Got art?

Another one of the "hats" that I wear is that of "Art Auction Coordinator" for the Children's Literature Assembly of the National Council of Teachers of English. I'm excited to announce that it is time to launch the fifth annual online silent Art Auction sponsored by CLA. This year’s auction features exciting work by noted illustrators Douglas Florian, Pamela Zagarenski, Rick Allen, Keith Graves, Robert Weinstock, Calef Brown, and Shadra Strickland. There are 8 original pieces and signed limited edition prints from these award winning artists—including an illustration from a Caldecott honor book!

You might notice a certain POETRY bent to many of these pieces. Since Joyce Sidman is our speaker for our annual CLA breakfast (on Sunday morning, Nov. 20, at the NCTE convention in Chicago), I thought it would be terrific to feature art from some of her books and Rick Allen and Pamela Zagarenski kindly donated pieces from Dark Emperor and Red Sings from Treetops, respectively. Then you'll also see that poet-illustrators Douglas Florian, Calef Brown, and Robert Weinstock also donated works of art-- including several original paintings! And the lovely Shadra Strickland and generous Keith Graves gave us original pieces, too. Such beautiful art; such beautiful artists!

To view digital images of these illustrators’ works, see current bids, and to learn how to participate in the auction, go HERE. Current bids range from $75 to $500 and the bids are updated periodically, so keep an eye on the web site.

All proceeds support the work of CLA including outstanding workshops, scholarships, research grants, publications, etc. Auction winners will be notified in late November following the NCTE conference. You do not have to be present to win.

Please help spread the word. Thanks!

EXPOSED by Kimberly Marcus

Poetry Tag continues with a book review of a new book of poetry connected to yesterday's book review.

Today’s tagline: Poetry about expressing oneself through art

Guest Reviewer: Laura Davidson

Featured Book: Marcus, Kimberly. 2011. EXPOSED. New York, NY: Random House. ISBN: 9780375866937.

Laura writes [spoiler alert]: Exposed is the story of Liz, a driven girl in love with photography, and Kate, an intelligent and gifted dancer. Kate and Liz have been friends for years and even feel as close as sisters, but one tragic night after Liz and Kate have an argument about Kate's future plans, Kate begins to avoid Liz. After repeated attempts to discover what's wrong, Kate reveals that Liz's brother raped her the night of their argument. Liz's brother denies the incident and Liz subsequently is torn in two. Written in free verse, Kim Marcus pens a heartbreaking tale of how an act of violence can tear apart friendships, families, and communities. Marcus handles the tale with eloquence and with a balance of anger and love, humor and sadness. Despite the sensitive and tragic nature of the story, readers will certainly look forward to reading more by Kimberly Marcus.

Excerpt: “Empty”

I run,
not knowing where I'm going, but I run.
Around the building, down the street,
my sneakers smacking the pavement so hard,
shooting fire up my shins.
I run past twelve years of friendship,
matching clothes and birthday parties,
jumping on beds and catching crickets,
too-long phone calls and belly laughs,
passing notes and building dreams.

Connections
Due to its sensitive subject matter, Exposed is best presented at a high school level. This novel will appeal to young women, as they relate to Liz and Kate's friendship. Also, this novel would be extremely therapeutic for those who have been victims of rape or know someone that has been a victim of rape. The feelings expressed by Liz, such as disbelief of Kate, anger towards her brother, and guilt for having left Kate alone that tragic night, are all true and accurate feelings a person involved in this type of incident would feel. Also, much like Liz details her thoughts and feelings in the novel, young women could find it helpful to detail their own experiences in a journal. Once written down in pen and ink, they could find comfort, resolution, and understanding in their words much like Liz found at the end of Exposed.

Tomorrow’s tagline: Another verse novel about a difficult situation

[We’re more than halfway through Poetry Month—still time to grab a copy of PoetryTagTime, an e-book with 30 poems, all connected, by 30 poets, all connected and downloadable right now at Amazon for your Kindle or Kindle app for your computer, iPad or phone. Just 99 cents.]

Image credit: PoetryTagTime; Random House/Knopf

Posting (not poem) by Sylvia M. Vardell and students © 2011. All rights reserved.

ALA, Book Links & Poetry

I’m off to Chicago for the annual conference of the American Library Association. My daughter (a budding librarian herself) is joining me and I am excited to share the conference experience with her. Plus, the fabulous Poetry Blast is Monday night and I will be there with bells on. Look for a future post about that event featuring Carmen T. Bernier-Grand, Rebecca Kai Dotlich, David Harrison, Bobbi Katz, Laura Purdie Salas, Jon Scieszka, Joyce Sidman, Marilyn Singer, Hope Anita Smith, Susan Marie Swanson, and Joyce Carol Thomas. Won’t that be a treat?! (Are you a Blast fan on Facebook?)

In the mean time, I would also like to plug Book Links magazine and it’s final “stand alone” issue which is chockablock full of poetry goodies. (Beginning in October, Book Links will be bundled with Booklist, another ALA publication.) This July issue of Book Links includes:

A Poetry Book of their Own by Denise B. Geier (on making handmade poetry books)
Talking with Carole Boston Weatherford by KaaVonia Hinton
Talking with Ashley Bryan by Dean Schneider
Biographies of Poets by Barbara A. Ward and Terrell A. Young
Connecting Picture Books and Poems by Susan Stern
and of course Everyday Poetry: The Art of Poetry by Yours Truly

Isn’t that an amazing line up?

Here’s an excerpt from my column including a wonderful pantomime-worthy original poem by Douglas Florian that appears alongside it.

Everyday Poetry: The Art of Poetry
We know that poets create pictures with words, but some even use pictures to prompt the words or they create the art that accompanies their own poetry. Art and poetry go hand in hand and it can be fun to explore poetry books based on art, poetry books illustrated by the poets themselves, and poem picture books that feature single poems reinterpreted through art.

Ekprhastic Poetry
Poems written in response to art are called “ekphrastic” poetry, the unifying thread in Jan Greenberg’s anthology, Heart to Heart: New Poems Inspired by Twentieth-Century American Art and its recent companion, Side by Side: New Poems Inspired by Art from Around the World. Greenberg includes a helpful introduction and map locating poem sources, poems in multiple languages, biographies of poets and translators, and poetry from more than 30 different countries. Other anthologies that pair fine art and poetry are also cited along with follow up activities.

Poet Artists
There are many poets who also produce the illustrations for their own poetry collections. They are known for their art, as well as their writing…. Douglas Florian creates distinctive paintings+collages that are instantly recognizable (Dinothesaurus, Comets, Stars, the Moon, and Mars; Handsprings).

For more examples of paintings and poetry, check out the work of Calef Brown who employs wordplay alongside inventive acrylic and gouache (Polkabats and Octopus Slacks, Flamingos on the Roof, Soup For Breakfast), or Kurt Cyrus who creates nature poems and watercolor paintings (Oddhopper Opera, Hotel Deep), or Adam Rex who produces outrageous cartoon monsters and poem parodies (Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich; Frankenstein Takes a Cake)…. and the iconic photography of Charles R. Smith, Jr., (My People, If) or the cut-paper collages of Hope Anita Smith (Mother) or the textured quilts of Anna Grossnickle Hines (Winter Lights, Pieces) and Sue Van Wassenove (The Seldom-Ever-Shady Everglades).

Poem Picture Books
Many picture books have rhythmic and even rhyming text, but a true “poem picture book” features a single poem as the book’s complete text, a poem that can stand on its own without the illustrations. This gives us the opportunity to see the poem through new perspectives and can serve as a model for homemade picture books that kids can create for their favorite poems. It can also be helpful for older students who may be familiar with a classic poem, but haven’t found it moving or meaningful until they see it as a visually rich experience. Specific examples and activities are also provided.


Summer Sports
By Douglas Florian



Puddle hopping.
Watching waves.
Belly flopping.
Finding caves.

Chipmunk chasing.
Climbing trees.
Relay racing.
Skinning knees.

Picking daisies.
Swimming laps.
Feeling lazy.
Taking naps.

Sand handstanding.
Washing cars.
Summersaulting.
Counting stars.

[Thank you again, Douglas! Be sure and stop by his Floriancafe.]

This week's Poetry Friday celebration is hosted by Jama Rattigan at Jama Rattigan's Alphabet Soup. Go there now!

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

Image credit: search.barnesandnoble.com; ala

A spring manga-ish poetry mash up

Ivy in Bloom written by Vanita Oelschlager and illustrated by by Kristin Blackwood (Vanitabooks, 2009)

I happened upon this book at the ALA Midwinter conference and just got the published copy in the mail this week (after poring over the galleys earlier). It’s a poetry book published by a small press focused on books for kids ages 4-8. Vanita Books are authored and published by Vanita Oelschlager and all profits are donated to charitable organizations. An impressive venture!

But I was particularly struck by the concept for and execution of this particular title. Essentially, it’s a “mash up” of lines from famous works of fiction and poetry by classic writers. The lines are loosely woven together to express a young girl’s feelings about the coming of spring. Each line or phrase serves as a kind of caption for double-page spreads of winter-into-springtime scenes. What a clever idea! Use a line from Wordsworth here, Dickinson there, and Whitman and Milne, and voila, a picture book emerges. I wish I had thought of that! But kids (particularly older kids and teens) might find that a compelling notion for creating their own “mash ups” of classic lines, “double, double, toil and trouble… a poem lovely as a tree… quoth the raven, nevermore…”

Next, the art is an interesting counterpoint to these classic lines. Blackwood (the illustrator) notes the “mash up” of artistic techniques she employed. She begins with traditional linoleum block prints in black ink. Then those images are digitized and watercolor layers are added via computer. The overall effect is very graphic with a strong, nearly overpowering black line throughout the art. I liked that it made the book less “sweet” and more dramatic. I thought the art had a nearly “manga” look with its young girl protagonist with huge eyes and long flowing black hair. If this were a slide show or short film instead of a picture book, I would say this is ready-made for tweens and teens!

Finally, the icing on the cake, is a “bibliography” section of six pages with thumbnails of each previous picture accompanied by the full text of the poem from which the lines are derived—with the selected lines in green. A note about the poet is also included. LOVE THAT! It does reveal some rather idiosyncratic choices in mining the words and phrases for the picture book text, but that might lead to an interesting discussion with kids, too.

All in all, it’s a real departure for a poem picture book—weaving together an homage to classic poetry to celebrate the season of spring with art that is quirky and inviting. Check it out!

Obviously, there isn’t a single poem to highlight as an example, but this sample page is my favorite. (It feels very Robert Frost meets Mary Azarian!)










Oelschlager, Vanita. 2009. Ivy in Bloom. Ill. by Kristin Blackwood. Akron, OH: Vanitabooks.

Join the whole Poetry Friday crowd at my former student and current colleague’s amazing blog, Beck’s Book Reviews.

Image credit:www.thechildrensbookreview.com

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

Dinothesaurus by Douglas Florian

Dinothesaurus is getting reviewed everywhere (4 stars, so far!) because… well, because it’s by Douglas Florian and because IT’S ABOUT DINOSAURS! But it also happens to be truly terrific. First of all, the whole idea of poetry about dinosaur NAMES is so dead-on perfect (hurray Mike Shoulders!). Even kids who are not dinosaur fanatics, love the long, crazy, complicated names for dinosaurs. So, we end up with a great book about dinosaurs, as well as a fun book of wordplay poetry. (Even the bookflap blurb is a dinosaur poem!)

You learn about 18 different dinosaurs in 18 double-page spreads because Florian is so gifted at injecting facts into his fun and pun-filled poems, including a pronunciation guide for each dinosaur name, along with the name’s meaning. And there are unexpected dino-choices like the troodon, minim, and micropachycephalosaurus—see what I mean about those tongue-pleasing names? Opening and closing poems provide bookend context about dinosaur eras and possible causes for their demise.

One of my favorite components is the backmatter in this book, including the “Glossarysaurus” with an additional expository paragraph to accompany each poem, an annotated list of “Dinosaur Museums and Fossil Sites” and a “Selected Bibliography and Further Reading” list. These are usually features of a nonfiction book, so I am tickled to see these features in a (fact-filled) poetry book.

Florian’s poems are so rhythmic and regular that they are perfect for performing chorally with various groupings of kids. Here’s one example that is fun for echo reading. YOU read the first line, the kids echo the line, you read the next, they echo, line-by-line—an excellent strategy to use with young kids, non-readers, and English learners. Try it. It almost sounds like a chant or a yell for the playground.

Stegosaurus
steg-oh-SAW-rus (roof lizard)
by Douglas Florian

Ste-go-SAUR-us
Her-bi-VOR-ous
Dined on plants inside the forest.
Bony plates grew on its back,
Perhaps to guard it from attack.
Or to help identify
A Stegosaurus girl or guy.
Its brain was smaller than a plum.
Stegosaurus was quite DUMB.

Florian, Douglas. 2009. Dinothesaurus. New York: Simon & Schuster, p. 5.

And of course with Douglas Florian we get a double whammy with art that is distinctive and stands on its own (two or four) feet! (My “Everyday Poetry” column for Book Links magazine in July is about poets who are artists, namely DF!) He employs a wonderful variety of media, including watercolor, crayon, cut paper collage, and rubber stamps (and I am a rubber stamp FREAK, so I love that!). This combination of materials creates layered, textured illustrations that bear poring over for fun and tiny details. Kids may enjoy trying their own dino-collages to match.

For more details, check Florian’s own awesome blog, FlorianCafe.

Image credit: www.simonandschuster.net

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

New Review: SIDE BY SIDE

I can’t help myself! I’m on a roll reviewing new poetry books published this spring and I just can’t stop. I’m attending the annual convention of the American Library Association in Anaheim this weekend (road trip!), and hope to see several new poetry works planned for fall. Meanwhile, here are my thoughts about a new collection that is a companion to a previous ALA award winner. Jan Greenberg’s Heart to Heart: New Poems Inspired by Twentieth-Century American Art (Abrams, 2001) won a Printz honor in 2002 and now has a partner book, Side by Side: New Poems Inspired by Art from Around the World (Abrams, 2008), another elegant volume for older kids and teens.

Similar in design, this slim volume packs potent poems created to accompany distinctive and varied works of art, something I learned is called “ekphrasis”-- poetry inspired by art. Greenberg’s excellent introduction frames the collection and is “must” reading to appreciate the collection fully. She explains that artists from 33 countries on 6 continents are represented here (their locations indicated on a map in the backmatter). Poems created in response to each work of art are grouped in four sections—stories, voices, expressions, and impressions with each original poem appearing in the poet’s native language, as well as in English—a powerful effect. Greenberg also includes biographies of the poets and translators, and an index. It’s a fascinating pairing of art and word worthy of close study and a great model for aspiring writers to imitate. Here’s one poem that I liked especially.

Cat Heaven
by Lo Ch’ing
Translated from the Chinese by Joseph R. Allen
[The Chinese poem appears alongside this translated version.]

Out of the cat’s dream
floats a lavish mouse banquet

As mice sleep deep
in that aroma-soaked dream

Dreaming of
a cat

Eating dreams
for sustenance

From: Greenberg, Jan. 2008. Side by Side: New Poems Inspired by Art from Around the World. New York: Abrams, p. 60.

*SIDE NOTE: There is another poetry collection with a similar title edited by Lee Bennett Hopkins: Side by Side: Poems to Read Together (Simon & Schuster, 1988). In this case, there are pairs of poems to be read by adults and kids, if my memory serves me. It might be interesting for kids to compare the two books or to talk about the selection of poetry book titles. What titles might they choose?

Other books of ekphrastic poetry that pair fine art and poems:
Koch, Kenneth, and Kate Farrell, comp. 1985. Talking to the Sun; An Illustrated Anthology of Poems for Young People. New York: Henry Holt.
Nye, Naomi Shihab, comp. 1998. The Space Between Our Footsteps: Poems and Paintings From the Middle East. New York: Simon & Schuster.
___, comp. 1995. The Tree is Older than You Are: A Bilingual Gathering of Poems and Stories from Mexico with Paintings by Mexican Artists. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Panzer, Nora, comp. 1994. Celebrate America in Poetry and Art. New York: Hyperion.
Rochelle, Belinda, comp. 2001. Words with Wings: A Treasury of African-American Poetry and Art. New York: HarperCollins.
Sullivan, Charles, comp. 1994. Here is My Kingdom: Hispanic-American Literature and Art for Young People. New York: H.N. Abrams.
Sullivan, Charles, comp. 1989. Imaginary Gardens; American Poetry and Art for Young People. New York: Abrams.
Volavkova, Hana, ed. 1993. I Never Saw Another Butterfly: Children’s Drawings and Poems from Terezin Concentration Camp 1942-1944. New York: Schocken Books.
Whipple, Laura, comp. 1994. Celebrating America: A Collection of Poems and Images of the American Spirit. New York: Philomel Books.

TO FOLLOW UP: Invite kids to visit art museum Web sites to select favorite art works as prompts for their own ekphrastic poetry writing. Or encourage aspiring writers and aspiring artists to pair up to create original art and accompanying poems for their own “Side by Side” exhibit.

Picture credit: SchoolLibraryJournal.com

The Monarch’s Progress and Avis Harley

Avis Harley has a new book of poetry out this spring: The Monarch’s Progress; Poems with Wings (Honesdale, PA: Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press). Once again, she approaches a nature topic through a variety of poetic forms, including haiku, alphabet poems, acrostics, sonnets, cinquains, limericks, and more—all about the monarch butterfly. Plus, there are interesting endnotes that correspond to each poem. Here’s my favorite, the final poem:

Before
by Avis Harley

The butterfly was there
before any human art was made.
Before cathedrals rose in prayer,
the butterfly was there.
Before pyramids pierced the air
or Great Wall stones were laid,
the butterfly was there.
Before any human, art was made.

From Harley, Avis. 2008. The Monarch’s Progress; Poems with Wings. Honesdale, PA: Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press. p. 27

*Invite kids to join in on the repeated line as you read it aloud.
*Pair with the Orbis Pictus award winning nonfiction picture book, An Extraordinary Life: The Story of a Monarch Butterfly by Laurence Pringle and Bob Marstall
And for more about Avis Harley and her work, check out Poetry People. Here’s an excerpt:
Avis Harley’s poetry writing is characterized by its diversity and experimentation. She enjoys trying poetry in all its different formats and is adept at demonstrating poetic form for children. Her first collection Fly With Poetry: An ABC of Poetry (Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press 2000) includes twenty-seven original short poems, generally one for each letter of the alphabet such as acrostics, blank verse, cinquain, etc. In addition, a brief definition of the form is provided as a caption at the bottom of each page. Fourteen additional poetic forms are shared in the back of the book. This is a tremendous resource for children who want to try their own hands at creating poetry. Harley’s poem examples are brief, vivid, and clear.

Harley has a second volume of poetry organized around the same alphabet theme, Leap Into Poetry (Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press 2001). In this book, she provides 26 poems about insects, each demonstrating another poetic form or literary term, such as "jargon" or "karanamala." Once again, each term is also defined in a single line across the bottom of the page.

Avis Harley used color photographs as the centerpiece for her book Sea Stars: Saltwater Poems (Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press 2006) illustrated by Margaret Butschler. Each of these 27 poems was inspired by a photograph of a sea creature, and again Harley incorporates a variety of poetic forms–including rhyming couplets, haiku, tanka, and nursery rhyme parody. The poems are brief, well-crafted and clever, full of wordplay and accompanied by exquisite images. Brief endnotes provide additional information about each sea creature.

For playing with form and language, Avis Harley is a poet to watch!

Picture credit: Amazon