The Poetry Friday Party is HERE!

Welcome to the Poetry Friday party!

Today is the perfect day to go public with our plans for our next installment in The Poetry Friday Anthology series! Drum roll…

The Poetry Friday Anthology for CELEBRATIONS!

We’ll be gathering poems related to more than 100 holidays (like Halloween and July 4^th), occasions (like graduation and the first day of school), and odd and interesting events (like Left Handers Day or National Yo-Yo Day). Our audience will be young children and the librarians, teachers, and families who care for them. Once again, we’ll provide “Take 5” activities for every poem.

Plus, this time we’ll be experimenting with multiple formats, each containing separate poems that, together, will form the whole book:

*some poems in paperback

*some poems presented digitally

*some poems on Pocket Poems™ cards

Ready, set, write!

If you’re interested in contributing a poem, we’ll be sharing our guidelines in September; you can email us after Sept. 1 at info@pomelobooks if you'd like to know more then.

SAMPLE POEM

Meanwhile, here’s just a sample of what we’re planning—a sample poem and Take 5! activities to accompany the poem. What’s the celebration? It’s National Dog Day! Coming up on August 26, we’ll be celebrating the 10^th anniversary of this canine commemoration, first initiated in 2004 by the National Dog Day Foundation.

Hooray for Dogs!

by Janet Wong

Hooray for

search-and-rescue dogs

who help us 

when we’re lost

Hooray for

dogs we boss around

who don’t mind 

being bossed

Hooray for

dogs who sit and stay

and play fetch

with a ball

Pugs and poodles,

mutts and labs—

we love you,

drool and all!

SAMPLE Take 5! ACTIVITIES

1. Before reading this poem aloud, display some picture books about dogs or a stuffed animal dog as a backdrop or prop. Read the poem aloud slowly and pause briefly between each stanza.

2. Share the poem again and invite children to chime in on the word, “Hooray” with zest and enthusiasm while you read the rest of the poem aloud.

3. Talk about the story behind this celebration also known as International Dog Day and National Dog Appreciation Day and how dogs are helpers: working with police, assisting those with visual or other impairments, in drug detection, searching for lost people, and pulling victims from wreckage, for example. (FYI: NationalDogDay.com)

4. Pair this poem with this picture book:

When You Wander: A Search-and-Rescue Dog Story by Margarita Engle and illustrated by Mary Morgan (Holt, 2013). Read the book aloud and talk about the recommended steps for what to do when lost.

5. Follow up by reading aloud more poems about dogs, such as selections from:

*Ashman, Linda. 2008. Stella, Unleashed. New York: Sterling.

*Florian, Douglas. 2003. Bow Wow Meow Meow. San Diego: Harcourt.

*Franco, Betsy. 2011. A Dazzling Display of Dogs. Berkeley, CA: Tricycle.

*Rosen, Michael J. 2011. The Hound Dog’s Haiku and Other Poems for Dog Lovers. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.

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

And don’t forget to check out our previous installments (each featuring previously unpublished poems and related Take 5! activities for every poem):

·      ***The Poetry Friday Anthology (Grades K-5)

·      ***The Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School (Grades 6-8)

·     ***The Poetry Friday Anthology for Science

Now let us know what you’re up to on this Poetry Friday in the COMMENTS section below. We’ll be rounding up throughout the day.

Here's what our Poetry Friday party-goers are up to this week:

First up is Buffy Silverman who has posted an original poem that appears in this month's Ladybug Magazine. Congratulations, Buffy! Check it out here. 

Laura has a poem from J. Patrick Lewis and George Ella Lyons' forthcoming collection, VOICES FROM THE MARCH ON WASHINGTON over at TeachingAuthors.

Linda is featuring a poem from INNER CHIMES over at WriteTime.

Monica has reviewed a rhyming picture book, BY WATER'S EDGE by Kay Barone, here.

Irene is sharing some of wonderful Walter Dean Myers's poems here. 

Liz has an original poem about hummingbirds and hope here.

Matt entertains us with an original tanka here.

Laura is announcing a new series, "Summer Reads: Chapter & Verse," and is looking for guest bloggers to pair their favorite summer books with a poem. Her sample post pairs a historical YA with Edna St. Vincent Millay's "First Fig." Check it out!

Michelle is wrapping up a month of tribute and parody poems and giving away a copy of Tamera Wissinger's THIS OLD BAND. Look for it!

BJ has an original fractured-fairytale poem, illustrated by the wonderful Julie Rowan-Zoch. Clever!

Carol is setting the stage for her new gallery of artistic expressions with a poem based on two photos of driftwood. Interesting!

Tabatha is featuring a John Keats poem today.

Mary Lee's summer travels have led her to this Journey poem.

Diane has a Sketchbook Project poem called "Shadows" from the point of view of a young girl millworker over at Random Noodling.

She's also featuring a fun poem, "Potato," by Jane Kenyon at Kurious Kitty. 

Catherine bravely shares an original poem about things gone wrong while the husband is away here. 

Kate is talking about how she uses Poetry Friday in her third grade classroom complete with a student poem.

Margaret has a Summer Poem Swap gift from Donna Smith posted today.

Donna shares an original poem, "Sea Memories," along with pictures here.

Keri has an original poem about butterflies up today. 

Check out "Ozymandias" by Percy Bysshe Shelley over at Bildungsroman. 

Catherine is sharing E. L. Aveline's poem, "Flowers of the Sea" here. 

Kelly has a post on putting together a poetry chapbook over here.

Bridget is back with an original poem about her dog's favorite past-time, chasing lizards. Check out "Endless Game of Chase."

Janet is celebrating National Day of the Cowboy (Sat., July 26, 2014) with David L. Harrison's poem, "Cowboys: Voices in the Western Wind" here. 

Crystal has an original poem over at Reading Through Life.

Heidi has three insta-haiku from her family vacation here.

Fats Suela is sharing a ten-year-old refugee's vision of peace from I Dream of Peace: Images of War by Children of Former Yugoslavia found here. 

Karen is featuring Wendell Berry today.

Tricia has a gem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow for us here.

And Joy has a poem entitled "Storm" here. 

One more: Lorie Ann has a poem, "Nearly Fifty" complete with fun photo here! 

I think that's everybody. I'll check back and add any others who join us. Meanwhile, happy Poetry Friday, everyone. Thanks for stopping by! 

Credits: Pictomizer.com; Giphy,com; Xray.fm/shows/hooray; NationalDogDay.com; TechInsights.com; BuzzInTown.com; PCCast.Blogspot.com; PomeloBooks