“Take Five” Series

Poems for Every Season by Bette Westera

Posted & filed under "Take Five" Series, Art, Book Recommendations, Nature, Poetry, Seasons.

Today on “Take Five,” I’m recommending a poetry collection titled Poems for Every Season: A Year of Haiku, Sonnets, and More. It’s written by Bette Westera, illustrated by Henriette Boerendans, translated from Dutch by David Colmer, and published by Eerdmans Books for Young Readers. I’ve lived in four states with differing climates, but they’ve all… Read more »

A Shell Is Cozy by Dianna Hutts Aston

Posted & filed under "Take Five" Series, Book Recommendations, For Teachers, For Writers, Nature, Nonfiction, Poetry, Science.

A Shell Is Cozy Today on “Take Five,” I’m recommending a nonfiction book for grades K – 4 called A Shell is Cozy, written by Dianna Hutts Aston, illustrated by Sylvia Long, published by Chronicle Books, 2023. Growing up, I enjoyed many summer vacations on Carolina beaches. I spent hours strolling the shore, toes in… Read more »

Painting Wonder: How Pauline Baynes Illustrated the Worlds of C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien

Posted & filed under "Take Five" Series, Art, Book Recommendations, For Teachers, For Writers.

I recently discovered a gorgeous picture-book biography written and illustrated by Katie Wray Schon, published by Waxwing Books in 2025. Painting Wonder lifts us into the world of Pauline Baynes, the artist who illustrated C. S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia and drew the Middle-earth map for J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. Moving… Read more »

Zap! Clap! Boom! The Story of a Thunderstorm

Posted & filed under "Take Five" Series, Book Recommendations, For Teachers, Nature, Nonfiction, Poetry.

Today I’m recommending Zap! Clap! Boom! The Story of a Thunderstorm by Laura Purdie Salas, illustrated by Elly MacKay (Bloomsbury, 2023). Like Laura, I grew up in the southeastern United States, where, in late summer, thunderstorms brewed almost every afternoon. I welcomed their drama and the brief cool they ushered in. Sample page: Rustling, murmuring,… Read more »