Poetry Podcasts and Poem Audiofiles

I’m tickled to share news of a new venture in poetry promotion: I’ve created my first podcast! I’ve been wanting to try that for awhile and finally gave it a shot. Thanks to Terry Borzumato-Greenberg at Holiday House who invited me to create something for their Web site and jump-started my learning process. You’ll find two free downloadable audiofiles at the Holiday House web site. I share ideas about how to use two of their books with kids, read excerpts aloud, as well as provide tips on using poetry with kids, in general.

My Poetry Podcasts
*Alice Low's The Fastest Game on Two Feet and Other Poems About How Sports Began (Holiday House, 2009) Podcast here


*Dian Curtis Regan’s poetry-focused picture book Barnyard Slam (Holiday House, 2009) Podcast here


I’m a big fan of introducing kids to the audio qualities of poetry and have written about that before—particularly about seeking out audiobook versions of poetry like the amazing Jazz by Walter Dean Myers (our first Odyssey audiobook award winner). But there are also free audiofiles of poetry available on the web—more and more as time goes on. Here are some of the major sites:

The Academy of American Poets
Audio archives alongside extensive biographical information and selected poetry

The Poetry Magazine
Audio recordings of many major poets reading their works, as well as interviews with and speeches

Poets and Writers
Offers multimedia slideshows, videos, and podcasts of all kinds of poetry-related material

The Library of Congress Poetry and Literature Center
An archive of recordings of over 2000 adult poets reading their own work

Just One More Book
Clever coffee shop podcast recordings of hundreds of booktalks and interviews

LibriVox
Amateur recordings of books in the public domain including some poetry

Favorite Poem Project
Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky’s project to have average citizens audiotape their favorite poems

Poetry Speaks
I’ve been meaning to post about the Poetry Speaks web site since I learned about it late last year—still being beta-tested. The Sourcebooks people who brought us Poetry Speaks, Hip Hop Speaks to Children, My Hippo has the Hiccups, The Tree that Time Built, and the upcoming Poetry Speaks; Who I Am (for middle school) are making audiofiles of poetry readings available (like the CDs that accompany each of their books), as well as the opportunity to download our own poem readings. Cool!

Poets whose Web sites feature audio recordings of their poetry:
Kristine O’Connell George
Janet S. Wong
Nikki Grimes
Joyce Sidman
Jack Prelutsky
Shel Silverstein

ACTIVITY: If audio announcements are made at your school or library, include the oral reading of a poem by the poet (downloaded) or by a child or adult volunteer on a daily or weekly basis. And of course with the simplest equipment you can encourage kids to record themselves reading their own poetry (or favorite poems) to share with friends and family.

Just for fun, here's a glimpse from Alice Low's clever and informative collection of sports-themed poems, The Fastest Game on Two Feet, featured in my podcast. It's an excerpt from the poem "Sonja Henie, Girl in White" about the Norwegian figure skater who revolutionized the sport in the 1920's-- in honor of last night's beautiful performances by Olympic figure skaters from Korea, Japan, Canada-- and the U.S.

Sonja Henie, Girl in White (p. 20)
by Alice Low

She started winning championships
When she was only eight.
When she was ten she won again.
Oh, how that girl could skate!

She practiced seven hours a day
And studied ballet, too,
And fused ballet with skating
In a style that was new.

There isn't room to list
The countless titles that she won.
The Worlds, ten times, Olympics, three.
And still she wasn't done.

For more Poetry Friday fun go to Check it Out today.

Posting (not poem) by Sylvia M. Vardell © 2010. All rights reserved.
Image credit: amazon; holiday house;skating.wikia.com;timesleader.com

Vacation poems

I’m in San Francisco this week—near the ocean—a perfect moment to mention a new poetry book by David L. Harrison called Vacation; We’re Going to the Ocean, illustrated by Rob Shepperson (Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press, 2009). It’s a fun and engaging summer poem collection, with a strong boy sensibility, and a story framework that bounces from poem to poem, cartoon to cartoon. Its small trim size (5 x 7) adds to its packable portability. My only quibble—a small one—is that the two-column layout of a few of the poems suggests they can be read simultaneously by two voices, but instead it’s simply to maximize space on the page. It’s a tad confusing in a few instances, but not a deal-breaker.

This small “beach book” packs a walloping 45 poems from “Hi” to “Home at Last” detailing a family’s road trip to the beach and their brief stay there. Each poem adds another moment, all from the perspective of a young boy named Sam who collects a spider, scorpion, tarantula, and crab along the way. Kids will enjoy the poems about sitting in the car, potty breaks, spending the night with relatives, camping, cookouts, coping with siblings, art museum stops, hiking, hotel overnights, and of course beach time activities. Shepperson’s black and white cartoons on every page add a strong dose of storytelling and humor, giving each family member a distinctive personality. (Harrison and Shepperson collaborated previously on Bugs, another small-sized, visually and verbally inviting poem collection.)

Here’s just a sample, sure to be a familiar topic to anyone who has sat in a car with kids for more than 5 minutes!







Are We There Yet?
by David L. Harrison

My foot’s
asleep,

my seat
is sore.

You said
“another hour”
before.

You say
“an hour”
every
time.

Your
hours
are much

longer
than
mine.

from Harrison, David L. 2009. Vacation; We’re Going to the Ocean. Illustrated by Rob Shepperson. Honesdale, PA: Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press, p. 14.

If you can’t get to the ocean yourself this summer, here’s a virtual vacation, complete with rambunctious kids and sand in your _________. Enjoy!

This week, the Poetry Friday Roundup is at A Year of Reading. See you there!

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

Image credit:boydsmillspress.com;ragingred.wordpress.com

Silly Dilly Sports Songs by Alan Katz

While I’m featuring funny poetry, I have to mention the next book in Alan Katz’s series of “silly dilly” song-poems: Going, Going, Gone!: And Other Silly Dilly Sports Songs. This collection of sports-themed songs joins his previous works, also illustrated with hilarious overstatement by David Catrow.

• Katz, Alan. 2001. Take Me Out of the Bathtub and Other Silly Dilly Songs. New York: McElderry.
• Katz, Alan. 2003. I’m Still Here in the Bathtub; Brand New Silly Dilly Songs. New York: McElderry.
• Katz, Alan. 2005. Where Did They Hide My Presents? Silly Dilly Christmas Songs. New York: McElderry.
• Katz, Alan. 2006. Are You Quite Polite; Silly Dilly Manners Songs. New York: McElderry.
• Katz, Alan. 2008. On Top of the Potty: And Other Get-Up-and-Go Songs. New York: McElderry.
• Katz, Alan. 2008. Smelly Locker; Silly Dilly School Songs. New York: Simon & Schuster.

This has evolved into quite a library of song-poem-parodies that are half camp song and half vaudevillian schtick and all illustrated in hypercolorful cartoons and caricatures. Of course they all BEG to be SUNG, not just read aloud, and Katz identifies which song tune to use for each poem-song. Be brave and lead the kids in singing and TAPING them, to make your own audio or podcast. (But don’t post without permission from the publisher please.)

You’ll find 14 songs showcasing a variety of sports such as baseball, fishing, (miniature) golfing, ice skating, tennis, cycling, football, swimming, bowling, archery, and soccer. Details of the sport are noted alongside all the things that can go wrong, too. And I find it interesting the friendships and family relationships usually form the backdrop for each song, making it fun to sing and perform these in groups of kids or family members. Finally, each poem ends in a surprise or a twist that is sure to generate laughter.

Here’s just one example, the “kick-off” first poem in the book, “On Top of the Bleachers” (sung to the tune “On Top of Old Smokey”).

“On Top of the Bleachers”
(sung to the tune “On Top of Old Smokey”)
by Alan Katz

On top of the bleachers,
that’s where we just sat.
Dad bought me a pennant,
a scorecard, and hat.

He got me some peanuts,
a soda, and chips,
a ballplayer puppet
that swings as he flips.

Next I got a helmet,
a bat, and a glove,
a giant foam finger
the crowd doesn’t love.

Dad purchased a hot dog,
a cheese-filled dough puff,
an official backpack
to carry my stuff.

Twelve trips to the bathroom
Dad had to endure.
There mighta been a ball game…
though I’m not really sure.

Katz, Alan. 2009. Going, Going, Gone!: And Other Silly Dilly Sports Songs. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Challenge creative kids to compose their own song-poems about other favorite sports and record or perform them. Look for more fun and funny sports poems in Jack Prelutsky’s Good Sports; Rhymes About Running, Jumping, Throwing, and More (Knopf, 2007).

Image credit: alankatzbooks.com

More baseball: Change-up

The Texas Rangers were supposed to lose their first game yesterday—but surprise—they WON! Two home runs and a great game all around! Time to celebrate ANOTHER collection of baseball poetry: Gene Fehler’s new book, Change-up; Baseball Poems (Clarion, 2009). I reviewed his novel-in-verse, Beanball, last year, and loved it! It was baseball for teens, with a gripping injury-recovery story in a baseball setting.

This year’s collection is for a younger audience, perhaps 2nd grade and up, a fun story-threaded collection of 38 poems in a combination of free verse and rhyming forms. It begins and ends in winter with poignant poems looking forward and back, and then builds in first person poems that reference recurring characters (friend Sammy, girlplayer Gabby, Mom, Dad, Gramps, Coach) poem by poem. One of my favorite elements of the poetry is the balancing of baseball references and emotional connections—linking the sport with memories that build a childhood and fill a lifetime. Yet, none of this is heavy-handed or syrupy sappy, thank goodness. Here’s one lovely example.

When Dad Is Away
by Gene Fehler

Dad taught me how
to hold my bat
away from my body
when I swing
and how to let the ball
spin off my fingertips
when I throw
and how to oil my glove
and wrap string around it
with a ball inside
so when I sleep
the pocket will remember
the ball just as clearly
as I remember
my dad’s face

Fehler, Gene. 2009. Change-up; Baseball Poems. Ill. by Donald Wu. New York: Clarion, p. 41

First-time illustrator Donald Wu creates characters and scenes in acrylic and colored pencil that accompany every poem, adding to the feeling of “story” that builds through the collection. His characters have personality, yet never overwhelm the words and the poetry. One note: the illustrations and look of the book skew young, so children will find it inviting and engaging. The poems also lend themselves to being read aloud and performed chorally. But those who work with tweens and teens should not overlook this collection. The poetry still holds up for older readers, too—you just may have to cover the book in a brown paper wrapper! ☺

Go, team!

FYI: The publisher offers a wonderful Poetry Month kit with several downloadable activity pages for their new spring poetry titles, including Change-up. The Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Poetry Kit includes:
* A letter from award-winning poet Joyce Sidman
* Great activities for the classroom
* Downloadable stickers
* Poem-A-Day calendar
Check it out!

Image credit: www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com

Opening Day for Baseball: Rules of the Game

Last year, Marjorie Maddox gave us A Crossing of Zebras: Animal Packs in Poetry (Boyds Mills/Wordsong, 2008), a fun collection of poems about collective nouns (like “pride of lions”) that I blogged about last April. This year, her attention turns to baseball, with the picture book anthology, Rules of the Game; Baseball Poems. Here you’ll find 42 poems on many, varied aspects of the sport including “The Batting Order,” “The Sweet Spot,” “In the Bullpen,” “Grounder,” “The Pop-up,” “Pinch Hitter,” and my favorite, the concluding poem, “Grand Slam.”

Grand Slam
by Marjorie Maddox

Dreams brimming over,
childhood stretched out in legs,
this is the moment replayed on winter days
when frost covers the field,
when age steals away wishes.
Glorious sleep that seeps back there
to the glory of our baseball days.

Maddox, Marjorie. 2009. Rules of the Game. Ill. by John Sandford. Honesdale, PA: Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press, p.32.

She fills the poems with baseball jargon (which I enjoy, but don’t always understand), but her loyalty to the game doesn’t keep her from communicating the ins and outs of the game—literally. These are some of the smartest sports poems I’ve encountered and I love her careful and vivid word choices.

Both she and the illustrator also manage to infuse a variety of ballplayers into the poems and images, so we see girls and boys playing the game, as well as grown ups and kids moving vigorously across the pages in expressive pencil drawings. The collection has a very kid-friendly look and the poetry can work on multiple levels for readers (and listeners) in the middle grades and up.

It’s Opening Day here in Texas and the Rangers are kicking off the season. I’m in the mood for peanuts and hot dogs, fireworks and fastballs!

For more poetry books about baseball, look for:
Adoff, Arnold. 1986. Sports Pages. New York: HarperCollins.
Burleigh, Robert. 2003. Home Run. New York: Voyager.
Fehler, Gene. 2009. Change-up: Baseball Poems. New York: Clarion Books.
Graves, Donald. 1996. Baseball, Snakes, and Summer Squash. Honesdale, Pa. : Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press; [New York] Distributed by St. Martin’s Press.
Gutman, Dan. 2007. Casey Back at Bat. New York: HarperCollins.
Hopkins, Lee Bennett, comp. 1996. Opening Days: Sports Poems. San Diego: Harcourt.
Hopkins, Lee Bennett, comp. 1999. Sports! Sports! Sports! New York: HarperCollins.
Hopkins, Lee Bennett. 1993. Extra Innings: Baseball Poems. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Janeczko, Paul B. 1998. That Sweet Diamond: Baseball Poems. New York: Atheneum Books.
Johnson, Don. 1991. Hummers, Knucklers, and Slow Curves: Contemporary Baseball Poems. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
Knudson, R. Roxanne, and May Swensen, comp. 1988. American Sports Poems. New York: Orchard.
Koertge, Ron. 2006. Shakespeare Bats Cleanup. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick.
Morrison, Lillian. 1992. At the Crack of the Bat: Baseball Poems. New York: Hyperion.
Prelutsky, Jack. 2007. Good Sports; Rhymes About Running, Jumping, Throwing, and More. New York: Knopf.
Smith, Charles R. Jr. 2004. Diamond Life: Baseball Sights, Sounds, and Swings. New York: Orchard Books.
Testa, Maria. 2002. Becoming Joe DiMaggio. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press.
Thayer, Ernest L. 2006. Casey at the Bat. Toronto: Kids Can Press. (and many other versions)

Play ball!

Image credit: www.wordsongpoetry.com

Baseball in poetry: BEANBALL

I’m a lazy fan of baseball, I’ll admit. I love going to games, enjoying the slow pace, soaking up the ambience, cheering with the crowd, enjoying the junk food, but I don’t follow the sport very seriously and have a slim grasp of stats and plays. Nevertheless, I enjoy seeing the sport celebrated in poetry, too. I posted a lengthy baseball-themed entry last year (April 27, 2007 Baseball in poetry) with a list of poetry books on the topic of baseball. This year I’d like to highlight a new book out this spring: Beanball by Gene Fehler. It’s a small novel in verse told through the points of view of 28 people, both players and others, all centered around a gifted player who endures a catastrophic injury. Here’s one teammate’s description of our hero at the beginning.

Andy Keller, Oak Grove backup infielder
by Gene Fehler

I’ll take credit for Luke’s nickname:
The Wizard.
Oh, yeah.
I started calling him that
‘cause he’s a wizard with the mitt.
I’ve known him since fifth grade,
and the times I’ve seen him drop a ball,
even in practice,
I could count on one hand.
Hey, I’d even have a few fingers left over.
He can outrun any fly ball,
and once he gets to it, it sticks to his glove
like a piece of fuzz to a sweater.

I bet there aren’t many big leaguers
who can play the outfield better.

From: Fehler, Gene. 2008. Beanball. New York: Clarion. p. 8

Unfortunately, Luke is hit by a “beanball,” a pitch that goes wild, hits him in the head, and causes a life-threatening injury. The narrative that unfolds weaves together the remainder of the baseball season with Luke's slow recovery process to create a riveting story, reminiscent of Mel Glenn’s verse novels, such as Jump Ball: A Basketball Season in Poems. How each character views his or her relationship with baseball and with Luke himself shifts and evolves believably, and ‘tween and teen readers will find it realistic and compelling.

Picture credit: Amazon

Olympic Poetry

One of my favorite family memories is our crazy, spur-of-the-moment trip to Atlanta, Georgia to attend the Summer Olympics in 1996. We had been watching coverage on television and just thought, “Let’s go!” We bought tickets for a few events (javelin throw, some track races) over the Internet (a first for us in 1996!) and made the drive from Texas. We slept on the floor of a church in a 100-year-old building arranged through a friend (since there were no hotel rooms to be had at such short notice) and we had a great time seeing the athletes and swarms of visitors from all around the world. It was a SEA of people. Exhilarating!

Did you know that one of the prizes awarded to a victorious Olympic athlete was a poem? You mean you haven’t seen athletes getting a poem during the Olympics? That’s because modern-day Olympic athletes only receive medals. Today we celebrate the first modern-day Olympics that were held April 6, 1896 in Athens, Greece. Here are a few excerpts of a beautiful poem that captures a moment that is both historic and moving.

Joan Benoit
1984 U.S. Olympic Marathon Gold Medalist
by Rina Ferrarelli (copyrighted)

...

she surged ahead
leaving behind the press
of bodies, the breath
hot on her back

...

Sure, determined,
moving to an inner rhythm
measuring herself against herself

...

and she was still fresh
and not even out of breath
and standing.

Look for the whole poem in Lillian Morrison's collection, More Spice Than Sugar: Poems About Feisty Females (2001) illustrated by Ann Boyajian (Boston: Houghton Mifflin). This poem first appeared in American Sports Poems (Schocken, 1988), edited by May Swenson and R. R. Knudson, and from there has been reprinted in many other anthologies, including some for children.

Younger children may enjoy X. J. Kennedy’s elephant + Olympics poetry collection, Elympics (Philomel, 1999), also available on audio. For more sports poetry, look for works by Lillian Morrison (e.g., At the Crack of the Bat: Baseball Poems) and Charles R. Smith (e.g., Diamond Life: Baseball Sights, Sounds, and Swings) who have each authored several collections of sports-themed poetry.

Here are a few more of my favorite sports poetry books for children.
Adoff, Arnold. 1986. Sports Pages. HarperCollins.
Hopkins, Lee Bennett, comp. 1996. Opening Days: Sports Poems. Harcourt.
Hopkins, Lee Bennett, comp. 1999. Sports! Sports! Sports! HarperCollins.
Knudson, R. Roxanne, and May Swensen, comp. 1988. American Sports Poems. Orchard.
Prelutsky, Jack. 2007. Good Sports; Rhymes About Running, Jumping, Throwing, and More. Knopf.

All set for the summer Olympics? 08.08.08!

Picture credit: www.viewimages.com

Baseball in poetry

On April 27, 1947, "Babe Ruth Day" at Yankee Stadium was held to honor the ailing baseball star. “Babe was given the greatest ovation in the history of the national pastime…” On this same day in 1983, Texas legend Nolan Ryan broke Walter Johnson’s 56-year old record with his 3,509th career strikeout. And on this day in 1996, Barry Bonds became only the fourth major leaguer to hit 300 homers and swipe 300 bases. Clearly, it’s time to celebrate baseball and poetry! Here are some of my favorite sports and baseball poetry books for children.

Adoff, Arnold. 1986. Sports Pages. HarperCollins.
Burleigh, Robert. 2003. Home Run. Voyager.
Hopkins, Lee Bennett, comp. 1993. Extra Innings: Baseball Poems. Harcourt.
Hopkins, Lee Bennett, comp. 1996. Opening Days: Sports Poems. Harcourt.
Hopkins, Lee Bennett, comp. 1999. Sports! Sports! Sports! HarperCollins.
Janeczko, Paul. 1998. That Sweet Diamond. Atheneum.
Knudson, R. Roxanne, and May Swensen, comp. 1988. American Sports Poems. Orchard.
Koertge, Ron. 2006. Shakespeare Bats Cleanup. Candlewick.
Morrison, Lillian, comp. 1992. At the Crack of the Bat: Baseball Poems. Hyperion.
Prelutsky, Jack. 2007. Good Sports; Rhymes About Running, Jumping, Throwing, and More. Knopf.
Smith, Charles R., Jr. 2004. Diamond Life: Baseball Sights, Sounds, and Swings. Orchard.

And don’t forget the classic baseball poem, "Casey at the Bat" by Ernest Thayer and available in picture book form illustrated by Patricia Polacco (Putnam, 1997) or by C. F. Payne (Simon & Schuster, 2003) and the Caldecott honor winning Casey At the Bat: A Ballad of the Republic Sung in the Year 1888, illustrated in “scrapbook” format by Christopher Bing (Handprint, 2000). Also fun to share-- the popular seventh inning song, "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" by Jack Norworth also available in picture book form illustrated by Maryann Kovalski (Scholastic, 1993) or Alec Gillman (Aladdin, 1999).

Here’s one baseball poem, just for fun:

Play Ball!
by Lillian M. Fisher

It was my turn to bat
And I hit the ball
So hard it sailed
Right over the wall.
The crowd went wild.
I started to run.
How happy I’d be
If my team won.
First base, second,
third—I’m home free!
Hurrah for my team!
Hurrah for me!

From Hopkins, Lee Bennett, comp. 1999. Sports! Sports! Sports! HarperCollins.

Picture credit: www.klc.org