Picture Books Not Just for My "Littles"

In case you didn't know I love books! Small ones, big ones, funny ones, scary ones, true ones, and fantasy.  History is my passion though.

At times I pair favorite pictures books with primary sources (historic photographs and historic newspapers.  My older kids come to the library once a week for an hour, this includes check out time.  It is always fun to read a story and then show them an actual newspaper clipping about it.  I often hear "Is that real?"

I love the Picture Book format because I can read one during class and the next week we can examine the primary source.  There are so many wonderful writers.  I believe that Picture Books are not just for my "littles".

Here are a few of my favorites.

When Marian Sang:  the True Recital of Marian Anderson 

Marian Anderson: Realizing History Through Song
http://blogs.loc.gov/music/2013/04/marian-anderson-realizing-history-through-song/



"Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen" - recording http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.natlib.jukebox.10169/default.html

http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/on-this-day/April/Marian-Anderson-Sings-in-Front-of-75-000-at-the-Lincoln-Memorial.html  Marian at Lincoln Memorial

Papa's Mechanical Fish by Candace Fleming

http://www.therebreathersite.nl/12_Atmospheric%20Diving%20Suits/1856_Phillips/1856_Phillips.htm

Interview with the Candace Fleming  http://forum.teachingbooks.net/?p=10721

Philip Lodner

Marching With Aunt Susan by Stacey Schuett

Sept 26, 1914 Montana Suffrage Parade http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85053121/1914-09-26/ed-1/seq-1.pdf

Woman Suffragists (reference to red shawl) http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1898-02-14/ed-1/seq-1.pdf

The Wonder Horse by Emily Arnold Cully.*
(*Check the author's note for other primary sources)

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045366/1906-04-19/ed-1/seq-8.pdf  (2nd Column)

Cookies

Cookies & Milk
Freshly Baked
Frozen
Holidays
Frosting
From the store

The List Goes On

Some I like
Chocolate Chip
Macaroons
Thin Mints
Peanut Butter
Snicker Doodles
Scotchies
Haystacks
Oatmeal Raisin

The List Goes On

You eat them
With milk
With tea
In your lunch
At celebrations
After school
In the Park

The List Goes On

You share them
Family
Friends
Classmates
Strangers
By yourself
With your children

The List Goes On

You make memories of
Shared times
When they baked
Who made them
Whose recipe
Who ate them
Where they were

The List Goes On
Until the memories stop.

Juxtaposition

Yesterday was spring.  Today we got snow.  Winter is staying late.

Tonight we went to the Hospice Home to see a friend.  Pulling up I saw my first Robins of the year.  There were 10 of them on the roof.  All fluffed up against the wind.

I watch one head pop-up from inside the rain gutter.  His head peeks over the side,  looks around, then down it goes. Up, down, around.

We watch for a couple of minutes. Opening the car door I watch them fly up.  Walking I notice the icicles hanging from a bush.

Inside we laugh, and talk.  I watch my friend and the love of his life say good-bye.  Their love is palpable - strong, sweet, and timeless.  K. our other neighbor is taking her home.  Tomorrow I will pick her up so they can spend time together.

As I look out the window, snow has begun to fall again.  I think about our life stories - a colleague is expecting a new baby, my nephew and his sweetheart will say I do in May.  June will mark seven years since my Mother passed away.

As I walk out I look for the Robins.  They have not returned.  Another missed opportunity.  Determining to bring my camera tomorrow - I snap the icicles with my phone. Tomorrow is full of possibilities.

An Epic Journey

My first bicycle was a used blue Schwinn bike.  My Mother paid a princely sum of $10.00, quite a lot of money for the 1960's.  She didn't know how to ride, but she made my Dad teach me.

Our house sat between the High School and Grade School where I grew up.  Behind our house was the baseball field and the football field. Dad took me down to the baseball field to learn to ride.  I remember trying to peddle through the soft powdery dirt.  When I would fall off the bike, the ground that met me was hard as a rock.

Dad's idea of teaching me to ride was to get me on the bike hold it  while I peddled and then give me a push and tell me to keep my balance and peddle.  Eventually I was able to peddle and keep my balance.  I loved that bike.  I remember feeling the wind in my face and the sense of speed as I traveled on the streets of our small town.

There came a day when something broke and I took it to my Dad to fix.  Unfortunately he was not very mechanically inclined and the bike got taken apart but never re-assembled.  I wouldn't experience the freedom of riding until I was in high school and in another town.  That  bike was also a Schwinn and had a banana seat.  I don't remember the model name but after looking on ebay I think it was probably a Stingray.

I wrecked it my senior year in high school and never rode very often after that.  I really didn't care for riding in gravel and rocky terrain.  I always admired the people who went mountain biking and rode so effortlessly.

In the late 1970's I was living in Helena, Montana working at Fort Harrison when I ran across some photos of the Bicycle Corp from Fort Missoula.  My interest was captured and then stumbled on an article about them in the Army Times.

In 1896 the 25th Infantry Regiment (an African American Company) was stationed at Fort Missoula (Missoula, MT).  The 25th was one of the most respected units of their time.  Most people would know them best as one of the "Buffalo Soldier" units.  The 25th was made up of African-American NCO's and enlisted men and white officers.

Second Lieutenant James Moss was assigned to Fort Missoula and the 25th Regiment.  His claim to fame at that time was having graduated at the bottom of his West Point class and for being a bicycle enthusiast.  He believed that the bicycle could prove invaluable to the US military.  When he filled out all the forms and requests to test bicycles at Fort Missoula.  His letters found their way to Major General Nelson A Miles, Commanding General of the US Army from 1895-1903.  He would later be known as the Army's "patron of military cycling".

25th Infantry Regiment, 1890 Fort Keogh

You may best remember him as "capturing" Chief Joseph in the Nez Perce campaign.  In 1877 General Miles was stationed at Fort Keogh (outside of Miles City, Montana).

General Miles approved Moss's request and the first test was to Glacier Park.  There would be other tests.  Tests of their skill, knowledge and dedication against the attitudes and prejudices of their day.  Their's was an epic journey.

http://www.stuhrmuseum.org/research/BicycleCorp.htm

Further Exploration:
Hell on Two Wheels http://armyhistoryjournal.com/?p=396
The Bicycle Corp  http://www.stuhrmuseum.org/research/BicycleCorp.htm

The Immortal 15 http://www.nps.gov/yell/blogs/The-Immortal-15-Fort-Yellowstone-and-Buffalo-Soldiers-Part-2-of-2.htm

Out of Sync

I woke to find 4 sets of eyes staring at me.

It was late afternoon of an emotionally grueling week.  Lack of sleep and exhausted I came home and fell asleep in my chair.  I woke up about an hour later 6:30pm to 4 sets of eyes staring.  The eyes belonged to my dogs and 6:30 is supper time.

Lady our chocolate lab is diabetic.  So mealtime for the dogs is regimented.  They know how to tell time even when I have lapses.

The alarm goes off at 5:30 am unless they decide they want out earlier.  One or the other will come in and nudge me.  Max will lick my hand until I respond.  All of them if they are not quickly successful will put their head under the covers and prod me with their cold nose.

Occasionally they will allow me to sleep in like this morning.  My phone had died so the 5:30 alarm didn't go off.  My husband woke just before 6:30.  None of the dogs had stirred - we all over slept.  And my day has been out of sync.

Happy Birthday Charlie

"Five, five, five who'll give me ten, now fifteen, fifteen, fifteen sold to #71."

I had bought 3 boxes unseen.  - The auction lasted over 5 days and I arrived on day 3.  And the items were numerous.  Unfortunately I was not to learn the real value of the boxes until it was to late.  You see they were in the basement when my home was vandalized and the basement ended up more than a foot deep in water.

Inside one box was  a scrapbook and two photograph albums.  There were several pages of photos recording a funeral.  The funeral of Charlie M. Russell.

Both of these stamps depict some of Charlie Russell's paintings.  I believe he created over 1400 pieces of art (sketches, paintings, sculptures).  

He was 16 when he came to Montana.  He started by working with a sheepherder. He had always wanted to be a cowboy and soon followed his dream.  He sketched the land and people as he kept watch over the cattle.  In 1886-87 blizzards killed thousands of cattle in Montana.  

Charlie Russell painted a postcard sized painting later named "Waiting for the Chinook" and mailed it off in response to an inquiry about the well-being of the owner's herd.  This painting told it all and was to mark the turning point in Charlie's career.

http://www.cowboysong.com/cards/cardsridgleya1.html

In 1888 Charlie lived among the Bloods in Alberta Canada (part of the Blackfeet nation).  Many of his paintings told of life in the west from the Indian point of view.

The Custer Fight

"The Gift" by Ian Tyson     http://youtu.be/GPpBHAgP7Zs

Further Exploring

Charles M Russell Museum https://www.cmrussell.org/

http://www.legendsofamerica.com/ah-charlesrussell.html

Nancy Russell http://montanawomenshistory.org/behind-every-man-nancy-cooper-russell/

Anger

Anger

Not being heard

Accident
Shards and slivers
Strewn over table and floor
Slice
Emotions
Slivers of anger
Pierce
Pinpricks
Droplets of blood

Dreams
Lay like
Broken shards

Not heard
Slivers of Anger
Shards of broken dreams.