A team of authors have joined Book Wish Foundation‘s What You Wish For: A Book For Darfur project. Book sale profits will be donated to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), an organization building libraries in Darfur refugee camps in Chad.
Penguin Group’s G.P. Putnam’s Sons imprint will release the collection in September. If you make a donation of $20 or more before April 30th and your name (and your child’s) will be included in the book’s acknowledgment section.
Actress Mia Farrow, who serves as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, has written the forward. The participating authors include: Cornelia Funke, Meg Cabot, R. L. Stine, John Green, Ann M. Martin, Alexander McCall Smith, Cynthia Voigt, Karen Hesse, Joyce Carol Oates, Nikki Giovanni, Jane Yolen, Nate Powell, Gary Soto, Jeanne DuPrau, Francisco X. Stork, Marilyn Nelson, Naomi Shihab Nye, and Sofia Quintero.
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
National Poetry Week Goings-On...
If you're looking for ways to get your daily shot of the poetic during April (which, of course, is National Poetry Month) here are two great options:
GottaBook's 30 Poets/30 Days. Poet and blogger Gregory K. Pinkus has put together quite a National Poetry Month celebration. Every day in April on GottaBook he'll be posting a previously unpublished poem by a different children's poet, including Jack Prelutsky, Mary Ann Hoberman, Lee Bennett Hopkins, Douglas Florian, Nikki Grimes, Jane Yolen, Pat Mora, Nikki Giovanni, Adam Rex, Jon Scieszka, and many many more. Click here to read the full list.
- Poetic Asides' Poem-a-Day Challenge. Poet's Market editor, blogger (and my super-duper co-worker) Robert Lee Brewer is holding his annual Poem-a-Day Challenge on the Poetic Asides blog. Throughout April Robert will post a daily poetry prompt and poets are encouraged to post their prompt-inspired work on the blog (every day if they're up to the challenge). In May Robert's 50 favorite poems will be offered in an e-book. It's all free and there's no registration to complete--poets simply write and post.
The October Carnival of Children’s Literature is in full swing with the theme of Snuggle Up with a Children’s Book (great advice for any month of the year!) at The Well-Read Child, where Amy from Kids Love Learning tells How to Create a “Book Addict”, Heather at Age 30+…A Lifetime of Books reports on her Mom and Son Book Club, and Megan reviews Hip Hop Speaks to Children by Nikki Giovanni at Read, Read, Read. Our PaperTigers blog has joined in the fun with Marjorie’s Books at Bedtime discussion of Fiesta Femenina.
Be sure to go to the Carnival, which next month will feature The Gift of Reading and will be hosted by Mommy’s Favorite Children’s Books.
I love when I find good poetry that speaks to kids. Hip Hop Speaks to Children by Nikki Giovanni really is that kind of book. It is a collection of poems and song lyrics including poems by the author Nikki Giovanni a well known poet, writer, activist. It also includes an companion CD. Sometimes it is hard for people to think of anything but "Rap" when they hear the words "Hip Hop." Hip Hop is so much more than that. It has rhythm, soul, and poetry. Not only that, but it is poetry kids relate to today.
As I picked a few poems to read aloud to my class, I thought about topics that are close to their hearts right now. I found so much that fit! Poems such as "Why Some People Be Mad At Me Sometimes" by Lucille Clifton, "Books" by Eloise Greenfield, and "For Words" by Bejamin Zephaniah. But best of all was when I could read "From Principal's Office" by Young MC and tell the class that it was a rap song when I was in Junior High. When they didn't believe me, I could whip out the CD that accompanies the book and play the song for them! Oh, they thought that was great! What a better way to interest students in poetry than by showing them that their own favorite artists were originally inspired by poetry.
And I guess I just realized this, but Nikki Giovanni grew up in Cincinnati, OH. Just down the road from us! How cool is that?
Other Reviews:
Fuse #8
A Year of Reading
Shelf Elf
Becky's Book Reviews
HipWriterMama
Hello all and welcome to Poetry Friday. Mr. Linky is down below to add your link.
But first, I have a review of Hip Hop Speaks to Children edited by Nikki Giovanni
So, this is an anthology of poetry, hip hop, and sermons, showing the evolution of the spoken word with rhythm and using rhythm to best spread the word.
It's beautifully illustrated by multiple artists and contains a wide range of poets--Langston Hughes, Queen Latifah, Sugar Hill Gang, W.E.B. Du Bois, Kanye West, Walter Dean Meyers, and Maya Angelou and more.
The best part is the included CD. I have long loved Gwendolyn Brooks's "The Pool plays: Seven and the Golden Shovel" but never knew how to read the rhythm of her punctuation and line breaks
We real cool. We
Left school. We
Lurk late. We
Strike straight. We...
And I never thought I'd see "Rapper's Delight" by the Sugar Hill Gang in a children's book. This is one of those tracks that helped define hip hop. (And you might know it as the song that the old lady rapped in The Wedding Singer
I said a hip hop the hippie to the hippie
the hip hip hop, a you dont stop
the rock it to the bang bang boogie say up jumped the boogie
Some things are texts we think of as for adults--"The Creation," "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," "The Song of Smoke," and some are things we tend to associate with children--"Books" and "Principal's Office."
I'm not a fan of all the poems, but many are ones I love.
But the CD... hearing Langston Hughes introduce and then read his work is amazing. There are also some interpretations of songs. I wasn't a fan of the rap of "I Have a Dream"--I liked the concept, but not the execution. But, the hamboning version of "The Pool players" and Josephine Cameron's sung version of Sterling Brown's "Long Track Blues" are tracks I can listen to over and over again.
I highly recommend this one for all collections. If the title didn't include the word "children" it'd be an excellent book all the way to high school. My coworkers and I are already talking about doing a Hip Hop poetry story time for our elementary school kids. The only question is if we wait until April (Poetry Month) or go ahead and do it now. Well, do it in October, when the book comes out, but pre-order today.
full disclosure: book provided by publisher
NOW! I want to read your poems! Leave your link below!
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Thanks for the link, Alice. I'm looking forward to April for writing, reading, and all sorts o' things poetic!
Oops! That should be two, not tow! (I despise these comment boxes, btw.)
Hi Alice,
Normally I don't like to toot my own horn, but today I will. I am featuring an interview a day (sometimes tow!) with some of the very best children's poets around during the month of April. We begin with Kenn Nesbitt and end with Pat Mora. In between will be many wonderful folks. You can read more at:
I love poetry month! Thanks for the links!!
Don't think I've ever noticed poetry month before, but thanks for the links. This sounds fun.
Thanks for the link, Alice. This sounds wonderful.