…Ramona thought vaguely of all the exciting things she would like to do—learn to twirl a lariat, play a musical saw, flip around and over bars in a gymnastic competition while crowds cheered.
    “Ramona, clean up your room!” Mrs. Quimby raised her voice.
                                            from: Ramona Quimby, Age 8
                                               written by Beverly Cleary
                                               illustrated by Alan Tiegreen
                                                               Morrow, 1981
        (newer reprint editions with various illustrators are in print.)

    The world of children’s literature lost a shining star last week. Beverly Cleary passed away Thursday, March 26, 2021, at age 104. 
    Her books were filled with what she called “the minutiae of life,” those details that make a work of fiction feel real and universal. She wrote stories of regular kids (and Ralph S. Mouse and Ribsy, a child-like mouse and a dog) for regular kids. 
    In a 2006 interview for her 90th birthday, Mrs. Cleary was asked how she wrote for children so well. She told an NPR interviewer, “I do have very clear memories of childhood. I find that many people don't, but I'm just very fortunate that I have that kind of memory.” 
    She was fortunate and so were her readers. 
    Cleary published Henry Huggins in 1950, two years before I was born. Ellen Tebbits came along in 1951, and Henry and Beezus in 1952. Ramona, Beezus’s little sister appeared in Beezus and Ramona in 1955. Her real name is Beatrice, but Ramona had a hard time pronouncing it correctly. 
    In between and until she was in her 90s, Beverly Cleary published about one book per year, over 40 different titles in her 50-year career. Her books have sold over 85 million copies. Most of her titles starred children in about third or fourth grade, but she published picture books and books for young adults, too. She wrote a short story collection and two memoirs. She was the definition of prolific.
    Although I might have grown up with Ramona and her crowd, I did not. I wasn’t much of a reader growing up, although I loved to spend time at the library. (I still do!) It took me a long time to read a whole book, and during the school year I mostly used my time for homework and playing outside. I found Beverly Cleary’s books when my girls read them and loved them.
    I have since become an avid reader.
    Sometimes I read to learn. I’ve been on a non-fiction binge the last few weeks.* Sometimes I want to experience someone else’s point of view or imagine what might have been. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (Viking, 2020) is a new favorite. 
    I read picture books for new ideas and to study the craft. I also read lots of Middle-Grade books, written for kids from about 8-12 years old. I study them, too, and read them because I like them. 
    Last week I began a 4-week on-line course with Tricia Springstubb called “Using Personal Experiences to Write for Children.” Writing from memory feels nostalgic. The trick is to capture the emotion without being sappy. Tricia’s an excellent teacher who is continuing her successful writing career with a new book coming out June 1, 2021, The Most Perfect Thing in the Universe. 
    Like Beverly Cleary, Tricia mines her childhood for ideas to include in her books. She’s teaching us to trust our memories and find our own good ideas. Of course that’s not all. Writing is a craft, but it’s also an art.
    Mrs. Cleary spoke of her art and craft. She said “Nothing in the whole world felt as good as being able to make something from a sudden idea.” I’m pretty sure not all her ideas were sudden, but she sure made the most of them.
    When she was asked, “What year do your books take place?” her answer was always, “In childhood.”
    She saw in children’s books “there are more and more grim problems, but I don’t know that I want to burden third- and fourth-graders with them.” Although she recognized that the world changed since Henry Huggins, and continues to change, she didn’t think children themselves have changed that much.
    Beverly Cleary’s stories about Ramona and her big sister Beezus ring true for me. My big sister knew everything. Her friends were cool. She wore all the right clothes. 
    Sometimes it was a pain being the little sister, though. I’m sure having one must have been a challenge, too! 
    Thank you, Beverly Cleary, for helping me remember what it was like to be a child. Thank you, Tricia Springstubb, for helping me use those memories for something good.
    In an interview with author Reyhan Harmanci, Judy Blume mused about Mrs. Cleary. “Beverly’s books have touched generations of readers and I can’t imagine kids growing up without them," she said. "What kind of world would that be?”
    Indeed. 
    While Mrs. Cleary is no longer with us here on Earth, her shining star lives on in her many delightful characters and in all the children (and adults) who read their stories.
    I found this quote from Beverly Cleary which has become my favorite. “I wanted to be a ballerina. I changed my mind.” 
                                    RIP
         Thank you for making our world a little better.
     

• Lightman, Alan. Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine. Pantheon Books, 2018.  
• May, Katherine. Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times. Riverhead Books, 2020.
• Colapinto, John. This is the Voice. Simon & Schuster, 2021.

               --stay curious! (and dig for a happy memory or two)

One light, one sun
One sun lighting everyone
One world turning
One world turning everyone
                                                 from One Light, One Sun
                                                          Written by Raffi
                                         Illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes
                                 Knopf Books for Young Readers, 1988
    Here’s the truth. Daylight Savings Time puts an extra hour of daylight at the end of the day.
    And here’s the whole truth. We pay for that hour of daylight with the loss of one hour. At 2:00 a.m. March 13, we all rolled the hands of our clocks around one full turn to make them say 3:00. a.m. March 14 was a 23-hour day. 
    Personally, I moved the hands of my clock at 9:30 p.m., before I called the day over.
    Don’t get me wrong. I like daylight as much as anyone. It’s just getting harder and harder every year to make the switch. We’ve just passed the one-week mark and I’m still adjusting. 
    I expected Wilson, the cat who lives with me, would wake me up at 5:30 instead of 4:30. I was wrong. He probably mis-counted the hours since his evening snack. 
    So, what happened to that hour? Does anyone really know? Does anybody even care?
    Well, the way I see it, that hour is in limbo until the first Sunday in November when we all move the clock hands counter-clock-wise and re-place that lost hour in a 25-hour day.
    Representative Vern Buchanan of Florida introduced The Sunshine Protection Act of 2021 (HB 69) on January 4. Fifteen co-sponcers from ten different states and both political parties signed on. The Act would make DST permanent, so we’d all stay sprung forward. No time changing in November. It’s in the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce now, either being discussed or waiting to be discussed.
    But introducing permanent DST is nothing new. 
    Benjamin Franklin sent a letter to the editor of the Journal of Paris in 1784 suggesting Parisians move their clocks back one hour in the dark days of winter while they slept to better enjoy the short daylight hours more fully. He proposed the money saved in buying candles would be enormous. Nothing came of his suggestion; most people think it was said in jest.
    Congress has been debating the idea since adopting the Standard Time Act of March 1918. It set summer DST from March 31, 1918, to October 27. The idea was unpopular, especially with farmers. More daylight at the end of the day meant more darkness in the early morning hours when they did their milking and other morning chores. 
    After WWI, Woodrow Wilson abolished the law, leaving the option to continue fooling around with Time up to individual localities.
    Franklin Roosevelt established year-round DST in 1942. He called it “War Time Hours.” It lasted until the last Sunday in September, 1945. 
    From then until 1966, it was up to the various states or cities to follow DST or not and establish their own start and end dates. As you can imagine, that led to a complicated patchwork of chronology. Imagine truckers, shippers, and railway engineers delivering goods across many states. Or the arrangements you’d need to make to phone friends and loved-ones who lived far away.
    In 1966, the transportation industry asked for federal legislation to sort out the mess and in 1967, the Uniform Time Act became the law of the land. Clocks would spring ahead one hour at 2:00 a.m. on the last Sunday in April and fall back one hour at 2:00 a.m. on the last Sunday in October. The Department of Transportation was charged with enforcing the law. 
    States were allowed to exempt themselves. Arizona and Hawaii do not observe DST. Neither do the US territories of American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, or the US Virgin Islands.
    Turns out DST is more than an inconvenience. I checked with some experts.  
    According toThe Sleep Foundation, even though the effects of DST subside gradually after a few weeks, the move has been linked to a higher risk of obesity, depression, and cardiovascular disease. https://www.sleepfoundation.org/circadian-rhythm/daylight-saving-time
    Studies have also linked the time change to increased car accidents and workplace injuries.https://www.timeanddate.com/time/dst/daylight-saving-health.html  

• A Swedish study found that the risk of having a heart attack increases in the first three weekdays after switching to DST in the spring.
• Tiredness induced by the clock change is thought to be the main cause for the increase in traffic accidents on the Monday following the start of DST.
• On Mondays after the start of DST there were more workplace injuries, and the injuries were of greater severity compared to other Mondays.
• The start of DST has also been linked to miscarriages for in vitro fertilization patients.

      I used the same source to discover that losing an hour can trigger mental illness including bipolar disorder and seasonal affective disorder (SAD) also known as winter depression. 
And

• A Danish study found an 11% increase in depression cases after the time change. The cases dissipated gradually after 10 weeks.
• An Australian study found that male suicide rates increased on the days after the spring and fall DST shift.

      Those in favor of DST/ST argue that more natural light in the evening encourages a less sedentary lifestyle. 
    They also say the nighttime crime rate diminishes. We enjoy a 7% decrease in robberies.
      Pedestrian fatalities decrease by 13% in the dawn and dusk hours. 
      I wonder, could these decreases be attributed to more daylight in general? After all, the hours of daylight will continue to increase until the Summer Solstice, Sunday, June 10, 2021.
      I don’t plan to move to Hawaii, (or Arizona or any of the US territories, for that matter) but I would like to stop fooling Father Time.
                           -—stay curious! (and enjoy an evening walk)    

Just when it seemed things couldn’t get bleaker,
The Mouse-jority Leader agreed with the Squeaker 
To gather the brightest on Capitol Hill
To figure out how they could rescue this bill.
                                            House Mouse, Senate Mouse
                                            written by Peter W. Barnes
                                     illustrated by Cheryl Shaw Barnes
                                                Little Patriot Press, 2012

    When I thought I would not be home on Election Day a few years ago, I early-voted. I had to travel a little farther, but my county Board of Elections proved efficient. The poll workers were courteous and knew how to do their jobs. I felt secure that my vote would be counted. I have early-voted since then, but prefer to vote in person.
    That changed last May. I did not vote early in our Primary and I did not request an absentee ballot. I planned to be home and wanted to vote in person, until I didn’t. COVID-19 was ramping up. The governor decided at the last minute to close the polls and allow any registered voter to vote by mail in the Primary election. That’s what I did. I felt pretty sure my vote would be counted.
    I planned to vote absentee for the 2020 November General Election. In Ohio, we have a two-step process. As soon as I could, I requested my application for an absentee ballot. I completed and mailed back the application on the day I received it. My ballot came, I filled it in, and drove it back to the Board of Elections. (We know what the US Postal Service was like by then.) I put it in the dedicated drop box. Ohio’s Board of Elections has a page on its website that tracks when your ballot was received, when it was processed, and when it was counted. I checked back often and was delighted when I saw a check in the “counted” box. 
    The process was not without controversy. How many drop-boxes should be permitted in each county? Where should they be placed? What would happen to the huge backlog of ballots being mailed to citizens and mailed-in ballots being returned, due to lack of foresight and mismanagement (the nicest way I can say it) starting at the highest levels of the Post Office? You know. You were there, too.
    What about voter fraud?
    Well what *about* that? For all intents and purposes, there just isn’t any. It doesn’t matter who’s using the system, who’s accusing, or who’s scrutinizing. From the BBC to the US Department of Justice, it’s been determined that voter fraud is about as common as a snowflake in August. Yes, it happens, but it’s very rare.
    To fix this non-existent problem, President Biden signed an Executive Order to “promote voting access and allow all eligible Americans to participate in our democracy.” 
    John Sarbanes, a Representative from Maryland, introduced the "For the People Act" (HB 1) on January 4, 2021. It passed on March 3. Some senators are crying "foul." It is sitting now in the Senate, languishing.
    The For the People Act is really a bill. A bill is legislation that has been formally introduced in the House (HB) or the Senate (SB). The numbers are consecutive beginning at the start of the new Congressional session. An Act has passed both houses of Congress and either been approved by the President or passed by Congress over his veto.
    According to https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/117/hr1/text/eh, the purpose of the bill is [t]o expand Americans’ access to the ballot box, reduce the influence of big money in politics, strengthen ethics rules for public servants, and implement other anti-corruption measures for the purpose of fortifying our democracy… You can access the text of the bill at the above website.
    In 2019, a bill of the same name sought to correct damage that was done by the Supreme Court’s decision of Shelby County v. Holder in 2013. In short, Shelby County, Alabama, sued US Attorney General Eric Holder over the part of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that required certain states and local governments to obtain federal pre-clearance before making any changes to their voting laws or practices. These certain states and local governments were subject to a formula to investigate their histories of discrimination in voting.
    Shelby County, argued that the county’s environment was "totally different" in 2013, than when Section 5 was first enacted in 1965. Which was true. Since 1965, more voters were registered and voted. A more diverse slate of officials was elected. 
    After the Shelby decision, nearly 1,000 U.S. polling places closed, many of them in predominantly African-American counties. 
    In her dissent of Shelby, Ruth Bader Ginsburg stated that “[t]hrowing out pre-clearance when it has worked and is continuing to work to stop discriminatory changes is like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet.”
    Hmmm.
    The 2019 bill passed the House along Party lines but languished in the Senate. This year, with a Democratic Majority Leader, Chuck Schumer, the 2021 version of the bill may be brought to the floor. It might be discussed and voted on. It might even move on to the President’s desk. But it is highly unlikely. 
    Apart from setting the date for a Federal Election, each state has lots of leeway in the governance of the polls. Some of the opposition to HB 1 claims Federal over-reach into States’ Rights in determining how accessible the whole process of voting should be. 
    According to the Washington Post, at least 250 new laws have been proposed in 43 states. They would limit mail, early in-person, and Election Day voting. These restrictions could affect tens of millions of Americans. Not surprisingly, these are states run by Republican lawmakers.
    The opposing Republican Senators want to limit hours and days of early voting, make the process of voting by mail cumbersome, require photo IDs at polling locations. All those proposals restrict access for people with limited mobility, jobs with no paid time off to vote on a typical workday (Tuesday), family caregivers and others. 
    Republicans deny the bills are aimed at suppressing turnout. They say the bills are essential to improve public confidence in the integrity of elections. 
    But voter fraud is so rare as to be non-existent. So what are they really saying?
    The wheels of government turn slowly. Maybe that’s a good thing. 
                                      -—stay curious! (and Think Spring!)

    President Biden signed an executive order last Sunday, to “promote voting access and allow all eligible Americans to participate in our democracy.” His Executive Order is in response to the For the People Act, (HB 1) which has moved on to the Senate.
    I got my second COVID-19 shot last weekend and gave in to unexpected lethargy. No Blog Post this week, but I’m paying attention.
    See you here next week.
                                                 --Stay curious! (and safe)
​

You’re on your own
And you know what you know
And you are the one
Who’ll decide where to go
                                        from Oh, The Places You’ll Go!
                                  written and illustrated by Dr. Seuss
                                                    Random House, 1990
    A raging controversy (in some circles) about the appropriateness of Dr. Seuss’s work has recently come back to my attention. Here’s my defense. Dr. Seuss single-handedly moved children’s literature from a focus on morals and values to a celebration of children’s innate curiosity about themselves and their world. 
    And today is his birthday.
    Theodor Seuss Geisel was born in Springfield MA of immigrant parents on March 2, 1904.
    In many ways the world was a different place. In many ways it is the same. Immigrants were flocking here from eastern and southern Europe and Russia. Now people are coming here from Central America and South America. In the 1920s, activists were fighting for civil rights for women and Blacks. In the 2020s people are fighting for civil rights for women and Blacks and people of all colors, commonly abbreviated BIPOC: Black; indigenous; and people of color. 
    Here’s a very short (over-simplified, maybe) timeline focusing on children’s literature:
1693    John Locke. Some Thought Concerning Education. Locke
     wanted to make reading fun for children, but stay firmly
     based in reality.

1865    Lewis Carroll. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Children
    were moving from an economical asset (farm help, factory
    workers) to an emotional asset. Parents, and society as a
    whole, sought to protect the innocence of childhood through
    the development of their imagination and creative play. Mark
    Twain was also publishing during this time. So was Jules Verne.
    Heidi by Johanna Spyri was published in 1880.

1954    John Hersey. Life magazine, May 24, 1954. “Why Do
    Students Bog Down on First R? A Local Committee Sheds
    Light on a National Problem: Reading.” Hersey blamed poor
    reading scores on boring reading texts like the Dick and Jane
    series by the Scott Foresman Company. I learned with
    Alice and Jerry, published by Row, Peterson and Company,
​    which later became part of HarperCollins. 

1955    Rudolf Flesch. Why Johnny Can’t Read. A response to
    Hersey’s article, Flesch’s book was an immediate best seller
    and stayed on the list for 37 weeks. 

1957    Dr. Seuss The Cat in the Hat. Seuss’s first commercial
    success. William Spaulding, director of Houghton Mifflin’s
    Department of Education, asked Dr. Seuss to “write a
    story that first-graders can’t put down.”
    Spaulding's Bet With Dr. Seuss. He was allowed 225 unique
    words chosen from the 348 words on the standard first
    graders’ word list. The good doctor lost the bet. The Cat
    in the Hat came in at 236 words. He lost a bet, but gained
    a career. The commercial success of his book allowed
    Dr. Seuss to quit advertising and write children’s books
    exclusively.
    
    But the controversy is real. 
    In 1998, the National Educational Association founded Read Across America. They chose to celebrate on March 2 every year, Dr. Seuss’s birthday. From its inception, RAA has been linked with Dr. Seuss. Three years ago all that changed. In 2018, the national reading celebration moved away from the Seuss canon to highlight different authors and diverse and contemporary titles.
    While the move to emphasize more diversity and to be more inclusive in reading choices and recommendations is a step in a good direction, demonizing the Dr. is a step too far. Does the Cat depict stereotyped minstrel shows? Is “The Sneetches” an historical narrative that impacts present-day power structures? Or could these analyses be over-reactions to a Learning for Justice article, the educational arm of the Southern Poverty Law Center, It's Time to Talk About Dr Seuss and quoted in School Library Journal SJL:  Is the Cat in the Hat Racist? ? 
    The American Library Association presents The Geisel Award annually to the author(s) and illustrator(s) of the most distinguished American book for beginning readers published in English in the United States during the preceding year. The winner(s) are recognized for their literary and artistic achievements that demonstrate creativity and imagination to engage children in reading. The award was established in 2004, and first presented in 2006. The award that year went to Henry and Mudge and the Great Grandpas written by Cynthia Rylant and illustrated by Suçie Stevenson.
    Dr. Seuss was not a sociologist. He was not an historian. He was not an environmentalist. He was not even a doctor. He took the title doctor to honor his father who wanted him to earn his PhD. He did not, but held many honorary titles. Seuss, actually pronounced to rhyme with “voice,” is his mother’s maiden name as well as his own middle name.
    Detractors point to the beginning of WWII when Geisel contributed political cartoons to a liberal magazine. Since he was too old for the draft but wanted to serve, he made animated training films and drew propaganda posters for the Treasury Department. Some were racist depictions of Japanese immigrants. Most were not appropriate for children. Some of his books command an adult audience, too.
    Dr. Seuss taught us to take care of our earth in The Lorax, to take care of each other in Horton Hatches the Egg and “The Sneetches” and so many more, and to allow ourselves and our children to Hop on Pop, put a Fox in Socks, and have fun with a Cat. He encouraged language-play by making up words. 
    Dr. Seuss was aware of his world and aware of his missteps. He advised us in Oh, The Places You’ll Go!
    So be sure when you step,
    Step with care and great tact.
    And remember that Life’s
    A Great Balancing Act.
   
​    His books will live on. American kids will continue to read.
                Thank you Dr. Seuss. Happy Birthday!
                        RIP 3/2/1904-9/21/1991
                                   -—stay curious! (and read to a child)