A Dazzling Display of Dogs

Two students created projects for Betsy Franco's clever book of shape poetry, A Dazzling Display of Dogs, a wonderful companion book to A Curious Collection of Cats. Leslie Wilson created a digital trailer and Angela Giono developed a readers' guide. Here they are.

Here is a link to Leslie's clever trailer:
http://animoto.com/play/fzdYmvTnkhDPQKC8CziHWw

Here is Angela Giono's helpful readers guide:

Franco, Betsy. 2011. A Dazzling Display of Dogs. Ill. by Michael Wertz. New York: Random House. ISBN: 978-1-58246-343-8

Recommended Age Levels 9-12

SUMMARY OF BOOK
This book is a colorfully illustrated collection of thirty-four witty poems including a haiku about dogs and their antics. It includes such poems as: Lottie on a walk, a garbage eating pooch, a bubble catching dog named Petunia, a dog from the pound, Houdini the escape artist, and a dog peeing on the morning paper. These poems are told through the dog’s perspective. Such as in Circling Poem 2 Coco Circling on the Rug the words are in the form of a circle so the reader can experience what Coco does trying to get comfortable on a rug.

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
“Starred Review. Grade 1–5—This follow-up to A Curious Collection of Cats (Tricycle, 2009) is dazzling indeed. Each of the 34 poems features a different animal, most of them engaged in true dog behavior. From farting in the car to wheezing and snoring while sleeping, these pups are funny and lovable even when they're being annoying. The verses and the book's design are beautifully matched. In "Emmett's Ode to His Tennis Ball," the text is enclosed in a circle held firmly in the dog's mouth. It begins, "Slobbery, sloppy, slimy, sphere—oh, tennis ball, I hold you dear…." Like the poems, the pictures are funny and dynamic. The pages are definitely full, yet careful use of color, typeface, and detail means they never look chaotic. A note says the pictures were started in pencil and then finished using monoprints and Adobe Photoshop. Overall, a delight for kids, their adults, and maybe even their beloved canine companions.—Lauralyn Persson, Wilmette Public Library, IL 
(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.” -SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL

“The creators of A Curious Collection of Cats (2009) offer another volume of concrete poems filled with playful action. Elementary students will pick up the wry wordplay, but younger children will have trouble deciphering the words amid the packed, digitally touched artwork. The poems do capture familiar scenes with pets, such as a dog playing with a tennis ball (“sloppery slippery slimy”) and the pitfalls of car trips with a pooch: “The very worst part / without a doubt / is when Cassandra / makes a fart.” Both silly and on-target, the slapstick rhymes are good choices for family sharing. Grades K-3. --Hazel Rochman.”-BOOKLIST

AWARDS/HONORS RECEIVED
• 2011 Green Earth Book Award Winner
• 2011 Indie Kids’ Next List
• Printz Honor Title
• Edgar Award Nominee

QUESTIONS TO ASK BEFORE READING
Invite students to discuss the following questions prior to reading A Dazzling Display of Dogs:
• Show the cover of the book ask, what do think of or what pictures come to your brain when you hear dazzling display? Once, answers are shared discuss how the illustrations on the cover either prove or disprove students’ predictions.
• Have you ever heard of poetry? What poets or poems have you heard? Have you created your own poetry?
• Prior to reading give students an example of a Haiku poem. Do you see a pattern in the poem? If so what is it? This pattern of poem has a name does anyone know what it is? Does anyone know the origin of the Haiku?
• Imagine what life is like for a dog. What do you think dogs like about being a canine? What do they dislike? Would you want to be a dog?
• If you were a dog what dazzling display would you write your poem about?
• Share a story about a dog past or present. What made that dog special or unique?

SUGGESTIONS FOR READING POEMS ALOUD
• “Saltwater Mutt”- Invite students to participate in the chorus. You read the words or letters on the dog and they read “romping in the waves.”
• “Tonka at Dog School,” Students to volunteer for a line-around. Each student will say a dog’s line. Be sure everyone gets a turn to shine.
• “Circling Poem 1&2,” Have children act out the poem. One person is the reader the other is the dog. Be sure to take turn.
• “Letting Gwen in and Out,” Divide the class into groups. Read the poem in a back and forth way. There is various combinations to reading this poem so experiment.
• “Pug Appeal,” Read the students first and then have them repeat with you in unison.
• “Tigger On His Back,” Perform in two voices-Suggested by the author

FOLLOW UP ACTIVITIES:
Music
• Develop a singing poem from one of the thirty-four given. Perform in music as well as library classes for Don’t Step in the Dog Poop Day-April 25th, International Dog Biscuit Appreciation Day-February 23, National Dog Day-August 26th, or Adopt-a-dog Month-October.

Writing
• Students write a poem review of one of the poems in the book. This is strictly opinion, thus it may include positives and negatives. They may also discuss the illustrations. Post on the library website.
• Students will participate in A Dazzling Display of Dogs illustrated poem contest. Display the participant’s work at parent-teacher conferences.
• In this poetry collection, Mimsey Lou is missing. What types of things have you lost? Discuss what information a lost or missing, poster needs to include. For a fun activity have students make a poster for something or someone lost.

Science
• Students research report for one of the dogs from Crazy Combo. Students choose a combo-dog or the original breed. Include: personality, feeding, grooming, care, characteristics, and history of the breed.

Reading
• Have poetry Friday and share poems from A Dazzling Display of Dogs as well as other poetry.
• Have students volunteer to participate in R.E.A.D. (Reading Education Assistance Dogs). READ provides dog reading companion for children. The statistics and implementation specifics for this successful program are provided on the website.
http://www.therapyanimals.org/R.E.A.D.html

Math
• After reading the poem Bubbles, discuss how a sphere is the smallest area for its volume of any solid shape. Bubbles try to make the smallest surface. Students can make some basic geometric bubble shapes. The site includes a recipe for bubbles and activity ideas such as making cubical bubbles.
http://mathssquad.questacon.edu.au/bubbles.html

Social Studies
• Read Found at the Pound, discuss ASPCA information that are applicable. Such as the statistic 5 to 7 million animals enter shelters per year. Invite the local animal shelter to visit for show and tell. http://www.aspca.org/about-us/faq/pet-statistics.aspx

History
• In this poetry collection Miss Olive has a teddy bear. Read Miss Olive’s Teddy Bear. September 9th is Teddy Bear Day. Read the article by the Workshop Rail Museum about the history of the teddy bear.
http://www.theworkshops.qm.qld.gov.au/~/media/Documents/Learning%20resources/TWRM/Activity%20sheets/history-of-teddy-bear.pdf
For fun, do some of the games and or activities in the Teddy Bear Day website.
http://www.akidsheart.com/holidays/tbearday/tbearday.htm

RELATED WEBSITES/BLOGS
Becky’s Blog Spot
http://zero-to-eight.blogspot.com/
(Her blog gives various book reviews by an avid reader and is updated on a regular basis).

Poetry for Children
http://poetryforchildren.blogspot.com/2011/04/dazzling-display-of-dogs-by-betsy.html
(This blog includes connections for the poem and the opportunity to view other poets work).

YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggGt-PMUQKg
(This is a live performance of songs based on the book).

Betsy Franco Website
http://www.betsyfranco.com/
(This site gives future book, events, links, and blogging).

Poetry Foundation
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/betsy-franco
(Useful website that includes poetry, poets, poetry magazine and tour, as well as resources for children’s poetry)

RELATED BOOKS
Poetry Books
Franco, Betsy, 2009. A Curious Collection of Cats. Ill. by Michael Wertz, Tricycle Press.
Crawley, Dave, 2007. Dog Poem. Ill. by Tamara Petrosino, Woodsong.
Hempel, Amy (editor), 1999. Unleashed: Poems by Writers’ Dogs. Three Rivers’ Press.

Related Fiction and Nonfiction
Wordless Book
• Day, Alexandra, 1989. Carl Goes Shopping. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Easy Reader Picture Book
Clifford the Big Red Dog
• Bridwell, Norman, reprint 2010. Clifford the Big Red Dog. Cartwheel Books.
Fiction-- Age 9-12
• Martin, Ann M., 2007. A Dog’s Life: An Autobiography of A Stray. Scholastic.
• Wallace, Bill, 2005. No Dogs Allowed! Aladdin Books.
Fiction-- Young Adult
• Morey, Walt, 1997. Kavik the Wolf Dog. Puffin.
• Pearce, Jacqueline, 2005. Dog House Blues. Orca Book Publishers.
Nonfiction
• Osborne, Mary Pope, 2011. Magic Tree House Fact Tracker #24: Dog Heroes: A Nonfiction Companion to Magic Tree House #46: Dogs in the Dead of Night. Random House Books for Young Readers.
• Kehret, Peg, 1999. Shelter Dogs: Amazing Stories of Adopted Strays. Albert Whitman and Co.

Author
Betsy Franco is the author of over 80 books for both children and young adults. She has received numerous awards and recognition for her work.

Illustrator
Micheal Wertz’s work has been celebrated by Communication Arts, American illustrators. He has a “dog blog.” That contains 100 dogs in 100 days. Visit www.wertzateria.com

Used with permission from Angela Giono and Leslie Wilson.

Lemonade

Next, Chandra Burrell offers this very helpful readers' guide for Bob Raczka's newest book, Lemonade and Other Poems Squeezed from a Single Word. Check it out.

Bibliographic citation
Raczka, Bob. 2011. LEMONADE AND OTHER POEMS SQUEEZED FROM A SINGLE WORD. Ill. by Nancy Doniger. New York, NY: Roaring Brook Press. ISBN 9781596435414

About the author and illustrator
Bob Raczka has written many books about art and art history for children. He lives in Glen Ellyn, Illinois.

Nancy Doniger has illustrated several books for children and done editorial illustration for the New York Times and other publications. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Recommended age level: 8-12; grade levels: 3rd grade – 7th grade

Summary of book
There are 22 poems that stretch across different themes and they are in no particular order. Raczka makes you think and look at words in a different way since each poem only uses one single word to construct the entire poem. When you first see the poem each letter is under the letter from the main single word to create the poem. It is a poem puzzle that begs to be solved. Some poems are quick and easy while others make you ponder before you turn the page because you want to believe that it is easier than it looks. Then if you finally say I give up the answer is on the back when you turn the page. And truly each poem is simple and powerful because he takes a single word and creates many words that turn into a poem that has depth and layers. Raczka creates a book that showcases poetry in a different way which makes it fun and challenging at the same time.

Review excepts/awards
Starred Review from Booklist: “Doniger’s spare illustrations add quirky appeal without distracting from the inventive formations of type. More than just clever gimmicks, the poems leave room for moving lines with a depth that invites imaginative wandering: ‘A / silent / lion / tells / an ancient / tale,’ reads ‘Constellation.’ Sure to have wide classroom appeal.”

Horn Book Review: “The lemonade here is cool and refreshing, and it makes you want to do some squeezing yourself in this playground where poet meets Scrabble nerd.”

School Library Journal Review: “A clever, catchy, and challenging collection.”

Kirkus Review: “Fun as a prompt for poetic exploration.”

Questions to ask before reading book
Ask students to look at how the word lemonade is dropping into the pitcher. Now discuss why the author use the word “squeezed” in the title?
Look at the Table of Contents and pick out 2 words and have the student imagine what comes to mind when you say those words. Then allow the students to create a list. For example when I think about television I think square, TV shows, cartoons, music video, and cable.
Do you think it is easy or hard to write poems that only use a single word as the inspiration?
Talk about how Raczka gives an overview of how he discovers one word poems from another author and he gives the other author credit by showing one of his poems. Why is it important to give credit to others?

Suggestions for reading poem aloud
“Spring”- I sing/I spin/I grin
This is a great poem for the whole group to read together while doing exactly what it says to do in the poem.

“Snowflakes”
Have students use their hands to go up and down as they read the poem. When hands go up simulate new snow that is about to start again and hands come down they simulate the snow falling down which is a good way to incorporate movement while reading the poem.

“Playground”
Divide students into two groups and one group read the first three lines and the second group read the 2nd group of three lines. Also this poem could be read outside while on the playground so that students can act out the play as they read it.

Follow up activities (writing, art, science, etc.)
Poem Writing
Ask the students to be creative by picking their own single word and creating a poem using the single word chosen.
Example: Guidelines
Us Nine
In line
Legs in
Use Slide
I Glide
Line Ends

Art
In the book the illustrator used simple drawing for the poems. Ask students to visualize what their poem represents. Students will create their own simple drawing for their poems using different mediums.

Math
In the book the poems are in columns so have the students use the column method to create their poems. Once they are finish ask students to count the letters used in their poem. Then they can create a graph that shows which letters were used from least to greatest. The data would show which letters are used more when creating the new words from the single word.

Social Studies
In the book there are two different poems that focus on minivan and vacation. A great social studies activity would be for the students to pick a destination in the U.S.A. they would like to go on for their vacation. Now have the students find out fun facts about that destination. And for fun the students can try to create another single word poem using the destination as their inspiration. I chose to create a poem about Houston.
South Host
Sun
Too Hot
Oh No
Out

Science
In this book there are two poems that relate to spring and two poems that relate to winter. Have students create a graphic organizer to compare and contrast between winter and spring.

Related web sites/blogs
Helps students see possible word combination when trying to create one word poems. Type in a word and it gives possible words that come from the primary word.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/adam.bozon/anagramsolver.htm

The Booklist review talks about the constellation poem and this is a great to expand students’ knowledge about constellations and stars with this informative and useful website.
http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/constellations.html

One of the poems is called “Creative” and Bob Raczka’s website has a link to his favorite place to look at art. That would be a great pair to read the poem then go to the link for The Art Institute of Chicago to look at the same great art.
http://www.bobraczka.com/

There is great factual information about ladybugs, earthworms, and many other kinds of animals. The first two are featured poems so it would be a great way to extend the learning and learn new facts.
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/animals/creaturefeature/

Related books (other poetry, related nonfiction, related fiction)
Other poetry books
Raczka, Bob. (2010). GUYKU: A YEAR OF HAIKU FOR BOYS. Ill. by Peter Reynolds. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children. ISBN 9780547240039.
Mordhorst, Heidi. (2005). SQUEEZE: POEMS FROM A JUICY UNIVERSE. Ill. by Jesse Torrey. Honesdale, Pa.: Wordsong. ISBN 978-1590782927
Singer, Marilyn. (2010). MIRROR MIRROR: A BOOK OF REVERSIBLE VERSE. Ill. by Josee Masse. New York: Dutton Children's Books. ISBN: 978-0525479017
Heard, Georgia. (2011). FALLING DOWN THE PAGE. New York: Roaring Book Press. ISBN 9781596432208

Related nonfiction
Relates to Pepperoni poem
Buller, Laura. (2005). FOOD- DK EYEWITNESS. New York: DK Publishing ISBN 978-0756611712
Relates to Flowers poem
Gibbons, Gail. (1993). FROM SEED TO PLANTS. New York: Holiday House. ISBN 978-0823410255
Relates to Bleachers poem
Cole, Joanna. (1998). THE MAGIC SCHOOL BUS PLAYS BALL: A BOOK ABOUT FORCES. New York: Scholastic Paperbacks. ISBN 978-0590922401

Related fiction
Read the “Treehouse” poem and then can use this book to relate how fun and magical a tree house can be.
Mary Osborne. (2003). HIGH TIDE IN HAWAII –MAGIC TREE HOUSE. New York: Random House Books. ISBN 978-0375806162
Read the “Bicycle poem and then can use this book to talk about how important bike safety is because things can happen in a blink of an eye
Park, Barbara. (1996). MICK HARTE WAS HERE. New York: Yearling Publishing. ISBN 978-0679882039

Used with permission of Chandra Burrell.

CYCLOPS WEARING FLIP FLOPS

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

Today’s tagline: Getting the poetry out there

Guest Reviewer: Tina Shands

Featured Book: Simon, John Oliver. 2011. Cyclops Wearing Flip Flops; The Best of Poetry Inside Out. San Francisco: The Center for the Art of Translation.

Tina writes: Cyclops Wearing Flip Flops is the eighth book of poetry published by the Center for the Art of Translation’s program known as Poetry Inside Out. Poetry Inside Out (PIO) is a 16-session school program where students are taught poetry through the translation of foreign poems. It began in 2000, “bringing the poetries of Spain and Latin America to Spanish bilingual and immersion classrooms.” It has now expanded into 19 languages and is taught to elementary, middle and high school students.

The book contains the poetry of the PIO students in a session-by-session look at how the PIO program works. The information given about each session is fascinating and provides just enough guidance to make an educator want more. Specifically, the book leaves the reader wanting to see the Translator’s Glossaries, referred to throughout the book as being integral to the program. If the Translator’s Glossaries were readily available, a teacher could re-create the project without the need of the PIO professionals. Instead, it appears the only way to get the information necessary to teach the program would be bring the PIO residency program to your school or attend Professional Development and/or workshops presented by PIO.

This book is different from the other books I have reviewed. This is not a book I would recommend for reading among the general student population. I see this book as being on the “Professional” shelf in a school library for teachers to use as part of their own professional development. Even without the benefit of the Translator’s Glossaries, the book contains ideas that a teacher would find very useful. If it were to be read by the general student population, I believe it could be used as a good example of how student’s poetry writing can evolve over the course of time.

Before talking further about the great qualities of this book, I must comment on one area that I found disappointing; that is the book’s table of contents. The table of contents is broken up into five sections. While these five sections are designated in the book, it is the session-by-session concept that I noticed most. The table of contents lists these sessions, but does not identify them as such. For example, Session 6 is titled “A Nest Built of Lines”. It is in the second section of the book titled “Building a House of Words”. The entry in the table of contents is:

II. Building a House of Words
A nest built of Lines: Quatrains 46
El nido 48
Alfredo Espino (Spanish)

I believe it would be an improvement if the table of contents stated:

II. Building a House of Words
Session 6: A Nest Built of Lines: Quatrains 46
El nido 48
Alfredo Espino (Spanish)

I realize this is a minor change, but in my opinion the session information is so important to the book that the lack of the information in the table of contents is a major drawback. I believe such an addition would make the book more user friendly.

Except for the table of contents, I found this book to be of good quality. There is so much information about poetry and how to help children evolve in their writing of poetry. It also gives great definitions of different types of poetry as well as examples of ways to engage children in the poetry writing experience.

One example I particularly liked is found in Session 9: “Renga Round the World” which has students writing a “collaborative series of tanka” known as renga. In doing so, one student writes a traditional haiku 5-7-5 syllable poem then passes his or her paper to another student. That student then adds two seven-syllable lines to finish the tanka and then starts another new tanka (by writing a 5-7-5 haiku). This new tanka is then passed along to another student . This renga can go on and on this way. Prior to reading this, I had never heard of the poetic forms of tanka and renga. Even if I had known about this type of poetry, I would not have thought about using it in this round the world format. This type of information is a perfect example of why this book should be on school libraries' professional shelf.

The poetry itself is very appealing. Since the translated poems are all written by children, the language contained in them is very child friendly and speaks to things children know. The book also provides a good example to teachers as to how students can transform their work over the course of a semester. Teachers could certainly share this poetry with their students to provide them with examples of how capable students at their grade level can be if they work at their poetry week after week. For example, an original student poem in Session One of PIO is very much a translation of the original poem, Ciudad de cielo, a las cuatro by Maria Luisa Artecona de Thompson:

Fire and Water
Translated by the Author, Luana Cardenas, 4th grade
(who wrote the original in Spanish)

For a minute, I am fire
For an instant, I am water
For a second, I am no one’s
If they shut me down, if they turn me on
For a moment, I am air
For a moment, I am dirt
For a moment, I am no one’s
If they leave me, if they free me
For a second, I save in my memory
The forgotten dream, if it passes
Through the inferno while the sky
Waits for me impatient.

By Session 16, the students are translating the Sonnets of William Shakespeare and are writing wonderful sonnets of their own, such as this one:

Cold Breezy Nights
Stacy Hu, 4th grade

Cold breezy nights are abandoned
Trees are lazily blowing in the crisp breeze
Branches are breaking off of oaks
Tsunamis are swimming to shore
Nature is in the bearing cold world
Winds are forming up in the pretty sky
Suns are beaming bright rays on earth
Imagination is swirling everywhere in your mind
Ships are bringing goods to places you’ve never visited
People are in lost forests, like being in mazes
Plants are growing in the Autumn
Rivers are ending at endless waterfalls
Clouds are raining puddles
But last, nothing is doing nothing at all

Tomorrow’s tagline: Poems to tear out

[It's almost the end of National Poetry Month—last chance to get your copy of the e-book, PoetryTagTime, an e-book with 30 poems, all connected, by 30 poets, downloadable at Amazon for your Kindle or Kindle app for your computer, iPad or phone for only 99 cents. Grab it now.]

Image credit: Photo Source: Center for the Art of Translation Blog.

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

LEMONADE by Bob Raczka

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

Today’s tagline: Works that focus on poetic form

Guest Reviewer: Stacy Ann Lambert

Featured Book: Raczka, Bob. 2011. Lemonade and Other Poems Squeezed from a Single Word. Ill. by Nancy Doniger. Roaring Brook. ISBN: 978-1-59643-541-4
 


Stacy writes: This little diddy of poems is a thinking book filled with anagrams and rebus word puzzles. I chose this book because of the main title containing the word "lemonade" and the thoughts and feeling that come to mind when this word comes to mind: summertime, play-time, free-time, cool drink on a hot day, those things I did as a child growing up. And this does not disapoint as many of the themes are childlike in nature.

However, this book is a thinking book, and one must first solve the word patterns in order to enjoy the simplistic nature of the idea conveyed. Once the reader solves the puzzle patterns, you find that you reread the poems and a smile begins to appear on your face. This might be due to the fact that you solved the riddled pattern or perhaps you find yourself relating to the theme and the words that describe the themed singled word. A return to simple and easier times in life; childhood. Here’s one poem example

"Chocolate"
by Bob Raczka


Chocolate

h at

co at

h o t

c oco a



Connections
This series of poems takes quite a bit of "thinking" and "imagination." After showing it to our Gifted and Talented teacher, she is quite eager to get her hands on this book to present to her 5th graders as these students spend a unit on poetry. We were brainstorming ideas of an activity, and the best way to present this styling of poetry would be to explain how and what anagrams, rebus word puzzles are and look like. Start out with the more simple poems to check for understanding. Give each student a section of the book to look over (not showing them the "answers” on the following page) and discuss with a partner how the poem is constructed. Discuss as a group their poem. Then if there is a struggle, show the students the "correct" poem construction. Next students will construct a poem anagram of their own (or with a partner). But before having them disperse, discuss themes they could write about.

Tomorrow’s tagline: Another twist on poetic form

[And don’t forget to get your own copy of PoetryTagTime, an e-book with 30 poems, all connected, by 30 poets, and downloadable right now at Amazon for your Kindle or Kindle app for your computer, iPad or phone. Just 99 cents. Spread the word.]

Image credit: PoetryTagTime; RoaringBrook

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

BOOKSPEAK! by Laura Purdie Salas

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

Today’s tagline: More poems about books

Guest Reviewer: Kendra Duckworth

Featured Book: Salas, Laura Purdie. 2011. BookSpeak!. Ill. by Josee Bisaillon. Clarion.


Kendra writes: In lieu of a traditional review, I am including a book trailer as an advertisement for this new and exciting poetry book. The rhyme, rhythm, voice of each poem, from the point of view of the book, makes this a must read! Hopefully, not only will this inspire children to read this book, but it will inspire them to read!



Connections
"Calling All Readers" would be a great introduction into a story time! What a fabulous way to demonstrate the wonderful things that can be found in a book (time travel, adventure, a friend!). This leading poem can inspire people to read and to write about their own adventures in books. Have students select a book about an adventure or tell a story about an adventure. Make connections with this poem through other books shared. 


Calling All Readers


by Laura Purdie Salas

I'll tell you a story.

I'll spin you a rhyme.

I'll spill some ideas - 

and we'll travel through time.



Put down the controller.

Switch off the TV.

Abandon the mouse and

just hang out with me.



I promise adventure.

Come on, take a look!

On a day like today,

there's no friend like a book.



Another poem in this book, "I've Got This Covered," talks about the appeal of the book jacket and how it is the first attraction to a book. Have students make a new jacket to a book they love and want other students to be attracted to.
The ideas are boundless to share poem and book and get students enthralled in reading.

Tomorrow’s tagline: This book has an acrostic poem, among many others. Let’s look at other works that focus on poetic form next.

[And don’t forget to get your own copy of PoetryTagTime, 30 poems 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. Spread the word.]

Image credit

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

LBH at the Kerlan

Earlier this fall, I had the opportunity to return to my alma mater, the University of Minnesota, and spend a day at the fantastic Kerlan Collection (part of the Children’s Literature Research Collections, CLRC), one of the nation’s premiere special collections in the field of children’s literature. It houses thousands of manuscripts, galleys, art, correspondence and more surrounding the creation of at least a century’s worth of children’s books. I had spent many happy hours there as a graduate student and even done some research on the German writer and illustrator Wilhelm Busch, but I hadn’t been back in many years. What a treat it was to see their new building, complete with new spaces for display, study, and storage. The staff was lovely and helpful and I caught up with a Karen Nelson Hoyle, the marvelous curator of the Kerlan, too. (Thank you, all!)

My time was very limited, but I did want to dig a bit into the poetry-related holdings of the Kerlan. I chose to study one set of materials for one book—City Talk, an unusual poetry anthology by Lee Bennett Hopkins. I say “unusual,” because I thought I knew Hopkins’s oeuvre fairly well—the breadth and variety of his collections published since the early 1970s. I also knew that he had been a teacher, editor, and frequent speaker in schools and libraries. What I didn’t know was that this had resulted in his publishing a book of poetry written BY children, based on a huge writing project he conducted in several schools across the country in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

There were 6 folders of materials related to this book and I went through each item in each folder carefully examining what they all revealed about the creation of this book. Because I find the back-stories behind the creation of children’s books fascinating (how does the magician do that trick? I always marvel), I offer here a step-by-step examination of the available materials for one book. I think kids find this process interesting, too, and I believe it helps demystify the process a bit so they see that writers WORK to write the books kids love. Please join me in my research-walk through these snippets of how one book came to be.

The first file folder for City Talk (labeled “M.F. 459”) contains a 5 page handwritten draft on a yellow pad, possibly of a preface for City Talk and a list of colleagues for an acknowledgements page. There is also a 44 page typescript, with corrections noted on it. I learn that the book is entitled City Talk, and is made up of cinquains written by 40+ children living in and around urban areas, writing through “the city’s seasons.” Hopkins writes, “It’s neither children writing for themselves nor for their peers; it is children writing freely for us all.”

The second folder contains another typescript, also with corrections, and this one is 50 pages long.

A third folder contains yet another corrected typescript, now 43 pages long, and carbon copies (carbon!) and photocopies of 6 page of miscellaneous front matter. Here, we learn that the cinquain poems are created by fourth to sixth graders from Detroit, Hartford, New York’s Harlem and other areas in and around cities. We also learn the cinquain is a “newly popularized form, a simple five-line verse originated here in America by Adelaide Crapsie (sic).”

In his draft of “City Talk; An Introduction,” Hopkins writes, “In Carl Sandburg’s Cornhuskers, published in 1918, he wrote a poem about Adelaide Crapsey. One of the lines states, ‘I read your heart in a book.’ Small wonder that one of America’s greatest poets recognized the majesty of this woman. Born in Brooklyn Heights, New York, her short, tragic life produced a vehicle which lives on in the words and thoughts of youngsters who have helped to perpetuate her versatile and imaginative discovery.” This note is dated November 4, 1969.

Where are these “junior poets” now, I wonder? I note some of their names:
Rodney Starr, Lewis Jackson, Dougal Douglas, Renee Smalls, Deborah Dore, Miriam Gent, Leon Bowman, Hattie Lile from Evanston, Illinois, Sandra Johnson, Willie Robinson, Maria Levant, Nancy Burns, Janet Binnie, Teresa Jastrzebski, Joe Donahue, Gretchen Winters, Peachie Moore, Marilyn Kruth and the whole crew from Wildwood, Pennsylvania.

If they were about 10 years old in about 1970, they’d be about 50 now, right? Do they remember having a poem published in a collection compiled by Lee Bennett Hopkins way back when?

In the next folder, I find a 67p. version of the typed pages including photocopies of the interleaved illustrations which are black and white photographs of kids playing in the city. They have a surprisingly contemporary feel. Kids are kids when it comes to sliding down slides and swinging a bat.

Woo hoo! The next folder includes 9 pages of a galley and a 47-page “page proof.” Here it really starts to look like a finished book. We have a print out of the pages as if they were ready to be bound. It’s crisp white paper and bold black print. We also have a table of contents, a revised introduction, and a list of the children by name who are depicted in the photographs (although the art is not included among these pages). The introduction is far more elaborated and goes on to describe the cinquain form (along with the previous tribute to creator Adelaide Crapsey), “The cinquain is a delicately-compressed, five-line, unrhyming stanza containing twenty-two syllables broken into a 2-4-6-8-2 pattern. The sophisticated reader may note that some of the poems in this volume do not entirely conform to this formula. I have intentionally permitted children to over-step the structured boundaries and some formal grammatical rules in order to encourage them to write. They have!”

Here we also see the page of acknowledgements of the teachers who helped gather the poems. My favorite nugget appears at the end of this acknowledgement page:

“We regret that a cinquain by each child who wrote one for the project could not appear on the pages of this collection. Special thanks to these silent poets.”

Silent poets.

Lovely!

In the last folder, we have a 10 p. page proof photocopy, corrected, and 16 pages of a corrected dummy. There is also some correspondence (10 pages) with the publisher. There are careful notes (5 pages) and lists and correspondence regarding tracking down and accounting for the permissions for each of these young poets. Even in 1969 this was important.

A letter from the Juvenile department reads, “Dear Mr. Hopkins: Please find enclosed the dead matter for City Talk—manuscript, galleys, repros and blues—for your files.”

“Dead matter.”
Ouch. What a phrase. And yet here I am studying it some 40 years later!

There’s also the first copy of what really looks like a book, complete with illustrations and a cover, all in blue. It’s labeled “2nd blueprint” and now we would call that a blueline. It’s not yet bound and pages are out of order, but it feels like a book! Of course, after all this, I just had to find the finished book, which I bought (“used” on Amazon). It was published by Knopf in 1970 and has a smallish trim size (about 7 x 9) and the black and white photographs I noted appear throughout. It may seem dated at first glance, but the poems hold up, as do the photographs of kids at play or pensive—all reflecting timeless moments and thoughts that ring true now as they did then. As a teacher, I always liked to have a few books featuring children’s writing in my classroom library. I think it’s very empowering for kids to see that possibility. It’s also a great example of what you can produce yourself with kids, paper and a camera.

And here’s the finished book and a sampling of two of the kids’ cinquain poems from it:

Rain clouds
Think of the rain.
Rain looks blue and dark grey.
It splashes hard on sidewalks, and,
On me!

Robert Harding, Julesburg, Colorado

It’s fall.
Leaves falling
Breezes showing signs of
Winter. Things settle down for a
Long nap.

Myrna Campbell, New York, New York

FYI: Use the search function to see other postings about poetry by children. In previous entries, I’ve mentioned other collections by Naomi Nye, Betsy Franco, Sanford Lyne, and others.

* * * * *
And if you’re attending the upcoming convention of the National Council of Teachers of English in Philadelphia, please join us on Friday (Nov. 20) at session A.18, for a “Poetry Party,” celebrating Lee Bennett Hopkins receiving the 2009 NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. It will be Friday morning, 9:30-10:45am in Convention Center Room 201A on Level 2. Lee will be speaking, of course, and we’ll also have a crew of poets toasting and roasting him, including Jane Yolen, Janet Wong, Rebecca Kai Dotlich, J. Patrick Lewis, Georgia Heard, and Walter Dean Myers, among others. It is not-to-be-missed. In addition, Lee will officially receive his poetry award at the Books for Children luncheon on Saturday. If you can’t make the conference, look for the “Profile” article about Lee in the September 2009 (v. 87, n.1) issue of Language Arts by Janet Wong and Rebecca Kai Dotlich.

Look for more on the Poetry Friday front at Gottabook hosted by Gregory K.

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

Image credit: SV at the CLRC

Birth of the Zeno

I’m on a JPat roll at the moment, happy to share news of another contribution of J. Patrick Lewis. He has invented a new poetic form, the zeno! Tricia scooped the news at The Miss Rumphius Effect earlier this week, but I think it bears repeating. I know teachers enjoy introducing the form of poetry to kids, as they model for children the different ways a poem can look and sound. And kids often enjoy this aspect of poetry too—approaching it as a puzzle to solve and understand. And I know poets themselves approach the form and structure of poetry with great intentionality and I’m always curious about why a certain choice is made. Well… drum roll… you can see Pat’s past as a professor of economics in the roots of his new poem form, the zeno. He describes it so:

"I've never invented a new verse form... until now… It was inspired by the mathematical "hailstone sequence," simply explained here…. I call the form a "zeno," so named for Zeno, the philosopher of paradoxes, especially the dichotomy paradox, according to which getting anywhere involves first getting half way there and then again halfway there, and so on ad infinitum. I'm dividing each line in half of the previous one. Here's my definition of a zeno: A 10-line verse form with a repeating syllable count of 8,4,2,1,4,2,1,4,2,1. The rhyme scheme is abcdefdghd. Naturally, I don't expect it to displace the sestina, villanelle, triolet, et al. But it would be grand if they all moved over one seat and made room for it.”

Here are a few examples to illustrate the form:

Nature’s Art Gallery

By J. Patrick Lewis

Wind’s paintbrush strokes in streaks the trees,

a miracle,

ages

old,

it knows without

being

told—

Novembering

maples

gold.

Traveling by Armchair

By J. Patrick Lewis

You can take a trip by Greyhound,

motorcycle,

paddle-

wheel,

ocean liner

(package

deal)—

I prefer a

bookmo-

bile.

I think kids will love it—the math of it and the brevity. I know they enjoy list poems and this form suggests a list, but requires a bit more thought and planning. I hope they’ll give it a go. In the mean time, for teachers (and kids) who are looking for other poets who specialize in experimentation with form, look for the work of Paul Janeczko (Poetry from A to Z: A Guide for Young Writers and A Kick in the Head: An Everyday Guide to Poetic Forms) and Avis Harley (Fly with Poetry; An ABC of Poetry and Leap into Poetry: More ABCs of Poetry), among others.

And if you're interested in more poetry creation activities, check out poet David Harrison's blog. He is hosting a poetry writing contest each month based on a single word ("dirt" for October) with a chance to vote for your favorite-- and help select Hall of Fame winners, one per month. Next up, David will be posting the word for November on Monday.

Finally, it’s not too late to join the Poetry Friday round up hosted by Jennie at Biblio File.

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

Image credit: research.haifa.ac.il; zenoroth.com

Riddle poems and Spot the Plot

I’m a big fan of riddles and love sharing them with kids. Riddles exercise those higher level thinking skills and stretch young minds to use logic, deduction, analysis, and problem solving skills. Plus, I’ll never forget when my son, age 4 (and now 21), first realized that riddles usually followed a regular formula: Pose a question, suggest attributes, offer clues, wait… and provide answer. Unfortunately, he didn’t realize that riddles also involve subtlety and indirectness—so he would pick an object in the room, describe it, and ask us what it was—all while staring at said object! It was hilarious!

Many poets have used the riddle format for creating clever and fascinating poems, too. Especially the brilliant J. Patrick Lewis. His latest contribution, Spot the Plot; A Riddle Book of Book Riddles (San Francisco: Chronicle, 2009), illustrated by Lynn Munsinger, is a terrific addition to this oeurve. It features a baker’s dozen collection of rhyming poems, each describing a much-loved classic work of children’s literature. (I won’t spoil it by listing those works—which are identified on the last page.)

Lewis’s clever use of language and wordplay is ever evident and the subtle humor is playful and fun. Double-page spreads highlight each poem against a story-like backdrop illustration provided by the talented creator of Tacky the Penguin, Lynn Munsinger. A boy in Sherlock Holmes attire and a girl in a trenchcoat skip through each poem-riddle looking for clues and participating in the visual story. So appealing and inviting. Even the bookflap content is a riddle poem! I asked Pat about his choices of poem forms and he shared this nugget:

“Prior to SPOT THE PLOT, I'd written four books of riddles on various themes. I love the form, the challenge of coming up with the obliquely perfect definition—telling the truth, but telling it slant. Riddles are inherently interactive, so they make great read-alouds at school visits. In SPOT THE PLOT, I was trying most often to tell the book riddle in as few words as possible, as in, “Her hair’s/The stairs.” Or, a new one, “This trail becomes/A trail of crumbs.” The fewer words, the better, that is, the cleverer, to my way of thinking. Just as often, though, I had to rely on a tercet or a quatrain to tell the tale, but with a hint of confusion, as in “Pre-teen plays/a starring role/as she surveys/ a rabbit hole.” But, you see, perhaps that “rabbit hole” gives too much away. Writing riddles, especially for children, which means making them all equally but not too perplexing, is damnably difficult.”

As usual, Pat makes it look easy and offers “book review” poems in a variety of poetic formats. Here’s just one that I know kids and grown ups alike will enjoy:

A magical telling,

a pig for the selling,

a spider is spelling

out words that amaze.

Do you know this spider,

this spiderweb writer?

The pig will delight her

the rest of her days.

From: Lewis, J. Patrick. 2009. Spot the Plot; A Riddle Book of Book Riddles. San Francisco: Chronicle.

I’m so struck by what a teaching tool this could also be for teachers searching for a fresh approach to book reports: challenging kids to describe their favorite books via riddle poems. And if you’re looking for more examples of riddle poems, here’s a list you may find helpful. (Please let me know of any others you know about.)

Poetry Books with Riddle Poems

1. Calmenson, Stephanie. 2005. Kindergarten Kids: Riddles, Rebuses, Wiggles, Giggles, and More! New York: HarperCollins.

2. Dotlich, Rebecca Kai. 2001. When Riddles come Rumbling: Poems to Ponder. Honesdale, PA: Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press.

3. Ghigna, Charles. 1995. Riddle Rhymes. New York: Hyperion Books for Children.

4. Lewis, J. Patrick. 2002. Arithmetickle. San Diego: Harcourt.

5. Lewis, J. Patrick. 1996. Riddle-icious. New York: Knopf.

6. Lewis, J. Patrick. 1998. Riddle-lightful. New York: Knopf.

7. Lewis, J. Patrick. 2004. Scien-trickery: Riddles in Science. Orlando: Harcourt.

8. Lewis, J. Patrick. 2009. Spot the Plot; A Riddle Book of Book Riddles. San Francisco: Chronicle.

9. Livingston, Myra Cohn. 1990. My Head is Red, and other Riddle Rhymes. New York: Holiday House.

10. Morrison, Lillian. 2006. Guess Again! Riddle Poems. Little Rock, AR: August House.

11. Nims, Bonnie Larkin. 1992. Just Beyond Reach and other Riddle Poems. New York: Scholastic.

12. Shannon, George. Busy in the Garden. New York: Greenwillow.

13. Sidman, Joyce. Butterfly Eyes and Other Secrets of the Meadow. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

14. Spires, Elizabeth. 1999. Riddle Road: Puzzles in Poems and Pictures. New York: McElderry Books.

15. Spires, Elizabeth. 1995. With one White Wing: Puzzles in Poems and Pictures. New York: McElderry Books.

16. Swann, Brian. 1998. The House with No Door: African Riddle- Poems. San Diego: Harcourt.

17. Swann, Brian. 1998. Touching the Distance: Native American Riddle-Poems. San Diego: Harcourt.

18. Swenson, May. 1993. The Complete Poems to Solve. New York: Macmillan.

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

Image credit: tptb.co.uk;chroniclebooks.com