How to use this Page

Happy Poetry Friday, all! The poem I'm sharing today isn't my best, but it's near and dear to my heart. See the end of this post for a link to today's Poetry Friday round-up.

In case you missed it, in her last post, April tagged me in the brand new Children's Poetry Blog Hop (CPBH). I'm writing this post in advance because of other commitments, so I haven't yet seen Janet Wong's CPBH post, also scheduled for today. I hope you'll hop on over to the PoetryFridayAnthology.blogspot.com and/or PoetryForChildren.blogspot.com to read it when you're done here.

In April's Sept. 6 post, she introduced Mortimer as the CPBH meme:

Mortimer, from morguefile.com

And she also explained how to participate in the CPBH:

1) Make up three questions you've always wanted to be asked in an interview about children's poetry and then answer them on your own blog;
2) Invite one, two or three other bloggers who write poetry (preferably children's poetry, but we're broad-minded) to answer any three questions that they make up on their own blogs (they can copy someone else's questions if they'd like)
3) In your post, let us know who your invitees are and when they're are going to be posting their own Poetry Blog Hop questions and answers...if you know the dates.
4) You do not have to use Mortimer, the CPBH meme.

Pretty simple.

I've tagged two fellow children's poets to participate in the Children's Poetry Blog Hop: Laura Shovan, a children's author and poet-in-the-schools who blogs at Author Amok, and Tabatha Yeats, author of nonfiction children's books as well as poetry, who blogs at The Opposite of Indifference. (As you'll see below, Tabatha is hosting today's Poetry Friday round-up.) Be sure to hop on over to read their CBHP posts next week. Laura will share hers at Author Amok on Tuesday, Sept. 24, and you'll be able to read Tabatha's at The Opposite of Indifference on Friday, Sept. 27.

Now for my three (actually four) CPBH questions:
1) When was your first poem published? Would you share it with us?
2) Who was your first poetry teacher?
3) What poetry forms do you like best?

And here are the answers:
1) When was your first poem published? Would you share it with us?
I began writing poetry when I was in sixth or seventh grade, and my first poem was published when I was in high school (I won't tell you what year!), in Crystals in the Dark: An Anthology of Creative Writing from the Chicago Public Schools. I was immensely proud to have my writing in this collection (which you might guess, since I still have my copy of the book. J)

However, I had to resist the urge to edit the poem as I typed it up. Here it is, in original form:

If I could find a place far away from the world and its sounds,
Distant from the din and clatter of civilization;
Far away from pollution, politics, and people,
Away from worry, death, sorrow, and pain;
The only place that I could think of where I would be
       undisturbed, tranquil, and at peace,
                                                             is within myself.

image courtesy of morguefile

I went on to have several of my poems published in our high school yearbook,. After that, though, I pretty much gave up on writing poetry until many years later, when I began writing for children. Which leads into my second question:

2) Who was your first poetry teacher?
In high school and college, I studied poetry only as a reader, not a writer. While I did participate in some workshops on using poetry techniques in fiction at Vermont College, I didn't take my first poetry-writing class until 2002. That's when I attended a four-week workshop by poet and author Heidi Bee Roemer, "The ABC's of Children's Poetry." I learned so much from Heidi in that short time. The weekly assignments challenged us to write poetry in a variety of forms. And that leads into my third question:

3) What poetry forms do you like best?
The poems I wrote in junior high and high school were usually either free verse or rhyming couplets. It wasn't until I was in Heidi's class that I dared experiment with other forms, including triplets, quatrains, limericks, terse verse, and shape poems. Thanks to the confidence I gained in Heidi's class, I went on to have a terse verse poem published in Pocket's magazine, and a poem in two voices published in Chicken Soup for the Soup: Teens Talk High School. Since then, I've tried my hand at list poems, found poems, diamante poems, sonnets, and just about any form that strikes my fancy. Heidi's class, along with poetry-related posts by my fellow TeachingAuthors, and inspiring posts by members of the Poetry Friday community, have opened me to new poetry worlds.

That's it for today. Now hop on over to the Poetry Friday round-up at The Opposite of Indifference .

Display Comments Add a Comment

.
Howdy, Campers! You have just a few more hours to enter our latest book giveaway (details below)!  AND today we celebrate not one, not two, but three things! Rosh Hashanah, the new Children's Poetry Blog Hop, and Poetry Friday (hosted today by Laura Shovan at Author Amok)!

2) And now on to the Children's Poetry Blog Hop.  Having heard of other blog hops, poet Janet Wong and other kidlitosphere poets have decided to start a Children's Poetry Blog Hop (CPBH) for...who else? Children's poets.

I nominate Mortimer as CPBH's meme:

Mortimer, from morguefile.com

To participate in the Poetry Blog Hop, simply:
1) Make up three questions you've always wanted to be asked in an interview about children's poetry and then answer them on your own blog;
2) Invite one, two or three other bloggers who write poetry (preferably children's poetry, but we're broad-minded) to answer any three questions that they make up on their own blogs (they can copy someone else's questions if they'd like)
3) In your post, let us know who your invitees are and when they're are going to be posting their own Poetry Blog Hop questions and answers...if you know the dates.
4) You do not have to use Mortimer, the CPBH meme. 

That's it!

I've invited author, poet, and web mistress extraordinaire Carmela Martino to the Children's Poetry Blog Hop (it sounds like a sock hop, doesn't it?) Carmela will be posting right here at TeachingAuthors.com on September 20th.

On the same day, the marvelously creative author, poet and poetry supporter Janet Wong promises a surprise twist on the blog hop theme.  Find her guest post at PoetryFridayAnthology.blogspot.com and PoetryForChildren.blogspot.com on September 20th!

Okay...here are my three questions:

1) What children's poem do you wish you had written?  Include the poem or link to it.
2) What's your process?  How do you begin writing a poem?
3) Please share one of your poems with us.

And here are my answers:


1) What children's poem do you wish you had written?  Include the poem or link to it.
There are so many!  The first that pops into my mind is Deborah Chandra's "Cotton Candy" from her book, Rich Lizard and Other Poems (FSG)

I met Deborah years ago in Myra Cohn Livingston's master class in writing poetry for children.  Deborah's a stunning craftswoman and looks at the world in madly original ways.  And, as you're about to read, her metaphors are spectacular.  

COTTON CANDY
by Deborah Chandra

Swirling
like a sweet
tornado,
it spins itself
stiff.
A storm
caught on a paper cone.
I hold it up,
the air grows
thick and
sticky
with the smell of it.
A pink wind
made of sugar
and smoke,
cotton,
earth crust,
delicious dust!
poem © Deborah Chandra. All rights reserved
2) What's your process?  How do you begin writing a poem?
Sometimes my process is to start with a word and I spin out from there.  Sometimes I find a poem I admire and imitate its rhythm, meter and form.  Sometimes it's a feeling.  I ask myself, what are you feeling today?  What is true?  What is authentic? And sometimes it's just, you have ten minutes.  Write the damn poem.  (I don't actually use the word damn because, as I'm sure you know, children's authors and poets don't swear.)

3) Please share one of your poems with us.

Here's a Rosh Hashanah/tashlich poem
first published in Jeanette Larson's book,
El dia de los ninos/El dia de los libros: Building a Culture of Literacy in Your Community

SAYS THE SEAGULL
by April Halprin Wayland
 
Shalom to slowly sinking sun
I sing in salty seagull tongue.

But who're these people on my pier?
I sail, I swoop and then fly near.

They're singing, marching up the pier
I think they did the same last year.

A father gives his girl some bread
she scans the waves then tosses crumbs.

I dive, I catch, I taste
and...yum!

I like this ritual at the pier.
I think I'll meet them every year.

I screech my thanks, and then I hear
"L’shanah Tovah!  Good New Year!"

note: Shalom can mean hello, good-bye and peace.Copyright © 2013 April Halprin Wayland



Thanks for stopping by TeachingAuthors today--but wait! Before you head off,  be sure to enter for a chance to win a copy of Lisa Morlock's terrific rhyming picture book, Track that Scat! (Sleeping Bear Press). 

posted by April Halprin Wayland

Display Comments Add a Comment

Were I to write a name poem for my first name Esther, at least one of my E’s would stand for Enthuse.
That’s what I do, often and gladly.
And I especially enjoy enthusing on behalf of others.

Once again I can pay Kindness forward, something I also enjoy doing, and introduce our readers to:

Almigal, a spunky little girl with a BIG personality who’s determined to hear “every   single sound in the whole entire universe!”  Almigal’s spirit and her cotton-candy pink cochlear implants will have everyone shouting “LET’S HEAR IT FOR ALMIGAL!”  That happens to be, of course, the title of Almigal’s picture book, written by debut author WendyKupfer and illustrated by Tammie Lyon (Handfinger Press, 2012). Talk about paying Kindness forward!  Five percent of book sales supports deaf children.


Gordy, a courageous little fellow who, with his Doctor’s help, initiates a restrictive diet so that he can be like other children – happy and healthy. Gordy’s triumphant story claims the pages of the picture book Gordy and the Magic Diet, written by first-time authors Kim Diersen and April Runge and deliciously illustrated by Carrie Hartman (Special Kids Enterprises, LP, 2012).  A portion of the proceeds will benefit non-profit organizations that help children navigate restrictive diets!

A spanking-new updated and expanded website that celebrates and honors the legacy of award-winning beloved author Syd Hoff (Think Danny and the Dinosaur) that went live yesterday, September 4. Created by his niece Carol, the site includes a rich selection of Syd’s cartoons, a Kids page featuring the “how to’s” of cartooning using letters and numbers and a downloadable chapter, just for starters.  



So,
Hurrah! Hurray! Bravo! Mazel tov! – and - merci beaucoup, 7-Eleven!

YOU can continue paying Kindness forward by kindly promoting someone you know.
Children’s Book Publicist Susan Raab of Raab Associates has kindly offered TEN (!) FREE (!) Marketing Consults for the Random Acts of Publicity Week.
The catch?
You can only enter a friend’s name! 
Check out Darcy Pattison’s September 6 post for full details.  You have only 24 hours to enter.  Entries begin at 12:01 am.

Esther Hershenhorn

Display Comments Add a Comment

This September, Karen Krossing published her latest novel for teens, The Yo-Yo Prophet. To celebrate the release of The Yo-Yo Prophet, Karen Krossing is running a contest through her blog to win a signed copy of the book. All you need to do is visit her online and leave a comment on her “Why Write about Yo-Yos?” blog post by September 20, 2011.

But what’s a yo-yo prophet, anyways? For starters, his name is Calvin.

Calvin is the smallest guy in his high school, and a perfect target for Rozelle and her girl gang. His mother is dead, his father is long gone and his only remaining relative, his grandmother, is getting too sick to run her dry cleaning business. The only time Calvin feels in control is when he’s working his yo-yo. When he takes up street performing, Rozelle demands a cut and insists on being his manager. To get media attention, she markets him as a yo-yo genius who can predict the future, dubbing him the “Yo-Yo Prophet.” Calvin begins to believe his own hype, but as Gran’s condition deteriorates, he realizes that it will take more than fame and adulation to keep his family intact.

Even before it reached bookstore shelves, The Yo-Yo Prophet attracted attention. Publishers Weekly said: ”Krossing’s…depictions of the many pressures Calvin is under, as well as his relationship with his grandmother, feel especially intimate and authentic. It’s a clever and quiet coming-of-age story about developing confidence and doing what’s right.”

Add a Comment

With my blunt, redheaded sleuth songbird Dinah Galloway now starring in six published mysteries, I feel I can now officially take my place in the ranks of children’s series authors. Now, Dinah’s not unruffled and glam like Nancy Drew. Nor is she versed in magic à la Harry Potter – though just watch her make Purdy’s peanut butter chocolates vanish in a blink.

I’ve waited in vain for the postie to deliver a special membership card to this special cadre of writers. You know, The bearer of this card is an official Serial Flake, or something like that. In lieu of receiving that honor, I decided to investigate just who started children’s series.

Click your heels three times, and the answer is … L. Frank Baum, the actor-turned—farmer-turned journalist who wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Raised by a Pennsylvania oil baron, Baum enjoyed an idyllic childhood on his Eden-like family estate, Rose Lawn. While a newspaper editor in South Dakota, he wrote Oz, basing Dorothy’s parched, gray surroundings on the Midwest drought of the time. I’m guessing Rose Lawn was his inspiration for her Over the Rainbow escape from the drought.

Fiona Bayrock interviewed me, along with Pam Withers and Deborah Hodge, about series books in an article for Children’s Writers and Illustrators 2010.

Add a Comment

Okay, so some of us don’t ever land graceful hoops like in this photo. Some of us don’t even land ungraceful ones. Educators and fitness experts alike are now saying, “So what?” The point of fitness, they assert, isn’t to look cool, or make every right move, or least of all to impress others. The point is to have fun – to get fit without getting terrified. We have to remove schoolkids’ long-held concept of phys ed as an ordeal. For example, if kids aren’t comfortable running five times around the track field, maybe they can walk briskly instead. And what’s wrong with skipping rope as exercise? Even Dinah Galloway, who very grudgingly comes to love – well, like, fitness in the health-themed mystery Queen of Disguises, can manage the occasional double-under.

Add a Comment

Johannes Gutenberg would be pleased. The German goldsmith (1398-1468), who invented the printing press in 1439, can rest easy in his grave. Computers will never replace print, avers Jeremy Klaszus in the Calgary-based Fast Forward Weekly. Never mind those exciting paperback thrillers that it’s fun to cuddle up by the fire on a rainy day –  as one news vendor points out, even a good-sized newspaper would be too much for your eyes if you tried to read it all onscreen.

Add a Comment

A thief breaks out of jail to track down the sleuth who put her there – Dinah Galloway. Problem is, the thief is a former actress known as “the queen of disguises” for her cunning costume changes. In Melanie Jackson’s Queen of Disguises, Dinah Dinah knows she’s being stalked, but by whom?

 

Our heroine already has enough on her plate without the addition of revenge served cold: the red-headed 12-year-old is a finalist to sing in commercials promoting beautiful British Columbia. The deal is, to clinch the job, Dinah has to get fit at a wellness retreat on Salt Spring Island. Veggies? Exercise? Yech! Grudgingly, though, Dinah allows that her lifestyle could be a little healthier. Off to Salt Spring she goes, along with the two other finalists: one friendly, the other the last word in sulky. Her buddies Talbot and Pantelli make their usual disruptive appearances, along with Dinah’s ever-anxious mother and cool, elegant sister Madge. Hoping to shed not only pounds but her vengeful pursuer, Dinah learns the meaning of personal best – that it truly is how you play the game, not whether you win.

ISBN 978-1-55469-037-4

$9.95 Cdn

www.orcabook.com

1.800.210.5277

Add a Comment

Shelley Hrdlitschka is hearing nothing but good things about her latest novel, Sister Wife. Called “brave” by one reviewer, Shelley tackles the topic of two girls growing up in a polygamous community in this fictional book for young adults.

Shelley was recently interviewed by Stephen Clare on his blog Scenes of the Crime, and talks about her inspiration for writing this novel (media coverage of the community of Bountiful, B.C.) and what she found most challenging (representing all the sides of the issue fairly). Check it out!

Add a Comment