CLA / NCTE: Notable Children’s Books in Language Arts

WALKING ON EARTH AND TOUCHING THE SKY  is part of a bouquet of beautiful books selected each year by CLA / NCTE:  Notable Children’s Books in the Language Arts.

One of my favorites of the several poetry titles is: 

WALKING ON EARTH AND TOUCHING THE SKY

Poetry and Prose by Lakota Youth at Red Cloud Indian School

Edited by Timothy P. McLaughlin 

Paintings by S.D. Nelson with a foreword by Joseph M. Marshall III

Here is the beginning of one student’s poem  —

Seven Ways of Looking at Eagles    by Tonia Scabby Face

 One way is how he soars high above the clouds.

The second way is when the eagle sits on a tree branch

Looking over the countryside.

The third way is when he grabs his prey on the prairie.

The fourth way is when his protective eyes are keeping you safe at all times.

The fifth way is when the eagle lets us borrow his feathers….

Each year thirty books are selected by a committee of seven as the titles that the best, engaging, appealing, enduring and offer interesting, unusual or simply fun language to young readers.  Books selected represent quite a variety including nonfiction, poetry and fiction written from the very young or the nearly-adult readers.  A complete annotated list can be found at http://www.childrensliteratureassembly.org/notables.html

Here is the entire eagle poem written by Tonia Scabby Face. 

Let your thoughts soar with her words.

 One way is how he soars high above the clouds.

The second way is when the eagle sits on a tree branch

Looking over the countryside.

The third way is when he grabs his prey on the prairie.

The fourth way is when his protective eyes are keeping you safe at all times.

The fifth way is when the eagle lets us borrow his feathers.

The sixth way is when he talks to the rest of the sacred animals

So they can also keep you protected.

The seventh way is how the eagle sits waiting for your own flight to the sky.