Story is a powerful way to build compassion and bridge understanding between cultures. Story has the power to heal as well as teach.

Beyond Boundaries · Essays and tidbits from Nancy Bo Flood

A Poem for Mothers

May 3, 2022

Sharing a poem by Julia Kasdorf

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Jane Yolen

Jane Yolen

April 30, 2022

Can you tell us how your recent book When Nana Dances came to be? My co-author on this book, Maddison Stemple-Piatt, is my granddaughter. She was ten years old, in ballet…

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We Belong

We Belong, a Book Recommendation

April 26, 2022

In We Belong, with bright digital illustrations and a bouncy, engaging rhythm, Laura Purdie Salas introduces the reader to the many ways we are different as well as the many ways we all belong.

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Nikki Grimes

Nikki Grimes

April 23, 2022

When I asked Nikki to take part in my National Poetry Month celebration, I knew the possibilities of books to discuss were many. Nikki writes in poetry and sometimes prose, from picture books to middle grade novels to young adult books.

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Eagle flying

Sensory Images and Metaphor

April 21, 2022

Working with students in their classroom, after talking about creating sensory images and the use of metaphor, I read one of my favorite poems, “Seven Ways of Looking at Eagles,” written by Tonia Scabby Face, Lakota, a middle-school student at Red Cloud Indian School.

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Good Luck Gold & more

Wong and Vardell on Poetry

April 19, 2022

Today, in celebration of National Poetry Month, I’d like to share this video from Janet Wong and Sylvia Vardell, talking about the book Good Luck Gold & more by Janet and sharing a poem from Jen Bryant, “Laugh,” in Pomelo Books’ Things We Do.

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April Halprin Wayland

April Halprin Wayland

April 16, 2022

My friend, poet and teacher April Halprin Wayland, shares one of her poems with us, “Exercising My Voice.”

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Joy Harjo

Joy Harjo

April 14, 2022

A poem by Joy Harjo, poet, activist, educator, 23rd Poet Laureate of the United States, Mvskoke [Creek] Nation

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