Half A World Away Libby Gleeson
Argelia Long
When our family moved from San Francisco to Scottsdale the summer before first grade, my sister and I made friends with a brother and sister who lived about a half-mile away from us. Stephen was in kindergarten, his sister Libby was in third grade, and my sister was in fourth. Given the usual tendency of older siblings to vanish into their own world, Stephen (usually called Steve or Stevie) and I found ourselves thrown together for company, a lot. And it turned out to be hilarious fun. He was my very first best friend.
The fearsome foursome: (clockwise from left) Steve, Tiff, Libby, and me (the little disembodied balloon head).
Elizabeth, this is a sweet post. It makes me think of my two first best friends, both boys and both dead way too young. Our parents were all good friends and we were born April, July, Sept (1952). We were always together, in the neighborhood and at school, for about 7 years. Greg died before we turned 21 and Alan was dead before 30. Sweet and sad memories. My condolences to you for the loss of your friend.
What about Nancy Drew and Joe and Frank Hardy? They worked together as friends to solve many a mystery. They appeared together for the first time in 1980 in Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys Super Sleuths.
The Liberation of Gabriel King was a fantastic book. A great friendship that also faces some big topics.
I feel for you on your loss. But I am so glad for you that you have all the great memories you do!
Elizabeth, I am so sorry your Stevie is gone and I join all the voices here celebrating your friendship and all your memories.
A thousand thanks for your book recommendations
and to everyone who contributed to the list. It will help me a great deal. I had read only four of these books and I am working on a middle grade project that includes a friendship between a local boy and a girl from VERY far away.
One of my favorite picture books about a boy and girl who are best friends (and what happens when one moves away) is HALF A WORLD AWAY by Libby Gleeson, illustrated by Freya Blackwood.
And growing up, I LOVED the TRIXIE BELDEN mysteries, filled with lots of boy-girl friendships.
What we love the most about this series is that the biographies are wonderfully written in a beautiful story, that captures just what makes these women so incredible, so special, they perfectly depict the life and accomplishments of these inspiring women. Sometimes biographies for children can feel disjointed or not complete, but Little People, Big Dreams has accomplished is to create stories that flow and are a pleasure to read aloud.
Bloggers Note: I was given copies of Amelia Earhart and Maya Angelou in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this post are my own. Thank you to Quarto for permission to use the images within this post.
My youngest is three and a half years old. She absolutely loves learning new things, books, animals and anything that her big sister does. So when school started again this year it was a rough start for the petite as her older sister rode off on the super cool school bus and got to learn new things all day at school. So we decided to start doing lessons while big sis is at school.
A Butterfly is Patient by Dianna Hutts Aston and art by Sylvia Long (Chronicle Books, 2011) is one of our favorite books, we love to look at the vibrant colors, check out which butterflies we have seen before and of course read the story.
The Magic School Bus Presents The Rainforest by Tom Jackson and illustrations by Carolyn Bracken (Scholastic, 2014) is yet another perfect book as part of the Magic School bus series, we absolutely love the non-fiction books and think that they are perfect to keep petites engaged and learning all about the rainforest.
These two activities are from the awesome Carisa at 1+1+1=1. I love the amazing visuals she has created and how simple she has made it to get some really quality activities in the hands of parents. Seriously, go and check out her site, it is amazing!
We used the images from the nomenclature cards to create our own rainforest canopy. We created our rainforest after reading The Magic School Bus Presents The Rainforest and discussed where we thought these animals might live in the rainforest based on the reading of the books.
Moving can be really stressful and upsetting for petites. Recently I was asked about what books I would recommend for a petite who was struggling with the loss of their friend who moved far away. Here are some recommendations of books that we think are not only fabulous stories, but stories that could really help a petite who is missing their friend. These are the stories that are perfect for petites who are moving or staying behind.
Before I Leave by Jessixa Bagley (Roaring Brook Press, 2016) is a beautiful story about two friends Aaron and Zelda, who are going to be separated by a move. This story touches on all the feels and emotions that happen when a little one is going through the transition of moving. This book is filled with sweet illustrations that help petites to think about how they might feel. This book has less than 100 words and I believe that this is what makes this book so incredibly special. I love that Jessixa talks about the worry of moving and not being able to see your friends as much as you like, but also helps to resolve that worry by showing Zelda reading letters from her dear friend and holding close the memories that they had together.
A House for Hermit Crab by Eric Carle (Simon Spotlight, 2014) is a great story about a hermit crab who outgrows his shell, he finds new sea creatures to help him with this transition. Eventually he will outgrow this shell and need to make new friends again. What we love about this book, like all Carle books are the illustrations, they are gorgeous and vibrant. One other aspect of this book is that it has opportunities to learn about new sea creatures as well as do some counting along the way.
When I worked in the elementary world, I had the most fun making bulletin boards, with one of my very best teacher friends, and this one would be amazing to create a hillside with lupines filled with what the kids would do to make the world a better place/more beautiful.
I think there are a couple of questions that are embedded in this debate that are important to explore. One, I think many people find it surprising that we do not have a national securities regulator, and that in fact what we have in Canada are 13 separate securities regulators, one for each province and then one for each of the three territories, so 13 in total. All those 13 regulators try to work together, but obviously they have different rules and regulations; they have different policies, different guidelines and different priorities. So it does create a bit of a disjointed system across the country.
The other benefit for having a national securities regulator is more improved regulatory and criminal enforcement to fight securities-related crime. Again, another important aspect of securities regulators like the Ontario Securities Commission is that they are an enforcement agency. Part of their role is to ensure that white-collar-related crimes that deal with securities are properly regulated, and if any rules are being broken, then they are offences that are associated with it. By having, again, a more Canada-wide securities regulator, we get better and improved regulatory and criminal enforcement in terms of any securities-related crimes that may come forward.
One of the works that took place on this particular issue was that the government of Canada, in 2008, appointed an expert panel on securities regulation. The idea was for that expert panel to provide the government advice and recommendations on securities regulation in Canada. They highlighted three key challenges with the existing structure. Again, that is 13 different securities regulators across the country.
I think it will send a very good signal to all investors across the world that Toronto is where the national securities regulator is, and I think it will instill confidence in those investors in terms of investing in Canada. We also know that Toronto is home to the 13 largest banks in North America by market capitalization, and is, as I mentioned, the third-largest financial sector in North America, behind only New York and Chicago, which gives further credence that this securities regulator should be located here.
The point, I think, is that if there is homework for all of us to do, it is that we need to put pressure on federal members of Parliament from Ontario to advocate that Toronto should be the place for the national securities regulator. I think all of us need to make sure, and this election is an apt opportunity for us to take that message home. I really urge the members of the official opposition as well to talk to the Conservative members coming out of Ontario, and perhaps other Conservative members from other parts of the country, that Toronto should be the home for the national capital securities regulator. It does not make sense at all that it be located anywhere else.
So my plea to everyone is that this is an issue where we are meeting individually with candidates who are seeking office right now to be members of Parliament, and then those who will be fortunate to be elected on May 2; that we sit down with them and have this issue on the top of our priority list, so that when they are back in the House of Commons, this issue is raised.
Finally, it seems to me that we are living in a much more competitive world. We compete with London, Chicago and New York. The Open Ontario plan is attached to this motion for a very good reason: It drives an entire agenda of incentives and assistance for the formulation of risk capital; it works toward a strategy to build our financial services, of which having the securities regulator here is a critical part.
At the time, I had asked Mr. Wilson, who was a previous head of the OSC, a lot of different questions about how a national securities regulator would actually impact the OSC and where those folks would find jobs, and he was very much in favour at the time. We, of course, now have a new head of the securities regulator, Mr. Wetston. My colleague here from Oxford was there when we brought him in, and I believe he was endorsed by our government agencies committee.
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