New NCTE Poetry Award winner: Marilyn Singer

I posted this information on Twitter the moment it was announced and followed up on Facebook, but forgot that I should also feature the news on my blog—oh the woes of managing multiple social media platforms! So, in case you haven’t heard, it was announced at the recent conference of the National Council of Teachers of English that Marilyn Singer is the next recipient of the NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. 

The NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children
This award for poetry for children is given by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) every two years to a poet for her or his entire body of work in writing poetry for children. NCTE established its Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children in 1977 to honor a living American poet for his or her lifetime achievement in works for children aged three to thirteen years. The award was given annually until 1982, at which time it was decided that the award would be given every three years. In 2008 the Poetry Committee updated the criteria and changed the time frame to every other year. The National Council of Teachers of English strives to recognize and foster excellence in children’s poetry by encouraging its publication and by exploring ways to acquaint teachers and children with poetry through such means as publications, programs, and displays. As one means of accomplishing this goal, NCTE established its Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children to honor a poet for his or her aggregate work. Nearly twenty leading poets have since been recognized. Be sure to check out Renee La Tulippe's fantastic "Spotlight on NCTE Poets" series here. Each recipient has met the following criteria:

NCTE Poetry Award Criteria
Literary merit (art and craft of aggregate work)
• Imagination
• Authenticity of voice
• Evidence of a strong persona
• Universality; timelessness
Poet’s contributions
• Aggregate work
• Evident potential for growth and evolution in terms of craft
• Excellence
Evolution of the poet’s work
• Technical and artistic development as evidenced in the poetry
• Evidence of risk, change, and artistic stamina
• Evidence of different styles and modes of expression
Appeal to children
• Evidence of childlike quality; yet poem’s potential for stirring fresh insights and feelings should be apparent. Although the appeal to children of a poet’s work is an important consideration, the art and craft must be the primary criterion for evaluation.

Recipients of the NCTE Poetry Award

Marilyn Singer

2015 Marilyn Singer
2013 Joyce Sidman
2011 J. Patrick Lewis
2009 Lee Bennett Hopkins
2006 Nikki Grimes
2003 Mary Ann Hoberman
2000 X. J. Kennedy
1997 Eloise Greenfield
1994 Barbara Esbensen
1991 Valerie Worth
1988 Arnold Adoff
1985 Lilian Moore
1982 John Ciardi
1981 Eve Merriam
1980 Myra Cohn Livingston
1979 Karla Kuskin
1978 Aileen Fisher
1977 David McCord

About Marilyn Singer and her poetry
In my book, Poetry People: A Practical Guide to Children’s Poets, I featured this info about Marilyn and her work (which I have updated a bit here):

Marilyn Singer was born on October 3, 1948, in New York and grew up and went to college there, too. She started out as a high school English teacher but soon moved to writing full time.  While visiting the Brooklyn Botanic Garden one day, she began to write about insect characters that she had created when she was eight years old.  With her husband’s encouragement, she joined a writer’s critique group and soon published her first book, The Dog Who Insisted He Wasn’t (Dutton 1976).  Now a prolific author of over 100 children’s books, Singer has created poetry, fairly tales, picture books, novels, mysteries and nonfiction on a variety of topics. Her work has been recognized as an IRA Children’s Choice book, ALA Best Book for Young Adults, NCTE Notable Trade Book in Language Arts, Reading Rainbow selection, New York Times Best Children's Book, School Library Journal Best Book, etc. 

Singer enjoys swing and ballroom dancing, dog training, reading, bird-watching, hiking, gardening, and going to the theater. Her diverse and far-ranging interests are often reflected in the rich variety of her writing. 

From her first book about a beloved subject, dogs, she has created several others children enjoy. Marilyn Singer’s work may be best characterized by its diversity, from the distinctive poetic formats found in the poems for each month in Turtle in July to her creation of the original, ingenious “reverso” poem showcased in Mirror, Mirror as well as Follow, Follow (both available as excellent audiobooks, too!). Her wide-ranging topics include dogs, animals, science, monsters, Presidents, and nonsense. In fact, pairing her poetry with her nonfiction on a similar topic can be an interesting way to show children how one writer can try different writing styles.  Share the poems from It’s Hard To Read A Map With A Beagle On Your Lap (Holt 1993) or Every Day's a Dog's Day: A Year in Poems (Dial 2012) alongside the informative A Dog's Gotta Do What a Dog's Gotta Do: Dogs at Work (Holt 2000) or How to Talk to Your Dog (HarperTrophy 2003) by Jean Craighead George.

Nature is the dominant theme in her poetry collections, Turtle in July (Macmillan 1989) and Fireflies at Midnight (Atheneum 2003)—which make an excellent “text set” for teaching. In these two parallel works, Singer mimics the rhythms and sounds of the animals she portrays.  Each poem begs to be read aloud, perhaps with simple motions or a costume cap portraying the frog, the robin, the turtle, etc. I would also add more recent works to this category including A Full Moon is Rising (Lee & Low, 2011) and A Strange Place to Call Home: The World’s Most Dangerous Habitats and the Animals That Call Them Home, among others. 

Marilyn Singer has authored three other poetry collections that make a powerful environmental (text) set. Each is a lovely narrow size (9 X 5) illustrated with elegant minimalist India ink paintings on rice paper by Meilo So. 

*Footprints on the Roof:  Poems About the Earth (Knopf 2002) 
*How to Cross a Pond:  Poems About Water (Knopf 2003) 
*Central Heating:  Poems About Fire and Warmth  (Knopf 2005) 
These free verse poems are gems of description and imagery and may inspire young writers to look for the elements of earth, water, and fire that surround them in their everyday lives. Partner this set with Joan Bransfield Graham’s books of concrete poetry, Splish Splash (Houghton Mifflin 2001) and Flicker Flash (Houghton Mifflin 2003) to inspire children to create their own visual representations of earth, water, or fire. 

For humor and nonsense, seek out Singer’s poetry books, Creature Carnival (Hyperion, 2004) and its companion book, Monster Museum (Hyperion, 2001). Children may be surprised to find that poems can be about Godzilla, vampires, Bigfoot and other creepy characters. Accompanied by gleefully gruesome cartoon illustrations by Gus Grimly, these fun poems are full of wordplay and absurdity. Don’t be surprised if these collections inspire imitations. Have a set of Halloween “monster” masks handy for children to wear during the “creature feature” read aloud. Conclude with poems from Douglas Florian’s Monster Motel (Harcourt 1993) or Bobbi Katz’s Monsterologist (Sterling, 2009).

Family is the focus for two other Marilyn Singer collections, In My Tent (Macmillan, 1992) and Family Reunion (Atheneum 1994). These poems about family campouts and reunions show children that even common everyday life experiences can also be the subject of poetry. They can also be fun for reading aloud during family programs and events. Pair them with Kristine O’Connell George’s collection, Toasting Marshmallows: Camping Poems (Clarion 2001) or Nikki Grimes’ Hopscotch Love: A Family Treasury of Love Poems (Lothrop, Lee & Shepard 1999). Plan a poetry picnic for sharing these and other family poems outside spread out on a tablecloth or under a big tent. 

Because Singer is so prolific, it is possible to pair many of her works (poem book and poem book, poetry with nonfiction, poetry and fiction) for added impact. Children can see how an author’s ideas spill over beyond a single book and in many different directions. Whether reading her “geography” poems in Nine O'Clock Lullaby (HarperCollins, 1991) and On the Same Day in March  (HarperCollins, 2000) or her poems from the perspectives of two young girls, All We Needed to Say: Poems About School from Tanya and Sophie (Atheneum 1996), an in-depth study of one featured poet can be helpful for aspiring young writers. Simply through examining Marilyn Singer’s body of work, children can begin to see how a poet’s thinking takes shape.

The Poetry of Marilyn Singer
Here’s a nearly complete list of all of Marilyn’s poetry for young people. (Please let me know if I have missed any.)

Singer, Marilyn. 1989. Turtle in July. New York: Macmillan.
Singer, Marilyn. 1992. Nine O'Clock Lullaby. New York: HarperCollins.

Singer, Marilyn. 1992. In My Tent. New York: Macmillan. 

Singer, Marilyn. 1993. It’s Hard to Read a Map with a Beagle on Your Lap. New York: Holt. 

Singer, Marilyn. 1994. Family Reunion. New York: Atheneum. 
Singer, Marilyn. 1994. Sky Words. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Singer, Marilyn. 1995. The Morgans Dream. New York: Holt.
Singer, Marilyn. 1995. Please Don't Squeeze Your Boa, Noah. New York: Holt.

Singer, Marilyn. 1996. All We Needed to Say: Poems about School from Tanya and Sophie. New York: Atheneum.
Singer, Marilyn. 2000. On the Same Day in March. New York: HarperCollins.

Singer, Marilyn. 2001. Monster Museum. New York: Hyperion.
Singer, Marilyn. 2002. The Company of Crows. New York: Clarion.

Singer, Marilyn. 2002. Footprints on the Roof: Poems about the Earth. New York: Knopf. 

Singer, Marilyn. 2003. Fireflies at Midnight. New York: Atheneum. 

Singer, Marilyn. 2003. How to Cross a Pond: Poems about Water. New York: Knopf. 

Singer, Marilyn. 2004. Creature Carnival. New York: Hyperion.

Singer, Marilyn. 2005. Central Heating: Poems about Fire and Warmth. New York: Knopf. 

Singer, Marilyn. 2005. Monday on the Mississippi. New York: Henry Holt.

Singer, Marilyn. 2008. First Food Fight This Fall. New York: Sterling.

Singer, Marilyn. 2008. Shoe Bop! New York: Dutton. 

Singer, Marilyn. 2010. Mirror, Mirror. New York: Dutton.

Singer, Marilyn. 2011. A Full Moon is Rising. New York: Lee & Low.

Singer, Marilyn. 2011. A Stick Is an Excellent Thing. New York: Clarion. 

Singer, Marilyn. 2011. Twosomes: Love Poems from the Animal Kingdom. New York: Knopf.

Singer, Marilyn. 2012. A Strange Place to Call Home: The World’s Most Dangerous Habitats and the Animals That Call Them Home. San Francisco: Chronicle.

Singer, Marilyn. 2012. The Boy Who Cried Alien. New York: Hyperion.

Singer, Marilyn. 2012. The Superheroes Employment Agency. New York: Clarion.

Singer, Marilyn, 2012. Every Day's a Dog's Day: A Year in Poems. New York: Dial.

Singer, Marilyn. 2013. Follow, Follow: A Book of Reverso Poems. New York: Penguin. 

Singer, Marilyn. 2013. Rutherford B., Who Was He?: Poems About Our Presidents. New York: Disney-Hyperion.

In addition, many of Marilyn’s poems are featured in anthologies of poetry. I’m so proud to say her lovely poems are part of our Poetry Friday Anthology series, too. Plus, if all that weren’t enough, Marilyn is also a tremendous advocate for poetry for young people and initiated the Poetry Blast (along with Barbara Genco) featuring poets reading their works aloud at the annual conference of the American Library Association more than a dozen years ago. It was that event that inspired me to launch a parallel event featuring poets reading their poetry in the Poetry Round Up at the annual conference of the Texas Library Association that has now featured more than 50 poets who write for young people. The ripples of her influence are far and wide and her work continues to touch readers of all ages!

Now head on over to These 4 Corners where Paul is hosting this week's Poetry Friday this week!

Posting by Sylvia M. Vardell © 2014. All rights reserved.