NCTE Convention and Celebrating Poetry

November at The Miss Rumphius Effect will be dedicated to poetry. Take that April!

Way back in January I was invited by the inimitable Sylvia Vardell of Poetry for Children to participate in a panel discussion on poetry and blogging. The date for the presentation is finally drawing near. Here's the info on the session I will be participating in at the NCTE Annual Convention in Orlando.

Session Title: Poets and Bloggers Unite: Using Technology to Connect Kids, Teachers, and Poetry

Date: November 19th
Session/Time: A.09—9:30 am to 10:45 am
Format: Panel

In addition to Sylvia Vardell (who I had the opportunity to meet and drive-by hug quickly at ALA in June), the other blogging member of the panel is Elaine Magliaro of Wild Rose Reader. After nearly 4 years of blogging I'm finally going to meet her! The poet members of our panel will be Lee Bennett Hopkins, Pat Mora, Jame Richards, and Marilyn Singer.

The blogging members of this panel will be featuring the poets on our blogs for 2 weeks before the conference, inviting reader participation. I am thrilled to be featuring Marilyn Singer and will have the honor of introducing her during our session.

That's all the news for now. Look for features to begin here on November 1st.

Monday Poetry Stretch - The Moon

I've been stargazing and moon watching with my son as of late. Even though Karla Kuskin invites us to write about a radish, I think these days I prefer the moon. So, your challenge is to write about the moon. Leave me a note about your poem and I'll post the results later this week.

Tuesday is the New Monday (For Poetry Stretching)

It's been nearly two years since we visited climbing rhymes, so I think it's time to try again.

Climbing Rhyme is a form of Burmese poetry containing a repeated sequence of 3 internally-rhymed lines consisting of 4 syllables each. Since Burmese is monosyllabic, this works well, but in English this might be difficult. Instead of 4 syllable lines, let's try writing in lines of 4 words. (If you're feeling brave, go ahead and try four syllables!)

The rhyme scheme for climbing rhyme is internal. That means the position of the rhyming word changes. The rhyme appears in the 4th word of line one, 3rd word of line 2, and 2nd word of line 3. The pattern continues as a new rhyme appears in the 4th word of line 3, the 3rd word of line 4, and the 2nd word of line 5. This continues on, giving a stair-step feel to the poem, hence the name climbing rhyme.

For those of you who need to see this visually, here it is. Each x stands for a word. The letters stand for rhyming words. Just remember the 4-3-2 pattern.
x x x a
x x a x
x a x b
x x b x
x b x c
x x c x
x c x x

What kind of climbing rhyme will you write? Leave me a comment about your poem and I'll post the results here later this week.

Poetry Friday - Neighbors in October

This week I'm sharing a poem I first read in the column American Life in Poetry.

Neighbors in October
by David Baker

All afternoon his tractor pulls a flat wagon
with bales to the barn, then back to the waiting
chopped field. It trails a feather of smoke.
Down the block we bend with the season:

Read the poem in its entirety.

The round up is being hosted by Carol of Carol's Corner. Do stop by and check out all the terrific poetry being shared this week. Happy poetry Friday all!

Best Books in Science - Finalists Announced for 2011 AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize

The finalists for the 2011 AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books have been announced. This prize "celebrates outstanding science writing and illustration for children and young adults."

Children's Science Picture Book

Bones
written and illustrated by Steve Jenkins

Lizards
written and illustrated by Nic Bishop

The Magic School Bus and the Climate Challenge
written by Joanna Cole and illustrated by Bruce Degen

Why Do Elephants Need the Sun?
written and illustrated by Robert E. Wells.

Middle Grades Science Book

• The Hive Detectives: Chronicle of a Honey Bee Catastrophe, written by Loree Griffin Burns with photographs by Ellen Harasimowicz.
• Kakapo Rescue: Saving the World's Largest Parrot, written by Sy Montgomery with photographs by Nic Bishop.
• The Secret of the Yellow Death: A True Story of Medical Sleuthing, written by Susan Jermain.
• The Story of Snow: The Science of Winter's Wonder, written by Mark Cassino and Jon Nelson and illustrated by Nora Aoyagi.

Young Adult Science Book

• The Case for Pluto: How a Little Planet Made a Big Difference, written by Alan Boyle.
• The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of Elements, written by Sam Kean.
• Every Bone Tells a Story: Hominin Discovery, Deductions, and Debates, written by Jill Rubalcaba and Peter Robertshaw.
• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, written by Rebecca Skloot.

Hands-On Science Book

• The Book of Potentially Catastrophic Science, written and illustrated by Sean Connolly.
• Insect Detective, written by Steve Voake and illustrated by Charlotte Voake.
• Nature Science Experiments: What's Hopping in a Dust Bunny?, written by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen and illustrated by Edward Miller.
• You Are the Earth: From Dinosaur Breath to Pizza from Dirt, written by David Suzuki and Kathy Vanderlinden.

There are many terrific titles here, along with a few I haven't seen. The Disappearing Spoon has gone everywhere with me for the last few weeks and I am enjoying it immensely. While waiting for the winners to be announced, I'll be reading through these and making my best guess about the outcome. Won't you join me?