The children's book reviewed by Susie this month: When the World Turned Upside Down by K. Ibura “I found this book by accident, but what a treasure. Here I found four young adolescents who lived in an apartment complex in a big city when Covid hit….Everyone had challenges to face during the pandemic. This book highlights many of those challenges through the eyes of young people.”

I just love true stories, especially about young people who make an amazing difference to their own lives as well as others. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind is one such story. It was written by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer and they actually wrote two versions. One is a picture book for ages 5 to 9 illustrated by Elizabeth Zunon and the other is a Young Reader’s Edition for ages 10 to 14….

Social Justice starts here with this commandment: Love your neighbor….Recently I was introduced to a book by one of our Supreme Court Justices, Just Help! How to Build a Better World, by Sonia Sotomayor and illustrated by Angela Dominguez. The story, for elementary aged children, begins with a very simple question Sonia was asked by her mother when she was a little girl. “How will you help today?” ….

Coming to the close of this year, let’s prepare for the next with “365 Ways to Live Green for Kids” by Sheri Amsel. This book on “saving the environment at home, school, or at play – everyday”, is a wonderful resource loaded with information, ideas of what you can do to help make a difference, and much to think about and ponder. This would be an excellent resource for parents who want to expand their family’s ability to “live green” or for a home-school curriculum… Check out the rest of this blog!

This is a month in which many take time to be thankful. Oh, we could do that every month, but we tend to focus our thankfulness into one month each year, in November. Sometimes in challenging times, we get mired in all that is not so good and need to be reminded to pay attention to small blessings and whisper “thank you, God.” Today’s book is “Grandad’s Prayers of the Earth”….

I have many favorite books about St. Francis so to select just one or two to recommend and share with you is very hard, but here it goes! My first one is Francis, The Poor Man of Assisi, by Tomie de Paola, a favorite author and illustrator of mine…The second book I have chosen for St. Francis Day/Month is Brother Sun, Sister Moon Which is a Canticle of the Creatures written by St. Francis, but this book is re-imagined by Katherine Paterson….

The one-use plastic bag…. what a nightmare! It can be hard to find places to recycle them, curbside is often a big NO NO, and after the pandemic, many places have discontinued their recycling programs for a variety of plastics. It’s definitely time to research how to recycle or use these one-use bags in different ways.
While you may not be able to take up “crocheting with plastic threads” which have been created from plastic bags found as “trash”, somebody amazing figured it out for us all…

If you are like me, you may be wondering, how we all got into such a mess. I will be the first to admit that I love some of my plastic products. However, as I have been learning more about our dilemma, I have been taking a closer look at my actions and what I use.
I am starting to constantly ask myself these 3 questions:
1) What am I willing to give up until my supplies are gone?
2) What other practices or techniques can I put into place in my life to get along differently?
3) What other more sustainable materials can I use?…

As it sparkles and shimmers, do you think that I ever pictured the vast and varied oceans as an Ocean Soup? No indeed, at least not until I discovered the book “Ocean Soup” by Meeg Pincus and illustrated by Lucy Semple….I then came upon this next gem of a book that was also published by the The Cornell Lab Publishing Group called “Plastic Sea: A Bird’s-eye View” by Kirsti Blom and Geir Wing Gabrielsen. This is an international STEM story told from the perspective of a Northern Fulmar….

It’s never too late to start “caring for creation” or to take another step to do more no matter your age. “Timmy Gets Tangled” and “Trevor Gets Trapped” both written by Christine Iverson and illustrated by Tom Lyttle are great for children aged 5 to 9 years old…