Birth of the Zeno

I’m on a JPat roll at the moment, happy to share news of another contribution of J. Patrick Lewis. He has invented a new poetic form, the zeno! Tricia scooped the news at The Miss Rumphius Effect earlier this week, but I think it bears repeating. I know teachers enjoy introducing the form of poetry to kids, as they model for children the different ways a poem can look and sound. And kids often enjoy this aspect of poetry too—approaching it as a puzzle to solve and understand. And I know poets themselves approach the form and structure of poetry with great intentionality and I’m always curious about why a certain choice is made. Well… drum roll… you can see Pat’s past as a professor of economics in the roots of his new poem form, the zeno. He describes it so:

"I've never invented a new verse form... until now… It was inspired by the mathematical "hailstone sequence," simply explained here…. I call the form a "zeno," so named for Zeno, the philosopher of paradoxes, especially the dichotomy paradox, according to which getting anywhere involves first getting half way there and then again halfway there, and so on ad infinitum. I'm dividing each line in half of the previous one. Here's my definition of a zeno: A 10-line verse form with a repeating syllable count of 8,4,2,1,4,2,1,4,2,1. The rhyme scheme is abcdefdghd. Naturally, I don't expect it to displace the sestina, villanelle, triolet, et al. But it would be grand if they all moved over one seat and made room for it.”

Here are a few examples to illustrate the form:

Nature’s Art Gallery

By J. Patrick Lewis

Wind’s paintbrush strokes in streaks the trees,

a miracle,

ages

old,

it knows without

being

told—

Novembering

maples

gold.

Traveling by Armchair

By J. Patrick Lewis

You can take a trip by Greyhound,

motorcycle,

paddle-

wheel,

ocean liner

(package

deal)—

I prefer a

bookmo-

bile.

I think kids will love it—the math of it and the brevity. I know they enjoy list poems and this form suggests a list, but requires a bit more thought and planning. I hope they’ll give it a go. In the mean time, for teachers (and kids) who are looking for other poets who specialize in experimentation with form, look for the work of Paul Janeczko (Poetry from A to Z: A Guide for Young Writers and A Kick in the Head: An Everyday Guide to Poetic Forms) and Avis Harley (Fly with Poetry; An ABC of Poetry and Leap into Poetry: More ABCs of Poetry), among others.

And if you're interested in more poetry creation activities, check out poet David Harrison's blog. He is hosting a poetry writing contest each month based on a single word ("dirt" for October) with a chance to vote for your favorite-- and help select Hall of Fame winners, one per month. Next up, David will be posting the word for November on Monday.

Finally, it’s not too late to join the Poetry Friday round up hosted by Jennie at Biblio File.

Posting (not poem) by Sylvia M. Vardell © 2009. All rights reserved.

Image credit: research.haifa.ac.il; zenoroth.com

Riddle poems and Spot the Plot

I’m a big fan of riddles and love sharing them with kids. Riddles exercise those higher level thinking skills and stretch young minds to use logic, deduction, analysis, and problem solving skills. Plus, I’ll never forget when my son, age 4 (and now 21), first realized that riddles usually followed a regular formula: Pose a question, suggest attributes, offer clues, wait… and provide answer. Unfortunately, he didn’t realize that riddles also involve subtlety and indirectness—so he would pick an object in the room, describe it, and ask us what it was—all while staring at said object! It was hilarious!

Many poets have used the riddle format for creating clever and fascinating poems, too. Especially the brilliant J. Patrick Lewis. His latest contribution, Spot the Plot; A Riddle Book of Book Riddles (San Francisco: Chronicle, 2009), illustrated by Lynn Munsinger, is a terrific addition to this oeurve. It features a baker’s dozen collection of rhyming poems, each describing a much-loved classic work of children’s literature. (I won’t spoil it by listing those works—which are identified on the last page.)

Lewis’s clever use of language and wordplay is ever evident and the subtle humor is playful and fun. Double-page spreads highlight each poem against a story-like backdrop illustration provided by the talented creator of Tacky the Penguin, Lynn Munsinger. A boy in Sherlock Holmes attire and a girl in a trenchcoat skip through each poem-riddle looking for clues and participating in the visual story. So appealing and inviting. Even the bookflap content is a riddle poem! I asked Pat about his choices of poem forms and he shared this nugget:

“Prior to SPOT THE PLOT, I'd written four books of riddles on various themes. I love the form, the challenge of coming up with the obliquely perfect definition—telling the truth, but telling it slant. Riddles are inherently interactive, so they make great read-alouds at school visits. In SPOT THE PLOT, I was trying most often to tell the book riddle in as few words as possible, as in, “Her hair’s/The stairs.” Or, a new one, “This trail becomes/A trail of crumbs.” The fewer words, the better, that is, the cleverer, to my way of thinking. Just as often, though, I had to rely on a tercet or a quatrain to tell the tale, but with a hint of confusion, as in “Pre-teen plays/a starring role/as she surveys/ a rabbit hole.” But, you see, perhaps that “rabbit hole” gives too much away. Writing riddles, especially for children, which means making them all equally but not too perplexing, is damnably difficult.”

As usual, Pat makes it look easy and offers “book review” poems in a variety of poetic formats. Here’s just one that I know kids and grown ups alike will enjoy:

A magical telling,

a pig for the selling,

a spider is spelling

out words that amaze.

Do you know this spider,

this spiderweb writer?

The pig will delight her

the rest of her days.

From: Lewis, J. Patrick. 2009. Spot the Plot; A Riddle Book of Book Riddles. San Francisco: Chronicle.

I’m so struck by what a teaching tool this could also be for teachers searching for a fresh approach to book reports: challenging kids to describe their favorite books via riddle poems. And if you’re looking for more examples of riddle poems, here’s a list you may find helpful. (Please let me know of any others you know about.)

Poetry Books with Riddle Poems

1. Calmenson, Stephanie. 2005. Kindergarten Kids: Riddles, Rebuses, Wiggles, Giggles, and More! New York: HarperCollins.

2. Dotlich, Rebecca Kai. 2001. When Riddles come Rumbling: Poems to Ponder. Honesdale, PA: Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press.

3. Ghigna, Charles. 1995. Riddle Rhymes. New York: Hyperion Books for Children.

4. Lewis, J. Patrick. 2002. Arithmetickle. San Diego: Harcourt.

5. Lewis, J. Patrick. 1996. Riddle-icious. New York: Knopf.

6. Lewis, J. Patrick. 1998. Riddle-lightful. New York: Knopf.

7. Lewis, J. Patrick. 2004. Scien-trickery: Riddles in Science. Orlando: Harcourt.

8. Lewis, J. Patrick. 2009. Spot the Plot; A Riddle Book of Book Riddles. San Francisco: Chronicle.

9. Livingston, Myra Cohn. 1990. My Head is Red, and other Riddle Rhymes. New York: Holiday House.

10. Morrison, Lillian. 2006. Guess Again! Riddle Poems. Little Rock, AR: August House.

11. Nims, Bonnie Larkin. 1992. Just Beyond Reach and other Riddle Poems. New York: Scholastic.

12. Shannon, George. Busy in the Garden. New York: Greenwillow.

13. Sidman, Joyce. Butterfly Eyes and Other Secrets of the Meadow. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

14. Spires, Elizabeth. 1999. Riddle Road: Puzzles in Poems and Pictures. New York: McElderry Books.

15. Spires, Elizabeth. 1995. With one White Wing: Puzzles in Poems and Pictures. New York: McElderry Books.

16. Swann, Brian. 1998. The House with No Door: African Riddle- Poems. San Diego: Harcourt.

17. Swann, Brian. 1998. Touching the Distance: Native American Riddle-Poems. San Diego: Harcourt.

18. Swenson, May. 1993. The Complete Poems to Solve. New York: Macmillan.

Posting (not poem) by Sylvia M. Vardell © 2009. All rights reserved.

Image credit: tptb.co.uk;chroniclebooks.com

Poetry for Teens

Here's a big shout out to my former students, Cynthia Bartek and Heather Schubert, who are now UberLibrarians in Austin (Texas) and have launched the first Austin Teen Book Festival TODAY! What a terrific event they have planned. I had hoped to go, but it didn't work out. But I promised them a poetry booklist for teens, which I am sharing with you here. It focuses on a few titles (mostly published post-2000) in a few fun categories with a focus on maximum teen appeal. Enjoy!

Crazy Awesome Poetry for Teens
1. Engle, Margarita. 2008. The Surrender Tree. Henry Holt.
2. Frost, Helen. 2003. Keesha's House. Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
3. Hemphill, Stephanie. 2007. Your Own, Sylvia. Knopf.
4. Holbrook, Sara & Wolf, Allan. 2008. More Than Friends; Poems from Him and Her. Boyds Mills Press.
5. Mecum, Ryan. 2008. Zombie Haiku. How Books.
6. Mecum, Ryan. 2009. Vampire Haiku. How Books.
7. Nelson, Marilyn. 2005. A Wreath for Emmett Till. Houghton Mifflin.
8. Shakur, Tupac. 1999. A Rose That Grew from Concrete. Pocket Books.
9. Smith, Hope Anita. 2008. Keeping the Night Watch. Henry Holt.
10. Sones, Sonya. 2001. What My Mother Doesn't Know. Simon & Schuster.

Love Poetry for Teens
1. Adoff, Arnold. 1997. Love Letters. Scholastic.
2. Block, Francesca Lia. 2008. How to (Un)Cage a Girl. Joanna Cotler Books.
3. Fletcher, Ralph. 1998. Room Enough for Love: The Complete Poems of I Am Wings and Buried Alive. Aladdin.
4. Franco, Betsy, ed. 2008. Falling Hard: Teenagers on Love. Candlewick.
5. Janeczko, Paul, ed. 2004. Blushing: Expressions of Love. Scholastic.
6. Mora, Pat. 2010. Dizzy in Your Eyes. Knopf.
7. Myers, Walter Dean. 2009. Amiri and Odette: A Dance for Two. Scholastic.
8. Sayer, Viv, ed. 2008. Poems of Love and Longing. Pont Books.
9. Soto, Gary. 2009. Partly Cloudy: Poems of Love and Longing. Harcourt.
10. Young Ed. 2003. Voices of the Heart. Scholastic.

Poetry Written BY Teens
1. Aguado, Bill, ed. 2003. Paint Me Like I Am. Harper.
2. Franco, Betsy, ed. 2001. Things I Have to Tell You: Poems by Teenage Girls. Candlewick.
3. Franco, Betsy, ed. 2001. You Hear Me?: Poems by Teenage Boys. Candlewick.
4. Johnson, Dave, ed. 2000. Movin’: Teen Poets Take Voice. Orchard.
5. Lyne, Sandford, comp. 2004. Soft Hay Will Catch You. Simon & Schuster.
6. Michael, Pamela, ed. 2008. River of Words. Milkweed.
7. Ochoa, Annette Piña, Betsy Franco, and Traci L. Gourdine, eds. 2003. Night is Gone, Day is Still Coming; Poems by American Indian Teens. Candlewick.
8. Sidman, Joyce. 2003. The World According to Dog. Houghton Mifflin.
9. Tom, Karen, and Kiki. 2001. Angst! Teen Verses from the Edge. Workman.
10. WritersCorps. 2008. Tell the World. HarperCollins.

Poem Anthologies: On Art & War; Being Young, Latino or Female
1. Carlson, Lori, ed. 2005. Red Hot Salsa. Henry Holt.
2. Clinton, Catherine. ed. 2003. A Poem of Her Own; Voices of American Women Yesterday and Today. Abrams.
3. Greenberg, Jan, ed. 2001. Heart to Heart: New Poems Inspired by Twentieth-Century American Art. Abrams.
4. Greenberg, Jan, ed. 2008. Side by Side: New Poems Inspired by Art from Around the World. Abrams.
5. Heard, Georgia, ed. 2002. This Place I Know: Poems of Comfort. Candlewick.
6. Hopkins, Lee Bennett, ed. 2008. America at War. McElderry.
7. Lewis, J. Patrick. 2005. Vherses: A Celebration of Outstanding Women. Creative.
8. Lewis, J. Patrick. 2007. The Brothers' War: Civil War Voices in Verse. National Geographic.
9. Nye, Naomi. ed. 2010. Time You Let Me In; 25 Poets Under 25. Greenwillow.
10. Siebert, Diane. 2006. Tour America. Chronicle.

Verse Novels: A Sampling
1. Burg, Ann. 2009. All the Broken Pieces. Scholastic.
2. Chaltas, Thalia. 2009. Because I Am Furniture. Viking.
3. Glenn, Mel. 2000. Split Image. HarperCollins.
4. Grimes, Nikki. 2002. Bronx Masquerade. Dial.
5. Herrick, Steven. 2004. The Simple Gift. Simon & Schuster.
6. High, Linda Oatman. 2008. Planet Pregnancy. Front Street.
7. Hopkins, Ellen. 2008. Identical. McElderry.
8. Wayland, April Halprin. 2002. Girl Coming in for a Landing. Knopf.
9. Wolff, Virginia Euwer. 2009. This Full House. HarperTeen.
10. Wong, Joyce Lee. 2006. Seeing Emily. Abrams.

For Midde School Poetry Lovers
1. Bagert, Brod. 2006. Hormone Jungle. Maupin House.
2. George, Kristine O’Connell. 2002. Swimming Upstream. Clarion.
3. Grandits, John. 2004. Technically, It’s Not My Fault: Concrete Poems. Clarion.
4. Grandits, John. 2007. Blue Lipstick: Concrete Poems. Clarion.
5. Janeczko, Paul B, comp. 2002. Seeing the Blue Between: Advice and Inspiration for Young Poets. Candlewick.
6. Park, Linda Sue. 2007. Tap Dancing on the Roof; Sijo Poems. Clarion.
7. Sidman, Joyce. 2007. This is Just to Say. Houghton Mifflin.
8. Smith, Charles R. Jr. 2003. Hoop Queens. Candlewick.
9. Smith, Charles R. Jr. 2004. Hoop Kings. Candlewick.
10. Zimmer, Tracie Vaughn. 2008. 42 Miles. Clarion.

Posting (not poem) by Sylvia M. Vardell © 2009. All rights reserved.

e-poetry news

A variety of electronic tidbits have crossed my desk recently, so I thought I might gather them all here to share. It's a hodge podge of blog world news, best lists, book plugs, and downloadable readings. Check it out!

Poet David Harrison has launched a new blog and is featuring a "Word of the Month Poetry Challenge" (along with links for young aspiring poets). He joins the likes of Tricia Stohr-Hunt, Elaine Magliaro, Greg Pincus, among others, in helping nudge along the poetry writing process for those who care to join in.

So many poets writing for young people have joined the blogging fray with fascinating contributions for all who are looking for creative ways to connect kids and poetry. I love Douglas Florian's cafe, don't you? It has his usual punny way with words and images. Calef Brown's newish blog is full of visual treats including poem videos and slide shows. And Charles Ghigna uses his blog to launch a new poem each Sunday for teachers to have on Monday to share with kids. Cool concept, huh?

More "best" lists are coming out all the time--which I enjoy because I love lists, but still take with a grain of salt because something is always missing-- and here are two that are interesting:
"100 Great Blogs That Every Young Writer Should Read"
&
"100 Great Web Sites for Poetry Lovers"

The Morgan Library in New York has just opened a new show featuring the art and work of William Blake. And just for this show, award winning actor Jeremy Irons recorded a reading of Blake's poem, "The Tyger" which is absolutely wonderful. Download it here.

Speaking of award winning actors, Julie Andrews has just released her own anthology of poetry for young people in collaboration with her daughter, Emma Hamilton. There are nearly 150 poems-- some written by Julie and kids as part of a lovely family tradition-- and the book includes a CD of original music with 20 poems read by the authors. The two women were on early morning television recently plugging the book and I was pleased to see Ms. Andrews be such an advocate for reading poetry aloud with kids, HEARING the music of the words (and the poetry of song lyrics) and soft-pedaling her own poems in favor of those by more prominent poets. Let's see if I can link to the clip. I know she has written and edited several books for kids, including her own imprint, but I was still very pleased to hear her hit "all the right notes" when it comes to selecting and sharing poetry with kids in natural, inviting ways. Poetry for young people needs every advocate it can find, don't you think?

P.S. I'm sure I've omitted a ton of other wonderful things that poets and poetry advocates are up to for which I apologize. Please comment if you have more tidbits to share!

Check out the rest of Poetry Friday hosted by poet Laura Purdie Salas, who keeps a pretty terrific blog of her own rolling along!

Posting by Sylvia M. Vardell c 2009. All rights reserved.


Image credit: cscs.ch

The Global Scene

I just came back from the amazing biennial IBBY regional conference held in St. Charles, Illinois (near Chicago) where we had an incredible line up of speakers from all around the world (Shaun Tan, Ana Maria Machado, Carmen Diana Dearden, David Wiesner, Katherine Paterson, Naomi Shihab Nye, Vladimir Radunsky, Klaas Verplancke, and more). It’s always a great event—an opportunity to learn, but even more, an opportunity to meet and mingle with like-minded people all weekend long. I’ve always characterized it as more of a “retreat,” than a conference, because you spend as much time in conversations and meals with colleagues—including the speakers themselves who stay and participate—as you do attending sessions. It’s sponsored by the U.S. national section of IBBY, the international organization dedicated to literature for children around the world.

IBBY is the organization that publishes the journal, Bookbird, which I co-edit. Speaking of Bookbird, our October issue is hot off the press, and once again, we’re featuring a poem on the “back page”—this one is by the award-winning Dutch writer and artist, Ted Van Lieshout. It’s a sonnet made of seashells!

In his “Author’s Note,” he wrote: “This is ‘The Dubai Sonnet,’ also called the ‘Holiday Sonnet of Dubai.’ Instead of writing a poem about how wonderful my holiday in Dubai was, I picked up shells from the Dubai beach and used them for a picture sonnet. It is not a photograph, but a digital collage. As you can see, the “rhyme” is created by reusing the exact same shells. More than 30 picture sonnets appear in my new book, Hou Van Mij (Love Me) a 270-page collection of poetry and pictures, published in honor of my 25 years of writing for young people.” Won’t kids just LOVE this notion—poems built by patterns of objects? Get your very own subscription to Bookbird here.

One of the books on our conference reading and discussion list was Under the Spell of the Moon, a beautiful and unique collection of poems, riddles, games, songs, and sayings from countries around the world, illustrated by artists from around the world. It’s just gorgeous, as well as appealing with its quirky child-friendly sensibility. Here’s an entry from South Africa, just to give you a taste. (You’ll have to get the book yourself to see the accompanying illustration.)

Everybody has a song,
be it short or be it long,
in the right or in the wrong key,
like the hee-haw of a donkey,
twitter, tweet, tu-whit, tu-whoo,
howl or growl or quack or moo.
Everyone has a song
and must sing it all life long.
Don’t be silent
nor afraid,
you must sing
as you’ve been made.

By Piet Grobler, South Africa (the poem also appears in Afrikaans)
Illustrated by Philip de Vos
(Groundwood Books, 2004, p. 67)

Finally, on the international news front, the candidates for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, the world's largest children's literature prize (half a million dollars!) were just announced. There were 168 candidates from more than 60 countries, including contemporary authors, illustrators, oral storytellers and promoters of reading. The award is given in memory of Astrid Lindgren, author of the much-loved Pippi Longstocking, in recognition of outstanding life-time achievements in the field of children's and young adult literature. The winner or winners will be announced March 24, 2010, from the birth-place of Astrid Lindgren in Vimmerby, Sweden. U.S. nominees include Ashley Bryan, Kevin Henkes, Russell Hoban, Maira Kalman, Lois Lowry, Walter Dean Myers, Anne Pellowski, Allen Say, Uri Shulevitz, Peter Sis, and many reading promotion organizations, including IBBY itself. I was intrigued to see that a poetry organization was on the list of nominees: Callaloo Poets, a group of poets with links to the Virgin Islands, both British and US poets.

Cool poetry news from around the world—once again reminding us of the fascinating global world of poetry and literature for young people.

This week's Poetry Friday gathering is hosted by Anastasia Suen at Picture Book of the Day.

Posting (not poem) by Sylvia M. Vardell © 2009. All rights reserved.

Image credit:ibby.org;outsideinworld.org.uk

Poetry Trailer Contest for Kids

Author and poet Susan Taylor Brown has a contest for kids to check out. She has teamed up with a local non-profit organization to offer a $1,000 scholarship for kids ages 13-18 who create a book trailer for her novel-in-verse, Hugging the Rock (Tricycle Press, 2006). You’ll find the details here.

Rules

• Create a video book trailer
• U.S resident only between 13 and 18 years of age (as of the close of the contest)
• 30 seconds to 2 minutes in length and in a standard video format (.wmv, .mov, .avi, .mp4)
• Your own creation, NO copyrighted material
• Include a brief description of the process you followed

The judging will be completed by Susan (the author), Laura Mancuso (Marketing & Publicity Manager, Tricycle Press, a division of Random House) and Naomi Bates (Northwest High School Library). Judging will be based on the following criteria.

• Creativity (50%)
• Consistency with the book (25%)
  
• Fit and finish (25%)

The deadline is Dec. 15, 2009, so get rolling… The award will be announced in January.

Hugging the Rock was an ALA Notable children’s book (2007) and is a powerful story of a young girl and her father coping with the mental illness and departure of their mother and wife. Like Sonya Sones’s verse novel Stop Pretending, What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy (HarperCollins, 1999), Brown doesn’t shy away from sharing difficult emotions in spare and gripping poems. Fellow blogger Jen Robinson wrote (at Jen Robinson's Book Page), “This book packs a lot into relatively few words. Susan Taylor Brown offers insights into life with a mentally ill parent, how fathers parent differently from mothers, how personally kids take any parental rejection, how 'sometimes dads are better moms than moms are,' and how, ultimately, people adapt to changing circumstances. Hugging the Rock is beautifully written, and I give it my highest recommendation."

I know that making book trailers is a HUGE trend right now, but I'm not aware of too many created for books of poetry, so I love that KIDS have this opportunity to dig into poetry and technology. I hope their entries will be posted and shared somewhere, so we can all enjoy them!

Posting (not poem) by Sylvia M. Vardell © 2009. All rights reserved.

Image credit: cleanreads.blogspot.com

It's CYBILS time

It’s that time again—time to nominate your favorite poetry book of the year for the Cybils award. FYI: Cybils is an acronym for the “Children’s and Young Adult Bloggers’ Literary Awards” and this is the fourth year the bloggers have gathered to choose the best books in several categories, including poetry, of course! Yours truly is serving as a judge once again (in Round 1 this time) and I encourage you to cast your vote before nominations close on Oct. 15. There have been 21 poetry books nominated thus far, but there are still several lovely apples and oranges to be considered. Check my January 2 and February 6 postings for a list of poetry books of 2009 (although a few more popped up along the way). And nominate today! Anyone can nominate, but only one title per category per person.

My fellow Panelists for Round I in reading, discussing, and deciding on the “short list” of best poetry are:
Bruce Black, Wordswimmer
Kristy Dempsey, Reverie--Abstract Musings on a Hopeful Life
Kelly Fineman (the fantastic poetry award category organizer), Writing and Ruminating
Tricia Stohr-Hunt, The Miss Rumphius Effect

The Judges for Round II who select the single winner are:
Sara Lewis Holmes, Read Write Believe
Elaine Magliaro, Wild Rose Reader
Greg Pincus, GottaBook
Jama Rattigan, Alphabet Soup
Stacey Shubitz, Two Writing Teachers

What an awesome group of bloggers, one and all. And please consider tooting the Cybils horn on your own blogs!

Posting (not poem) by Sylvia M. Vardell © 2009. All rights reserved.

Image credit: http://dadtalk.typepad.com/cybils/about-the-cybils-awards.html

Book Links + Booklist Oct. Update

Once again I find myself apologizing for being gone awhile. I think I hit the blog “wall” and ran out of steam for a bit, but I’m back with a slew (as we say in Texas) of poetry news!

One of my favorite teaching resources, Book Links magazine, has merged with it’s parent, Booklist, to become a regular supplement beginning this month. It’s still full of all kinds of wonderful items with a focus on social studies in this issue, including articles about war, heroes, persecution and intolerance. (Our October issue of Bookbird has a similar focus, interestingly enough!)

My “Everyday Poetry” column looks at works of fiction published this year that feature characters reading and writing poetry, including:

• Bella and Bean by Rebecca Kai Dotlich
• Stanza by Jill Esbaum
• Gooney Bird is So Absurd by Lois Lowry
• Also Known as Harper by Ann Haywood Leal
• Metamorphosis by Betsy Franco

In addition, the author of each of these books was kind enough to share a few great comments with me which are included in the piece. (Thank you, all!) The full text is available at BooklistOnline (but I can't seem to get the link to post here-- sorry!).

And look whose book is featured on the COVER of this issue of Book Links… drum roll… Laura Purdie Salas and Stampede! Go, Laura! I reviewed Stampede earlier this year and just loved it and she was kind enough to provide the unpublished poem that is featured in this October issue of Book Links. Her poem is “Fiesta,” inspired by fond memories of her Spanish teacher Señora Everson and captures the fun of a foreign language class taught by a teacher with pizzazz, full of the interlingual (25 cents please) use of Spanish. You’ll have to get the magazine to get your hands on that poem, but it comes with permission to reproduce it! Thank you again, Laura, for sharing this gem.

Join the rest of the Poetry Friday crew with Kelly Herold at Crossover this week.

Posting (not poem) by Sylvia M. Vardell © 2009. All rights reserved.

Image credit:booklistonline