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Everyone's favorite Mexican, Gustavo Arrellano will be signing his book, Ask a Mexican at one of my favorite Booksense bookstores, Vroman's in Pasadena.

Saturday, May 3, 2008 4:00 p.m.
Gustavo Arellano discusses and signs Ask a Mexican
Location: Vroman's Bookstore


Vroman's has a pretty interesting slate of authors coming up...check their event calendar for details and the site for directions to a truly fabulous bookstore.

 

Here's another poetry book not yet nominated for a Cybils.

Over the past few days, I've read Poems in Black & White, by Kate Miller (Wordsong, 2007) two times. It's filled with the kinds of poems that stay with me, that pop into my head at odd moments throughout the day.

The premise is simple. The poems are all about objects that are black and white: cows, a black cat behind white curtains, a comet, etc. The poems are free verse, though there's plenty of near rhyme and wonderful rhythm.

One of my favorite poems is "Comet," which is also the poem featured on the back cover:

Comet

    A swirling smudge
              of luminescent white
 it flings a dusty tail
              of blurry light
          across
the neatly ordered sky--
   a tease
         of breezy
               imperfection--
                   as if some
                          impish thumb
                                  had smeared
                                       a star
                                              before 
                                                       the night
                                                                had dried


The art for the book is also by Miller (I'm so jealous of a poet/illustrator!). It's, of course, all in black and white, and a fascinating end note describes how Miller makes the monotype illustrations. Amazing!

The poems in this book are serious, funny, melancholy...a wide range. But they are marked by a keen sense of observation of life. I felt like each poem was truly a frozen moment in which the poet saw things with great clarity and then expressed that moment painstakingly.

Here's another one I love:

First Steps

when you were new
just minutes old
and baby bare
they caught your
pedaling feet
just long enough
to ink them black
and press their prints
upon a glossy sheet
of pearl-white paper

two tapered soles
of elfin size
creased with lines
unique to you that
mark you mine
ten rounded toes
like stepping stones
left and right
a perfect pair
adventure bound

Isn't that wonderful? If you haven't yet made your poetry nomination for the Cybils, I hope you'll read this book! If you love it, then please consider nominating it for a Cybils.

Here's another poetry book not yet nominated for a Cybils award.

Yesterday, I read Bugs: Poems About Creeping Things, by David L. Harrison, illustrated by Rob Shepperson (Wordsong, 2007). 



This collection of 40 poems about the things I try to avoid whenever possible (boxelders congregating around our electric meter and trying to find a way into the house--ick!) is a funny, silly book. I like silly rhymes (though not nonsense rhymes) and many of these poems gave me a smile. For me, 40 of them is a bit too many. I tend to like more variety in a collection. But I know there are tons of kids who will eat these up--the poems, not the bugs, hopefully.

flea

A flea known as Ralph
swallowed a cow.
It's a mystery how.

And after the cow
he swallowed a horse
(a huge one, of course).

But with a giraffe
he ran out of luck.
Its legs got stuck.

It's impossible now
to understand Ralph
wif giraffe in hif mouf.

And if the poem doesn't make you laugh, the line art of a tiny flea with enormous giraffe legs sticking out of it will make you cringe. Sure to keep 6-year-old boys and girls happy! 

For me, the poems for two voices were the strongest ones. He has seven in this collection, which teachers will really appreciate, I think.

As someone who grew up in Florida, roach capital of the world, I shuddered at this one:

roaches
(for two voices)

(first voice)      (roach chorus)

We love your kitchen
late 
at night.

                            We hate it
                            when you
                            flip 
                            the light.

We love to nibble
this
and that.

                           We hate it
                           when you
                           own
                           a cat.

We love it
when you
scream
and
yell.

                          We really hate
                          your
                          ROACH
                          MOTEL!

That's not even the best of the poems for two voices, but it's the one that gave me the creeps. And the illustration of cranky old roaches having a buffet did not make me feel better!

Do you love bugs? Do you love silly verse? If so, check out this book and see if you think it deserves to be nominated for a Cybils.

 

I'm following the Cybils poetry nominations with great interest since I get to help narrow the list to five titles. We'd love to see more nominations, since there was so much fine children's poetry published this year.

For me, it can be kind of daunting to  look at the comments and figure out what hasn't been nominated already. So I thought that each week, I'd pick a publisher with a fairly extensive poetry list and point out which of their 2007 books have not been nominated. That way, if you've read one of these books and loved it, you can head on over and nominate it!

This week, I'm doing Wordsong, the poetry imprint of Boyds Mills Press. Here are their 2007 releases that are not yet nominated.

Miss Crandall's School for Young Ladies and Little Misses of Color, by Elizabeth Alexander and Marilyn Nelson

Shape Me a Rhyme, by Jane Yolen

Under the Kissletoe, by J. Patrick Lewis

Way to Go! Sports Poems, by Lillian Morrison

Bugs, by David L. Harrison

Moving Day, by Ralph Fletcher

Poems in Black and White, by Kate Miller

Polar Bear, Arctic Hare, by Eileen Spinelli

Tough Boy Sonatas, by Curtis L. Crisler

Have you made your Cybils nominations yet? If not, please go throw your favorites into the hat, one per category. We want to consider a wide range of titles in every category! Thanks.