Throwback Post: Book Musings: Art from Her Heart

**THROWBACK POST**

July 10 2016:

Art From Her Heart

I loved this book, story and the self-taught artist it is about, Clementine Hunter. I’ve been wanting to take a painting class for years. I’d been waiting for the money to do this, the right materials, and the time.

About a month before we read this book, I let all that go. I began using what we had; the acrylic paint we had, the brushes we had, and using cardboard from food packages as canvas. I’m having the time of my life painting and playing around with the brushes and colors. Thomas and Lillian loved it too!

from the jacket cover: Clementine Hunter was a self-taught artist who captured scenes of the backbreaking work and joyous celebrations in southern farm life. Her work preserves a part of American history we rarely see, and the story of how she came to paint proves that art can help keep the spirit alive.

Throwback Post – Book Shelf: Mother Teresa

**THROWBACK POST**

September 23 2015:

We love all the books we’ve read that are written and illustrated by DEMI. This was the perfect book to end our day with last night. A woman who listened to what was in her heart.

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Book Shelf: The Boy Who Drew Birds – A Story of John James Audubon

September 29 2019:

The Boy Who Drew Birds – A Story of John James Audubon

(Throwback to 2016)

Another book we enthusiastically enjoyed reading!

Banding a bird, that is, tying a marker around the bird’s leg to track its movement, was an innovative idea in Audubon’s time. In 1804, he became the first person in North America to band a bird.

His simple experiment helped prove homing. He grew to be the greatest painter of birds of all time. He was the first to paint life-size images of birds and the first to show birds hunting, preening, fighting, and flying.

Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.

Book Musings: Squirrel and John Muir

September 15 2019:

Squirrel and John Muir

Not a strictly true story, but was meant to share the spirit of what might have happened between John Muir and Floy Hutchings when they met in Yosemite in 1868. Muir arrived in Yosemite from San Francisco almost by accident. I love everything I’ve read about John Muir and this was no exception. Thomas and Lillian loved it too!
(Throwback to 2016 when I read aloud to Thomas and Lillian every night before bed)

Book Musings: My Hands Sing the Blues

September 1 2019:

My Hands Sing the Blues – Romare Bearden’s Childhood Journey

Bearden, of African, Cherokee, and Italian descent, was one of America’s most vibrant and innovative 20th-century artists. When he was a young child of three-years-old, his family faced discriminatory Jim Crow laws and attitudes. They participated in the Great Migration North, moving to New York City. We all enjoyed learning about Romare Bearden!

Book Musings: Pablo Neruda – Poet of the People

Pablo Neruda – Poet of the People

In this colorfully illustrated book we learned about Pablo Neruda, born in Parral, Chili, in 1904. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971. He and his poems inspire people to love and to make their voices heard. We enjoyed learning about this wonderful Poet of the People!

Book Musings: Uncommon Traveler – Mary Kingsley in Africa

Uncommon Traveler – Mary Kingsley in Africa

Incredible story of Mary Kingsley who was born in England in 1862. Although Mary remembers her childhood fondly, by most standards, her childhood was sad and bleak.

She never attended school, yet she loved books and learning so she taught herself. This book covers her two trips to West Africa in 1893 and 1894. Her travels added to the knowledge of West Africa and most people were astonished merely by her survival.

Wonderful woman and book!

Book Musings: Crossing Niagara

August 18 2018:

Crossing Niagara – The Death-Defying Tightrope Adventures of the Great Blondin

Exciting story of Jean Francois Gravelet, the one known as the Great Blondin. Mostly about his claim to fame of crossing Niagara Falls on a tightrope.

He not only crossed on a tightrope, he crossed on a tightrope blindfolded, reading the paper, with a wheelbarrow, on stilts, with his feet and hands chained, with his feet in buckets, and with a man on his back. Great person to learn about.

Book Review: Alice Waters and the Trip to Delicious

April 29 2017:

Alice Waters and the Trip to Delicious

Wonderfully fun book about an amazing woman I’d never heard about. Alice Waters owns Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California. She also travels thousands of miles to help grow Edible Schoolyards – a concept she began in her own city.

Edible Schoolyards began in 1995 and there are gardens all over America and in twenty-nine other countries … And still growing.

Alice Waters also led the change in restaurants and how chefs operate. Instead of looking for the best recipes, they now seek the best ingredients; locally grown and flavorful.

Loved, loved, loved learning about Alice Waters and passions!

Alice Waters and the Trip to Delicious Book 2016