A Great Nephew and a Great Aunt, Guests-Violet Nesdoly and Grandson, Liam

Posted on by Penny Parker Klostermann
Ants may rule the hill, but they don’t rule here! Art by Landon (Click to Enlarge)
Ants may rule the hill, but they don’t rule here! Art by Landon (Click to Enlarge)

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 . . .

Violet Nesdoly and Grandson, Liam

My seven-year-old grandson, Liam, loves nature. We’ve spent hours together looking at online video clips of insects and reading about animals from a favorite book of his. My plan was to have him illustrate a poem I wrote about spiders.

But at my last visit (we live far apart and I see him only two or three times a year), when he showed me the sea picture he had drawn, I thought immediately of my poem “Ocean Neighborhood.” They seemed like a perfect pair, except that I felt the poem needed a little tweaking. So I changed the creatures in it to include more of the fish in Liam’s picture. (I labeled the fish with Liam telling me what each one was.)

The Art

Ocean Neighborhood-edit
Art by Liam

The Poemtext on background

The talented collaborators!GrandmaViolet&Liam copy

Many thanks to Violet and Liam for this delightful collaboration!

Meet Violet: Violet Nesdoly is a freelance writer who lives near Vancouver, British Columbia. She has had articles, poems and stories for children and adults published in a variety of books, magazines, and online. Her work has appeared in Pockets, Keys for Kids, and Guide magazines. She blogs book reviews at Violet Nesdoly.com and often links to Poetry Friday from her online poetry blog Violet Nesdoly / Poems.

Thanks to Keri for hosting the Poetry Friday Roundup today at Keri Recommends. She just happens to be featuring my first published work today—a poem titled Buttons.  If you’d like to know more about Poetry Friday, click HERE for an explanation by Renee LaTulippe.poetry friday button

 

30 thoughts on “A Great Nephew and a Great Aunt, Guests-Violet Nesdoly and Grandson, Liam”

  2. I like to think of myself as part-fish primarily because of my astrological sign – you do have great collaborators in this post, Penny! Great to see Violet here and gorgeous grandson, Liam.

    Liked by 2 people

  4. I didn’t even know there was such a thing as a Lemon Shark, so Liam has taught me something today. I too love the title Ocean Neighborhood, it sparks the imagination right away, and I enjoyed reading it.

    Liked by 2 people

  6. What lovely comments! I told my daughter & Liam to make sure to come back and read them. L. Doesn’t live near the ocean but I think the trip to the Vancouver aquarium had a big impact along with a set of videos on sharks and of course his natural curiosity. Thanks again Penny!

    Liked by 1 person

  8. I love the detail in Liam’s drawings, hope he lives very near an ocean. And Violet’s poems does fit beautifully. Living in an “ocean neighborhood” would be divine. I love the picture, too!

    Liked by 2 people

  16. I just love it when kids are so inspired by a topic that they draw everything related! Liam shows that through his detail! It proves he is ready to soak up MORE and carry it into multiple learning experiences. (Or maybe HE will be the teacher!) His passion is evident and I love how Violet already had a poem on this topic. Perhaps she had a partial influence on Liam’s initial curiosity? Great collaboration!

    Liked by 2 people

Comments are closed.