My friend, poet Buffy Silverman is releasing a new word-blooming picture book, On a Gold-Blooming Day coming September 6, 2022. This rhythmic, rhyming, all-about-fall book is enchanting from start to finish. You will be transported to the season through words and images.
I asked Buffy to tell us how she is inspired to write.
I have been fascinated with the natural world for as long as I can remember. When I was six I collected a jar full of grasshoppers from an empty lot to keep as pets in the garage. I learned the hard way that insects need oxygen! I spent hours perched in the branches of our maple tree as a kid, watching the world below.
I still search out the small animals that share our habitat. We are lucky to live at the swampy end of a small lake, with frogs, turtles, birds, and woods as neighbors. We stopped mowing most of our backyard about twenty years ago, and a meadow has grown in its place, attracting a variety of insects. Now I collect critters with my camera instead of in a jar, and try to share what I see through my writing. My hound keeps me walking every day, no matter what the weather or season, so I get plenty of opportunity to make new discoveries!
I hope that my words might inspire a young person to look more closely at and fall in love with the world around them. The world desperately needs a generation of environmentalists, and I think that is most likely to happen if children spend time outdoors, make their own discoveries, and fall in love as I did with nature.
Buffy Silverman
This golden glowing book is for preschool through 3rd graders. The back matter provides more information about the animals and plants mentioned in the text and images. A glossary of new words helps developing readers. Add this book to your fall reading list. Buffy’s website is here.
On Wednesday, Buffy responded with a very Buffy-styled poem to This Photo Wants to be a Poem.
Fishing Expedition
Long legs.
Long beak.
Step right.
Cool creek.
Step left.
Trout streak.
Stoop low.
Sneak peek.
Fast jab–
full cheek!
–Buffy Silverman
Reflections on the Teche 
Thank you for featuring Buffy’s work Margaret. It’s simple snd beautiful. I also like her poem on the photo you offed this week. I tend to overthink and overwrite and then become overwhelmed. You made me realize this with your post today.
Thank you, Carol (and simple is not always simple to write!)
So very true but you’ve conquered it, I think! 🙂
Thanks so much for celebrating my new book and sharing it with your readers, Margaret! And thanks also for providing regular inspiration with This Photo Wants to be a Poem. (Just to clarify, while I did take several of the photos in the book, the stunners that you shared are not from my camera.)
So great to see Buffy featured here.
So great to see my pal Ann here.
I have had a peek at Buffy’s book, Margaret, & her love for our natural world comes through so beautifully. I love her poem for your ‘photo Thursday’, “full cheek” indeed.
Thank you, Linda–I appreciate your kind words!
Looking forward to this book! Buffy is so talented. I enjoyed hearing about her love of nature.
Thank you, Rose… (I kind of think writing is more about persistence and revision than talent, but I’ll take the compliment anyway!)
Thanks for sharing Buffy’s forthcoming nature book Margaret, it sounds and looks inspiring. I enjoyed hearing about her life with nature, and her spunky poem from yesterday!
Thank you, Michelle!
I can’t wait to read the whole book! Thanks for the sneak peek. And Buffy is right about nurturing young environmentalists — they have to “spend time outdoors, make their own discoveries, and fall in love… with nature.”
I’m guessing that all those many Mary Lee students got to spend time outdoors.
I love the combination of photos and poetry in Buffy’s work. I’m so excited to share this with my second graders this coming year!
So excited to have you share my book, Molly!
Margaret, Buffy’s book is a masterpiece of the brilliance of nature and with quick bites of poetic thought. Your conversation with Buffy led to wonderful responses. I am looking forward to reviewing her book also. Have a great weekend.
Thank you Carol–I appreciate the kind comments.
Oh, I’m looking forward to another Buffy book! Can’t wait to see this one. Thanks for sharing some pages from her latest!
I can’t wait to read Buffy’s new book. I also love the natural world and poetry that makes you stop and appreciate it.
Thanks, Marilyn–ask for it at your library!
This looks like a wonderful book! Thank you for showcasing it for us this week.
Thanks, Elisabeth–I appreciate it.