I'm delighted to join the Poetry Friday fray in celebrating the wonderful Mary Lee Hahn! Mary Lee is retiring from classroom teaching, but not from continuing to impact the world of poetry for young people. She has been the tracker of Poetry Friday hosting gigs, organizing us all to keep us moving forward and maintained her own blog, A Year of Reading since 2006. WOW! It has been a mainstay in our field for insights into teaching young people, reviews of the latest literature, and as a source of poems, poetry, and poetic inspiration. Mary Lee is also a poet and author herself, publishing Reconsidering Read-Aloud (Stenhouse) and her own poems in multiple anthologies. Janet Wong and I have been lucky enough to feature her contributions in several of our anthologies and I want to pause and share those gems (featured in graphics I created). 
See? Mary Lee has such a range of topics, tones, and styles she implements to craft poems that are engaging, informative, and inspiring. Her poem "Cancer" is especially meaningful to me since Mary Lee and I are both cancer survivors and she reached out to me privately with so much care, love, and support when I was first diagnosed nearly ten years ago. (We're fine now!) That's exactly who Mary Lee is-- kind, caring, creative, organized, determined, collaborative, and so much more. It's a real pleasure to pause and honor her as a person, a poet, a teacher, a leader, and a friend!Do you want to learn more about Mary Lee Hahn? Check out the posts of many other Poetry Friday bloggers who are showcasing #MarvelousMaryLee and #PoemsforMaryLee today. Start at Christie's place, Wondering and Wandering. See you there!
HOORAY for Mary Lee! I love sharing her poems with children, particularly "Compliment Chain." That poem is such a gift. It is truly amazing that Mary Lee has been able to do so much for children's poetry (and literacy efforts generally) while also working full-time as a teacher. Now that she's retiring . . . watch out, world!!!
ReplyDeleteWow! Thanks for sharing all these wonderful examples of Mary Lee's poetry! As an environmental educator, I am inspired by nature as well! I appreciate this post!
ReplyDeleteLove seeing all her PFA poems in one post. It's hard to imagine how one person can accomplish so much as a teacher -- and still have time to listen to, nurture, support, and guide others in the Kidlit community and beyond in addition to writing her own poetry.
ReplyDeleteI'm full of gratitude for all your contributions and creativity - Thank You Mary Lee! Like the lion and the housecat, your life will be the same but different. Keep roaring, we'll be listening.
ReplyDeleteOh wow. What a wonder. So many awesome, rich poems. Today's PoetryFriday is a Mary Lee anthology!
ReplyDeleteI love Kat's comment...a Mary Lee anthology. Yes, so many great memories and poems and tributes. This party is really fun. I wish I could see her reading all of these. I hope she feels all the love!
ReplyDeleteI love seeing all these poems & the pictures you paired with them. I've seen some before but love reading more. It's a fine tribute to Mary Lee and all the thoughts she brings to our world and to her students.
ReplyDeleteSylvia, You chose some wonderful poems by Mary Lee to exemplify the fine work Mary Lee has done in the field of poetry. I especially like the one on cancer. I remember speaking to Mary Lee about the topic when at NCTE since I am a survivor of lymphoma. I read through your post at two different times since yesterday but did not have time to comment until now.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this wonderful collection!
ReplyDeleteReading this and all the other posts this week with original poems by Mary Lee, I'm floored by just how prolific she's been over the years! I look forward to seeing what a little extra time on her hands might turn up next.
ReplyDeleteI love how the poems you've showcased here shine the spotlight on the tremendous talent that is Mary Lee! :)
ReplyDeleteSylvia, I wouldn't be the poet I am today if it weren't for the PFAs. So thanks first of all for those opportunities. I, too, love seeing all of my PFA poems (so beautifully illustrated) all together here. There are a couple I'd like to get my hands on and revise, but I definitely think CANCER is one of the strongest. You can tell when a piece of writing comes straight from the author's heart. I can't even believe it's been almost 10 years for you and 20+ for me! Here's to the survivors!
ReplyDeleteThanks for everything you've done for me (poetry + teachers' guides) and all you do for children's poetry. You are a force for good in the world!