Earth Week Extravaganza, Day 3: Author Leslie Bulion

Welcome back everyone!

As we inch ever closer to the BIG DAY (Earth Day that is), the celebration of this Earth WEEK Extravaganza shows no signs of stopping thanks to the great folks over at Peachtree Publishers (thanks, Emily!).  Today we are fortunate enough to have yet another talented author from the Peachtree family sharing with us her thoughts on the cycle of life under the sea along with a few tips on how to keep our oceans clean.

Please welcome, author Leslie Bulion.....

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Guest Post: Leslie BulionAuthor of At the Sea Floor Cafe: Off Ocean Critter Poems



I’ve been interested in science ever since my elementary science teacher, Mr. Beaver, wheeled
his travelling science cart into our classroom in North Country Elementary School. My favorite
science classes were (and still are!) the field biology ones, where we’d go outside and poke
around in the field next to our school.

I’ve also been writing poetry since elementary school, but it took me many years to combine those two interests and create my science poetry collections. And while my insect poem collection, Hey There, Stink Bug! came first, inspired by a week-long summer bug camp for grown-ups, my first field biology love has always been the ocean.

I grew up on Long Island, near the Sound and the Atlantic Ocean, spent vacations at the Florida seashore, lived on a 100 foot sailing sloop during a college SEA Semester http://www.sea.edu/, learned to SCUBA dive and studied oceanography in graduate school. So you could say I’ve been doing the research for my new science poetry collection At the Sea Floor Café: Odd Ocean Critter Poems my whole life.

The endlessly fascinating ocean covers about two-thirds of
the Earth’s surface, and 95% of it remains unexplored.
hat’s a lot of field biology waiting to happen!

New creatures, new habitats, and new ideas are discovered every day in this vast, interconnected ecosystem. And each day we learn more and more about how all life on Earth—including human life—depends on the health of the oceans. We can see the harmful effects climate change, plastic littering and ocean dumping have on important areas like coral reefs and near-shore estuaries that provide home and nursery ground to so many species of marine animals.




At the Sea Floor Café is about the fun and magic of poetry and sea creatures, but its final poem “Hooray for the Sea and the ROV” is a message from my heart, too:

The world ocean swells across most of our planet.
Our Earth’s filled with life; the sea’s where we began it.
To explore the seas’ wonders we’ve learned to be clever—
Let’s be extra smart and protect them forever.


Here are three simple, everyday things we can do to help protect the ocean:

Use cloth bags instead of plastic bags for shopping.
Use our own travel mugs and water bottles instead of buying plastic or throw-away ones.
Use the OFF switch when we’re done with a light, computer or TV.


[One more thing before I go...] calling all educators and student poets!
Peachtree Publishers invites educators to post students' poetry on their Facebook page in honor of National Poetry Month. Prizes will be awarded in a random drawing at the end of April. Click for rules.



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Author Bio



Leslie Bulion is the author of several children's books, including Uncharted Waters, The Trouble With Rules, and Fatuma's New Cloth, winner of the African Studies Association's 2002 Children's Africana Books. She lives in Connecticut.

 

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What an insightful post and dare I say educational too!

Thank you Ms. Bulion.

Now it's time for you fair readers to contemplate what we've learned here today and have yet another chance to throw your hat in the proverbial ring to win the FIVE book prize pack from Peachtree Publishers!  For those counting, this is book four out of the five title included.  Let's get to that entry, shall we?

 

FIRST...

At the Sea Floor Cafe:  Odd Critter Poems explores the world under the sea in all its critter filled glory.  Each animal does their part to keep the balance of life and so should we.  Ms. Bulion mentioned a few ways in which we can help protect the ocean in her post, but which left me curious.  In what ways do YOU help "reduce, reuse, recycle"?  In what ways could we do so moving forward?

Share your thoughts in the comments below.

SECOND...

Fill out THIS FORM.

 

That's it!

Yet ANOTHER entry towards the final prize pack is completed (provided you followed the steps above).

 Remember to check back tomorrow for another great post, and in the mean time, check out the other stops on today's 'Fins, Wings, and Other Things' tour...

There’s a Book – Review of At the Sea Floor Cafe

Simply Science – Review of Planting the Wild Garden
A Word’s Worth – Guest post by Wendy Anderson Halperin, illustrator of Planting the Wild Garden

Until next time....happy reading.