More poetry to come in 2009 + what's a poem?

Just last month I started off the year by posting a list of the brand new poetry books I knew were coming out in 2009 (on Jan. 2). But more publisher’s catalogs are now available, I combed their booths at ALA Midwinter, and I’ve heard from a variety of people since then, so I have list of ANOTHER 25+ titles to share. That’s a combined total of over 50 books of poetry for young people we can anticipate—and it’s only February! In the months to come, I hope to get my hands on each of these and post my thoughts about as many as possible, but in the meantime, here’s the list:

MORE POETRY IN 2009
1. Andrews, Julie and Hamilton, Emma Watson. 2009. Julie Andrews' Collection of Poems, Songs, and Lullabies. Ill. by James McMullan. New York: Little Brown.
2. Franco, Betsy. 2009. Curious Collection of Cats. Ill. by Michael Wertz. San Francisco, CA: Tricycle Press.
3. Franco, Betsy. 2009. Messing Around the Monkey Bars and other School Poems for Two Voices. Ill. by Jessie Hartland. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick.
4. Frost, Helen. 2009. Crossing Stones. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
5. George, Kristine O’Connell. 2009. Emma Dilemma: Big Sister Poems. Illus. by Nancy Carpenter. New York: Clarion.
6. Harley, Avis. 2009. African Acrostics; A Word in Edgeways. Ill. by Deborah Noyes. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick.
7. Harrison, David. 2009. Vacation, We’re Going to the Ocean! Ill. by Rob Shepperson. Honesdale, PA: Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press.
8. Hughes, Ted. 2009. My Brother Bert. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
9. Janeczko, Paul. 2009. A Foot in the Mouth; Poems to Speak, Sing, and Shout. Ill. by Chris Raschka. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick.
10. Katz, Bobbi. 2009. More Pocket Poems. Ill. by Deborah Zemke. New York: Dutton.
11. Lewis, J. Patrick. 2009. The House. Illus. by Roberto Innocenti. Minneapolis, MN: Creative Editions.
12. Maddox, Marjorie. 2009. Rules of the Game. Ill. by John Sandford. Honesdale, PA: Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press.
13. Mora, Pat. 2009. Dizzy in My Eyes. New York: Knopf.
14. Prelutsky, Jack. 2009. The Swamps of Sleethe; Poems From Beyond the Solar System. Ill. by Jimmy Pickering. New York: Knopf.
15. Roemer, Heidi. 2009. Whose Nest is This? NorthWord.
16. Rosen, Michael J. 2009. The Cuckoo’s Haiku and Other Birding Poems. Ill. by Stan Fellows. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick.
17. Salas, Laura. 2009. Stampede! Poems to Celebrate the Wild Side of School. New York: Clarion.
18. Salinger, Michael. 2009. Well Defined; Vocabulary in Rhyme. Ill. by Sam Henderson. Honesdale, PA: Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press.
19. San Jose, Christine and Johnson, Bill. 2009. Every Second Something Happens: Poems for the Mind and Senses. Honesdale, PA: Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press.
20. Schertle, Alice. 2009. Button Up! Wrinkled Rhymes. Ill. by Petra Mathers. New York: Harcourt.
21. Schmidt, Amy. 2009. Loose Leashes. Ill. by Ron Schmidt. New York: Random House.
22. Sidman, Joyce. 2009. Red Sings From Treetops; A Year in Colors. Ill. by Pamela Zagarenski. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
23. Walker, Rob D. 2009. Mama Says: A Book of Love For Mothers and Sons. Ill. by Leo and Diane Dillon. New York: Scholastic.
24. Yolen, Jane. 2009. A Mirror to Nature. Ill. by Jason Stemple. Honesdale, PA: Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press.
25. Yolen, Jane. 2009. An Egret’s Day. Honesdale, PA: Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press.
26. Yolen, Jane. 2009. How Do Dinosaurs Say I Love You? New York: Scholastic.

NOVELS IN VERSE
1. Bryant, Jen. 2009. Kaleidoscope Eyes. New York: Knopf.
2. Chaltas, Thalia. 2009. Because I Am Furniture. New York: Viking.
3. Herrick, Steven. 2009. Cold Skin. Asheville, NC: Front Street.
4. Myers, Walter Dean. 2009. Amiri and Odette: A Love Story. Ill. by Javaka Steptoe. New York: Scholastic.

ABOUT POETS AND POETRY
Yolen, Jane. 2009. My Uncle Emily. Ill. by Nancy Carpenter. New York: Philomel.

We can look forward to more poetry from Jane Yolen, Alice Schertle, Joyce Sidman, Jack Prelutsky, Bobbi Katz, Pat Mora, J. Pat Lewis, Helen Frost, Betsy Franco, and others. Plus newer names and new topics of all kinds. Just getting a look at some ARCs and galleys at the Midwinter conference whetted my appetite! Nature poems, wordplay, school-friendly verse, concrete poetry, verse novels, and more. Stay tuned for closer looks, coming soon…

And just for fun, I’m trying a stanza-by-stanza embedded PowerPoint as a visual way to share a fun poem that Charles Ghigna gifted me on one of my favorite topics: what is poetry? Enjoy!





Join the whole Poetry Friday crew at: Wild Rose Reader hosted by the fabulous Elaine Magliaro.

Image credit: www.urbanfusion.org

I plan a more complete "tribute" to new NCTE Poetry Award winner, Lee Bennett Hopkins, very soon, but in the mean time, here is a gem to share. Lee has fielded questions about "why poetry?" so many times in his four-plus decades of working in schools he’s penned the following. Enjoy-- and let poetry into your lives!

Why Poetry?

by Lee Bennett Hopkins

Why poetry?

Why?

Why sunsets?

Why trees?

Why birds?

Why seas?

Why you?

Why me?

Why friends?

Why families?

Why laugh?

Why cry?

Why hello?

Why good-bye?

Why poetry?

That’s why!

Reprinted by permission of Curtis-Brown, NY, NY

Picture credit: weblogs.newsday.com

POETRY PUDDING/Poems about Poetry

I love poems about poetry and found a wonderful example in Poetry Pudding, the 2007 prize winning anthology of New Zealand’s major poets writing for young people. Here it is:




Windows
by Riemke Ensing

In the poet’s house all the windows
are open, even at night. How else
could the moon leave her caress
and light the lamp of language.
How else could the ‘Queen of the Night’ draw
her seductive scent through nightmares
and turn dream into smiles.

Owls call and small creatures scuttle to safety
under the wardrobe. A moth flies in
and settles on a still warm lampshade,
glad to be out of the nip in the air. A breeze
slips in to dance with the dust for a while.
By morning both will have gone, leaving
a charmed trace. That’s how stories are made.
A tender dazzling of stars passing over the dark
and needing a window as lighthouse
for poets.

Argante, Jenny. Ed. 2007. Poetry Pudding; A Delicious Collection of Rhyme and Wit. Ill. by Debbie Tipuna. Auckland, NZ: Reed Publishing, p. 168.

I wrote about this “poems about poetry” topic earlier this year, in my Feb. 15 posting and in my January column in Book Links. It might be fun to pull more international and multicultural examples of such poems and compare and contrast them all, like:

• “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)
• “The Bridge” by Kaissar Afif, translated by Mansour Ajami, from The Space Between Our Footsteps: Poems and Paintings From the Middle East collected by Naomi Shihab Nye (Four Winds Press, 1992)

And look for Eve Merriam’s poems about poetry such as “Where is a Poem?” from There is No Rhyme for Silver, “How to Eat a Poem” from A Sky Full of Poems, and “’I,’ Says the Poem” also from A Sky Full of Poems. These gems are often included in general poetry anthologies and are wonderful examples to introduce a poetry lesson or label the poetry book area.

Picture credit: www.people.vcu.edu

Revising and Recycling Poetry

This time last week, poet Janet S. Wong allowed me to share her poem, “The License Plate Game” in honor of the first minting of license plates in the U.S. However, not only did she allow me to post her poem, she encouraged me to share SEVEN different versions of the poem she had contemplated. Then several of you responded with interesting observations (Emily, Cloudscome, and Linda). Well, to top it off, Janet invited some of her poet-friends to comment on the different versions and and several took her up on her offer, including J. Patrick Lewis, Lorie Ann Grover, Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Marilyn Singer, Alice Schertle. Check out the comments area for April 25, 2008. Finally, Janet offered yet another revision of her poem based on all this collective input (posted in the Comments area). HOW COOL IS THAT?



And just for fun, I’ll post a fresh poem by Janet from an older collection I love (A Suitcase of Seaweed) .




Poetry
by Janet S. Wong

“What you study in school?” my grandfather asks.

“Poetry,” I say, climbing high to pick a large ripe
lemon off the top limb.

“Po-tree,” he says, “It got fruit?”

From Wong, Janet S. 1996. A Suitcase of Seaweed, and Other Poems. New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books, p. 18.

Thank you, Janet, for all you do for poets and poetry and kids!

For the rest of the Poetry Friday Round Up, go to Big A, little a. Thanks for hosting, Kelly!

Picture credit: www.wildcrafted.com.au

Linda Sue Park comes to Texas

You may have heard of Linda Sue Park. She picked up a little thing called the Newbery Award for her book, A Single Shard, a historical novel set in twelfth-century Korea. But for the upcoming Texas Library Association Poetry Round Up she dons a different hat, that of poet. But first, a bit of background info. She was born in Illinois, is a Stanford grad, married an Irishman, is the mother of two, worked as a journalist and teacher, and is an avid reader, reviewer and blogger. Her previous works include: the novels: Seesaw Girl, The Kite Fighters, When My Name Was Keoko, Project Mulberry, Archer’s Quest, the unique collaboration Click, and her latest book, a "sports" novel set in 1950’s Brooklyn, Keeping Score. She also has several picture books to her credit including The Firekeeper’s Son, Bee-Bim Bop, and Yum! Yuck!

When it comes to poetry, she has long been a contributor to literary journals and has now published her first work of poetry for young people, Tap Dancing on the Roof; Sijo Poems—a unique collection of traditional Korean poems with surprises in the last line. Her extensive author's note at the end is especially wonderful and offers history, advice and encouragement. Here’s a lovely sampling:

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.

From: Park, Linda Sue. 2007. Tap Dancing on the Roof; Sijo Poems. Clarion.

Isn't that beautiful? It reminds me of other poems about poetry-- a topic I love. Here are two other favorites:

The Poem as a Door
by Eve Merriam

A door
is never
either/or.
A door
is always
more.

You cannot skip over,
you cannot crawl under;
walk through the wood,
it splits asunder.

If you expect it to be bolted,
it will be.

There is only one opening:
yourself as the key.

With a sigh of happiness
you pass through
to find on the other side
someone with a sigh of happiness
welcoming you.

from Merriam, Eve. 1992. The Singing Green: New and Selected Poems for All Seasons. New York: HarperCollins.

and

The Bridge
by Kaissar Afif
translated by Mansour Ajami

Poetry is a river
And solitude a bridge.

Through writing
We cross it,
Through reading

We return.

From Nye, Naomi Shihab. comp. 1998. The Space Between Our Footsteps: Poems and Paintings From the Middle East. New York: Simon & Schuster.

What are your favorite poems about poetry?



Picture credit: search.barnesandnoble.com

Eve Merriam Day

Yesterday, July 19, was poet Eve Merriam’s birthday. Despite her publishing fresh and engaging poetry for children for over thirty years, I find many young people don’t regularly encounter her work any more. And that’s a shame. I’d like to take this moment to highlight some of my Merriam favorites (and share an excerpt from my book Poetry People about her).

Eve Merriam began writing poems at age seven. As a teenager, she wrote poems for her high school magazine and newspaper. Merriam began her career as a copywriter and later as a radio writer for Columbia Broadcasting System and other networks. She also worked as a fashion copy editor and then as a free-lance magazine writer, book writer, and poet. In her later career, Merriam focused on writing adult plays. She was a frequent speaker and promoter of poetry for young people and was honored with the National Council of Teachers of English Award for excellence in poetry for children for her entire body of work.

Eve Merriam’s writing comprises a wide variety of works including poetry, plays, and nonfiction for adults, to approximately 40 picture books and nonfiction titles for children, as well as over 20 poetry books and anthologies. Many are out of print, but may still be on library shelves; some are being reissued, sometimes as poem picture books. Her poetry is characterized as smart, playful and lively and often explores the sounds and origins of words. In her later works, she tackled social issues and topics of racism, sexism, and environmental concerns. A partial listing of her poetry for children includes:

There Is No Rhyme For Silver (Atheneum, 1962)
It Doesn’t Always Have To Rhyme (Atheneum, 1964)
Catch A Little Rhyme (Atheneum, 1966)
Finding A Poem (Atheneum, 1970)
Out Loud (Atheneum, 1973)
Rainbow Writing (Atheneum, 1976)
A Word Or Two With You: New Rhymes For Young Readers (Atheneum, 1981)
If Only I Could Tell You: Poetry For Young Lovers And Dreamers (Knopf, 1983)
Jamboree: Rhymes For All Times (Dell, 1984)
A Sky Full Of Poems (Dell, 1986)
Fresh Paint: New Poems (Macmillan, 1986)
A Poem For A Pickle: Funnybone Verses (Morrow, 1989)
Chortles: New And Selected Wordplay Poems (Morrow, 1989)
The Singing Green: New and Selected Poems for All Seasons (HarperCollins, 1992)
Higgle Wiggle: Happy Rhymes (Morrow, 1994)
Blackberry Ink: Poems (HarperCollins, 1994)
You Be Good and I’ll Be Night: Jump On The Bed Poems (Turtleback, 1994)
Halloween ABC, re-released as Spooky ABC (Simon & Schuster, 2002)

Check out The Singing Green for a sampling of several of Merriam’ poems from previous out-of-print collections, including “The Poem as a Door,” one of several poems Merriam has penned that try to describe what poems are and how poets create poetry.

The Poem as a Door
by Eve Merriam

A door
is never
either/or.
A door
is always
more.

You cannot skip over,
you cannot crawl under;
walk through the wood,
it splits asunder.

If you expect it to be bolted,
it will be.

There is only one opening:
yourself as the key.

With a sigh of happiness
you pass through
to find on the other side
someone with a sigh of happiness
welcoming you.

Look for other Merriam poems about poetry such as “Where is a Poem?” from There is No Rhyme for Silver, “How to Eat a Poem” from A Sky Full of Poems, and “’I,’ Says the Poem” from A Sky Full of Poems. These gems are often included in general poetry anthologies and are wonderful examples to introduce a poetry lesson or label the poetry book area.

Picture credit: project1.caryacademy.org

Happy Young People’s Poetry Week (April 16-22)

Today marks the beginning of Young People’s Poetry Week (April 16-22), the most important week of the year, of course (when it comes to poetry for children)! Just about ten years ago the Academy of American Poets initiated the observance of National Poetry Month to celebrate poetry and its place in American culture. Since then, the poetry “movement” has continued to gain momentum with the emergence of Young People’s Poetry Week in 1999 sponsored by the Children’s Book Council, a focus on poetry slams as the centerpiece for Teen Read Week in 2003 sponsored by the American Library Association, and the inauguration of the Poetry Blast in 2004 led by the Association for Library Service to Children, a concert of children’s poets held at the annual conferences of ALA and the International Reading Association. (I’ve brought that same “concert” idea to the Texas Library Association conference and was proud to lead the third annual poetry “round up” just last Friday in San Antonio featuring Jaime Adoff, Tony Crunk, Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Charise Mericle Harper, Heidi Zingerline Mordhorst, and Eileen Spinelli.)

The Children's Book Council, in collaboration with the American Academy of Poets and the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, sponsors Young People's Poetry Week during the third week of April, providing a variety of wonderful resources to assist with programming and celebrations. You’ll find a list of new poetry titles, a downloadable bookmark, crossword puzzles, interviews with poets, and articles on sharing poetry written by Carole Fiore, Lester Laminack, and yours truly.

So, happy YPPW to you and yours. Here’s a poem to open the door to poetry for the young people in your life!

The Poem as a Door
by Eve Merriam

A door
is never
either/or.
A door
is always
more.

You cannot skip over,
you cannot crawl under;
walk through the wood,
it splits asunder.

If you expect it to be bolted,
it will be.

There is only one opening:
yourself as the key.

With a sigh of happiness
you pass through
to find on the other side
someone with a sigh of happiness
welcoming you.

from The Singing Green (HarperCollins, 1992)

Invite children to share their favorite poems and post them on the door for others to enjoy as they come and go all week long!

Picture credit: downtheroad.org