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Howdy, Campers! What's store for you at TeachingAuthors today? A new picture book, its blog tour, a guest author and poet, two original poems, and a reminder to enter our latest book giveaway . Whew!
In honor of Poetry Friday, (link at the bottom of this post) my teacher and friend, New York Times bestselling author, Barbara Bottner has opened her notebook to share a poem with us from a work-in-progress (W.I.P.). And I've added my poem about being in her writing group.
But first: TeachingAuthors is proud to be part of Barbara's blog tour (see tour schedule below) celebrating her brand-new book, Feet, Go to Sleep (Penguin Random House), illustrated by Maggie Smith.
From the book flap:Fiona is not ready for bed. But after a long day at the beach, her mom knows she must be tired from her head to her toes. So together they send each part of her off to sleep. As Fiona relaxes her body, she remembers a day when feet were for splashing in the waves, legs were for running after cousins, tummy was for holding strawberries, and arms were for throwing beach balls. And bit by bit, memory by memory, Fiona slips from a great day into a good night.
Trust me, Campers, it's a perfect-for-summer bedtime book, weaving in a relaxation technique we can use to help kids go to sleep after an exciting day.
And when I asked Barbara if she would share a poem from her W.I.P. verse novel, I See Thunder, she said, "Sure!"
I’M A MONSTER
by Barbara Bottner
I’m not Davy’s mother
but Mother demands
that I do things she should do
like take him with me, everywhere I go.
And Davy walks really slowly.
Sometimes I wonder if he does it
just to annoy me.
Today, I’m going to the Grand Concourse
to buy fresh salty pretzels.
Just as I'm leaving, Mother says:
“take David with you.”
Her shrill voice
says do not dare object.
She has no idea how that makes
going to the Grand Concourse
nothing like what I had in mind.
“C’mon,” I say.
“Put your jacket on already!”
He's so easy going.
I'm so hard going.
“Where are your glasses, Davy?”
Now my voice
is shrill.
He looks at me with his big browns,
mumbles: “It’s hard to be me
when you’re angry at me.”
That’s when I get a grip on my nasty self.
(c) Barbara Bottner from her work-in-progress, I SEE THUNDER. All rights reserved.
Thank you, Barbara. I especially love these lines: He's so easy going./I'm so hard going....“It’s hard to be me/when you’re angry at me.”...and that last line. One poem can say so much.
When asked "Where do you get your ideas?" here are some pearls from Barbara:...the ‘material’ we use in the beginning is often our own. So I wrote books about being the worst dancer in the class, being messy, being rebellious. It’s not the events themselves, it’s what they stir up in me…We are the clay and we are the potter and I believe you have to be both if you want to be an author…work authentically…follow where the story wants to go.
There's too much to tell you about what a fine teacher Barbara is...
...how intuitive she is, how she challenges us to dig deeper and deeper still...
AROUND BARBARA’S TABLE
by April Halprin Wayland
by April Halprin Wayland
It's magic, you know
the tinkling of her full moon necklace
impossible feats of metaphor.
Six of us around her rosewood table
savoring tea
spilling over our pages
foreshadowing, fortune telling
drawing stories
out of the shadows
of her drapes.
The illusion of allusion.
A prophecy of sorcery.
She's a shaman jingling bracelets
on her sleight of hand.
It's wizardry, you know.
She's clairvoyant,
soothsayer,
sorceress,
source.
sorceress,
source.
Thanks for including us on your blog tour, Barbara! Jump on board her tour and you may win a copy of Feet, Go to Sleep! Here's the schedule:
5/12 Booktalking #kidlit
5/13 GoodReadsWithRonna
5/14 Wrapped in Foil
5/15 Teaching Authors
5/16 Big Hair and Books
5/18 Frog on a Blog
5/19 Chapter Book Chat
5/20 In Bed With Books
5/21 Shelf-employed
And...you have until midnight, May 15, 2015 to enter TeachingAuthors' latest book giveaway for Stephanie Lyons' new book, Dating Down--don't miss out!
And...you have until midnight, May 15, 2015 to enter TeachingAuthors' latest book giveaway for Stephanie Lyons' new book, Dating Down--don't miss out!
And thank you, Diane of Random Noodling for hosting Poetry Friday!
posted by April Halprin Wayland while sharing sips of Pellegrino with Barbara's new pup
0 Comments on Barbara Bottner's Feet, Go to Sleep blog tour--and Poetry Friday! as of 5/15/2015 6:09:00 AM
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Terrific revision, April. Isn't amazing how cutting a poem can make the feelings in it stronger? Seems counter-intuitive.
So glad you'll be participating in the March Madness Poetry competition. Can't wait to read what you come up with!
Why thank you, Carmela! And yes, cutting is a magic writing tool. This week, in fact, I've asked my students to take one of their 850 word picture books and rewrite it in only 200 words.
I loved the revision. Shorter is stronger. I'll have to look into the March Tournament. - Cynthia
I always learn from all of you, April. Just wanted to let you know that I shared your 'can of worms' poem with my writing group. They loved it. What a blessing to have such a poem to share & discuss! Thanks for this post too-I will use it, hopefully wisely, & in the tournament too!
Carmela and Cynthia, both--thanks for taking the time to read the original poem and compare it to what I posted here! You both get gold stars.
Linda, thanks for letting me know that you shared the poem about jealousy in this blog post:
http://www.teachingauthors.com/2013/02/happy-poetry-friday-poem-making.html
You are always a welcome here, Linda--we have a blog guest room down the hall. :-)
I hate when that big beige monster lurks outside... I hear IT'S afraid of first-rate writing, so I'm glad to gather much of that to arm myself with as I visit great blogs like yours. ;0) Thanks for all the goodies today.
Plastics burning. Yuck. I recognized that smell and feeling immediately.
GO HOME, indeed! Great revision, April! Congratulations on competing in the March Madness competition - may you and Monkey go far! I'll be reading and rooting for you. =)
Your big beige monster is wonderful. I mean, not that you want him around, or anything...