Prepare Yourselves, Because April 24th is Pigs in a Blanket Day! And That Can Only Mean One Thing...

...storytime may be a bit more exciting than usual this evening...

Johnny Appleseed Day Will Be Here Soon...Or Not So Soon

Rejoice, apple aficionados, for Johnny Appleseed Day approacheth soon...or maybe not for a while yet. See, some list this holiday's date as September 26th, on account of that's the birthdate, circa 1774, of one John Chapman, AKA Johnny Appleseed.

But, there are others who insist that Johnny Appleseed Day is instead celebrated on March 11th, on account of that's the date of his exit from this world. However, since his death date was never formally recorded, there is some dispute as to its accuracy, as some place his death date at March 18. Sources do agree, though, on his death year: 1845.

I say we celebrate Johnny Appleseed Day here at Bugs and Bunnies on March 11, for two reasons. One: it gives me something to write about this week. And two: the apples Johnny is said to have planted in his travels all those years ago were of the tart green variety (known as Rambo, for the inquisitive among us).

So, green apples; along with March being the month where Spring comes into its own, and all the plant shoots are coming up a lovely young green; along with March being the month of St. Patrick's Day, which is known for lots and lots of green with its shamrocks and wee folk and connection with Ireland and all...well, isn't the March date kind of a no-brainer?

It is for me, so let's begin:

Most folks know the general story of Johnny Appleseed, so how about we talk about some of the lesser-known stuff? (If you are not all that familiar with Mr. John Chapman, who literally became a legend in his own time, then clicking on any of the sources listed at the end of this article will catch you up nicely.)

Here are some interesting Johnny Appleseed tidbits I came across in my research:

• From the time he set out on his apple-tree-planting journey, John Chapman, who was by 1806 known as "Johnny Appleseed," remained a wanderer the rest of his life. 
• Johnny first got his apple seeds from cider mills as he passed through eastern Pennsylvania. The mills gave away the seeds for free, as they were considered leftovers from the apple crushing process. 
• Johnny was a vegetarian, favored sleeping outdoors, and avoided towns and settlements. He wore a sackcloth or coffee sack, with cut-out holes for head, arms, and legs. He never wore shoes. Some accounts say he used a tin pot for a hat, but others say he carried the usual woodsman's tools of the time: rifle, tomahawk, knife, and the like. He had dark hair that came to his shoulders, and bright blue eyes, and a wiry frame.
• In addition to apple trees, he planted medicinal plants, and traded them with the Native Americans he met in his travels.
• Despite Johnny's unorthodox-for-a-settler ways - he was described in most accounts of the time as "eccentric" - he was welcomed into homes wherever he went, and people were pleased to see him.
•  He planted over 100,000 square miles of apple nurseries, some of which are well-documented and still exist. 

And here are some interesting tidbits about the apples themselves, or rather, their image at one time and subsequent rebranding. According to The Straight Dope:

• In the 1700's and 1800's, most apples were grown in order to make hard cider. The process of making the cider resulted in a drink roughly half the strength of wine, but it could be made stronger with a few tweaks.
• Then in the early 1900's came the Women's Christian Temperance Union and the Prohibition movement, and the growing influence of each caused apple growers to fear a dip in sales. So, they changed promotional tactics.
• Using the late 1800's adage, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away" as their new ad slogan, apple growers successfully changed public perception of the apple from alcoholic drink ingredient to healthy and wholesome food choice.

* * *

 

Whether you celebrate Johnny Appleseed Day on March 11th, or whether you wait until September 26th, make sure you go easy on the cider, or you may end up like the little guy below (though he seems not to realize he's only partaking of the non-alcoholic version):

 


Sources:
Websites:
Johnny Appleseed Day - Gone-Ta-Pott.com (site no longer available - but it was a fun resource while it was up!)
Johnny Appleseed - Apple Appetite.com (site no longer available - but it was a fun resource while it was up!)
Johnny Appleseed - Cleveland.about.com (site no longer available - but it was a fun resource while it was up!)
What's the Story with Johnny Appleseed - The Straight Dope.com

Children's Book:
The Real Johnny Appleseed, by Laurie Lawlor; wood engravings by Mary Thompson. Published by Albert Whitman and Company, 1995. Ages 9 and up.
ISBN: 0-8075-6909-7 

Who Shall I Be Day is February 17th

Every once in a while, Handsome Boy and Lovely Girl ask me some variation of "Who Shall I Be?" as they make their way in this world. 

They wonder: Who will I be when I grow up? 
They wonder: Who am I now? 
They wonder: Should I try to be like everyone else? 
They wonder: If I am different, is there something wrong with me? 

Each time they ask, they speak in different ways. 
Each time they ask, they use different words.
Each time they ask, they are feeling many different emotions. 

Yet no matter how they choose to ask it, the core question remains: 

Who shall I be? 

And when they come to me, the very first words that come to my heart are the words of someone else. They are simple, those words. But they are powerful. And they have stuck with me from the very first time I read them, many years ago. 

So when my kiddos come to me and ask some variation of:

Who shall I be? 

I always start with:

Be who you are...

First Foray into Digidrawing

I'm teaching myself how to use the digital drawing tablet Santa left under my tree this year. Two days and a fair amount of hair-pulling-out later, along with a maddening program crash that cost me three-fourths of a near-finished design and forced a do-over, here's what I have to show for it (besides a new-found, life-saving, and near-constant habit of hitting command+s):

Book Review: Fish, by Gregory Mone

     Uncle Gerry glared, one hand still holding the top of the purse. "This is important."
     "Yes, of course."
     "No," Uncle Gerry said, pausing. "This is very important."
     "I understand," Fish said.
     "You will deliver this to the Mary, a passenger ship docked in the harbor, bound for America. You will deliver it, specifically, to a certain Reginald Swift, who will be sailing on that ship."
     "Yes."
     "He is an uncommonly small man with uncommonly large eyeglasses. Aged about thirty years, a good few less than your father and myself. He is expecting you."  

Summary: Maurice "Fish" Reidy is eleven years old when Shamrock dies. Without their horse, the family can't afford to feed itself, let alone farm their land. Someone has to go into the city to work and send money home. Since Fish is the worst at farming, it's agreed he should be the one to go.

His father arranges for Fish to work for his uncle as a courier. When Fish is entrusted with a mysterious package of coins, he's robbed before he can make the delivery. He tracks down the thief amongst a bunch of pirates, aboard their ship, the Scurvy Mistress. Determined to get that package back and to its rightful recipient, Fish sneaks aboard and joins the pirate crew. He soon learns the coins are more than what they seem, and some of the crew are not as loyal as they'd have their captain believe.

As the Scurvy Mistress sets sail, Fish finds himself on an adventure he never saw coming, with friends he never imagined making. It's a journey that promises to change his life - and that of his family - forever.

For Teachers and Librarians:
Fish has all the action and excitement your reluctant readers are drawn to. It has all the complex twists and turns your stronger readers crave. And? It has pirates. And treasure. And mystery. And did I mention pirates?

So beyond being a great story your students will not be able to put down, how can you use this book in your classrooms? Under the umbrella of a full Pirate Unit, there is a treasure chest full of activities and mini-units you can choose from. Create an activity to compare and contrast the life of a farmer with the life of a pirate, or a sailor, or both. That will nicely set up a research activity on the life of a pirate: superstitions of pirates, swimming abilities (or not), ship's politics, the running of a pirate ship (jobs aboard ship, procedures followed), pirate's code, pirate-speak, etc. Present a mini-unit on types of ships used by pirates, and their pursuers: sloop, galleon, caravel, frigate, man-o-war, merchant, schooner, brigantine.

Sneak in some more history by having your students research real pirates from history. Let them work in groups and creatively present their findings. Your kids will have great fun with a mapping mini-unit: land maps, treasure maps, sea maps. (You can probably sneak in a literary map, or a character map here, too.) How about a code activity: creating them, then seeing if their classmates can crack them? And just for fun, try a pirate name activity. Have your kids create a chart of the pirate characters from the book, and why they have those names. Then let them create their own pirate names, with explanations, to use for an entire Pirate Day in the classroom.

This is by no means the bottom of that treasure chest. What gems can you come up with?

For Parents, Grandparents and Caregivers:
Fish is a book your kiddos will love to read. And so will you. It has pirates! It has treasure! It has action! It has intrigue! Scurvy pirates with odd names and even odder reasons for those names! It is an adventure from start to finish, and along the way, your kids will learn a little bit about ships, and pirate life, and family, and friendship, and loyalty, and being true to yourself. Read it aloud together, or each of you read it on your own, or a little of both. You'll be glad you did.

For the Kids:
Fish is a book about a boy from a farming family. Though Fish is no good with dirt, it turns out he's pretty good with water. When the family horse dies, Fish is sent to the city to earn money to send home. He becomes a courier, delivering important packages for his Uncle Gerry. One day, he's given a package of mysterious coins to deliver, but they're stolen from him. Fish tracks the thief to a pirate ship. That package must get to the right recipient, so Fish does the only thing he can think of to get it back - he sneaks aboard and joins the pirate crew. But how can a boy who, as author Gregory Mone says, "loves to swim and hates to fight," survive on a pirate ship?  

For Everyone Else:
Fish is fast-paced and action-packed. It has humor, and fact, and a great story. Plus? It has pirates. What more could you ask for?

Wrapping Up:
Fish is not your average pirate tale. Find. Read. Enjoy.

Title: Fish
Author: Gregory Mone
Cover Artist: Jake Parker
Pages: 246
Reading Level: 8 and up
Publisher and Date: Scholastic, Inc., January 2011
Edition: First Scholastic paperback printing
Language: English
Published In: United States
Price: $4.99
ISBN: 978-0-545-33335-1

Author Spotlight: Gregory Mone

Before he started writing for kids, Gregory Mone wrote for adults. And before that, he worked as a paralegal in Ireland. And before that, he did a bit of banking work. And before all of that, he was history major at Harvard University, graduating in 1998.

Now, Gregory Mone is a novelist for both kids and adults, a magazine writer, a science journalist, and a speaker. He has written two novels for adults, as well as many magazine articles on a wide variety of topics, including: artificial intelligence, robots, physics, biology, Irish mythology, and cartoons.

His first novel for kids, Fish, was published by Scholastic Press in 2010. His second, Dangerous Waters: An Adventure on the Titanic, is scheduled for release in March, 2012, from Roaring Brook.

Born on Long Island, New York, into "an Irish-American family of swimmers and storytellers," Gregory Mone now lives in Massachusetts with his wife, two daughters, and one son.

Sources:
Gregory Mone blog: About page
Fish: About the Author - Official site for the book, Fish, by Gregory Mone
In Print: Fish by Greg Mone is a great catch, by CK Wolfson

National Grouch Day is October 15th

• Ebenezer Scrooge (from A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens).

• Carl Fredrickson (from the Disney-Pixar movie UP).

• Grumpy (from the fairy tale Snow White and the Seven Dwarves).

• Miss Gulch (from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum). 

• Yosemite Sam (from Warner Brothers cartoons).

• Statler and Waldorf (from the Muppets).

• The Grinch (from The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, by Dr. Seuss).

What do all of these family-friendly, fictional folks have in common?

Why, they're grouches, of course. You know: churls, cranks, crosspatches, grumps, soreheads, sourpusses, crabs. And let's not forget my personal favorite: 

Curmudgeons.

If you have more than a little bit in common with these literary and cinematic grouches, then today is your day. Celebrate your grouchiness...or not. (After all, jollification in any form is in direct conflict with the typical Grouchy Nature). And if you're more of a Ray o' Sunshine kind of peep, today is the perfect day to try on some cranky pants for size. 

Either way, you've got to start National Grouch Day off somehow. And who better to start you off, than that grouch of all grouches: Oscar the Grouch?