niños
Purchase a copy of Confetti: Poems for Children here.
Resources for teaching with Confetti: Poems for Children:
Other Recommended Picture Books for Teaching About Poetry:
Water Rolls, Water Rises/El agua rueda, el agua sube, by Pat Mora, illus. by Meilo So
Lend a Hand: Poems About Giving by John Frank, illus. by London Ladd
The Palm of My Heart: Poetry by African American Children, by Davida Adedjoua, illus. by R. Gregory Christie
In Daddy’s Arms I Am Tall: African Americans Celebrating Fathers, by various poets, illus. by Javaka Steptoe
Have you used Confetti: Poems for Children? Let us know!
Celebrate with us! Check out our 25 Years Anniversary Collection.
Is staggering population growth and intensifying effects of climate change driving the oasis-based society of the American Southwest close to the brink of a Dust-Bowl-scale catastrophe?
Today is International World Water Day. Held annually on 22 March, it focuses attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources.
We sat down with William deBuys, author of A Great Aridness: Climate Change and the Future of the American Southwest, to discuss what lies ahead for Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah. This semi-arid land, vulnerable to water shortages, rising temperatures, wildfires, and a host of other environmental challenges, is poised to bear the heaviest consequences of global environmental change in the United States. It is also a window to the world, from the dangers of water shortages in already fragile political regions to hopes in human intelligence and ingenuity.
Click here to view the embedded video.
William deBuys is the author of six books, including A Great Aridness: Climate Change and the Future of the American Southwest; River of Traps: A New Mexico Mountain Life, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in general non-fiction in 1991; Enchantment and Exploitation: The Life and Hard Times of a New Mexico Mountain Range; The Walk (an excerpt of which won a Pushcart Prize in 2008), and Salt Dreams: Land and Water in Low-Down California. An active conservationist, deBuys has helped protect more than 150,000 acres in New Mexico, Arizona, and North Carolina. He lives and writes on a small farm in northern New Mexico.
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I meant to write about the whole Kevin Smith/Southwest Airlines kerfluffle when it first happened, but forgot until today, when I came across a link to this fantastic blog post about fattitude and why it's one of the last socially acceptable forms of bigotry.
The reason I wanted to write about it is because I have had my own personal humiliating experience with Southwest.
In November 2008, I was speaking on a panel at the ALAN conference in San Antonio. The trip marked the first time I'd flown in at least six years, and I was nervous. On my last flight trip, I'd needed seatbelt extenders. And as any overweight person knows, when fellow travelers read their boarding pass and realize they have to sit next to you, they get that unabashed look of disgust that makes you feel oh-so-fantastic about yourself.
So, yeah. It was late November, and I'd had my gastric bypass surgery in early September. I'd lost 80+ pounds at that point, which was significant enough to have at least one person at the conference do a double take and say, "Oh my god, I didn't even recognize you!" That felt pretty good. But in addition to still recovering from surgery, I was also re-learning how to eat. At an author dinner my first night in town, our choices were between filet and salmon. I chose salmon, but discreetly asked the waiter if he could make sure it was moist, even if that meant bringing me extra sauce on the side. He was really confused, and I tried to (also discreetly) explain to him that if the fish is too dry it would make me sick. So what does the chef do? Provide me with salmon that was one step up from raw. I could see that it looked very undercooked, and I had a feeling it wouldn't sit right with me, but I was nervous and picked at it anyway. Within 10 minutes, I had full-blown food poisoning, and didn't stop puking for about six hours straight. Fun!
Anyway, onto Southwest. I'd flown in on American Airlines, who were very nice. When boarding the plane I asked for the seatbelt extender and was slipped one discreetly, which I appreciated. But the flight home had been booked on Southwest. (I should clarify that I didn't book either flight - they were booked for me.) Anyway, when I was checking in the woman from Southwest asked if I was able to put my armrests down - later, I'd find out that this is how Southwest determines if you're big enough to require the purchase of an additional seat, because they really can't make you get on a scale, now can they? - and I said I could but that they were usually a little snug. I thought I was being asked a customer service question, like, "How can we make your flight experience more comfortable?" Instead, I was told immediatly that I needed to purchase a second ticket. Since I hadn't purchased the initial ticket, I panicked. I didn't want this getting back to my publisher. It was humiliating enough.
So I whipped out my personal credit card and bought a second seat. I wanted to cry. Here I was, two and a half months out from having my intestines rerouted, a full 80+ pounds lighter, and experiencing one of the most humiliating incidents of my entire life (including middle school, which was pretty humiliating in and of itself). I was given a blue card, which I was told I needed to place on the empty second seat to let flight attendants know that no one could be seated there. Then the woman told me - and this is really what kills me - that fortunately, my flight was half empty and if it remained that way I could apply to have the cost of the extra ticket refunded.
It gets better.
At the gate, I run into two beautiful, successful, very THIN authors from the conference with whom I was friendly. They were taking the same flight, only they were getting off at an earlier stop. So not only did I have to endure this humiliation, I had to do it in front of people I admired. Perfec
Featured title: Confetti: Poems for Children
I like poems. Thanks for sharing. Online News Publish