As a children's author, I have the privilege of reading to kids, mostly in schools and libraries, and I always start by telling them that my poems all come from my imagination. I continue by saying that they all have imaginations too, as good was mine or as anyone else's. That gets them thinking, and listening a bit more sharply.
During the reading of my poems, I ask for questions, a part I always enjoy because I never know what will come at me. What is most frequently asked is, where do I get my ideas? I remind them that I use my imagination but that
I am listening and looking and smelling the world around me for ideas or phrases or situations or animals or colors or jokes that can spark the beginning of a poem. By going towards life I am rewarded because life then comes back to me with buckets of stimulation.
I tell them that on my book jacket notes, it says: "'He spends a lot of time looking out the window,' reads one of Robert Forbes' report cards."
Daydreaming is healthy, and in our busy-every-minute high-tech lives, it's good to slow down and get out of the electronic bubble we have all put ourselves into.
We talk about word choice and how it is the vehicle of writing, while imagination is the perpetual fuel for it.
Poetry has many forms, and whatever they feel is right for them is what they need to use.
But poetry has rules that can be demanding too, and those rules make it more fun because of the challenges they present. I like rhyming, which can be hard. I also use meters, so there is rhythm to my poems. While metered rhymes can be difficult, I love the journey they take me on. I don't always know where I am going to end up and sometimes I know where I want the poem to go but I don't know how I will get there.
I wouldn't have it any other way!
In the end, I write poems to please myself, and I hope they please others. By reading to children, I hope to stimulate them to read poetry and to try to write some themselves.
I am scattering seeds in the belief some will sprout and scatter more seeds down the line.
Robert L. Forbes is President of lifestyle magazine ForbesLife and the author of the poetry collections Let's Have a Bite! and Beastly Feasts!
And kid of all ages are absolutely delighted by the mischievous rhymes and delightful illustrations of LET'S HAVE A BITE: A BANQUET OF BEASTLY FEASTS, by Robert L. Forbes (illustrated by Ronald Searle).
And a wonderful way to make the gift of a book a lifetime keepsake is to have it signed (or personalized!) by the author. If you're lucky enough to be in Palm Beach, Santa Barbara or Montecito over the next few weeks, you have a great chance to get Mr. Forbes to inscribe a personal message in this beautiful book.
Check out Mr. Forbes' web site or Facebook page to stay up to date on all of the latest happenings with this wonderfully whimsical book. A few to mark on your calendars...
December 7: Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens 3rd Annual Literacy Day
During their Annual Festival of the Trees, I will be reading here.
253 Barcelona Road
West Palm Beach, FL
From 10AM
December 8: The Channel City Club in Santa Barbara, CA
I will do a reading at their annual Holiday Luncheon, 12:30-2, including a book signing.
2:30 A reading at the Story Teller Children’s Center, Santa Barbara
December 9: The Crane Country Day School, Montecito, CA
2:15-3 A reading to students.
December 15: Palm Beach Book Store, PB, FL
5:30 Book signing until 7pm
2011 Lots of events in the works, such as a reading at the Princeton Club in New York, a Southern swing , a return engagement with the Creative Writing classes at Boca Raton’s Spanish River High School, a reading in Rome, more schools, and Easter Day with many kids in Palm Beach at the annual egg hunt. Stay tuned!
And don't forget that Monday kicks off our
12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS AT OVERLOOK, with twelve days of giveaways that include autographed books, sets, swag related to the forthcoming
TRUE GRIT film adaptation, and for those of you shopping with kids, just-in-time-for-the-holidays copies of
LET'S HAVE A BITE! Check back Monday for more.
Check out this fantastic article in the Wall Street Journal profiling Robert L. Forbes, author of our wonderfully whimsical children's book LET'S HAVE A BITE! A BANQUET OF BEASTLY FEASTS. It's always fun for us to read author profiles instead of traditional reviews--especially when they lead lives as interesting as this. Go here to read the full article, but here's an excerpt you might enjoy! You can also keep up-to-date on the life and times of Robert Forbes and events surrounding the publication of Let's Have a Bite! on Facebook and by following @robertlforbes on Twitter.
As happy and well adjusted an adult as Mr. Forbes seems on the surface, I can't help but believe his latest book, published this week, "Let's Have A Bite! A Banquet of Beastly Rhymes," with drawings by the New Yorker cartoonist Ronald Searle, isn't the result of night terrors. "The Giant Panda at the zoo just sits and chomps on fresh bamboo," goes one poem. "His belly is like a cooking pot, Which happens when you eat a lot. He's content to do not much but chew. Which is all he seems to do (That and poo!)"
People often take a stab at children's books after reading "Goodnight Moon" to their own kids and becoming convinced they can do better. But Mr. Forbes hasn't read to his son Miguel in decades. Miguel is in his thirties. Miguel is Forbes's president of television and licensing.
It seems Mr. Forbes simply has crazy rhymes going through his head. He'll wake up in the middle of the night, don his special Edward Beiner reading glasses with built-in reading lights, write for a couple of hours, roll over and go back to sleep.
"I write to amuse me," he said. "I write stuff I'd like to read." Such as, apparently, "A chicken-stewing cat named Shauna slipped on her sweat in the sauna. She moaned on the floor, 'I must reach the door, Or I'll be a fricasseed goner.' "
Mr. Forbes said he contacted Mr. Searle, who lives in the south of France, and whose work he collects, out of the blue, fully prepared to be rejected, but figuring it couldn't hurt to ask. But Mr. Searle said yes. "I'll write a couple of lines about the poem," Mr. Forbes said of their collaborative process, "and a month or two later back this package comes with all these illustrations. It's like a little boy opening a Christmas present."
This is actually Mr. Forbes' second book of poems and critters. The first, "Beastly Feasts," also illustrated by Mr. Searle, was published in 2007. And Mr. Forbes shot the photography for "A Year of Dancing Dangerously," about his wife Lydia Raurell's successful quest to be crowned newcomer of the year on the pro-am ballroom dance circuit, though partnered with Brian Nelson, her professional dance partner.
Mr. Forbes divides h
While Robert L. Forbes' delightful book of children's poetry LET'S HAVE A BITE! doesn't officially hit shelves until Sept. 16, a few lucky bloggers and media people have already gotten copies. Glad to see they're enjoying the fun rhymes and wonderful drawings by Ronald Searle as much as we are!
Naida at The Bookworm has one of our first reviews for this title, which she read with her 10-year-old daughter.
With rhymes like Hugh the Emu, The Rhino's Wine, The Inchworm Sprint and Flick the Fly, coupled with great illustrations to match, Let's Have A Bite! A Banquet of Beastly Rhymes makes for a fun book to read to the kiddies in your life.
... I really liked this funky collection, and my daughter(10) and I read them together. This one would make a great gift as well, especially if you're looking for something a little different than your everyday children's nursery rhymes.
Thanks, Naida! Check out
her full post here, and hope that those of you with kids will get a chance to sit down and read something fun and whimsical as you gear up for the school year to start!
The Overlook Press was excited to be a first-time exhibitor at this year's ALA Annual Conference in Washington, DC. 13,000 librarians in a huge conference center in our nation's capital--what's not to love?
We were excited to have Robert L. Forbes, author of Let's Have a Bite! A Banquet of Beastly Rhymes there with us, signing copies of his new book for the show's resident rock stars--children's librarians.
If you follow us on Twitter (@overlookpress!) you've already seen lots of our pictures from ALA, but here are a few for you to enjoy that are slightly higher quality than those taken on a BlackBerry.
Thanks again, ALA, for a fantastic event!
Our display of Beastly Feasts!, Let's Have a Bite!, and a menagerie of classic and modern animal crackers.
The other side of the booth. Animal crackers welcome, but not required.
Some of Robert Forbes' librarian friends from Palm Beach, FL--they were instrumental in getting us to the conference and helping us prepare for it.
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Reading poetry aloud to children is a terrific way to celebrate National Poetry Month, and with Overlook's Beastly Feasts! A Mischievous Menagerie in Rhyme, parents can provide both fun and entertainment. With 40 poems by Robert Forbes and zany illustrations by Ronald Searle, Beastly Feasts! will keep kids and their mischievous parents coming back all month long.
In 1967, May Cutler founded Tundra Books, a Canadian Book publishing house with a number of fundamental and, at the time, very progressive goals:
- Focus on creating children’s books
- Create children’s books as works of art
- Introduce children to important issues
On this edition of Just One More Book, I speak with Kathy Lowinger, publisher of Tundra Books.
Logo: tundrabooks.com
Tags:
childrens books,
Kathy Lowinger,
May Cutler,
Tundra Bookschildrens books,
Kathy Lowinger,
May Cutler,
Tundra Books
[…] Just One More book is seriously bursting with podcasts. There are book reviews, interviews with authors and illustrators, interviews with editors, discussions, tips, guest reviews, info on literacy programs etc etc. This monster list of podcasts is searchable by tag (left side of the site), by name (right side of the site) or search box. By searching the ‘publishers showcase’ tag you should be able to find most of the publisher related podcasts. There are also other publisher interviews floating around the site like this interview with Kathy Lowinger of Tundra books. Want to know what the role of an editor is? Listen to the interview with Alvina Ling. Interested in hearing about the process an author/illustrator goes through from project conception to published work - listen to the Waiting at the Door to Unger series with Lee Edward Födi. […]