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Over the weekend, I read In a Heartbeat (Walker Books for Young Readers, 2010), Loretta Ellsworth's new novel. I had been waiting for this book to come out ever since I heard Loretta describe the book and its two main characters who tell the story in alternating chapter--teen girls, one the recipient of a donor heart from the other. I don't know Loretta well, but I like her and wanted this to be a good book. Besides that, the agent for this sale is my friend and sometime critique partner, Mary Cummings. In fact, I think (but I could be wrong) that this was Mary's first sale as an agent.

So I had my fingers crossed. And I was not disappointed. Both Eagan and Amelia are real people with real strengths and real faults. And the plotting and pacing are awesome. I couldn't wait to find out how everything would end, and I raced toward the end of the book. But then I was sad that the book was over. When I feel that way after the last chapter, I know it's a book I can recommend!

I think this is the kind of book teenage girls are going to lend to their friends, saying, "You've gotta read this!" Congratulations, Loretta and Mary!

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I read Chasing Brooklyn, Lisa Schroeder's latest novel in verse, on Friday. I couldn't put it down. As usual, Lisa gets right to the emotional core of the story. Brooklyn's boyfriend was killed in a car crash a year ago, and now the friend who was driving the car is dead, too, an apparent suicide. The friend begins haunting Brooklyn's dreams, and the dead boyfriend begins urging his brother to reach out to Brooklyn--but why? The brother doesn't know.

The novel is narrated in poems from both Brooklyn's and Nico's (that's the brother) point of view. What I love about novels in verse, I think, is their intensity. We get to be right inside the fear, despair, hope, insecurity, happiness, and guilt of the characters--without wading through 400 pages of character description. I confess that I'm not big on "character study" novels. They usually bore me. I want things to happen.

But character studies in the form of verse novels work really well to me. Because everything is so stripped down, there's room for emotions and actions and that's about it. Not much background. Not a lot of daily living kind of stuff. All of that is telescoped into one or two mentions in poems. Instead the main characters (living and dead) interact with each other and spill themselves onto the page. And I was there to greedily mop up each poem, tumbling forward to find out what would happen next and how Brooklyn and Nico would feel about it.

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After seeing that I had the book Repossessed, by A.M. Jenkins, as my Favorite Book of the Week for, um, a lot longer than a week, someone (ack--can't remember who) said I needed to read this book: Soul Enchilada, by David Macinnis Gill. So I did. And I really liked it. It's another book that made me laugh while I was thinking about big

questions like self-sufficiency, life after death, deals with the devil, etc. I loved the main character, Bug. She doesn't waste a lot of time feeling sorry for herself--she just sets out to fix things (like the fact that her grandfather essentially traded her soul for a 1958 Cadillac Biarritz) the best she can, while accepting that some things might just be unfixable. She's got mad pizza delivery and basketball skills, her new boyfriend works for the International Supernatural Immigration Service, and she can mouth off like nobody's business. What's not to love?

 

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Nikki Grimes' latest picture book, Voices of Christmas (Zonderkidz, 2009), is one of those books that makes me go, Why hasn't someone done this before? It's a collection of poems that together tell the story of the birth of Christ. Each spread introduces the character with a Bible quotation and then presents a poem from that person's point of view. These poems are from real, human people, with real, human failings: nosiness, greed, selfishness, etc. But also bravery, love, and faith. And the illustrations by Eric Velasquez are stunning. So gorgeous and evocative. Here's the poem for Gaspar, introduced as "In the time of King Herod, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, asking, 'Where is the child who was born King of the Jews? We observed his star at its rising.' "

All those years of poring over
charts and scrolls on astronomy,
then suddenly, it was as if
the Morning Star
leapt from the page
and rose into the sky.
I have waiting for its appearing
so long, I know its shape by heart.
This star marks the Messiah's birth.
God, at last, has come to earth
and I must find him!
"Brothers, it is time for us
to begin the journey
for which we were born.
Pack quickly and take
a gift for the King.
We leave in the morning."

--Nikki Grimes, all rights reserved

I don't read many religious books, but I really enjoyed this one. I can't wait to listen to the CD that came with it, too, with the book read by Nikki.

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I loved Markus Zusak's The Book Thief, and now I'm a giant fan of I Am the Messenger, too (both Printz Honor books). Ed Kennedy is a 19-year-old slacker, working as a cabbie, living with his smelly dog, The Doorman, in a hovel, fairly content to silently worship his best friend Audrey and drink with his friends. He's a passive guy, which usually makes for an annoying character. But then he begins receiving anonymous playing cards in the mail with cryptic directions to fix things. As he reluctantly becomes involved in fixing other people's lives, Ed becomes more active, more assertive. The change is realistic and touching. And he never loses the humor that made me stick with the book despite not liking him all that much in the book's beginning.

Reading the book, I cared not only about Ed but about his friends and the people he helps, from the mom and daughter living with an abusive man, to the old lady with Alzheimer's, to the priest with the empty church. It's a mixture of humor, mystery, and melancholy. And somehow, Zusak drew me right into a character whose life is so unlike mine, but whom I identified with completely by the end of the book. And it takes a lot of skill to make me identify with a slacker 19-year-old guy. The smelly dog part is only natural, since Captain Jack Sparrow smells a little ripe some days!

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Last week, I finished reading The Runaway Dragon, by Kate Coombs. I only became aware of Kate and this book because of the wonderful poems she's been sharing in various online poetry stretches/exercises. I thought this was a picture book when I put it on reserve at my library, but it's a middle-grade novel. A wonderful, funny, fantasy middle-grade novel. The adventure story is terrific, but the voice is my favorite part. Here are two brief examples: Though it wasn't nearly as nice as Gorba's, the hut was a witch's house. Meg could tell because of the snarling black cat, the noxious herbs hanging on the walls, and the shelf filled with malevolent-looking books. Also because of the dead witch on the bed. p. 102

"Yes, mistress," Bain said with a deep bow.

He was such a minion! Meg made the kind of face usually reserved for three-week-old meat. "You've ruined him." p. 188


Great book for the 5th and 6th graders on your holiday list!

Having a great time on vacation--hope you guys are doing well, too.

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I have several Printz winner and honor books checked out from the library right now. I put them on reserve after reading an excellent article in The Horn Book about award-winning books. I don't read a ton of YA, so it was helpful to read about some Printz honorees from over the years. The first book I read off my pile was The Body of Christopher Creed, a debut novel by Carol Plum-Ucci.

I think the thing I loved most about it was how recognizable the characters were. I mean, they were all well-developed and unique. But they also were the kids I knew in high school. They felt so real. If you're a fan of mystery/suspense books, I highly recommend this one for you.

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Who could resist a title like Food Hates You, Too (Disney-Hyperion, 2009)? Not this picky eater! With poems and illustrations by Robert Weinstock, this collection shows off a wry, sly sense of humor. "Ferris-Wheeling" is one of my favorites in the book. Ferris-Wheeling Ferris-wheeling is appealing when your stomach isn't feeling corndog-whirling, taffy twirling, cotton-candy-heaving, hurling, curling, swirling, kneeling, reeling, that's when it is most appealing. Who is up for Ferris-wheeling? --Robert Weinstock, all rights reserved I also love one called "Recipe," but my favorite is "Mom." Picture a praying mantis knitting in a rocking chair in a spread that's a spoof of Goodnight, Moon (there's also a Warhol's Campbell soup can homage and probably other artistic allusions that are going totally over my head).

Mom

I ate your father. Yes, it's true.
That's what we praying mantids do.
His last words to me were "Adieu.
If only I could eat you, too."

--Robert Weinstock, all rights reserved

I think Weinstock does short poems the best. Some of the longer ones, like the title poem and "Monday," don't do so much for me. But what a fun, twisted collection overall!

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I couldn't wait to read Operation Yes, a new middle-grade novel from Sara Lewis Holmes. I was excited for many reasons: 1. I loved her first book, Letters from Rapunzel. It had real heart. 2. I know Sara online and enjoy her writing and her worldview immensely. 3. I enjoy improv. In fact, I went to see an improv show at ComedySportz right after reading this book, and I left wanting to take improv lessons again (improv lessons--doesn't that sound like an oxymoron!). I knew improv somehow figured into the plot of Operation Yes, and I couldn't wait to see how. In fact, I also love the book Improv Wisdom, which I'm 99% sure Sara recommended in the first place. 4. I grew up in Orlando near the Navy base, and my best friend's dad was retired military. I often went on base--attended church there, ate lunch there, etc. It's a cool setting, and one I've never seen featured in a kids' novel. And when I read the book, it was all that I hoped for and more. I won't give away the plot, but here are a few things I love about what this book is about:

1. It's about saying yes even when life sucks. 

2. It's about the power of one person to make a difference, to change other people's lives, by connecting, joining, playing off of each other.

3. Bad things happen. This book acknowledges that, trusts kids with this knowledge (which they already have, anyway), and tells a story about what a particular few kids do with that knowledge.

4. It's about the amazing things can happen when someone is willing to say "Yes, and..." (a major tenet of improv comedy). It's about taking what life hands you and choosing to create a great life anyway.

5. It's also about the power of the plan. I love to plan, and the whole dichotomy of improv and planning in this book drew me in totally.

6. It's a dang good story. I'm drawing out the themes/philosophy of the book. And they resonated with me. But most of all, it's the story of Bo, a boy living on base, his cousin Gari, who comes to stay with Bo's family while her single-parent mom is deployed overseas, and their teacher, Miss Loupe--the most unusual teacher they've ever had (and, oh, how I would have loved to have had Miss Loupe for a teacher!). I wanted to know what happened to all of them and how they would possibly solve their big problems. And with humor, realism, and suspense, Holmes moves all their stories briskly forward to a conclusion that feels just right. I'm so glad I won a copy of this book from Sara! It was on my to read list anyway, of course. But the autograph from Sara, the personal connection I felt while reading it, that's what the book is all about.

I nominated Operation Yes for the Cybils, and  I hope you'll head over there and start nominating some books you loved this past year too.

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OK, usually my One Book I Love posts are just a cover and a brief excerpt of a book I love (no surprise there!). But today, I have a special treat. You get not only some excerpts of a wonderful book but also an interview with the author, the fabulously creative Heidi Bee Roemer. I had admired Heidi's poetry for years in various Lee Bennett Hopkins anthologies, but I actually had no idea she had any books out. She has three, and my favorite one is her newest, Whose Nest Is This? (NorthWord Press, 2009), a rhyming nonfiction picture book.

Some of you regular readers know I have a thing about alligators/crocodiles. So here's a verse that made me shudder!

She snatches up plants with her terrible teeth
and piles the foliage in  a ten-foot wide heap.
Her eggs incubate in this super-sized thatch.
One day in late August, wee reptiles will hatch.

Whose nest is this?
An alligator's nest

Now, here's what Heidi shared with me.

How did you get the idea for Whose Nest is This? Call it serendipity! And a bit of gutsy  brashness. Shortly after What Kinds of Seeds are These? was released by NorthWord Press, I asked my editor, Kristen McCurry if she had a “wish list,” or a new topic she’d like to have on her book list someday. Kristen said she’d love to have a book about nests. I grabbed that thought like a drowning man grabs a life vest. Kristen made no promises, but I figured it was worth a try. The next day—and many days after that—I was at the library researching nests. Six weeks later, I submitted my manuscript called, Whose Nest is This? And, another six weeks later, amazingly, Kristen bought it. Naturally, I was deliriously happy!

Do you call it a collection or a rhyming nonfiction book? It reminds me in form a bit of Hotel Deep,by Kurt Cyrus, which I love. Anyway, what (and when) was the genesis of this?

Whose Nest is This? (2009) is a fun nonfiction companion book to What Kinds of Seeds are These? (2006). Both follow a kid-friendly riddles-in-rhyme format. Of course, the verses in Nest focus on the nests of various birds, mammals, reptiles, fish, and insects, while the verses in Seeds describe various seeds and how they’re dispersed. 

I know this is a hard question, but which verse/poem is your favorite?

Yes, it is terribly hard to single out one favorite stanza. It’s like asking a mother which child is her favorite. Perhaps the nest description that stands out to me is the one below because some readers may not think of insects as nest builders.

 A papery place that’s fit for a queen,
 It’s unlike most nests you have probably seen.
 Each nursery chamber has six-sided walls.
 One egg rests in each—there are hundreds in all.

 What kind of nest is this?
 A paper wasp’s nest or hive.

My favorite illustration? Honestly, all of Connie McLennan’s illustrations are fabulous. But one that really wows me is her colorful, vivid image of  the Caribbean flamingo’s nest described as “a towering mud-mound that’s shaped like a cone.”  You can’t ask for better!
 
Which poem did you struggle most with? And which flowed out most easily?

I wrestled and wrangled with the stanza describing the stickleback’s nest. You might say it was a sticky one! But eventually, with a little help from my editor, we resolved it. I absolutely love the results:

 A hard-working papa, he won’t stop to rest.
 With bits of green algae, he forms a fluffed nest.
 To hold it together, what does he do?
 His body produces a waterproof “glue.”

 What's your favorite warmup for writing poetry?

Reading is my I.V. cure for writer’s block. Before I begin writing, I ingest delicious words and pictures from children’s poetry books and magazines. They refresh and inspire me. At some point, I can’t read another word; I’m compelled to sit down and try to “capture the magic.” 
 
You've been published in so many of Lee Bennett Hopkins' anthologies! And this is your third poetry/verse book, right? Any advice for unpublished poets who want to be where you are?

I’m happy to share a few tips for writing poetry! Here they are:

Have a clear idea of your message. Don’t let rhymes of convenience sidetrack you and muddle up the meaning of your poem.

Check facts. Never submit a poem that makes false statements, such as penguins live in the North Pole or that the sun revolves around Pluto.

Learn to revise. Rarely (never?) does a poem come out perfectly in the first draft. C. J. Cherryh says it best: "It is perfectly okay to write garbage—as long as you edit brilliantly."

Be succinct. New poets often write poems that are overly long, fat, and sluggish. Learn how to trim the flab. After writing your poem, go on a “Search and Destroy” mission to eliminate weedy words and phrases. Trim, tweak, twist, toy, cut, maneuver, manipulate, revise, and sometimes— start over. This is word-crafting at its best! 

Read your poem aloud. Check it for clarity. Listen for alliteration, assonance, and a regular meter.

Set it aside. In baker’s terms, “Let the dough rise.” Then roll up your sleeves and review the poem again—word by word.

Use a dictionary. Check the thesaurus. Invest in a rhyming dictionary. Use these materials to help you select only the best words. Avoid trite, overused rhymes. Limit abstract words, as young readers may lose interest. Replace bland, colorless words with bright nouns and vivid verbs. Perk up your poem with kid-friendly language. Be concise and direct. Think pictures!

A good children’s poem contains a focused topic, kid-friendly vocabulary, fresh rhyme, sometimes meter, and—always—a dash of originality!

Thanks, Heidi! I'm so happy to see this book. It's great for reading with any curious kid, and it would also be fantastic in the classroom.

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All week, I've been sharing school-themed poetry books I love. And of course, I couldn't leave out School Supplies, a Lee Bennett Hopkins anthology. Here are just a couple of the poems I love from this book: Homework It rustles it shifts with no wind in the room to move it Listen! the blank white paper needs your attention. --by Barbara Juster Esbensen (author of Swing Around the Sun, one of my all time favorite poetry books

Classroom Globe

Spinning, spinning,
round
and round,
a swirl of blue,
a whirl of brown;
mountain ranges,
oceans,
lakes,
islands,
foreign countries,
states.

Spinning, spinning,
stop!
Then linger.
Trace the earth
beneath
one finger.

Spinning, spinning,
round
and round,
a swirl of blue,
a whirl of brown.

Spinning, spinning,
round
and round.

--Rebecca Kai Dotlich (one of my all time favorite children's poets), all rights reserved

This is a gorgeous anthology that makes me see the magic in everyday school objects, and the magic in every day. It's from 1996, and I'm not sure if it's still in print. But if you can get your hands on a copy, don't miss the opportunity!

The Poetry Friday Roundup is at the fabuloso Wild Rose Reader today!

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One book I'm loving right now is The Monsterologist: A Memoir in Rhyme, ghostwritten (ha!) by Bobbi Katz and illustrated by Adam McCauley. I met Bobbi at ALA in Chicago and bought this fun collection at her signing. The premise is that a person who studies monsters is looking back over his or her life and remembering the highlights of her career. Here's a poem about the lovely Medusa. Medusa Just one look at Medusa could turn you to stone. When she says, "Let's talk," play it safe. Use the phone. She's a very vain monster, but she'll never say, "I'm having a terrible bad-hair day!" What's the complaint that Medusa makes? "I can't do a thing with this head full of snakes!" --Bobbi Katz, all rights reserved Fancy-dancy design work, appealing poems, and cool art make this a keeper!

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I've read several wonderful books recently, and my One Book I Love for today is Mare's War (Knopf, 2009), by the fabulous Tanita Davis. Two sisters, Octavia and Tali, are unwilling passengers on a road trip with their unconventional grandmother, Mare. Alternating (kind of) chapters intertwine the story of the road trip with Mare's story of her life in the segregated South and in an African American battalion of the WAC during WWII. I love the grandmother, who doesn't take any guff from anybody, but who also isn't the all-knowing, wise old woman. She's human and, along with the rest of the family, makes her own mistakes. So do the two sisters, whose rocky relationship reminds me of my two daughters. I did learn some history in the novel, but you can tell that's not the point of it. This is no history lesson. It's a real story of real people, and I learned as much about myself (as with any good novel) as I did about the characters or the period in history. Yay, Tanita! I loved A La Carte (Knopf, 2008), and this novel is totally different but has the same essential heart and strength of that one.

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A while ago, I posted about how I had finally realized why I don't enjoy a lot of contemporary YA novels. Not that I don't like any of them, but a lot of them do annoy me. In the comments, Becky Levine recommended My Most Excellent Year to me, a novel she had read and really enjoyed, so I put it on reserve at the library. I finished it 5 minutes ago, and wow! I loved it. In some ways, it reminded me of Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie, by Jordan Sonnenblick. Not in plot at all, but in heart...in the feeling it left me with. And, in looking at Amazon to find the cover image, I find that author Steve Kluger has more novels for me to read, too. Yay! Thanks, Becky. It was wonderful to be reading a YA novel I couldn't put down, instead of one I felt like I was trudging through.

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Deborah Ruddell and Joan Rankin, the team behind Today at the Bluebird Cafe, have a new picture book poetry collection out: A Whiff of Pine, a Hint of Skunk: A Forest of Poems. This is another fun collection with many touches of humor. While I enjoy serious poetry about animals and nature a lot, it's also good to see a gently funny collection. These aren't silly or nonsense poems, they're just poems about the lighter side of the forest. Here are a couple I enjoyed:

Biography of a Beaver

Bucktoothed Cleaver
Tree Retriever
Building Conceiver
True Believer
Waterproof Weaver
Overachiever
Roll-Up-Her-Sleever--
Hooray for the Beaver!

--Deborah Ruddell,
all rights reserved

How wonderful is that? Waterproof Weaver/Overachiever are my two favorite lines there. I've been enjoying list poems a lot lately (check out Falling Down the Page), and this one puts me in mind of Douglas Florian's work. This simple set of identifiers for a beaver--so fun and clever!

Here's another one I love:

Ode to a Salamander

Ponder yonder salamander,
innocent and shy:
a sensitive amphibian
who wouldn't hurt a fly...
especially if there should be
a spider passing by,
which she could sweetly gobble up
and barely blink an eye.

--Deborah Ruddell, all rights reserved

Hope you enjoy this collection as much as I do!

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Last year, at Wild Rose Reader, I won a copy of Falling Down the Page: A Book of List Poems, the new Georgia Heard poetry anthology with a poem in it by Elaine Magliaro. Publication got pushed back a year, and I was so delighted to recently receive my copy from Elaine. What a fantastic group of poems! Even though these are all list poems, there's still a huge, wonderful variety in the shapes and forms. Even though all boil down to a list at some level, it never feels repetitive or boring. This anthology includes poems by so many of my favorite poets--it's amazing! Usually with poetry collections, I post several excerpts to entice you into checking out the collection for yourself, but with an anthology, I feel more hesitant to share someone's entire contribution.

Luckily, there are some posted online already:

You can see Sylvia Vardell's post here, which shares Georgia Heard's poem, "Recipe for Writing an Autumn Poem," as well as some terrific ideas for sharing the poems in the classroom.

Check out Elaine Magliaro's wonderful "Things to Do If You Are a Pencil."

Read "Ways to Greet a Friend," by Avis Harley.

In this fabulous poetry resource for teachers, by J. Patrick Lewis, scroll to page 6 to read his "What Is Earth?"

This is a truly terrific anthology. I love all the concrete nouns and images. Every poem feels stuffed to bursting with things--things kids will recognize, understand, relate to. But those things are now parts of larger ideas, and kids and grownups won't look at those things the same way ever again.

Race out to grab this anthology--I hope you love it as much as I do!

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You know how some books break your heart, but in a good way? That's Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie, by Jordan Sonnenblick. My favorite thing about this book is that for each of the main characters-- Stephen, his little brother Jeffrey, and his mom and dad--there were times I was annoyed with them even though I fell in love with each of them a bit. They were just so real. And the fact that I spent half the book blinking back tears but smiling at the same time. This is one of my favorite novels I've read in a while. Thank you to my online student who recommended it and then kept asking, Did you read it? Did you like it? What did you think? I thought it was fantastic!

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