Sneak Peek for Poetry Friday 2019

Welcome to our first Poetry Friday gathering for 2019! (InLinkz at the bottom)
It's time again for me to gather all the poetry books for young people that I believe will be published in the year ahead. And I was shocked and happy to see I already have a list of 75+ books set to appear this year! WOO HOO! I usually only know about 20-30 books at this early date, then add to the list throughout the year and end up with around 100 titles. I hope this beginning list continues to grow and grow and grow! There are new poets to support, new forms and topics to consider, board books, nonfiction books, anthologies, novels in verse, memoirs, and more. Here's my "SNEAK PEEK" list thus far, but I know y'all will let me know of any additional titles or any errors you see here. Thanks!

2019 Sneak Peek Poetry List

1. Adams, Jennifer. 2019. How Do I Love Thee? Ill. by Christopher Silas Neal. New York: HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray. 
2. Alexander, Kwame. 2019. How to Read a Book. Ill. by Melissa Sweet. New York: HarperCollins.
3. Alexander, Kwame. 2019. The Undefeated. Ill. by Kadir Nelson. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
4. Anderson, Laurie Halse. 2019. Shout. New York: Viking.
5. Argueta, Jorge. 2019. Caravan to the North. Ill. by Manuel Monroy. Toronto: Groundwood Books.
6. Baron, Chris. 2019. All of Me. New York: Feiwel & Friends. 
7. Beauvais, Clementine. 2019. In Paris with You. (Translated from the French by Sam Taylor.) Wednesday.
8. Bramer, Shannon. 2019. Climbing Shadows: Poems for Children. Ill. by Cindy Derby. Toronto: Groundwood.
9. Brown, Calef. 2019. Up Verses Down. New York: Henry Holt.
10. Brown, Skila. 2019. Clackety Track: Poems about Trains. Ill. by Jamey Christoph. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.
11. Bryant, Jen. 2019. Feed Your Mind: A Story of August Wilson. Ill. by Canada Chapman. New York: Abrams.
12. Buhrman-Deever and Kitchen, Bert. 2019. Predator and Prey: A Conversation in Verse. Ill. by Bert Kitchen. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.
13. Bulion, Leslie. 2019. Superlative Birds. Ill. by Robert Meganck. Atlanta: Peachtree.
14. Coelho, Joseph. 2019. A Year of Nature Poems. Ill. by Kelly Louise Judd. Wide Eyed Editions. 
15. Cookson, Paul. Ed. 2019. Fire Burn, Cauldron Bubble: Magical Poems. Bloomsbury Education.  
16. Coombs, Kate. 2019. Emily Dickinson: In Emily’s Garden. Ill. by Carme Lemniscates. Gibbs Smith.
17. Coombs, Kate. 2019. William Shakespeare: I Love You. Ill. by Carme Lemniscates. Gibbs Smith.
18. Corman, Avery. 2018. Bark in the Park!: Poems for Dog Lovers. Ill. by Hyewon Yum. Orchard.
19. Davis, Alexandra. 2019. Lumber Jills: The Unsung Heroines of World War II. Il. by Katie Hickey. Chicago: Albert Whitman. 
20. de la Mare, Walter. 2019. Dream Song. Ill. by Monica Felix. Minneapolis: Creative Editions.
21. Dotlich, Rebecca Kai. 2019. You and Me. Ill. by Susan Reagan. Minneapolis: Creative Editions.
22. Duncan, Alice Faye. 2019. A Song for Gwendolyn Brooks. Ill. by Xia Gordon. New York: Sterling.
23. Elliott, David. 2019. Voices. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
24. Elliott, Zetta. 2019. Say Her Name. New York: Disney-Hyperion.
25. Engle, Margarita. 2019. Dancing Hands, How Teresa Carreño Played the Piano for President Lincoln. Ill. by Rafael López. New York: Atheneum.
26. Engle, Margarita. 2019. Soaring Earth: A Companion Memoir to Enchanted Air. New York: Atheneum. 
27. Fitch, Sheree. 2019. Toes in My Nose: And Other Poems. Ill. by Sydney Smith. Nimbus Publishing.
28. Fliess, Sue. 2019. Little Red Rhyming Hood. Ill. by and Petros Bouloubasis. Chicago: Albert Whitman. 
29. Fogliano, Jullie. 2019. If I Was the Sunshine. Ill. by Loren Long. New York: Atheneum. 
30. Fogliano, Jullie. 2019. Just in Case You Want to Fly. New York: Holiday House.
31. Franco, Betsy. 2019. Counting in Dog Years and Other Sassy Math Poems. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.
32. Frost, Helen. 2019. Hello, I’m Here! Ill. by Rick Lieder. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.
33. Greenfield, Eloise. 2019. Thinker: My Puppy Poet and Me. Ill. by Ehsan Abdollahi. Sourcebooks/Jabberwocky.
34. Grimes, Nikki. 2019. Ordinary Hazards. Honesdale, PA: Boyds Mills Press.
35. Hall, Kirsten. 2019. Snow Birds. Ill. by Jenni Desmond. New York: Simon & Schuster. 
36. Heard, Georgia. 2019. Boom! Bellow! Bleat!: Animal Poems for Two or More Voices. Ill. by Aaron DeWitt. Honesdale, PA: Boyds Mils/Wordsong. 
37. Hemphill, Stephanie. 2019. The Language of Fire: Joan of Arc Reimagined. New York: Balzer + Bray.
38. Hoberman, Mary Ann. 2019. The Sun Shines Everywhere. Ill. by Luciano Lozano. New York: Little, Brown. 
39. Holt, K. A. 2019. Redwood and Ponytail. San Francisco: Chronicle.
40. Hopkins, Ellen. 2019. Sanctuary Highway. New York: Simon & Schuster.
41. Hopkins, Lee Bennett. Ed. 2019. I Am Someone Else: Poems About Pretending. Ill. by Christ Hsu. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge.
42. Hopkins, Lee Bennett. Ed. 2019. I Remember. Ill. by various artists. New York: Lee & Low. 
43. Howell, Raven. 2019. Glimmer, Sing of Sun. Ill. by Carina Povarchik. Spork.
44. ______. 2019. I See the Moon: Rhymes for Bedtime. Ill. by Rosalind Beardshaw. Nosy Crow.
45. Hutchens, Verlie. 2019. Trees. Ill. by Jing Jing Tsong. Beach Lane Books/Simon & Schuster. 
46. ______. 2019. The Iliad. Ill. by Gareth Hinds. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.
47. Illustratus. 2019. Ghost: Thirteen Haunting Tales to Tell. San Francisco: Chronicle. 
48. Janeczko,Paul B. Ed. 2019. The Proper Way to Meet a Hedgehog and Other How-To Poems. Ill. by Richard Jones. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.
49. Karlins, Mark. 2019. Kiyoshi's Walk. Ill. by Nicole Wong. New York: Lee & Low/Shen's Books.
50. Kaur, Jasmin. 2019. When You Ask Me Where I'm Going. New York: HarperCollins.
51. Khwaja, Maham. 2019. The Journey. New York: Lee & Low.
52. Landry, Leo. 2019. Home Run, Touchdown, Basket, Goal!: Sports Poems for Little Athletes. New York: Henry Holt.
53. Ledyard, Stephanie Parsley. 2019. Home Is a Window. Ill. by Chris Sasak. New York: Neal Porter Books.
54. Levy, Debbie. 2019. Down the Hill: One Girl’s Story of Walking into History. Ill. by Jo Ann Allen Boyce. New York: Bloomsbury.
55. Lucido, Aimee. 2019. Emmy in the Key of Code. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt/Versify.
56. Macfarlane, Robert. 2019. The Lost Words. Ill. by Jackie Morris. Anansi International.
57. Maillard, Kevin Noble. 2019. Fry Bread: A Native American Family Tradition. Ill. by Juana Martinez-Neal. New York: Roaring Brook.
58. Meister, Cari. 2019. Pony Poems for Little Pony Lovers. Ill. by Sara Rhys. New York: Beach Lane Books/Simon & Schuster.
59. Meyer, Eileen. 2019. Superlative A. Lincoln: Poems About Our 16th President. Ill. by Dave Szalay. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge.
60. Millay, Edna St. Vincent. 2019. Afternoon on a Hill. Ill. by Paolo Domeniconi. Creative Editions. 
61. Miller, Rhett. 2019. No More Poems!: A Book in Verse That Just Gets Worse. Ill. by Dan Santat. New York: Little, Brown.
62. Meyer, Eileen. 2019. The Superlative A. Lincoln. Ill. by Dave Szalay. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge.
63. Moskowitz-Sweet, Gloria and Smith, Hope Anita. 2019. It Rained Warm Bread. Ill. by Leatrice Lyon. New York: Macmillan.
64. Nagai, Mariko. 2019. Under the Broken Sky. New York: Macmillan. 
65. Ode, Eric. 2019. Otters, Snails, and Tadpole Tails: Poems from the Wetlands. Ill. by Ruth Harper. Kane-Miller.
66. ___________. 2019. Origami and Poetry Inspired by Nature. Ill. by Clover Robin. Somerville, MA: Nosy Crow. 
67. Paul, Miranda. Ed. 2019. Thanku: Poems of Gratitude. Ill. by Marlena Myles. Lerner/ Brookfield, CT: Millbrook Press..
68. Powell, Patricia Hruby. 2019. Lift as You Climb: The Story of Ella Baker. Ill. by R. Gregory Christie. New York: Simon & Schuster/McElderry. 
69. Quattlebaum, Mary. 2019. Brother, Sister, Me and You. Washington DC: National Geographic.
70. Raschka, Chris. 2019. Mother Goose of Pudding Lane. Ill. by Vladimir Radunsky. Somerville, MA: Candlewick. 
71. Rafael, Solli. 2019. Limelight. Andrews McMeel. 
72. Ramirez-Christensen, Esperanza. 2019. My First Book of Haiku Poems: A Picture, Poem and a Dream; Classic Poems by Japanese Haiku Masters. Ill. by Tracy Gallup. Tuttle Publishing. 
73. Reynolds, Jason. 2019. Long Way Down (graphic novel edition). Ill. by Danica Novgorodoff. New York: Atheneum. 
74. Riddle, Chris. 2019. Poems to Live Your Life By. London: Macmillan.  
75. Rogalski, Mark. 2019. Make Me a Monster. San Francisco: Chronicle.
76. Rogers, Fred. 2019. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood: The Poetry of Mister Rogers. Ill. by Luke Flowers. Quirk Books.
77. Rosen, Michael. J. 2019. The Greatest Table. Ill. by Becca Stadtlander. Creative Company.
78. Rossetti, Christina. 2019. Blooming Beneath the Sun. Ill. by Ashley Bryan. New York: Atheneum.
79. Russell, Ching Yeung. 2019. House Without Walls. Yellow Jacket.
80. Salas, Laura Purdie. 2019. In the Middle of the Night: Poems from a Wide-Awake House. Ill. by Angela Matteson. Honesdale, PA: Boyds Mills/Wordsong.
81. Salas, Laura Purdie. 2019. Lion of the Sky: Haiku for All Seasons. Ill. by Merce Lopez. Brookfield, CT: Millbrook Press.
82. Salas, Laura Purdie. 2019. Snowman – Cold = Puddle: Spring Equations. Ill. by Micha Archer. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge.
83. Salazar, Aida. 2019. The Moon Within. New York: Scholastic.
84. Schaub, Michelle. 2019. Finding Treasure: A Collection of Collections. Ill. by Carmen Saldana. Waterton, MA: Charlesbridge.
85. Shiefman, Vicky. 2019. Who Has Wiggle-Waggle Toes. Ill. by Francesca Chessa. New York: Holiday House.
86. Singer, Marilyn. 2019. I’m the Big One Now!: Poems about Growing Up. Ill. by Jana Christy. Honesdale, PA: Boyds Mills/Wordsong.
87. Singer, Marilyn. 2019. Who Named Their Pony Macaroni? Ill. by Ryan McAmis. New York: Disney-Hyperion.
88. Slade, Suzanne. 2019. Daring Dozen: The Twelve Who Walked on the Moon. Ill. by Alan Marks. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge.
89. Spinelli, Eileen. 2019. Birdie. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.
90. Sorell, Traci. 2019. At the Mountain Base. Ill. by Weshoyot Alvitre. New York: Penguin. 
91. Steinberg, D. J. (reprint edition) 2019. Preschool, Here I Come! New York: Penguin/Grosset & Dunlap.
92. Steinglass, Elizabeth. 2019. Soccerverse: Poems About Soccer. Ill. by Edson Ike. Honesdale, PA: Boyds Mills/Wordsong.
93. Stevens, Roger. Ed. 2019. Moonstruck!: Poems About Our Moon. Ill. by Ed Boxall. London: Otter Barry Books. 
94. Turk, Evan. 2019. You are Home: An Ode to the National Parks. New York: Atheneum.
95. Updike, John. 2019. A Child’s Calendar. (20^th Anniversary Edition) Ill. by Trina Schart Hyman. 
96. van de Vendel, Edward. 2019. I’ll Root for You and Other Poems. Ill. by Wolf Erlbruch. Translated by David Colmer. Eerdmans.
97. Vecchione, Patrice and Raymond, Alyssa. Eds. 2019. Ink Knows No Borders. Triangle Square. 
98. Warga, Jasmine. 2019. Other Words for Home. New York: Balzer + Bray. 
99. Weatherford, Carole Boston. 2019. The Roots of Rap: 16 Bars on the 4 Pillars of Hip-Hop. Ill. by Frank Morrison. Little Bee Books.
100. Wenzel, Brendan. 2019. A Stone Sat Still. San Francisco: Chronicle.
101. Wilson, Kip. 2019. White Rose. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 
102. Withrow, Steven. 2019. A Poem is a Chameleon. lulu.com.
103. Wolf, Allan. 2019. The Day the Universe Exploded My Head: Poems that Take You Into Space and Back Again. Ill. by Anna Raff. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.
104. Yolen, Jane and Stemple, Heidi. 2019. Eek, You Reek! Minneapolis: Lerner/Millbrook.

ABOUT POETS & POETRY

1. Burleigh, Robert. 2019. O Captain, My Captain. Ill. by Sterling Hundley. New York: Abrams.
2. Drake, Julia. 2019. The Last True Poets of the Sea. New York: Disney-Hyperion.
3. Hegedus, Bethany. 2019. Rise!: From Caged Bird to Poet of the People, Maya Angelou. Ill. by Tonya Engel. New York: Lee & Low.
4. Hohn, Nadia L. 2019. A Like Miss Lou: Jamaican Poet Louise Bennett Coverley Finds Her Voice. Ill. by Eugenie Frenandes. New York: Owlkids.
5. Hohn, Nadia L. 2019. Malaika’s Costume. New York: Owlkids.
6. Hohn, Nadia L. 2019. Malaika’s Winter Carnival. New York: Owlkids.
7. Leonardo, Cory. 2019. Call Me Alastair. New York: Simon and Schuster.
8. Lerner, Sarah. 2019. Parkland Speaks: Survivors from Marjory Stoneman Douglas Share Their Stories. New York: Crown. 
9. Manfredi, Angie. Ed. 2019. The F Word. New York: Abrams/Amulet.
10. Reynolds, Shauna LaVoy. 2019. Poetree. Ill. by Shahrzad Maydani.
11. Rogers, Lisa. 2019. Mr. Marshall’s Red Wheelbarrow: A story About William Carlos Williams’s Beloved Poem. Ill. by Chuck Groenink. New York: Random House/Schwartz & Wade Books.
12. Slade, Suzanne. 2019. Exquisite. Ill. by Cozbi A. Cabrera. New York: Abrams.
13. Yolen, Jane. 2019. Emily Writes. Ill. by Christine Davenier. New York: Macmillan.

Now, please share what you're up to as we kick off a new year of Poetry Fridays! Please use the InLinkz tool below (click on "Add Link"). Thanks a bunch! Sending a big poetry-filled hug to you all!

Inlinkz Link Party

Poetry, Principals, and NCTE

I'm catching up a bit and want to share highlights of my presentation at the NCTE conference (National Council of Teachers of English) in Houston, TX. I was lucky enough to present alongside my friend and collaborator, poet Janet Wong, Kari (K.A.) Holt, poet and author of novels in verse, and Tom Marshall, an amazing, award-winning principal from New Jersey. Our topic was "Creating a Positive School Culture Through Poetry." I set the stage with some background info and then Kari talked about how "poetry is the way you see the world" and how poetry has an ability to secretly teach empathy. Tom focused on how schools can promote literacy through poetry and find ways to create a culture of celebration. As a teacher, he would challenge students who were trying to write poetry to simply "make it look like a poem." Then, when he revealed that he wrote a poem for every single teacher on his staff, our audience was stunned! One teacher said, "Hold still, while I activate my cloning machine!" Then Janet wrapped things up by sharing a variety of ways to bring joy and happiness into daily teaching. We infused examples from our latest book, GREAT Morning! Poems for School Leaders to Read Aloud, as well as examples from other books of school-themed and celebration poetry. It was inspiring just to be in the room! Here are just a few highlights from our session!

Now head on over to Carol's Corner for our Poetry Friday meet-up!

Alice Faye Duncan on Gwendolyn Brooks

Coming in January is an exciting new poetic picture book biography, A Song for Gwendolyn Brooks (Sterling, 2019) by Alice Faye Duncan. It's a beautiful look at a much loved and important poet, the first African American to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1950, Gwendolyn Brooks.  Duncan weaves bits of Brooks' poems throughout her very poetic telling for a lovely effect. Illustrations by Xia Gordon are similarly poetic in a palette of pinks-to-browns that move across the pages from moment to moment, scene to scene. The approach is very child-friendly with details kids will enjoy, as well as very artistic highlighting creativity, reflection and stillness. Plus, Duncan includes an author's note, timeline, suggested reading list and a bibliography-- which I always love. All together, it's a fresh, poetic, and perfect way to tell the life story of a poet. 

Today, we're lucky to get a behind-the-scenes glimpse from author Alice Faye Duncan who shares a bit about how this book came to be.

Alice Faye writes:
My new book—A SONG FOR GWENDOLYN BROOKS--is an idea that began with American poet, Etheridge Knight. I met him in 1978 when a Memphis museum sponsored artists in the city schools. The museum dispatched Etheridge Knight to Mrs. Fee’s 6^th grade class at Snowden Elementary. There I sat in my desk on a front row, while poet Phyllis Tickle introduced her friend to us. Mrs. Tickle called Mr. Knight a “Native Mississippian.” She said he had survived the Korean War and discovered his writing genius while serving time in an Indiana prison. She also shared that it was poet, Gwendolyn Brooks, who helped Etheridge Knight publish his first book of poems.   

During my 6^th grade year, I was a disciple of Paul Laurence Dunbar. My parents owned his collected works and “In the Morning” was my favorite poem. My Mama would recite it daily as my morning, “wake-up call.” 

In the Dunbar tradition, I filled my journals with folksy poems written in the language of my community. When I encountered Mr. Knight in ‘78, I had never met a writer in person, but I loved poetry and listened with interest as he read his work. His voice was like the grumble of a gravel road and he did not feel like a stranger. Decked in a tweed cap and a scruffy beard, he looked like my Daddy. 

Ehteridge Knight read his poem, “The Idea of Ancestry.” Only a few phrases made sense to me. However, I received a grand understanding in 1978. I learned that if I wanted, I too, could publish poems and live my life as a poet like Etheridge Knight.

Fast forward to the summer of 2015. I am a middle-aged writer, who remembers 6^th grade. I remember Etheridge Knight—his voice, his poem, and old tweed cap. Perhaps the poet’s struggle to overcome and his triumph with words could inspire a new generation of readers. In the summer of 2015—an idea took root. I would write a children’s book about Etheridge Knight.

Since the poet died in 1991, I would need Phyllis Tickle’s memories to write his biography. I went to the white pages and found her telephone number. A voice filled with joy answered the phone. After I introduced myself, she apologized saying, “I can’t talk long.” Lung cancer required that she use her breath judiciously. Our call ended. She said, “Send me your questions. Email is best.”

When I found her in 2015, poet Phyllis Tickle was a retired Episcopal lay minister, who had served as Publishers Weekly’s first religion editor. Our email exchange would soon alter my writing plans. 

In my first note, I asked about her connection with Etheridge Knight. She called him, “the best of all of us.” Mrs. Tickle explained that Gwendolyn Brooks, the first Black writer to win a Pulitzer Prize, was his “faithful and stabilizing friend,” who mentored him and visited the Tickle home when Etheridge lived in Memphis.

Mrs. Tickle was uncertain of the year, but in her reply, she was eager to share a story about Gwendolyn Brooks. She and her husband, Dr. Sam Tickle, were a charismatic pair, famous for hosting literary salons. In honor of Miss Brooks and her Memphis visit, the Tickles filled their living room with a sagacious crowd of poets, playwrights, and professors. Because they understood a Pulitzer Prize poet was a “big thing,” the couple’s four youngest children darted across the room with EEKS and shrills. 

When Etheridge arrived with Gwendolyn, the poised poet sat down in a harp-back chair. From the wooden seat, Miss Brooks engaged in a talk about craft. She read poems and enchanted the children with the tinkling sound of her girlish giggle.  

Somewhere in the middle of a giggle, Miss Brooks leaned back and a chair spoke broke. Phyllis Tickle wrote to me, “We thought the dadgummed chair should be reverenced afterward as something close to a sacred object.”

The Tickles never repaired the chair. Phyllis wrote, “That would be a sacrilege!” 

It is this memory that turned my attention toward Gwendolyn Brooks. If the life of Etheridge Knight was worthy of young readers—surely his literary mother deserved the highest elevation and a biography of her own. 

I dropped all writing interests in 2015 to research the life of Gwendolyn Brooks. And when Phyllis Tickle died in the Fall of that year, I searched journals for another soul who could offer a golden understanding of the Pulitzer Prize poet. 

I found my golden sage in Dr. Gloria Wade Gayles, a professor from Spelman College. She wrote essays and books about Miss Brooks. Already late for a luncheon, Dr. Gayles answered her phone in a rush. When I explained the reason for my call, she praised my ambition and offered an affirming oracle to send me on my way. 

Dr. Gayles said, “Gwen has reached for you as an instrument…You are the giver of a gift.” 

Alice Faye Duncan © November 2018

Thank you, Alice Faye, for sharing this glimpse and congratulations on your lovely tribute to Gwendolyn Brooks.

Now join the rest of the Poetry Friday crew at Jama's place, Jama's Alphabet Soup where she is inspiring us all to VOTE!