Thursday, January 19, 2017

BOOK LINKS: Pushing Boundaries with Diverse Poetry

Once again I'm so happy that ALA's Book Links magazine continues to highlight poetry and poets in their pages on a regular basis. For January, I corralled 11 poets about their forthcoming poetry books in 2017 and asked them to share a bit of "back story" about each of their books in this article, Pushing Boundaries with Diverse Poetry. 

This includes Jeannine Atkins, Patricia Hruby Powell, Nikki Grimes, Pat Mora, Lee Bennett Hopkins, Marilyn Singer, Margarita Engle, Irene Latham, Charles Waters, Kwame Alexander, and Carrie Clickard. They write about their new books: Stone Mirrors (Atkins), Loving vs. Virginia (Powell), One Last Word (Grimes), Bookjoy (Mora), I Remember (Hopkins), Every Month's a New Year (Singer), Bravo! Poems about Amazing Latinos (Engle), Can I Touch Your Hair? (Latham and Waters), Out of Wonder (Alexander) and Dumpling Dreams (Clickard). Here's the link to the piece onlineAnd just in case, here are a few excerpts:

Every January I love anticipating all the new books that will be published in the coming year. In fact, I post a “sneak peek” list of poetry for young people on my blog (PoetryForChildren.Blogspot.com) every January and then update it all year long. What can we look forward to in 2017? So much wonderfulness! Here we highlight 10 titles that show the amazing variety that poets create for us, a diverse rainbow of writers and forms, from picture book biographies to edgy anthologies to fact-based verse novels to historical homages to celebrations of culture—all poetry! To whet your appetite, I asked these poets to give us a “behind the scenes” glimpse into their new books, sharing the biggest surprise or challenge they encountered while creating these wonderful works.

As you choose new books to read, share, and add to the library, be sure you include new poetry in the mix, especially poetry that reflects the diverse experiences that make our lives and communities so interesting. 

Activities

*Make crossover connections to social studies or history and invite students to choose people from the past who have made a difference in the world and who represent diverse cultures and experiences. Students can gather facts and details about these individuals, but instead of writing a report, encourage them to try shaping those facts and details into a free verse poem describing their subjects.

*Invite students to try The Golden Shovel” poetic form that Nikki Grimes employs in One Last Word. They begin by selecting a favorite, familiar poem and choosing one line from that poem to incorporate into a new original poem they create. Each line of their new poem must end with one of the words from that line of the original, “borrowed” poem.

*Students can work with a partner to collaborate on back-and-forth poetry like Irene Latham and Charles Waters do in Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems of Race, Mistakes and Friendship. Start by allowing them to write notes back and forth and then challenge them to turn those notes into poems that are linked to one another.

Bibliography
  1. Alexander, Kwame. 2017. Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets. Ill. by Ekua Holmes. Candlewick.
  2. Atkins, Jeannine. 2017. Stone Mirrors: The Sculpture and Silence of Edmonia Lewis. Simon & Schuster.
  3. Clickard, Carrie. 2017. Dumpling Dreams: Joyce Chen and Her Peking Ravioli. Ill. by Katy Wu. Simon & Schuster.
  4. Engle, Margarita. 2017. Bravo! Poems About Amazing Latinos. Ill. by Rafael López. Macmillan/Henry Holt.
  5. Grimes, Nikki. 2017. One Last Word: Wisdom from the Harlem Renaissance. Bloomsbury.
  6. Hopkins, Lee Bennett. Ed. 2017. I Remember: Poems and Pictures of Heritage. Lee & Low.
  7. Latham, Irene and Waters, Charles. 2017. Can I Touch Your Hair?: Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship. Ill. by Sean Qualls and Selina Alko. Millbrook Press.
  8. Mora, Pat. 2017. Bookjoy, Wordjoy. Ill. by Raúl Colón. Lee & Low. 
  9. Powell, Patricia Hruby. 2017. Loving Vs. Virginia. Chronicle.
  10. Singer, Marilyn. 2017. Every Month’s New Year. Ill. by Susan Roth. Lee & Low.
Don't forget to check out the rest of the Poetry Friday posts over at Violet Nesdoly's blog here



Friday, January 13, 2017

Sneak Peek list for 2017


It's time again to post my annual "sneak peek" list of all the poetry for young people that will be published in the coming year. This includes poetry collections,  anthologies and novels in verse. In addition, I plan to talk with publishers at the ALA Midwinter conference next week and update with more titles I learn about there. So, these are the titles that I know about thus far. If you know about other poetry for young readers set to be published this year (or have changes to suggest about these titles below), please let me know (in the comments). I'll be updating this list all year long, so it becomes a resource as you look for the latest poetry books for young people. There's a quick link to this post in the menu on the right-hand side of this blog, too, where I have links to all my previous "sneak peek" lists. As always, I'm so excited to find, get, and read all of these books! Congrats poets and yay for poetry readers! 
  1. *Acevedo, Elizabeth. 2017. The Poet X. HarperTeen.
  2. *Ain, Beth. 2017. Izzy Kline Has Butterflies. Random House.
  3. *Alene, Catherine. 2017. The Sky Between You and Me. Sourcebooks.
  4. Alexander, Kwame. 2017. Animal Ark. National Geographic.
  5. Alexander, Kwame. 2017. Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets. Candlewick.
  6. Alexander, Kwame. 2017. The Playbook: 52 Rules to Aim, Shoot, and Score in This Game Called Life. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 
  7. *Alexander, Kwame and Hess, Mary Rand. 2017. Solo. Blink/HarperCollins.
  8. Alexander, Kwame. 2017. Swish!: Aim, Shoot, Rebound, and Score in This Game Called Life. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 
  9. *Atkins, Jeannine. 2017. Stone Mirrors: The Sculpture and Silence of Edmonia Lewis. Simon & Schuster.
  10. Benzel, Kate, Ed. 2017. Poetry for Kids: Carl Sandburg. MoonDance Press.
  11. Brooks, Gwendolyn. 2018. We Are Smiling. Ill. by Jan Spivey Gilchrist. HarperCollins.
  12. *Cartaya, Pablo. 2017. The Epic Fall of Arturo Zamora. Penguin/Viking.
  13. Clickard, Carrie. 2017. Dumpling Dreams: Joyce Chen and Her Peking Ravioli. Simon & Schuster.
  14. Colby, Rebecca. 2017. Motor Goose: Rhymes That Go! Feiwel & Friends/Macmillan.
  15. Coombs, Kate. 2017. Breathe and Be: A Book of Mindfulness Poems. Sounds True.
  16. *Crossan, Sarah and Conaghan. 2017. We Come Apart. Bloomsbury USA.
  17. Dalton, Pamela. 2017. Under the Silver Moon: Lullabies, Night Songs, & Poems. Chronicle/Handprint.
  18. Davies, Nicola. 2017. Song of the Wild: A First Book of Animals. Candlewick.
  19. Derby, Sally. 2017. A New School Year. Charlesbridge.
  20. Drimmer, Stephanie. 2017. Hey, Baby!: A Collection of Pictures, Poems, and Stories from Nature's Nursery. National Geographic.
  21. *Elliott, David. 2017. Bull. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
  22. Engle, Margarita. 2017. Bravo! Poems About Amazing Latinos. Ill. by Rafael Lopez. Macmillan/Henry Holt.
  23. Engle, Margarita. 2017. All the Way to Havana. Ill. by Mike Curato. Holt.
  24. *Engle, Margarita. 2017. Forest World. Atheneum.
  25. *Engle, Margarita. 2017. Morning Star Horse/ El Caballo Lucero. HBE Publishers. 
  26. Engle, Margarita. 2017. Miguel’s Brave Knight. Ill. by Raul Colon. Peachtree. 
  27. Foster, John. Ed. 2017. A Rocketful of Space Poems. Frances Lincoln.
  28. *Frost, Helen. 2017. When My Sister Started Kissing. Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
  29. Frost, Helen. 2017. Wake Up. Ill. by Rick Lieder. Candlewick.
  30. Galing, Ed. 2017. Tony. Ill. by Erin Stead. Roaring Brook Press.
  31. *Green, Shari. 2017. Macy McMillan and the Rainbow Goddess. Pajama Press.
  32. *Grimes, Nikki. 2017. Between the Lines. Penguin/Paulsen.
  33. Grimes, Nikki. 2017. One Last Word: Wisdom from the Harlem Renaissance. Bloomsbury.
  34. Grimes, Nikki. 2017. The Watcher. Ill. by Bryan Collier. Eerdmans.
  35. Harris, Chris. 2017. I'm Just No Good at Rhyming: And Other Nonsense for Mischievous Kids and Immature Grown Ups. Little, Brown.
  36. *Hopkins, Ellen. 2017. The You I've Never Known. McElderry Books.
  37. Hopkins, Lee Bennett. Ed. 2017. Traveling the Blue Road: Poems of the Sea. Ill. by Bob Hansman & Jovan Hansman. Quarto. 
  38. Howell, Raven. 2017. Shimmer: Songs of Night. Spork.
  39. Hughes, Langston. 2017. That Is My Dream! Ill. by Daniel Miyares. Random House/ Schwartz & Wade. 
  40. Jensen, Kelly. 2017. Here We Are: Feminism for the Real World. Algonquin. 
  41. Judge, Lita. 2017. One Thousand Tracings: Healing the Wounds of World War II. Disney-Hyperion. 
  42. Keats, John. 2017. A Song About Myself. Ill. by Chris Raschka. Candlewick. 
  43. Latham, Irene and Waters, Charles. 2017. Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship. Millbrook Press.
  44. *Lawrence, Katherine. 2017. Stay. Coteau Books.
  45. Lawson, JonArno. 2017. Leap. Ill. by Josee Bisallion. Kids Can Press.
  46. Lewis, J. Patrick. 2017. Keep a Pocket in Your Poem. Ill. by Johanna Wright. Boyds Mills Press/Wordsong.
  47. Lewis, J. Patrick. 2017. Make the Earth Your Companion. Ill. by Anna and Elena Balbusso. Creative Editions.
  48. Lilly, Tara. 2017. The Illustrated Emily Dickinson Nature Sketchbook: A Poetry-Inspired Drawing Journal. Quarry Books.
  49. Llanos, Mariana. 2017. Poesia Alada. Purple Corn Press.
  50. Magliaro, Elaine. 2017. Things to Do. Ill. by Catia Chien. Chronicle.
  51. McKissack, Patricia. 2017. Let’s Clap, Jump, Sing and Shout; Dance, Spin, and Turn it Out! Ill. by Brian Pinkney. Random House Schwartz & Wade. 
  52. Mercado-López. 2017. Esteban de Luna, Baby Rescuer!/ Esteban de Luna, Rescatador de Bebés! Arte Público Press.
  53. *Merrell, Billy. 2017. Vanilla. Push/Scholastic.
  54. Mora, Pat. 2017. Bookjoy, Wordjoy. Lee & Low.
  55. Moore, Clement C. 2017. The Night Before Christmas. Ill. by Antonio Javier Caparo. Simon & Schuster/Little Simon.
  56. Murray, Carol. 2017. Cricket in the Thicket: Poems About Bugs. Ill. by Melissa Sweet. Holt.
  57. Nesbitt, Kenn. Ed. 2017. One Minute till Bedtime: 60-Second Poems to Send You Off to Sleep. Little, Brown.
  58. Oliver, Lin. 2017. Steppin’ Out: Playful Rhymes for Toddler Times. Ill. by Tomie de Paola. Penguin/Paulsen.
  59. Otheguy, Emma. 2017. Martí's Song for Freedom. Lee & Low.
  60. Patterson, Heather. (1996/2017). I Am Canada. Scholastic Canada.
  61. Perkins, Useni Eugene. 2017. Hey Black Child. Ill. by Bryan Collier. Little, Brown. 
  62. *Powell, Patricia Hruby. 2017. Loving Vs. Virginia. Chronicle.
  63. Powell, Patricia Hruby. 2017. Struttin’ with Some Barbecue. Charlesbridge.
  64. Rex, Adam. 2017. Nothing Rhymes with Orange. Chronicle.
  65. *Reynolds, Jason. 2017. Long Way Down. Simon & Schuster/Atheneum/Caitlyn Diouhy Books.  
  66. Salas, Laura Purdie. 2017. If You Were the Moon. Ill. by Jaime Kim. Lerner/Millbrook.
  67. Schaub, Michelle. 2017. Fresh-Picked Poetry: A Day at the Farmers’ Market. Ill. by Amy Huntington. Charlesbridge.
  68. Sidman, Joyce. 2017. Round. Ill. by Taeeun Yoo. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 
  69. Silverstein, Shel. 2017. [Untitled thus far]. HarperCollins.
  70. Singer, Marilyn. 2017. Every Month’s New Year. Ill. by Susan Roth. Lee & Low.
  71. Singer, Marilyn. 2017. Feel the Beat:  Dance Poems that Zing from Salsa to Swing.  Dial.
  72. Smith, Dana. 2017. The Hawk of the Castle. Ill. by Bagram Ibatoulline. Candlewick.
  73. Smith, Hope Anita. 2017. My Daddy Rules the World: Poems About Fathers. Holt/Christy Ottaviano.
  74. Stevenson, Robert Louis. 2017. The Land of Nod. Ill. by Robert Hunter. Flying Eye Books.
  75. Tibo, Gilles and Gauthier, Mason. 2017. All the World a Poem. Pajama Press.
  76. Toht, Patricia. 2017. All Aboard the London Bus. Frances Lincoln/Quarto.
  77. VanDerwater, Amy. 2017. Read! Read! Read! Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press.
  78. Vardell, Sylvia and Wong, Janet. 2017. Here We Go: A Poetry Friday Power Book. Pomelo Books.
  79. Vardell, Sylvia and Wong, Janet. 2017. Pet Crazy: A Poetry Friday Power Book. Pomelo Books. 
  80. Weatherford, Carole. 2017. Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library. Ill. by Eric Velazquez. Candlewick Press. 
  81. Weatherford, Carole Boston. 2017. In Your Hands. Ill. by Brian Pinkney.  Athenuem.
  82. Weatherford, Carole Boston. 2017.The Legendary Miss Lena Horne. Ill. by Elizabeth Zunon. Athenuem.
  83. Weatherford, Carole Boston. 2017. Dorothea Lange: The Photographer Who Found the Faces of the Depression. Ill. by Jane Green. Albert Whitman. 
  84. Weatherford, Carole Boston. 2017. Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library. Candlewick.
  85. Weston, Robert Paul. 2017. Sakura’s Cherry Blossoms. Ill. by Misa Saburi. Random House Canada.
  86. Wilson, Karma. 2017. Dormouse Dreams. Ill. by Renata Liwska. Disney-Hyperion.
  87. *Wissinger, Tamera Will. 2017. Gone Camping. Ill. by Matthew Cordell. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
  88. *Wolf, Allan. 2017. Who Killed Christopher Goodman? Based on a True Crime. Candlewick.
  89. Yolen, Jane and Lewis, J. Patrick. 2017. Last Laughs: Prehistoric Epitaphs. Ill. by Charlesbridge.
  90. Yolen, Jane. 2017. Thunder Underground. Ill. by Josée Masse. Boyds Mills Press.
*These are novels in verse

BTW, this list includes books that have SOME poetry, but may not be entirely poetry. And I'll keep updating this list as I hear of new titles to add.

I'm also so proud to have two books coming out this year as part of the Poetry Friday Power Book series with Janet Wong. Our first in this series, You Just Wait, came out last year and has earned an "NCTE Notable Poetry Book" distinction. So excited about that! Our second book in the series officially launches on Monday, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. That book is entitled, Here We Go and is a story in poems about four young friends who are coping with challenges at home and at school and muster their energies to become gardening activists! Plus, the book includes activities for young people to inspire creativity, critical thinking, and poetry writing. 







Meanwhile, head over to Keri Recommends, to see what else is going on this Poetry Friday!

Friday, January 06, 2017

Cybils Poetry Shortlist 2016

Happy new year, everyone! 

Time to celebrate the best of the poetry published in 2016. I'll be looking for announcements of all the awards and posting information about any poetry books that are recognized as it becomes available. I'm hoping there will be many poetry books recognized in all kinds of ways because there were many, wonderful poetry books published in 2016. Just look...

FIRST, I was lucky enough to serve as a judge for the Cybils Award in Poetry and we are proud of our "shortlist" too. Here are our choices:







Here is the annotated list of these titles at the Cybils site. You can find the list of ALL the nominated books here. The winner will be announced on Valentine's Day!

Thanks to my fellow Round 1 Judges who were a lovely, thoughtful group. Be sure and check out each of their excellent blogs:

Jone MacCulloch, Chair, Check It Out 
Carol Wilcox, Carol’s Corner
Joy Acey, Poetry for Kids Joy 
Linda Baie, Teacher Dance 
Tricia Stohr-Hunt, Miss Rumphius Effect 
Kortney Garrison, One Deep Drawer

The Nerdy Book Club also announced their choices for the 2016 "Nerdies" for Poetry and Novels in Verse posted by Mary Lee Hahn here. Their list includes:

A Poem for Peter by Andrea Davis Pinkney
Booked by Kwame Alexander
Moo by Sharon Creech
Applesauce Weather by Helen Frost
Echo Echo: Reverso Poems about Greek Myths by Marilyn Singer
Wet Cement: A Mix of Concrete Poems by Bob Raczka
Finding Wonders: Three Girls Who Changed Science by Jeannine Atkins
Before Morning by Joyce Sidman
When Green Becomes Tomatoes by Julie Fogliano
Saving Red by Sonya Sones
The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary by Laura Shovan
Garvey's Choice by Nikki Grimes
To Stay Alive by Skila Brown
You Can Fly: The Tuskegee Airmen by Carole Boston Weatherford
American Ace by Marilyn Nelson
Freedom in Congo Square by Carole Boston Weatherford (TWO for Carole!)
Freedom Over Me: Eleven Slaves, Their Lives and Dreams Brought to Life by Ashley Bryan
Lion Island: Cuba's Warrior of Words by Margarita Engle

The ALA Midwinter conference is coming up in two weeks and I'm hoping there will be poetry books among their choices too. And I'll be posting my "sneak peek" list for forthcoming poetry set to be published in 2017 very soon. Stay tuned. Meanwhile, head on over to Linda's place (my fellow Cybils Poetry Judge) at Teacher Dance for our Poetry Friday postings.