Bug Poetry

In my ongoing quest to feature topical poetry (and showcase excerpts from my new book, The Poetry Teacher's Book of Lists), here's a list of poetry books that feature insects and bugs-- just right for summer.

Poetry Books about Insects and Bugs

To make a science connection, or enliven a summer book activity, consider sharing poetry about bugs and insects. Here are a few examples of poems focused on the insect world.

1. Bulion, Leslie. 2006. Hey There, Stink Bug! Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge.
2. Cyrus, Kurt. 2001. Oddhopper Opera: A Bug’s Garden of Verses. San Diego: Harcourt Brace.
3. Fleishman, Paul. 1988. Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices. New York: Harper & Row.
4. Florian, Douglas. 1998. Insectlopedia. San Diego: Harcourt Brace.
5. Florian, Douglas. 2012. Unbeelievables: Honeybee Poems and Paintings. New York: Beach Lane.
6. Frost, Helen. 2012. Step Gently Out. Ill. by Rick Lieder. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.
7. Greenberg, David T. 2002. Bugs! Ill. by Lynn Munsinger. New York: Little, Brown.
   
8. Harley, Avis. 2008. The Monarch’s Progress: Poems with Wings. Honesdale, PA: Boyds Mills/Wordsong.
9. Harrison, David. L. 2007. Bugs, Poems about Creeping Things. Honesdale, PA: Wordsong/Boyds Mills.
10. Hopkins, Lee Bennett. Ed. 1992. Flit, Flutter, Fly! Poems about Bugs and Other Crawly Creatures. New York: Doubleday.
11. Hopkins, Lee Bennett. Ed. 2012. Nasty Bugs. Ill. by Will Terry. New York: Dial.
12. Katz, Alan. 2011. Mosquitoes Are Ruining My Summer! And Other Silly Dilly Camp Songs. New York: McElderry.
13. Lewis, J. Patrick. 1998. The Little Buggers: Insect & Spider Poems. New York: Dial.
14. Mortensen, Lori. 2009. In the Trees, Honey Bees! Nevada City, CA: Dawn Publishing.
15. Nye, Naomi Shihab. 2008. Honeybee. New York: Greenwillow.
16. Rosen, Michael. 1992. Itsy Bitsy Beasties: Poems from Around the World. Minneapolis, MN: Carolrhoda Books.
17. Rosen, Michael. 1993. Mini Beasties. London: Puffin.
18. Ross, Michael Elsohn. 2004. Snug as a Bug. San Francisco: Chronicle.
19. Sidman, Joyce. 2005. Song of the Water Boatman: & other Pond Poems. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
20. Sidman, Joyce. 2006. Butterfly Eyes and Other Secrets of the Meadow. Ill. by Beth Krommes. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
21. Singer, Marilyn. 2003. Fireflies at Midnight. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers.
22. Walton, Rick. 1995. What to Do When a Bug Climbs in Your Mouth and Other Poems to Drive You Buggy. New York: Lothrop, Lee, & Shepard.
23. Yolen, Jane. 2012. Bug Off! Creepy Crawly Poems. Ill. by Jason Stemple. Honesdale, PA: Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press.

Please let me know if I've left off any of your favorite "bug" poetry books so I can add them to the list!

And for more on The Poetry Teacher's Book of Lists, go here.

Image credit: 

ehow.com

Posting by Sylvia M. Vardell © 2012. All rights reserved.

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!

AT THE SEA FLOOR CAFE by Leslie Bulion

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

Today’s tagline: Poems about animals of the sea

Guest Reviewer: Laura Jackson

Featured Book: Bulion, Leslie. 2011. At the Sea Floor Café; Odd Ocean Critter Poems. Atlanta: Peachtree. ISBN: 978-1- 56145-5652.

Laura writes: The ocean and its creatures have always been a fascination for humans. Explorers have only investigated a small per cent of the oceans, and human curiosity begs for more information. This compilation of poems by Leslie Bulion takes a look at the odd creatures that live under the sea. The eighteen poems explore fish, octopus, squid and other animals, focusing on the obscure and the different like the sea spiders and the coconut octopus. Next to each poem there is a paragraph or two giving interesting information about the creature in the poem. Some of the paragraphs include the pronunciation of the more scientific words which is helpful. The glossary in the back also helps readers understand words they may not have read before. The illustrations support the theme of ocean life, but they do little to reinforce the idea of the odd creatures. The typical drawings do support the idea of the critters described as being different or unique.

What makes this book special is its eclectic style. Each poem is told in a different way: a triolet (eight-lined poem with just two rhyming sounds), free verse, lyrics, and a cinquain. The different rhythms and designs give the reader a broad range of poetry to read and, in the case of beginner writers, to imitate. In the back of the book each poem’s style is explained which gives a young writer an idea of how to write a similar poem.

One of the poems that embodies the idea of the book (odd critters) with diverse poetry is “Dolphin Fashion,” a limerick.

A bottlenose counseled her daughter:
“Put this sponge on your beak underwater.
You can scare out more fish,
Poke sharp stones as you wish,
And your skin’ll stay smooth like it oughter”
(Bulion 19).

The additional paragraph explains how some dolphins near Australia have sponges on their noses. Researchers believe one mother started using the sponge to protect her nose while feeding on the ocean floor. Her babies imitated her, and a tradition began. The unique behavior of these dolphins is told lightheartedly in this limerick while exposing children to a new format for a poem.

Connections
To demonstrate how poetry can be fun, a teacher or librarian can use the poem “Upside Down and All-Around” which is about a snail. The words curve around in a circle, creating the image of a snail. After reading the poem and discussing how the set-up adds to the feel of the poem, students can pair up to write a poem about a favorite animal, twisting the words into the shape of the animal. Students who may not enjoy poetry may like putting the words into a shape, thus engaging them in poetry.



FYI: The publishers have launched a contest to promote this book. Here’s the deal:

***Poetry Drawing!***
Teachers: From March 21st to April 30th
Post your students' best springtime, ocean critter or your class's best poems this year on our Facebook page at Facebook. (You must have a Facebook account in order to post on our wall.)

Step 1: Look for Peachtree Publishers on Facebook
Step 2: Like us on Facebook.
Step 3: Find the Wall and look for the box to Share.
Step 4: Type your student's poem in the Share box and hit Enter to Post.

All poems should have a title and the type of poem in parenthesis. Ex: (cinquain, haiku, free verse...)

Also, please give the student's first name and grade level at the end of each poem. Ex: -John (3rd Grade).

All winners will be randomly drawn from all posted poems. Good Luck!
Tomorrow’s tagline: Poems about animals of the air

[You can still purchase your own 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. Don’t miss it.]

Image credit: Peachtree; PoetryTagTime

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

WHAT’S FOR DINNER by Katherine Hauth

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

Today’s tagline: Poems about animals and what they eat

Guest Reviewer: Latoya Williams

Featured Book: Hauth, Katherine B. 2011. What's for Dinner?: Quirky, Squirmy Poems from the Animal World. Ill. by David Clark. Massachusetts: Charlesbridge Publishing, Inc. ISBN-13: 978-1570914713.

We have a new digital trailer for this book (and I reviewed it previously on Feb. 4, 2011)

Here’s Latoya’s book trailer.

Tomorrow’s tagline: Poems about animals of the sea

PoetryTagTime
I hope you'll also allow me to plug my new book again, PoetryTagTime, an e-book with 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. Don’t miss it.

This collection of 30 new, unpublished connected poems range from the humorous to serious, about tongues, turtles and toenails, in acrostics, quatrains, and free verse written by 30 of our best children's poets. And the “connections” between poems as the poets voice how their poems are interconnected in this game of poetry tag adds another layer of fun and meaning. You'll be able to share brand-new poems and poetry tips with children all month long for pennies a day!

Even if you don’t own a Kindle, you can download the free Kindle app for a number of devices, including your Windows or Apple computer, iPad, iPhone, BlackBerry, or Android-powered phone. Put the poems on your cell phone and you're ready with a "poem in your pocket," too!

Also, be sure to check out our web site (PoetryTagTime.com) and companion blog (PoetryTagTime.Blogspot) for strategies for sharing each of the 30 poems in the book, rolling out one per day throughout the month of April.

Poetry Friday
And don't forget to join the fun at the Poetry Friday gathering at Madigan Reads!


Image credit: PoetryTagTime;Charlesbridge


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

AROUND THE WORLD ON 80 LEGS by Amy Gibson

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 all kinds of animals

Guest Reviewers: Mary Pharaoh and Melisa O’Rear

Featured Book: Gibson, Amy. 2011. Around the world on eighty legs: Animal poems. Ill. by Daniel Salmieri. New York: Scholastic. ISBN 9780439587556

Mary writes: Finally, after much technical difficulty...recorded and edited, added the images and loaded it to a faulty flash drive... twice... the camera battery died on me... this was a challenging assignment. I hope you like it. I am pretty proud of it. Here's my digital trailer.

Melisa writes: In Amy Gibson’s first book of poetry, she takes us skipping across the continents to explore five regions as we learn of the animal inhabitants, when added together, have a total of eighty legs. Gibson’s witty use of wordplay is impressive as she weaves bits of information about each animal throughout the short verses. The watercolor, gouache and colored-pencil illustrations by Daniel Salmieri continue the humor found throughout the brightly colored pages. In addition to the sixty poems featuring popular and lesser-known animals, there is a fantastic “Menagerie of Facts” located in the back. Here readers will find a list of animals in alphabetical order, a small picture of each animal along with one or two interesting facts. This would be a fun and entertaining book for young elementary age children. Here’s a sample poem:

Macaque
(muh-KAK)
by Amy Gibson

Most monkeys
like it hot, but not
the Japanese
macaque.
He lives in snow
where cold winds blow,
for fur runs
down his back.
But coats of fluff
are not enough
when winter is
a doozy.
And so he hurries
when it flurries
into the
Jacuzzi.

Connections
This 2011 poetry book is a great one for cross-curricular connections. I would use this book as an introduction for a science lesson on animals. Prior to beginning the research process on specific animals, this would allow students to see where many animals live as it cleverly categorizes the animals in their native habitats within geographic regions shown on the maps on the end pages. Sharing poems from the book might entice students to research animals that are lesser known. What a fun and fabulous way to broaden students’ learning. After students complete their research, have them write a poem about the animal they studied and display their poems in the library.

Tomorrow’s tagline: Poems about animals and what they eat

[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;AmyGibson

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

Readers Guide for DARK EMPEROR

I’m teaching my graduate course in poetry for children this semester and we have all kinds of projects percolating that I hope to share soon-- including readers’ guides for many different poetry books. Toward that end, I created a mini-example readers’ guide for my students for Joyce Sidman’s Dark Emperor, a Newbery honor book this year. Let me first say that Joyce has several excellent resources for this book available on her own web site. I purposely created my guide before checking hers and there’s a wee bit of overlap, but together, we offer multiple ways to approach this wonderful book.

At Joyce’s web site, you’ll find:

• A readers guide
• Audiofile of her reading select poems
• Links to interviews with Joyce
• And more…

READERS GUIDE: Dark Emperor by Joyce Sidman
By Sylvia Vardell

Sidman, Joyce. 2010. Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night. Houghton Mifflin. Recommended age levels 7-12

1. Summary of book
This collection of poems about the forest at night—owls, moths, porcupines-- is the last in the trio of “ecosystem poetry books” that began with Song of the Water Boatman (pond) and continued with Butterfly Eyes (meadow). It also offers a parallel layout with beautiful linoleum prints in a double-page spread for each of 12 poems, alongside an accompanying prose paragraph. This marriage of lyrical poetry, science-focused topics, and beautifully executed art has become a Sidman (and collaborating illustrator) trademark.

2. Review excerpts/awards
*Newbery Honor book

*Booklist Editors’ Choice
*Booklist starred review; “this picture book combines lyrical poetry and compelling art with science concepts”
*School Library Journal; “it invites lingering enjoyment for nature and poetry fans”
*Horn Book Fanfare
*Bulletin Blue Ribbon
*Chicago Public Library Best Book of the Year
*NSTA-CBC Outstanding Science Trade Book
*ALA Notable Book
*Junior Library Guild Selection
*Cybils Poetry Award finalist
*Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award honor book

3. Questions to ask before reading
Invite the children to discuss the following:
*What is an “emperor”? Look at the book’s cover and speculate about the book’s content and the meaning of the word “emperor.”
*Imagine what happens outside your home when you sleep at night. What animals might be active? What noises might be heard?
*Which is easier to write—prose or poetry? Why? This book has both. Why do you think a poetry book might include prose paragraphs, too?

4. Suggestions for reading poems aloud
*“Welcome to the Night”-- invite the whole group or class to read each stanza’s end line (“Welcome to the night”) as a repeated refrain; try this same strategy with “I Am a Baby Porcupette” and with “The Mushrooms Come” (for the repeated title line in each poem)
*“Oak After Dark”-- invite 7 volunteers to read one couplet each; try changing the order of the couplets in repeated readings just for fun
*”Ballad of the Wandering Eft”—Divide the class or whole group into 4 small groups, one to read each of the 4 poem stanzas. Then invite the whole (large) group to sing the repeated stanza in italics as a song to the tune of “On Top of Old Smoky.”

5. Follow up activities (writing, art, science, etc.)
*Art block prints
The illustrator, Rick Allen, created woodblock prints for the pictures in this book. Collaborate with an art teacher or local artist to learn about printmaking; experiment with simple potato prints to create print pictures for a favorite poem.

*Poem writing
Joyce Sidman writes poetry in many different forms. In this book, she includes an “ubi sunt” (“Moon’s Lament”), a medieval poem that “laments the loss of heroic, beautiful things.” Invite the children to work in pairs to try creating their own lamenting ubi sunt poem.

*Science observations
Children can work in pairs to create nature poems and prose paragraphs about creatures in their immediate environment based on observing them for a set period of time. Combine them to create a collaborative book.

6. Related web sites/blogs
*Joyce Sidman’s web site
http://www.joycesidman.com/
[Look here for a readers guide that she has created as well as a digital trailer for this book.]

*Nocturnal animals web site
http://nocturnal-animals.com/
[Look here for factual information and photo-images of animals that are most active at night.]

*The Miss Rumphius Effect
http://missrumphiuseffect.blogspot.com/
[Look here for science plus poetry connections and ideas for teaching.]

7. Related books (poetry, nonfiction, fiction)
*Sidman Ecosystem Poetry Trilogy:
Sidman, Joyce. 2005. Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond Poems. Ill. By Beckie Prange. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Sidman, Joyce. 2006. Butterfly Eyes and Other Secrets of the Meadow. Ill. by Beth Krommes. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Sidman, Joyce. 2010. Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night. Ill. by Rick Allen. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.


*Other collections of nature poetry organized around an ecosystem theme:
Singer, Marilyn. 1989. Turtle in July. New York: Macmillan.
Singer, Marilyn. 2003. Fireflies at Midnight. New York: Atheneum.
Yolen, Jane, comp. 1997. Once Upon Ice and Other Frozen Poems. Honesdale, PA: Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press.
Yolen, Jane. 1998. Snow, Snow: Winter Poems for Children. Honesdale, PA: Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press.

*Nonfiction books about nocturnal animals:
Cooper, Wade. 2008. Night Creatures. Cartwheel.
Fraser, Mary Ann. 1999. Where Are the Night Animals? HarperCollins.
George, Jean Craighead. 1999. Morning, Noon, and Night. HarperCollins.
Weber, Belinda. 2006. The Best Book of Nighttime Animals. Kingfisher.

Meanwhile, stay tuned and I hope to share more information about other student-made poetry resources as National Poetry Month (April) nears.

Image credit: Houghton Mifflin

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

What’s for Dinner?

New this week is a poetry book destined to be a sure-fire hit with both kids and science teachers! It's What’s for Dinner? Quirky, Squirmy Poems from the Animal World by new poet Katherine Hauth (published by Charlesbridge).

The organizing theme of the book is so appealing: which animals eat which animals (and plants) and how. Delve into more than two dozen animal examples told in short, generally free verse poems accompanied by clever cartoon portraits (by illustrator David Clark) that manage to be both helpful and zany. The collection is bookended by theme poems, “What’s for Dinner” and “Eating Words” with 29 clever, succinct, and highly visual poems in a variety of formats in between. The occasional consonance and rhyme are spot on and scan nicely and unexpected syncopations mix up the rhythms here and there to nice effect.

Seldom has the food chain received such red carpet poetical treatment with unexpected examples of the relationships between predator and prey. Consider the hawk couple whose courtship includes tossing a snake between them or the brown bat that forms a bowl by curving its tail to eat insects like popcorn. Some poems even reveal the connections between multiple participants in the “Food Chain”:















[BTW: This is NOT the illustration for this poem, but I needed to capture the alignment for the poem, so I resorted to making the slide above.]

Kids will love discovering how crows and wolves help each other eat, how slugs stop other creatures from eating them, four ways polar bears catch seals, and my personal favorite, how “hundreds of beetles and moths” live on the back of the sloth, jumping off his back “on the weekly occasion of Sloth’s defecation” to “lay their eggs on his dung/ with its sugar and starch/ that will nourish their young.” Then, they “jump back onto the back of the Sloth” for another week til the process is repeated. The poem ends, “Quite a menagerie,/feeding in harmony” an excellent summary for the entire book! The combination of true and fascinating facts, the focus on EATING, and occasional references to poop and its necessary place in the food chain are all sure to grab young readers.

As an added plus, teachers and librarians will be pleased to find that the poems are examples of symbiosis, mutualism, parasitism, and other science concepts, all briefly explained in a clear and helpful section, “More Words About the Poems.” Other useful backmatter includes an information-rich paragraph to accompany each poem in an extensive “More Words About the Animals,” plus a bibliography of “Where to Learn More About the Animals in This Book.”

As a former sixth grade teacher (where kids enjoy a bit of the macabre, especially based on fact), I would share a poem just before a snack or lunch break—kids would eat that up! :-) And they’ll definitely want to do more research to see “is that really true?” Follow up with more related poetry, such as:

• Bulion, Leslie. 2006. Hey There, Stink Bug! Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge.
• Florian, Douglas. 1998. Insectlopedia: Poems and Paintings. San Diego: Harcourt.
• Florian, Douglas. 1996. On the Wing: Bird Poems and Paintings. San Diego: Harcourt.
• George, Kristine O’Connell. 2004. Hummingbird Nest: A Journal of Poems. Orlando: Harcourt.
• Harley, Avis. 2001. Leap into Poetry: More ABCs of Poetry. Honesdale, PA: Boyds Mills Press.
• Lewis, J. Patrick, 1998. The Little Buggers. New York: Dial.
  
• Sidman, Joyce. 2006. Butterfly Eyes and Other Secrets of the Meadow. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
  
• Sidman, Joyce. 2005. Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond Poems. Ill. By Beckie Prange. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
• Sidman, Joyce. 2010. Ubiquitous: Celebrating Nature’s Survivors. Ill. by Becky Prange. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
• Singer, Marilyn. 1989. Turtle in July. New York: Macmillan.

P.S. I'm teaching my graduate course in poetry for children again this spring and one of my students is developing a digital trailer for this book-- which I hope to share soon. So stay tuned for more...

Don't forget to join the throng at Poetry Friday hosted by Dori Reads.

Image credit: 

Charlesbridge

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

Joyce Sidman at the Kerlan

I’ve been honored to spend a week at my alma mater (I earned my PhD at the University of Minnesota in 1983) studying at the Kerlan Collection funded by a Marilyn Hollinshead Fellowship. What a treat! (And what gorgeous fall foliage this year!) The Kerlan is one of the world's great children's literature research collections and includes books, original manuscripts, artwork, galleys, correspondence, and color proofs for more than 12,000 children’s books. I have been studying the work of poet Joyce Sidman, who also happens to live in the Twin Cities area. So, not only did I get a private peek into the process of creating several of her wonderful poetry books, but I had a chance to visit with her and chat with her about her work. (Thank you so much, Joyce!)

Eventually, I hope to share more of my research—I’m focusing on the poetry + science connection, in particular—but I’m not ready yet. However, as I reviewed my blog content, I realized that I have mentioned Joyce and her work (and her MANY awards) many times, but I haven’t featured her exclusively before. So here’s a little mini-unit on Joyce Sidman and her poetry. (And you can get more tips in my book, Poetry People, FYI.)

Joyce Sidman was born in Hartford, Connecticut, the middle sister of three, and spent her summers at a camp in Maine. From an early age, she felt motivated to write, and started writing as far back as elementary school. She discovered poetry in high school, encouraged by a sympathetic teacher. She earned her bachelor’s degree in German from Wesleyan University in Connecticut, and a teaching certificate at Macalester College in Minnesota. Joyce lives near the edge of a large woodland in Wayzata, Minnesota, with her husband (and has two grown sons). When she isn't writing, she enjoys teaching via week-long poetry-writing residences in the Minnesota schools.

Joyce Sidman's poetry has already garnered many awards including Horn Book Fanfare book, Voice of Youth Advocates Poetry Pick, Bulletin Blue Ribbon Book, Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award, Cybils Award for poetry, Claudia Lewis Poetry Award, Caldecott honors, and more. Much of her poetry centers around the subject of the natural world and is marked by poetic innovation and an elegance of expression. She often weaves together scientific information alongside poetic descriptions (my focus area for my research project). Since 2000, her 10 books have changed the face of poetry for young people—and I don’t think that’s an overstatement! Let’s review:

1. Sidman, Joyce. 2000. Just Us Two: Poems about Animal Dads. Ill. by Susan Swan. Brookfield, CT: Millbrook.
2. Sidman, Joyce. 2002. Eureka! Poems about Inventors. Ill. by K. Bennett Chavez. Brookfield, CT: Millbrook.
3. Sidman, Joyce. 2003. The World According to Dog: Poems and Teen Voices. Ill. by Doug Mindell. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
4. Sidman, Joyce. 2005. Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond Poems. Ill. By Beckie Prange. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
5. Sidman, Joyce. 2006. Butterfly Eyes and Other Secrets of the Meadow. Ill. by Beth Krommes. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
6. Sidman, Joyce. 2006. Meow Ruff: A Story in Concrete Poetry. Ill. by Michelle Berg. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
7. Sidman, Joyce. 2007. This is Just to Say: Poems of Apology and Forgiveness. Ill. by Pamela Zagarenski. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
8. Sidman, Joyce. 2009. Red Sings From Treetops; A Year in Colors. Ill. by Pamela Zagarenski. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
9. Sidman, Joyce. 2010. Ubiquitous: Celebrating Nature’s Survivors. Ill. by Becky Prange. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
10. Sidman, Joyce. 2010. Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night. Ill. by Rick Allen. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Her web site is a rich resource of helpful information including readers’ guides for all her books, audio clips of her readings, digital trailers she created, a downloadable bookmark, many excellent links (including wonderful interviews on several other lovely blogs!) and much more. Be sure to check it out.

I had the opportunity to examine the files of notes, research, typescripts, dummies, and correspondence for several of her books and found it fascinating. Here are just a few nuggets of what I learned (from those materials and my interview):

*Joyce’s “overnight success” was over 10 years in the making and began with plenty of experimentation (stories, folktales, novels, picture books) and plenty of rejections (11 initial manuscripts were rejected by her current editor!)
*She spends a lot of her time in prewriting, making very few notes and jottings, moving almost immediately to writing and revising on a computer
*She revises poems even up to the very end in the proof pages*She pays close attention to placement of art/poem and to movement of the art and poetry across the book and to details of illustrations vis a vis the poem (and vice versa)
*Poem titles (and some book titles) get tweaked a long time (I counted 23 possible titles for her book, Butterfly Eyes!)
*Her poetry books reveal a close collaboration between poet and editor and often with the illustrator
*Her first book accepted for publication was Eureka
*Her next book (Fall 2011) is Swirl by Swirl (about spirals in nature) and is a gorgeous poetic picture book (not poetry collection) illustrated by Beth Krommes

I’m obviously a big fan! And I’m clearly not alone. As the awards pile up, it now seems obvious that Joyce’s unique vision and voice is powerful and appealing. Her just-right-wording, succinct phrasing, subtle rhythms, and visual shaping of each poem all work together to craft poetry that is both descriptive and evocative. You can picture the subject vividly both visually and emotionally. I look forward to the next 10 books—and more!

Posting (not poem) by Sylvia M. Vardell © 2010. All rights reserved.

Image credit: Joyce Sidman, UofM Kerlan Collection

The Poetry of Science

I just received the June issue of Book Links (which comes with Booklist nowadays) and I loved the science focus. It includes a terrific poetry-related piece, “Reuniting Science and Poetry” by Mary Ann Hoberman and Linda Winston, her collaborator on the anthology, The Tree That Time Built. Plus, my “Everyday Poetry” column features “The Poetry of Science.” Here is an excerpt:

Which comes first? The science or the poem? So many science-related picture books are told in poetic language and so many poetry books are science-focused that it can be hard to say. Poets are typically very observant, careful word-choosers, much like their scientist counterparts and the marvels of the natural world have intrigued many poets—and children—for generations and continues to be one of the most popular topics for compiling and creating poetry collections for young people.

Science Poetry
Children’s Poet Laureate Mary Ann Hoberman and her collaborator Linda Winston gave us a new twist on the science poem anthology with the aforementioned The Tree That Time Built; A Celebration of Nature, Science, and Imagination and I recommend the work of Douglas Florian, Jane Yolen, and Joyce Sidman, in particular, for their many science-themed poetry collections.

Many other poets regularly feature science-related topics in their work, including Betsy Franco (Birdsongs), Joan Bransfield Graham (Flicker Flash) Lee Bennett Hopkins (Sharing the Seasons), J. Patrick Lewis (Galileo’s Universe), Laura Purdie Salas (Chatter, Sing, Roar, Buzz), Lisa Westberg Peters (Volcano Wakes Up!), and Marilyn Singer (Fireflies at Midnight), the featured poet who provided an original unpublished poem, “Spouts” which accompanies the article.

Reading many works by a single poet can help children see how science can capture a poet’s imagination and then be expressed in a distinctive voice. You’ll notice that often these poets don’t just feature poetry, but they also include the “sidebars” and backmatter one usually associates with factual nonfiction or informational books. That’s something kids might try themselves by working in pairs (one as poet, one as scientist) researching a favorite topic and then creating a poem and a prose paragraph (or reference aid) on their topic.

For more blurring of poetry and nonfiction, see how Sallie Wolf blends an observation journal complete with “handwritten notes” and “paper scraps” with poems about birds in The Robin Makes a Laughing Sound; A Birder’s Journal. Susan Blackaby’s new “habitat” poems describe animals in their native places in Nest, Nook & Cranny, accompanied by black and white drawings by Jamie Hogan that look like images from an artist’s sketchbook. Combine these with Michael Rosen’s distinctive The Cuckoo’s Haiku, or Kristine O’Connell George’s Hummingbird’s Nest for more journal-like poetry collections.

Rhyming Science Books
Some authors of science-focused picture books create rhyming text for sharing information. These aren’t poetry, per se, but provide an interesting entry point for young readers and listeners who will enjoy the music of the language while taking in new information. Faces of the Moon by Bob Crelin, for example, incorporates rhyming quatrains in describing lunar cycles complete with divider tabs and die cutouts of moon shapes.

Other writers who frequently present factual material through rhyming text include Joanne Ryder (Toad by the Road), JoAnn Early Macken (Waiting Out the Storm), Lola Schaefer (An Island Grows), Lois Ehlert (Lots of Spots) and April Pulley Sayre (Meet the Howlers), among others.

Poetic Science Books
Other authors use language poetically (but without rhyming) in their writing of informational science books. They present facts, but choose and arrange words musically or artistically as in Marion Dane Bauer’s lyrical introduction to the winter solstice in The Longest Night or Brenda Z. Guiberson’s Moon Bear with its question/answer format or Dianna Hutts Aston’s metaphorical picture book, A Seed is Sleepy. Here are examples for children to consider when they think about how they can arrange the words on the page of their carefully researched science report.

Way back in 1657, Comenius created the first book for children, Orbis Pictus, an informational work designed to present the world in pictures to the young reader. With woodcut images accompanied by spare, descriptive text, he set a model for letting kids use a bit of imagination in his arrangement of words and phrases. Here’s just a glimpse:

The Earth

In the Earth are
high Mountains
Deep Valleys,
Hills Rising,
Hollow Caves,
Plain Fields,
Shady Woods

Not bad for 350 years ago, right?

When we invite children to try writing poetry in language arts class or report writing in science, does it really have to be an either/or proposition? Can we challenge them to think about what they’re learning, gathering key vocabulary and new concepts, and then arranging their newfound knowledge (alongside visuals) in ways that are meaningful to them? Perhaps it will be a poem, perhaps not, but with models of the many ways we can describe our science inquiries, they may be more motivated to consider both—science and language.

Posting (not poem) by Sylvia M. Vardell © 2010. All rights reserved.

Image credit: maryannhoberman.com;motherreader.com;us.
macmillan.com;gutenberg.org.glennalang.com

Capstone poetry

I feel like I must be the last person on the planet to discover that Capstone Press has a whole series of poetry books designed to feature subject matter content. Cool! I've long been a fan of linking poetry and nonfiction. Here's what I wrote in my book, Poetry Aloud Here,

"Pairing nonfiction and poetry may seem like an unlikely partnership at first, but these two different genres can complement one another by showing children how writers approach the same topic in very different and distinctive ways. In addition, children will see that you can learn a lot of information from BOTH a poem and a work of nonfiction.... Poems can also serve to initiate a topic or enrich and extend it. The length is less intimidating to children overwhelmed by longer prose and streams of new vocabulary. Although poetry may also present new words and concepts, this shorter appearance provides a motivating advantage.... Look for poetry anthologies organized by subject matter, when possible, since they help make the content connection obvious.

Poetry breaks across the curriculum can serve to:
• Jumpstart or introduce a lesson or topic
• Provide examples of terminology or concepts
• Provide a transition between activities
• Provide a stretching (poetry) break
• Provide closure
• Extend the topic further"

Capstone has collaborated with the up-and-coming poet Laura Purdie Salas to create an emerging series of poetry books that focus on a variety of appealing and curriculum-worthy topics for kids including these in 2009:

Always Got My Feet: Poems about Transportation
A Fuzzy-Fast Blur: Poems about Pets
Lettuce Introduce You: Poems about Food
and
Chatter, Sing, Roar, Buzz: Poems about the Rain Forest, the book I have in hand.

Two things grab you as soon as you open this picture book-- it's highly visual with full color, full page (sometimes double-page) photographs for every poem and secondly, the design showcases the poems equally effectively in a large, appealing font spread nicely across the page. Eye catching and easy to read. Add to that, the photos are well chosen and well matched to the poems (although the image focus could be a bit sharper IMO) and the poems manage to be both clearly descriptive and well written and representative of a variety of poetic forms.

This collection focuses on the rain forest with 16 poems about the wildlife, the landscape, the people, the crops, etc. It's teacher-friendly, while still having appeal for reading (and performing) out loud or sharing during poetry time-- as well as in science lessons. Kids will love reading about the stealth of the jaguar, the slow life of the sloth, the tired lemur and capybara mamas, the playfulness of chimps and bearded pigs, the "small can be powerful" message from the leaf-cutter ant, as well as encountering poison blue frogs and cuddly tent bats, among other topics. [Combine this book with Francisco X. Alarcón's Animals Poems of the Iguazú / Animalario del Iguazú (Children’s Book Press, 2008) for a double dose of rain forest perspectives.] The diversity of rain forests is enticingly introduced here-- I just wish they had included a map to locate the sites referenced in the poems. Overall, this example collection convinces me that Capstone and Laura are definitely on to something. Here's just a taste:

Treetop Scientist
by Laura Purdie Salas

My lab is high among the trees
I scramble up and down with ease
I climb to work, and this is why:
I'm doing science in the sky

Boots are sturdy, helmet's tough
I'm in the field, I'm living rough
I dangle free, enjoy the breeze
Because I'm high among the trees

Salas, Laura Purdie. 2009. Chatter, Sing, Roar, Buzz; Poems about the Rain Forest. Mankato, MN: Capstone Press, p. 20.

Finally, I love how this book connects further with nonfiction by modeling the attributes of quality nonfiction in providing helpful backmatter: a section entitled "The Language of Poetry" that explains poetry terms and forms relevant in this collection (e.g., "diamonte"-- describing the form and noting which poems in this particular book are diamonte poems), a "Glossary" of unusual vocabulary found in the poems (e.g., "liana" [lee AHN uh]-- a thick vine of the rainforest), "Read More" with recommendations of related books, "Internet Sites" with a "Facthound" that will "fetch" the relevant sites from the Capstone site, an "Index of Poems," and in small print, photo credits and a note to parents, teachers, and librarians. I for one really appreciate the backmatter in books. These tools make the book even more versatile for a variety of purposes and audiences.

Each picture book is designed to be at a reading level for first-to-second graders. The Capstone brochure indicates the "interest level" at preK-2, but I would argue that these would be interesting to kids beyond second grade, too. That's the terrific thing about poetry, IMO, it is so much LESS age-bound than other genres, especially when you read a good poem aloud. Who can say what age a poem was intended for? It's for ME!

Capstone's backlist titles from this "A+ Series" include (from 2008):
And Then There Were Eight: Poems about Space
Do Buses Eat Kids?: Poems About School
Flashy, Clashy, and Oh-So-Splashy: Poems about Color
Seed Sower, Hat Thrower: Poems about Weather
Shrinking Days, Frosty Nights: Poems about Fall
Tiny Dreams, Sprouting Tall: Poems about the United States

I want to look for these titles next, don't you?

FYI: Laura blogged about the writing process for these 10 poetry collections. Check it out!

Join the rest of the Poetry Friday gathering hosted by Andromeda Jazmon today at A Wrung Sponge.

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

Image credit: search.barnesandnoble.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

Poetry about light, but not necessarily light poetry

On this day in 1879, Thomas Edison demonstrated the electric light successfully. Celebrate with this poem.

Poem to Be Read at 3 A.M.
by Donald Justice
(excerpted from American Sketches)

Excepting the diner
On the outskirts
The town of Ladora
At 3 A.M.
Was dark but
For my headlights
And up in
One second-story room
A single light
Where someone
Was sick or
Perhaps reading
As I drove past
At seventy
Not thinking
This poem
Is for whoever
Had the light on

For more poems about light, look for Joan Bransfield Graham’s collection, Flicker Flash (Houghton Mifflin, 2003). Joan Bransfield Graham’s poetry books are wonderful examples of shape or concrete poetry in which the words of the poems are laid out on the page to suggest the subject of the poem. In both Splish Splash (Houghton Mifflin, 2001) and Flicker Flash, the graphic illustrations combine with the verbal descriptions of water or light in their many, varied forms.

The rhyming shape poems of Flicker Flash explore the different ways that light appears in our world, from the flicker of birthday candles to a flash of lightning. The ingenious illustrations by Nancy Davis feature bold graphic images that play with shape and type in creative ways and add to the impact of each poem. These are perfect selections to incorporate into science or art lessons. Read them aloud by flashlight for added effect. In particular, read “Lamp” seated with the book near lamplight to demonstrate the poem’s “lamp-shine.”

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). Her poem “Lights Out” is ideal for sharing with Graham’s “Lamp” poem—both about reading by the light of a lamp or flashlight. One note: several of Graham’s poems in Flicker Flash deal with fire, including candles, matches, campfires and fireworks. Each is beautifully described and illustrated and can lead to a helpful discussion of both metaphors as well as fire safety! Be very clear about proper procedures for handling fire-related objects like matches and candles, of course.

Here are a few more poetry collections that feature poems about light in its various incarnations, either directly or indirectly.
Bruchac, Joseph. 1996. Between Earth and Sky: Legends of Native American Sacred Places. San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace.
Bruchac, Joseph. 1992. Thirteen Moons on Turtle’s Back: A Native American Year of Moons. New York: Philomel Books.
Dotlich, Rebecca Kai. 1998. Lemonade Sun and Other Summer Poems. Honesdale, PA: Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press.
Esbensen, Barbara Juster. 1984. Cold Stars and Fireflies: Poems of the Four Seasons. New York: Crowell.
Fisher, Aileen. 1980. Out in the Dark and Daylight. New York: Harper & Row.
Graham, Joan Bransfield. 1999. Flicker Flash. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Hines, Anna Grossnickle. 2005. Winter Lights: A Season in Poems & Quilts. New York: Greenwillow.
Hopkins, Lee Bennett, comp. 1983. The Sky is Full of Song. New York: Harper & Row.
Levy, Constance. 1998. A Crack in the Clouds. New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books.
Lewis, Richard, comp. 1988. In the Night Still Dark. New York: Atheneum.
Livingston, Myra Cohn. 1984. Sky Songs. New York: Holiday House.
McCord, David. 1962. Take Sky: More Rhymes of the Never Was and Always Is. Boston: Little Brown.
Merriam, Eve. 1986. A Sky Full of Poems. New York: Dell.
Moore, Lilian, comp. 1992. Sunflakes: Poems for Children. New York: Clarion Books.
Moore, Lilian. 1980. Think of Shadows. New York: Atheneum.
Mora, Pat. 1998. This Big Sky. New York: Scholastic.
Ochoa, Annette Piña, Betsy Franco, and Traci L. Gourdine, Eds. 2003. Night is Gone, Day is Still Coming; Stories and Poems by American Indian Teens and Young Adults. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick.
O’Neill, Mary. 2003. The Sound of Day; The Sound of Night. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Rosenberg, Liz, ed. Light-gathering Poems. New York: Henry Holt.
Singer, Marilyn. 2005. Central Heating: Poems about Fire and Warmth. New York: Knopf.
Singer, Marilyn. 2000. Fireflies at Midnight. New York: Atheneum.

Kelly Fineman has more gems at the Poetry Friday Roundup this week.

Picture credit: home.cogeco.ca