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 fifth-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 . . .

Cathy Ballou Mealey and her Daughter, Grace

I know I’ve said it before but I have to say it again! When I open an email with the “goods” from collaborators, I just want to dance. Each and every collaboration has been unique and delightful! All it takes is a look at the words or the art to see why one collaborator was inspired by the other collaborator’s work. This week is no exception.

Grace’s Gator

Doesn’t it make sense that such a cute gator would lead to gator-inspired words?

Cathy’s Poem

I’ll bet you’re all grinning big gator-like grins, aren’t you? Many thanks to Cathy and Grace for being a part of this series.

Meet Grace: Grace Mealey will enter seventh grade this fall at Lynnfield Middle School. She is an honors student, a visual artist and a soprano with the Pioneer Singers, a choral ensemble of musical ambassadors.

Meet Cathy: Cathy Ballou Mealey is a picture book writer and occasional poet. She reviews children’s books at Good Reads with Ronna and for the Boston newspaper North Shore Children & Families. Cathy is represented by Liza Fleissig of the Liza Royce Agency. Find Cathy online HERE at her blog.

Keri at Keri Recommends has the Poetry Friday Roundup today. If you’d like to know more about Poetry Friday, click HERE for an explanation by Renee LaTulippe.