Monday, April 05, 2010

Poetry Tag: Lee Bennett Hopkins is IT

A new week, a new day, and a new poem! Rebecca Kai Dotlich (see her poem yesterday) has tagged her friend, Lee Bennett Hopkins to play along with Poetry Tag. He writes, “Rebecca Kai Dotlich's ‘Scribble Me a Fine Thing’ contains spring-words such as fresh pine, a daisy, rain, a fine sparrow, a small nest -- even the word 'thing' is in the title. So -- to proceed from Rebecca's verse as well as welcoming spring, here is the opening verse to my latest collection, Sharing the Seasons (McElderry Books)”:


Spring

By Lee Bennett Hopkins




Roots

sprouts
buds
flowers

always--
always--
cloud-bursting showers

rhymes
April Fools
fledglings on wing

no thing
is
newer
or
fresher
than
spring.

(Copyright c 2010 by Lee Bennett Hopkins)
(Used by permission of Curtis-Brown, Ltd.)

Five fun facts about Lee Bennett Hopkins
*he loved the comics as a kid
*he worked an editor and curriculum specialist for Scholastic, Inc.
*he has been called “The Johnny Appleseed of contemporary children’s poetry”
*he established two major awards for poetry for young people
*he currently lives in Florida

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

Look for these recent poetry books by Hopkins:
*Amazing Faces (Lee and Low, 2010)
*Sharing the Seasons (Simon & Schuster/McElderry, 2010)
*City I Love (Abrams, 2009)
*Incredible Inventions (HarperCollins, 2009)
*Sky Magic (Dutton, 2009)
*America
at War (McElderry, 2008)
*Behind the Museum Door
(Abrams, 2008)
*Check out this interview with Lee and illustrator Chris Soentpiet about their collaboration on the poetry anthology, Amazing Faces.



Next
up: Joan Bransfield Graham



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

Image credit: tagyoureitonline.com;captainstlucifer.wordpress.com/2007/08/;ncte.org;books.simonandschuster.net

4 comments:

Elaine Magliaro said...

Sylvia,

I've found it difficult keeping up with all the poetry happenings in the kidlitosphere so far this April. Of course, cooking and baking for Easter kept me busy for a few days.

SHARING THE SEASONS is a gorgeous book! I love David Diaz's illustrations. I also love the fact that so many of the poems in the book are "brand new"--having never been published before.

Another "fun" fact about Lee Bennett Hopkins: He's a VERY funny man!!!

Linda said...

Sylvia, like Elaine, I've had a hard time keeping up with all the poetry happenings this month. I'm glad I had today off to catch up. I love the Poetry Tag game. Thanks for sharing it. I'm going to try it with my students. I know they'll have a lot of with it.

Joan said...

Sylvia,

Poetry Tag is such a fabulous idea! Elaine is right--Lee's SHARING THE SEASONS is a gorgeous book; I feel very fortunate to have two poems included. Lee's birthday is next week--April 13--and I'd like to send an early HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Isn't it perfect that his birthday is nestled in the middle of Poetry Month? Thanks to you and Lee for all you do to celebrate poetry all year long.
JBG

Joan said...
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