Something was still missing. Controlling the plane, Nashville couldn’t help but feel what a conductor must feel using a baton to direct a symphony. But Nashville didn’t want to conduct the music. Nashville wanted to be the music. He wanted to tap-dance across the notes of the page, to visit each black circle on the sheet music like a hummingbird visits each flower. He wanted to fly.
–Beyond the Laughing Sky by Michelle Cuevas
“I practice levitation,” Theo said, “As in, making things float in the air. You saw my work earlier today.”
“I love learning about transformation,” Ridley added. She pulled a top hat off a nearby shelf, moved it behind her wheelchair, and when it reappeared it had become a book with a top hat on the cover. “I like to change objects from one to another.”
“And I escape!” Leila said. “Dad, can you please chain me upside down in a tank full of water?”
“I can, and I will – when you turn eighteen,” Mr. Vernon said.
–The Magic Misfits by Neil Patrick Harris
Portobello Road had always been Michael’s favorite street to explore. The shops were on the lowest floor of the townhomes that lined the streets. The owners lived on the upper floors, and the fronts were painted in a rainbow of pastel colors. Sky-blue and sunny-yellow houses next to mint-green ones. A rosy-pink home might be next to a coral-orange house.
–More Than Marmalade by Rosanne Tolin
The sky darkened, and a low rumbling sound was heard in the air. There was a rushing of many wings; a great chattering and laughing; and the sun came out of the dark sky to show the Wicked Witch surrounded by a crowd of monkeys, each with a pair of immense and powerful wings on his shoulders.
–The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Through every beloved character shines their creator’s spirit. More Than Marmalade is an approachable history lesson about writer, Michael Bond, and his famous bear.
Michael’s mother read even more than he did. Every week, she went to the public library to check out new books. Michael always tagged along. The wide aisles filled with thick hardbacks thrilled him. He slowly wandered through the stacks to see what might catch his eye.
Last month, I decided to give #BookADayMay a try. I’ll admit, it didn’t go exactly as planned. I hold to my “all progress is good progress” mentality, but 15/31 books doesn’t really warrant a celebratory wrap-up blog post. Instead, I’ve decided to simply share about the books I did manage to read this May.
He loved to lose himself in books about ideas like hope and strength and wonder, but also about things like train engineers, gymnastics, and pie recipes. Over time, he became good at fending for himself. He also became an expert cartwheeler and dreamer of sugary treats.
“Isn’t it amazing the things we don’t do simply because we think we can’t do them?”
Every child knows the fairy tales about Kelpies: beautiful horses made of the twisting underwater plants. They lure children into the water, and then pull them down to the depths below.
Deciding what to do for a science fair is hard. It’s hard because what you really have to do is choose what not to do. Because you could do anything. You could do millions of different things. Except you can only do one thing. So after you choose all the stuff not to do, then you look at what’s left over. And that’s what you do.
