More Irish poetry for kids

I had the opportunity to spend a wonderful week in Ireland traveling with my family in December-January. What beautiful country, what friendly people, if I may generalize. There are ancient ruins in nearly every backyard and 40 shades of green on the Dingle peninsula alone! I was also reminded of the rich literary tradition in Ireland (Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw, William Butler Yeats, Jonathan Swift, Edmund Spenser, Thomas Moore, James Joyce, Ezra Pound, Padraic Colum, Samuel Beckett, W.H. Auden, to name a few).

One of my favorite books of poetry from abroad is a collection of contemporary Irish poetry for young people, Something Beginning with P edited by Seamus Cashman and I’ve blogged about it before (March, 2007). It’s a gorgeous anthology—for both its 100+ original Irish poems and for its sumptuous, iconoclastic art. A gift of this book of poetry was sent to every Irish primary school in Ireland, courtesy of RTÉ Radio in Ireland. Isn’t that way cool? Imagine!

So, I was on the lookout for more poetry for kids on this trip. Unfortunately, my time was so short and bookstore hours were so limited during this holiday time, that my options were limited. However, I was pleased to score a small book of Irish poetry in a shop on that famous Dingle peninsula (my favorite spot!). It’s A Child’s Book of Irish Rhymes compiled by Alice Taylor and published in Dublin in 1996 (Gill & Macmillan). [I have since found it published by Barefoot Books in the U.S. as A Child's Treasury of Irish Rhymes.]

Many of the poems are simple story rhymes for the young by Irish poets, but a few were by “Anonymous,” so I thought I would share one of those. Perhaps you’re familiar with it, but it was new to me. It’s a wonderful way for kids to explain away the whatever goes wrong. In my German household, we always blamed the “heinzelmaenchen”—elves or goblins. Here, it is “Mr. Nobody” who is responsible!

I know a funny little man,
As quiet as a mouse
Who does the mischief that is done
In everybody’s house.
Though no one ever sees his face,
Yet we can all agree
That every plate we break was cracked
By Mr. Nobody.

‘Tis he who always tears our books,
Who leaves the door ajar,
Who pulls the buttons from our shirts,
And scatters pins afar.
That squeaking door will always squeak
For—this is plain to see—
We leave the oiling to be done
By Mr. Nobody.

‘Tis he who brings in all the mud
That gathers in the hall.
‘Tis he who lets the front door slam,
And scribbles on the wall.
When we can’t find the scissors,
Or have lost the back door key,
The one to blame in every case
Is Mr. Nobody.

We know he cracked the window
And broke the china plate,
We know he left the kitchen floor
In such a dreadful state.
We know his faults and failings,
His sins are plain to see,
And so we always put the blame
On Mr. Nobody.

Anonymous

Taylor, Alice (Comp.). 1996. A Child’s Book of Irish Rhymes. Dublin, Ireland: Gill & Macmillan, p.22-23.

Isn’t this a great poem to read aloud? The second time around, when you get to the last line, pause before saying, “Mr. Nobody” and see if the kids will jump in and say his name. I predict they will! The poem would also be fun for kids to act out while you read it aloud, pantomiming the actions suggested in the poem—while wearing a blank paper plate mask with only two cut out eyes—as Mr. Nobody. Or perhaps they’ll want to draw each scene —graphic novel style —or sketch an image of what they think Mr. Nobody would look like. 


There are many terrific contemporary Irish poets writing for kids today (in English and Irish). Here are just a few listed below. And what better month to check them out than March?

Seamus Heaney, Thomas Kinsella, Máighréad Medbh * Paula Meehan * Brendan Kennelly * Michael Longley * Rita Ann Higgins * Matthew Sweeney * Biddy Jenkinson * Desmond O'Grady * Richard Murphy * Nuala ní Dhomhnaill * Celia de Fréine * Cathal Ó Searcaigh * Frank McGuinness * Julie O'Callaghan * Tom McIntyre * Paul Muldoon * Dermot Bolger * Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin * Frank Ormsby * Siobhán Campbell * Dennis O'Driscoll * John Montague * Moya Cannon * Peter Fallon * Mary O'Malley * Micheal O'Siadhail * John F Deane

Happy St. Patrick’s Day (coming on March 17)!


Danika is hosting the Poetry Friday gathering today at the TeachingBooks blog. See you there!

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

Image credit: O’Brien Press

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

Poetry Buzz

I’ve been running across some poetry news nuggets here and there that I thought I would gather and share here. Just FYI; just for fun.

Poetry is an app
Did you see the latest from Poets.org? It’s about a new poetry “app” for the iPhone and iPod Touch and it sounds extremely cool. (And I don't even have a fancy phone!) Here’s the lowdown:

“Poets.org is proud to announce the launch of the Poem Flow app for the iPhone and iPod Touch, developed in creative collaboration with TextTelevision... A veritable box of light with words and thought in fluid motion, Poem Flow is an entirely new way to experience poetry on a handheld screen. In Portrait view, each poem is presented in its traditional format; turned to Landscape, the poem literally flows over the screen.

Each day, a new poem becomes available to app subscribers, while those from previous days remain on the device, building the equivalent of an ever-expanding anthology of the best-loved poems in the English language. Historical trivia and contextual information, compiled by Poets.org, are provided for each daily poem.”

Poem Flow is a free download and includes 20 great poems and a full week of poem-of-the-day. Readers can subscribe to 3 months of poems (100) for $0.99, or a full year (365) for $2.99. A portion of the proceeds support the Academy of American Poets programs, including Poets.org.”

“Can Children’s Poetry Matter?”
Poet J. Patrick Lewis has published an intriguing article, “Can Children’s Poetry Matter?” in Hunger Mountain, the VCFA Journal of the Arts. It’s so provocative and beautifully written. Here’s just one nugget:

Poetry is the tunnel at the end of the light; prose, bent out of shape; the idiom of djinns; the sound of silence…amplified. Poetry predates books, predates the alphabet, and once we graduated from humming, it was the first vehicle to bring music to our ears. What are nursery rhymes if not the irresistible echoes of the siren songs of ancient whimsy?

And I loved Sue Corbin’s response, too: “Children are poetry. Their language is poetry. Their wonder of the world is poetry. If children’s poetry doesn’t matter, then children don’t matter. And sadly that’s the reality in some peoples’ worlds. Test scores matter. AYP matters.”

New Poetry Resource Book
Richie Partington has a new book out, I Second that Emotion: Sharing Children’s and Young Adult Poetry: a 21stCentury Resource Guide for Teachers and Librarians published by LC Source. It sounds terrific—and we know Richie’s reviews are always right on. Here’s the blurb on his new book:

"I Second That Emotion is an entertaining guide for teachers and librarians who want to really bring poetry to young people. The author provides a series of steps for becoming an expert on children's and young adult poetry, and a great variety of ideas on sharing poetry with young people all year long. Included are extensive appendices, including listings of books of poetry currently used in summer reading programs; an exploration of how poetry is incorporated into various states' standards; poetry resources for preschoolers; and information on over 500 American and British authors of poetry books for children and young adults."

I ran into some difficulties using the Web site, so found the 800 number more helpful. Call toll-free: 1-800-873-3043.

Guest Poet: Hope Anita Smith
The fantastic librarian Roxanne Feldman recently posted the following on one of my favorite listservs (and gave permission to share it here): "We had the great pleasure of having Hope Anita Smith (The Way a Door Closes, Keeping the Night Watch, and Mother Poems) conduct poetry workshops for our 7th and 8th grade students. The six workshops (with three different contents) were simply fabulous and inspiring. For anyone who wishes to have a generous, inspiring, and effective poetry workshop leader, definitely contact her." Roxane posted an open thank-you letter to her on her Fairrosa Cyber Library site too.

FYI: Hope has been part of my Poetry Round Up held annually at the Texas Library Association conference and was a terrific presenter, so I add my whole-hearted endorsement. I would also like to make a plug for inviting poets in general to do school visits—many enjoy them, indeed count on them, but so often schools gravitate only to fiction authors, with an occasional poet speaker during April (National Poetry Month). But poets write year round and make inspiring speakers any time! Most have web sites (see the links here on my blog) and would love to hear from you! (BTW, the line up of poets for my 2010 Poetry Round Up includes: Laura Purdie Salas, Leslie Bulion, Pat Mora, Jen Bryant, Robert Weinstock, and Douglas Florian. If you’re planning to come to San Antonio for TLA, please join us: Thursday, April 15, 2010, 10:15am. We always have a great time!

Children’s Poet Laureate
Another interesting post written by Neal Whitman at Short Poem (on Feb. 1), shared by Paula Morrow on CHILD_LIT (and posted here with permission) about the post of Children’s Poet Laureate. What a sweet compliment to Charles Ghigna (Father Goose)—who will also be presenting at the annual Fay Kaigler Children’s Literature Festival at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg April 7-9. I’ll be there, too, plugging the latest and greatest poetry for kids. It’s time again for the next Children’s Poet Laureate to be chosen, so stay tuned for that news—which should be out in October.

Knit Your Own Poem
I ran across this craziness: a “Knit Your Own Poem” link courtesy of Great Britain’s Poetry Society! You can input the words of a poem which will magically appear in individually knitted letters—way cool! Those clever Brits!

Posting (not poem) by Sylvia M. Vardell © 2010. All rights reserved.
Image credit: ala.org;poetryfoundation.org;poetrysociety,hungermountain