April Pulley Sayre's Blog, page 9

April is poetry month

I'll be doing two guest blogs for poetry month. Here's the first, on Jama Rattigan's Poetry Potluck. She's featuring lots of poets, their poems, and recipes, all month long. Am I a poet? Hmm…just considering that this month, after two folks asked me to blog about poetry. I blogged about this quandry on Katie Davis' site. I'll link to that later, when it's posted.

http://jamarattigan.com/2012/04/02/going-natural-with-april-pulley-sayre/

Go, Go, Grapes: A Fruit Chant

Okay, so I'm more than a little bit excited about Go, Go, Grapes: A Fruit Chant (Release date May 22, 2012 by Beach Lane Books/S&S). Kirkus subscribers can see the Kirkus review of the book already. I've just started posting fruit-related pictures and posts. More to come!

Pics of my fruit experiments for last spread

More Fruit For Fun    Raspberries and Gooseberries   Cranberries Sour  Apple Salad

Meanwhile, I've been going over sketches, art, and text for three other books coming 2013/2014. Whales, and bears, and wildlife gardening, oh my!

More Fruit For Fun

More Fruit Not In Go, Go, Grapes: A Fruit Chant

A few more fruit that did not fit in Go, Go, Grapes: gooseberries and black raspberries. It included red raspberries. But here are black raspberries. They grow wild here but are also raised commercially. They are NOT blackberries. They are the same shape as red raspberries and sometimes have a slightly bitter aftertaste. Wild animals around here seem to prefer them over red raspberries. So does my husband Jeff…hmm….

Gooseberries. An uncommon and rather tart fruit Beautiful!Black raspberries!

Cranberries Sour Over Go, Go, Grapes

Alas, so sorry, cranberries! We could not fit you into Go, Go, Grapes: a Fruit Chant which is coming out May 22. Go ahead and be sour. We love your sourness. Tart is art, we say! Here are a few consolation photos of how you looked when we photographed you in hopes of including you in the book.

These are from the Hovenkamp's booth at South Bend Farmer's Market. They are Michigan cranberries. (Sorry, New Jersey, we went closer to home for ours.) We live 7 miles from Michigan. Cranberries are also grown extensively in Wisconsin.

Look for a cranberry muffin recipe soon. How much do we love cranberries? Well, we served cranberry (and blueberry) muffins at our wedding reception oh so many years ago.

Cranberry farming in Michigan

www.centennialcranberry.com A historic farm in Michigan

Fruit Art Fun With Go, Go, Grapes: A Fruit Chant

April's Favorite Apple Salad

In anticipation of Go, Go, Grapes: a Fruit Chant being released, I'm sharing my version of Waldorf salad. We don't keep mayo around the house. So I just cut up the apples, add celery, pecans, and raisins, and a dab of whatever yogurt we have in the fridge. Yum!

December Animal

This is one of my favorite animals. Here in northern Indiana, and in much of the U.S., they call in Spring and made terrific spiral flights.  To see it calling, check out the site of  great wildlife recordist Lang Elliott:

http://www.musicofnature.org/home/test_youtube_embed/

 

Rah Rah Radishes on Best Lists

Happy news!  Rah, Rah, Radishes: A Vegetable Chant is on some yummy best-o-year lists including the New York Public Library's  100 Titles For Reading and Sharing 2011 and Kirkus' 100 Best of the Year list.  It also received one of California Reading Association's  Eureka gold awards for excellence in nonfiction. Go, Go, Grapes: a Fruit Chant is at the printer and will be released May 22, 2012.

Gordon School Shines: Shadow Puppet Plays

I just returned from four days as the Karla Harry Visiting Author at the Gordon School, in Providence, RI. The time at Gordon was one of the highlights of my career.Here are some of the shadow plays the kindergarten and 3rd graders did. The teachers and librarians collaborated to create this exciting exploration of light, shadow, and literature. They did Trout Are Made of Trees, Vulture View, and Honk, Honk, Goose. 

I love this school. The scientific inquiry. The diversity. The joy of learning. It felt like the most wonderful educational family I have encountered and I miss them already! Extraordinary librarian Suzanne Fox, who I'd met when she worked at another school, invited me. I also had the pleasure of making friends with librarian Frances Martindale. Her reading style is fantastic. If I were doing an audio book, I'd call her to do the voice. Head of School Ralph Wales was so supportive and welcoming. This private school is serious about their mandate to bring racial and cultural diversity into their school. They have faculty and students of many backgrounds. Their library books and major projects are chosen to open children's eyes to the possibilities for themselves and the world.  They embrace science even at the youngest ages. The Kindergarteners, preschoolers, and I had some  brain-expanding science talks.  I just want to hang out at Gordon. The atmosphere is that joyful and stimulating.