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Viewing: Blog Posts Tagged with: poetry, Most Recent at Top [Help]
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1. flying beds and books and dreams

flyingbooksandbedsanddreams-small


Filed under: flying, poetry

1 Comments on flying beds and books and dreams, last added: 5/14/2013
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2. if you want to see a whale

words by julie fogliano pictures by erin e. stead. roaring brook press 2013 a very old school picture book poetic in word and image now this is what i’m talking about. the title is the premise a set of instructions for what you need to do in order to see a whale it starts with a window and quickly moves to a landscape of the mind the text and instructions more of a tone poem told legato

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3. Poetry

If you've forgotten (or never learned), the different types of poems, this list is for you. 

http://www.kenneymyers.com/blog/the-big-list-of-different-types-of-poems/

0 Comments on Poetry as of 5/9/2013 11:45:00 AM
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4. Seeds, Bees, Butterflies, and More!: Poems for Two Voices

Book: Seeds, Bees, Butterflies, and More!: Poems for Two Voices
Author: Carole Gerber
Illustrator: Eugene Yelchin
Pages: 32
Age Range: 4-8 

Seeds, Bees, Butterflies, and More!: Poems for Two Voices is a picture book designed to be read aloud by two people, alternating portions of each poem. Written by Carole Gerber and illustrated by Eugene Yelchin (Breaking Stalin's Nose), Seeds, Bees seems tailor-made for classroom use. It gives kids the chance to perform poetry out loud, in pairs, while also containing quite a bit of informational content about plants and insects. 

Each poem is told from the perspective of two plants or creatures, using different colored text for each part. Lines meant to be read by both participants use both colors, switching letter by letter, including the titles. Indentation is also used to make it clear which lines belong to which reader. 

There is often a bit of humor incorporated into the poems. For instance, a new green shoot asks a bunny to stop blocking its sunlight, and the bunny says "Relax. That doesn't matter. / You'll be gone in just one bite." Two plants lament the feel of snails leaving "icky, sticky trails." I do think that this humor will work well for kids reading the poems aloud in class. 

The nature of the informational content necessitates the occasional use of relatively difficult vocabulary words, though Gerber clearly tries to keep this to a minimum. But we still get stanzas like this:

"We'll gather all their nectar
and also pollinate,
with little tongues and little feet.
            Want me to demonstrate?" 

(the last line is recited by the second person).  

Yelchin's graphite and gouache illustrations are a riot of colors and textures. He often repeats a key texture from the plant or creature of interest as part of the background. So, for example, the texture of the sky reflects back the pattern of the bunny's fur. His insects and flowers tend to be large-scale on each page, really bringing the subject matter to life. 

In truth, information poetry isn't really my personal cup of tea. But I think that Seeds, Bees, Butterflies, and More! could be very useful in first through third grade classrooms, due to its combination of perform-ability, bright, realistic illustrations, and informational content. Many kids are fascinated by plants and bugs, making Seeds, Bees, Butterflies, and More! a great companion book for units on nature, gardening, spring, etc. This would be a good choice to gift to your child's classroom, or for library purchase. 

Publisher: Henry Holt (@MacKidsBooks)
Publication Date: February 5, 2013
Source of Book: Review copy from the author

FTC Required Disclosure:

This site is an Amazon affiliate, and purchases made through Amazon links (including linked book covers) may result in my receiving a small commission (at no additional cost to you).

© 2013 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved. You can also follow me @JensBookPage or at my Growing Bookworms page on Facebook

 

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5. Review of the Day: Cowboy Up! Ride the Navajo Rodeo by Nancy Bo Flood

CowboyUp1 Review of the Day: Cowboy Up! Ride the Navajo Rodeo by Nancy Bo FloodCowboy Up!: Ride the Navajo Rodeo
By Nancy Bo Flood
Photography by Jan Sonnenmair
Wordsong (an imprint of Highlights)
$17.95
ISBN: 978-1-59078-893-6
Ages 8-12
On shelves now

Sometimes I think half my job simply consists of making lists. Not that I’m complaining. I love lists. I love making them, and checking them, and adding to them. Lists let the organizational part of my frontal lobe feel needed and wanted. Still, once in a while you get stuck on a list and it’s hard to move. For example, just the other day I was asked to come up with a list for Kindergartners of books that talk about Native American tribes. Some of the books, I was told, would also have to talk about American Indians living today. Now I don’t know anything about you. I don’t know if reading this review you’re a teacher or a librarian or an interested parent or my mom. Whosoever you might be, you are still probably very aware that asking for nonfiction titles for very young children on Native Americans is akin to asking for the moon and the stars above. Half the stuff on library and bookstore shelves is woefully out-of-date and offensive while the other half is written for kids ten-years-old and up. The pickings for small fry are slim. Enter Cowboy Up! Ride the Navajo Rodeo. The rare book that is both poetry and fact, with content for both big and little, here we have a title that finally fills that gap. Best of all, you don’t have to be looking for school or specialty fare to enjoy this one. Like wild bucking stallions and bulls that could impale you without so much as a snort? Welcome to the world of Navajo rodeo.

CowboyUp2 Review of the Day: Cowboy Up! Ride the Navajo Rodeo by Nancy Bo Flood“Can’t sleep. Can’t eat. Mind keeps figuring, figuring, figuring – how tight to hold, how far to lean, how hard to squeeze to stay on top.” That’s just a sample of the thoughts going through a person’s head before the Navajo rodeo. Though it has its roots in places like Arizona and Texas, rodeos can be found all over the Navajo Nation and are family affairs. Setting her book during the course of a single rodeo day, author Nancy Bo Flood plunges readers into what might be an unknown world. We see children near bucked from woolly riders (sheep), adults flung from broncos, women who sweep the barrel racer events, steer wrestlers, and, best of all, bareback bull riders. Saturating her text with facts, background information, and tons of photographs, this is one title that will prove tempting to kids already familiar with the rodeo world and those approaching it for the very first time.

It’s a challenge facing any work of standard nonfiction for kids: How do you prefer to present your material? In this particular case, Ms. Flood has a wealth of information at her fingertips regarding the Navajo rodeo circuit. Trouble is, you can fill your book to brimming with the brightest and shiniest photos that money can buy, but if you’ve long blocks of nonfiction text you might lose your readership before you’ve even begun. Now in this book Ms. Flood presents her material over the course of a single rodeo day. It’s a good format for what she has to say, but the downside is that there are sections at the beginning that aren’t all that thrilling. If kids are coming to this book to see some high-flying riders, they’ll have to first wade through explanations about the announcer and the arena. That’s where the poetry comes in. Sure, there are big blocks of explanatory text before the action begins, but Flood tempers each two-page spread with not just photos and explanations but also poems. The advantage then is that younger children can read the poems while older ones get something out of the nonfiction sections. Win win!

CowboyUp3 Review of the Day: Cowboy Up! Ride the Navajo Rodeo by Nancy Bo FloodIt sounds strange to say but in many ways the book that to me feels the closest to the format of Cowboy Up! is Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz. Both books find that the best way to get kids to swallow a spoonful of nonfiction is with a bit of first person narration. With that in mind, the poems in Cowboy Up! offer great promise. Each one is written in the first person and could easily be considered short monologues. The small child auditioning or the teacher who wants to do a theatrical presentation with readily available material would do well to take these poems and use them freely. Now granted, the poetry can be touch-and-go at times. I’ve a friend who personally cannot stand free verse in children’s books because to her it just looks like the author took a paragraph and broke it up into arbitrary lines. I happen to like free verse, insofar as I like any poetry, but I admit that the ones found here varied widely in terms of quality on a case-by-case basis.

CowboyUp4 Review of the Day: Cowboy Up! Ride the Navajo Rodeo by Nancy Bo FloodMuch like the poetry, the photography in this book can vary. Some of the shots (created by photographer Jan Sonnenmair) are brilliant. I’m quite fond of the image on the jacket as well as shots of riders mid-air (one hand waving freely about their heads), the portraits (love those endpapers, though the decision to flips the images was a poor one when you consider library processing techniques), and even one of a rainbow rising behind the honor guard. On the other hand, there are times when it feels as though the book ran out of the good photographs and had to rely on some of the lesser variety. For example, there’s a shot of an announcer that looks like it appears twice in two pages, only flipped. This is a rare occurrence, but it happens early enough in the book that a reader could be forgiven for wondering if more duplication is bound to happen.

When I think of books that talk about contemporary Native Americans today, the pickings for kids are slim. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian isn’t exactly meant for the 12 and under crowd. Walking on Earth and Touching the Sky is pretty good, if a bit poetic (this might have something to do with the fact that it’s a book of poetry). And the book Native Americans: A Visual Exploration by S.N. Paleja covers a lot of ground, but only in brief. No, the whole reason Cowboy Up! even works is because it’s not trying to be about anything but how particularly cool this kind of rodeo is. This is Navajo life in the 21st century. So forget depressing texts that cover the past with all the interest of a phone book. Flood and Sonnenmair have culled together a look at the just-as-interesting present, and given it a format that will stand it in good stead. Cowboys and cowboys-to-be everywhere, stand up and rejoice. Your rodeo is here.

On shelves now.

Source: Final copy sent from publisher for review.

Like This? Then Try:

Professional Reviews: Kirkus

Interviews: ReaderKidz

Misc:

  • A lesson hard learned.  When searching for this book on any online site, I advise you to search via the ISBN 978-1-59078-893-6 rather than typing in the words “Cowboy Up”. Let’s just say that the bulk of titles you’ll find with the same title are a bit . . . ah . . . saucy.
  • Download a free activity guide here.

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5 Comments on Review of the Day: Cowboy Up! Ride the Navajo Rodeo by Nancy Bo Flood, last added: 5/8/2013
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6. The National Geographic Book of Animal Poetry Edited by J. Patrick Lewis, U.S. Children’s Poet Laureate

National Geographic Book of Animal PoetryNational Geographic and J. Patrick Lewis work well together. In 2007 they released The Brother’s War: Civil War Voices in Verse. It was a solemn, evocative and gut churning collection that stays in my mind even today. But, could we expect less of the U.S. Children’s Poet Laureate? The answer, of course is no and to prove my point, NatGeo—as we hipsters refer to them—and Lewis have done it again.

The National Geographic Book of Animal Poetry is a treat. It’s more than a treat, it’s a triumph. The combination of stunning photos–as only Nat Geo can seems to be able to produce—and the writings of some of America’s best poets lights up the imagination and thrills the soul. It doesn’t hurt that a “parent /child” photo of a giraffes, one of my favorite animals, graces the cover. The book entices the reader with a subtitle that states, “200 poems with photographs that squeak, soar and ROAR!”

Mr. Lewis has chosen a wide variety authors who represent an even wider variety of styles—19th century, 20th century or 21st century; lighthearted, silly, or serious; rhyming verse, haiku or concrete poems. It’s all there, all carefully chosen by Mr. Lewis and all perfectly matched to the photography.

Don’t miss a chance to share these little gems with a favorite child or better yet, just curl up in a comfy spot and let yourself go wild among the animals.

Posted by: Eileen


0 Comments on The National Geographic Book of Animal Poetry Edited by J. Patrick Lewis, U.S. Children’s Poet Laureate as of 5/6/2013 10:59:00 AM
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7. Author Announces Release Date

Author Announces Release Date

Author, Tonia Allen Gould, announces the release date of her animated and narrated children’s picture book, coming on 7/1/13 on iTunes.


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8. “Touch Me”

50 Book Pledge | Book #24: My Brother’s Book by Maurice Sendak

In honour of National Poetry Month, I present “Touch Me” from Collected Poems by Stanley Kunitz.

Summer is late, my heart.
Words plucked out of the air
some forty years ago
when I was wild with love
and torn almost in two
scatter like leaves this night
of whistling wind and rain.
It is my heart that’s late,
it is my song that’s flown.
Outdoors all afternoon
under a gunmetal sky
staking my garden down,
I kneeled to the crickets trilling
underfoot as if about
to burst from their crusty shells;
and like a child again
marveled to hear so clear
and brave a music pour
from such a small machine.
What makes the engine go?
Desire, desire, desire.
The longing for the dance
stirs in the buried life.
One season only,
and it’s done.
So let the battered old willow
thrash against the windowpanes
and the house timbers creak.
Darling, do you remember
the man you married? Touch me,
remind me who I am.


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9. Haiku on Instagram for National Poetry Month 2013

Here is a collection of my Instagram photos, updated daily. I am afraid you will have to click on the photo to go to Instagram to read the haiku. Unless I find a photo editor that works on my iPod and figure out how to put the haiku directly onto the image, that is. Anyone help with that? If you are using Instagram and know how to do it can you share? <!-- SnapWidget -->

11 Comments on Haiku on Instagram for National Poetry Month 2013, last added: 4/11/2013
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10. Frances Horovitz - one of my favourite nature poets.

by Frances Horovitz (1938-1983) New Year Snow For three days we waited, a bowl of dull quartz for sky. At night the valley dreamed of snow, lost Christmas angels with dark-white wings flailing the hills. I dreamed a poem, perfect as the first five-pointed flake, that melted at dawn: a Janus-time to peer back at guttering dark days, trajectories of the spent year. And then snow fell. Within an

14 Comments on Frances Horovitz - one of my favourite nature poets., last added: 5/3/2013
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11. Quote of the Week: Mary Oliver

Mary Oliver


1 Comments on Quote of the Week: Mary Oliver, last added: 4/27/2013
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12. Quote of the Week: Mary Oliver

Mary Oliver


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13. “Dreams”

50 Book Pledge | Book #23: The House Girl by Tara Conklin

In honour of National Poetry Month, I present “Dreams” from The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes by Langston Hughes.

Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.


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14. Nursery Rhyme Comics: 50 Timeless Rhymes from 50 Celebrated Cartoonists with an Introduction by Leonard S Marcus, edited by Chris Duffy, published by First Second Books

Aside from Françoise Mouly (TOON BOOKS) and Art Speigelman's brillinat Little Lit collections of folklore, fairy tales and funny (and scary) stories, illustrated in comic book format by a truly remarkable collection of artists (Jules Feiffer, Maurice Sendak, Barbara McClintock, David Macaulay, Daniel Clowes and William Joyce, to name a few) and authors (see previous list and add: Lemony

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15. BookMentors Seeks Poems That Endorse Books of Poetry

BookMentors, a nonprofit book donation organization, is hosting a National Poetry Month celebration.

To participate, you can write a poem that endorses a book of poetry. You can submit your poem to the organization’s social media platforms (including Google+, Facebook, or Tumblr). Check it out:

we are celebrating #NationalPoetryMonth with daily poems mimicking the style of our favorite poetry books! Post your own poem about your favorite book of poetry or like one of the poems that has already been posted. BookMentors will donate the book featured in the post that gets the most “likes.” Get creative!

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

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16. National Poetry Month and "30 Days of Kimono"


April is National Poetry Month, and this year I'm celebrating the season with a small poetry/art journal project with a Japanese-inspired theme I'm calling "30 Days of Kimono." The idea came to me when I visited the Albuquerque Art and History Museum with my writer's group several weeks ago. The museum was hosting a special exhibition on Japanese Art Deco, and because I've always been a huge fan of Japanese style, culture, and literature, it seemed like a good time to do something with all that inspiration!

Rather than restricting myself to just poetry, I'm using a variety of methods, mediums, and digital sites, including Polyvore, where I made the kimono pictured above, as well as a Pinterest board. To keep all my ideas in one place, I've chosen to use a Moleskine Cahier Kraft blank notebook, which means I can decorate the cover too (still a bit of a work-in-progress...):


On the inside I'm writing down my poetry thoughts,  found poetry snippets, and sketch ideas for larger paintings:


I'm also pasting in drawings made on other types of paper. For instance, the sketch below is made on a Japanese paper I can't describe very well other than to say it's slick on one side, rough on the other (I don't know if it's rice paper--sorry!). I used a pen cut from a piece of bamboo, Black Magic ink, and a little watercolor, then cut it into a kimono-ish shape. The pattern was based on my recent visit to New York and Central Park.


One of the most enjoyable parts of this project has been my research; any excuse to go to the library and immerse myself in good books is fine with me. Besides losing myself in several gardening books covering Zen gardens and tea houses, my favorite find was a classic, The Book of Kimono by Norio Yamanaka. Everything you'd ever want to know about the history, making, and wearing of kimono is in this comprehensive little book. And believe me, there is a lot to know about wearing a kimono--about 36 actions just to get into "the thing," (which is all the word "kimono" really means: "a thing to wear") and half of those include hand-sewing, my most detested task on earth. Then of course there's the good behavior required to not crush or ruin the kimono, including never letting your back touch the back of a chair or car seat. Reminds me of when my mother forced me to wear scratchy nylon dotted Swiss on Sundays--don't move! Don't eat! Don't breathe! Which was perfectly expressed in this bit of found poetry I took from various lines of my magazine cut-outs:

Starched linen,
quiet wealth.
Piety, memory, cleanliness,
beauty
and stories.
 
Tip of the Day: Whether it's National Poetry Month of National Novel Writing Month, why not choose a theme or subject you've always wanted to know more about but never really had the time to explore? Not only could it start an entire new direction for your creativity, but it could also help give you that special edge to stand out from the crowd.

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17. Forgive Me, I Meant to Do It, written by Gail Carson Levine with illustrations by Matthew Cordell, RL 2

Forgive Me, I Meant to Do It:  False Apology Poems, written by Gail Carson Levine and brilliantly illustrated by the very busy Matthew Cordell, is, as you may surmise, inspired by William Carlos William's poem "This Is Just to Say." What Levine brings to this collection is her considerable knowledge of fairy tales and a gleefully wicked sense of humor. Every poem in the book it titled, "This

0 Comments on Forgive Me, I Meant to Do It, written by Gail Carson Levine with illustrations by Matthew Cordell, RL 2 as of 4/24/2013 4:20:00 AM
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18. This Is Just To Say by Gail Carson Levine, illustrations by Matthew Cordell

From  Forgive Me, I Meant to Do It:  False Apology Poems, written by Gail Carson Levine and illustrated by Matthew Cordell

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19. Fold Me a Poem by Kristine O'Connell George - Origami Baby Chick Poem Printable

As I child, I understood the poetic magic of origami even before I knew the name of the art. One of my great-great aunt's many skills was paper-folding. She could swiftly make an origami bow tie appear out of a paper scrap. That fascinating talent was as magical ability as anything I'd ever witnessed, and it was always an honor to receive one of her tidy, crisp bow ties.

Since it's National Poetry Month, the kids and I picked up a few new poetry books at the library.  One picture book we particularly like has an origami theme  -- Fold Me a Poem by Kristine O'Connell George, illustrated by Lauren Stinger.

The summary on the copyright page states that the book is "a collection of poems about origami animals."  In reality, the Fold Me a Poem is much more than a collection.  The poems, read together in succession, collectively tell a story about an imaginative boy who plays with his origami creations all day long, from the moment he wakes up in the morning until he falls asleep in his bed at night. The short poems are rather like private thoughts as he brings the origami animals to life, folding them into splendid creatures and playing with them afterward: "Forty bright sheets / of colored paper, / a world of animals. / Who will be next?" The animals race each other, hide, and get into trouble. Even the boy's cat joins in the fun, by attacking and injuring a poor pink ostrich during a "wind storm" produced by a fan.  The cleverly designed square book  has end papers that look like origami paper. In total, the book contains 32 original poems; it does not include instructions for creating origami animals -- however, the illustrator in her end note mentions various book resources.

This poetry book provides wonderful inspiration for showing children how to capture their own thoughts in poetry form on paper! All children need to do to write their own poems is describe their own play.  O'Connell's poems are written in many different forms including haiku, apostrophe (poems of address), mask or persona poems, and process poems, making the book a useful springboard for teaching these styles.  Lauren Stringer's painted illustrations beautifully accompany the poems and are instrumental in helping the reader visualize the poems.  Stringer skillfully captures the origami creatures -- folding origami is hard enough, but painting all the shadows, showing the folds through illustration takes real talent indeed!

As for favorite poems, I adore "Night," a poem that tells how the boy adds his own star to the night sky.  My son likes the poem "Tub" mostly because the illustrations for the poem show many of the origami creations waiting for a ride on an origami boat, including a bandaged ostrich. My daughter especially likes "Mystery" because it fully captures the wonder and joy of creating your own origami. Anything, yes, anything is possible with a little imagination.
Fold Me a Poem by Kristine O'Connell George, illustrated by Lauren Stringer. Harcourt (April 2005); ISBN 9780152025014; 32 pages
Book Source: Borrowed from our local library
I am an Amazon affiliate and may receive a very small commission for products purchased through my Amazon links. (View my full disclosure statement for more information about my reviews.) 

Related Links:
Kristine O'Connell George - Author Website
Lauren Stringer - Illustrator Website
Teacher's Guide - Fold Me A Poem

Baby Chick in Egg - Origami and Poem


Today is Poem in Your Pocket Day!  When thinking about combining origami and poetry, we chanced upon a verse by the brilliant children's poet, Aileen Fisher. The poem "Baby Chick" questions how a chick knows its way out of the egg.  We've created a neat origami project to go along with the poem (plus the paper egg shell makes a neat, handy pocket to tuck the poem into!)

The directions to fold the chick and egg origami can be found at http://www.kutchuk.com.  The design is made from a single piece of paper. This is an easy, beginner origami project for kids.  I created a pdf template with folding guides to make it even easier to fold your own origami if you'd prefer to use that instead.  One is full color and the other can be colored-in by a child.  Make sure to print with page scaling set to "none" or unclick "fit to page" so that it doesn't resize the document. Click on the google doc links below to print your own copy (clicking on the image won't work).

Chick in Egg Origami pdf (color) - (download to print properly)
Chick in Egg Origami pdf (black and white) - (download to print properly)

To extend the poetry in a pocket idea and fold a poem, you could have your child write the poem on the paper before folding it into the chick/egg shape!  Or, if your child can't write, print out the poem and tuck it into the pocket formed by the folded egg shell.



1 Comments on Fold Me a Poem by Kristine O'Connell George - Origami Baby Chick Poem Printable, last added: 4/24/2013
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20. “The Moment”

50 Book Pledge | Book #22: We Live in Water by Jess Walter

In honour of National Poetry Month and Earth Day, on Monday, April 22, I present “The Moment” from Morning in the Burned House by Margaret Atwood.

The moment when, after many years
of hard work and a long voyage
you stand in the centre of your room,
house, half-acre, square mile, island, country,
knowing at last how you got there,
and say, I own this,

is the same moment when the trees unloose
their soft arms from around you,
the birds take back their language,
the cliffs fissure and collapse,
the air moves back from you like a wave
and you can’t breathe.

No, they whisper. You own nothing.
You were a visitor, time after time
climbing the hill, planting the flag, proclaiming.
We never belonged to you.
You never found us.
It was always the other way round.


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21. Paint Me a Poem: Poetry and Art...Plus Dance!


Since April is National Poetry Month and today is also Poetry Friday, I didn't want to miss the chance to post some more dance-related poems by my new friend Justine Rowden -- this time from her book Paint Me a Poem: Poems Inspired by Masterpieces of Art

A few years ago, Justine worked at the National Portrait Gallery and noticed that a lot of people had no reaction at all when they stood in front of a painting they didn't know. "I felt my first endeavor ought to be a book that proposes a way to look at any painting and find the spark, the joy, in that work," she says. "Forget historical references. Look for the passion in the art!"

Justine chose 14 paintings from the National Gallery of Art, painted by a variety of American and European artists who lived as early as the 1600s, and created poems to go along with them. "Each poem suggests just one possible way to look at that painting in a new way," she says. Here are a couple of my favorites, which both reflect Justine's love of dance. Yes, she is a kindred spirit!

Dancin'
Green Plums by Joseph Decker, c. 1885.
Courtesy of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.

Green plums rolling
Yeah! rockin' and rollin'
Out of their box
Onto the stage
Ready to swing their stems,
Moving in rhythm
To a juicy tune. 
The beat, it gets to them--
Swaying side to side, 
They go even faster
Until finger-snapping hands 
Put them back in their box. 


Moving White Fluffs

Meadow by Alfred Sisley, 1875.
Courtesy of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.

The sky is full
Of fuzzy white polka dots.
As they move on, 
Do you think
Those dots are really
Dancing the polka
While they drift away?

Doing the polka
Takes time to learn
And where could they
Hear the music
To get the dance just right?
So, maybe it's not
The polka at all they're doing. 

Maybe it's just a slow glide 
They make up
As they go along. 
Then why do you suppose
They call them "Polka dots" --
Those funny white fluffs
In the blue, blue sky?

Beautiful poems, right? So what does Justine hope that children will take away from the book? "I would like to think that children will look at the paintings, really connecting with the art, and perhaps even write original poems about the paintings themselves!"she says. I hope that some adults have that reaction, too!

Find out more about Paint Me a Poem at www.paintmeapoem.com. It's a really nice site that lets you get to Justine a little better an provides some more sneak peeks into the book. Irene Latham at Live Your Poem is hosting the Poetry Friday roundup today, so you will find more poetry for children and adults there, too!

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22. The New York Times Launches the ‘Times Haiku’ Tumblr Blog

The New York Times has started a “serendipitous poetry”-themed tumblr blog called ”Times Haiku.”

A team of computer programmers developed a special algorithm that scans the publication’s articles and subsequently generates haikus.

You can read haikus derived from different NYT pieces, including an article on carrot puréea profile on stand-up comedian Colin Quinn, and a special Q&A with the Game of Thrones TV series creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. According to Shelf Life, this blog may continue on even after the end of this month.

continued…

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23. A Stick is an Excellent Thing: Poems Celebrating Outdoor Play by Marilyn Singer, illustrated by LeUyen Pham

EARTH DAY is tomorrow! Marilyn Singer, of Tallulah's Tutu fame with illustrations by the superb Alexandra Boiger, brings us this fantastic books of poems with the best title EVER, A Stick Is an Excellent Thing: Poems Celebrating Outdoor Play, just in time for National Poetry Month. Better yet, the very busy LeUyen Pham's (The Best Birthday Party Ever by Jennifer Laurie Huget is my

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24. Madonna Reads Pablo Neruda

To celebrate National Poetry Month, we found a video featuring pop star Madonna and her reading of the poem “If You Forget Me.” Pablo Neruda originally wrote this poem in Spanish and called it “Si Tu Me Olvidas.”

Madonna’s reading is featured on The Postman (Il Postino) movie soundtrack. It also contains poetry recitations delivered by Oscar-winning actress Julia Roberts, UK musician Sting, and The Avengers actor Samuel L. Jackson.

Neruda, a celebrated Chilean writer, won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971. You can read more pieces written by Neruda at The Poetry Foundation’s website. What’s your favorite Pablo Neruda poem?

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25. Shakespeare's Sonnets - a terrific app from Touch Press (ages 14 +)

Today is St. George’s Day, the patron saint of England, and it’s the day we traditionally celebrate Shakespeare’s birthday (see a timeline at Mr. William Shakespeare). I've been looking forward to reading Touch Press's fantastic app The Sonnets by William Shakespeare, and I snapped it up today when I saw it on sale. I want to share this wonderful enhanced, multimedia experience that provides both artistic enjoyment of classic literature and increased academic understanding of complex text.

The Sonnets by William Shakespeare
developed by Touch Press
version 1.0, 2012
available on the iTunes AppStore
Touch Press writes that "The Sonnets by William Shakespeare allows you to enjoy, explore and understand these immortal works of literature as never before." While that seems like hyperbole (as never before?), I am truly amazed at the rich experience that reading this app brings.


This app brings together dramatic performances of Shakespeare's 154 sonnets with the annotated, unabridged text and critical essays. Students can watch professional actors ranging from Patrick Stewart to Kim Cattrall recite the sonnets - an inspiring experience on its own. But you can also switch over to reading the poems while you listen to the professional reading, with lines highlighted as you go. Just watch David Tennant's performance of the famous Sonnet 18: "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?"



The actors' readings bring me so much greater appreciation for these poems than simply reading the text by itself. I also love the way that Touch Press brought so many different actors to this project, providing readers with the sense that we all can connect with Shakespeare's works in different ways.


The academic notes and videos also provide many different ways in for readers, reinforcing the idea that there is no one correct interpretation of these poems. Since I was reading more for my own pleasure, I was drawn to the video interviews with different academics and professionals. It was fascinating to hear different opinions on the same topic, giving me insight into the range of debates that still surround these poems. For example, I never realized that we don't exactly know whom the Sonnets are written for or to. Students will also find the line by line annotations helpful.


Throughout, Touch Press marries the text and the narration, the artistic and the academic, the visual and the auditory -- providing a seamless, multi-layered, multi-media reading experience. Overall, this is an app that I will come back to again and again. Get this for students who are auditory learners, but also get this for friends who love listening to poetry or learning about Shakespeare's plays.

For more information, see the Touch Press website: The Sonnets by William Shakespeare. For more reviews, see: School Library Journal, The Guardian newspaper, and The Independent newspaper.

I purchased the review copy for my own home library. If you make a purchase using the Amazon links on this site, a small portion goes to Great Kid Books (at no cost to you!). Thank you for your support.

Review ©2013 Mary Ann Scheuer, Great Kid Books

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