Author: Loree Burns

Posted on

Honeybee

HONEYBEE
By Naomi Shihab Nye
Greenwillow Books, 2008

Category: Poetry

How could I not pick up this book? A little honeybee buzz, a little reviewer buzz (Richie Partington’s review), a little cover buzz (a la Chris Raschka); not even my fear of poetry could keep me from reading HONEYBEE.

I was surprised to find in it a collection of poems and paragraphs that are as much about the curious way we humans live as they are about honeybees:

There is a poem about unacceptable contradictions, as in

“George W. Bush believes
In a ‘culture of life’.

This is very interesting to those
Who have recently died
Because of his decisions.”

And there is a poem about the joy and guilt that is motherhood, as in

“Take your laundry baskets, your first-aid kit,
But don’t take my failings, okay? Forget the times
I snapped, or had no patience, okay?”

The piece I can’t shake is the one called “We Are The People”.

“I know people who, the minute they get into their homes, tell you where they are going next.”

Nye goes on to tell of the evening she decided to slow down, take in a sunset from her front porch. A neighbor, out walking the dog, stopped to ask if she was locked out of the house.

“So ask yourself, you swirling tornado of a human being, in a world of disoriented honeybees, do you want to look locked out the minute you sit down?”

No. I most definitely do not.

 

Posted on

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Revisited

Back in January I read and raved about GOOD MASTERS! SWEET LADIES! At the time I longed to hear the monologues and dialogues read by live actors, and yesterday—lucky me!—I did. Recorded Books has released an unabridged performance by Christina Moore and a full cast …and it is stupendous.

In other news … summer begins at 11:25am. Hooray!

(For those who might be wondering, the book is not exactly done. But it is in good shape. Hooray!)

 

Posted on

Girls and Books

School lets out tomorrow, and I have a half a book to write before that final bell. But I had to take a moment to share this:

Cute, eh?

Three nifty six-year-olds, three great books, and three literary mamas (me, Kate Messner, and Linda Urban. Make that four great books; not pictured is Tanya Lee Stone‘s new picture book biography, ELIZABETH LEADS THE WAY, which inspired the entire gathering. Read more at Kate’s blog.

Hooray for girls and books!

 

Posted on

Sippican School

Yesterday I closed out the 2007-2008 school year with a visit to Marion, Massachusetts. It was rainy and dreary outside, but inside the Sippican School I spent a bright and busy day speaking with fourth, fifth and sixth graders about reading, writing, and TRACKING TRASH.

I was impressed with the inquisitive Sippican students and their obvious passion for the environment. Every grade had questions for me, some of them very tough to answer. A few students moved beyond outrage at plastic pollution in the ocean and began brainstorming—right there in the classroom—solutions to these problems. And their ideas, with research and refinement, could someday make a difference.

The Sippican fifth graders were particularly excited to share with me their recent project: an initiative to promote the use of re-useable canvas bags over disposable plastic ones. I saw for myself the results of their research (visual displays of the information gleaned from a community-wide survey on plastic, paper, and canvas bag usage) and the fruits of their labor (students set up a plastic bag recycling station which has been filling regularly).

You can read more about Marion’s efforts to go plastic bag-free in this Southcoast News article. And you can follow their progress on the MySpace page of parent coordinator, Terri Lerman. Of course, if you happen to live near Marion, you can attend tonight’s Band Blast event and pick up some re-useable canvas bags of your own.

Thank you, Sippican students, teachers, and parents. It was a pleasure to be part of your community for a day … and I wish you the very best of luck with your Plastic Bag Free Marion initiative!

 

Posted on

Quiet About Clementine

Oh, I’ve been a bad blogger lately. But I am really, really, really trying to finish up a draft of the bee book before school lets out. And school lets out NEXT WEEK.

The kids and I just finished CLEMENTINE’S LETTER (Hyperion, 2008), written by Sara Pennypacker and illustrated by Marla Frazee, and I want to sing its praises. Alas, the bees, man. The bees.

So, for a proper review, read this one at Jen Robinson’s Book Page. Jen rocks. And she never lets her blog go all quiet.

 

Posted on

Discipline Must Be Maintained

I have been working hard to complete a solid first draft of the bee book before the kids get out of school on June 12. I had high hopes for this goal. Until …

other deadlines crept up on me (my website update is due any day now);

and baseball season dipped into overdrive (three kids, two fields, five games, seven days);

and my Interlibrary Loan books arrived (I have been waiting for my turn with THIRTEEN REASONS WHY forever);

and the stomach bug paid a visit (two of my three kids, my sister, and my babysitter have all been knocked out with bad stomachs and/or stuffy heads).

I have not thrown in the towel, but I’ve been wringing it nervously in my hands and wondering how a girl is supposed to be devoted to a goal under such conditions.

And then I read today’s report from Roz Savage, who is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, headed to Hawaii in a rowboat. Alone. And the dear girl set me straight. Throw in the towel? I bet Roz doesn’t even own a towel! Her motto, she says, is “Discipline must be maintained.” What does discipline mean when you are rowing from California to Hawaii?

“I’ve fallen naturally back into the routine I used on the Atlantic, of 3 hours on, 1 hour off for logbook update and a meal. Repeat 5 times a day.”

Good Lord.

::slinking back to my keyboard, folding towel neatly into desk drawer, and getting to work::

 

Posted on

On Oceans

Some people do their part for the ocean by consuming less plastic. Others collect and count trash at the beach. A few brave and amazing people take to the ocean itself in hopes of inspiring others to the cause of ocean protection.

Roz Savage, for example, has rowed across the Atlantic Ocean. What she saw during that journey inspired her to make humankind more aware of our oceans and their plight. And so, three days ago, Roz set off from the Golden Gate Bridge toward Hawaii on the first leg of her three-part, three-year row across the Pacific. Alone. She blogs from sea, and if you are all interested in the status of our oceans, or in the depth of human courage and endurance, you’ll want to follow her journey.

Dr. Marcus Eriksen embarks June 1st on a similar voyage. Marcus is not rowing to Hawaii, though. He’s sailing. On a boat made out of fifteen thousand plastic bottles. Why? In his words, “Because there’s just too much plastic clogging the oceans. The world needs to realize this.” Marcus is a colleague of Captain Charlie Moore’s at the Algalita Marine Research Foundation, and I had the pleasure of meeting him while researching TRACKING TRASH. To learn more about his mission, and to follow his journey, check out his blog.


Me and Dr. Eriksen aboard the Alguita, circa 2005

Following these two mighty conservationists as they travel the seas would be a great way to celebrate World Ocean Day, which is June 8. You could also spread the word about their efforts, visit and appreciate an ocean near you, register for the International Coastal Cleanup, or eat ocean-friendly seafood. Hey, you might even buy someone you love a copy of TRACKING TRASH.

For more ideas to celebrate the ocean, check out this World Ocean Day website.

 

Posted on

Busy Writing

Will blog soon.

Busy writing.

And photographing Hosmer. Hosmer is a Gray Tree Frog found this morning while waiting for the school bus. Isn’t he cute?

Back to work…

 

Posted on

Super Sweet Research

Without honey bees to pollinate strawberry, raspberry, almond and other crops, the folks at Häagen-Dazs would be unable to make forty percent of their sixty ice cream flavors. Worrisome, to say the least. And so the company has launched its newest flavor, Vanilla Honey Bee, to celebrate the mighty honey bee and also to educate the public about honey bee health issues.

Being a meticulous researcher, I had to check it out.

Here’s the scoop: it is good. Really, really good. According to the (very astute) Burns children, “It tastes like honey.”

Häagen-Dazs is using funds from the sale of Vanilla Honey Bee to fund research programs at the University of California, Davis and the Pennsylvania State University. They’ve also created a kid-friendly website to educate the public about honey bees and their importance to our food supply.

See? Sometimes my work is painful (stinging myself with a honey bee, for example), and other times it is oh-so-super sweet.

 

Posted on

The Secret Life of Bees

THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES
By Sue Monk Kidd
Penguin, 2002

Catgeory: Adult Novel

I might be the last person on Earth to read this book. And I didn’t even read it, I listened to it on CD. But it is so very good that I have to sing its praises here. Better late than never, you know?

First, a word on audiobooks. Listening to the marvelous Jenna Lamia read THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES has won me over completely. While I will always prefer curling ‘round a book and experiencing it wholly, I discovered that listening has its own appeal. I was amazed at Ms. Lamia’s ability to inhabit characters by voice alone, and at how comforting it was to be read to.

As for story, I was swept away. Fourteen-year-old Lily Evans journeys so very far in this book. She overcomes grief and guilt, she lets go of ignorance, she embraces family in the strange form it finally comes to her. By the end of the story, I loved Lily Evans, and I hated to see her go. And then, just this morning, I learned I can look forward to seeing her again, this time on the silver screen. THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES movie will be released on October 17, 2008. Just look at this cast:

Lily is played by Dakota Fanning;
Rosaleen is played by Jennifer Hudson;
August is played by Queen Latifah;
June is played by Alicia Keys;
May is played by Sophie Okonedo.

I can hardly wait.

A final word … on bees, of course. (Duh!) I was struck by how subtly the author instilled her novel with ‘bee love’, the comfortable feeling–familiar to those with a passion for raising bees–that comes from being close enough to see and smell and hear and taste and touch the hive. It added so much to the story.