Gwendolyn Brooks and August Wilson -- #blacklivesmatter

Disclosure: I was sent digital copies of these books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This week for our Black Lives Matter Series, I am going to share two people who are not on my list but who I found some relatively new picture books about. Last week I shared Mary Eliza Mahoney, the first trained black woman. Today I am sharing books about Gwendolyn Brooks, the first black person to win the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry, and August Wilson, a black playwright who won two Pulitzer Prizes and a Tony Award. 

Middle Grades Summer Reading with Environmental Themes

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of these books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Is school out where you live? Hazel finished last week. Of course it wasn't a big celebration with the state just starting to re-open. But we have started to think about summer. Although I don't see too many trips to the beach this year even when we are at Cape Cod. But reading about them is always fun. Today I am sharing two books about life near water--a lake and the ocean. Do you go to any body of water every summer? Are you going this year?

Mary Eliza Mahoney -- #blacklivesmatter

With our nation looking at racial relationships right now I wanted to take time to look at black lives. As I read the Facebook posts and articles and think about everything that is going on, I think about my life, my white privilege and how I have brought Hazel up. One of my biggest regrets happened years ago when I didn't say anything to a young black girl at a Macy's around Christmas time. She saw a black holiday Barbie and said something like pretty and then saw the white one and said something along the lines of prettier. I wanted to tell her no the white one is not prettier, but I got scared. What would the mother think of a white stranger talking to her young daughter? Would I scare the girl? My friend finished her transaction and we walked away. I was the only the adult who heard the young girl and by not saying anything I let that poor girl go on believing white was prettier than black which is so not true. This has weighed heavily on my mind for decades now. This has been stirred up again. 

Dresden Quilt Blocks Reimagined -- a Crafty Weekends Review

Disclosure: C&T Publishing sent me this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own! I will receive a small stipend for purchases made through the links in this post. Thank you for supporting Crafty Moms Share!

I've been missing my Crafty Weekends. Have you? Although I am not having the link party anymore I thought I would share some of the crafts I have been up to and review one of the craft books I have.

 Now I will admit it is a bit strange for me to write a review right now. With so much going on in our country I feel like this is a little frivolous. But I know the world goes on and although my own emotions are all over the place and at times I have wanted to take a break from thinking about the racial issues I realize my black friends and all people of color do not get to take a break from thinking about their race and the racial issues. Tomorrow I will be starting our weekly posts about Black Lives Matter and sharing some black people everyone should know about. So today I am going to share with you a quilt book. The book is Dresden Quilt Blocks Reimagined by Candace Copp Grisham. 

Outside Personal Paint Party

Hazel had her last day of school this week. To do something special I thought we would do a paint party. It was beautiful out this week. So we decided to try one of the Muse Paintbar's Muse-to-Go paintings. Hazel's favorite in the beginning was Dolphin Delight. It is offered as a free video so that is the one we decided to do. (You can find it under Kids and click the free video button.) We had nice big canvases in our craft supplies as well as the brushes and paints. We took our plastic patio table and covered it with an old tablecloth and put it on the grass in case we spilled. Then we got jars of water, our brushes for each of us, the five basic colors of acrylic paint (red, blue, yellow, black and white), two small paper plates for each of us and paper towels. We used plate stands for our "easels". We set my computer up on a chair next to the table to play the video. If you do not have the supplies in your craft storage they do sell sets of those as well.