Hallow-winners and more!

A few weeks ago, Kathy Temean posted a lovely piece on her blog, Writing and Illustrating, (THANK YOU, Kathy!) about Pet Crazy, my latest production with Janet Wong. We promised three lucky people (commenters, tweeters, posters) 2 free copies of the book and we have 3 winners!

Kim Pfennigwerth
Donna Taylor
Elizabeth Castillo

Congratulations! Your books will be on their way to you shortly!

Halloween Fun
Meanwhile, if you missed my list of Halloween poetry books a few years ago, here's that link.

And here are some additional poetry books to add to the Halloween fun:

1. Caswell, Deanna. 2016. Boo Haiku. Ill. by Bob Shea. Abrams Appleseed.
2. Cyrus, Kurt. 2013. Your Skeleton is Showing: Rhymes of Blunder from Six Feet Under. Ill. by Crab Scrambly. New York: Disney/Hyperion. 
3. Hemphill, Stephanie. 2013. Hideous Love: The Story of the Girl Who Wrote Frankenstein. New York: HarperCollins.
4. Heppermann, Christine. 2013. Poisoned Apples: Poems for You, My Pretty. New York: HarperCollins/Greenwillow.
5. Herz, Henry. 2015. Monster Goose Nursery Rhymes. Gretna, LA: Pelican.
6. Hoberman, Mary Ann. 2007. You Read to Me, I'll Read to You: Very Short Scary Tales to Read Together. New York: Little, Brown.
7. Lewis, J. Patrick and Nesbitt, Kenn. 2015. Bigfoot is Missing! San Francisco: Chronicle.
8. Vardell, Sylvia and Wong, Janet. Eds. 2015. The Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations. Princeton, NJ: Pomelo Books.
9. Yolen, Jane and Dotlich, Rebecca Kai. 2016. Grumbles from the Town: Mother Goose Voices with a Twist. Ill. by Angela Matteson. Wordsong/Boyds Mills.
10. Yolen, Jane and Dotlich, Rebecca. 2013. Grumbles from the Forest: Fairy Tales with a Twist. Ill. by Matt Hahurin. Honesdale, PA: Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press.
11. Yolen, Jane and Lewis, J. Patrick. 2017. Last Laughs: Prehistoric Epitaphs. Ill. by Charlesbridge.

Do you have a birthday that dovetails with a major holiday? If you do, you know how it feels to be torn about which to celebrate and a little bit overlooked as people focus on the holiday and not your birthday (says the girl with the Christmas-y birthday!). That's one more reason to enjoy this poem by Joan Bransfield Graham from The Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations. 

I also stumbled upon these amazing Halloween birthday celebration ideas at Pinterest here. Check them out!

Meanwhile, head on over to Friendly Fairy Tales for more Poetry Friday fun!

World poetry

I'm attending the 12th IBBY Regional conference sponsored by USBBY (the U.S. section of IBBY) in Seattle, WA. I'm presenting with David Jacobson, author and editor with Chin Music Press, Margarita Engle, Young People's Poet Laureate, and Janet Wong, poet and collaborator.  Our presentation is entitled, "Around the World in 80 Poems" (with a nod to Jules Verne). 

Poets, anthologists, and poet biographers are now creating accessible books of poetry that incorporate multiple languages, diverse cultural content, and a variety of forms and styles. Where can we find quality poetry for young people in print and online? And how do we share such poetry with young people in ways that are meaningful, engaging, and participatory? Our session features classic and contemporary poetry for young people from around the world in print, app, web, audio, video, and game formats. We discussed how the powerful package of poetry can help children face life’s challenges and inspire them to work for peace and understanding. Here are some nuggets from our session. 

 

Bilingual Poetry in Audio Form

There's nothing quite like hearing poetry read aloud, is there? Especially hearing a poet read her or his work aloud or a professional narrator who infuses poetry with emotion. A few years ago, I posted a lengthy discussion of the power of recorded poetry as part of my presentation at the USBBY/IBBY regional conference along with Dr. Rose Brock. You'll find the whole thing here. I shared ten online resources of audio poetry and a lengthy list of audiobooks of poetry that are definitely worth finding, listening to, and sharing with young people. 

Now, I am absolutely tickled pink to have participated in creating a mini-audiobook of poetry! 

You can find 35 poems from The Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations in audio form for free at SoundCloud here. These same poems are also available on a CD via Amazon here (for $9). PLUS, each poem is read aloud in both English and Spanish, complete with musical introductions. We're so thrilled to offer this alternative mode for experiencing poetry! And what a great way to hear the poems in two languages!

Here are the poems from The Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations that are included in the CD:

JANUARY

“Three Kings Day”

“Compliment Chain” 

FEBRUARY

“How to Love Your Little Corner …” 

“Bilingual Daisy” 

“Bilingual” 

MARCH

“Sincerely” 

“Spring” 

“World Water Day” 

APRIL

“Books” 

“Children’s Day, Book Day” 

“Pocket Poems Card” 

“The Dancer” 

MAY

“Selfie”

“Look for the Helpers” 

“Laughing”

JUNE

“Camping” 

“Jackson” 

JULY

“Independence Day” 

“Moon Walk” 

AUGUST

“Family Day” 

“The Very First Day of School” 

SEPTEMBER

“Far away on Grandparents Day”

“Welcome” 

“I Can Ask and I Can Learn” 

“Our Blended Family”

OCTOBER

“Bubbles” 

“When to Eat Pan Dulce…” 

“Tonight” 

NOVEMBER

“At Our House” 

“Voting” 

“Day of the Dead” 

“Dear Veteran” 

DECEMBER

“Friends” 

“Christmas Tree” 

“Happy Noon Year” 

The poems were read by David Bowles and about a dozen of his college/graduate students at the University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley (native Spanish speakers). David Bowles hails from a Mexican-American family and has lived most of his life in the Río Grande Valley of south Texas, where he now teaches at the University of Texas there. His work focuses on “the crossroads of myth and legend, genre and literature” and includes a weekly book review column, several edited series, works in periodicals and literary journals, and the Pura Belpré Honor Book The Smoking Mirror. 

Here's one sample poem to enjoy-- and the audio recording for this poem is #6 on the SoundCloud playlist.

Now be sure and join the rest of the Poetry Friday fun gathered by Violet Nesdoly's blog here.