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LEE & LOW BOOKS celebrates its 25^th anniversary this year and to recognize how far the company has come, we are featuring one title a week to see how it is being used in classrooms today!

Today we’re featuring Grandfather Counts by Andrea Cheng and illustrated by Ange Zheng, released in 2003 by LEE & LOW BOOKS:

About the Book: Grandfather Counts is a moving intergenerational story about the universal love between grandparent and grandchild, a love that bridges linguistic and cultural differences. In Grandfather Counts, Helen is excited to welcome her Gong Gong (grandfather), who comes from China to live with her family. But when she realizes that Gong Gong speaks only Chinese, Helen finds a special way to communicate.

Awards and Honors:

• Reading Rainbow Selection, PBS Kids
• Choices, Cooperative Children’s Book Center
• Honor Book Award, Society ofSchool Librarians International
• Parents’ Choice Noteworthy Product, Parents’ Choice Foundation

In the Author’s Own Words:

“Intergenerational stories come easily to me.  When I was a child, three of my grandparents lived either in our house or within walking distance.  I spent a lot of time with my paternal grandmother, and I think she is the model for many of the grandmothers in my stories.  When my husband and I had children, I could not imagine raising them far from their grandparents, so we moved from Ithaca, New York to Cincinnati where my parents were living.  My father died in 1997, but our children see my mother almost every day, and they spent a lot of time running back and forth between her house and ours when they were younger. Contact between generations is very important to me and seems to find its way into most of my stories.”
–(from an interview with Paper Tigers)

Note: Andrea Cheng passed away in late 2015. We remember her here.

Resources for Teaching With Grandfather Counts:

• Reading to Kids offers discussion topics and craft ideas to go with the book.
• Our extensive Teacher’s Guide offers a wide range of teaching ideas.
• Listen to Andrea Cheng read Grandfather Counts on Teachingbooks.net.
• Make a family book and activity basket.

Book Activity:
Use Grandfather Counts as an opportunity to celebrate the range of languages that students may speak at home. Ask students who are fluent in other languages to share with the class how to count in their languages.

Encourage older students to gather oral histories from grandparents or other relatives for an oral history project.

Did you know?
If you look at the illustrations, you’ll notice that Grandfather Counts features a biracial main character. See all of our books featuring biracial and multiracial main characters.

Purchase Grandfather Counts here.

Other Recommended Picture Books Celebrating Grandparents:

A Morning with Grandpa by Sylvia Liu, illus. by Christina Forshay

Seaside Dream by Janet Costa Bates, illus. by Lambert Davis

Sunday Shopping by Sally Derby, illus. by Shadra Strickland

Have you used Grandfather Counts? Let us know!

Celebrate with us! Check out our 25 Years Anniversary Collection.

Patrice Barton’s artistic talents were discovered at age three when she was found creating a mural on the wall of her dining room with a pastry brush and a can of Crisco.

Learn more from Lee & Low.

"Children’s book author and educator Andrea Cheng, whose books often focused on intercultural and intergenerational relationships, died on Dec. 26, 2015 following a long illness. She was 58.

"Cheng was born in El Paso, Tex. in 1957, the daughter of Hungarian immigrants. The family soon moved to Cincinnati where Cheng and her two siblings grew up in an extended family, which she described on her website as 'three generations under one roof.'”

"In lieu of flowers or food, donations may be made to either the Andrea Cheng English as a Second Language Scholarship at Cincinnati State (online or checks to Attn: Cincinnati State Foundation, Cincinnati State Technical & Community College, ATLC, Room 352, 3520 Central Parkway, Cincinnati OH, 45223), or to the Cincinnati Public Library (online or checks to 800 Vine St. Cincinnati, OH 45202). Please note that the gift is in memory of Andrea Cheng."

I was very sad to hear yesterday about the deaths of two special writers.

Poet Francisco X. Alarcón died on Friday. It was good to read Continue reading ... →

Where the Steps Were
by Andrea Cheng
(Wordsong, 2008)

Where the Steps Were is a story told in verse by five third-grade students in an inner-city school, who all come under the empowering … Continue reading ... →

Such an exciting week this week with great awards, reviews and victories! As you can imagine, much of my focus has been on the upcoming Multicultural Children’s Book Day Event (1/27) and all the excitement surrounding this national event. Bloggers are frantically reading books and publishing their reviews and activities. Here an example:

Great review on multicultural children’s books from Lil’ Libros at @espanolita #ReadYourWorld!

All Sorts of awards and victories this week too! Here are a few notable ones:

2016 Newbery and Caldecott Winners  via @imaginationsoup

MCCBD now has it’s official poster thanks to the huge talents of Robert Liu-Trujillo! Sqqquueeeee! LOVE this poster!
FREE Downloadable Multicultural Children’s Book Day!

I was the first Featured Expert for 2016 on KidLit TV!

Booklists To Investigate
11 Inspiring Multicultural Biographies For Kids from I’m Not The Nanny

The Ultimate List of 2016 Children’s Picture & Board Books! at Here We Read.

Fond Memories of Katie Woo & 3 Book #giveaway via @PragmaticMom

Diverse Winter Books for Children-via @Multicultural Kids

A Snowy Kidlit Booklist at Jump Into A Book

Sadly, the book world lost a very bright star recently Godspeed Andrea Cheng Read the interview we did with her last year and also Lee and Low’s wonderful tribute post as well Remembering Children’s Author Andrea Cheng.

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Follow Valarie Budayr @Jump into a Book’s board Jump Into a Book Kidlit Booklists on Pinterest.

Follow Valarie Budayr @Jump into a Book’s board A Year In The Secret Garden on Pinterest.

The post Weekend Links: Multicultural Links, Awards and Updates appeared first on Jump Into A Book.

We were so sorry to hear about the recent passing of beloved children’s book author Andrea Cheng. Cheng passed away on December 26, 2015 at the age of 58 following a long illness. Born in El Paso, Texas to Hungarian immigrants (including a Holocaust survivor), Cheng was the versatile author of over 20 books for young readers as well as the director of the English as a Second Language (ESL) program at Cincinnati State Technical and and Community College.

In 2000 LEE & LOW had the honor of publishing Ms. Cheng’s very first book, Grandfather Counts, a story inspired by her husband’s childhood experience growing up without being able to communicate with his Chinese relatives.  The book was chosen as a Reading Rainbow Selection for its sensitive portrayal of a multigenerational immigrant family.  Cheng followed Grandfather Counts with the picture book Goldfish and Chrysanthemums, an honest look at a grandmother’s homesickness when she leaves China to live with her children in America.

Through her stories, Cheng explored both the challenges and joys of immigrant families as they navigate multiple cultures–and sometimes make hard decisions. In her chapter book Only One Year, Cheng portrayed the custom of immigrant parents who send their young children to live with family in their home countries for a year or two. In the afterword, she wrote, “The idea behind this story may seem unusual, but it is not as uncommon as you may think. Some parents in the United States might find it hard to imagine being separated from their young children, but attitudes about raising children are sometimes quite different in other countries, especially Asia and Africa.”

Cheng’s books are notable for their honesty and sensitivity; while they do not shy away from the painful aspects of immigration, they are buoyed by the deep love that keeps immigrant families close even in challenging times.

Perhaps nowhere is that honesty and sensitivity more powerful than in Cheng’s book Etched in Clay, a biography in verse of Dave, an enslaved potter and poet who lived in South Carolina in the early 1800s. Etched in Clay, which received the Lee Bennett Hopkins Award for Children’s Poetry, is a masterwork in empathy, featuring poems not just from the perspective of Dave himself but also from his wife, owners, and even a member of the South Carolina General Assembly. “When I worked on this book, I spent a lot of time feeling choked up and I couldn’t talk, or if the phone rang, I choked up,” Cheng told School Library Journal in an interview. “It was the separation, the scenes where people are separated from people they love.”

Our Editorial Director Louise May worked closely with Cheng for many years. Here is how she remembers her:

Andrea Cheng was a dear friend and cherished Lee & Low author. Our relationship began in March 1999, when I acquired the manuscript that became her first published children’s book, Grandfather Counts. It was also the first project I acquired at Lee & Low, having joined the company just two months earlier. So, together we both began new chapters in our careers. We went on to collaborate on five books ranging from picture books to a novel in verse. One incident that remains fondly in mind occurred when we were working on our second book, about a Chinese American family. The main character and her grandmother are preparing dinner. I suggested omitting the word “the” in a sentence that reads, “I stood next to her, washing the rice.” “No,” Andrea pointed out. “In Chinese families, it is always ‘the rice.’” And now it always is for me too. Andrea and I bonded over other areas of our lives as well. We found out that we both attended the same university (although ten years apart!), and we faced personal challenges at the same time in our lives. We visited each others homes and shared our family stories. She welcomed everyone she cared about into her own family, and I am honored to have have been one of those people. Andrea was a multitalented writer deeply committed to building stories around diverse characters and experiences, and a caring and loving human being. I am honored to have known her and worked with her for so many years. She will be missed.

Cheng will be missed by all of us at LEE & LOW who loved working with her–in addition to being a talented author, she was a truly warm person  who made answering her phone calls and emails a pleasure. Even business emails from Cheng often ended with phrases like “Hope your summer is going well!” or “Thank you so much for sharing this with me.”

In an interview several years ago, Cheng wrote, “My main hope is that people who read my books are moved by them, affected by them. I hope that they will think about the characters and events long after they have finished reading or listening to the stories.” Here’s an excerpt from one of Cheng’s poems in Etched in Clay that we think says it best:

Someday the world will read

my word etched in clay

on the side of this jar

and know about the shackles

around our legs

and the whips

upon our backs.

I am not afraid

to write on a jar

and fire it hot

so my word

can never be erased.

And if some day

this jar cracks,

my word will stay

etched in shards.

A few of our favorite interviews with Andrea Cheng:

SLJ Talks to Andrea Cheng

Andrea Cheng on Writing Biography in Verse

Andrea Cheng and Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge on writing nonfiction (podcast)

NPR Interview with Andrea Cheng (podcast)

If you knew Andrea or if you loved her books, feel free to share your memories in the comments below.

The Texas Library Association Annual Conference is next week! Will you be there? If so, we’d love to meet you. Here is our exciting signing schedule below:

Wednesday, April 15

• 10:15 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.: Pat Mora, Authors Area (Water Rolls, Water Rises)
• 2:00 p.m. – 2:45 p.m.: Don Tate, LEE & LOW Booth (It Jes’ Happened)

Thursday, April 16

• 10:00 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.: Guadalupe Garcia McCall (Summer of the Mariposas)
• 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.: Valynne Maetani, Authors Area (Ink and Ashes)
• 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.: Pat Mora, LEE & LOW Booth (Water Rolls, Water Rises)
• 2:00 p.m. – 2:45 p.m.: Valynne Maetani, LEE & LOW Booth (Ink and Ashes)
• 3:15 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.: Andrea Cheng, LEE & LOW Booth (Etched in Clay)

We’ll be at Booth 2051 and look forward to meeting you!

Amanda Boyarshinov is one of the creators of the blog, The Educators’ Spin On It, a site that makes everyday moments into teachable opportunities. She has a Master of Reading Education for grades K-12 and a B.A. in Elementary Education. Additionally, she has her English Speakers of Other Languages (E.S.O.L.) endorsement and has received her National Board Certification in Early Childhood Education. In this post, we’ve been given permission to share her steps on building a family theme Love Book Basket, as well as how to create an “I Love You” book.

HOW TO BUILD A FAMILY THEME LOVE BOOK BASKET

1.  Choose a Book

Select themed literature that is appropriate for your child’s age.  Younger children may enjoy shorter stories.  Older children may like more detailed picture books.  Consider both non-fiction and fiction text. Lee and Low Publishing Company sent me the 3 books to read with my children for this article.  All thoughts and opinions are 100% my own.

How Far Do You Love Me?

How Far Do You Love Me? is a delightful tale of families all around the world and how much they love their children.  Each page introduces a new place on the globe, with a sweet sentence about their love. Geared for 3-6 year olds Click here for the Teachers Guide

Grandfather Counts

Grandfather Counts (Reading Rainbow Books) is a picture book about making connections with your family, no matter what the language may be.  Author Andrea Cheng draws upon her own family and friends experiences to weave this tale of love and family. Geared for  6-8 year olds It is a Reading Rainbow selection Click here for the Teachers Guide

Honoring Our Ancestors

Honoring Our Ancestors: Stories and Paintings by Fourteen Artists is a non-fiction picture book highlighting some AMAZING artists: Carl Angel, Enrique Chagoya, George Crespo, Mark Dukes, Maya Gonzalez, Caryl Henry, Nancy Hom, Hung Liu, Judith Lowery, Stephen Von Mason, Mira Reisberg, JoeSam, Patssi Valdez, and Helen Zughaib.  Each short story and accompanying artwork gives the reader a snapshot into the importance of family to that artist. Geared for  8-10 year olds.

2. Gather the Supplies for the Selected Activity.

In this activity, children make an “I Love You,” book for a family member.  This can be done with art materials around the house.  Directions for each page below.

3. Arrange and Display.

Arrange the materials and books in a pleasing manor in a basket, bag or container.  Then, leave it on a table or desk area as an invitation to explore.  Snuggle in and read.  Then make the activity!

You can find directions (and pictures) on how to make an “I Love You” book on The Educators’ Spin On It website.

Make your #LOVEdiverseBooks Basket today!

Stay TUNED!!!!

Next week, The Educators’ Spin On It will be highlighting author Andrea Cheng, author of Grandfather Counts. Here is a sneak peek…

Filed under: Activities and Events, Art and Book Design, Educator Resources, Guest Blogger Post, Lee & Low Likes, Musings & Ponderings Tagged: activity basket, Andrea Cheng, arts and crafts, Children's Book Press, educator activities, Educators, educators' spin on it, family activities, family basket, grandfather counts, honoring our ancestors, How Far Do You Love Me, i love you book, kid activities, Lulu Delacre

Andrea Cheng is the author of several critically-acclaimed books for young readers. Her most recent novel, Etched in Clay, tells the story in verse of Dave the Potter, an enslaved man, poet, and master craftsperson whose jars (many of which are inscribed with his poetry and writings) are among the most sought-after pieces of Edgefield pottery. Etched in Clay recently won the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award.

April is National Poetry Month, so we asked author Andrea Cheng to share one of her favorite poems from Etched in Clay:

FEATURED POEM

Etched in Clay, p. 65

A Poem!

Dave, July 12, 1834

The summer’s so hot,

it’s like we’re living

in the furnace.

The clay doesn’t like it either,

getting hard on me

too quick.

I better hurry now,

before the sun’s too low to see.

What words will I scrawl

across the shoulder

of this jar?

I hear Lydia’s voice in my head.

Be careful, Dave.

Those words in clay

can get you killed.

But I will die of silence

if I keep my words inside me

any longer.

Doctor Landrum used to say

it’s best to write a poem a day,

for it calms the body

and the soul

to shape those words.

This jar is a beauty,

big and wide,

fourteen gallons

I know it will hold.

I have the words now,

and my stick is sharp.

I write:

put every bit all between

surely this jar will hold 14.

Andrea Cheng: There are three poems in Etched in Clay which speak directly about the act of writing.  In the first one, “Tell the World,”  (EIC p. 38) Dave writes in clay for the first time.  Using a sharp stick, he carves the date, April 18, into a brick; he is announcing to the world that on this day, “a man started practicing/his letters.”  In the poem called “Words and Verses,” (EIC p. 52) Dave thinks about writing down one of the poems that has been swirling around in his head as he works on the potter’s wheel.  Finally, in “A Poem!” (EIC  p. 67) Dave actually carves a couplet into one of his jars.  His words are practical and ordinary; he simply comments on the size of the jar.  But he is no longer silent.

Further Reading:

Andrea Cheng on Writing Biography in Verse

An interview with Andrea Cheng about Etched in Clay in School Library Journal

A look at how Andrea Cheng made the woodcut illustrations for Etched in Clay

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Jaclyn DeForge, our Resident Literacy Expert, began her career teaching first and second grade in the South Bronx, and went on to become a literacy coach and earn her Masters of Science in Teaching. In her column she offers teaching and literacy tips for educators.

Over the past several weeks, I’ve been modeling how to do a close reading at several different grade levels. Next up: Close Reading in Fourth Grade using the T level text Etched in Clay: The Life of Dave, Enslaved Potter and Poet written and illustrated by Andrea Cheng, out this January!

One way to structure close reading questioning is to use the format laid out by the Institute for Learning of the University of Pittsburgh. Under their framework, students read the text selection four times: first, to get the gist; second, to find significant moments or ideas; third, to interpret the ideas in the text; and finally, to analyze the author’s methods (craft). Here’s an example of how to plan out your questions for close reading of the introduction through the first 13 pages of Etched in Clay:

1st reading (read to get the gist):

• Who is Dr. Abner Landrum? What have we learned about him? What can we infer about him so far? Cite evidence from the text to support your answer.
• Who is Harvey Drake? What have we learned about him? What can we infer about him so far? Who is Amos Landrum? How is Harvey different than Amos? Cite evidence from the text to support your answer.
• Who is Dave? What have we learned about him? What can we infer about him so far? How does he feel about the work he’s been given to do? About being renamed “Dave”? About his first pottery lesson? Cite evidence from the text to support your answer.
• What major events have occurred so far? How much time has passed? During what period in history are the events taking place? How do you know? What do you know about this period in American history that can help your reading of the text? Cite evidence from the text to support your answer.
• What was important to Dr. Abner Landrum? Cite evidence from the text to support your answer.

2nd reading (read to find significant moments or ideas):

• What is the most important thing you learned or that happened in this section of the text? Why is it significant?  Cite evidence from the text to support your answer. 

3rd reading (read to interpret ideas):

• In the poem “Augusta Auction”, how does the auctioneer view Dave? How does Harvey Drake view Dave? What can you infer about how Harvey Drake feels about slavery? Cite evidence from the text to support your answer.
• On page 7 in the poem “Augusta Auction,” Harvey Drake describes the slaves at auction as follows: “The Negro mothers wail/while their children cling to them/like melons to their vines.” Cheng’s passage serves two purposes, one descriptive and one historical/sociological. Discuss the dual meanings of the image she creates. Cite evidence from the text to support your answer.

4th reading (read to analyze the author’s methods/craft):

• How is this text organized? How is it different than other biographical texts or historical fiction you’ve read? How is it similar? Cite evidence from the text to support your answer.
• Who is the audience for this text? Why does Andrea Cheng consistently shift narrator? What effect does this have on how the story is told and how the information is presented? Cite evidence from the text to support your answer.
• What are some of the strongest images Cheng has created so far? How do these images set the mood for the piece? Cite evidence from the text to support your answer.

By asking students to ground their responses in the text by citing text-based support for their answers, the following Common Core Standard is addressed:

Reading Literature, Grade 4, Key Ideas and Details, Strand 1: Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

How does close reading look in your classroom? Any tricks and tips to share?

Further reading:

• What is close reading?
• What does close reading look like in Kindergarten?
• What does close reading look like in First Grade?
• What does close reading look like in Second Grade?
• What does close reading look like in Third Grade?

For our current focus on children and their grandparents, we have invited authors and illustrators who have written children’s books that center on that special realtionship to share with us some of their own personal memories of their grandparents. Over the next couple of weeks we will be posting these pieces here on the blog – and I can promise you, we’re all in for a real treat.

Our first piece comes from author Andrea Cheng, who says, “Many of my books have to do with the relationship between grandparents and grandchildren (Grandfather Counts, Goldfish and Chrysanthemums, Shanghai Messenger, Only One Year, The Key Collection). Most of these stories in some way reflect the relationship I had with my grandparents, particularly with my paternal grandmother.”

One of my favorites of Andrea’s books is Where the Steps Were, her novel in verse about a class of inner-city 3rd graders, which also references grandparents. Do watch Andrea’s short but inspiring video documentary, which shares what “a group of 3rd graders can do with just one book.” Andrea’s latest book is the newly released Where Do You Stay? (Boyd’s Mill Press). Read our 2008 interview with Andreahere, and visit her website here.

Memories of My Grandparents

My family immigrated to the US from Hungary in installments. My immediate family came first, and then my grandparents, and later my aunt, uncle, and cousin. When I was very small, we all lived together. Later my grandparents got their own apartment just behind our house. I loved going to visit them and was allowed to walk there by myself. Grandma spoiled me with my favorite palacsintas (walnut and sugar filled crepes) She let me eat them before dinner and never seemed worried that I would spoil my appetite.

Sometimes I was allowed to spend the night with my grandparents. My grandmother fixed me a special bed on the floor that I called a nest, and we played there for at least an hour before bed. She sang me Hungarian nursery rhymes, which I still know, and let me play with her plastic pop together beads. She taught me to sew clothes for my dolls. My grandfather told me stories until finally I fell asleep.

When i was about eight, my grandparents moved from Cincinnati to Chicago to join my aunt. I was heartbroken. The feelings described in The Key Collection come from this early separation.

My husband’s parents immigrated to the US from China in 1949. Unfortunately he was never able to meet any of his grandparents. Luckily my grandmother, who lived until age 95, very happily took on the role of being my husband’s adopted grandmother. Grandma knew very little about her ancestry, but she looked Asian (perhaps Mongolian since the Mongols came through Hungary centuries ago) so many people assumed she was my husband’s grandmother, not mine!

Andrea Cheng

Thank you, Andrea.

I am including this post in this week’s Poetry Friday, which is hosted by Reading Tub’s Family bookshelf – I’ll add the link later as I’m having some difficulties conecting right now…

I’d like to follow up on last week’s posting with another review of a school-themed book of poetry. In the novel-in-verse, Where the Steps Were (Boyds Mills/Wordsong, 2008), Andrea Cheng features a precocious class of third graders in inner city Cincinnati, Ohio (modeled after and dedicated to her sister, a teacher). They’re worried about their school closing and are vocal in their concerns, as the poems pile up from each child’s individual perspective. Many things happen during the course of the school year, as they bond with one another and with their sympathetic, experienced teacher, Miss D.

One of my favorite elements of the book is the many references to other works of literature, particularly other poems. The kids respond specifically to “Dreams” and “Merry Go Round” by Langston Hughes and “Harriet Tubman,” by Eloise Greenfield. Aesop and Cinderella also pop up in important ways, as does the folktale of “Stone Soup” as you can see in this example.

Kayla
Stone Soup

Grams puts water
in the pot
and sets it on the hot plate
until it boils.
Then we each get to cut up something
and put it in
like carrots and celery and beans and potatoes.
Grams puts in
a big ham bone
and I say
That’s nasty,
but we make the best vegetable soup
I ever tasted
in my life.

From: Cheng, Andrea. 2008. Where the Steps Were. Honesdale, PA: Boyds Mills/Wordsong, p.69.

I also enjoyed the many black and white block print illustrations sprinkled throughout the book, and the Fall, Winter, and Spring divider pages that provide a pause and transition in the events. These very young kids deal with some difficult situations (racism, poverty, dashed hopes) that are handled with sensitivity and care. Follow up with last week's Naked Bunyip Dancing by Steven Herrick, Joyce Sidman's This is to Say, or Sharon Creech's Love that Dog for more poetry about kids in school and particularly, kids discovering the power of poetry.

For more poetry by Andrea Cheng, look for Shanghai Messenger (Lee & Low, 2005), the story of a Chinese American girl’s travel to China for the very first time.

For the rest of the Poetry Friday Round Up, go to Sarah Reinhard's blog.

Picture credit: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41o2FLmLMsL._SL500_AA240_.jpg

My husband is a writer and the Guardian of the Web for me. He points me to nifty things like the accent quiz from last week and the speech archive, and, now, Fuzzmail.

Fuzzmail is this webtool that lets you type an email. But here's the thing: the person reading your email gets to see it exactly as you typed it, with pauses, deletions, word changes, everything. In real time. It's very cool for revealing someone's train of thought and method of writing.

I decided it would be neat to see how a short poem is written. I needed to do a 15 Words or Less poem for this week, so I decided to write it in Fuzzmail. I only spend about 1 minute on a 15 Words or Less poem each day, so it seemed like a good fit.

Here's my first poem, which flowed right out with no changes along the way (although I did end up changing a few words later when I pasted it into my blog entry of all of yesterday's 15 Words or Less poems).

It was fun to write, but boring to watch, to say the least. So I wrote another one.

Here's the second poem, which is a bit more revealing, because you can see where I get rid of a cliche, reword things, pause to count and discover that I'm over 15 words, and then go back to condense. (By the way, you can tell the email is finished when the little asterisk below it reaches the far right border of its area.)

That was more interesting, I thought. 

And then I thought it would be fun to write a rhyming poem. It's not really metered, and not even very clever. But I like seeing how, in about a minute, I brainstormed rhyming words and then used them for a 15 Words or Less poem.

Isn't that a cool tool? It would be really nifty to use for Poetry on Demand, where people give you a word, topic, form, whatever, and you instantly write the poem for them. Poetry Improv, kind of. 

And while it's kind of odd and fascinating to watch myself write, it would be much neater to watch other people write! How about it? Will you go to Fuzzmail, write a 15 Words or Less poem (or any short poem you want to), mail it to yourself, and then (when you get your email with the link in it) post the weblink in a comment so I can watch you write? Please?