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Sylvia Vardell chaired “Poetry Party! Celebrating 2009 NCTE Poetry Award Recipient Lee Bennett Hopkins,” which Ruth blogged a little bit about on Friday.  This was by far the most fun I’ve ever had at an NCTE Session since it was complete with food, party favors, and distinguished children’s poets who all read original poetry [...]

I haven't had an opportunity yet to write up a post about the Poetry Party that was held in honor of Lee Bennett Hopkins last Friday at the 2009 NCTE Annual Convention in Philadelphia. It was a BLAST!!!

Is there anyone out there who is going to attend the 2009 NCTE Annual Convention (November 19-22, 2009) in Philadelphia? I've already registered! I really want to be there when Lee Bennett Hopkins receives the NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children at the Books for Children’s Luncheon scheduled for November 21st. There’s also going to be a Poetry Party for Lee on the morning of Friday, November 20th. A panel of poets mentored by Hopkins will join in a celebration of Lee’s life, work, and poetry at the party. Here are the names of some of the children’s poets who will be there: Janet Wong, Rebecca Kai Dotlich, J. Patrick Lewis, Walter Dean Myers, Jane Yolen, and Georgia Heard. It doesn’t get much better than that—does it?

Come join me in Philadelphia to help celebrate the life and work of Lee Bennett Hopkins, children’s poet and anthologist extraordinaire. Let me know if you’re planning to attend.

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

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!

 

A few weeks ago, we did dictionary entry poems for Tricia's Poetry Stretch. Thinking about poems that define things brought to mind Lee Bennett Hopkins' Alphathoughts, a fantastic collection of very short poems from A to Z, each offering a pithy definition. I pulled it down off my shelf, and Im going to share two favorites of mine from the book, and they show the range of sacred (to me, anyway) to profane this collection encompasses.

B Books Pages and pages of bound forevers --Lee Bennett Hopkins, all rights reserved C Custodian Keeper of clean --Lee Bennett Hopkins, all rights reserved

 

Did you see the lovely essay in the new SCBWI Bulletin by Diane L. Burns about shaking hands with someone who shook the hand of...It reminded me of this wonderful experience I just had of the chain of encouragement and joy poets build.

When I saw poet Tracie Vaughn Zimmer in May, she related the story to me of how nervous she was at her first ALA Poetry Blast, and how Lee Bennett Hopkins sat next to her, holding her hand until it was her turn to read.

I was so jealous.

This past Monday, the day of the ALA Poetry Blast, which I was so looking forward to and yet also nervous about, I met Rebecca Kai Dotlich to hang out and talk for a couple of hours. Rebecca is one of my poetry heroes, and she's close friends with Lee, who's a poetry hero of pretty much every children's poet around.

I was telling her that when I posted something here about hoping I wouldn't faint on stage at the Blast, I got the sweetest email from Lee, saying he wished he were going to be participating in the Blast this year. He would have held my hand and calmed me down. I knew he meant it, since Tracie had told me he did exactly that for her.

Rebecca promised that she would hold my hand that night and try to pass along the reassurance and joy that Lee would pass on if he were there. And she did. That night, as we all gathered in the Chicago Hilton, Rebecca came up and stood with me, holding my hand, offering calmness. I did feel the love of poetry and of poets that filled the whole room--poets and librarians and teachers alike.

Of course, I was still nervous! But it helped. The feeling in the room. The long-distance encouragement of Lee Bennett Hopkins. The close-at-hand reassurance of Rebecca, Joyce Sidman, Marilyn Singer, and the other poets who knew I was slightly terrified. The calm support of my editor smiling in the middle of the room. The excitement of author/librarian Wendie Old (who extended her trip a day just to attend the Blast!) and everyone else in the audience. It all helped.

Now I'll share a poem from each Lee and Rebecca. Thanks, you guys!
 

From Lee's most recent collection, City I Love (Abrams, 2009), here's a poem I love. Kite New kite blue-white flitters twirls tumbles twitters like a young bird in new morning's wide-awake city sky. --Lee Bennett Hopkins, all rights reserved

Backyard Bubbles One bubble shimmies from the wand to waltz around the backyard lawn. One fragile globe of soapy skin-- a glimmering of breath within a perfect pearl, I blow again! One more bubble squeezes through, one blushing bead of water-blue; and then another rinsed in pink (shivering with pastel ink) dances on a summer sigh, shimmering with shades of sky, s-l-o-w-l-y slides right out of sight; backyard bubbles taking flight. --Rebecca Kai Dotlich, all rights reserved

Love cities in the summer time? Lee Bennett Hopkins has written some wonderful poems about all things "city," accompanied by cute illustrations by Marcellus Hall, making for a nice poetry book for all age levels.


As the reader, we get to experience cities all over the world, from New York and Tokyo, to Cairo and San Francisco, all with their own unique aspects, as well as some striking similarities. Horns blaring, hydrants flowing, subways traveling, these poems really give an overall beautiful to cities around the globe, easy enough for a child to understand, with some really cute illustrations featuring a cute dog that pops up on each page. Your kids will have a great time looking for him, while you read the poems!

Teachers and homeschoolers could work this into a global unit, mixing some social studies with some poetry. It's always nice to mix and match!

To learn more about this title, or to purchase, click on the book cover above to link to Amazon.

City I Love
Lee Bennett Hopkins
32 pages
Poetry
Abrams
9780810983274
April 2009

National Poetry Week Goings-On...

If you're looking for ways to get your daily shot of the poetic during April (which, of course, is National Poetry Month) here are two great options:

• GottaBook's 30 Poets/30 Days. Poet and blogger Gregory K. Pinkus has put together quite a National Poetry Month celebration. Every day in April on GottaBook he'll be posting a previously unpublished poem by a different children's poet, including Jack Prelutsky, Mary Ann Hoberman, Lee Bennett Hopkins, Douglas Florian, Nikki Grimes, Jane Yolen, Pat Mora, Nikki Giovanni, Adam Rex, Jon Scieszka, and many many more. Click here to read the full list.

• Poetic Asides' Poem-a-Day Challenge. Poet's Market editor, blogger (and my super-duper co-worker) Robert Lee Brewer is holding his annual Poem-a-Day Challenge on the Poetic Asides blog. Throughout April Robert will post a daily poetry prompt and poets are encouraged to post their prompt-inspired work on the blog (every day if they're up to the challenge). In May Robert's 50 favorite poems will be offered in an e-book. It's all free and there's no registration to complete--poets simply write and post.
  

Before we move on to our discussion of A Girl Named Disaster and the introduction of the next Tiger’s Choice, we want to talk about the latest comments in the discussion of how to turn children into passionate readers.

Parents who read to their children are an essential element in creating readers, and Jeannine and Marjorie both bring up new ways for parents to ensure that this happens. Marjorie, whose sons’ book reviews light up the PaperTigers blog this week, suggests a virtual book group as being a way for children with irrepressible physical energy to come together in a space that doesn’t lend itself to exuberant (and distracting) physical activity. “After all,” she points out, “they are growing up with an affinity for virtuality which we can only wonder at!” Providing a way to link the world of books with the virtual world seems to be a brilliant way to keep reading alive in the brave new world of the internet. If anybody else has ideas on blending these two disparate pastimes, please let us know.

Jeannine, who read three to four books a night with her son when he was small, says that talking about the books was as much fun as reading them. She observes that parents can encourage their children to be engaged readers who can eventually take part in intelligent book discussions by through questions (”Why do you think he did that?”) and through connecting real-life activities with books shared with children. “If you’re reading about a garden, go outside and dig in the dirt,” she urges. And she adds, in the same spirit as Corinne, “As for the TV–just say no!”

Suggestions that add to this conversation, previously posted to the CCBC-net listserv, (the Cooperative Children’s Book Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Education), are reprinted here with permission. Megan Schliesman, CCBC Librarian, says, “When my husband, daughter and I gather together for a shared story (we are currently on book 3 of Suzanne Collin’s “Gregor the Overlander series), I am aware–as several have already mentioned–that we are not only experiencing a terrific story, we are also making shared memories.”

Lee Bennett Hopkins, a well-known poet and anthologist, echoes another poet, Sherman Alexie, in advocating The Snowy Day. “Read aloud The Snowy Day by [Ezra Jack] Keats; follow it up with “Cynthia in the Snow” where snow is “Still white as milk or shirts/So beautiful it hurts.” in Gwendolyn Brooks’ Bronzeville Boys and Girls….With every book you read aloud, find a poem to go with it. I believe we spend too much time TEACHING children to READ–and NOT enough time TEACHING them to LOVE to read. GET the difference.”

Let’s celebrate that difference and continue the discussion on how to make it become a vital part of the lives of children.

Yesterday I went to the SCBWI-FL conference in Orlando, and followed the poetry track, where we spent the whole day with Lee Bennett Hopkins, who has done numerous anthologies for children, and Kristin Daly from Harper Collins, who aquires poetry, picture books, and a few other things.

A couple things I learned about writing poetry:
1. Make every word count...there is no room for fillers.NO 'empty calories' allowed. That means do not use the words JUST, BUT, AND, THE, QUITE. Each syllable of a poem must move it to action.

2.Watch out for uneven or forced meter...do not give the editors an excuse for dumping your poem.

3. Don't be afraid to stand out from the pack. Use themes based on basic childhood experiences...with a new twist.

There are three types of poetry books:
1. Original poetry...your own collection
2. General anthology...a conglomeration of poems with little or no connection
3. Specific anthology...theme-based books. These sell the best.

Poetry-friendly magazines:
Babybug, Boy's Quest, Cicada, Cricket, Hopscotch, Iguana (must be originally written in Spanish), Odyssey.

Poetry-friendly publishing houses:
Clarion Books/Houghton Mifflin
Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux
Greenwillow Books
Margaret K. McElderry Books/Simon and Schuster
Wordsong/Boyds Mills

And, I would say, Harper Collins.

At the end we had 'Poetry Idol.' Our assignment was to write a poem about something that began with the same letter as our last name. I won.It was a great day...and has inspired me to get writing on poetry again... Read the rest of this post

So I'm following a lovely little website located via Kids Lit that was created to accompany the upcoming PBS documentary on Louisa May Alcott's life. It's called Louisa May Alcott: The Real Woman Who Wrote Little Women. The site is beautifully done. There's a Timeline, great Links, a portion on Ms. Alcott's life, and so much more.