A blog maintained by Karen D. Austin aka "Wren" --gerontologist since 2010 with prior education and teaching experience since 1980 in literature, comp/rhet, education, and psychology.
For the last five months, I have the opportunity to read 90+ nonfiction books for children (elementary, middle school, high school). I do tend to favor picture books. I believe that they make great coffee table books for readers of all ages. They are great conversation starters. I learn a great deal about a variety of topics from reading these books, which can inspire me to read college-level books on the same topic.
I also end up giving copies of some of the books to families with young readers. You might find a title that will make a great holiday gift or birthday gift for a young person in your life: your own child, niece/nephew, grandchild, neighborhood kid, a child from your faith community.
Yes, it was painful to select just 10 from the nearly 100 nonfiction kidlit books I have read during the second half of 2023. I hope that you have the opportunity to read at least one of these titles so that you can give a copy of that book to a child (or a local school).
Listed by the age of the target audience.
Meet the Bears.Author Kate Peridot, Illustrator
Becca Hall. Published 27 June 2023 by Welbeck Children’s.
The overt narrative depicts a parent helping a child identify the species of a teddy bear. However, the book teaches young readers about the scientific principles of definition and classification. The illustrations set each of the eight species of bears into their habitat, and there is a great map of the world that depicts the types of bears found on 4 of the 7 continents.
From 2015 to 2023, I have been experiencing problems with my right shoulder. This gave me the opportunity to visit orthopedic surgeons who referred me to physical therapists. I thought my issue was overuse at the gym since I attend a mix of 10+ classes at week at my local YMCA (strength training, stretching, cardio).
No. The problem was poor posture, caused in part by tech neck. (I am right handed, the hand I use to hold a mouse and a cell phone.)
Note: I am not a professional fitness instructor. Nor am I a licensed medical professional. This post only invites people to increase their awareness of the benefits of movement. I am sharing my experience as friends might do while having lunch toether. I strongly suggest that readers hire a personal trainer or visit a physical therapist for quality help in proper positioning and movement.
I have been practicing yoga regularly since 2004; however, I still managed to have my neck jutting out too far and my shoulder blades slumped too far forward and apart. Physical therapy helped me see how to place my upper body in better position during the many classes that I attend.
I decided to change the mix of my fitness classes so that I was doing fewer intense cardio classes and doing more classes that allowed me to maintain nearly a constant focus on my posture, particularly of my "frame," as the ballroom dancers describe it.
Yoga. I attend yoga 2 to 4 times a week. Yes, I work on positioning my feet, knees, and hips; however, I have good muscle memory with the lower half of my body. I talk to myself almost the entire time about my shoulder blades and neck.
I also adapt some poses to focus on correcting my posture.
I have met many people with issues created by having an
incorrect posture for years, even decades. An ounce of prevention is worth a
pound of cure. A very small adjustment
to the position of your head, neck, shoulders, arms, back, hips, knees, or feet
can prevent future pain and even prevent the need for surgery.
This post strives only to raise awareness about issues with
posture. If you have questions about any problems with posture—from head to toe—please
see a licensed medical professional—particularly orthopedic surgeons who can
diagnose and then refer to a physical therapist.
I met a retired elementary school teacher in my Tai Chi
class years ago in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. She talked about how she spent
30 years standing in a way where she locked her knees. She was learning Tai Chi as a way to address problems from her back all the way down to her feet—all caused by
improper posture.
Since 2004, I have been practicing yoga, but it wasn’t until I
started seeing a series of licensed physical therapists that I received detailed,
customized instruction on how to further improve my posture.
Here is a mantra that I have developed, based on advice from
three different physical therapists over the last eight years as well as some
advice from a handful of yoga instructors over the last twenty years.
I try to recite this to myself at least once every hour to
help me adjust my posture, primarily for my upper body:
“Tall, proud, ballerina-turtle book.”
Do I imagine that I am some bizarre oversized book that is shaped like a turtle in a tutu?
Let me explain what I do with each word. And, yes, there is repetition with standing tall, pushing my shoulder blades together, and tucking my chin. I need the repetition to double check my posture.
Tall: Elongate my spine.
Proud: Roll my shoulder blades back and down.
Ballerina: Slide my head and neck up and back.
Turtle: Tuck my chin.
Book: Push my biceps back.
Try A Video!
Here is an instructive video. I haven’t talked about core, thighs,
knees, or feet position. My two decades of yoga have helped me with that, so I did
not include those reminders in my mantra. You might need to adjust your posture
in your lower body and/or your upper body. My challenge comes from the top
third of my body, so this mantra focuses there.
Slouchy KDA at a park in Wichita, KS in 2012 vs "Stand Tall" KDA in the UK & at the YMCA in 2022
One of the benefits of going to the gym is that I get to
“talk shop” with other members and with the instructors. We can share stories of our various triumphs
and challenges.
For the last seven years, I am most often talking
about issues with my right shoulder and my right arm.
I thought that I had injured myself by lifting too many
weights. After talking with some of my instructors who are physical therapists
and after visiting an orthopedic surgeon who referred me to a physical
therapist, I discovered the foundation of my shoulder / arm problems.
Poor posture.
This revelation caused me to remember a physical therapist’s comment to
me about a decade ago (2013). I showed this PT a photograph of my centenarian
friend, Gladys Bever, who was 103 at the time: “Look at her posture,” he
admonished me. “That correlates with longevity.”
That was the first time I started to pay attention to the importance of posture beyond an aspect of aesthetics and a vehicle for conveying confidence. Each passing year, I grow more and more dedicated to spending time,
effort, and a bit of money (on physical therapy co-pays and deductibles) to
work on the root of my posture problems.
Because this topic includes a lot of areas, I’m going to
start a series.
Life can be cold and hard edged, so I love to surround myself with sheets, blankets, and quilts. I also have a lot of towels for the bathroom and kitchen, but today I am thinking about quilts. We own several store-bought items, but I feel especially comforted when I snuggle up with quilt made especially for me or a member of my family.
My beds usually have layers of blankets, comforters, and quilts on them so that I can burrow into a nest of softness and warmth.
I don't know how to knit, crotchet, quilt, or sew. Consequently, any hand-made items in my house came from one of several women in my extended family--my mother, Donna; my mother-in-law, Linda; my sisters, Julie and Michelle; and my own grandmothers, Thelma, Viola, and Doreen.
Today I was packing up some of these heirloom quilts and thinking about the generation above me. How these women haunt me--in ways that are assuring as well as ways that are a bit unnerving.
Many women who nurture children enjoy receiving children's books as gifts. I do! I can keep them at home so that young visitors have reading material. Or I can take these books with me when visiting young readers. I am not yet a grandmother, but many of my peers are. (I am in my sixties.) Mother's Day can include
mothers
bonus mothers (step-mothers and other partners of parents)
grandmothers
aunts and great aunts
fictive kin family members. (I am an "auntie" or "grandmother" of sorts to friends' children)
teachers
librarians
and MORE! Many people nurture children.
I was recently invited to judge the nonfiction category for the Cybil Awards. I have only been a judge fore one year. I read 85+ nonfiction children's books that were published between October 1, 2022 and September 30, 2023. I loved many of them. I am invited to continue, so I will probably do another gift guide, maybe in time for the holidays at the end of this year.
This list from the 85 titles is not definitively "the best" of the lot. Investigate for yourself. See my Goodreads list for all books that I read in 2022 (which includes more than just kidlit titles). It was hard to choose just eight books!
Bernette G. Ford writes a story inspired by true events. The main character of her book is a young girl who spends a summer helping her Uncle John maintain a garden plot in the city. The book provides an overview of the gardening basics: preparing the soil, planting seeds, watching things grow, harvesting, and sharing the yield with friends and family.
The book's target audience is probably students in the lower elementary grades (K-3 or 5 to 8 year olds). But adults can read this aloud to preschoolers, and older readers will find the project of urban gardening interesting.
Frank Morrison's illustrations are rich and lush and show vibrancy and community in an urban area. Too many children watch TV shows that only depict Black neighborhoods and the projects as a site of decay and crime. The photos complement the story in showing a good work ethic and strong family ties. These are depictions that need more visibility.
The book dedicates two pages to describing an action that birds can perform. For example:
"Birds Twist. How far can you twist hour neck? Like many owls, a long-eared owl can turn its neck nearly 270 degrees in either direction. That's all most all the way around! Why does it do that? To see better."
The accompanying illustration depicts a family of owls: three adults and four babies sitting on a tree. Some of the owls have their heads twisted--15 degrees, 45 degrees, 180 degrees from upright.
After highlighting an action per page, the book ends with smaller illustrations next to seven more actions: climb, dig, walk, run, dance, stalk, and dive.
I would like to think that I am growing wiser with each passing year. Perhaps I am making better choices, exhibiting a better attitude, and showing greater compassion towards others. I do think this is the case some of the time.
However, I do have to admit that the source of my wisdom does not stem from maturity. Instead I see that a lot of my wisdom is born out of fatigue.
What do I mean?
I will be in a situation where I have to make a decision. Am I going to be upset? Am I going to confront another person? Am I going to assert myself to achieve an ideal? I begin to imagine all the physical and emotional work that will need to exert in order to get my way, and then I pivot.
It will save me a lot of effort if I just learn to accept the situation at hand. I can adjust my attitude, which is also called "cognitive reframing." I can detach as the Buddhists advise: attachment leads to suffering.
Now that I am in my sixties, I am seeing that I still have some character flaws, but I often just refrain from pushing for my preferences because it's just easier in the long run.
Photo by Oregon Dept of Transportation via Creative Commons
Given the recent use of the name "Karen," I have taken to introducing myself as "Karen. . . but not THAT Karen."
I am not describing myself as a victim for having this name. Instead, I take this cultural phenomenon as an opportunity to acknowledge the privilege that I have in my life as a white Boomer with a college education who enjoys relatively good health.
I grew up in a middle class home. I enjoyed extra curricular activities, travel, access to a car, an allowance, and a college education. There are a lot of people who have not enjoyed these advantages.
I have been feeling a bit "blah" since my twentysomething children have made their Declarations of Independence. I suppose this is giving me an identity crisis, which can lead to shopping.
The post title includes "Friday Fashion," which implies I will do a fashion post once a week. To be honest, I will probably do a fashion post once a quarter, so that title is a bit misleading.
While I do buy some things from retail stores (underwear, shoes, socks, jewelry), I buy most of my clothes from thrift shops or consignment shops.
My rate of posting to my blog has slowed down a bit. I credit this in part to what I am calling Empty Nest Ennui. True, my children are 21 and 25. You would think that I would be well past adjusting to an empty next. However, I just passed two mile markers.
My son just turned 25, which is the end of adolescence by the way we talk about things in our house. Neurologists declare that the age where the frontal cortex is (typically) fully formed. Insurance actuaries figured this out decades ago from data regarding accidents. This is when people are better equipped to conduct risk assessments regarding their personal choices. Also, my son moved out a year ago in March, and he seems to be managing his own expenses. He's flown.
Because I teach a class called Death, Dying, and Bereavement, I like to read a few titles on that topic every year.
Because I had already read a novel by Amy loom, I decided to pick up a copy of her nonfiction book In Love: A Memoir of Love and Loss, published in March of 2022 by Random House.
Karen in the Conservatory (at Harlaxton Manor, Grantham, Lincolnshire, UK) with a cell phone. June 2022.
My employer is submitting documents for a project, and she needed my curriculum vitae. I decided to include it here.
Karen D. Austin Gerontologist
MA earned from 2010 to 2013; part-time teaching conducted 2013 to the present (2023)
My LinkedIn profile documents my work and education prior to 2010. I previously worked in support services in higher education and taught classes in composition, technical writing, tutor training, and surveys of literature (world literature, American literature).
For a few years, I actually was employed outside of a higher education setting when I worked as a technical writer.
Other than those four years working in the private sector, I have been a student and/or an employee at nine different colleges / universities.
At midlife, I shifted my focus to gerontology.
Current Position: Adjunct / Lecturer from Fall 2016
to present in the Gerontology Program under the supervision of Dr. M. Catherine
(Katie) Ehlman Health Professions Center 3068, (812) 461-5332 mehlman@usi.edu within
the College of Nursing and Health Professions at the University of Southern
Indiana, 8600 University Blvd., Evansville, IN 47712.
Courses taught:
·Gerontology 215: Health Care Aspects of
Gerontology
·Gerontology 215 (renamed): Intro to Global Aging
and Healthcare
·Gerontology 321: Sociological Aspects of Aging
·Gerontology 317: Continuum of Care and Community
Services
·Gerontology / Sociology 343: Death, Dying and
Bereavement
Happy 11th Blogoversary to The Generation Above Me.
Over the last decade plus, this blog has been the host to 459 posts and 2,795 comments.
These posts have gleaned over a million views (1,355,636).
In 2014, this blog hosted 114 posts, the most productive year.
In 2022, this blog hosted 9 posts.
I am still thinking about aging. I just need write about it.
Part of the issue is that my children have six living grandparents ranging in ages from 80 to 88. (My in-laws, my mother and her husband, and my father and his wife.) All six of them are experiencing some growth and development, and they are making some great contributions to their churches, neighborhoods, their friendship networks, and their families near and far. However, they are also facing notable challenges. However, I want to afford them privacy, so I am not detailing those challenges here.
The posts with the all-time views has not moved very much in the last few years, so you might want to visit this 2016 post that lists (with links) the 20 posts with the most views over the life of this blog.
The most viewed post written in 2022 was this conference preview.
