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Black Stars in a White Night Sky by JonArno Lawson art by Sherwin Tijia

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"An adventure begins,

when the one who was grimacing

suddenly grins.


An adventure begins,

when the one who was losing

suddenly wins."


This is the first two stanzas of the poem "An Adventure Begins" in Black Stars in a White Night Sky by JonArno Lawson. I think it is my favorite, I'm still deciding. Black Stars is a thoroughly delightful collection of poems that both children and adults can enjoy. Lawson gives us a nice mix and variety with poetry ranging from the deep, thought provoking "Are You Worried?" to the silly, tongue twisting "The Maple Leaves That Mabel Leaves". This book is full of fun read-alouds, all with wonderful rhymes that play with the English language. And as we all know, that's just the thing for phonemic awareness development. (What's that? you ask. Call the children's dept. and ask about the Emergent Literacy class!)

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