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Under what rock have I been living? That's a question I asked recently over at my How to Teach a Novel blog. A couple readers emailed and suggested I repost here, since the reason for that rhetorical question would be of interest to teachers here as well.

I simply wondered how it took so long for me to discover Tracie Vaughn Zimmer. She's an author, and I do recognize a couple of her titles. But somehow I missed that she has also created this awesome site (absolutely no hyperbole intended) containing original teaching guides for picture books (over eighty of these!), YA books, and poetry. All for free! All Tracie asks in return, if you like what you see, is that you buy a copy of one of her recent books. Pretty good deal: free resources and one of her critically acclaimed titles for your library.

Personally I found teaching guides for many books I'm hoping to include in future blog posts including Abe's Honest Words, Daniel Boone's Great Escape, River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams, and Mama Went to Jail for the Vote.

So in a rare move, I'll shut up now. I'll let Tracie's web site speak for itself (and you can check out her blog as well). Thanks, Tracie, for your terrific resources!

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My Blog Meander (see sidebar) continues with a brief interview over at Tracie Vaughn Zimmer's blog (she of the lovely Steady Hands)--hope you'll stop by to say to take a quick read. She also links to the wonderful teaching guide she created for Stampede.

And wish me luck! I'm off on my first official Stampede storytime today. With Dara Dokas, I'm doing an Animal Antics storytime featuring both of our animal-themed books, plus songs and activities! We're starting out with a bang at the Minnesota Zoo! If any of you are close by, would love to see you. Here are the details.

And last but not least, I'm offering an online workshop for writers of rhyming kids' poems. Go to this page and then click to read complete workshop info.

Carol's Corner has the Poetry Friday roundup today. Enjoy!

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Talented poet Tracie Vaughn Zimmer has a new collection out called Steady Hands: Poems About Work! What a terrific glimpse into people's working life. From Janitor to Babysitter, Organizer to Surgeon, this collection takes jobs and shines a light on them, making you see them in a new way. Tow Truck Driver as fisherman? Welder as a knight in shining armor? Cafeteria Cook as parent by proxy? Cool!

Here's one of my favorites:

Welder Like a knight preparing for battle,    the welder pulls on his heavy gloves, tips the helmet over his eyes. In an instant, fireworks fountain as mighty metal drips in beads guided by steady hands. --Tracie Vaughn Zimmer, all rights reserved

And jobs common to teens, like Retail Clerk, Grocery Store Clerk, and Babysitter, are featured here, too. What a great way to help teens see themselves as part of the larger world of careers.

Tracie graciously agreed to put off her real work for a bit and answer some questions for me.

How did you research these!? Did you spy on people? Spend the day with willing guinea pigs?

Spying is a mandatory skill for a poet!

In "Tow Truck Driver," you compare a tow truck driver to a fisherman, reeling in vehicles instead of fish. This entire poem is an extended metaphor, so I'm assuming you already had that comparison in mind when you started writing? Is that right?

There's an old German proverb which I adore that says, "Begin to weave and God will give you the threads." That is exactly how poetry works for me. Similes, metaphors (extended or simple) always occur to me as I try to piece a poem together. Don't get me wrong: it doesn't often happen in the first draft!  But I don't think I've ever started with something in mind before I park myself in front of an empty page.

How did you choose which jobs to include? The variety, from Sheriff's Deputy to Welder to Organizer, is great!

This started as an ode to my family and most of their jobs are featured within the pages (my dad's eyes peek out of the welder's mask and my mom was the Personnel Administrator) but I also wanted to include jobs of teenagers because I think first jobs really shape us as a person. 

Was it your decision to give each poem the occupation as its title? As someone who has trouble coming up with titles, I adore that idea. But I'm wondering whether that was you or the editor who suggested that. And it kind of makes me feel like I'm on a pilgrimmage, a modern Canterbury Tales. Cool!

Wow, thanks. I think I did it just to keep track of the jobs and it stuck.

"Welder" is one of my favorites in the whole book. Which poem is your favorite?

You're making me choose? Wah! Maybe the Artist because I was inspired by pictures of Megan Halsey's studio when I wrote it. It was included in a late revision!

The "Cafeteria Cook" poem gets me when he reminds the kids to take fruit. How much did you think about the individual voice of each
worker?

Voice is something I love to play with and my favorite is the Sheriff, even though he doesn't speak! Slipping on the persona of anyone else is a favorite aspect of any type of writing!

The "Retail Clerk" is hysterical. I love that she'll never have to "witness/the mistreatment of/her discount discoveries--/like that salmon-colored silk scarf,/pilfered by her roommate/and discarded under the futon couch--/before she's even had the chance/to wear them/once!" So glad she's getting her own place:>) Oh, a question, you say? Let's see...Are any of these poems based on real people you know?

Oh, yes. I'm always gathering details and waiting to add them in some book. I have a friend who is very particular about her clothes (I am a sloth at heart) and I pretended to be her when I wrote this one!

Did you always have "Morning" and "Night" as the bookend poems? They're glorious, and of course they look at "work" in an entirely different way. How did these poems come to be in this book?

This is why you should have a brilliant editor. This was Marcia's idea and I have to tell you that they were deliciously fun poems to write for her!


Steady Hands is no career guidebook, but it's a fabulous introduction to careers both exotic and mundane. After reading "Grocery Store Clerk," "1 Lifting/2 scanning/3 sorting/bagging.../each day/a ballet/of hands," who would look at the cashier the same way next time? Next time my food was being scanned, I couldn't quit watching the cashier's hands.

Tracie's poems are concise and accessible. Some are funny and some are serious, but all are satisfying. Amazon lists it as for ages 9-12, but to me, I think kids 12 and up will get even more out of it! .

Tracie is also the author of other fabulous children's books, like Reaching for Sun (which won the Schneider Family Book Award) and Floating Circus! And on top of that, her website is jam-packed with teaching guides, book info, and interviews with poets and publishing people.

Amy Planchak Graves is hosting the Poetry Friday Roundup today, so mosey over for some terrific poems on this first Friday of National Poetry Month!


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Monday is my online book launch party for my first trade poetry picture book, Stampede! Poems to Celebrate the Wild Side of School. Check out an invitation here. And on Monday, just go to www.stampede.ning.com. Hope to see you there!

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No, you're not going crazy. It is not Tuesday. But this got published today by mistake, so, oh well...heh!

The best writing tip in the world?

READ.

So....I offer this post as a testament to that.

I'm not a book reviewer and I don't play one on TV....so I wouldn't attempt to review this book.

But I AM gonna say how much I loved The Floating Circus by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer.

First of all - the subject is fascinating: historical fiction about a circus on a boat, based on a real boat, called Floating Palace. Who knew?

But it's the writing that grabbed me with this one.

I mean, how can you not love a book that starts out:

I shoulda listened to my brother. Right follows Zach like a shadow, but wrong wears me like a skin.

I definitely had to lock the highlighters away while reading this library book, because my fingers were just itching to mark all the lovely sentences and phrases. (I suffer from OHD: Obsessive Highlighting Disorder.)

• It smelled like dirty boys. And dirty boys are mean boys....
• My family was a pile of rags now - shredded and torn.
• Still, the corner felt safe and good, like vegetable soup on a rainy day.
• Anger and fear took turns with me all night, so sleep did not find me until the pale lavender light wedged its way through the open door.
• I couldn't picture myself in their top-buttoned world anymore. [I love that: top-buttoned world.]

Lovely writing.

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Hey, Everyone!!

How about a big hand for Schneider Family Book Award winning author and poet, Tracie Vaughn Zimmer, on the official release today of Steady Hands: Poems About Work (Clarion, 2009)!!


STEADY HANDS: POEMS ABOUT WORK by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer
(Clarion, 2009), ages 6-14, 48 pp.

This fascinating collection of short free verse poems, inspired by Walt Whitman's, I Hear America Singing, illuminates the activities of various people at work -- from a teacher, librarian, mail carrier, surgeon, artist, and welder, to a baker, tow-truck driver, and cafeteria cook. Framed by the poems, "Morning," and "Night," these concise snapshots sometimes offer surprising reasons why a job was chosen, like the lawyer who opted for a less stressful career "in the company of dogs," or, for a teacher, a side of her job not always recognized:



But not everyone knows
the teacher's secret torments:
a lesson that knotted understanding
a bright kid who refuses to be inspired
flames of words thrown in frustration --

Vivid sensual details, like the "flap/roll/flap" of the baker kneading dough, or the "ballet of hands" performed by a clerk as she sorts, scans, and bags groceries, speak to the rhythms of the everyday work world of both adults and young people, and will give readers an uncommon appreciation for different types of careers, and what occupies some of the people who have chosen them. In an interview on her website, Zimmer shares that she wanted to "pay homage to the hard work of people of I know." The welder, for example, is her father; the retail clerk, her sister; and the ballet teacher, her mom.



Sean Addy and Megan Halsey have created a stunning array of mixed media collages to complement the poems, consisting of textured backgrounds, found objects, ephemera, photographs, people cut-outs, and drawings, that can only be described as hip, intriguing, and offbeat. Included are some of Zimmer's own possessions -- lace from her wedding dress, her granny's buttons, and antique keys from her grandparents' house.

    

Steady Hands has already received many well-deserved accolades, including a starred review from Publisher's Weekly, which cites the "inventive, complicated collages, and well-crafted poems." Kirkus liked the "crisp images and dynamic phrases," and Booklist says, "The hands on details blend dreams and realism in the upbeat, contemporary poems that will find a place across the curriculum."

So, are you ready to help me congratulate Tracie?

Just pick up whatever spoon you have at hand and dip deeply into this communal bowl -- then work up a long, steady slurp! When your belly's full, mosey on over to your nearest indie or favorite online bookseller to purchase your very own copy of Steady Hands: Poems About Work. You'll definitely want one for National Poetry Month in April!


Today's Special: Career Classic (guaranteed to improve productivity
and brighten the work load).

To read two sample poems from the book, click here and here.

For more about the book, including a great book club discussion guide and interview, visit Tracie's website. Of course, you can always keep up with Tracie's latest news via her Live Journal blog.

                         

*Interior spreads posted by permission, text copyright © 2009 Tracie Vaughn Zimmer, illustrations copyright © 2009 Megan Halsey and Sean Addy, published by Clarion Books, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.

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Page to Screen (Neil Gaiman signs on to produce a live-action adaptation of "The Graveyard Book") (MTV Movie Blog) - Blog the vote! (Across the kid litosphere bloggers speak out about why voting matters. The master list of participants is up on... Read the rest of this post

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JoEllen is suffering from an identity crisis. Her parents have divorced and she is forced to spend her time split between two places- her mom’s home in the city and her dad’s new home on a farm in the country. During her time with her mom, she is called Ellen, plays her saxophone and hangs out with her friends. While with her dad, her nickname changes to Joey and she prefers riding horses and hanging out with her cousin, Hayden. After awhile, JoEllen becomes confused as to who she really is. Whether Ellen or Joey, she doesn’t feel herself any longer and begins searching to find out just where she belongs and who the real JoEllen is.

In 42 Miles, Tracie Vaughn Zimmer has created a quick read that I’m sure many children of divorce will be able to relate to. Told in linked free verse poems, middle graders will be able to enjoy a writing style different from typical novels, yet still telling a story.

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I’m still riding the high of my Poetry Round Up at the Texas Library Association conference this week! Five fabulous poets, John Frank, Juanita Havill, Alan Katz, Linda Sue Park, and Adam Rex, worked their magic on an audience of nearly 200 participants. It was fantastic! John Frank read from How to Catch a Fish and his new collection, Keepers, in his deep and steady voice. Juanita shared excerpts from her new novel in verse, Grow, that brought several audience members to tears. Alan Katz had us in stitches laughing over poems from his new book, Oops, and his upcoming follow up, Uh-Oh. What fun to feature Linda Sue Park as a POET as she read her sijo poems from Tap Dancing on the Roof, plus a brand new sijo on explaining baseball to an alien. And Adam Rex wrapped it up for us with his deadpan delivery accompanied by slides from his hysterical collection, Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich, as well as the upcoming sequel, Frankenstein Bakes a Cake. (Thank you ALL for coming and sharing!) [Unfortunately, poet Tracie Vaughn Zimmer was not able to come due to an illness, but we hope she is well soon and will join us for the Round Up next year!]

What fun! What variety! The different voices, styles, and approaches helped the audience see the tremendous range of poetry available for young people today. PLUS, the experience of HEARING poetry was moving and exhilarating. People stopped me throughout the rest of the conference to tell me how much they had enjoyed the session. One woman said, and I’m paraphrasing, “I loved just soaking up the words of the poets, sitting back and taking it all in. But I also realized that I was getting ideas about how to share the poems with kids, how to connect the poems with various activities, and get kids involved.” EXACTLY! We spend so much time at conferences attending informational sessions, learning new strategies, networking, etc. But so little time just reveling in literature, hearing the lyrical language of literature, remembering what motivates us all to work as librarians and teachers—sharing our love of literature with kids and hoping they’ll love it too. And in my experience, nothing captures that quite so well as experiencing the literature firsthand through reading and listening—especially to literature read by the creator. It’s primal!

I’m proud to say we’ve brought 26 poets to Texas over the last four years including: John Frank, Juanita Havill, Alan Katz, Linda Sue Park, Adam Rex, Jaime Adoff, Tony Crunk, Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Charise Mericle Harper, Heidi Zingerline Mordhorst, Eileen Spinelli, Marilyn Singer, Calef Brown, Felipe Herrera, Kathi Appelt, Nikki Grimes, Stephanie Hemphill, Carole Boston Weatherford, Walter Dean Myers, Joyce Sidman, Quincy Troupe, Lee Bennett Hopkins, Janet Wong, Kurt Cyrus, Pat Mora, Susan Pearson. What an embarrassment of riches! Each voice has been a delight. I encourage you all to seek out poets and poetry and share them OUT LOUD with kids you care about. There’s nothing quite like it. It’s like a rock concert experience, a night at the theater, or meeting the President (any president!).

Some of the most interesting literature for children today can be found in poetry-- from humorous rhymes to verse novels. How do we create a welcoming environment for poetry? Poet and teacher Georgia Heard put it this way, “Kids need to become friends with poetry…. They need to know that poems can comfort them, make them laugh, help them remember, nurture them to know and understand themselves more completely” (1999, p.20). This session helped participants become familiar with some of the best poets writing for young people today with a panel of acclaimed poets sharing favorites from their own work through reading aloud or performance. Modeled after the “Poetry Blast” session first sponsored by ALSC at the 2004 ALA convention, this session reminds us all of the pleasures to be found in the spoken word. Look for it again next year at TLA in Houston—and in Anaheim at the ALSC Poetry Blast on Monday, June 30. See you there!

Picture credit: www.rccsd.org

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This third week of April was designated as Young People’s Poetry Week (by the Children's Book Council), so I’m tickled that my TLA Poetry Round Up occurs this week. One of the panelists for our Round Up is the up-and-comer Tracie Vaughn Zimmer. A former teacher of kids with special needs, and the author of many teaching and discussion guides for books by other writers, Tracie grew up in Ohio with a twin sister and a big family. Early teachers encouraged her writing and she published her first book, a poetry collection, Sketches from a Spy Tree, in 2005, a New York Public Library Best Book.

Last year’s book, Reaching for Sun, is a wonderful coming-of-age story about a girl growing up with cerebral palsy, told through free verse poems. It is also the winner of the Schneider Family Book award. School Library Journal hailed its “poetic structure” and “imagery” and Booklist noted that this “appealing story will capture readers' hearts with its winsome heroine and affecting situations.”

Tracie’s newest poetry book, 42 Miles, is about a girl who is turning thirteen and lives a life divided between her city apartment with her mom and the family farm with her dad. Tracie’s first work that is not poetry is also debuting this year, A Floating Circus, a historical novel set on a circus boat in the 1850's. What diversity!

For a taste of Tracie’s writing, here is a sample poem from Reaching for Sun:

dreams
by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer

What do you want to be?
adults always ask,
as if you know
by fourteen
what you want to be doing
at forty-five.
I used to make up stuff:
firewoman,
pediatrician,
astronaut,
all the people
I knew my mom
wanted to hear.

I know
more what I don’t want to be:
a single parent,
poor,
stuck behind some desk
or in school longer than
I need to go.
And that will have to be
enough

for now.

From Zimmer, Tracie Vaughn. 2007. Reaching for Sun. Bloomsbury (p. 175-176).

Picture credit: www.motherreader.com

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When poppies first
push themselves
out of the ground
they look like a weed --
hairy, grayish, saw-toothed foliage --
easily a member of the ugly family.

When I push
sounds from my mouth
it's not elegant either.
I wrestle to wrap
my lips
around syllables,
struggle with my tongue
to press the right ponts.

When poppies bloom
the same red
as a Chinese wedding dress --
satiny cups with ruffled edges,
purplish black eyes --
they're a prize for patience,
and if I take all that trouble
to say something,
I promise
to try
to make it worth
the wait too.

~from Reaching for Sun by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer

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