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Howdy, Campers--Happy Poetry Friday! The link is at the bottom of the page, right below my poem.
Our topic this round is Dear Younger Me. JoAnn started us off by encouraging her younger self not only to carry around notebooks...but to actually go back and mine them for ideas. Esther lovingly reassures her younger self--as she has encouraged me and countless others. Carla talks to her past self when she decided to write what would become her first nonfiction book.
I love this topic. We seem to be universally hard on ourselves. I am constantly giving myself tickets for the things I haven't accomplished...
 |
Are you intimidated by the police in your head?
Have you considered the possibility that you haven't done anything wrong? |
So here's what I'd tell my younger self...the one embarking on a voyage to the Children's Book Writers Planet:
Dear Enthusiastic, Younger, Much-Prettier-Than-You-Realize-Right-Now Me,
~ Trust your gut. I know, I know. Your mother kept saying this and you looked at her cross-eyed.
What in the heck does that MEAN?
Well--it means yes, take those classes, read children's literature, find a critique group, attend conferences, read how-to books...
...but give yourself the silence in which to discover that still, small voice within. She's there, I promise. But she whispers. The crazy clutter of our culture makes is hard to locate her (and Honey, it's only going to get worse, believe me. Buckle your seat belt.)
She knows when that marvelous critique group is sending your story in the wrong direction, when the business advice you just heard from the podium does not fit your work habits or your style or your something-else.
Trust her. Wander with her. She usually doesn't take the well-traveled path.
~ Be patient. Ha ha--that's a good one, right? When you're still in your twenties, your very smart husband will say."Y'know...I think we'll both reach our peak in our 50s and 60s." HA! He can't be right, can he?
Um...yup.
~ Keep creating content. That is, keep writing books. Because one day you could look up after visiting 19 gazillion schools, and you'll not only be exhausted to the bone...but your books will begin going out of print. ACK!
So yes, accept invitations to do school visits and teach workshops, because you love teaching. But be careful not to let them take over your writing time like some big blobby thing.
It's so tempting, isn't it? Your ego is definitely well-fed by those second graders who think you're the Queen of England.
 |
| from Morguefile.com |
That's all, Kiddo. You'll do fine.
Oh--one more thing: slow down when you read your beautiful kid bedtime stories. I know,
I know: you want to get to
your work, but trust me...take a breath, take your time, and soak in the pleasure of reading to your kid.
Love,
me
P.S: I know you're not going to take any of this advice. And that's okay, too.
TO MY TEEN SELF
by April Halprin Wayland
Michael is lying.Michael is lying.I know that you're flying on wings of romance.
His teeth gleam, he loves you--well, at least at first glance.But Michael is caught in the web he is weavingMichael is out the door.Michael is leaving.Michael is lying.Michael is lying.Oh, dear.
It's coming:the Niagara of crying.poem and drawing (c) 2015 April Halprin Wayland. All rights reserved.posted by April Halprin Wayland with the help of that still, small voice within.
By:
Carmela Martino and 5 other authors,
on 5/15/2015
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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 MONSTERby Barbara Bottner
I’m not Davy’s motherbut Mother demandsthat 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 itjust to annoy me.
Today, I’m going to the Grand Concourseto buy fresh salty pretzels.
Just as I'm leaving, Mother says:“take David with you.”Her shrill voicesays do not dare object.
She has no idea how that makesgoing to the Grand Concoursenothing 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 voiceis shrill.
He looks at me with his big browns,mumbles: “It’s hard to be mewhen 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
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.
(c) April Halprin Wayland. All rights reserved.
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:
5/21
Shelf-employedAnd...you have until midnight, May 15, 2015 to enter TeachingAuthors' latest book giveaway for Stephanie Lyons' new book, Dating Down--don't miss out!
posted by April Halprin Wayland while sharing sips of Pellegrino with Barbara's new pup
By:
Carmela Martino and 5 other authors,
on 10/18/2013
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Howdy Campers and happy Poetry Friday!
Thanks to Cathy of
MerelyDayByDay for hosting today!
(My own poem's below.)
Neither did I, until
Carmela, who is always on top of things, pointed it out.
Teen Read Week is an initiative of
Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), which is part of the American Library Association.
Launched in 1998,
Teen Read Week is celebrated annually during the third full week in October. Aimed at teens, their parents, librarians, educators, booksellers and other concerned adults, the continuing message of the
Teen Read Week initiative is to encourage 12- to 18-year-olds to
"Read for the Fun of It." The 2013 sub-theme is
Seek the Unknown @ your library. Check out the FAQs here.
Help raise awareness about
Teen Read Week and library services for teens here.
Can I be totally honest here? Yes, I think I can. I'm out of steam this week, I have only air-popped popcorn for brains right now...
so the only thing I can think to say about Teen Read Week is that teens today are LUCKY, LUCKY, LUCKY that they have so much wonderful literature to read...and that it's FREE at their local library. (Never fear--my fellow bloggers will have lots to say about it in the next few days--stay tuned!)
Hooray for librarians in buses, bookmobiles and buildings small and tall, in towns and fields, malls and halls, for offering teens, 'tweens, kings and queens fine literature to have, to hold, to devour!
This is a medal for all librarians.
I was thinking about the theme Seek the Unknown @ your library. Here's a poem from my teen novel in poems, Girl Coming in for a Landing, illustrated (in collage!) by Elaine Clayton (Knopf) that sorta-kinda fits the theme:
IMPRINTING
by April Halprin Wayland
Today Mr. C told us
about this scientist who pushed a vacuum cleaner
past a brood of ducklings
just as they were hatching
and how after that,
those ducklings followed the vacuum cleaner
everywhere--
nearly glued to it.
Imprinting, he called it.
Which made me think
about last year
that first day of school
and how
I must have been
hatching
just as Carlo
walked past.
(c) April Halprin Wayland. All rights reserved.
Posted by April Halprin Wayland who is grateful for the free photos of the popcorn and the medal from MorgueFile.com
By:
Carmela Martino and 5 other authors,
on 8/23/2013
Blog:
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Howdy, Campers! Betsy H. is hosting Poetry Friday today at I Think in Poems. Thank you, Betsy!
At the end of this post are:
1) the details of today's Book Giveaway of an autographed book by verse novelist Sonya Sones;
2) one of Sonya's deliciously enigmatic poems.
However, if you came here to meet Sonya and learn all about her newest YA novel, I'm sorry to say you'll be disappointed. Sonya just called--she had a dental appointment and couldn't be here today.
Exclusive photo of Sonya Sones and her dentist.
I lied. Sonya doesn't need to see the dentist--her teeth are gleaming! Say hello to my long-time friend, critique buddy, fab author and poet, Sonya Sones:
photo by Ava Tramer
Her novels-in-verse include:
Stop Pretending,
One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies, (great title!
), What My Mother Doesn’t Know (one of the top
100 most challenged books of the decade) and its companion,
What My Girlfriend Doesn’t Know.
Sonya has graciously agreed to reveal the
very first
poem in her
book that
isn't even out yet and
YOU, Campers, will be among the very first readers of this poem! Her newest book,
To Be Perfectly Honest (A Novel Based on an Untrue Story) (Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers)
, comes out on August 27 and is
full of lies.
Sonya is an original in the best sense of the word. She and I met in poet
Myra Cohn Livingston's Master Class. When Myra died, her students hosted classes at our homes, teaching each other the fine points of poetry.
When it was Sonya's turn to host, she surprised us by hiring a drummer who gave each of us a drum and taught us different rhythms for an hour! An unforgettable way to instruct and inspire.
She continues to inspire me, always thinking of new ways of telling a story. I'll never forget the day Sonya said she'd decided to write a novel in verse with an
unreliable narrator. I was lucky to witness the unfolding of what became
To Be Perfectly Honest (A Novel Based on an Untrue Story).
Here's a bit of what
School Library Journal says about this book:
"Sones captures the ache of first love. Readers may find themselves laughing, crying, and wanting to believe the unreliable, well-developed narrator. Excerpts may make for a stepping stone to William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Like Shakespeare’s play, this title lends itself to discussion about healthy relationships, setting limits, defining oneself, and evaluating what is real. Fast paced and great for reluctant readers.”
Sonya! Welcome to TeachingAuthors' humble abode! How did you officially become a TeachingAuthor?
I officially became a teaching author the day I volunteered to teach a poetry writing workshop to my son’s fourth grade class. I gave each student a donut and told them they couldn’t eat it until they gave me a simile to describe it. The rest is history.
Besides bringing donuts, what's one piece of advice you have for teachers?
Make poetry fun! Don’t only expose your students to classic poetry. I teach workshops to middle-schoolers and high-schoolers, and I find that they respond with more enthusiasm to current poetry. There’s a very funny poem by Billy Collins called “
Introduction to Poetry,” about tying a poem to a chair and trying to beat a confession out of it, that might be a good place to start. There’s another one called “
Pearl” by
Dorianne Laux, which is a fabulous portrait of Janice Joplin. Try reading that poem to them and challenging them to write a poem about their own favorite musician. And there’s a great very short love poem by
Eve Merriam called “
New Love.”
Don’t force students to memorize and analyze. If you choose the right poems, your students will feel the words washing over them like a cool ocean breeze on a broiling hot day. Your goal should be to teach them how to love poetry, not how to “understand” it.
Whoops. Was that more than one piece of advice?
Sonya crossing her eyes with the Book Café Club
at La Salle Academy in Providence, RI
Who's counting? Please tell us the Cinderella story of how you sold your first book.
I didn’t sell my first book. Or my second book. Or my third. That was when I decided to enroll in a poetry class at UCLA extension taught by the brilliant
Myra Cohn Livingston. She set me on the path to writing
Stop Pretending. I finished it just before the annual
SCBWI conference in Century City and brought my manuscript with me. There, I attended a presentation by a very young agent (he was only 24 years old!) named
Steven Malk who gave a speech about why you should have an agent if you wrote or illustrated for kids. Then halfway through the speech, he switched over to talking about why that agent should be him. He was so persuasive that after his talk 75 authors ran up to him to ask for his business card. But I hung back, not wanting to crowd him.
Later that day, however, I found myself in the lobby, and there he was, standing all by himself. Even so, a friend had to convince me to go up and talk to him. But I finally did and I said, “I wrote a book about what happened when my big sister was sent to a mental hospital, it’s written in verse, it’s sort of edgy, and I was wondering if I could send it to you.” He said, “Okay.” And that was it. A twenty second conversation. I mailed it to him on Wednesday. He called me on Friday to tell me how much he liked it. And by the following Wednesday he had a bidding war going. That week remains one of the most astonishing and exhilarating times of my entire life.
I love that story. And now I've learned that To Be Perfectly Honest (A Novel Based on an Untrue Story) is also available as an audiobook in CDs and MP3, narrated by Kate Rudd, who also narrated John Greene's The Fault in Our Stars.
I want your life!
What's on the horizon for you?
A lot of traveling! Simon and Schuster is sending me on a book tour:
Chicago, D.C., Miami, San Francisco, Menlo Park, Pasadena, Ontario, Raleigh and Phoenix. Then, in October, I’ll be going to Hong Kong where I’ve been invited by Hong Kong Baptist University to participate in an
International Writer’s Workshop for a month. I’ve never been to that part of the world, and I’m very much looking forward to this grand adventure. And wherever I go, I will be scanning the horizon for stories…
Oh my gosh! I'm exhausted just reading your itinerary! I know you'll meet interesting folks on the way!
Sonya, meeting a fan.
photo by Ava Tramer
And finally, since it's Poetry Friday in the Kidlitosphere, please share a poem!
This is the first poem from
To Be Perfectly Honest (A Novel Based on an Untrue Story):
They Tell Me There Was an Accident
by Sonya Sones
Though I can’t
remember it happening.
Here’s what I do remember:
I remember climbing into a limo
with my little brother Will to visit our mom
on the set of her latest film.
It smelled
like someone had been
smoking pot in there.
Or maybe drinking champagne.
Or throwing up.
Or all three.
Sort of like
our living room
after one of Mom’s all-night parties.
I remember
rolling down the window
for some breathable air
while Will bounced around,
like he always does
when we’re in a limo,
telling me
one goofy knock-knock joke
after another.
I remember turning onto Sunset Boulevard,
and seeing a massive billboard
of a guy wearing nothing but jeans—
his fly unzipped
just low enough
to make me look twice.
Will saw it too.
He grinned at me and lisped through the gap
where his baby teeth used to be, “Thex thells!”
Sex sells?
How does a seven-year-old even know that?
I was just about to ask him—
but I never got the chance.
poem © 2013 Sonya Sones. All rights reserved
Newsflash: Sonya's own three-book box set of trade paperbacks,
The Sonya Sones Collection, will be released the same day
To Be Perfectly Honest (A Novel Based on an Untrue Story) comes out. Sonya's comment: "Wow...a new boxed set...now Calvin Klein and I
both have collections."
Visit her at SonyaSones.com, follow her on Twitter, and for goodness sake friend her on FaceBook!
Thank you for offering our readers a chance to win a copy of your new book (details below) and thanks for stopping by, Sonya!
And now, for the Book Giveaway details:
We use Rafflecopter. If you've never entered a Rafflecopter giveaway, you may want to read their info on how to enter a Rafflecopter giveaway and/or the difference between signing in with Facebook vs. with an email address.
To enter for a chance to win an autographed copy of To Be Perfectly Honest (A Novel Based on an Untrue Story) log into Rafflecopter below (via either Facebook or an email address). You'll see that we've provided three different options for entering the giveaway--you can pick one or up to all three.
The more options you choose, the greater your chances of winning. While
we haven't made it a requirement, we hope that everyone will pick the
first option--subscribing to the TeachingAuthors blog.
If you're already a TeachingAuthors subscriber, you still need to click on that button and tell us how you follow our blog, which will give you THREE entries in the giveaway! (If you received this post via email, you can click on the Rafflecopter link at the end of this message to enter.)
As it says in the "Terms and Conditions," this giveaway is open to U.S. residents only.
You must be 18 or older to enter. And please note: email addresses will
only be used to contact winners. The giveaway will run from now through August 29, 2013.
If you have any questions about the giveaway, feel free to email us at teachingauthors [at] gmail [dot] com.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
merrily posted by April Halprin Wayland and her dog, Eli...who wish you a Happy New Year and shyly remind you about April's award-winning book, New Year at the Pier--a Rosh Hashanah Story
.
Howdy, Campers! Happy Poetry Friday!
All five of my fellow bloggers have weighed in on research and now it's my turn.
Jeanne Marie talks about research avoidance,
Esther walks us through the research behind three of her books,
Jill is adamantly in favor of research ("put a sock in it," she tells us if our inner voice downplays its importance),
Mary Ann argues the importance of research like a lawyer fighting for her client's life, and
Carmela gives us a terrific trio of research resources.
Since I seem to be
confessing sins lately, I'll get this out of the way fast: does anyone else ever get scared because you know that deep, down, you're really a fraud? Here are two worries in the whispery-thicket of my mind, keeping me from that research phone call or email:
- What do you mean, call the zoo and ask the herpetologist my question? Who am I?!?!? I'm nobody!
- How can I interview a group of seventh grade girls? What if this never gets published? They'll feel betrayed!
I can't tell you how many books I've done copious research for, most of that research saved on my computer. I've interviewed
rock and mineral experts, my 91-year-old Uncle Davie about flying bombers in WWII and pitching sparkling strands of tin foil out of the fuselage to mess up enemy radar.
This is my favorite photo of Uncle Davie, taken when he was 85.
I've emailed middle school girls and their mothers about body image, I've researched
compulsive overeating,
anorexia,
alopecia, snakes, floods,
tashlich, Passover food, Hawaiian hikes, foods that have holes in them (Swiss cheese, olives, bagels, dried apple rings, red and green bell peppers, pineapple rings, bundt cake and cherry lifesavers for dessert.) and
so much more--oy!
Research, for me, comes down to the beauty of finding that one defining detail.
In researching
Girl Coming in for a Landing, I spent a day at
Magruder Middle School in Torrance, CA on the first day of school.
Throughout the day I was allowed to interview individual students in each grade about how they prepared for the first day, how scared they were, etc.
Here is the pair of poems that made the book:
BACK TO SCHOOL
LAST YEAR
Last year
I worried about where the rooms were
and all those kids.
I didn't know
what kind of binder to buy (three ring?)
or how much lunch money to bring.
Last year I got my hair cut the day before school started.
Dumb me.
It was way too short that first day.
And last year I didn't know if I should buy new jeans
or if my comfortable overalls would be dorky…
or even if anyone cared.
Last year I wasn't sure what time to set my alarm.
Last year
I was scared.
* * * * * * *
BACK TO SCHOOL
THIS YEAR
This year
I've got the perfect organizer
with pockets for every subject (except PE).
This year
I ironed my lavender shirt three days ago
and laid everything out last night.
This year
I set the alarm for six forty-five:
just right.
This year
I got my hair cut two weeks ago
so that it is exactly the right length today.
This year
I have Mr. C for science
Mr. Barton from Tennessee for language arts
and Ms. Konigsberg
for chorus.
Again.
Last year I worried: Who was I? What did I know?
This year
I put on glitter ChapStick and go!
poems (c) 2012 April Halprin Wayland. All rights reserved.
So...besides the alternating inner turmoil and confidence the kids expressed, what was that one defining detail I discovered that day?
Glitter ChapStick.
Who knew? It didn't exist when I went to school. How would I know about that? And of course, that's precisely the point--I wouldn't.
Writing Workout: The Devil is in the Details
Here's today's assignment:
1) Choose a topic you're working on or pull one out of the sky: cats, schools in Croatia, comic strips, how to grow asparagus--it doesn't matter.
2) Now, give yourself a reasonable amount of time to research it--30 minutes? A day? Two months? It depends on the project--you decide.
3) Google it, email a friend who knows the field, go to your local dog park and talk to owners, ask to speak with the woman who runs your school district's vegetable garden program.
4) Your goal is to find one killer detail. Something that sparks you, as glitter ChapStick ignited me.
5) Now, write a poem or start a picture book with this detail in mind.
Write, my children, write! And remember to breathe. And to remember to write with joy!
drawing (c) 2012 April Halprin Wayland.
If you use this drawing, please give credit. Thank you!
Happy February! Here are some interesting happenings, research, and innovation that you might want to share with your patrons. As always, leave comments if you have any suggestions.
- Programs such as the It Gets Better Project have made teen suicides, especially those related to homophobia, a more pressing issue. But is it reaching middle school-aged teens and tweens? A new study shows that many teens who have made suicide attempts made their first ones before high school, which means new approaches to mental health and wellbeing need to be taken earlier. U.S. News and World Report did a writeup of the study, which was published in the Journal of Adolescent Health.
- If you’re looking for a way to make your programming happen outside of the library, take a note from Katie Glick, a poet who set up the Spontaneous Prose Store, which consisted of her, sitting on a street corner, selling poems. Passersby could offer a monetary donation and Glick composed a poem for them on the spot. If your library hosts a writing group, propose they do this instead of a normal meeting. Or set teens up at different points in the library, having them compose on-the-spot poems for or about other patrons, random books pulled from shelves, or anything else you can think up.
Rosenbaum, Richard. “Poetry in the Streets: The Spontaneous Prose Store.” Broken Pencil, 53 (2011).
- I don’t even have a suggestion for this, but it was too interesting not to share. The Telegraph has reported that, in the UK, at least, parents are increasingly deciding not to read fairy tales to their children, because they consider them too scary or outdated for them. That’s striking, considering most people like to talk about how sanitized fairy tales have become over the years. If nothing else, this should spark discussion amongst your colleagues and patrons about that ever-present topic in libraries: censorship.
- The University of California system is actually considering going tuition-free, Colorlines reports. Students presented a plan to the UC president proposing that, instead of paying tuition, graduates pay a portion of their income for 20 years after graduation, which would actually make the university more money in the long run. Bring this up as a snappy tidbit at college application or SAT workshops, or use it to spark a discussion about the economy and teens’ plans for the future.
Until next month!
"Recently I was going through some of the poetry I wrote as a teen, and truly there’s some pitiful stuff. So sentimental and sloppy and overcooked and romantic, and yet, there it sits in the high school magazine, alongside the work of my genuinely genius brother (number one at Radnor, tops at Princeton, a soaring PhD from Stanford), not to mention David Brooks of Bobos in Paradise fame. There it was, somehow earning me the community poet award, the night just before graduation. I was given gifts as an aspiring young poet—more than my poetry ever actually deserved. Mostly it was this gift of learning to believe in myself so that I would keep working at this thing called writing, keep testing myself, keep reading the works of others, keep trying, until I could get some part of it right. I was emboldened by others. I learned to persevere. And because of this, I found a way to make language my ally, to emerge in the world as myself."
— from my talk yesterday to the gracious, intelligent, and warmly inviting women of Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church
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Beautiful poem, April. Is there anything better than going to the library with no particular book in mind and exploring the stacks for something to read? What treasures there are to find.
April,
Thank you for sharing information about Teen Read Week. I am always a little envious of all of the amazing literature available to teens today.
I enjoyed your poem. I guess possibly imprinting can have many meanings. Definitions are in the eye of the "definer." Your poem instantly made me feel as if I were sitting in a classroom as late middle or early high school student.
Thanks for sharing,
Cathy
The ending of your poem is such a kick in the gut, and what a reminder of teenage years!
Thanks for sharing the poem and making me smile with the duckling video.
I was fascinated by the concept of "imprinting" when I learned about it in college (I think). And I think there are a few times in human lives - as your poem indicates - that we also have imprinting going on. Thanks for sharing the video. Too cute! Hope he finds his mom though! That was one of the dangers of imprinting - finding the wrong thing!
Hi, April--
A poem that good doesn't have to "fit" any theme. Beautifully done and reminds me to get your book into the hands of my daughter.
Thanks for a great post!
Oh, that duckling! What a perfect accompaniment to the poem!
Dear Laura, Cathy, Tricia, Donna, Heidi and Ruth, THANK YOU for your comments! I'm happy this poem gets its time in the sun. :-)
Hello there April, your poem made me smile. :) Love the subtle effects of imprinting, and how it IS indeed deeply connected to adolescence and first loves! :) Thank you for letting us know about Teen Read Week! :)
April, I like the turn in this poem. Thank you.
I loved your book when I first read it, & now you remind me that I need to lend it to some students again! It is Teen Read Week & I've given a few book talks just for that purpose, new and old-lots of wonderful books are available. Thanks April!
April-- the air-popped popcorn for brains image is perfect, and one I can relate to!
And I love your poem. It says so much in so few words! Those poor ducklings, though, imprinting on a vacuum cleaner. Maybe you could turn the story into a humorous picture book?
Dear Myra, Joy and Linda,
<3 <3 <3!
Imprinting has always fascinated me.
Carmela--maybe you're right about the PB idea. Hmmmm...I've put it in my "hot idea" file.