Mortimer reads at first like a comic domestic sketch: it’s bedtime, Mortimer refuses, Mortimer makes a racket, and every adult who enters the scene fails to quiet him. But beneath that simple spine of plot sits the set of a small stage where Munsch — working in his characteristic oral-storytelling register — orchestrates an escalating … Continue reading The Adaptable Educator’s Book Review – Mortimer by Robert Munsch
Revisionist Poetry – My Relationship with a Cookie, v.2
Study the chocolate-chip cookie — a thin, hard planet of sugar. On its skin, chips glint like constellations; beneath, a warmer gravity. I could bite deep and erase the softened center, or nibble forever and never hear the single true note it keeps for itself. So I wrap a corner in foil, ladle fragments into … Continue reading Revisionist Poetry – My Relationship with a Cookie, v.2
The Adaptable Educator’s Book Review – Mud Puddle by Robert Munsch
Robert Munsch’s Mud Puddle reads like a tiny masterpiece of oral storytelling compressed into thirty-two pages: brisk, comic, cumulative, and animated by a single, delightfully absurd conceit — a mud puddle that repeatedly “jumps on” a child and gets her “completely all over muddy.” The story began as a tale told in a nursery school … Continue reading The Adaptable Educator’s Book Review – Mud Puddle by Robert Munsch
Revisionist Poetry – The Apple Tree, v.5
Schooltime in early autumn;the playground is full but hollow,the out-of-bounds field calls, more tempting. The field bristles with burrs and the hush of dying grass,yet the apple tree insists, irresistible and small. We climb to be kings on the age-old tree,claiming crowns from the highest, wind-scarred branches. Power is kept in an arsenal of apples—tokens … Continue reading Revisionist Poetry – The Apple Tree, v.5
The Adaptable Educator’s Book Review – Thomas’ Snowsuit by Robert Munsch
Thomas' Snowsuit by Robert Munsch turns a domestic, wintertime battle into an energetic miniature drama: a small boy resists the ritual of being bundled for cold weather, and the adult attempt at care escalates into a comic standoff. The narrative depends on repetition, mounting absurdity, and a tight point of view that keeps the reader … Continue reading The Adaptable Educator’s Book Review – Thomas’ Snowsuit by Robert Munsch
Revisionist Poetry – The Apple Tree, v.4
Schooltime in early autumnthe playground is full butthe out-of-bounds field calls, more tempting. The field bristles with burrs,yet the apple tree remains irresistible We race to be kings on the age-old treeclaiming crowns from the highest branches Power is kept in an arsenal of applesall glossy, ripe, but oddly inedible. Old ogres and crones patrol … Continue reading Revisionist Poetry – The Apple Tree, v.4
The Adaptable Educator’s Book Review – The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch
At first glance The Paper Bag Princess is the kind of picture book one might read in five minutes and, in good conscience, tuck back on a shelf. Read closely, however, it behaves more like a miniature manifesto: a tight, witty demolition of fairy-tale expectations that nevertheless leaves room to teach — not by sermonizing, … Continue reading The Adaptable Educator’s Book Review – The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch
Revisionist Poetry – The Apple Tree, v.3
Early autumn—school bell, a playground clotted with jackets.The out-of-bounds field bristles with burrs; yet the low apple tree wins us.Its limbs hang like small promises. We climb to become kings, to make crowns of high, wind-thin branches,counting power not in coins but in apples—bright, lacquered tokens—ripe only in the dreaming tongue; never for the mouth. … Continue reading Revisionist Poetry – The Apple Tree, v.3
The Adaptable Educator’s Book Review – Potter’s Studio Handbook by Kristin Müller
Kristin Müller’s Potter’s Studio Handbook is the sort of practical-intellectual hybrid that appears, at first glance, to belong strictly to the bench: measured lists, sequences of photographs, and angled hands shaping clay. Read closely, however, it reveals itself as a small pedagogical manifesto — a sustained argument about how technique, habit, and deliberate constraints generate … Continue reading The Adaptable Educator’s Book Review – Potter’s Studio Handbook by Kristin Müller
Revisionist Poetry – The Apple Tree, v.2
Schooltime in early autumn—the playground full, but the out-of-bounds field calls.Bristling with burrs, it calls; still, the apple tree wins. We race to be kings in the age-old tree,claiming the highest, trembling boughs.Power is counted in an arsenal of apples—ripe in look, not in bite. Ogres and crones pace the margins; some flee.The boldest stay: … Continue reading Revisionist Poetry – The Apple Tree, v.2
The New Renaissance Mindset 