Celebrating Kevin Henkes

I was so fortunate to chair the 2020 Children's Literature Legacy Award committee for ALSC and am so excited to see our recipient, Kevin Henkes, receive his award on Sunday. And at the exact same time, I am so disappointed that we can't gather in Chicago for the ALA convention and sit with that beautiful crowd of booklovers to hand Kevin his award in person and savor his acceptance speech. What a crazy time we find ourselves in! 

The convention is virtual this year and EVERYONE can join in hearing Kevin's speech for the first time on Sunday night (7pm Central) at the link here. (It will also be available for viewing there afterwards, as will all the acceptance speeches.) He will follow the Caldecott and Newbery Award acceptance speeches and I am so excited to hear them all! Big thanks to my lovely Legacy committee: Rob Bittner, Jessica Hilbun Schwartz, Louise Lareau, and Lucia Acosta. 

Meanwhile, I went a little crazy and created this "found" poem out of some of the book titles written and/or illustrated by Kevin Henkes just for fun. Enjoy!

Now head on over to Karen's Got a Blog for more Poetry Friday fun!

A poem for Juneteenth

I have been a longtime fan of poet Carole Boston Weatherford and her many works of poetry-- many historical, biographical, and fact-based, most in picture book form. I have learned so much from each of her books and always look forward to what she does next. This year? She has FOUR books out this year! That includes: 

• Weatherford, Carole Boston. 2020. Box: Henry Brown Mails Himself to Freedom. Ill. by Michele Wood. Somerville, MA: Candlewick. 
• Weatherford, Carole Boston. 2020. By and By, Charles Tindley, the Father of Gospel Music. Ill. by Bryan Collier. New York: Atheneum. 
• Weatherford, Carole Boston. 2020. Beauty Mark: A Verse Novel of Marilyn Monroe. Somerville, MA: Candlewick. 
• Weatherford, Carole Boston. 2020. RESPECT: Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul. Ill. by Frank Morrison. New York: Atheneum.

But I also want to take a moment to highlight one of her poems in honor of today's celebration of Juneteenth, the day that enlsaved people in Texas (my home state) learned of their freedom, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. This poem is from an older book, Remember the Bridge (Philomel Books, 2002) and captures a bit of history and a lot of conviction and never-ending hope! 

Carole has also published a book ABOUT Juneteenth, as well as many other books that uplift the Black experience and share Black history. She's won many awards for her work including a Sibert Honor, Coretta Scott King John Steptoe New Talent Award, Coretta Scott Kind Awards and Honors, multiple NAACP Image Awards and SCBWI Golden Kite Honors, Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award and Jane Addams Children’s Literature Honors, among many others. Here is just a sampling of her work.

For Black Music Month, Carole has been posting musical connections to her many music-themed poem picture books, too! Don't miss it! Now head on over to The Miss Rumphius Effect where Trish is hosting our Poetry Friday celebration. 

Nikki Grimes x 2

Irene Latham is corralling our Poetry Friday posts all celebrating the work of Nikki Grimes! Be sure to check out all the posts at Irene's blog, Live Your Poem. I'm a big fan of Nikki's (and Irene's, for that matter) from way back! I co-chaired the NCTE Poetry Award committee (with the late Peggy Oxley) that selected Nikki for the award in 2006 and was there when she received her Legacy Award from ALSC. I created the teacher guide for her book, Garvey's Choice, hosted her for a poetry festival here in Texas and the Poetry Round Up at TLA, and just featured her new book, Southwest Sunrise, on my blog a few weeks ago. And her work just continues to be terrific and diverse: picture books, novels in verse, anthologies, and an incredible memoir. Plus, the awards keep piling up too! 

Nikki has been kind enough to collaborate with Janet (Wong) and me on several of our poetry anthologies, so I thought I might feature two of her poems from those books here. 

Black Poetry Matters

As we look for ways to raise the voices of our Black sisters and brothers, I turn to poetry, of course. And there is a rich, long history of poetry by African American poets (see the list below), with new poets emerging all the time. In 2020 alone, I know of 10 books of poetry by Black poets-- offering powerful history and painful struggle, as well as celebrating identity, family, and everyday joy. And this is just a beginning!

Bibliography

1. Brantley-Newton, Vanessa. 2020. Just Like Me. New York: Knopf.
2. Browne, Mahogany L. 2020. Woke: A Young Poet’s Call to Justice. New York: Roaring Brook Press.
3. Elliott, Zetta. 2020. A Place Inside of Me: A Poem to Heal the Heart. Ill. by Noa Denmon. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
4. Elliott, Zetta. 2020. Say Her Name. Ill. by Love is Wise. New York: Jump at the Sun.
5. Grimes, Nikki. 2020. Southwest Sunrise. Ill. by Wendell Minor. New York: Bloomsbury
6. James, Nancy Johnson. 2020. Brown. Ill. by Constance Moore. Cameron Kids.
7. Johnson, Angela. 2020. A Girl Like Me. Ill. by Nina Crews. Brookfield, CT: Lerner/Millbrook.
8. Weatherford, Carole Boston. 2020. Box: Henry Brown Mails Himself to Freedom. Ill. by Michele Wood. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.
9. Weatherford, Carole Boston. 2020. By and By, Charles Tindley, the Father of Gospel Music. Ill. by Bryan Collier. New York: Atheneum.
10. Weatherford, Carole Boston. 2020. RESPECT: Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul. Ill. by Frank Morrison. New York: Atheneum.

Now, let's see what others are thinking about this Poetry Friday hosted by Margaret Simon at her blog, Reflections on the Teche. See you there!