2011 NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children

I am excited to share the news about the newest recipient of the NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children just announced today at the conference. The next recipient of this prestigious award for a poet's body of work is... drumroll... J. Patrick Lewis!


Congratulations, Pat!
You so richly deserve this distinction.

NCTE established its Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children in 1977 to honor a living American poet for his or her aggregate work for children ages 3–13. You'll notice that NCTE gave the award annually until 1982 and every three years until 2009. In 2008 the Poetry Committee updated the criteria and changed the time frame to every other year.

Pat joins a select list of 15 prior recipients:
2009 Lee Bennett Hopkins
2006 Nikki Grimes
2003 Mary Ann Hoberman
2000 X. J. Kennedy
1997 Eloise Greenfield
1994 Barbara Esbensen
1991 Valerie Worth
1988 Arnold Adoff
1985 Lilian Moore
1982 John Ciardi
1981 Eve Merriam
1980 Myra Cohn Livingston
1979 Karla Kuskin
1978 Aileen Fisher
1977 David McCord

I was thrilled and honored to serve on this committee previously and co-chaired the committee that presented the award to Nikki Grimes. The current committee is chaired by Barbara Ward and includes Terry Young, Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Jonda McNair, Mary Napoli, and Elaine Magliaro. Well done, committee! The actual award will be presented to Pat at next year's NCTE convention in Chicago (at the Books for Children luncheon). What a day it will be!

About Pat (excerpted from Poetry People)
J. Patrick Lewis and his twin brother were born on May 5 in Gary, Indiana. Lewis earned his bachelor’s degree at St. Joseph's College in Indiana, his master’s degree from Indiana University, and his Ph.D. in economics from The Ohio State University. While working on his doctorate, he became an International Research and Exchanges Fellow, and he and his family spent a year in the former USSR. Later, he and his family participated in cultural exchanges, and they returned to Moscow and St. Petersburg for ten shorter visits. For over twenty years, Lewis taught Economics at Otterbein College in Westerville, Ohio, retiring in 1998. While teaching, he published widely in academic journals, newspapers, and magazines on the topic of economics.

Lewis then turned to writing children’s poetry and took three years to study the craft of poetry on his own. His first book of poems for children, A Hippopotamusn’t, was published in 1990 and he has followed with nearly 70 more children’s books since then, most of which are poetry. He is also a contributor of children's book reviews for the New York Times and a frequent speaker at schools and conferences.

The themes and subjects of J. Patrick Lewis’ poetry collections are incredibly wide-ranging with a frequent focus on science related and historical topics. In addition, he enjoys experimenting with poetic form and wordplay and has authored everything from narrative poems to concrete poetry to limericks to riddles to haiku.

Award Criteria
Meanwhile, in case you are not familiar with the NCTE Excellence in Poetry award, here are the criteria:
Literary merit (art and craft of aggregate work)

• Imagination
• Authenticity of voice
• Evidence of a strong persona
• Universality; timelessness

Poet's contributions

• Aggregate work
• Evident potential for growth and evolution in terms of craft
• Excellence

Evolution of the poet's work

• Technical and artistic development as evidenced in the poetry
• Evidence of risk, change, and artistic stamina
• Evidence of different styles and modes of expression

Appeal to children
Evidence of childlike quality; yet poem's potential for stirring fresh insights and feelings should be apparent. Although the appeal to children of a poet's work is an important consideration, the art and craft must be the primary criterion for evaluation.

ALSO...
I'm also pleased that the committee has continued the practice of selecting a (now annual) list of "Best Books of Poetry for Children" that we began with my committee in 2006. They shared some of their choices for 2010 at the conference yesterday and I look forward to seeing their whole list soon.

Meanwhile, hip hip hooray callou callay for J. Patrick Lewis, an excellent poet indeed!

The NCTE Panel is a hit!

Well, it was standing-room-only for our panel of poets and bloggers at the NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) convention in Orlando today. Yay! I was so pleased at the turn out and with our wonderful, diverse panel. Here's the lowdown (and a copy of our handout).

POETS AND BLOGGERS UNITE:
USING TECHNOLOGY TO CONNECT KIDS, TEACHERS, AND POETRY

















Lee Bennett Hopkins
Pat Mora
Jame Richards
Marilyn Singer

BLOGGERS
Tricia Stohr Hunt; The Miss Rumphius Effect





Elaine Magliaro; Wild Rose Reader

Your truly, Sylvia Vardell; PoetryforChildren
Be sure to check out each of these blogs (if I do say so myself) for the before- and after- conference coverage they provide about our panelist poets.

SELECTED WORKS BY PANEL POETS
Hopkins, Lee Bennett, comp. 2005. Days to Celebrate: A Full Year of Poetry, People, Holidays, History, Fascinating Facts, and More. Greenwillow.
Hopkins, Lee Bennett, comp. 2006 Got Geography! Greenwillow.
Hopkins, Lee Bennett, comp. 2007. Behind the Museum Door. Abrams.
Hopkins, Lee Bennett, comp. 2008. America at War. McElderry.
Hopkins, Lee Bennett, comp. 2008. Hamsters, Shells, and Spelling Bees. HarperCollins.
Hopkins, Lee Bennett. 2009. City I Love. Abrams.
Hopkins, Lee Bennett, comp. 2009. Incredible Inventions. HarperCollins.
Hopkins, Lee Bennett, comp. 2009. Sky Magic. Dutton.
Hopkins, Lee Bennett, comp. 2010. Amazing Faces. Lee and Low.
Hopkins, Lee Bennett, comp. 2010. Give Me Wings. Holiday House.
Hopkins, Lee. Bennett, comp. 2010. Sharing the Seasons. Margaret McElderry.
Mora, Pat. 1996. Confetti: Poems for Children. Lee & Low.
Mora, Pat. 2000. My Own True Name: New and Selected Poems for Young Adults, 1984-1999.Pinata Books.
Mora, Pat., Ed. 2001. Love to Mama: A Tribute to Mothers. Lee & Low.
Mora, Pat. 2007. Yum! Mmmm! Que Rico!: America's Sproutings. Lee & Low.
Mora, Pat. 2009. Book Fiesta! Celebrate Children's Day/Book Day; Celebremos El día de los niños/El día de los libros. Rayo.
Mora, Pat. 2010. Dizzy in Your Eyes; Poems About Love. Knopf.
Mora, Pat. 2010. Zing! Seven Creativity Practices for Educators and Students. Corwin.
Richards, Jame. 2010. Three Rivers Rising. Knopf.
Singer, Marilyn. 2002. Footprints on the Roof: Poems About the Earth. Knopf.
Singer, Marilyn. 2002. The Company of Crows. Clarion.
Singer, Marilyn. 2003. Fireflies at Midnight. Atheneum.
Singer, Marilyn. 2003. How to Cross a Pond: Poems about Water. Knopf.
Singer, Marilyn. 2004. Creature Carnival. Hyperion.
Singer, Marilyn. 2005. Central Heating: Poems about Fire and Warmth. Knopf.
Singer, Marilyn. 2005. Monday on the Mississippi. Henry Holt.
Singer, Marilyn. 2008. First Food Fight This Fall. Sterling.
Singer, Marilyn. 2008. Shoe Bop! Dutton.
Singer, Marilyn. 2010. Mirror, Mirror. Dutton.

THANK YOU to our poets and my fellow bloggers, of course, but thank you also to the publishers and their representatives for bringing the poets to the conference. This includes Michelle Fadlalla and Laura Antonacci at Simon & Schuster, Lisa Nadel at Random House; Scottie Bowditch and Rasshahn Johnson-Baker at Penguin.

Be sure to check our blogs one more time next week as we share our thoughts about the conference experience in our follow-up postings. I hope to share some video footage!

Q & A with Jame Richards

Thank you, Readers, for your comments and questions for our guest poets. Jame Richards has offered her responses here below.

From Andromeda Jazmon

What would happen if we mixed up the ethnicities of the actors so that it wasn't so monochromatic? What would that do to the story? Would it make a difference? Better, richer, more universal or somehow not?

Jame responds:
Thanks for your question Andromeda—it is a thought-provoking one. I’ll start by saying that all art is enriched by diversity, however, my job specifically as a writer of historical fiction (as opposed to that of a movie producer) is to be as accurate as possible, starting with research and reflecting it in my storytelling. The facts tell us that the Johnstown area was settled by German and Welsh immigrants and descendants. Though I didn’t choose last names for most of my characters, I imagined that Peter was Welsh and Kate was from a Penn Dutch background in another part of Pennsylvania. By the time the flood occurs, there are quite a number of Irish and Scotch-Irish in the Conemaugh Valley, and I mention briefly that Joseph came over to the U.S. from Ireland as a baby. A newly expanding population in Johnstown was Hungarian and the fear was that they would take the all the jobs for less money, a familiar tune in the 1880s. So, Johnstown was considered ethnically diverse, though not by our standards today and certainly not as far as casting a movie. The movie producer would have to decide between historical accuracy and something along the lines of color-blind casting used in musical theater, which can be very exciting, challenging your preconceived notions about the story.

In short, it was my dream to tell the stories of these unique people in this time and place in history—perhaps it will be someone else’s dream to write about freed slaves in Johnstown during the flood, for example, and I hope that writer follows their dream because I for one would love to read it! And see the movie version!

From Jeannine Atkins
I’d love to hear an example of perhaps a minor historical incident found in research that pulled together a poem for you.


Jame responds:
Thanks for the question, Jeannine. One line in my research mentioned in passing that the 1888 season at the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club was cut short due to a scarlet fever scare. So many families were affected by epidemics in those days, often losing several children at once— it isn’t hard to imagine that any hint of disease would send people scurrying. This was one of those details that had an awful lot of potential, so I filed it away in the old gray matter. When Celestia needs to create a distraction from rumors about her sister in 1888, she fakes scarlet fever so club members evacuate before they have a chance to gossip. So, there’s a little detail from history unearthed to become a plot point.

From Maclibrary

When writing in verse, how do you handle dialog?

How did you go about the researching of the Johnstown Flood (which was an amazing and tragic disaster).

How did you decide your line breaks?

Jame responds:
Thanks for your questions Maclibrary! I’ll just take them one at a time.

Dialog: Verse is a distilled form of storytelling, so dialog, like everything else, must be brief and to the point. At the same time, it must characterize the speaker and move the plot along. You can see how a verse novelist must really make every word count. But I would tell any writer to combine a balanced blend of Dialog, Action and Description (DAD), letting dialog and action do the work for you, with description evenly sprinkled throughout.

Also, dialog must sound natural and the best way to check is to read it aloud. Many poetry lovers already consume poetry with their ears, but it’s a great way for any writer to identify the clunky spots.

Research: My earliest research began with internalizing the story of the flood after watching a documentary in high school. I also read so much Jane Austen and Edith Wharton over the years that I became reasonably fluent in their language, so to speak, and the culture and customs of their time. By the time I was ready to start writing 3RR, I surrounded myself with all the books and movies I could find for reference, but I pretty much knew by then what I wanted to include in the story. In 3RR’s back matter, we included a list of recommended reading for anyone who wants more information about the flood, or other fiction to enjoy.

Line breaks: Although in prose, we have paragraphing, section breaks, and chapter breaks, I’m very fond of the extra nuance of line breaks and line spacing that we have in verse. The simplest answer is that a line break is a pause and a line space is an even bigger pause. Sometimes I use a line break to slow the reader down, to make you think. Those I sometimes divide by phrases or clauses, often making a long sentence easier to understand by nature of visually breaking it up into units of meaning (great for comprehension/reluctant readers).

My favorite use is to have the reader consider a line in isolation for a second before adding the meaning of the following line to it: that way you get two relevant meanings at once.

Oh, and let’s not forget the impact of a one-word line!

Revisiting dialog as it relates to line spacing: I do try to begin a stanza for a new speaker or new exchange. Otherwise, line spacing often corresponds to a new thought direction much like starting a new paragraph.

On to Orlando
Thanks again to my two guest poets, Pat Mora and Jame Richards, and to you, Readers, for reading and responding. I'll announce the two winners of the free autographed copies of Pat's and Jame's recent books soon. Now, we make our way to Orlando for the annual convention of the National Council of Teachers of English. Jame and Pat will be part of my panel that also includes fellow bloggers, Elaine Magliaro at Wild Rose Reader who has been featuring Lee Bennett Hopkins and Tricia Stohr-Hunt at the Miss Rumphius Effect who has been featuring Marilyn Singer. We'll all be speaking Friday morning at 9:30 at our session A.9 POETS AND BLOGGERS UNITE: USING TECHNOLOGY TO CONNECT KIDS, TEACHERS, AND POETRY in the Baja Room at the Coronado Springs Resort. If you can come, please say hi, and if not, keep an eye on our blogs for follow up information on our session next week.