Posts Tagged ‘Nancy Bo Flood’
Dancing During Covid-19, Part 1
How do dancers dance in isolation? Or perform? What about new choreography? I interviewed several dancers from Young Dance, a Minnesota-based dance company, a unique dance company. Dancers audition. Dancers…
Read MoreUpcoming Webinar
This weekend, I’ll be presenting at the RM-SCBWI Fall Conference September 12 & 13 https://bit.ly/3bgEkKq I invite you to join us for my virtual pre-recorded workshop session from 11 am…
Read MoreCelebrating I Will Dance
I Will Dance celebrates the joy of dancing, the importance of belonging, and the determination of Eva, a child who could barely move but dreamed of dancing … not imagine, not pretend, and not alone.
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Banned Books, Banned Topics:
Prayer, still forbidden in children’s literature
Times have greatly changed the rules for writing in children’s literature. Sex is okay but periods … maybe. Swearing, exploring gender identity, exploring sexuality – go right ahead. But spirituality? Tip-toe with caution.
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Many Ways We Tell Our Stories:
Giant Puppets, Giants Stories, Dangerous Ideas
We stump across the stage or parade down your street.
Hear us ROAR our terrible words.
Listen. Laugh. Perhaps shiver.
Many Ways We Tell Our Stories: Street Art
Some stories are too big to put on paper or canvas. This week, we take a look at street art, art that involves the community.
Read MoreMany Ways We Tell Our Stories: American Sign Language
I am deaf. I cannot hear anything, not even my own voice. But every day I share my stories—what I am thinking, what I have learned, what worries me. I listen to others with my eyes; I speak with my hands, my whole face, my body language, too. American Sign Language is like speaking a silent song. Watch.
Read MoreMany Ways We Tell Our Stories: Tattoos
We tell our stories – we tell on ourselves – by the symbols we wear on our skin. Who are you? Tattoo is how I tell you. Look at my…
Read MoreMany Ways We Tell Our Stories: Mime
Mime, speak without words! You will never hear my voice. You will never forget the stories I tell. Watch! The mime moves soundlessly across the stage, his back to us. He turns around. His face is white. His eyebrows are outlined black. His smiling lips are bright red. We watch as he climbs stairs where There are no stairs Opens a window Peeks in Surprise!
Read MoreMany Ways We Tell Our Stories: Dance
Dance speaks to everyone. Dance is spoken in many ways, in many places. Its language is universal. We tell our stories on ballerina tiptoes … with the stomping of leather boots or the leaping and collapsing of modern movements and shapes. We tell our stories. Dance shouts when voices are silenced. Dance unites generations. Dance celebrates the sacred moments of life without words or speeches. Sometimes in solemn procession, sometimes in wild jubilation.
Read MoreMany Ways We Tell Our Stories: Carving
People everywhere love to eat. And there is something else we love and seek, another kind of nourishment. We love a good story. Everywhere and throughout the ages, people have created ways to tell their stories. This is the first in a series of posts that will describe the many ways of sharing story—through dance, song, poetry, tattoos. To begin—for thousands of years and to this very day, one way we tell stories is by carving them in wood, etching them in stone, or painting them on walls.
Read MoreHappy Mother’s Day!
For your Mother’s Day celebrations this coming weekend, consider a gift of First Laugh, Welcome Baby!. Think of the discussions you might have with your friends and family about baby-welcoming traditions the world over (presented in the back matter of our book), but especially the Navajo tradition that focuses on laughter, kindness, and sharing. Karl Barth said, “Laughter is the closest thing to the grace of God.” For the Navajo, laughter is prayer and healing. When a baby first laughs, the child is then fully human.
Read MoreWater
What if you had to walk a mile for that glass of cold wonderful water…and when you finally got it, the water was warm, muddy, and with weird things floating in it? Yuck! Over a billion people on our earth spend most of their day walking for water. Some, especially girls, may spend their entire life walking for water.
Read MorePoetry Rodeo and Round-Up 2018
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.
Read MoreILA-Notable Books for a Global Society
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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