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It’s the last day of the year and time for me to pause and ponder all the wonderful poetry books published for young people this year. So much variety! Anthologies, biographical poetry, picture book collections, novels in verse, edgy YA work, playful verses for very young children, and more. New voices and new works by old favorites. Great curricular connections in science, social studies, and beyond. Fun experimentation with poetic form and voice. Beautifully written, beautifully illustrated. Serious, humorous, and everything in between. After much deliberation, here’s my list of not-to-be-missed poetry for kids in 2007. Be sure your library has multiple copies of each!

1. Alexander, Elizabeth and Nelson, Marilyn. 2007. Miss Crandall’s School for Young Ladies and Little Misses of Color. Wordsong.
*Powerful sonnets tell the story of Prudence Crandall and her school for African American women in the early 1800’s

2. Crisler, Curtis. 2007. Tough Boy Sonatas. Wordsong.
*Gripping, edgy poems about growing up as a young black man in the city

3. Fisher, Aileen. 2007. Do Rabbits Have Christmas? Henry Holt.
*Lovely, fresh gathering of older poems by Fisher about Christmas in nature

4. Florian, Douglas. 2007. comets, stars, the moon, and mars. Harcourt.
*Florian’s dynamic illustrations and clever, descriptive poetry take us to outer space

5. Frank, John. 2007. How to Catch a Fish. Roaring Brook.
*Evocative oil paintings and lyrical poetry introduce fishing around the world

6. Grandits, John. 2007. Blue Lipstick: Concrete Poems. Clarion.
*Musings of a teenage girl in often unorthodox poetic forms

7. Hemphill, Stephanie. 2007. Your Own, Sylvia. Knopf.
*Semi-biographical verse novel written in the style of Sylvia Plath’s poetry

8. Hopkins, Lee Bennett. 2007. Behind the Museum Door. Abrams.
*Fun collection of field trip poems that make museum artifacts come alive

9. Issa, Kobayashi. 2007. Today and Today. Scholastic.
*Classic haiku by Issa are arranged to create a lovely chronological story

10. Janeczko, Paul. Comp. 2007. Hey, You! Poems to Skyscrapers, Mosquitoes, and Other Fun Things. HarperCollins.
*These “apostrophe” poems of address give a variety of objects a voice

11. Miller, Kate. 2007. Poems in Black and White. Front Street.
*Striking illustrations and lyrical poems address objects that are black and/or white

12. Mora, Pat. 2007. Yum! Mmmm! Que Rico!: America's Sproutings. Lee & Low.
*Vibrant illustrations and pungent haiku (along with fun facts) introduce the origins of foods from across the Americas

13. Park, Linda Sue. 2007. Tap Dancing on the Roof; Sijo Poems. Clarion.
*Park brings the Korean form of sijo poetry to the forefront with clever rhymes and helpful background information

14. Prelutsky, Jack. 2007. Good Sports; Rhymes About Running, Jumping, Throwing, and More. Knopf.
*Participating as well as winning and losing in sports is highlighted in playful rhymes and illustrations

15. Sandell, Lisa Ann. 2007. Song of the Sparrow. Scholastic.
*Verse novel re-envisions a feminist telling of the “Lady of Shallott” classic

16. Schlitz, Laura Amy. 2007. Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village. Candlewick.
*Poem portraits of a variety of interconnected characters in a medieval village

17. Sidman, Joyce. 2007. This is Just to Say. Houghton Mifflin.
*Poems of apology and forgiveness in the voices of a classroom of children

18. Smith, Charles R. Jr. 2007. Twelve Rounds to Glory: The Story of Muhammad Ali. Candlewick.
*A poem biography about boxer Ali told in a shout-out cadence

19. Spinelli, Eileen. 2007. Where I Live. Dial.
*Delicate poems and drawings capture the difficulties of moving and making life transitions

20. Vecchione, Patrice. 2007. Faith and Doubt; An Anthology of Poems. Henry Holt.
*Powerful poems about belief pack this rich anthology

21. Weatherford, Carole Boston. 2007. Birmingham, 1963. Wordsong.
*Photographs and poems trace the sad events of the church bombing in 1963

22. Wong, Janet. 2007. Twist: Yoga Poems. McElderry.
*Color-rich illustrations and metaphorical poems make yoga fun

23. Worth, Valerie. 2007. Animal Poems. Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
*Worth’s descriptive poems and Steve Jenkins’ collage art create vivid animal portraits

24. Yolen, Jane. Comp. 2007. Here’s a Little Poem. Candlewick.
*Fun collection of poems perfectly placed and illustrated for very “little” children

25. Zimmer, Tracie Vaughn. 2007. Reaching for Sun. Bloomsbury.
*Accessible verse novel about a girl growing up with cerebral palsy

PLUS: Hughes, Langston. (75th anniversary edition 2007). The Dream Keeper (and seven additional poems). Knopf.

Please indulge one last book plug, my own: Poetry People; A Practical Guide to Children’s Poets (Libraries Unlimited, 2007). It’s a resource guide for people who work with children and offers biographical information as well as ideas for sharing the poetry of 62 major poets writing for young people.

Happy 2008 in poetry!

Picture credit: www.eso.org

Just a few things....

Lucy Anne pointed out that there was a tiny promotional film up for Wolves in the Walls at the New Victory site. I just popped it up on YouTube, suspecting that they won't mind at the New Victory, especially if a few of you watching it are impelled to order tickets... (http://www.newvictory.org/show.m?showID=1028522)



YouTube embiggened it slightly, I'm afraid.

I was both saddened and sort of glad he was properly remembered when I saw that Melvin McCosh had died and had a nice obituary and photo in the Star Tribune. I loved going to McCosh's house of books (his motto, You Need Them More Than I Do) as long as it, and he, were there. I bought my favourite book in the whole world there (it's a huge 150 year old 500 page leather-bound blank accounts book. Either I will write a novel in it, or I will want to write a novel in it until I die. Either's fine). The obituary is up at http://www.startribune.com/west/story/1221731.html -- you may have to log in to read it.

Many years ago I put a character based on Melvin McCosh into an SF TV series I never made (it was called Back of Beyond), because I had never before met anyone so transparently fictional in real life. And my love for John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester's poetry goes back to buying some books from McCosh, and when he looked at the pile he wandered off into a back room and put a book of Rochester's poetry on top of the books I was buying. "If you like all that, you'll like this," he said.


Hey Neil,
I picked up American Gods this weekend and have been really enjoying the book. What's been bugging me, however, is the chili recipe you describe in Chapter 2. It sounded delicious and I'm pretty curious to try it. Is it a personal chili recipe you use? And if so, are you willing to share it?

Thanks,
WDW

It was my variant on the Silver Palate Chili for a Crowd recipe (which I just googled and found at http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_collections/simply_delicious/recipe_arch/06_01_29_R#r_1) I could never be bothered with the olives or sausage meat, and everything else was a sort of generalised "adjust quantities to taste", which is how chili works best anyway. I still don't think the dill ought to work in a chili, but it does, magnificently.

Neil,

Today is the World's End Message Board's 6th Birthday, and I just wanted to thank you for providing a place for all these lovely people to get together.

Thank you :)


amy/aitapata

Which is one of those unexpected side effects of something like this. You turn around and there's a whole community there, and I tend to forget they exist until they turn up at signings bearing red balloons and alcoholic beverages and chocolate and suchlike. Happy Birthday... (They can be found at http://neilgaimanboard.com/eve/forums for anyone not using the neilgaiman.com website as a way to read this.)

Just a short one ... did you know that there is a book out there, written by some Miss Laurell K. Hamilton, (fantasy and quite different from your writing) that is called DANSE MACABRE?

(It's not one of my faves by her, I admit, but I remembered the title and wondered how it comes that both of you got to it ... have to check my French and see whether it is some saying or ...)

BB

There are many, many things called Danse Macabre out there. Stephen King's excellent non-fiction book about horror, for a start, not to mention a very wonderful piece of music by Saint-Saëns. It refers to the Dance either of the dead, or of the dead with the living, to remind people that they are mortal. It goes back to the Fourteenth Century, to the plague times. Lots of interesting stuff in this Wikipedia article. Did you know that our word Macabre comes from the dance, and was a reference to the Maccabees? S'true.

And it was originally pronounced macabray. (More details at http://thomondgate.net/doc/companion/Companion.htm#dance)

Rich and poor dance in the same way, said poet John Lydgate in The Dance of Death, and that squashed together in my head with Shelley's "I met murder on the way..." and instead of thinking "He had a mask like Castlereagh" I thought "I met murder on the way, come to dance the macabray..." and suddenly there was a story in my head where there wasn't one before.

Which is too much information, and won't make much sense until you've read the story, but there are probably a few word-buffs out there who will take as much joy in it as I did.

Hey Neil,

Its not so much as a question as shameless self promotion. I did an interview with Barron Storey today. It was for my radio show Inkstuds. The show is all about interviewing alternative and underground creators. I thought your fans would be interested in this interview. We talk a little bit about the 15 portraits of Despair.

Here is a link directly to the posting. http://www.inkstuds.com/?p=173
Cheers,

robin

Of course. (And if you don't know what Barron Storey's work looks like you can find some of it at http://www.geocities.com/negsleep/main/links/barron/barron.html)