Celebrating poet Betsy Franco’s birthday

I had the opportunity to meet poet Betsy Franco this summer when she kindly participated in the Poetry Jam session I moderated at the ALA conference in Washington, D.C. in June. What a fun person! Petite, dynamic, and direct, with a quick sense of humor, she won the crowd with her personality AND her poetry. Today is her birthday, so I’d like to send a shout out to her and nudge you all to check out her work, which ranges widely from rhythmic and even math-related poetry for the very young to edited anthologies of the writing of teens. She is a former teacher and educational publisher with a studio art degree from Stanford and a master’s degree in education from Lesley College in Massachusetts. She is married, with three sons, and lives in Palo Alto, California. Her writing (numbering 40+ books) has been recognized on the American Library Association's list of Best Books for Young Adults and on the New York Public Library list of Books for the Teen Age.

A sampling of her poetry includes:
Mathematickles!
Counting Our Way to the 100th Day!
Counting Caterpillars and Other Math Poems

Edited anthologies of poetry written by teens:
You Hear Me?, Poems and Writing by Teenage Boys
Things I Have to Tell You, Poems and Writing by Teenage Girls
Night Is Gone, Day Is Still Coming, Stories and Poems by American Indian Teens and Young Adults

For just a taste, here’s a fun math-inspired poem by Betsy Franco (from Mathematickles):

thunder
+ lightning
+ wind
+ rain that’s warm
= summer storm

Look for more wonderful words from Betsy Franco (mother of actor, James Franco!)

Picture credit: www.rcowen.com