On the Same Day in March: A Tour of the World's Weather Book

I wish I had found this before March rather than at the end of the month, but, nonetheless, here is a celebration of a month that comes in "like a lion and goes out like a lamb." Which makes simple sense if one lives in an area where lions and lambs are indigenous.

Marylin Singer, with the flattened-out, collage-like illustrations of Frane' Lessac, takes us around this world in this companion piece to 9 O'CLOCK LULLABY to explore a day in March around the world anchored by the anaphora, "On the same day in March. . ." (making the entire text one that could be broken up over the seventeen regions that are presented inviting geography teachers into the book that can be shared across content areas--which makes me think about an idea for a book called "With the Same Book in (insert content area here).

Obviously, in March--particularly in the area where I live--tornadoes become a reality in the early spring areas. Singer does not shy away from the realities of weather patterns and a Texas Panhandle tornado performs a unexpected service:

But it did suck up a bucket of water
and give Grandma's dirty old truck
the first wash it's had in weeks.

A hailstorm in Darjeeling has a little girl thinking:

. . .the moon has broken and scattered
its necklace of pearls.

While some regions get a longer piece, the shorter lines are a super example of succinctness of description inviting younger writers to think about how they would describe elements in longer and shorter pieces.

What Singer offers in ON THE SAME DAY IN MARCH is a nice look at what non-fiction can look like with a poetic approach. Each vignette within the book serves as a portal to a deeper conversation regarding geography and culture making this book more than a genre-specific book to share with younger readers.