Under the Greenwillow ~ April 2025
Come With Me
To the quiet minute
Between two noisy minutes
It’s always waiting ready to welcome us
Tucked under the wing of the day
I’ll be there
Where will you be?
—Naomi Shihab Nye
Welcome to the April issue of Under the Greenwillow. This month we are reading poetry, thanking the Earth for all it gives to us, and appreciating the mother figures in our lives. Thank you for joining us!
Comic Corner
Comic by Corey R. Tabor
Photograph by Mandy Olson
Out on a Limb
Five Quick Questions with Naomi Shihab Nye
What is your favorite word?
Befriend.
What book do you have on your nightstand?
Knife by Salman Rushdie.
Do you listen to music while you’re working? What kind?
Yes, usually jazz, but lately, after seeing the movie—Maria Callas.
Early bird or night owl?
Early bird forever & ever.
Cats or dogs?
Cats! But I just fell in love with a standard poodle.
Remembering Our Roots
From the Archives
April Pulley Sayre’s acclaimed Thank You, Earth was the winner of the Green Prize for Sustainable Literature and a Green Earth Book Award Long List title. April’s stunning photographs and poetic text touch on subjects from life cycles to weather, colors, shapes, and patterns, and the book is structured as a simple thank-you note. And that led to a big question: How could all of that be captured in a single book jacket? Associate Art Director Sylvie Le Floc’h shares the evolution of this love letter to our planet.
Celebrate Earth Day on April 22!
From the Author’s Desk
Michael Hall, the creator of Red: A Crayon’s Story, has a new book about navigating big emotions. When Badger bullies his friends Frog, Moose, Elephant, and Bear, they teach him an unforgettable lesson about empathy, kindness, and forgiveness. Punch! A Story about Kindness is full of inventive wordplay that has been on the author’s mind for quite some time. . . .
Fifteen years ago, while collecting soundalike words for my book, Cat Tale, I noticed a group of them that were also synonyms for the word “hit.” I realized that if you were to say someone “socked, belted, cuffed, and crowned” another person, you could mean either that they beat them up or got them dressed. This wordplay eventually led me to write Punch! A Story About Kindness.
I’ve always been fascinated by how words can alter the way we see pictures—and how images can reshape our understanding of words. In Punch, the words alone tell a story of revenge. The pictures, however, reinterpret the words to tell a story of compassion and understanding.
An audiobook is being released along with the print version. It is read by the wonderful Robin Miles. It will be such fun to discover how she manages to tell the story without the pictures!
It’s National Poetry Month!
Whether you like collections or novels-in-verse, poems that will make you laugh out loud or poems that will make you cry, there is poetry here for you.
Earthshake by Lisa Westberg Peters, illustrated by Cathie Felstead
Got Geography! by Lee Bennett Hopkins, illustrated by Philip Stanton
Thanks a Million by Nikki Grimes, illustrated by Cozbi A. Cabrera
19 Varieties of Gazelle by Naomi Shihab Nye
Everything Comes Next by Naomi Shihab Nye
The New Kid on the Block by Jack Prelutsky, illustrated by James Stevenson
Hard-Boiled Bugs for Breakfast by Jack Prelutsky, illustrated by Ruth Chan
One by Sarah Crossan
Poisoned Apples by Christine Heppermann
Unsinkable Cayenne by Jessica Vitalis
Amber Was Brave, Essie Was Smart by Vera B. Williams
Mother’s Day Is on Its Way!
Celebrate all the mothers in your life with these picks.
Grandmas Are Greater Than Great by James Solheim, illustrated by Derek Desierto
A Chair for My Mother by Vera B. Williams
Bigmama’s by Donald Crews
New Books On Sale
Punch! A Story About Kindness by Michael Hall, 4/22/25
Good Luck, Ice Cream Truck by Sorche Fairbank, illustrated by Terry Runyan 4/29/25
At Last She Stood by Erin Entrada Kelly, 5/6/25
Cranky, Crabby Crow (Saves the World) by Corey R. Tabor, 5/6/25
Where to see our authors:
April 26, 2025, In-person event: Celebrate Independent Bookstore Day with Michael Hall at Red Balloon Bookshop in St. Paul, MN. He’ll be reading his new picture book, Punch.
May 17, 2025, In-person event: Michael Hall, Erin Entrada Kelly, and Brian Lies will be at the Gaithersburg Book Festival in Maryland.
See you next month!
