
Hello, Great Readers of our series! Just In case you haven’t visited before, let me tell you a little about A Great Nephew and A Great Aunt. My great nephew, Landon (a sixth-grader) and I (his great aunt) collaborate. I write a poem which he illustrates. We started this collaboration in the fall of 2014 and have had so much fun with it that we decided to invite others along. Landon and I will continue to have a new episode on the second Friday of each month. The other Fridays are filling up quickly with guests.
I have created a page on my website to view all the episodes of A Great Nephew and a Great Aunt. Click HERE to visit the page and enjoy past episodes.
Today it is my pleasure to share a creative collaboration from . . .
Rosi Hollinbeck and Granddaughter, Gracie
Gracie’s pottery was the inspiration for Rosi’s poem. Rosi said, “It just kept nagging at me to write about it as it sat on the sideboard in our dining room.”
Gracie looks very happy to be in this creative space.

Gracie’s Pottery
Rosi’s Poem
Many thanks to Rosi and Gracie for sharing their special collaboration with us today 😀
Meet Gracie: Gracie Anderson just turned ten this summer and is quite the artist and musician, presently learning to play ukulele. She attends a charter school for the fine and performing arts, Creative Connections Arts Academy in North Highlands, CA. Gracie is in 5th grade and sings in the choir. She also takes clay classes at the Mud Hut in Grass Valley, CA and loves working with clay, painting with acrylics and water colors, drawing, and writing.
Meet Rosi: Proud grandmother Rosi Hollinbeck spends most of her time writing for young people, but also writes adult fiction. Her work has appeared in Highlights for Children and High Five magazines. Her story-poem The Monster Hairy Brown was published by London publisher, Thynks, in their anthology 50 Funny Poems for Children. She also writes book reviews for San Francisco, Manhattan, Tulsa, and Portland Book Reviewsspecializing in children’s books. She blogs at The Write Stuff and has a giveaway of a book almost every week.
Thanks to Katya Czaja for hosting the Poetry Friday Roundup at Write. Sketch.Repeat.. If you’d like to know more about Poetry Friday, click HERE for an explanation by Renee LaTulippe.
Great poem! I like the mermaid clay figure too! 🙂
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What fun! Great work both of you.
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Lovely! WHat a grogeous collaboration from a very talented pair.
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Thank you for coming by 😀
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What a fun collaboration, Rosi. I recently wrote a story based on my granddaughter’s illustrations–I’ll have to try pottery too! Nice work, both of you!
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Thanks for coming by, Carol.
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What fun! A beautiful Queen of the Sea and a lovely poem.
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Thanks for stopping in to enjoy this wonderful collaboration, Ellen.
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I “sea” so much talent here! Great job, Gracie! And you sing, too! I love your dedication to the arts and I’m so happy you get to connect with your grandma this way, too! Awesome collaboration! You two were “maid” (mermaid, that is) to work together!
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Love your wordplay, Carrie. Thanks so much for coming by 😀
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Simply delightful! So proud to know you, Rosie, and happy for your whole beautiful family. (Time for lunch again.)
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Thanks for coming by, Jeri 😀
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The pottery ‘story’ is lovely. And love hearing about that tail shriveling up! Gracie seems to be following in her grandmother’s creative footsteps.
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Thanks, Linda. We had a lot of fun with this.
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I think a lot of us loved the shriveling tail line. Thanks for stopping by, Linda.
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I love the poem and the pottery too! They both made me smile. What a wonderful grandmother, granddaughter collaboration!
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So glad to pass along a smile!
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Thanks for coming by, Kirsti.
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Gracie’s sculpture is really creative and you can tell from her photo that she has style! How wonderful that she and Rosi collaborated and created such a complete artistic result!
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Thanks, Helen. She is a stylin’ girl!
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I agree, Helen. Gracie looks like she has all kinds of style. Thanks so much for coming by.
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The poem delights me–as does the clay mermaid, and the grandmother and granddaughter working together. Thanks so much.
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You are welcome. Thanks for the kind words.
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Thanks for stopping by 😀
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That was a charming poem. And I love the mermaid. Gracie shows great talent.
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Thanks, Elizabeth. I love the mermaid too. Proud grandma here!
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Thanks for coming by to enjoy this wonderful collaboration, Elizabeth.
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I love, Love, LOVE this! Rosi, her sculpture is wonderful and your poem is so fun! Maybe Gracie can use her ukelele and give “Queen of the Sea” a melody and make it into a song.
Thanks for sharing this, Penny!
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Ooooh! A song! Great idea. I will mention it to Gracie. Thanks for the kind words.
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What a great idea, JaNay. A mermaid song would be perfect.
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Thanks, Penny, for hosting us here and thanks to everyone else for all the encouraging comments. This was so much fun!
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Thanks for being a part of the series, Rosi. You and Gracie are super talented. What a great collaboration!
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Rosi, you spin a wonderful tale with that poem. I can see how you’d be inspired by Gracie’s work– I’m impressed not only with the delicacy of the sculpture, but the beautiful job of glazing it too!
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Thanks, Michelle. I’m so proud of Gracie. She does beautiful work.
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Thanks for coming by, Michelle 😀
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Love Rosi’s poem, but I totally fell for Gracie’s mermaid…and her style, esp the green uke (my daughter’s is orange, my son’s was blue – well it still is, only he stepped on it!)!
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Thanks, Julie. I love her style too.
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Glad you enjoyed yourself here today, Julie. I didn’t know ukuleles came in such fun colors.
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Another bright and joyful collaborative effort brought to us by you. Thank you for sharing. Sculpture and poem: a marriage made in mermaid heaven:)
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“a marriage made in mermaid heaven” . . . I like that ! Thanks for coming by.
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🙂 My pleasure…literally. Your PF poems are a much needed end of the week pick-me-up:)
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Thanks for the kind words. I love the idea of mermaid heaven.
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This post is such a treat! Loved meeting Gracie and seeing her pottery. Rosi’s fun whimsical poem goes perfectly. (Also love Gracie’s green ukulele and hat.) 🙂
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Gracie has style, doesn’t she? Thanks for coming by, Jama 😀
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Jama, thanks for such kind words. Gracie does have her own style, doesn’t she.
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Love the pottery and the poetry – especially the part about the tail shriveling if the mermaid gets kissed! Darn those old dishes! I understand seaweed is a “fishth” to scrub! 🙂
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That was my favorite line, too, Carole! I didn’t know that about seaweed, but it make sense. Ha!
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Thanks, Carol, for such nice comments. Glad you like these.
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I love that Gracie has so much support from her family and attends a special performing arts school. Her sculpture of the mermaid is very original. And, I love Rosi’s cute poem!
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It sounds like her school is a perfect fit. Thanks for coming by, Pat.
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We do try to encourage Gracie’s many talents, but, honestly, I don’t think we could stop her. She is always creating something interesting. Glad you enjoyed the post.
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Oh my gosh — I LOVE that chores are going to rescue this little mermaid from her usual fate. Gracie, your mermaid has such a happy expression on her face, I can’t help but smile along with her.
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I loved that twist at the end, too. So hilarious.
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Thanks, Laura. I think Gracie’s happy expression translates to her work.
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Deeeeelightful Gracie and Rosi! May all your fishes – I mean wishes – come true!
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Glad you enjoyed the post, Cathy. It certainly is delightful!
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Hahahaha! Thanks for the sweet comment.
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What a great way to start my Friday morning! Loved the fun poem and pottery! Thanks Rosi and Gracie for putting a smile on my face. 😀
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Glad to start your start your Friday off right! Keep smiling 😀
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Thanks for your nice comment. Glad we could supply a smile.
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Love the mermaid sculpture and the poem! What a wonderful collaboration from two very talented people!
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It is a wonderful collaboration. The poem and the pottery are a perfect pairing. Thanks for stopping by, Susanna 😀
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Thanks, Susanna. So nice to hear from you.
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