Finger puppets not only provide a great way for children to enjoy retelling a story, they offer the perfect opportunity for children and adults to talk about books. In AMAZING MATILDA, readers and …
Source: AMAZING MATILDA Finger Puppets #FREE Download
Three cheers for autumn! The season never ceases to amaze me and this year’s foliage has been spectacular. Today (Twelve days after taking the photo for Autumn Canvas) storm clouds are brewing and snow may be on its way, but I’ve captured enough spectacular photographs to inspire me for many a day. Hope you enjoy the view from Central Maine that inspired me to write this haiku. ~ Bette A. Stevens, Maine author
Midnight—my fabulous furry feline—inspired me to write BLACK CAT, a Halloween haiku (Haiku: a Japanese-inspired three-line: 5-7-5 syllable poetry form) and design a poster to go with the poem. Kids love illustrating their poetry.
What’s inspiring you this Halloween?
Brainstorm your list and get writing.
Have fun—don’t forget to get the kids writing too!
Here are some writer’s tricks (literary devices found in every writer’s toolbox) I used to create BLACK CAT. These tools can set a mood— they make writing and reading memorable and fun. Check them out and see if you can discover where I used them in my poem.
Read on to find out more about these literary devices.
Black cat waits, watches…
Stalking tricksters in their web.
Spiders are her treats!
Assonance
Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in nearby words.
Consonance
Another literary device used by writers and poets is consonance. It is the repetition of the final consonant sounds, usually in the more important words or in the accented syllables.
Alliteration
You put your alliteration tool to work when words that start with the same sound are used close together in a phrase or sentence. The sound is usually a consonant and the words don’t have to always be right next to one another.
Finding “just the right words”
Abundant resources are available in print as well as through online searches. Listed below are the two resources I had readily available in the classroom for my students (Grades 4-8). Paperbacks are inexpensive enough to have multiple copies available, and in my opinion, they are indispensable.
Happy Writing and Reading Haiku
& Happy Halloween!
~ Bette A. Stevens, Maine author/illustrator
Autumnal Ensigns (a haiku by Bette A. Stevens)
Autumn’s vibrant display of colors never fails to inspire and writing Haiku (a Japanese-inspired three-line: 5-7-5 syllable poetry form) is one of my favorite ways to capture nature’s stories. Haikus are usually written about nature. Here’s what I came up with this week. What’s inspiring you this autumn? ~ Bette A. Stevens, Maine author/illustrator
Happy Haiku Writing!
“Stevens’ skill with dialect also makes this book unique. She doesn’t overdo it, but lets it flow like spring water, or rain in the forest…” Thanks so much for reading and reviewing DOG BONE SOUP, Mary Clark! READ ALL ABOUT IT… ~ Bette A. Stevens, Maine author http://www.4writersandreaders.com
This is a wonderfully engaging and thought-provoking story. Bette Stevens’ young boy growing up in poverty in 1960s America, reminds me of another child, adrift on a raft on a mighty river, and the issues illuminated by that author of social stigma, individual resilience, and integrity. Huckleberry Finn is also poor and an outsider, and yet becomes a symbol for the equality of all humanity, and the finer spirit in all of us, in Mark Twain’s hands. I felt a similar quality in Stevens’ distinctive book.
Stevens’ skill with dialect also makes this book unique. She doesn’t overdo it, but lets it flow like spring water, or rain in the forest. Her descriptions take you into the scene and the characters’ minds. I felt I was in the family’s cabin, fishing by the river, riding a bike into town, being bullied and ostracized, and ashamed of a parent’s bad behavior…
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Thank you, AngelaKayBooks: “The novel is easily written, fast-paced, and laced with lessons for any of us, particularly the baby boomers…” (Read the entire review on Angela’s review blog.) ~ Bette A. Stevens 4writersandreaders.com
From the Author:
I love to walk and enjoy nature’s beauty, whether at home or on the go. I’m passionate about the beauty in the world around me and enjoy jotting down notes and composing short poems. The coast is one of my favorite places to relax. I’m a nature collector: everything from seashells to birds’ nests. When I was teaching, these treasures filled my classroom and provided inspiration for reading, writing, and research. It was hands-on fun and excitement and I enjoyed every moment spent learning with, from and about my students. One thing I learned is that many children don’t have an adult to read to them or listen to them read and talk about those books…
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Happy September!Another Labor Day Weekend and the crickets here at The Farmstead in Central Maine are singing about it. I snapped this photo on the day their chorus began (three weeks ago). As Grandma would say, “Only six more weeks ’til frost.” And that was three weeks ago.
Needless to say, nature inspired me to pen a poem for the occasion.
~ Bette A. Stevens, Maine author/illustrator
DOG BONE SOUP—a poignant family drama and coming of age story by Bette A Stevens—takes readers on an incredible journey through 1950s and 60s rural America.
“Adventures and misadventures to the likes of Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry…” ~Frank Scozzari, author
Grab a copy today at YOUR AMAZON http://viewauthor.at/BetteAStevens
Take a step back in time to “The Good Old Days” with protagonist Shawn Daniels as he encounters the challenges and experiences the glories of growing up poor in an era when many families were living the American Dream.
“Shawn Daniels and his siblings shake off extreme poverty, hunger, a dilapidated homestead and a drunken father, to somehow embark upon an idyllic childhood. Bette A. Stevens has crafted a remarkable tale of hope and happiness in the face of despair.” —Charles Bray (Founder of the Indietribe, a body dedicated to supporting self-published authors http://www.theindietribe.com)
Shawn Daniels isn’t your typical American boomer boy. Shawn is a poor boy and his father is the town drunk. Shawn’s family has no indoor plumbing or running water, but they do have a TV. After all, Dad deserves the rewards of his labor. Meanwhile, Shawn and his brother Willie keep the firewood cut and stacked, haul in water for cooking and cleaning and do all that needs to doing around the ramshackle place they call home. But when chores are done, these resourceful kids set out on boundless adventures that don’t cost a dime.
On a bitter New England day in 1964, Shawn is on his way to boot camp to soak up the southern sun and strike out on a new adventure—in a place where he believes it’s possible to make his dreams come true. Find out where this Boomer’s been and where he’s going in DOG BONE SOUP.
DOG BONE SOUP, A Boomer’s Journey by Bette A. Stevens
Available at YOUR AMAZON http://bit.ly/1HGpCsZ
Inspired by nature and human nature, author Bette A. Stevens is a retired elementary and middle school teacher, a wife, mother of two and grandmother of five. Stevens lives in Central Maine with her husband on their 37-acre farmstead where she enjoys reading, writing, gardening, walking and reveling in the beauty of nature. She advocates for children and families, for childhood literacy and for the conservation of monarch butterflies—an endangered species (and milkweed, the only plant that monarch caterpillars will eat).
Stevens is the author of AMAZING MATILDA, an award-winning picture book; The Tangram Zoo and Word Puzzles Too!, a home/school resource incorporating hands-on math and writing; and PURE TRASH, the short story prequel to her début novel, DOG BONE SOUP, a Boomer’s coming of age story.
PURE TRASH—the short story prequel to the novel DOG BONE SOP by Maine author Bette A. Stevens, offers readers and book clubs insight into poverty and prejudice in rural New England in the 1950s. Download your copy for #FREE August 24th through August 28th !
“Pure Trash is unlike any story I’ve read. At first, it reads like a memoir from Reminisce Magazine, but as the story unfolds, I connected with the characters at a deep level. The author explores prejudice, class division, alcoholism, poverty, injustice, and bullying. It’s a story all audiences over the age of ten can enjoy. While reading this story, the reader will experience the joy of a carefree Saturday and the blistering pain of feeling not quite good enough.” — Tricia Drammeh, AuthorsToWatch
PURE TRASH (Literary Fiction/ages 11-adult) by Bette A. Stevens—FREE eBook through AUGUST 28th at YOUR AMAZON http://amzn.to/1T5tMAZ — is a short story about bullies and what it’s like to be bullied. It may redefine your concept of bullying. If you were a child who was thought of as “different” in some way, you know what bullying is about: torment, persecution, intimidation, to name a few of its descriptors. For Shawn and Willie, their difference was based upon the social status of the dysfunctional family and the alcoholism and abject poverty in which they grew up. This short story is a prequel to Stevens’s debut novel DOG BONE SOUP.
Pedaling up the half-mile hill was a lot of work, but it was worth it, and not for just the empties. Flying down the other side gave me the best feeling in the whole wide world. I guess that’s how that old chicken hawk feels when he soars above the pines at the edge of the field out back of the house.
Once we reached the peak, we plopped our bikes on the ground and threw ourselves onto the soft, damp bed of leaves at the edge of the woods. It was so peaceful. My mind wandered into the sky and I dreamed about the ride down the other side and the 10 cent Orange Crush I’d buy at Stark’s General Store.
“Hey, Willie,” I finally asked, “did ya bring the slingshot?”
“Sure did, Shawn. Whatcha wanna shoot today?”
Willie’s brown eyes looked as big as Mum’s pan fried donuts and his smile pretty nearly filled his round face as he jumped right up from his leafy bed and hovered over me like a bear.
I helped Willie make that slingshot out of rubber bands I’d sliced from one of the old inner tubes piled out by Dad’s rusty Ford Roadster. That Ford had headlights on top of the fenders and the “old jalopy,” as Mum called it, was just rottin’ away out back of the two-holer. We broke a crotched limb out of the choke cherry bush to use for the handle. I tied the rubber band and the handle together with string from one of the flowered chicken feed sacks that Mum used to make her house dresses. That string was real strong and I was good at tying knots. Willie was proud as a peacock when it came to showing off that slingshot.
“How about we find some old tin cans and pile them up like a tower?” I asked Willie. “Better yet, let’s both make towers and see whose gets knocked down first.”
“Yes, siree!” Willie hooted as he made a mad dash to grab as many of the rusty cans as his chubby arms could hug together at one time. ###
Join Shawn and Willie for a 1950s Saturday adventure—Download PURE TRASH for free today!
Inspired by nature and human nature, author Bette A. Stevens is a retired elementary and middle school teacher. Stevens is the author of AMAZING MATILDA, an award-winning picture book; The Tangram Zoo and Word Puzzles Too!, a home/school resource incorporating hands-on math and writing; and PURE TRASH, the short story prequel to her début novel, DOG BONE SOUP, a baby boomer’s coming of age novel.
Why not! I thought it would be fun to share a limerick this week and invite you to write one too. Mine is about me and a spider.
When teaching (grades 4-8), I found that starting a new school year by writing poems and sharing them was an exciting way get students hooked on writing. I must admit it—limericks are so much fun! In the classroom we learn about using some of the tools in our writer’s tool box—tools like assonance (repeating vowel sounds) and consonance (repeating consonant sounds) to create a musical message. And of course, we had Scholastic rhyming dictionaries and thesauruses close at hand. It’s always exciting to discover alternative words (synonyms) that have just the right sounds and syllables to perfect our poems.
Whether you’re a teacher, a parent or simply want to share the love of reading and writing, get the kids together and give it a try. Read on to discover what inspired me to write my spider limerick and have lots of fun writing and reading with the kids!
Click the link to find out all about it How to Write a Limerick http://www.poetry4kids.com/blog/lessons/how-to-write-a-limerick/
Before I wrote this limerick, I had been watching several spiders weave their webs on the outside screens of our back porch all during the spring and summer. Spiders are fascinating creatures to watch from a safe distance. But, up close and personal they frighten me. The photo for the limerick was taken by me (safely inside the screen). Nature and my own human nature inspired me to write this one:
There once was a tall timid writer
Who spotted an intrepid spider
She jumped up and screamed
Then she suddenly beamed
“Why, I’ll write a fine book about spiders!”
~ Bette A. Stevens
Come join us!
Bette A. Stevens, Maine Author 
Written
on 10/30/2016