Linny and Nancy discuss their Thanksgivings and Linny is surprised to learn that pumpkin pie is also loved in Nebraska! It’s December and that means Linny and Nancy are reviewing a children’s book! It is Marshmallow Clouds by Ted Kooser and Connie Wanek, illustrated by Richard Jones. The book has 30 poems loosely framed by four elements: Fire, Water, Air, and Earth. Ted Kooser’s poems have been collected in a number of full-length volumes and special editions and have appeared in many literary periodicals. A number of his poems appear in textbooks and anthologies currently in use in secondary school and college classrooms. He served as the United States Poet Laureate for an unusual two-year appointment, won a Pulitzer Prize in Poetry, and for fifteen years edited a weekly newspaper column, “American Life in Poetry,” which continues to be carried in a number of newspapers and is available online at www.americanlifeinpoetry.org. The column has an estimated circulation of over four and a half million readers around the world. He is the Presidential Professor Emeritus at The University of Nebraska, where he taught the writing of poetry. Connie Wanek has four books of poetry and a collection of stories, Summer Cars (2014). Her honors include the Willow Poetry Prize, the Jane Kenyon Poetry Prize, and a Witter Bynner Fellowship at the Library of Congress. The illustrator, Richard Jones. He is a Brit who is known for beautifully layered textures with a gentle, muted palette and memorable characters. Nancy asks Linny whether she reads much poetry and is surprised to hear that Linny took a poetry/creative writing class in high school where she not only read poetry but also wrote poetry. Linny has not read or written much poetry since then even though she really enjoyed the creativity of expressing herself and creating a poem out of nothing. Nancy said she also has not read much poetry and feels it is a failing on her part. She has read Ted Kooser’s newspaper column and occasionally will read poems in the New Yorker, but that’s about it. Nancy enjoyed that Marshmallow Clouds categorized the poems into the classical four elements: Fire, Water, Air, and Earth. A review of Marshmallow Clouds says it is, “A brilliant and timeless collaboration that evokes both the mystery and grandeur of the natural world and the cozy, mundane moments of daily life.” Linny liked this description of the book. She liked how the book really does explore more mundane elements of life and therefore is very recognizable to children. Nancy liked the emphasis on the natural world and thinks that is helpful for children who don’t experience the outdoors as much. Linda and Nancy discussed that the authorship of the poems wasn’t attributed. Linny thought the poems flowed really well together. Both Linny and Nancy loved the illustrations. Linny thought they were whimsical. Nancy liked the illustration kitties that look like her kitty! Linny loved the boy on the cover, laying on a blanket, looking at the clouds and seeing shapes in them. Nancy liked that the first poem, A Disappointment, was not categorized under the four elements. She felt it was like a preface or first chapter that introduces the book that encourages readers to not have their imagination and feelings of wonder squashed by people who only see things as they are. Linny hasn’t noticed that the poem stood outside the categories, but also liked the way the poem set the tone for the book. Nancy was astounded to learn that Linny’s favorite section, like her’s, was the Fire section. Nancy and Linny read some of their favorite poems. Nancy’s favorite poem was probably Meteor Shower. She loves the imagery in the poem – meteors as scratches in the sky made by a cat. Linny liked the poem, too, along with the kitty in this illustration. Linny’s favorite poem was July because it captured her love of hot weather – the heat and the sounds and sights. Nancy loved Thunderstorm, too, because it captures so well the feeling of a nighttime thunderstorm. Linny also loved that poem. Linny and Nancy loved The Fireplace poem, too, and the illustration. Linny and Nancy also loved The Harpist, in the Air section. Nancy likes how the Afterword included individual notes from the authors that reinforce the importance of imagination, and also the two additional poems. Linny and Nancy discuss how the book may be used to spur kids to write their own poetry. Linny thinks it would be a good companion for a school section on creative writing and that the students could recite their own poems and perhaps could be collected in a book. Nancy wonders whether parents could use the poems to encourage kids to write after they’ve experienced something like a rumbling engine. Linny and Nancy think parents and pre-school and older children will enjoy this book. This is the final episode of 2023. Our next episode will look back on 2023 and look forward to 2024.