One Not-So-Little Word for Last Week

ROLLERCOASTER

Actually, according to ye ol' internet, that's TWO words: Roller Coaster.

Anyway, one or two, that's what last week was.

I traveled to Bismarck, North Dakota, where I got to see my father. UP!

I saw for myself how sick my father is. DOWN.

Stones painted by members of
the Cancer Support Group

I presented three talks on One Little Word. UP!

I realized how little I can do to help my father. DOWN.

I got to experience snow in Bismarck! UP!

I had a come-apart with very kind people in Bismarck. DOWN.

I found out my book DEAR WANDERING WILDEBEEST: AND OTHER POEMS FROM THE WATER HOLE was named an SCBWI Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award Honor Book. UP!

I found out my first novel for children LEAVING GEE'S BEND is going out of print. DOWN.

The announcement was published about my first historical fiction narrative picture book. UP!

 Stacey Barney at Putnam has acquired world rights to Frank and Miss Fancy by Irene Latham, to be illustrated by John Holyfield. Inspired by true events and set in 1913 Alabama, a retired circus elephant is purchased by the city of Birmingham, where an African-American boy is determined to meet her up close in spite of segregation laws. It is scheduled for spring 2018; Rosemary Stimola, Stimola Literary Studio represented the author, and the illustrator was unagented.
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I had to leave Bismarck, North Dakota, without my very sick father. DOWN!

I came home to my loving family. UP!

And now, here we are... it's another week, it's spring, and yet -- I'm still reeling from last week. It's okay. Some things in life take a while. I'm being patient with myself. And right now, I am off to play my cello. Thank you for reading!

Because George Loved Words... and So Do I

Just popping my head in to wish everyone a poetry-filled day! Be sure to visit radiant Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge for Roundup!

I'm in Bismarck, enjoying time with my father and also talking about my experiences with One Little Word. And while we're on the topic of words...

if you haven't checked out POET: The Remarkable Story of George Moses Horton by Don Tate (Peachtree, 2015), you're missing out!

It's a beautiful book -- for word-lovers and poets and anyone who has ever dreamed an impossible dream. Like the little plaque on my wall says... "the impossible dream...isn't."

George Moses Horton was a slave who taught himself to read. At age seventeen, he was separate from his family. He read books and shared information. He created and recited verse for others -- selling love poems for 25 cents each. He was published in newspapers. He published books. But he was not free.

My favorite line in the book: "George's love of words had taken him on a great journey."

Words have taken me on a great journey, too. I'm so grateful!

Thanks to Peachtree Publishers, I have one copy of this book to giveaway. Simply leave a comment by Tuesday, March 22 about YOUR word-journey, and our cat Maggie will choose a winner. :)

There are still a few slots left in our 2016 Progressive Poem... sign up now!

How to Simplify Your Life

Hello! It's Spiritual Journey Thursday, and I am traveling (Hello, Bismarck!), but I did want to post a little something in honor of Linda and her One Little Word SIMPLIFY.

Life is complicated. Love is complicated. The world is complicated. That's part of what makes it beautiful.

But when there is so much chaos that we can't be present, can't identify our feelings, much less FEEL them, we often feel split, spread thin, like we aren't really participating in life, just existing.

We want to simplify.

For me, what that really means, is I want peace, serenity, quiet -- in my heart and in my mind.

I ran across this quote: "People say "I want peace."  If you remove I (ego), and your want (desire), you are left with peace." -  Satya Sai Baba 

It's hard for me to admit and accept that in order to get what I really want -- peace -- that I need to let go of ego and desire. Don't ego and desire define a person? Well, no, they don't have to. What if I allow this very moment to define me instead?

Whenever I'm feeling particularly attached to ego and desire, it helps me to look at the wall above my writing desk and read another quote:

"I you want to fly, you have to give up the things that weigh you down." - Toni Morrison

In other words: SIMPLIFY. Which brings us full circle, doesn't it?

Wishing everyone PEACE today!

The Power of One Little Word

This week I am traveling to Bismarck, North Dakota to be with my father. He's had a tough 2016 so far, and I will be so glad to be with him in person!

Yes, I will be bringing a coat. Bismarck has enjoyed a warm couple of weeks, but wouldn't you know a cool wind will be blowing while I am there? I've got my boots and scarves ready!

While I am there, I will be working with Bismarck Cancer Center and sharing my experiences with One Little Word. My talks will include all kinds of snippets from blog posts over the past 9 years... I'm thrilled and honored to share this part of my life with others. Thank you, BCC for having me... see you soon!

Celebrate Polar Week!

Until I wrote a book about Antarctica, I didn't know such a thing as APECS Polar Week existed! But it does, and folks across the globe are celebrating.

Here at Live Your Poem, I am celebrating new members of The Antarctica Explorers Club! Welcome Catherine, Candace, and Hunter! Here's what I got in the mail:

I love learning what poems students most respond to! Candace is the first person to mention "Flora in a Frozen Land." Yay!

I love the "nuzzle" in this poem. :)

... when I go to Antarctica, I want to look for a cute penguin, too! (Apparently they are not hard to find and are very curious about we humans.)

I love how Hunter mentions the amazing Emperor Penguin fathers. What a winter they endure.. and all the while keeping the egg warm. Love that drawing, too.

Isn't that fabulous?! Thank you, Mrs. Flynn. :) In return, I am sending each a membership button and a signed bookmark. I invite you to join, too! Simply visit my website and download the form. Happy Polar Week!

Poetry Friday Roundup: On Finding Poems with Daniel & Micha Archer!

Hello and Welcome to Poetry Friday Roundup! I'm so glad you're here!!

It's been a busy week with the release of my latest book: FRESH DELICIOUS: Poems from the Farmers' Market. See my interview with illustrator Mique Moriuchi here. Thanks, everyone, for your sweet enthusiasm!

AND if you haven't signed up already, be sure to add your name to the schedule for this year's Progressive Poem! It's lots of fun and a great way to celebrate National Poetry Month, and I do hope you will join us.

Also, please sign up to be included in my annual National Poetry Month tradition of sending by snailmail artsy-poetry postcards! Simply click the link below to add your address.

And now, the reason you're here: you'll find the usual link-up below -- I can't wait to see what poetic goodness everyone will be sharing today!

Me? I've got my latest book-love: DANIEL FINDS A POEM by Micha Archer, from Nancy Paulsen Books/Penguin.

Yes, I love this book! Love the art, the words, the message. And you will love it, too... especially when you see all the ways a city park's creatures (spider! squirrel! turtle! cricket!) help Daniel find his poem...

and the spread where Daniel shares his poem with the world? Breathtaking! Silhouette and vibrant city in the distance and all Daniel's friends in attendance. (More on this below!)

It's a perfect book for introducing a poetry unit. I will be using it in school visits for sure! And today, it is my pleasure to welcome author-illustrator Micha Archer to share a little of the backstory about this book.

Welcome Micha!! Here we go...

About DANIEL's beginnings:

Daniel Finds a Poem started backwards from a small drawing I did of a boy on a stage. Rubin Pfeffer, my agent now but who I was wooing at the time, asked if there was a story behind this boy. I decided that I must find a story about what led the boy to the stage.

A quote by Kurt Vonnegut inspired me, “Make your characters want something right away even if it's only a glass of water.” Daniel wants to know what poetry is from the very start of the book.

About choosing the book's structure theme:

In a 32 page book I knew I had about 14 spreads to fill, divided by 2 is 7. Seven days of the week and seven different animal friends help Daniel achieve his goal.

I studied my favorite children’s books to find what it was that made them work and was especially inspired by Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present by Charlotte Zolotow, illustrations by Maurice Sendak about a rabbit and a girl in search of a present for her mother. Throughout the story while learning about color and fruit, they search. The ‘searching’ theme and a final goal struck me as important aspects to a good story. I also loved how the girl and the rabbit had a friendship. For Daniel and his friends, all week Daniel is learning about the animals needs, habitats and poetry and at the end has a poem for the Poetry Reading on Sunday.

About the art:

The illustrations for Daniel are in collage and oil. When working in collage I first create patterned collage papers which then become a palette for the illustrations. When everything is ready and in position, I glue down the layers.

I love the serendipity that comes with collage.


About the transition from "illustrator" to "author-illustrator:"

I have been illustrating for years and have always done my own artwork for fun. I don’t really know if I am a poet but I do love to write. When writing this book I loved the process of divining for the perfect words and found it so like solving a puzzle. It's great fun to be doing both the pictures and the words. I have begun a second Daniel book and have other ideas brewing.

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Thank you, Micha! I can't wait to see what other adventures Daniel will have!

And now, for Roundup:

An InLinkz Link-up

A Box Full of Delight

Today is Spiritual Journey Thursday, and according the schedule we are discussing Holly's One Little Word "WAIT." I invite you to read the post I wrote "On Waiting" back in January. I will be back later this evening to post Poetry Friday Roundup (yes, Roundup is here this week!), but first I want to take this opportunity to share more on my One Little Word: DELIGHT.

For my birthday, my friend Pat send me a box full of delight: it included a stack of fabric for quilting, some collector plates featuring child-musicians (something I delight in, as I am a new-ish cellist and my son is an avid musician), some other treasures, and this necklace:

Yes, she special-ordered that word for the charm. :) To say I am delighted is an understatement! SO THOUGHTFUL. And beautiful. What a great way to delight in my One Little Word. Thank you, Pat!

And now, I want to extend a special invitation to Spiritual Journey friends to participate in the 2016 Progressive Poem! Would love for all of you to join the fun during National Poetry Month. Please?

Finally, I shall leave you with a wonderful quote from Rumi:

Meet Mique Moriuchi, Illustrator for FRESH DELICIOUS

Today is the official release day for FRESH DELICIOUS: Poems from the Farmers' Market. Yay!

Special thanks to my blogger-poet-friends who have already shared about this book:

Jama at Jama's Alphabet Soup, where you can find the most adorable pictures of bookpages and blueberries ever!

Linda at Write Time, where you can find some of my specific word choices and get a feel for the playfulness of this collection.

Michelle at Today's Little Ditty, where there's a picture of my Granddaddy's amazing garden and also the two corn poems "Corn" and "About Corn" that appear in the book.

Linda at TeacherDance, where you can find ways to use this book to help kids create their own poems, and also ideas about how to connect this book with other ares of the curriculum, like science and art and health and more!

THANK YOU!

I feel so very fortunate to share this book with illustrator Mique Moriuchi, whose collage art is so whimsical and creative... and I'm grateful to WordSong/Boyds Mills Press -- particularly Rebecca Davis -- for seeing something in these poems, helping me further shape them, and for late thinking of Mique, and now for being our partner in delivering this book to the world!

To celebrate, I'm delighted to share with you an interview with Mique Moriuchi! Mique is a busy mom to two young boys, so I'm sure you can appreciate the gift these words are. :)

Welcome, Mique!

1. What makes you say YES to a manuscript?

I love a text which is open to interpretation and possibilities, which isn't too restrictive, where characters are allowed to develop and grow. I love it when I can picture it in my mind straight away and feel excited about it. I love humour and a good message too :)

2. FRESH DELICIOUS features animals instead of people. How did you decide which animals to feature?

I love illustrating animals! There's so much variety in size, colour and pattern, and somehow putting them in a human situation really tickles me. I like to imagine and question everything, which helps me make decisions about a picture. My partner is quite used to me asking questions like: If a mouse was wearing trousers or a skirt, where would its tail be? What musical instrument would a giraffe play? I do have my favourite go-to animals, but I guess the decisions I make are ultimately down to composition and colour.

3. Which spread presented the biggest challenge for you?

I do everything by hand. I cut, stick and paint very tiny things sometimes! The piles of fruits and vegetables in "Farmers' Market" were challenging, and I remember working and reworking the background for "Blueberries" for aaaaages! 

I tend to make things up as I go so I make a lot of mistakes, and I am indecisive - but these things help build up the layers and textures so it's all good...I think!

It's hard to see what's what when I'm in the midst of a project, and it's often the case when I look at the artwork months later I see all the mistakes and think, arrrgh I should have done this or that. It's rare that I am 100% happy with a picture.

4. Which spread is your favorite, and why?

I like the simplicity of "Lettuce" and the busyness of "Closing time". 

5. Do you visit a farmers' market? What fruit or vegetable is your favorite to buy? Which is your favorite it eat?

We moved home a year ago and in our new town where we live there is a fruit  and vegetable market twice a week. It's not a farmers' market, but we get most of our fresh produce there. I love the bunches of carrots, kale and beetroot we find there - seeing them in their natural glory rather than all trimmed and packaged like you see in a supermarket. I love taking our boys there, for the colours, the lively atmosphere and the shouting sellers. It's good fun! 

6. You are the mother of two small children. How do you make time for your creative life in the midst of intense childrearing?

By sacrificing sleep. It's the only way. And neglecting house work.

I'm not able to do very much at the moment, as I rely on our younger boy's naps to do anything, and that is as unpredictable as the British weather! But even if I am unable to create, I am always taking notes and thinking, keeping my mind ticking over.

I find inspiration daily in my children; their words, questions, thoughts and observations; seeing the world through their eyes. I am constantly jotting things down, and I hope to turn these observations into pictures once I find some time to myself again.

7. What's next?

I'll be illustrating the cover for the July issue of a great local cultural free newspaper. 

There's a whole back log of personal illustrations I want to make too, based on our 2 boys and my experiences of motherhood, as well as some family portraits. Just the small matter of finding the time...

Thank you, Mique! Who needs sleep? Or a clean house? :) I know this: the world NEEDS your art. Thanks so much for sharing a little bit of your life with us.

And thank YOU, readers! None of this would mean anything without YOU. xo

FRESH DELICIOUS Fun in Florida & Georgia!

Last week I traveled to north Florida, where I stayed with my mother and her family (which includes my 3 adopted siblings), to celebrate the impending release of FRESH DELICIOUS: Poems from the Farmers' Market! Official release is tomorrow, but I was able to share the book a bit early with readers of all ages at Aucilla Christian Academy. Thank you staff and students, and especially Debbie Love for making me feel so very welcome!

The whole group performing "Fishing for a Reader" with me!

I signed bookmarks during recess.

Me with little brother James' Kindergarten class.

Me with my beautiful mama.

my 3 young siblings ready to play with their big sis!

On Saturday we traveled to nearby Thomasville, GA, to the best little book store ever The Bookshelf for a special Storytime and Craft featuring FRESH DELICIOUS. Annie at The Bookshelf couldn't have made us feel more welcome, and I loved reading to the kids and sharing with them the cute watermelon and strawberry craft I adapted from a Paper Source Valentine's kit. :) AND as if all that wasn't enough special-ness, Poetry Friday friend Jan Godown Annino came, with friend Christine Poreba (who is also a poet!), and we visited and had lunch and enjoyed our time together so very much. Big thanks to all who came out and bought books and helped celebrate this new book.

Booksellers are the BEST!

Storytime!

Aren't they pretty?!

Everything feels more festive when it's written in chalk!

Me+Jan =Poet-Friends Forever!

Making a watermelon craft!

Now that's a happy strawberry....just like me :)

Sign Up Here for 2016 Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem!

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Linda at TeacherDance for Roundup.

I am traveling today, feeling so grateful to be sharing my books with students and readers of all ages in north Florida. But I do have something important to share with you:

It's that time again! National Poetry Month (April) will soon be upon us, which means it is time again to sign up for our annual KIDLITOSPHERE PROGRESSIVE POEM. This year we are shooting for short lines, and Laura Purdie Salas will be launching our first line! The rest is up to all of YOU! I invite you to choose your day and add your information to this Google Spreadsheet.

Here's how it works:

Poetry Friday Friends and other poetry lovers are invited to join in a community writing experience during National Poetry Month (April).

What is it? a poem that travels daily from blog to blog, with each host adding a line, beginning April 1. Anyone who wants to join in the fun can sign up on the Google Spreadsheet! First come, first served.

Once we have a schedule, I will be send via email the HTML code to include in your post and/or sidebar so that readers might follow along/look back/look forward. And feel free to snag the above graphic!

Can't wait to see where our poem will take us this year! (To view poems from previous years, click on the Progressive Poem tab above.)

Happy Poetry Friday, everyone! 

13 Women I Admire

Hello and Welcome to Spiritual Journey Thursday! Today we are talking about Julianne's One Little Word "ADMIRE." Please join us!

I am traveling today, but I did want to share a few thoughts about "admire." For me it is linked with love, being present, experiencing wonder.

Here's a quote I love:

"What would happen if one woman told the truth about her life? The world would split open." - Muriel Rukeyser

The following woman are some I deeply admire, though I know them only through their books. Each has told the truth about her lives, and it has split ME open, and it inspires me to approach the world with the same kind of courage and honesty:

Melody Beattie

Julia Cameron
Joy Harjo

Jewel

Ann Lamott

Madeline L'Engle

Sharon Olds

Katherine Paterson

Pat Schneider

Cheryl Strayed
Amy Tan

Jeannette Walls
Jacqueline Woodson

For the Love of Words -- and BIRDS

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit lovely Liz at Elizabeth Steinglass for Roundup.

I'm especially excited to be here today because it's my birthday! Cheesecake for everyone!!!

As a gift to myself, I've invited my kind, talented poet-friend Amy Ludwig VanDerwater to come talk poetry and birds with me! Isn't The Poem Farm one of the most wonder-filled websites ever? I love learning from Amy and especially enjoy her fun, wise, gentle voice. And now readers of all ages have more Amy to love: please join me in celebrating the release of her latest book EVERY DAY BIRDS, now in flight from Orchard/Scholastic, with illustrations by Dylan Metrano.

Welcome, Amy!!

Please share a childhood memory that includes a bird or birds.

I remember caring for a robin with a hurt wing when I was four or five years old. Although I was sad that the bird was injured, I was happy to have it close and still in a box, where I could watch and “care for it” under the guidance of my mom and dad. I think that this bird died but also remember that my parents told me it had healed and flown away. They were gentle people, and I was young. This story reminds me of the beautiful and true book, THE DEAD BIRD, written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Remy Charlip.

Birds often appear in poems. Why do you think poets are attracted to birds, and what prompted YOU to write about birds?

Well, the fact that ‘bird’ rhymes with ‘word’ is quite compelling! Seriously, I have come to appreciate birds through the example of my husband Mark, who knows so much about these feathery creatures. From him, I have learned that we enlarge our worlds by the company we keep. Our passions often grow from passions of those we love. This is why I believe that passionate teachers matter greatly – they inspire fascination and curiosity in children.

As for why poets like birds so much, I believe that the glory of flight draws us in. Birds are small and mighty. They travel, and they make swooping motions in the sky, just as we make swooping marks on paper, not quite sure of where we will go. Birds and writing: both speak to the free part of our spirits.


What species of bird do you most identify with (OR: wish you were more like)?
I would like to think that I am something cute and tough, like a chickadee. But others might say I am like an annoying parrot who keeps on talking when I should be quiet!


What species of bird do you see every day at The Poem Farm?
We see many chickadees, tufted titmice, tree sparrows, cardinals, and a few kinds of woodpeckers. (red bellied, hairy, pileated, and downy) . We have blue jays, goldfinches, and many red tailed hawks. We see vultures and crows and others too. I love to watch our feeders, and I am thankful to Mark for keeping them full. When I am home alone writing, these small birds are my friends.

Anything else you would like to share?

Two not-to-miss bird picture books include SUBWAY SPARROW written and illustrated by Leyla Torres and WELCOME, BROWN BIRD, written by Mary Lyn Ray and illustrated by Peter Sylvada. I love stories about birds; they are endlessly interesting and mysterious.

If I were a bird, I would fly to Alabama to give you a birthday hug! Thank you, my dear friend, for having me here today. xoxo

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Wasn't that fun?! Click here for an older post of Valerie Worth poems about birds. And now, an original bird poem that appears in my book of poems for adults THE SKY BETWEEN US:

Life Without Birds

You appear just before dawn

to ask what it’s like

without you. I push through

the quicksand, gauging

the weight of forest

as it presses against my body,

a whole country of spruce,

pine, and cedar surrounding me.

I don’t want to burden you

with what you’ve done,

so I say I miss the birds.

Is there any deeper truth?

No wings flashing from

blackberry brambles,

no careful nest in the eaves,

no graceful, raucous Vs.

The loss of song

is the part I won’t admit,

no matter how tenderly

you press your fingers

against my eyelids.

- Irene Latham
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Hear me read it on Soundcloud! (For some reason the embed code isn't working...grr)

In Which I Learn from an 85 Year Old Woman

Hello! This Spiritual Journey Thursday we are discussing Violet's One Little Word: MINDFULNESS. Please join us!

Mindfulness for me means two things:

1. Looking inward

2. Without judgment

Instead of looking outward, it's looking inward: how am a feeling, what sensations are affecting me right now -- what do I see, taste, touch feel, hear?

It's thinking about eating while I eat - or really not even thinking about it, just experiencing it.

It's resisting the near constant urge I have to multi-task and be efficient.

It's taking one thing at a time, easy does it, going slow.

Just observing, accepting, without attaching any sort of right or wrong or good or bad or ways to improve.

It's shifting the focus from being controlled by the realities in one's life to controlling how we relate to those realities.

Being where I am, who I am, right now.

I think we can all learn a lot from 85 year old Nadine Stair, who answers the question, "How would you have lived your life differently, if you had the chance?"

Read her poetic answer here. (There are merry-go-rounds!)

And here's another version that appeared in Reader's Digest magazine, attributed to Don Herold.

Movie Monday: THE INEVITABLE DEFEAT OF MISTER AND PETE

Recently we watched at home THE INEVITABLE DEFEAT OF MISTER AND PETE. My husband, who enjoys surfing through the choices (I hate that part!) said he read this movie's description, and he knew right away it was a movie I was likely to  enjoy.

He was right!

It's about two kids -- Mister & Pete -- whose mothers are both junkie prostitutes, and their struggle to survive the projects in Brooklyn, alone, for a summer.

It's mostly Mister's story, and what a performance by Skylan Brooks! You believe in this kid, you see his pain, all the ways he struggles, and how he's got that big ol' heart underneath all his worries and hunger and poverty and lack of parental support. And he's got Pete, who at first annoys him, but who by the end of the movie has become the most important person in Mister's life. These two kids stick together. And when eventually the thing Mister fears the most comes to pass, there's a silver lining, and the movie ultimately ends on a hopeful note.

Great movie for those of us writing middle grade fiction about tough subjects. See it for yourself on Netflix.

Meanwhile, we also watched with our youngest son FIGHT CLUB and PRIDE & PREJUDICE. Good times!

Just one week until the Oscars....

In Which I Am Twitterpated

Hello, and welcome! Today for Spiritual Journey Thursday we are all sharing thoughts about my 2016 One Little Word: DELIGHT. Please join us!

To find out why I selected DELIGHT, please see my original post. Now that we're nearly two months into the year, I can report that I've found it rather easy to incorporate delight into my daily experiences. Delight, for me, is rooted in wonder and curiosity. There is so much to marvel at in this world, so much magic, so much to be grateful for...

The other day when I was walking at the park I witnessed a young mother chasing her giggling toddler-daughter. That little girl was running as fast as she could, laughter burbling out of her, and she kept looking back to see her mother coming after her. THAT, I thought, is delight.

One day last week my good friend sent me a picture of a chicken with feathers sprouting out of the top of its head, called a "frizzle":

DELIGHT.

Anytime I see pictures of babies or animals or babies with animals -- delight.

And it's changing me, this focus on delight. It's helping me stay in the moment, take it easy, to not be so judgmental or striving. It's also helping to reconnect me with my young, carefree self... I bought the other day a shirt that has brought me so much delight:

It's Flower from the movie BAMBI! I adored this story as a child, and when I saw these tunics on the sale rack at Kohl's, I just smiled and smiled! And yes, I brought one home. :) It brought back all those memories, all my favorite lines... like Flower's classic: "You can call me 'Flower" if you want to."

And what about that great made-up word "twitterpated?" That comes from BAMBI, too. Being twitterpated is one of my most favorite feelings in the world!



So, yes. DELIGHT. I am loving this word and the impact it is having on my life. I look forward to your thoughts!

So You Want to Write a Children's Book?

Hope to see you there!

Movie Monday: ROOM

What to say about ROOM? We braved the busy Hwy. 280 Valentine's Day traffic to eat supper and trek across town to see this movie at the only theater where it was playing... if I had to do over again, I think we would just stay in! Which is kind of the perfect segue to the movie.

5 year old Jack was born in ROOM, the shed with a skylight where his mother lives as a captive of "Old Nick," who visits every night and brings them Sunday treats -- except when he decides not to, and instead cuts the power and leaves Ma and Jack to freeze or starve.

On the one hand it's a terrifying portrait of what cruelty humans are capable of, and on the other it's an inspiring look at the power of a mother's love to create something beautiful for her child, even in the midst of horror and despair.

Ma tells Jack he will love the world, and she coaches him on what he needs to do to help them get out of ROOM. He's scared, so scared -- not just of the unknown, but of leaving Ma. He's only 5, and she's all he's known. I leave it to you to watch the movie and find out what happens.

I knew what was going to happen because I read the book by Emma Donoghue the year it came out. I have said more than once to others that the novel really like two books in one: the part inside Room, and the part outside. The movie version was more cohesive, and it reminded me of another book: GOODNIGHT MOON by Margaret Wise Brown.

Maybe I thought of this book when I read the novel, but I don't remember making that connection back then. It's so touching, Jack's need to name things and greet them and say goodbye to them... so very child-like, and a good reminder to those of us writing for children. There is magic in everything when we're children, and part of our job as creators of books for children is to re-discover that magic. (Writing this as a reminder for myself, as I continue revising a dear-to-me verse novel!)

ROOM has been nominated for a few Oscars, including Best Picture. I don't think it will win -- really think Leo diCaprio and REVENANT will carry the night -- but please do see this movie, with a loved one tucked close beside you.