I’m not one for absolutes, so when someone asks me about my favorite book of the year, I usually hedge my bet. Well, the delightful Eileen Manes at Pickle Corn Jam asked, and this post is my answer! (Please see below for posts by other readers and writers who share some of their new favorites, too!)

In picture book land, a current favorite of mine is OWL SEES OWL — a lovely, imagistic book that has more going on than first meets the eye.

The text is a reverso poem — a form created by the brilliant Marilyn Singer who popularized it in her spectacular book Mirror, Mirror. (Here’s a great post where she explains the form’s genesis and evolution.)

Laura Godwin, author of OWL SEES OWL, uses the reverso to take sweet owl out into the world — where he sees the night sky and the fall leaves and, eventually, his own reflection — and then to return him home again in the second half of the book — revisiting everything from earlier but with a new perspective.

That perspective’s aided by Rob Dunlavey’s gorgeous, warm, immersive artwork. (You can enjoy all the stages of its development here!)

I think it’s the idea of perspective that really makes this book special for me. It’s simple and quiet — both visually and textually — but it’s saying something big — that the world can be looked at in lots of different ways, through different lenses, at different times and from different angles. That, in fact, the world should be looked at with differing perspectives whenever possible.

Maybe it’s the mad election season, but that feels like a pretty resonant message right now.

Bonus book: For another absolutely gorgeous book that is all about perspective, check out Brendan Wenzel’s THEY ALL SAW A CAT. It’s up there in my top ten this year too. Enjoy!

For more favorites, have a look at these posts, all part of Eileen’s #pcjlinkup! Enjoy!

Cate Berry on The Snurtch
Charnaie Gordon on Little Red and the Very Hungry Lion
Danna Smith on Six Dots: A Story of Young Louis Braille
Eileen Manes on Best Frints in the Whole Universe
Henry L. Herz on Return
Karen Santhanam on Mabel and the Queen of Dreams
Kell Andrews on City Shapes
Keyosha Atwater on One Day in the Eucalyptus, Eucalyptus Tree
Vanessa Roeder on Horrible Bear

I think we all shared mixed feelings over this month’s form. The clogyrnach (say that 5 times fast!) ended up seeming kind of limericky to us. It’s a Welsh form that requires a certain number of lines (either 5 or 6), a certain number of syllables (32) and a very clear-and-simple aa,bb-type rhyme scheme. But something about the prescriptive nature of this form as opposed to the prescriptive nature of other forms felt a tad too, well, sing-songy and prescriptive to us.

Still, we did as we were told and wrote the darn things. Well, ok, I didn’t follow the end-line requirements to the letter of the law. In fact I pretty much broke the rule that there should be a b rhyme in the middle of the last line as well as an a rhyme at the end. I kind of did that once. So. Let’s call mine Variations on Clogyrnachs.

According to our researchy sister Sara Lewis Holmes, this form was traditionally trotted out for weddings and funerals. She did a string with a wedding theme so I decided to tackle the other end of the spectrum — the funerals. Here goes….

Variations on Clogyrnachs for a Funeral
Liz Garton Scanlon

Who lies under suburban lawns?
A grumpy dog, all bark and brawn,
guinea pigs, two birds,
a frog. Whispered words:
good-bye, good boy, go on.

Who’s in the wardrobe down the hall?
Who wears a ghoulish grin, a shawl?
Are you ghost or dream?
Are you what you seem?
Memory tricks us all.

If you’d like to read more of this quirky form, visit my pals!

Sara Lewis Holmes
Laura Purdie Salas
Tanita Davis
Andi Jazmon
Tricia Stohr-Hunt
Kelly Ramsdell Fineman

And for more poetry in general, check out Poetry Friday this week at my pal Penny’s blog A Penny and Her Jots!! Enjoy, all!

In wrapping up our wonderful month of PAGE THROUGH THE PARKS, I wanted to take a few moments to celebrate my co-campers, Janet Fox and Barb Rosenstock — both acclaimed authors, and true lovers of books and parks!

Enjoy these little snippets of their experiences in the parks and on the page!

Me: What’s the biggest adventure or most exciting thing you’ve ever seen or done in a Natl Park?

Janet: I can’t pick just one so I choose two! One: my son and I used to go into Yellowstone every summer for a few days, and one year we became official “geyser gazers”, following the geyser eruptions around the Upper Geyser Basin (where Old Faithful is), using walkie-talkies with other gazers and running from one eruption to the next. It was huge fun. Two: on the other end of the scale was a trip I took with my son in Mesa Verde, where we took a guided sunset tour into the largest of the archeological sites. We sat in silence for a long time, all of us humbled and awed by the mystical beauty of the place and the ghosts of the vanished people who built it.

Barb: Well, honestly I first held a boy’s hand in Mammoth Cave, does that count? If you mean MORE exciting than that, I think every minute of my time spent in Yosemite was exciting, the waterfalls, the wildlife, the stars at night. All of it. Wait, I’ll qualify that, the most exciting thing in Yosemite is that they HAVE a library and that it’s full of history and fabulousness! A library in a National Park! That’s the kind of thing that makes me proud to be an American.

Me: What’s the biggest adventure or most exciting thing you’ve ever experienced as a writer?

Janet: When my book FAITHFUL came out, it was so exciting for me to be able to go back to the Park, where I’d spent so much time, and stand before Old Faithful with a copy of my debut novel, and then sign copies in the shop next door. That was such a thrill!

Janet and her book in Yellowstone!

Barb: Every day is an adventure when you’re a writer! I get to learn what interests me, meet fascinating people and go wherever my imagination leads.

Me: What’s the book that felt like the biggest adventure to you when you read it — as a child or adult!?

Janet: When I was a teen I loved books about horses, and when I read MISTY OF CHINCOTEAGUE I wanted a horse so badly! It seemed like a true adventure to live with wild horses, and to become attached to one. As an adult, my dream of owning a horse finally came true.

Barb: My Father’s Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett. I loved it. I still love it. And White Fang by Jack London, I loved that too. And the whole Harry Potter series. And I loved Gary Paulsen’s Hatchet…I’m kind of bad at picking my favorites…

Me: What is your 100th Birthday Wish for our National Parks?

Barb: That they have a 200th anniversary and a 300th, 400th and a 500th…you get the picture.

Barb and her sister in Yosemite!

Janet: May we love you and give you back, in respect and preservation, as much as you’ve given us for 100 years.

One way the three of us have decided to give back is through this month-long celebration of the parks — and the books about the parks.

Click here to get our recommended book list!

Click here to enter our Goodreads give-aways:
Liz Garton Scanlon’s IN THE CANYON
Janet Fox’s FAITHFUL
Barb Rosenstock’s THE CAMPING TRIP THAT CHANGED AMERICA

And if you’re a teacher or librarian, click here for a rafflecopter entry for our GRAND PRIZE, which includes signed books by all three of us, a gorgeous piece of Grand Canyon art by illustrator Ashley Wolff, a chain-stitch embroidered patch of Sequoia National Park by Ft. Lonesome clothiers, and much more!

That’s all, folks. Hats off to the parks!

It’s time for another ekphrastic, my friends.
This month, with Sara Lewis Holmes at the helm, we wrote poems inspired by artist Jennifer Angus’ exhibit WONDER.

Sara gave us several images to choose from, and here’s the one I went with.
If only we’d all been able to take field trips to see this amazing work in person….

WONDER
By Liz Garton Scanlon

What if everyday
were a cabinet of curiosities
(or actually everyday
is a cabinet of curiosities
but what if we acted
accordingly?) What if
we opened our eyes
each morning
like small sliding drawers
to all the surprises
of the world unspooling
before us – the shrunken
heads and antique spoons?
The fossils? What if we
ooohed and ahhhed?

See my friends’ fabulous efforts here:
Tricia’s poem
Sara’s poem
Kelly’s poem
Andi’s poem
Tanita’s poem

Are you a book lover?
Do you love the parks as much as we do?
Do you hope to celebrate the parks with your own family or your school or classroom this year?
Let us help you kick it off with some give-aways!

First, here are our Goodreads giveaways:

In The Canyon (Liz Garton Scanlon and Ashley Wolff)
Faithful (Janet Fox)
The Camping Trip That Changed America (Barb Rosenstock)

And then, you all, do we have a GRAND (and I mean CANYON-sized) teacher-librarian give-away on rafflecopter. I’m talking signed books by all three of us, mini-Sequoia trees, Yellowstone totebag, etc etc etc — PLUS, this incredibly beautiful piece of canyon-inspired art by my own personal (and beloved) illustrator Ashley Wolff: .

Which, I mean, seriously. We all want. A lot. Right????

So, here’s the link. ENTER!!!!
And that’s all for now, my friends.
Enjoy!

Several years ago, my agent asked if I’d ever thought about doing a picture book on the Grand Canyon. She knew that I’d spent a lot of my free time hiking and camping, and when I told her I’d actually hiked and camped there, in the canyon, I think we both thought, Yes, what a perfect fit.

My second trip into the canyon was metaphoric, creative, in rhyme. I’d hiked to the river and back in my 20s — this time I worked from photos, memories, an old topo map, and extensive lists of all the birds, mammals, flora and fauna found in the park. I ended up with fewer blisters on this journey, but it took me a lot longer.

Then, off my words went to the amazing illustrator Ashley Wolff, who first took her own trip into the canyon and then began the beautiful but arduous process of a linoleum block printing process that resulted in our book.

In celebration of the book and of the National Park Service’s centennial, Ashley’s shared her process here.

And then, after all was said and done, we brought one more creative partner into the mix. Debbie Gonzales, a friend and writer and educator, developed a truly wonderful teachers’ guide just chock-full of activities and discussion prompts and other ways for kids to explore the book and the canyon from their own classrooms and libraries!

It’s here, ready and waiting for you and your students!

The three of us are so happy to share our love for the canyon with you this morning as we PAGE THROUGH THE PARKS. Enjoy, enter our give-away, and #readUSA

Welcome, August — you season of school shopping and diminishing vacation days.
Ugh, right?

But wait! This year, August ushers in something fresh and new but everlasting — a celebration of the National Parks. A centennial celebration, in fact! On August 25, the U.S. National Park Service turns 100 year old — 100 years of valued and protected wild spaces, 100 years of adventure and breathing space and wide-eyed wonderment.

My book IN THE CANYON, is set in a National Park (Grand Canyon National Park) and it follows a young girl and her family as they wind their way from the rim down to the river — a hike I’ve been lucky enough to do myself.

This month, I’m joining authors Janet Fox and Barb Rosenstock — both of whom also have books featuring National Parks — in a celebratory effort we’re calling Page Through The Parks.

We’ve launched a facebook page and a Twitter hashtag (#readUSA) where you’ll be able to follow everything we’re up to.

We are doing Goodreads Give-Aways for all three books!
In The Canyon
Janet’s Faithful
Barb’s The Camping Trip That Changed America

We’ve launched a great big grand prize Rafflecopter giveaway especially for teachers and librarians. (Link coming as soon as I can figure out how to share it!)

We’ve compiled a book list nearly as long as the canyon is deep featuring National Parks to share with your children and students.

And we’ll be bouncing around blogs — our own and others — talking about the National Parks and the books they’ve inspired! This week (lucky me) we’re focusing on The Grand Canyon! I’ll be posting everyday and dear Janet Fox had me over to her place to talk too! (See that post here!) Thanks, Janet!

Now, like our facebook page, enter our give-aways and have a look around.
Then? Go for a swim or hike or something!
That’s what the National Park System would like you to do!

Oh, my friends.
This was not an easy one for me.

I don’t know if I’m too distracted by the chaos that is teens plus work plus summer.
Or if I’m just intimated by Kay Ryan.

But this month’s “In the Style of” poems — sheesh!
If I had a fainting couch, I’d take to it!

So I tried a couple of different poems as my muse (aka, mentor text) and the one I came closest to not-hating is this one. It’s based on a poem of Ryan’s called Turtle that starts like this:

Who would be a turtle who could help it?
A barely mobile hard roll, a four-oared helmet,
she can ill afford the chances she must take
in rowing toward the grasses that she eats.

Mine is called Egg, and goes like this:

EGG
By Liz Garton Scanlon
After TURTLE, by Kay Ryan

Who would be an egg who could help it?
An off-kilter globe, wheel with a wacky rim,
tight-rope walker who can’t stand up for herself.
All soft-hearted on the inside but not on her sleeve –
there is no sleeve, no reach nor grasp nor opening –
nothing saying here’s who I am and how I feel.
Just this flattened wheel, matte gaze, blank slate,
hardened shell-like-stone sheer limestone cliff
of a face — strong, long and serious. Contained.
Until, from deep within, a knock like a heartbeat
only sharper, clearer. More pointed. And the illusion
cracks wide open, into cries and downy wings.

Read the fantastic poems by my pals here:

Tanita
Andi
Kelly
Laura
Sara
Tricia

And it’s Poetry Friday here!
Happy summer, friends!