What's up in BOOK LINKS

Although April is over and we're almost halfway through May, I'm catching up on loose ends now that my semester is almost done. Phew!

April Book Links
I wanted to be sure to plug BOOK LINKS, the magazine supplement to BOOKLIST which includes a regular "Everyday Poetry" column written by yours truly. The April issue was particularly poetry-rich with an article about "Poetry Writing with Novels in Verse" by Dean Schneider, my article providing 100 poems/poetry books for the 30 days of April tied to various events throughout the month, plus my column featuring four of the biggest awards for children's poetry (the NCTE award, LBH Promising Poet award, LBH award, and Claudia Lewis award). Space was limited, so mention of the Lion and Unicorn award was cut. Let me rectify that here:

The Lion and the Unicorn's Award for Excellence in North American Poetry
The Lion and the Unicorn Award focuses on North American poetry for young people and carries on the prior tradition begun by the British journal, Signal, to “instigate, provoke, and sustain a conversation about poetry published for children.” Recipients are now from both the U.S. and Canada. In addition, the Lion and the Unicorn Award includes an essay which discusses the award winners as well as speculates on issues unique to writing and publishing poetry for children, “painting a picture of that year in children’s poetry.” The essays can be found here: http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~jtthomas/LandUAward.html and for a toolbox with teaching ideas: http://lionandunicornpoetryaward.blogspot.com/

The Lion and the Unicorn Award Recipients
2011 Susan Blackaby, Nest, Nook & Cranny
2010 No award given
2009 JonArno Lawson, A Voweller’s Bestiary, from Aardvark to Guineafowl (and H)
2008 Linda Sue Park, Tap Dancing on the Roof: Sijo (Poems)
2007 JonArno Lawson, Black Stars in a White Night Sky
2006 Wynton Marsalis, Jazz A·B·Z: An A to Z Collection of Jazz Portraits
2005 Marilyn Nelson, Fortune’s Bones: The Manumission Requiem

POEM PLUS:
As usual, the column also featured a new, unpublished poem for teachers to reproduce (for noncommercial educational purposes). It's a beautiful invitational poem by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater entitled, "Fire." (Thank you, Amy!)

May Book Links
The May issue of Book Links looks at science literature and my column shares my analysis of the lists of "Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12" from 2001-2012-- looking for poetry titles selected, of course. (I did a similar thing with the Notable Social Studies lists and poetry "hits" last Fall.) Here are a few nuggets from my science findings:

The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) is an organization of science education professionals and has as its purpose the “stimulation, improvement, and coordination of science teaching and learning.” An annual book review panel selects a list of titles from a variety of genres providing detailed annotations for each of the 40-50 books selected annually along with the designation of which curricular National Science Content Standard the book matches. These standards include the following eight areas:

National Science Content Standards
I Unifying Concepts and Processes

II Science as Inquiry

III Physical Science Perspectives

IV Life Science
V Earth and Space Science

VI Science and Technology

VII Science in Personal and Social

VIII History and Nature of Science

As I examined the “Outstanding Science Trade Books” lists since 2001, I was pleased to see 24 works of poetry on the combined lists, with an average of 2 poetry titles per year. Nature poems dominate the selections with a focus on animals, including birds, bees, and insects. Earth ecosystems, the ocean, and trees, in particular, are also featured in the highlighted poetry books. You’ll also note that Joyce Sidman is frequently recognized for her beautiful science-themed poetry.

The article includes a list of all 24 poetry titles and discusses which science standards are most often represented.

POEM PLUS:
This article also includes a new, previously unpublished poem-- this one is "The Acrobatic Bat" by the wonderful Avis Harley. It is an example of her own original poem form, the "intravista," in which words within words, arranged downward, make a poem within a poem. It's very cool! (Thanks so much for sharing your work, Avis!)

Check 'em out!

Margarita Engle in BOOK LINKS, plus

I’d like to plug the January issue of Book Links (now an ancillary publication with Booklist) and my “Everyday Poetry” column about poet and author Margarita Engle. This time last year in Book Links, Jeannine Atkins offered a fine introduction to three books by Margarita Engle-- The Poet Slave of Cuba, The Surrender Tree, and Tropical Secrets including research suggestions for the classroom. In my column, I followed up with more info and curricular connections. Here’s an excerpt:

Margarita Engle burst onto the scene only 5 years ago and has already garnered multiple Pura Belpre recognitions (another one THIS year!) and a Newbery honor distinction. Her work thus far is a unique amalgamation of spare and powerful free verse, unheralded historical subjects, vividly realized settings, and multiple contradictory points of view. She has fused history, poetry, and biography to tell authentic stories about real people from the past. Her work lends itself to cross-curricular applications in history, science, and language arts, in particular.

Her unique style provides opportunities for young people to connect with her work in a variety of ways. The use of many viewpoints lends itself to dramatic reading ala readers theater. (Her first three works are also available in audiobook form.) Her use of imagery and distinctive settings begs for artistic interpretation in drawing, painting, collage, etc. The history and geography nuggets may prompt further digging into nonfiction and web-based resources. Put it all together and students can create digital trailers using archival photos, period music, and evocative voiceovers to bring her works to life.

So far, Engle has authored five novels in verse beginning with The Poet Slave of Cuba: A Biography of Juan Francisco Manzano, illustrated by Sean Qualls. The life of nineteenth-century Cuban slave Juan Francisco Manzano is portrayed from multiple points of view in this complex and gritty poetry-story. Pair this book with other stories of enslaved peoples in studying the history of the Americas. It offers interesting parallels to Marilyn Nelson’s Fortune’s Bones or M. T. Anderson’s two The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing novels for older readers.

Her verse “biography,” The Surrender Tree, features Cuba’s legendary healer Rosa la Bayamesa, told from multiple points of view during several wars for Cuba’s independence in the 1850-1899. It is a compelling narrative of escape and hiding, heroism and healing set in the lush landscape of Cuba’s jungles and caves across three wars fought by natives and fueled by outsiders. It offers an interesting counterpoint to books about the Civil War in the U.S during this same period, such as the classic Bull Run by Paul Fleischman, also told from multiple viewpoints or J. Patrick Lewis’s poetry collection, The Brother’s War: Civil War Voices in Verse.

In Tropical Secrets: Holocaust Refugees in Cuba, Engle shifts to Cuba in 1939 and the contrasting, interweaving paths of a Jewish boy who is a refugee from Germany and a daughter of a corrupt Cuban official and their growing awareness of the conflicted, adult world. Follow up with other stories about refugees such as the popular Swedish novel, The Faraway Island by Annika Thor, translated by Linda Schenk, or the memoir in verse, The Year of Goodbyes by Debbie Levy, or the picture book, Brothers in Hope: The Story of the Lost Boys of Sudan by Mary Williams, or the contemporary nonfiction work, Children of War, Voices of Iraqi Refugees by Deborah Ellis.

Next up: The Firefly Letters; A Suffragette's Journey to Cuba, based on the diaries and letters of Swedish suffragist Fredrika Bremer. It is set in 1851 and is built upon three female perspectives: a Swedish feminist, a slave from the Congo, and a privileged Cuban girl, weaving together notions of freedom and choice, culture and family. Engle’s focus on the roles of girls and women against a backdrop of cultural expectations and economic limitations parallels many of the struggles in another novel in verse, Crossing Stones by Helen Frost and for older readers, the novel Climbing the Stairs by Padma Venkatraman.

Margarita has a new book coming out this year, another historical novel set in Cuba—but going further back several hundred years. In Hurricane Dancers, The First Caribbean Pirate Shipwreck, set in the early 1500’s, Engle’s protagonist is Quebrado, named by the sailors, el quebrado—half islander, half outsider, “a broken one,” a child of a Taíno mother and Spanish father. He navigates the “words and worlds” between his mother’s Taíno Indian language and his father’s Spanish after a devastating hurricane and shipwreck. Michael Dorris’ historical fiction novel, Morning Girl, is set in this same time period, also in a Taíno village and offers another interesting native perspective. Or look for factual informational books about hurricanes like Hurricanes by Seymour Simon or for more poetry by poets of the Caribbean such as Monica Gunning, Lynn Joseph and James Berry.

Conclusion
What a powerful poetic voice, inspiring Latina writer, and distinctive ambassador for Cuba’s history. A “poet unit” focused on the works of Margarita Engle will yield a model of rigorous research, sensory description, elements of memoir, mastery of perspective, and elegant writing. Her treatment of the “true story” is eloquent and engaging, balancing the rigors of researching primary sources with the gift for telling a gripping story—all with a poet’s heart.

MARGARITA’S NOVELS IN VERSE
Engle, Margaret. 2006. The Poet Slave of Cuba: A Biography of Juan Francisco Manzano. New York: Holt.
Engle, Margarita. 2008. The Surrender Tree. New York: Holt.
Engle, Margarita. 2009. Tropical Secrets: Holocaust Refugees in Cuba. New York: Holt.
Engle, Margarita. 2010. The Firefly Letters; A Suffragette's Journey to Cuba. Henry Holt.
Engle, Margarita. 2011. Hurricane Dancers; The First Caribbean Pirate Shipwreck. Henry Holt.

FREE POEM
Be sure to check out this January issue of Book Links which also includes a previously unpublished poem by Margarita, free for teacher and librarian use. The accompanying poem, “Quietly,” is a lovely tribute to her mother and her mother’s influence on Margarita’s own memories.

MINI INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
Margarita was kind enough to respond to several interview questions as I was working on this article. I think you’ll find her answers fascinating!

SV: You seem to be drawn to the stories of “real” people from history. Why do you choose to tell their stories in poetry, rather than prose? Do you also rely on exhaustive research to get your details correct? Can you describe your research process?

---Margarita: I am haunted by stories about people who make hopeful decisions in situations that seem hopeless. The verse novel form allows me to distill complex historical situations down to their emotional essence. I need to learn the facts and figures of history, but I don’t want to clutter my books with information. My goal is an uncrowded page that flows easily and quickly, without intimidating reluctant readers.

Researching real people and historical events requires obscure references. I start with recent publications, and work my way back in time by searching for references listed in bibliographies. When I find a diary, I feel like I’ve won a prize, because first person accounts offer emotional aspects along with the details of daily life. Since rare books are not usually available in a digital form, I depend on interlibrary loan, an amazing service that gives me access to University collections and the Library of Congress.

SV: Conditions of war and armed conflict are often an important part of your books. What parallels do you see across those historical events (and today)?

---Margarita: Peace is the attraction, not war. I exist in the space between two hostile countries, Cuba and the U.S., so the interface between cultures fascinates me. In Hurricane Dancers, I wrote about the first encounter between my Cuban Indian ancestors and my Caribbean pirate ancestors. I hope my books offer empathy. The Poet Slave of Cuba is about the injustice of slavery and the yearning for literacy. The Surrender Tree shows a small country’s desire for independence from powerful nations. Tropical Secrets is about the plight of refugees. The Firefly Letters portrays women who are regarded as property. These are all ongoing situations throughout the world. They are topics that are relevant today.

SV: Presenting multiple points of view seems to be a hallmark of your works. How do you choose and balance those perspectives?

---Margarita: Giving voices to characters I admire feels natural, but it’s a struggle to let the ones I detest have their say. When I wrote The Surrender Tree, I really didn’t want to let the slave hunter speak. I had to force myself to write his voice, but he was part of the story, so it had to be done. I’m currently working on a shorter novel in verse with only one voice, inspired by stories my grandmother told me about her childhood. She struggled with dyslexia, so I am dedicating the book to reluctant readers. Also, my picture book, Summer Birds, uses a single voice. I think it is a function of the complexity of the story.

SV: You create such a pungent sense of place in your writing with flora and fauna, food and landscape coming vividly to life. Is that an intentional counterpoint to the vivid description of war, death, and disease you also portray?

---Margarita: I’m an agronomist and botanist, as well as a hiker and birdwatcher. I love the outdoors. I love wilderness. I can’t imagine writing in any other way. Tropical landscapes are constantly bursting with life and death. Everything grows fast, and everything rots. It’s a setting filled with fragrance and stench. It can only be described with all five senses on high alert. Your question about counterpoint is interesting, because for centuries, Cuban writers have portrayed a striking blend of natural beauty and moral corruption. It may seem surrealistic, but it’s actually a completely realistic image of life in the tropics.

SV: Several of your characters serve as translators in their stories and language plays a pivotal role in the characters’ relationships. Would you care to elaborate on the why and how of that element?

---Margarita: My parents met, fell in love, and got married without speaking the same language. I was born and raised in my father’s hometown of Los Angeles, but my Cuban mother taught me Spanish while I was little, and when we spent summers in Cuba, I was immersed in Spanish. Growing up bilingual was a formative experience. I am always aware of the different ways of thinking that come with a language. For instance, in Spanish we say we dream ‘with’ someone, instead of dreaming ‘about’ them. In English we say we ‘fly’ from coast to coast, but in Spanish people can’t fly. They have to ‘go by airplane.’ Language is a magic window. It lets you glimpse the human mind.

Wow, right?


I can’t wait to see what Margarita writes next…

And be sure to stop by Tara's for the Poetry Friday gathering at A Teaching Life.

Image credit: 

schoollibraryjournal.com;wppl.org;piedmon.k12.ca;jacketflap.com;tower.com;usmacmillan; freepicturesfreepictures.com

Posting by Sylvia M. Vardell © 2011. All rights reserved.

Book Links + Booklist Oct. Update

Once again I find myself apologizing for being gone awhile. I think I hit the blog “wall” and ran out of steam for a bit, but I’m back with a slew (as we say in Texas) of poetry news!

One of my favorite teaching resources, Book Links magazine, has merged with it’s parent, Booklist, to become a regular supplement beginning this month. It’s still full of all kinds of wonderful items with a focus on social studies in this issue, including articles about war, heroes, persecution and intolerance. (Our October issue of Bookbird has a similar focus, interestingly enough!)

My “Everyday Poetry” column looks at works of fiction published this year that feature characters reading and writing poetry, including:

• Bella and Bean by Rebecca Kai Dotlich
• Stanza by Jill Esbaum
• Gooney Bird is So Absurd by Lois Lowry
• Also Known as Harper by Ann Haywood Leal
• Metamorphosis by Betsy Franco

In addition, the author of each of these books was kind enough to share a few great comments with me which are included in the piece. (Thank you, all!) The full text is available at BooklistOnline (but I can't seem to get the link to post here-- sorry!).

And look whose book is featured on the COVER of this issue of Book Links… drum roll… Laura Purdie Salas and Stampede! Go, Laura! I reviewed Stampede earlier this year and just loved it and she was kind enough to provide the unpublished poem that is featured in this October issue of Book Links. Her poem is “Fiesta,” inspired by fond memories of her Spanish teacher Señora Everson and captures the fun of a foreign language class taught by a teacher with pizzazz, full of the interlingual (25 cents please) use of Spanish. You’ll have to get the magazine to get your hands on that poem, but it comes with permission to reproduce it! Thank you again, Laura, for sharing this gem.

Join the rest of the Poetry Friday crew with Kelly Herold at Crossover this week.

Posting (not poem) by Sylvia M. Vardell © 2009. All rights reserved.

Image credit:booklistonline

Kid poetry and BOOK LINKS

Please allow me to plug my "Everyday Poetry" column in the May issue of Book Links. In this issue, I focus on celebrating poetry written by young people themselves in "Sharing the Poetry of Children and Teens" (pages 40-41). Here's an excerpt.

As the school year draws to a close, now is a good time to invite children to create or compile class or individual books that can become keepsakes for them to take home to remember the year. Poetry, in particular, can be a lovely form for expressing their growing up feelings.

Generally, my goal in sharing poetry with children is to focus on reading, performing, and discussing it, rather than on writing it; on the experience of poetry rather than the production of it. After all, everyone can enjoy poems, but not everyone will grow up to be a poet. Children shouldn’t be expected to write poetry until they’ve had some experience reading or listening to it, but many children will naturally experiment with writing poetry when they are immersed in reading and talking about it. Sharing published poetry written BY kids can be especially appealing because it inspires children to think of themselves as possible creators of poetry.

Poetry By Children
Several poets who have worked in schools, libraries, and with other youth projects have gathered anthologies of poetry written by children of all ages. Collections such as Salting the Ocean edited by Naomi Shihab Nye, vibrantly illustrated by Ashley Bryan, or Ten-Second Rain Showers and Soft Hay Will Catch You both edited by Sanford Lyne, show the range of thought and feeling that children can express in writing. Invite children to choose a favorite poem by an age-mate to read aloud, recopy and remember, or respond to.

Bring a camera to school to capture kids at work and play (you may already have photos of the year’s activities handy). Invite students to compose poems to accompany the photos and create a class book. For a wonderful example, look for teacher Ayana Lowe’s Come and Play; Children of Our World Having Fun. If you take digital photos, you can even “publish” simple books using commercial tools from photoprocessing sources (like Kinko’s or Snapfish.com).

Poetry by Teens
There are even more examples of published poetry by teen writers, including two volumes from the WritersCorps: Paint Me Like I Am and Tell the World and two other pocket-sized graphic poetry collections, Movin’: Teen Poets Take Voice compiled by Dave Johnson and Angst! Teen Verses from the Edge edited by Karen Tom, Matt Frost, and Kiki. Poet Betsy Franco has assembled several notable collections of poetry written by teens including Things I Have to Tell You (by girls) and You Hear Me? (by boys), plus the recent Falling Hard: 100 Love Poems by Teenagers, and Night is Gone, Day is Still Coming; Stories and Poems by American Indian Teens and Young Adults, compiled with Annette Piña Ochoa and Traci L. Gourdine-- all books full of unsentimental and authentic young voices.

I also write about poetry contests and about helping young people submit their original poems for possible publication. Be sure to help aspiring poets become familiar with the protocol for submitting manuscripts (style, format, etc.) and prepare them for the competitive process and for possible rejection. Outlets for their writing are also suggested. I also mention "Poetry Writing Resources" written specifically for young writers, including:

Inside Out: Children's Poets Discuss Their Work by JonArno Lawson and Pizza, Pigs, and Poetry; How to Write a Poem by Jack Prelutsky. Older students will enjoy Kathi Appelt’s Poems From Homeroom: A Writer's Place To Start or Ralph Fletcher’s Poetry Matters: Writing A Poem From The Inside Out.

As the school year ends, let’s share the words of children and teens—either in published works of young people’s writing or by creating homemade books to cherish or to add to the library for others to enjoy.

Once again, I'm thrilled that Book Links is featuring a previously unpublished poem to accompany the column. This month's poem features a fresh voice in Donna Marie Merritt. This poem challenges readers to step into a secret world and dream big. As a culminating activity for the school year, students can express their dreams in poems, writing individually or with a friend. Then compile them all into a time capsule to be opened at the end of the following year.

The Open Door
by Donna Marie Merritt

Truth sails across great spaces
Of invitations,
Offering images, which before,
Have only been mine in dreams…
The chance to be everywhere, anywhere, nowhere
At once.

Who else knows of this wonder?
Has it popped up like a mushroom,
Stirring the silent earth
In the quiet of the night?
Where does this enchantment begin?
Do its delights ever end?

I step through
The open door
As other seekers appear, then
Disappear along myriad, marvelous paths
Into that secret world of possibilities…
The library.

Image credits: http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklinks/index.cfm

Posting (not poem) by Sylvia M. Vardell © 2009. All rights reserved.

World Poetry Day + A/V Poetry

One of my students stumbled upon a mention of World Poetry Day that was new info to me. Apparently, it’s that time again: March 21. According to the ReadWriteThink curriculum Web site, “Believed to have its origin in the 1930s, World Poetry Day is now celebrated in hundreds of countries around the world. This day provides a perfect opportunity to examine poets and their craft in the classroom. In 1999, UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) also designated March 21 as World Poetry Day."

I’m heading off to Bologna, Italy today for my very first trip to the world famous Bologna Children’s Book Fair. I’ll be attending in my role as the new (co) editor of Bookbird, the journal on international children’s literature, and I’m hoping to learn, learn, learn. I also hope to find some wonderful, new international poetry for young people. Wouldn’t that be fun?

In the mean time, I’d also like to share an excerpt from my March Book Links “Everyday Poetry” column focused on multi-media options for poetry. If you’re looking for fresh ways to approach poetry with young people, you might consider multi-media methods for experiencing the visual and aural qualities of poetry. Using popular Internet sites, CDs, and a variety of software, you can lead kids in exploring the imagery, emotion, and language of poetry in ways that are creative, playful and multi-sensory.

VIDEO-- Look to the Internet for many examples of poetry in various visual formats. On Teacher Tube.com, you can find school-friendly video vignettes of young people reading poetry aloud, including their own original poetry, as well as teachers presenting a variety of poetry lessons…. Nearly everyone enjoys searching You Tube.com for fun, but it can also be a great site for poetry resources. One new trend is the video book talk or book trailer. Some are created by the poet, some by the publisher, and some by fans—a project possibility for kids, teachers, and librarians.

AUDIO-- There are several places to find audio adaptations of poetry for young people. Many are available as CDs accompanying print books…. Many poetry-related web sites include audiofiles among their links, such as The Academy of American Poets, Poetry Magazine.com, Poets and Writers, Inc., LibriVox.org for amateur recordings of books in the public domain, and the Favorite Poem Project …. More and more children’s poets are making audio recordings of themselves reading their own poetry available on their personal web sites…. As children experiment with technological tools of all kinds, they can be very savvy about finding creative ways to express themselves through poetry.

For examples of many of these sites and sources, check out the rest of the column. And once again, we have a lovely poem to accompany the column—a spring gem by Bobbi Katz. It’s beautifully formatted on the Book Links page for educator use.

Onion Snow
by Bobbi Katz

I wake to heavy quiet this April morning:
a special weighted sound.
Outside my window snowflakes fall
softly, softly feathering the ground-
softly, softly bearding the daffodils.
Grandma always called it onion snow.
Arriving when wild onions have started to grow,
those foolish fat flakes don't seem to know
they are too late for winter
and misfits in spring.
"Come listen to that onion snow!"
she would have said.
"Have you ever heard
such a silence??”

Copyright c 2008 by Bobbi Katz; used with permission.

Linda, a blogging colleague is also sharing her thoughts about this Book Links column at Write Time. Check it out.

Join this week's Poetry Friday crew at Wild Rose Reader. Thanks for hosting, Elaine!

Image credit: http://www.bookfair.bolognafiere.it/bcbf09_index.asp?m=107&l=1&ma=356;ala.org

Biography + Poetry in BOOK LINKS

Once again, I’d like to call your attention to the ALA magazine Book Links and my most recent “Everyday Poetry” column. In this issue, I focus on biographies told through poetry, a big new trend, IMO. Here is a brief excerpt:

If there’s a twenty-first century trend in poetry for young people, it may well be the marriage of poetry and biography. There are over a dozen recent biographical poetry books available for young people, with many focusing on subjects who are African American, Latino and/or women. Perhaps the poetic form allows the subject’s voice to emerge in a more personal way or perhaps this genre format simply allows for more creative experimentation. Whether the focus is on a key event in one life history or a cradle-to-grave complete biography, there are many excellent works that weave together history, biography, and poetry.

Individual verse biographies
Like the “novel in verse,” another trend in poetry is the biography told through a series of connected poems or poetic vignettes particularly appropriate for older children and young adults. Carole Boston Weatherford calls this a “fictional verse memoir” in her new work, Becoming Billie Holiday. Marilyn Nelson set the trend in motion with her award winning biographical poetry book, Carver: A Life in Poems, a blending of fact, poetry, and images of primary source material. Others by Nelson are fact-based, moving poetry collections in a variety of poetic forms:

Fortune's Bones: The Manumission Requiem
A Wreath for Emmett Till
The Freedom Business

Carmen T. Bernier-Grand has also used the verse format for her biographical works, César; ¡Sí, Se Puede! Yes, We Can! about activist César Chavez and Frida: ¡Viva la vida! Long Live Life! about artist Frida Kahlo. Add to this roster of innovators Margarita Engle whose recent verse biography, The Surrender Tree, features Cuba’s legendary healer Rosa la Bayamesa, told from multiple points of view during several wars for Cuba’s independence.

Older readers can research primary source documents to help them visualize and conceptualize historical times. One excellent resource is Jackdaws Publications, a source of full-size facsimiles of actual letters, diaries, telegrams, newspapers, study maps and many other authentically reproduced documents from various eras. Create displays to showcase biographical poems alongside these contextual artifacts and realia. Weaving biography and poetry together makes sense. For poetry lovers, it’s way to absorb history, and for all readers, the poetic format provides a unique entrée into stories of people of the past.

I also wrote about collective poetry biographies and picture book poem biographies, with examples of each. And the most fabulous feature is a new original poem by Rebecca Kai Dotlich. It’s “Dear Diary” from the point of view of Anne Frank, capturing a snapshot moment with haunting details and lyrical language. Don’t miss it!

Next month’s column is about pairing poems and award books. We all tune into the major awards (especially the ALA awards announced at the end of January) and try to keep up with what the experts recommend as outstanding literature. Why not make a poetry connection here? In this column, I showcase the ALA multicultural award winning books of 2008 by connecting each with a work of poetry that extends the topic, theme, or tone in interesting ways. Watch for it.

Picture credit: ala.org

Traveling with Summer Poetry

I’d like to take a moment to thank you, reader, for keeping me going. I’m approaching the second anniversary of my blog which started July 14, 2006, and I’m tickled pink to still be at it—thanks to the many people who have posted, commented, and encouraged me. The world of poetry for young people is a small, but special community and I am honored to be part of it!

This week, I’d like to direct you to Book Links magazine once again, where my regular “Everyday Poetry” focuses on “Portable, Packable Summer Poetry” in the July issue, including an original poem, “The License Plate Game” by the always generous Janet S. Wong. You may remember that she posted versions of that poem here (April 25) and revised the final version that appears in Book Links based on that input. Cool to see the blog and print worlds intersect like that.

Meanwhile, I’d like to expand a bit on the topic of poems for summertime. For many wonderful poems, the place is the key. We can set the stage with poems about geography, such as Lee Bennett Hopkins’ collection, Got Geography! (Greenwillow, 2006) or J. Patrick Lewis’ A World of Wonders: Geographic Travels in Verse and Rhyme (Dial, 2002). Or we can focus specifically on the U.S. with the poetry of Diane Siebert in Tour America: A Journey Through Poems and Art (Chronicle, 2006) or another compilation by Lee Bennett Hopkins, My America: A Poetry Atlas of the United States (Simon & Schuster, 2000). Display a world or U.S. map and invite children to locate the places referenced in the poetry.

For a more specific emphasis, spotlight these collections below on unique and historic sites around the world. Children can research factual information about a favorite place to accompany the poem or attempt reconstructing the site out of clay, cardboard, or popsicle sticks to display alongside the “monumental” poem.

• Between Earth and Sky: Legends of Native American Sacred Places by Joseph Bruchac (Harcourt Brace, 1996)
• Castles: Old Stone Poems by Rebecca Kai Dotlich and J. Patrick Lewis (Wordsong/Boyds and Mills Press, 2006)
• Monumental Verses by J. Patrick Lewis (National Geographic, 2005)
• Sacred Places by Jane Yolen (Harcourt Brace, 1996)

Some children may be gone during the summers visiting extended family members or spending time with a divorced parent. Two poetry collections that capture some of the serious and silly moments of a summer away are Summerhouse Time by Eileen Spinelli (Knopf, 2007) and for older readers, My Father’s Summers: A Daughter’s Memoirs by Kathi Appelt (Henry Holt, 2004). Encourage kids to keep their own summer poetry journals, with doodles, drawings, and poems that they can share or keep private.

Before they hit the road, children can check out the National Poetry Map on the Internet to discover which were the most sought-out poems in 2007 in each individual state. Go to “Good Reads: State Favorites and Critics Picks.”

Janet Wong has also authored a collection of poems all set in the car: Behind the Wheel: Poems about Driving (Margaret K. McElderry, 1999). Some are about life in the car and some use driving as a metaphor. Kids can choose their favorite, copy it on special paper, and share it in the car with friends or family.

Families who spend hours on the road or in the air often enjoy audiobooks to help pass the time. Walter Dean Myers has two works of poetry that have been masterfully adapted to the audio format produced by Live Oak Media complete with original music: Blues Journey (2005) and Jazz (2007). Much of Shel Silverstein’s and Jack Prelutsky’s poetry is available on CD, too, read by the poets themselves. Kids can also make their own recordings of themselves or others reading favorite poems out loud.

Poetry Friday is hosted by Under the Covers this week. See you there!

Picture credit: ALA

New BOOK LINKS Poem Feature

Please allow me to plug my “Everyday Poetry” column once again, since the May issue of Book Links just came out this week. This time, I’ve focused on “Blue Ribbon” poetry, looking at the many poetry books that won major awards this year including the Newbery, Printz honor, Coretta Scott King honors, Pura Belpre and Schneider awards, and of course, the brand new Odyssey Award. (And just last week, Pat Mora’s lovely book, Yum! ¡Mmmm! ¡Qué Rico! Americas’ Sproutings, Lee & Low, 2007, won the Americás award.) I’ve written about this before, but I don’t think I mentioned all the poetry titles that also appeared on some of the ALA “best” lists this year. Another dozen poetry books and novels-in-verse made the lists of 2008 Notable Children’s Books, Best Books for Young Adults, and Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers, including:

• Blue Lipstick: Concrete Poems by John Grandits (Clarion, 2007)
• Chess Rumble by G. Neri (Lee & Low, 2007)
• Frida: ¡Viva la vida! Long Live Life! by Carmen T. Bernier-Grand (Marshall Cavendish, 2007)
• Glass by Ellen Hopkins (Simon & Schuster/Margaret K. McElderry, 2007)
• Good Sports: Rhymes about Running, Jumping, Throwing, and More by Jack Prelutsky (Knopf, 2007)
• Here’s a Little Poem: A Very First Book of Poetry edited by Jane Yolen and Andrew Fusek Peters (Candlewick, 2007)
• Miss Crandall’s School for Young Ladies and Little Misses of Color by Elizabeth Alexander and Marilyn Nelson (Boyds Mills/Wordsong, 2007)
• Tap Dancing on the Roof: Sijo (Poems) by Linda Sue Park (Clarion, 2007)
• Today and Today by Issa Kobayashi (Scholastic, 2007)
• Tough Boy Sonatas by Curtis L. Crisler (Boyds Mills/Wordsong, 2007)
• What My Girlfriend Doesn’t Know by Sonya Sones (Simon & Schuster, 2007)
• Yum! ¡Mmmm! ¡Qué Rico! Americas’ Sproutings by Pat Mora (Lee & Low, 2007)

Isn't it exciting to see so many poetry books get this recognition? Finally, beginning this month, my “Everyday Poetry” column will also feature an original poem by a children’s poet alongside my short article. This month, it’s “Keep a Pocket in Your Poem” by J. Patrick Lewis, inspired by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers’ poem “Keep a Poem in Your Pocket.” Thanks, Pat! Readers may reproduce this poem for noncommercial educational purposes, as long as the author and Book Links are credited. The downloadable poem is available here. Enjoy!

Join the rest of the Poetry Friday Round Up at Wrter2b.

Picture credit: ALA Book Links

Janet Wong and the License Plate Game

On this date in 1901, New York became the first state to require license plates for cars. Each plate carried the initials of the car’s owner and cost $1. In honor of this occasion, I have a not-yet-published poem by Janet Wong to share with her permission. She was kind enough to write the following poem for my “Everyday Poetry” column for Book Links magazine scheduled to be published in July. When I asked her if I could post it, she suggested I share some of the different versions she went through as she revised the poem and we dialogued back and forth about it. What a great idea and such a generous gesture! So, this is for all of you who work with children—who, in my experience, are often shocked and surprised to see that adults don’t create perfect poems in single drafts. Showing them the PROCESS of writing can be helpful and eye-opening. Here are SEVEN, count ‘em, seven versions of Janet’s poem about the age-old favorite car game, the License Plate Game.

First version:
(Notice the couplets with some end rhyme)

THE LICENSE PLATE GAME
by Janet S. Wong

Take the letters
in a license plate—

RSN
MST

And see what you can say.
Play with words:

Rest Stop Now!
Milk Shake Time!

Find words to steer
the driver’s mind

to places where
you want to go—

You can use
The License Plate Game

to disengage
the cruise control.

Second version:
(Notice the new title)

THE LICENSE PLATE LETTERS GAME
by Janet S. Wong

1RBT296 could mean
one Really Boring Trip.

Or if you’re hungry, just think quick:
say, it’s Really Burger Time!

The license plate letters game
lets you steer the driver’s mind.

Nothing jams a driver’s ear
more than asking, “Are we there?”

Find some letters, play things smart,
use your words to take aim:

Master
the License Plate Letters Game.


Third version:
(Back to the old title; notice fewer words, the tighter structure)

THE LICENSE PLATE GAME
by Janet S. Wong

1RBT296 could be
one Really Boring Trip.

So brainstorm silly things,
think quick:

Root Beer - Thirsty?
Rest - Burger Time!

Use words to steer
the driver's mind

to the destinations
that you name:

you control the cruise
with the License Plate Game.


Two fourth versions:
(Notice the shift from couplets to tercets in the first option)

THE LICENSE PLATE GAME
by Janet S. Wong

When you’re aching
to complain,
when the drive is driving you insane,

play with the letters
in a license plate.
Think silly things, concentrate.

If the plate says
RSN 225,
you might suggest the family drive

to a nearby ReStauraNt.
Or what about a Rest Stop Now?
It really doesn’t matter how

you play the game.
Just try to find
words to steer the driver’s mind.

When you’re aching to complain,
and your legs are numb and your seat’s aflame,
why not try The License Plate Game?

Or

THE LICENSE PLATE GAME
by Janet S. Wong

Take the letters in a license plate—

RSN
MST

and see what you can say.
Play the License Plate Game!

All three letters in one word:

RaiSiN, ReStauraNt, gingeRSNap
MuSTard, MySTery, druMSTick

Or choose a string of three:

Rest Stop Now
Milk Shake Time

The trick is, you have got to find
words to steer the driver’s mind.

When you’re aching to complain,
it’s time to try the License Plate Game.


Fifth version:
(Notice the tercet form prevails, but the end lines come from the second version)

THE LICENSE PLATE GAME
by Janet S. Wong

When you're aching
to complain,
when the drive is driving you insane,

play with the letters
in a license plate.
Think silly things, concentrate.

Suppose you see
RSN 325.
You might suggest the family drive

to a nearby ReStauraNt.
Or what about a Rest Stop Now?
It really doesn't matter how

you play. Three words? OK.
Or use just one.
The thing is, try to have some fun

and search
and search until you find
words to steer the driver's mind.

When you're aching to complain,
all numb feet and seat aflame,
don't forget: The License Plate Game.


Final version:
(Notice the new ending stanza)

THE LICENSE PLATE GAME
by Janet S. Wong

When you’re aching
to complain,
when the drive is driving you insane,

play with the letters
in a license plate.
Think silly things. Concentrate.

Suppose you see
RSN 325.
You might suggest the family drive

to a nearby ReStauraNt.
Or what about a Rest Stop Now?
It really doesn’t matter how

you play. Three words? OK.
Or use just one.
The thing is, try to have some fun

and search
and search until you find
words to steer the driver’s mind.

When your toes are numb
and your bottom’s blue,
the LPG will rescue you!

Thank you, Janet, for writing and sharing your poem and your poetry writing process!

For more poetry gems, check out the Poetry Friday Round Up at The Miss Rumphius Effect.


Picture credit: www.euro-sign.com

Poetry and Science

If you’re a regular Book Links subscriber, you may have already received your March issue. This time my “Everyday Poetry” column is focused on “’Doing’ Science with Poetry.” I’ve identified poetry books and activities for each of the seven categories of the National Science Education Standards for the curriculum, K-12.

Science as Inquiry
Physical Science
Life Science
Earth and Space Science
Science and Technology
Science in Personal and Social Perspective
History and Nature of Science

Here’s just an excerpt to whet your appetite.

“At first glance it may seem odd to combine science and poetry, but they share one major attribute in common: the importance of keen observation. Poetry offers highly charged words and vivid imagery that tap the essence of a subject using sensory language. Poetry’s brevity, conceptual focus, and rich vocabulary make it a natural teaching tool for connecting with curricular content….

One Sample Curricular Area: Physical Science
As we introduce children to physical science and the concepts of motion, matter, energy, atoms, light, heat, electricity, and magnetism, poetry can help pave the way. The rhyming shape poems of Flicker Flash by Joan Bransfield Graham explore the different ways that light appears in our world, from the flicker of birthday candles to a flash of lightning. Read them aloud by flashlight for added effect. A natural complement is Anna Grossnickle Hines poetry book, Winter Lights (Greenwillow 2005) or Marilyn Singer’s Central Heating: Poems About Fire and Warmth (Knopf 2005).

Three of Jane Yolen’s poetry collections look at water in its varying forms: Once upon Ice and Other Frozen Poems (Boyds Mills Press 1997), Snow, Snow: Winter Poems for Children (Boyds Mills Press 1998) and Water Music: Poems for Children (Boyds Mills 1995), all illustrated with stunning photographs. For more “wet” poetry, consult Joan Bransfield Graham’s Splish Splash (Houghton Mifflin 2001), Constance Levy’s Splash!: Poems of Our Watery World (Orchard 2002), and Ralph Fletcher’s Water Planet: Poems about Water (Arrowhead, 1991). Many of these water poems lend themselves to reading aloud along with props such as soap bubbles, Christmas tree “icicles,” or audiotapes of waterfalls or the ocean surf.

One Sample “Science” Poem:
garbage
by Valerie Worth

The stained,
Sour-scented
Bucket tips out
Hammered-gold
Orange rind

Eggshell ivory,
Garnet coffee-
Grounds, pearl
Wand of bared
Chicken bone:

Worked back soon
To still more
Curious jewelry
Of chemical
And molecule.

from All the Small Poems (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1994)

I’m also tickled to report that my previous Book Links article on “Pairing Poems Across Cultures” is now reprinted at PaperTigers as part of their March/April emphasis on poetry.

And for more poetry, check out the Poetry Friday Round Up at Wild Rose Reader.

Picture credit: www.science-alliance.nl

Pairing and Comparing Poems

In my regular “Everyday Poetry” column for Book Links magazine, I wrote about pairing and comparing poetry in the most recent (January, 2008) issue. It’s entitled “Pairing Poems Across Cultures” and here’s a brief excerpt:

Seeking out the poetry of parallel cultures enables children to see firsthand both the sameness and the differences that make the human landscape so dynamic and fascinating. Poets of color are using the language, experiences, and images of their cultures in ways that are fresh and powerful. The special succinctness of poetry is also appealing, and powerful points about prejudice, identity, and cultural conflict can be made in very few words.

Sharing poems in pairs can help children to engage their critical thinking skills by comparing the topics, themes, points of view, or language of the two poems. Selecting poems that reflect cultural details adds an additional layer of meaning and interest. Of course, reading and enjoying the poem for its own sake is the first step. Responding, comparing, and analyzing often follow naturally when children read, hear, and recite poetry together. Repeated readings could incorporate choral reading arrangements and child participation. Here is one sample poem pairing:

Compare Poems about Poetry
• “Wish” by Linda Sue Park, from Tap Dancing on the Roof; Sijo Poems (Clarion, 2007)
• “A Blank White Page” by Francisco X. Alarcón, from Iguanas in the Snow and Other Winter Poems / Iguanas en la Nieve y Otros Poemas de Invierno (Children’s Book Press, 2001)

“Wish”
by Linda Sue Park

For someone to read a poem
again, and again, and then,

having lifted it from page
to brain-- the easy part--

cradle it on the longer trek
from brain all the way to heart.

and

“A Blank White Page”
by Francisco X. Alarcón

A blank white page
is a meadow
after a snowfall
that a poem
hopes to cross

Look at how poets have captured the beauty of poetry itself and what a poem can be and do. Newbery Medalist Linda Sue Park explores the Korean poetic form of sijo to describe poetry’s impact, “from brain all the way to heart,” while Francisco X. Alarcón uses images of “a meadow / after a snowfall” to describe the page a poem is written upon. Children can try writing their own “definition” poems modeled on the sijo or free-verse format of these two examples. Next, create a “dictionary” anthology of all of their “defining” poems.

Picture credit: ala.org/booklinks