By: Donna J. Shepherd,
on 6/12/2013
OUCH! SUNBURN!by Donna J. Shepherd A Wings of Faith Children's Book Author: Donna J. Shepherd Illustrations: Kevin Scott Collier ISBN: 1-933090-60-X ISBN 13: 9781933090603 Scroll down to see a video! From the Publisher: Donna J. Shepherd’s snappy rhymes along with the 15 colorful and fun illustrations by Kevin Scott Collier help children see the need to protect their skin in
By: Tara Lazar,
on 2/27/2013
OK, silly title. And if anyone under 30 reads this post, they’re not gonna get the reference to Moon River.
But heck, I like it, so off we go…
Many kidlit writers hear “don’t rhyme” from picture book editors. It’s not that editors hate rhyme (well, maybe SOME do), it’s just that they see badly-executed rhyme so often in the slush, it’s easier to discourage it. Common rhymes like “me, see” and “you, two” and other one-syllable predictability can kill the joy of a story.
Remember “Celebrity Apprentice” when the men’s team gleefully authored “I know my A, B, C’s and my 1, 2, 3′s” as if it hadn’t been regurgitated in a googolplex of board books? They thought it was a rhyme worthy of victory and publication. Well, they did win the challenge, but the book Trump promised to publish was released by a vanity press, not a traditional publisher. No publisher was gonna touch it, ten foot pole or not.
Editors also see a lot of rhyme with flawed meter. Meter is a tricky thing. There’s stressed and unstressed syllables, plus the lilt of natural speech patterns that can render your meter more choppy than Zoanette Johnson’s drumming. If you read your own rhyme aloud, you might not even hear how off it is, because you are forcing yourself to follow the pattern you created.
Then there’s the near-rhyme mistake, when the words don’t really rhyme at all, unless you twist your tongue or alter your accent. Like “hat” and “what” or “hat” and “back”. Once or twice and you can maybe get away with it. More than that and the editor may assume you need the WaxVac.
Moreover, writers can find their story dictated by rhyme, getting trapped in nonsensical situations simply because “dishwasher” rhymes with “impostor” (almost). It’s obvious when a plot decision has been forced based upon one word.
For these reasons, editors will advise, “don’t rhyme”.
For these reasons, author Lane Fredrickson created RhymeWeaver.com.
Lane is the author of WATCH YOUR TONGUE, CECILY BEASLEY, a rhyming picture book with a joyfully jaunty rhyme. Remember as a child when you stuck out your tongue and a parent warned, “It will get stuck that way!” Well, Cecily finds herself in that very predicament. Hilarity ensues when a bird takes up residence on Cecily’s perfect pink perch. What’s Cecily to do?
Knowing the difficulty of rhyme for picture book writers, Lane created RhymeWeaver.com to teach the bard-challenged the complexities of rhyming well.
Lane, your rhyme is perfection! How did you get to be so good at it?
Ha. Thank you, Tara.
The short answer would be: a gnawing question and a genetic glitch.
But there is also the long answer. When I first joined SCBWI, everybody seemed to be telling everyone else NOT to write in rhyme, like there was a disease associated with it. You know, literary sarcoma or writer’s blockjaw. You almost didn’t want to admit you were a rhymer lest they sit in some quarantined section and slap a scarlet R on your forehead. The other thing I kept hearing was that a person’s rhyme had to be PERFECT. I wanted to write PERFECT rhyme, but I could never get a really good answer as to what PERFECT rhyme was. This is the kind of scenario that drives a slightly obsessive-compulsive person to behaving obsessively compulsive. So I googled around and studied my Seuss and found a website that offered critiques for $50. The critique, although well-intentioned, was just plain bad advice involving “counting syllables.” And don’t get me wrong, I’ve definitely given bad advice (but I’m pretty sure it was free when I did it). I totally get that sometimes bad advice seems good because it comes from multiple sources, but “counting syllables” is not the way to perfect meter and I had (being slightly obsessive compulsive) already figured that out. So I went back to school thinking I’d take a poetry class and clear up the PERFECT meter issue. But the thing about college is they don’t tell you what you want to know, they tell you whatever they want to tell you. So it took a BA in English and healthy stab at an MA in British Lit to figure it out that meter is a lot of things, but PERFECT is rarely one of them (I only stabbed at the MA, I haven’ t killed it yet).
What inspired you to put all your rhyming knowledge into a website?
I watched a lot of people go through exactly what I went through: trying to figure out the rules, trying to decide if writing in rhyme was worth the stigma, trying to find complete resources that explained everything. I have a degree in psychology, where I focused on cognition and development (which is the opposite of those people who ask you to talk about your problems). Cognitive and developmental psychologists look at how people think and how they grow, mature, and learn. I knew that I could show meter in a way that’s visual and image-based. I knew that I could break it down into constituent parts in a way that I had never seen done. I knew that I could make it easier to grasp. But I wanted it to be free because I’m trying to improve the status of rhyme in the literary world and the more people who rhyme well, the less it looks like I have a disease.
Lane’s website has already helped this ruined rhymer who can’t hear meter even if I got whacked upside the head with it. So I encourage you to pay RhymeWeaver.com a visit, Pin it, share it, study it, LIVE IT. Children deserve better rhyming picture books like CECILY BEASLEY.
And hey, you can WIN CECILY! Just leave a comment telling me about the most interesting thing you learned at RhymeWeaver.com. A winner will be picked randomly in a week (or knowing me and prize distribution, two weeks).
So don’t hesitate, get out there and rhyme, oh Kate! (Sorry if your name isn’t Kate. I had to end on a rhyme.)
By: shelf-employed,
on 1/28/2013
"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring."
Baseball Hall of Fame baseball player, Rogers Hornsby
Jay Schyler Raadt CC-BY-SA-3.0
Source: Baseball Almanac
My dad holds our tickets. They tell us where to sit. We get food to eat. My mom and dad get hot dogs.The illustrations are simple cartoon-style depictions of a family's trip to the game with a heavy focus on the family's activities. If just a little bit of baseball is what you're seeking, this will do fine.
Less perfunctory and more enjoyable is Goodnight Baseball.The great big stadium is outside of town.and ending with a nod to Margaret Wise Brown's Goodnight Moon,
Fans and friends come from miles around.
Goodnight, popcorn boxes under the standsGoodnight Baseball takes the reader on a baseball outing with a small boy and his father. Snacks, caps, and even a foul ball are part of a winning day. Brightly colored full-bleed illustrations offer a broad view of the game, the fans, and the park with a focus not on the boy and his dad, but rather, on their place in the larger context of the day. Expressive faces show the myriad expressions seen during a day at the park - excitement, determination, surprise (no sadness here - the home town wins). Creative endpapers evoke the Green Monster, the boy's favorite team, and tickets stuffed in the pocket of denim jeans. Goodnight Baseball is a hit.Goodnight, mascot and goodnight, fans!
Goodnight, friends. Goodnight, cars.
Goodnight, stadium, under the stars ...
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By: Jan Mader,
on 10/4/2012
I was looking around at some very cool blogs the other night and found one that was so much fun. Why? Because everything was in rhyme! You've got to go see! http://rhymetime24.blogspot.com/
To me rhyming is playing with words at it's finest. At rhymetime, people just comment in rhyme. That seems simple enough so here you go:
The dishes are sitting
in my kitchen sink
and I'm up here blogging
so what do you think?
Should I become slave
to the dishes at hand
or should I keep on blogging
just because that I can!
Please leave me a comment
and put it in rhyme
we'll try it tonight
and again down the line!
PS Comments can be as short as two words!
By: shelf-employed,
on 8/8/2012
 |
| A preview available at the publisher's site |
At the boardwalkFood, rides, arcades, and fireworks; in rain and fog and sun - she captures it all - right down to the oompah music of the carousel and the stands selling hermit crabs. Each 6-line verse appears on a two-page spread in which Spanish illustrator, Mónica Armiño, uses pencils and mixed media on textured paper to create a light-hearted, multicultural tableau of the best the boardwalk has to offer. The final image is that of a lone worker sweeping the sand from an empty boardwalk that stretches away into the distance toward a darkened Ferris wheel. To the East, the ocean is calm. The sky is darkening and a full moon is high in the sky.
day or night
Treats for every appetite
Popcorn - taffy - fudge, delight
At the boardwalk
day or night
By: shelf-employed,
on 7/23/2012
Hundreds gather.McReynolds skillfully distills this immense project, this watershed accomplishment into its most basic elements, yet she disregards no aspect of the mission, giving recognition to Aldrin and Armstrong, the nation, the command center, Collins (who stayed aboard the Columbia), even the Navy - remember the days of "splashdowns?"
Hot July.
Spaceship ready -
set to fly.
Desolation.Our tiny place within the cosmos is illustrated, but is boldly followed by the illustration on the following page where the astronaut fills a third of the page, confidently setting forth across the lunar landscape,
Silent. Dark.
Tranquil sea.
Barren. Stark.
Haul equipment.May we always be reminded of both our infinetesimal status and our immense capacity to overcome it. A stunning book. Highly recommended.
Careful test.
Exploration.
Lunar quest.
By: Tara Lazar,
on 7/13/2012
OK, so you know that I love monsters. Can’t get enough of them. Well, my friend Tiffany Strelitz Haber is here today with a monster of a story—her debut picture book, THE MONSTER WHO LOST HIS MEAN!
Some of you may know Tiffany as one of the two rhyming geniuses behind The Meter Maids (with Corey Rosen Schwartz). If you don’t, you have to check out her site, which is all about writing in rhyme. Don’t make me slap you with a citation!
Before we get riffing with Tiffing (yeah I can call her that, it rhymes), you MUST take a look at the extraordinary trailer for her new book. The music, the animation—it’s all so monstrous and so much fun!
TL: THE MONSTER WHO LOST HIS MEAN is about a monster who loses his ‘M’. You know I host Picture Book Idea Month every November so I’m obsessed with the origin of ideas. Where did this idea come from?
TSH: I have always been a very visual person when it comes to words. Even as a kid, I loved the concept of homonyms, acrostics, acronyms, spelling words backwards, and even looking at them upside down. One day I started thinking about the letters in the word MONSTER, and what they might actually stand for if the word MONSTER was an acronym. From there the concept just grew and evolved, and “The Onster” was born!
TL: We’re also all about characters names on this blog. Did “The Onster” have a name before he lost his M?
TSH: Ya know…that’s a great question. I like to think that he only really found any identity at all after he lost his M. Before that he was just…well… generic, nameless, and not nearly as cool—Monster. Bleh.
TL: The Onster cooks brunch at one point in the book. I’m a foodie like you, so what’s your favorite brunch food?
TSH: Hmm…for me, picking a favorite food is kind of like bending a spoon into a perfect figure eight using just my toes (almost impossible). But in the interest of quasi-decisiveness…I’ll go with a tie. EITHER: Perfectly toasted onion bagels slathered in whipped cream cheese, lox and just a few rounds of raw, red onion…OR…a dim sum extravaganza.
So…What’s YOUR favorite brunch food? Tell us and be entered to win a signed ARC of THE MONSTER WHO LOST HIS MEAN!
You get one entry for commenting and then one entry for every place you share—blog, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. Just let us know where you ONSTER’ed!
Tiffany Strelitz Haber is the author of two rhyming picture books: THE MONSTER WHO LOST HIS MEAN (Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, July 17, 2012) and OLLIE AND CLAIRE (Philomel/Penguin, 2013). She will eat any food she is served, be it fried witchetty grubs on a stick or calf’s brain ravioli, and loves to be high in the air or deep in the sea. T
By: Mary Lee,
on 6/6/2012
By: shelf-employed,
on 5/31/2012
So many great picture books have passed my desk lately. Here are a few:
Clean socksThings are always the same until the night a cat asks to come in. There was no room for a cat on Old Robert's boat,
a clock
my ship in the slip at the dock.
One dish
one spoon
a slice of the silver moon.
And yet ...This is a delightfully, quirky story about Old Robert, his boat, and how one small decision can change a life (or two, or three, or ...). Illustrations by the Netherlands' Jan Jutte, give Old Robert and the Sea-Silly Cats a salty and silly air reminiscent of old comics (think Popeye or original Tin Tin) touched with whimsy. Comforting, repetitive refrains make this a great read aloud.
and yet ...
Old Robert said yes ...
... and the cat came in.
Climbing up la escalera,See how easy that was? You're speaking Spanish. Even without the brightly colored double spread illustration of a firefighter on a ladder, hand extended with cat treats, you knew what it meant, and kids will too! The story rhymes, the meter's fine, and if you need help with pronunciation, it's all in the Glossary. All bias aside, I like it!
KITTY, KITTY,
COME AFUERA.
Coaxed by food in small pedazos,
kitten jumps to outstretched brazos.
By: Margot Finke,
on 5/12/2012
By: shelf-employed,
on 3/14/2012
As the co-organizer of the KidLit Celebrates Women's History Month blog, I've been very busy formatting, posting, and reading all of the great guest posts this month. (If you haven't checked it out, you're missing some great essays and reviews.) As a consequence, I've been neglecting to post often this month, but today I have a quick rundown of three titles that grabbed my attention this past week:
By: Tara Lazar,
on 3/13/2012
One of the most frequently asked questions by new kidlit writers is “why do editors say not to write in rhyme?” There’s plenty of picture books written in rhyme, right? They get published somehow!
Well, the answer is a bit complicated. It’s not that editors don’t necessarily LIKE rhyme. It’s just that it is very difficult to do well. Here’s why:
However, if your heart is set on rhyme and if you have a talent for it, you should go for it. At first, Karma Wilson listened to the “don’t rhyme” advice.
“When I first started submitting some 15 years ago all the guidelines said, ‘No rhyme and no talking animals!’ For THREE years I avoided rhyme and talking animals. But guess what my first book sale was? BEAR SNORES ON! And guess what the guidelines said for McElderry books? NO RHYME AND NO TALKING ANIMALS! My passion is rhyme, and talking animals are great as long as they have something interesting to say.”
Yes, you can break the rules like Karma. But get your rhyme critiqued and know whether or not you can nail it.
Me, I’m terrible at rhyme and I know it. I cannot “hear” meter. I’ve tried and failed. My friends have coached me, but I still don’t get the right beat. I can’t dance to it. (I can’t dance anyway. Think Elaine from Seinfeld. Sweet fancy moses!)
So what is successful rhyme? I’m glad you asked! I’ve got a few examples for you.
In HUSH, LITTLE DRAGON, Boni Ashburn spoofs the lullaby “Hush, Little Baby”. Instead of buying her baby a mockingbird, the mama dragon in the story brings her darling son various villagers to eat. It’s delightfully tongue-in-cheek. Some of the best lines:
Here she comes with a fresh magician.
Don’t mind the tast
By: shelf-employed,
on 2/17/2011
Here are a few of my recent favorites - mostly silly
Wings on hips, she warns those chicks, "No more games and no more tricks!"In the end, Mama beats them at their own game. The illustrations are bright and cheerful and funny. The chick in the over-sized black frame glasses is a riot all by himself!
One quick peck for each sweet child,
she slams the door . . .
those chicks run wild!
It has come to my attention that someone other than a cat may be reading this book.None but cats are allowed to read Cat Secrets!
Shame on you.
Hey, you! Yes, you! You don't look much like a cat!
Flowers tremble.with hilarious illustrations in a style reminiscent of your funniest grade school pal's drawings. Funny!
Trees quake.
Socksquatch lumbers.
...
Got sock?
By: Jean Matthew Hall,
on 3/24/2011
Oh, this book is way too funny! Kindergartners and first graders love this one, I'm sure. I bought Rhyming Dust Bunnies by Jan Thomas for my grandson. But I think I'm going to tuck it away on my own bookshelf and forget to send it home with him! The illustrations are bold, graphic, energetic and hilarious. The 221 words of text be-bop around the four expressive dust bunnies. The two components
By: shelf-employed,
on 4/6/2011
It's been a while since I've done a picture book roundup and they've been piling up on my desk. Here are a few new favorites:
When Dan grew up, he married Helen. These are my grandparents. Together Dan and Helen opened a market. They sold all sorts of wonderful Italian food. Now the little shovel belonged to Dan, and he used it to measure out beans, macaroni, and olives.Dan Yaccarino's personal tale of immigration and tradition. A perfect introduction to genealogy, and a great choice for this summer's reading theme of One World, Many Stories.
How do birds learn how to sing? What brings summer after spring? What turns leaves from green to brown and sends them floating gently down?
In the big red barn on the farm, on the farm, in the big red1 Comments on April picture book roundup, last added: 4/6/2011Display Comments Add a Comment
By: Maryann Yin,
on 4/11/2011
In honor of National Poetry Month, we’ve dug up a video of President Barack Obama reading a poetic Dr. Seuss story out loud.
As Obama prepared to read, he announced: “I am going to try to do the best rendition ever of Green Eggs and Ham.”
Do you think he accomplished his goal?
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
Add a Comment
By: Lauren,
on 4/28/2011
Tweet
National Poetry Month, is nearing its end, and the royal wedding is just around the corner, so let’s write poems about it. I’ve made some suggestions below, but all forms are welcome. (If you really want to win me over, I suggest attempting my favorite poetic form, the sestina.) Send your poem care of blog@oup.com and I’ll post what I can tomorrow. (Keep it clean, please. Humor, satire and effusive excitement are welcome, insults are not.)
Additionally, our Twitter followers are eligible to win one of the below Oxford World’s Classics. To enter, tweet:
Take @OUPAcademic’s #royalweddingpoetrychallenge http://oxford.ly/msrv0S
Entries will be accepted all weekend. Winners will be contacted via DM.
* * * * *
ghazal (ghasel; gazal; ghazel) A short lyric poem written in couplets using a single rhyme (aa, ba, ca, da, etc.), sometimes mentioning the poet’s name in the last couplet. The ghazal is an important lyric form in Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Urdu poetry, often providing the basis for popular love songs. Its usual subject-matter is amatory, although it has been adapted for religious, political, and other uses. Goethe and other German poets of the early 19th century wrote some imitations of the Persian ghazal, and the form has been adopted by a number of modern American poets, notably Adrienne Rich.
cinquain [sang-kayn] A verse stanza of five lines, more commonly known as a quintain. Examples of such stanzas include the English limerick, the Japanese tanka, and the Spanish quintilla; others include the variant ballad stanza employed intermittently by S. T. Coleridge in his ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ ( 1798 ), and many more varieties with no name.
terza rima [ter-tsă ree-mă] A verse form consisting of a sequence of interlinked tercets rhyming aba bcb cdc ded, etc. Thus the second line of eac
By: shelf-employed,
on 5/19/2011
I am in the midst of transferring from one branch to another, and I now have two desks overflowing with great new books! Here are a few:
I spy with my little eye ... something that is blue. "I am the biggest animal in the world."Turn the page to find a richly colored blue whale, which due to some artfully placed curlicues, manages to appear realistic and at the same time, fanciful.
I'm a BLUE WHALE.Each featured animal unfolds in the same manner. The rear cover of the book features a hole for your own little eye to go spying! Colors, animals, guessing - this book has it all!
From the book jacket, here is the description of the art, The illustrations in this book were done using an etching process with monoprinted color. The text type was set in Prin. The display type was set in Rats and Carrotflower.(Rats and Carrotflower? - love that one!) What this means to me is a softly-colored book with fanciful drawings outlined in etched brown lines. The color sometimes spills out of its intended (?) perimeter in much the same way that the young protagonist spills out of her swing and floats and flies through the breezes, "lost in small, green, happy music." She invites the reader to follow her through all of nature's colors, "deep into brown, into the bright white of yellow, into orange that slips into red." From the illustrator of In a Blue Room, another beautiful book!
All in a scramble,It's all fun and games until the moon goes behind a cloud! But not to worry - Mama's coming. These sleepy-eyed, wrinkly little runts are irresistible!
all ready to gambol,
ten moonstruck piglets
on a midnight ramble.
Through the mud wallow,
beyond the wide hollow,
leapfrogging piglets
in turns lead and follow.
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By: Margot Finke,
on 5/31/2011
By: shelf-employed,
on 8/4/2011
Many school-related picture books have arrived on my desk in the last week or two, but these are the only two I've really liked. Put cat in backpackSome items (Eddie choosing in turn, the dog, goldfish, bird, and flat screen TV for show & tell), don't make the written list and are expressed only in the crisply drawn cartoon images on white space. Mom and the dog are featured throughout the story. Mom is happy and supportive, although root beer and cartoons for breakfast does try her patience a bit. So what does Eddie finally choose for a snack and show & tell? You'll never guess! This is a very funny back-to-school gem!
Hug Mom
Take cat out of backpack
Find something else for show & tell
I'll run and I'll run,Along the way, he loses a toe,
as fast as I can.
I can catch them! I'm their
Gingerbread Man!
I'll limp and I'll limp,and almost ends up as someone's snack,
as fast as I can. ...
I plopped on a sandwichThe story is told entirely in rhyme and presented comic style with panels and word bubbles. Cute and simple. Kids will eat this one up.
and chips with a crunch
OH NO! I cried out.
I'm in somebody's lunch!
By: shelf-employed,
on 8/8/2011
In 3-6 paragraph rhymes, she features the history of fourteen inventions, including doughnuts, high-heeled shoes, eyeglasses and animal cookies. The "Piggy Bank" was a particularly interesting invention,In the Middle Ages
pots were made from pygg.
It was an orange clay
that wasn't hard to dig.
When someone had some money
to save or hide away,
they kept it in their pygg jar
for a future rainy day.
Some potter probably said,
after giving it some thought,
"What if I take my fine pygg clay
and make a pig-shaped pot?"
Well, soon the other pottersHumorous, brightly-colored acrylic paintings accompany each entry, and are a mixture of folk art, caricature and comic styles. The double spread illustrations are framed on three sides by a quilt motif of related illustrations (shoes, doughnuts, etc.) and the fourth side has a border featuring facts - Who, Where, When, and more.
who formed and shaped the clay
were making jars in piggy shapes
just like they do today.
By: shelf-employed,
on 10/10/2011
My calendar's packed. I just returned from a trip. I'm in the midst of a class. I'm presenting at a forum this week. But wait, four great new picture books are sitting on my table waiting to be reviewed!
What to do? Do it Twitter-style! Here they are in 140 characters or less:
Willy. De Kockere. 2011. Erdman. Celebrating the peculiarities that make Willy the elephant special. Monty Python-esque art, a perfect foil to a quirky tale. Love it!
 |
| ©Copyright Carll Cneut |
By: shelf-employed,
on 1/22/2012
Salas, Laura Purdie. 2012. A Leaf Can Be ... . Illustrated by Violeta Dabija. Minneapolis: Millbrook.
Advance Reader Copy supplied by NetGalley.
What's better than a beautifully illustrated nonfiction picture book? One that can be used to delight preschoolers, introduce poetry, or present science concepts. A Leaf Can Be... does it all.
Introductory stanzas give way to descriptive phrases of a leaf's many uses and manifestations,
A leaf is a leaf -The font is simple and pleasing, like printing with a fine point gel pen.
a bit of a tree.
But when cool days come chasing,
it also can be a ...
Wind rider
Lake glider
Pile grower
Hill grow-er
Mouth filler - leaves can be tasty! Apes, giraffes, insects and many other animals eat leaves. Humans do too. Have you eaten lettuce or spinach lately?Highly recommended. It's early in the year, but I think this will be a favorite!
By: Bill Kirk,
on 1/26/2012
Just when you thought it was safe to break out your rhyming dictionary (or start running all your rhyming endings alphabetically through your head), someone tells you there's gender to contend with in the rhymes you write. What's up with that? After all, the last time you paid any attention to linguistic gender was Spanish class in the ninth grade---or was it when you ordered that beer during Spring Break in Puerto Vallarta?
No matter. The last place you thought gender would be an issue had to be rhyme, right? Well, fear not. It's not quite as problematic as you may anticipate. In fact, except that someone back in the day must have thought structural endings and sounds ought to be classified according to gender, it's unlikely that anyone would even notice. But just out of curiosity, it might be fun to try and sleuth out who among the ancients decided gender was important---and why.
So, where did the whole gender in rhyme thing originate? Did the early Chinese rhymers grapple with gender in their day? Although some of the oldest surviving Chinese poetry contains lyric aspects, because the written language is character based, any gender association to poetic form may be difficult to tease out. Left with that uncertainty, is the male-female poetic structure primarily western in origin? Could it simply be a non-functioning, vestigial "leftover" from Old Latin which etched its subtle tracks on the English language as romantic entanglements ebbed and flowed across Europe?
According to one source in the English Department at Carson-Newman College, (http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_R.html) the word "rhyme" itself originates "from Old French, rime meaning 'series,' in turn adopted from Latin 'rithmus' and Greek 'rhythmos'." Given some of the other gender assignments in Greek and Latin, might we ascribe gender features to the rhyming verses penned by the early Greeks and Romans?
No doubt, the definition of gender in rhyme could probably be argued until the cows come home, with a break taken only for milking before the debate starts again. As is true with virtually any sorting out of why words in any language might be classified as masculine versus feminine, rhymes are no different. One thing seems clear: at least in English, gender in rhyme seems to have little or nothing to do with the gender rules found in some romance languages.
That is, whether a line of verse in English ends in an "a" or "o" or other gender laden vowel or consonant, doesn't really matter as much as it does in the Spanish language. And speaking of word endings, despite its compromise value in the Italian language, the use of a neutral vowel (such as the letter "i") at the end of the plural form of both masculine and feminine words is not a gender-driven issue in English rhyme. But you have to admire the logical recognition of not being able to sort out gender in groups.
In the French language, the definition suggests line ending words which end in "e" are feminine and those that don't are masculine. Some sources also refer to "e" endings and unaccented ending syllables as being weak. Although I was a French major in college, I'll leave the "why" of those "differences" to others who know far more about the origins of the French language and who don't mind getting their shins kicked.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, although the reasoning might be debatable, the rules regarding gender in English rhyme are remarkably clear. According to the Collaborative International Dictionary of English, a female rhyme has a rhyming set in which the rhyming lines end in double-syllable words (ego, amigo). A male rhyme, on the other hand, is one where only the last syllable in the line endings agree (stand, demand). No doubt you have noticed the difference in where the stress is placed---keep reading.
The definitions are extended slightly in Brande and Cox (A Dictionary
By: Bill Kirk,
on 2/6/2012
Anyone who has written in rhyme or attempted to do so, has likely struggled with the question of whether it is good enough---meaning good enough that someone other than the writer (or writer's mom) will like it. Will it be deemed to have sufficient appeal amongst the reading public to actually be published?
(Note to self: interesting how "public" and "published" have the same root, isn't it?).
But is the goodness (or shall we say "seriousness" of a rhyme, in terms of its quality) solely in the eye of the beholder? Or are there particular inherent characteristics of a rhyme itself that can be classified or measured---that give it legs; make it last?
Right off the bat, let's set aside the publication issue of goodness versus rightness. An editor's or a publisher's decision to go with a rhyme may have more to do with "fit" rather than how well the rhyme is written. In a short piece for a magazine, the rhyme has to be relevant to the theme. It must also target the appropriate age and be true to the magazine's mission and vision. If the monthly theme is airplanes, a rhyme about the anticipated trajectory of bouncing beach balls probably won't cut it, no matter how good the rhyme is.
So, for sake of argument, we will assume the rhyme flows smoothly, has no obvious speed bumps in its rhythm and that it may even have a surprise twist to get a chuckle or even a sardonic eye roll out of the editor or publisher. But use of rhythm and wit in rhyme is a different topic entirely. So, let's set it aside for the moment.
Instead this post is about goodness versus badness in rhyme solely in terms of rhyming words and line endings, AKA rhyme scheme. This will be mostly a structural discussion of perfect rhyme versus near rhyme and forced rhyme. In the words (pardon the pun) hammered home by one modern day bard (M.C. Hammer in "You Can't Touch This"), let's "break it down!"
GOOD (PERFECT) RHYME: So, what are editors and publishers looking for? Before jumping in, I should qualify this answer as being based on my own personal experience with rejection---no, not that kind of rejection; I mean by editors and publishers---and what they have told me from time to time that has helped me improve my rhyming game.
Generally, a good rhyme must... well... rhyme. And it must rhyme well. Near rhyme and forced rhyme are taboos which we will cover when we get to the "bad" stuff. Rhyme assumes that a set of rhyming words will follow a certain sequence. Rhyming sets come in pairs or fours or other groupings and can have either single (ray, say) or multiple (hatchet, ratchet) rhyming syllables. But in either case, the endings of the rhyming lines should sound the same. And the pattern of how the endings are used in the verse should be consistent.
In a Shakespearean Sonnet, for example, the rhyming scheme is laid out in three quatrains (four-line stanzas) and an ending couplet: abab cdcd efef gg. Following that rhyming scheme, in each stanza the first and third lines rhyme, the second and fourth lines rhyme and the last two lines (the couplet) rhyme. In "Mary Had A Little Lamb", disregarding the repeated lines (little lamb, little lamb, little lamb), only the second and fourth lines in each stanza rhyme (_a_a _b_b _c_c _d_d). And using this as a brazen attempt at self-promotion, a four-line rhyming scheme can be found in my rhyming picture book "There's A Spider In My Sink!" where all four lines in each stanza rhyme (aaaa bbbb cccc dddd, and so forth).
Regardless of the rhyming scheme you choose, just remember to keep your intended rhyming line endings sounding the same and your rhymes should be good except...
...when they're not.
BAD RHYME: Apart from problems with the content of a rhyme (flaky or shaky story, nonsensical verse that isn't otherwise interesting, funny or cute) and
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Thanks for stopping by my blog! The book looks great. And it's a subject kids should hear more about. Good luck with it.
Thank you so much, Jennifer! I hope I can prevent pain in some little ones. :) <br><br>Donna
Glad you like Shari's Interview! I just checked out your website - very very nice :)
I have fun working on it. Thanks!<br><br>Donna
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