Tuesday, April 06, 2010

Poetry Tag: Joan Bransfield Graham is IT


Tag! Time for another poet to be IT! Lee Bennett Hopkins (see below) has tagged Joan Bransfield Graham who writes, “Lee mentions ‘showers,’ and so I'll share my ‘Shower’ poem from my book of shaped water poems, SPLISH SPLASH (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). Please read down, starting on the left.” Here is the page from the book, used with permission:
























© Joan Bransfield Graham
Illustration credit: © Steve Scott, illustrator, Splish Splash, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Joan also shares,
“At a school visit I did once, each First Grade class wore hats to go with poems in SPLISH SPLASH. All the children in one class wore shower caps, had towels around their necks, and there was a yellow rubber duck. We had a parade, marching through the playground, led by the principal in his Mad Hatter hat. When we came to a stop, over the PA (public address) system they played "Splish Splash I Was Taking a Bath," and everyone started dancing. Now that's celebrating poetry! The theme for this year's National Summer Reading program is MAKE A SPLASH @ YOUR LIBRARY: READ!”

Five fun facts about Joan Bransfield Graham
*she was born on Halloween
*she lived one summer with a Spanish family on the island of Majorca
*she is married to a former FBI agent
*she now lives near the Pacific Ocean
*she loves photography and has taken many notable photographs

[Taken from Poetry People; A Practical Guide to Children’s Poets]


Look for these poetry books by Graham:
*Splish Splash (Houghton Mifflin 2001)
*Flicker Flash (Houghton Mifflin 2003)

Look for CAN! (Children's Authors Network) Web site, too.




Next up: April Halprin Wayland





Posting (not poem) by Sylvia M. Vardell © 2010. All rights reserved.

Image credits: tagyoureitonline.com;captainstlucifer.wordpress.com/2007/08/;joangraham; houghtonmifflinharcourt

7 comments:

Mandy Yates said...

Sylvia,
I love this poetry tag game! Each day, I anxiously wait to see which poet will be next. It's great to see how poetry is connected, but also how the "poets" are connected as well.

Joan-your work is wonderful! I have always loved Splish Splash and Flicker Flash and have shared them with many of my first grade students over the years.

laurasalas said...

This is so cool! What a great idea, Sylvia.

I love Joan's poetry. So deceptively simple--and so obviously fun! Great story about the kids in their shower caps. That totally makes my day.

Jane Heitman Healy said...

Sylvia, I'm just getting caught up with you and am delighted by poetry tag! Thank you and the participating poets!!

Sylvia Vardell said...

Thanks to each of you for stopping by. I know it's a challenge to keep up-- I feel it myself-- but even checking back later will show the continuity of poetry from day to day. I'm so grateful to each of these poets for participating!

Joan said...

Thanks for the kind words! Mandy, you are so right about connections; poetry is an emotional connection, a duet between writer and reader with a chorus of "Oh, YES!" Laura, that parade is an amazing memory--there were also crocodile hats, daisy hats . . . . Thanks, Sylvia, for this lovely opportunity to CONNECT!
JBG

Cynthia said...

Joan,

I love the camel picture. How on earth did you get it to hold on to the book. I know I told you my Kindergarteners were hooked on the poetry book, but camels too? This is to funny!

Joan said...

Full Disclosure: No poetry books were chewed up in the production of this photo! A fellow traveler took the photo of me in Egypt on the camel, but I had fun using Photoshop to add my book and even make the camel's lip hang over it. My poem "Crocodile Tears" in SPLISH SPLASH mentions the "river Nile," and I got to sail on it.
JBG