Beyond Boundaries · Essays and tidbits from Nancy Bo Flood
Participating in the Poetry Rodeo is something I look forward to for months. You’ll see the joy on the faces of the poets taking part. Not only did we have fun, but we shared inspiration and important information about poetry with educators and librarians, encouraging them to use poetry in their work every day.
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Imagine standing next to a stack of 427 books. Imagine reading them one at a time, begin in January and end in December. Now choose the twenty-five best from all these different books—picture books, novels for young readers and older readers, fiction and nonfiction, and poetry. How would you choose the best? As a member of the ILA-Notable Books for a Global Society that is our task each year. What a wonderful job – reading books!
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A couple of weeks ago I received a phone call from Percy Piestewa to tell me that her husband, Terry, a Vietnam veteran, had passed on. Percy’s phone call meant so much to me. Terry and Percy welcomed me into their home when I was writing Soldier Sister, Fly Home, a middle-grade novel dedicated to their daughter Lori, the first Native American woman to die in combat on foreign soil. During our several visits we laughed together, cried together, talked story together. Both Terry and Percy have done so much to heal others, to create peace, and to bring people together.
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Arizona State Library has chosen Soldier Sister to become one of their audio selections for the Arizona Talking Book Library. They asked if I would do the reading because patrons prefer listening to the author. We started last week, and so far, it has been a very positive experience. I sure was nervous!
The audio book will be available nationwide through the Talking Book program. I am especially pleased about this because while working on Soldier Sister I came to know the Piestewa family. Mr. Terry Piestewa is a Vietnam Veteran. His eyes were damaged during the war, and because of recurrent infections he has only one eye and can barely see light and shadows. He wanted to read Soldier Sister, Fly Home. Soon he will be able to listen to it.
How special that this book about families and deployment will be available to all, including veterans, who have diminished eyesight.
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Recently, I visited Utah schools to talk about Water Runs Through This Book and the live-giving water cycle. A favorite moment: I was talking about why we need glaciers and ice caps at the poles and I asked the second graders “What is important about the Arctic, the North Pole?”
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Veterans Day. Everyone has a part, helping or riding. Families prepare all week. Veterans groom their horses so even the hooves shine. Soldiers from any war or conflict—both women and men—clean and polish tack, get uniforms out, and prepare to ride.
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“I believe that although cultures differ, the human heart does not.” I hope you’ll enjoy this interview with my editor, Yolanda Scott, published by CBC Diversity. Thank you, Yolanda, for the…
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I agree with Tim Tingle that even if one does not “know” another culture, sharing one’s perspective is important and valid. The most important research is the experience of participating. Someone once said you don’t begin to know a culture until you hold their babies. I agree.
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