TLA: Kristine O'Connell George

Time to catch up on the Round Up.
Next up, Kristine O'Connell George!

Poet Kristine O’Connell George began writing for children after taking a class with Myra Cohn Livingston, who penned the introduction to George’s first book The Great Frog Race (Clarion, 1997) stating "In a time when we have a surfeit of verse whose purpose seems mainly to elicit a quick laugh, it is not only refreshing but urgent that our children hear poetry resonating with music, keen observation, fresh metaphor and personification, and meaningful flights of imagination.… Kristine George promises us that!"
 George not only promises, she delivers.

Over the years her body of work has grown to include:
• The Great Frog Race and Other Poems
• Old Elm Speaks: Tree Poems
• Little Dog Poems
• Toasting Marshmallows: Camping Poems
• Little Dog and Duncan
• Swimming Upstream: Middle School Poems
• Hummingbird Nest: A Journal of Poems
• Fold Me a Poem
• Emma Dilemma: Big Sister Poems

George has been praised for her playful language, varied usage of poetic form and in finding inspiration in nature as well as in the “every day.” A School Library Journal reviewer commented that George takes “ordinary moments and describe(s) them in accessible yet lyrical language, transforming the mundane into the magical.” Among the too-numerous-to-count honors received are the: Lee Bennett Hopkins Promising Poet Award, the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award, the Golden Kite Award, the Myra Cohn Livingston Award for Excellence in Children’s Poetry as well as a plethora of state awards.

George lives with her family in rural Southern California. On her website she says that when she is not writing she has “more hobbies than free time: tennis, golf, hiking, photography, collage, watercolors, gardening, sewing ... I am a voracious reader and books keep company with unfinished craft and art projects in every corner of my house. I am never bored.” Thank goodness!




Here, Kris talks about the importance of the topic of sibling relationships in her poetry (the focus of her newest book, Emma Dilemma)-- beginning even with her earliest works!



Image credit: SV; Marianne Follis

Thanks to Marianne Follis for research and writing our intros!



Posting (not poem) by Sylvia M. Vardell © 2011. All rights reserved.