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Happy Valentine's Day, Everyone!


I hope you are celebrating today with some wonderful fun, sweets, and hugs from friends! This Valentines Day I received a surprise of my own. The Reading Tub decided to post my interview and biography early, in time for St. Patrick’s Day! I couldn’t be happier. If you would like to check it out, it is now posted on their website at http://www.thereadingtub.com/displayAuthor.asp?id=49. That takes you directly to the Bio page. From there you can scroll down and click the link to the interview, or to go directly to the interview, just click, http://www.thereadingtub.com/displayInterview.asp?id=49. I will also be posting the interview on my website inside my new Media Room. If you haven’t been there recently, be sure to check it out! The Media Room offers an updated Bio and some new questions for those in the media. Right now I’m hard at work conceptualizing my new book trailer. It’s coming along really well—and I have no prior experience in movie making! But I will need to have a company help me with the music and special effects . . . but I’m so excited! It’ll be great to see the final product. Well, that’s all that comes to mind for now. I hope everyone has a special Valentines Day, and I’ll be in touch soon!

XOXOXO,

Amber

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Gente! Exciting poetry news here in Chicago...Palabra Pura kicks off their third year January 16th, 8:30 PM, at their usual local, California Clipper, 1002 N California Ave.

For those of you unfamiliar with this superb salon of Latino poetry, here's an interview I did with one of its founders, La Bloga friend and excellent poet in his own right, Francisco Aragón. Believe me, a Palabra Pura experience is NOT to be missed, and it's been my pleasure to be part of the local steering committee, especially in the company of the likes of Ellen Placey Wadey, Mike Puican, Mary Hawley, y La Divina, Johanny Vazquez. Below is the first line up of what promises to be a stellar year of local Chicago poets paired with poets who've made their mark on the national scene.


In her debut collection of poems, My Sweet Unconditional, ariel robello meets us at the horizon, where worlds blend in the blush of sunrise and sunset, where land meets sea, air – earth, and where man and machine interrupt the natural ebb and flow of life. Unapologetic, she declares her faith in a love that defies borders and with each poem she weds herself to a belief that unconditional love can still be found in the cracks of a urban sidewalk, dancing above puffing smoke stacks, behind a guerrilla’s mask, in the worn paint brush of an island love, blundering below a street lamp in Ensenada, spelled out in daisies on a Veteran’s tombstone, in the stitch of a huipil and most importantly—deep inside one’s own reflection. With language as radiant and dangerous as broken glass ariel robello cuts away at the political dogma and superficial beauty of a world unhinged to reveal a bloody but dignified glimpse of love in the hands of a New World survivor.

Having earned her chops on both the stage and the page, ariel robello represents a generation of poets as concerned with performance as they are with line breaks. ariel robello received a PEN West Rosenthal Emerging Voices Fellowship in 2002 and published her first collection of poems, My Sweet Unconditional in 2005 with Tia Chucha Press. The inspiration for her poetry stems from her work as a poet-in-residence and mentor to teens, advocate for immigrants’ rights, and teacher of English in schools, sweatshops, juvenile detention centers, and most recently at the community college where she now lives with her hijito in Tampa, Florida.

“Effortlessly, swimmingly, yet every line a ‘florescent ember’, seething and praying, these poems mark the debut of a powerful woman of letters; young yet wise, weary yet hopeful. ariel robello is the revolution in verse we’ve been waiting for – the spoken unspoken, the dreaded effervescence of truth conspiring with our souls. Chicana voices have always pushed deeper into the emotional terrain of conscience and witness, ‘My Sweet Unconditional’ does what poetry collections should always do – pull us into a universe so familiar yet frighteningly unknown with poems that awaken us to the political and personal traumas of our times, yet sweetened by the beauty of word and verse.

—Luis J. Rodriguez is an award-winning poet, journalist, memoirist, children’s book writer, essayist and fiction writer. He is author of the critically acclaimed “Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A.”

"Ariel Robello's My Sweet Unconditional is never insincere or sentimental. This first collection of point-blank narratives of the heart never misses. Playful and reasoned, witty and serious, My Sweet Unconditional's insinuation beckons and disarms. Ariel Robello's voice is one of a kind."—Yusef Komunyakaa, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet.

"Poetry Lover, beware the fire-and-ice urban joys of Ariel Robello! These are brutally savvy and deliciously vicious paeans to life, relentless in their celebrations of love, sacrifice and sex--and once beheld by the eyeheart, humbles rescues redeems."
—Wanda Coleman, poet, Los Angeles

"Ariel Robello has crafted remarkable poems that demand no less than a pure appreciation of art from you, even as they break your heart. There is nothing easy here: the music is grafted from a painful if illuminating life, but they shimmer with a rage that is transformative.
A voice to watch for." —Chris Abani, author of GraceLand and Dog Woman.

www.nupress.northwestern.edu

Paper -1-882688-29-5 $13.95

Available for sale on www.amazon.com

Juan Manuel Sánchez was born and raised on the US side of the San Diego/Tijuana border. He holds an MA in Literature from UC San Diego and is currently in the final throes of his MFA at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has worked as an assistant editor for Ninth Letter, has lectured at various universities and is now Lecturer of Spanish at the University of Chicago. His work is forthcoming in Pembroke and in the anthology Junta: Avant-Garde Latino/a Writing.

LisaAlvarado

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René Colato Laínez

Following the steps of La Bloga, I and other amazing writers created Los Bloguitos. This is a blog for children who speak or are learning Spanish. Los Bloguitos is full of songs, poems, cuentos, dichos and riddles. Our goal is to post beautiful stories from Latin American and create new ones. We want our niños to be proud to speak Spanish, here, there, anywhere.

Five creative minds from Mexico, Argentina, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico and El Salvador will be posting from Monday through Friday at www.losbloguitos.blogspot.com. Take a look! Like in La Bloga, Saturday and Sundays are opened for Guest Writers. In you are interested to write for Los Bloguitos, contact us.

Meet Los Blogueritos from Los Bloguitos


Isabel Arraiza-Arana was born in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico. She got her Bachelor’s Degree in business Administration in Universidad de Puerto Rico. In 2007, she completed the Writing for Children and Teenager’s Course from the Institute of Children’s Literature. She lives in Texas with her family. Her children Bianca, Paola, and Diego are her strength and inspiration. Isabel is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. She is the author of CUENTOS MUSICALES. Her forthcoming books are PATO PATÓN and BAHÍA CUCUBANOS.



Christianne Meneses Jacobs was born in Managua, Nicaragua, and moved with her family to Los Angeles in 1988. She attended Los Angeles High School where she was Editor in Chief of both the Spanish and English newspapers. Having excelled in all academic subjects she received a four year scholarship to Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. At Wesleyan University, Mrs. Meneses Jacobs majored in Government with an emphasis in International Relations. After graduation she started her career as an elementary school teacher in Los Angeles. In 2001, she received a Master of Arts degree in Education, and in 2005 she received her Reading Specialist Certification. Mrs. Meneses Jacobs continues her work as an educator and is the President of NicaGal, LLC. Mrs. Meneses Jacobs now resides in Arizona with husband Marc and their two daughters.



Mara Price is a bilingual author and illustrator. Originally from Mexico, Mara is an artist who writes and illustrates picture books and stories for children. Her articles, stories and illustrations are published in Iguana magazine for children. Mara lives in San Diego, California with her husband, Bill, daughter, Alena, and dog, Rosie.






Leticia Teresa Pontoni lives in Córdoba, Argentina. She has been writing all her life. As a child, she wrote her first poems, stories and fairy tales. “There are some many good ideas going around,” Leticia says. She is always attentive for the right word, gesture or detail in order to convert them into beautiful poems and stories. How can you write a great story for children? This is Leticia’s vision: Think like a child, feel like a child, listen like a child, and create like a child. Dreams come true.




René Colato Laínez is the award winning author of I Am René, the Boy/ Soy René, el niño, Waiting for Papá/ Esperando a Papá, and Playing Lotería/ El juego de la lotería. His picture books have been honored by the Latino Book Award, the Paterson Prize for Books for Young People, and the California Collection for Elementary Readers. He is also a weekly children’s literature columnist for La Bloga . René was named “Top Ten New Latino Authors to Watch (and Read)” by latinostories.com. He is a graduate of the Vermont College MFA program in Writing for Children & Young Adults.

Come and Celebrate with Carol Heyer her twenty-fifth, "silver anniversary", picture book, HUMPHREY'S FIRST CHRISTMAS. It will be on November 10, 2007 at the Moorpark College Zoo. There will be an animal show that starts at 10:30, so if you can get there a little earlier that would be great. Bring a friend or your favorite child!

One of Humphrey's cousins will make an appearance at the show and books will be for sale from Adventures For Kids. After the show there will be refreshments, a Humphrey cake, Humphrey's Blanket Cookies, and of course chocolate!

America's Teaching Zoo
Moorpark College
7075 Campus Road
Moorpark, California 93021
http://www.vcnet.com/gwhiz/EATMprogram.html

Visit Carol Heyer at www.carolheyer.com.

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Michael J. Klarman is the author most recently of Unfinished Business: Racial Equality in American History and is the James Monroe Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Virginia. His book From Jim Crow to Civil Rights: The Supreme Court and the Struggle for Racial Equality won the 2005 Bancroft Prize. In the post below Klarman commemorates the dispatch of federal troops to Little Rock by reminding us why this was such a pivotal moment. Read more posts by Klarman here.

Why Little Rock Mattered

Sept. 24, 2007 (50th anniversary of the dispatch of federal troops to Little Rock)

Fifty years ago today, President Eisenhower sent federal troops into Little Rock, Arkansas to defend the right of nine African American students to attend formerly all-white Central High School. For three reasons, Little Rock was an epic event in the modern civil rights movement. (more…)

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Just One More Book was launched one year ago today with the release of our first podcast episode; a review of the children’s picture book, Bill In A China Shop. It was a different world for JOMB. Our audio quality was terrible and we hadn’t found our rhythm. We watched our statistics and hoped for more than thirty listeners per show.

As the year progressed, we invested in some new equipment, changed our review style, interviewed a lot of amazing people, gave away several autographed books, corresponded with people who are equally passionate about great children’s books and watched our listener base grow to an average of 6,000 downloads a week. Later this week we will release our 200th episode.

Thank you for being a part of the Just One More Book community and for helping to make this an incredibly fun first year!

Don’t forget that we will be giving away an autographed copy of Lois Ehlert’s Eating the Alphabet during the first week of September. To qualify, send a review of one of your favourite children’s book (five-minutes or less) as an MP3 file (or text review) in email to [email protected], phone it in to our listener feedback line (+1-206-350-6487) or leave a two-minute MyChingo by August 31, 2007.

Tags:anniversary, Bill In A China Shop, childrens books, Eating The Alphabet, Just One More Book, Lois Ehlert, Podcastanniversary, Bill In A China Shop, childrens books, Eating The Alphabet, Just One More Book, Lois Ehlert, Podcast

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I’m tickled pink to celebrate the one year anniversary of my blog! My first entry set my purpose: to “explore what's new in the field of poetry published for children and young adults.” And my first entry was also a shameless plug of a new book I wrote to promote poetry with young people entitled, Poetry Aloud Here, a practitioner's guide to sharing poetry with children (ages 5-12) in ways that are fun, meaningful and participatory. Well, brace yourself for more brazen self promotion. I’m pleased to announce I have published another resource to help with promoting poetry with kids entitled, Poetry People; A Practical Guide to Children’s Poets (available now from Libraries Unlimited).

This new book provides a comprehensive introduction to more than 60 contemporary poets writing for young people, from Arnold Adoff to Douglas Florian to J. Patrick Lewis to Naomi Shihab Nye to Gary Soto to Janet Wong, and many more. The entry for each poet includes brief biographical information, highlights selected poetry books authored, showcases awards won, notes related web sites, and provides suggestions for making connections (programming ideas, related books, and activities across genres).

Additional supplementary information is also provided, including further lists of poets to know, awards for children’s poetry, helpful poetry web sites, a list of poems about libraries and reading, recommendations of must-have poetry anthologies, a poetry practices checklist, tips for poet promotion activities, and a calendar of poet birthdays to celebrate month by month.

Poet and anthologist Lee Bennett Hopkins calls it a “poetry treasury” and a “readable, useful, not-to-be-missed resource… a reference volume that will leap from the shelves.” Thank you, Lee!

If you’re looking for more help in promoting poets or simply want to familiarize yourself with many of the wonderful poets writing for children today, I hope you’ll check it out. And I welcome any input on the blog as a whole, especially any suggestions or questions for future content. Thanks for stopping by!

Picture credit: Libraries Unlimited

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