Poetry A-Z: J is for Jazzy

I grew up in a house where big band, Dixieland, and Frank Sinatra ruled the airwaves. The first concert I attended was headlined by Count Basie and Ella Fitzgerald. we sat so close to the stage (third row), that I felt like they were playing and singing just for me.

I still listen to all kinds of music, and these days I even read about it. By the way, did you know that April is Jazz Appreciation Month?

JAZZY - of, resembling, or in the style of jazz 

Jazz ABZ: An A to Z Collection of Jazz Portraits with Art Print, written by Wynton Marsalis and illustrated by Paul Rogers, is a collection of 26 verse profiles of jazz greats, with each poem reflecting the musical style of the musician or performer. Brief biographies by Phil Schapp are included for each artist. Here is an excerpt from the first poem. What you need to know about this poem is that the words on the page are spaced in such a way that it forms the triangular outline of the letter A, so you need to see the poem as well as read it aloud. The alliteration works well in this poem and many others. 

Armstrong

Armstrong.
Armstrong almighty!
An ad-libbing acrobat.
American ambassador of affirmation.
Adventurous author of ambrosial aires.
Absolute architect of the Jazz Age.

Poem ©Wynton Marsalis. All rights reserved.

You can listen to this poem read in its entirety, as well as hear some others at the NPR web site.

Sweethearts of Rhythm: The Story of the Greatest All-Girl Swing Band in the World, written by Marilyn Nelson and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney, is the story an all-female, racially integrated swing band that toured the United States during World War II. What makes this story unique is that it is told in poems, each in the voice of a band members’ instrument, each titled after a song of the era. It all begins in a pawnshop where a tenor saxophone describes its glory years in an all girl band. Other instruments begin to respond, and soon enough, all of them are sharing stories about days gone by.

With a twilit velvet musky tone
as the pawnshop door is locked,
an ancient tenor saxophone
spins off a riff of talk.
“A thousand thousand gigs ago,
when I was just second-hand,”
it says, “I spent my glory years
on the road with an all-girl band.”
From a shelf in the corner, three trombones
bray in unison: They say
they, too, were played in a gals’ swing band
way back in the day.
Then effortlessly, a blues in C
arises out of a phrase
and the old hocked instruments find the groove
and swing of the Good Old Days.

Poem ©Marilyn Nelson. All rights reserved.

And now for a musical interlude, courtesy of the Sweethearts of Rhythm.

Jazz, written by Walter Dean Myers and illustrated by Christopher Myers, is a collection of poems covering the history of jazz that begins along the Nile and ends on Bourbon Street. In between it covers ragtime to boogie, and every style in between. The poems are accompanied by vibrant paintings that celebrate different styles of jazz.

Start with rhythm
Start with the heart
Along the Nile
A black man's drum
Speaks
LOVE
Start with
RHYTHM
Start with
the HEART
Work songs
Gospel
Triumph
Despair
Voices
Lifted
From the soul

Poem ©Walter Dean Myers. All rights reserved.

In addition to the poems, the book opens with a terrific introduction to jazz and includes a selective glossary and chronology.

Becoming Billie Holiday is a fictional verse memoir that tells the story of Holiday's life from birth through age 25. The poems carry titles from Billie’s songbook. The writing is tender and vivid, matter-of-factly portraying the ups and downs that dominated the singer's life. You'll see from the cover image that this book was awarded a Coretta Scott King honor award for writing. Here is one of the poems from this book.

How Deep Is The Ocean

Without the microphone
there would be no spotlight,
no band backing me
with bluesy swing.

My voice was too small,
barely an octave,
but the mic enlarged my songs,
let me hold listeners close.

With the microphone,
my voice was an ocean,
deep as my moods,
and audiences dove in.

Poem ©Carole Boston Weatherford. All rights reserved.

What is a fictional verse memoir? Weatherford explains it this way.

It combines elements of the novel, biography, oral history, persona poem, and one-woman show into a unique genre. The fictional verse memoir is ideally suited to Billie Holiday's sassy, soulful and sophisticated style.

Weatherford has created a web site for the book where you will find a reading guide, book trailer, and other informative links.


That's it for J. I'll see you tomorrow with some I inspired poetry ponderings.

Poetry A-Z: K is for Kindred

Family has been much on my mind lately. I feel the distance and time that separates us acutely sometimes. With my mother in the hospital, the 500 miles between Richmond and Rochester feels so much further. Until we're together again, I'm reading poems about mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers.

KINDRED - one's family and relations

Fathers, Mothers, Sisters, Brothers: A Collection of Family Poems, written by Mary Ann Hoberman and illustrated by Marylin Hafner, contains 30 poems about any relative you can imagine, from the traditional nuclear family members to step-parents and siblings, cousins, and more. Here's one I love. (I don't have a little sister, but a big sister. I'm sure she had MANY thoughts like these!)

The Little Sister Store

When my silly little sister
Knocks my blocks down on the floor,
I tell her I will sell her
At the little sister store.

She knows I'm only joking,
That there isn't such a shop;
But even though she knows it--
As least it makes her stop!

Poem ©Mary Ann Hoberman. All rights reserved.

Emma Dilemma: Big Sister Poems, written by Kristine O'Connell George and illustrated by Nancy Carpenter, highlights the relationship between big sister Jessica and Emma, her little dilemma (sister!). Their relationship is funny, annoying, caring and oh so complex. Just what a relationship between sisters should be. Here's the poem that gives the book its title.

Emma Dilemma

Sometimes Dad
calls my little sister
Emma Dilemma.

Dad says
a dilemma is
an interesting problem.

I know Dad's joking
but sometimes
Emma is my dilemma.

Poem ©Kristine O'Connell George. All rights reserved.


Mother Poems, written and illustrated by Hope Anita Smith, is a book that packs an emotional punch, introducing readers to a young girl who clearly adores her mother, and then loses her much too soon. What follows is the story of her journey through the stages of grief and healing. The sense of loss and longing in this collection is overwhelming. Here's an example.

Q and A
I never thought to ask my mother
what I was like when I was a baby.
Did I laugh a lot?
Was I fussy?
Did I have a favorite toy?
What was my first word?
When did I roll over? Crawl? Walk?
Did I ever like carrots?
Mothers give us our stories,
at least the beginning.
My mother left before she got a chance to
give me mine,
and I forgot to ask.
God should have made me smarter.
I am remembering less and less about my mother
and wanting to know more and more about me.
Poem ©Hope Anita Smith. All rights reserved.

You can read a few more poems from the book and hear Hope talk about in this NPR interview.

In Daddy's Arms I Am Tall: African Americans Celebrating Fathers is a collection put together by Lee & Low Books and illustrated by Javaka Steptoe. It opens with an Ashanti proverb that says "When you follow in the path of your father you learn to walk like him." The poems in this book are a moving tribute to fathers and grandfathers and the ways in which they shape our lives. One of my favorite poems was contributed by the illustrator.

Seeds

You drew pictures of life
with your words.
I listened and ate these words you said
to grow up strong.
Like the trees, I grew,
branches, leaves, flowers, and then the fruit.

I became the words I ate in you.
For better or worse
the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Poem ©Javaka Steptoe. All rights reserved.

At the Lee & Low site for the book you'll find book talks, a video interview with the illustrator, an activity idea, and a teacher's guide.

Relatively Speaking: Poems About Family, written by Ralph Fletcher with drawings by Walter Lyon Krudop, is a collection of 42 poems that together provide a loving picture of a family as they move through the year waiting on the arrival of a new baby. Told by a young boy, they are funny and poignant. Here are two that express the range of emotions in the collection.

My Brother's Girlfriend

She's amazingly cute but
what could she possibly see
in a kid like my brother?

They stop over the house
on the coldest winter day,
two hickeys on her neck.

Mosquitos are awful bad 
this time of year, I tell her
and she makes a face at me.


The Scar

I'm playing war
with six of my friends,
using sticks for guns

arguing over who's dead
who's only wounded
who can die the best

when the door opens
and Grandpa walks out
wearing no shirt.

We see the scar
on his back. He got it
in a real war.

Nobody says anything
but after he passes by
we start a different game.

Poems ©Ralph Fletcher. All rights reserved.


That's it for K. See you tomorrow with some J inspired poetry ponderings.

Poetry A-Z: L is for Laudable

Today, L is for late! I was in San Antonio at the National Science Teachers Association Conference (it was fabulous by the way!) and didn't get home until very late last night. I spent today catching up and teaching, so I'm just putting the finishing touches on this post very late. 

Now, without further ado, let's get on to today's word.

LAUDABLE - (of an action, idea, or goal) deserving praise and commendation

Poetry books come in all shapes and sizes and cover a wide range of topics. Sometimes it's nice to have some guidance in selecting books. Here are some awards that can help you find books and poets of note.

NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children

The National Council of Teachers of English was established in 1977 to honor a living American poet for his or her aggregate work for children ages 3–13. The award was given annually until 1982 and every three years until 2009. Currently the award is given every other year. Here is a list of winners. By all means pick up one (or more!) of their books!

• Joyce Sidman, 2013
• J. Patrick Lewis, 2011
• Lee Bennett Hopkins, 2009
• Nikki Grimes, 2006
• Mary Ann Hoberman, 2003
• X.J. Kennedy, 2000
• Eloise Greenfield, 1997
• Barbara Juster Esbensen, 1994
• Valerie Worth, 1991
• Arnold Adoff, 1988
• Lilian Moore, 1985
• John Ciardi, 1982
• Eve Merriam, 1981
• Myra Cohn Livingston, 1980
• Karla Kuskin, 1979
• Aileen Fisher, 1978
• David McCord, 1977 

Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award

Established in 1993, this award is presented annually to an American poet or anthologist for the most outstanding new book of children's poetry published in the previous calendar year. Over time the award has been administered by the Children's Literature Council of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania State University, and the Pennsylvania Center for the Book and the University Libraries. The award winners include:

1993 - Ashley Bryan for Sing to the Sun

1994 - Nancy Wood for Spirit Walker

1995 - Douglas Florian for Beast Feast

1996 - Barbara Juster Esbensen for Dance with Me 

1997 - David Bouchard for Voices from the Wild

1998 - Kristine O'Connell George for The Great Frog Race and Other Poems 

1999 - Angela Johnson for The Other Side 

2000 - Naomi Shihab Nye for What Have You Lost? 

2001 - Liz Rosenberg for Light-Gathering Poems

2002 - Anna Grossnickle Hines for Pieces: A Year in Poems and Quilts 

2003 - Constance Levy for Splash! Poems of Our Watery World 

2004 - Stephen Mitchell for The Wishing Bone and Other Poems 

2005 - Walter Dean Myers for Here in Harlem 

2006 - Joyce Sidman for Song of the Water Boatman & Other Pond Poems 

2007 - Walter Dean Myers for Jazz 

2008 - Carole Boston Weatherford for Birmingham, 1963

2009 - Helen Frost for Diamond Willow

2010 - Alice Schertle for Button Up!

2011 - C.M. Millen for The Garden of Brother Theophane

2012 - Lee Wardlaw for Won Ton: A Cat Tale Told in Haiku

2013 - Kate Coombs for Water Sings Blue: Ocean Poems 

The Claudia Lewis Award

This award was established in 1998 and is given annually by Bank Street College in New York for the best poetry book of the year. This award honors the late Claudia Lewis, a distinguished children's book expert and longtime member of the Bank Street College faculty and Children's Book Committee.

Here's a list of recent winners.

2013 - National Geographic Book of Animal Poetry: 200 Poems with Photographs that Squeak, Soar, and Roar!, selected by J. Patrick Lewis

2012 - Two winners!

• For younger readers: Emma Dilemma: Big Sister Poems by Kristine O'Connell George and illustrated by Nancy Carpenter 
• For older readers: The Watch That Ends the Night by Allan Wolf 

2011 - Guyku: A Year of Haiku for Boys by Bob Raczka and illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds
2010 - Red Sings from the Treetops: A Year in Colors by Joyce Sidman and illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski
2009 - The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba's Struggle for Freedom by Margarita Engle
2008 - Two winners!

• Here's a Little Poem: A Very First Book of Poetry collected by Jane Yolen and Andrew Fusek Peters and illustrated by Polly Dunbar
• This is Just to Say: Poems of Apology and Forgiveness by Joyce Sidman and illustrated by Pamela Zagaenski

2007 - No award given
2006 - A Kick In The Head: An Everyday Guide to Poetic Forms, selected by Paul B. Janeczko and illustrated by Chris Raschka

The Cybils Award

Established in 2006, the Cybils awards are given each year by bloggers for the year's best children's and young adult titles. The Cybils recognize children’s and young adult authors (and illustrators)  whose books combine the highest literary merit and "kid appeal."  Here's a list of the winners. This award publishes a list of finalists, so be sure to check those out as well.

2012 - BookSpeak!: Poems About Books by Laura Purdie Salas and illustrated by Josee Bisaillon
2011 - Requiem: Poems of the Terezin Ghetto by Paul B. Janeczko
2010 - Mirror Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse by Marilyn Singer and illustrated by Josée Masse
2009 - Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors by Joyce Sidman and illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski
2008 - Honeybee by Naomi Shihab Nye
2007 - This Is Just to Say: Poems of Apology and Forgiveness by Joyce Sidman and illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski
2006 - Butterfly Eyes and Other Secrets of the Meadow by Joyce Sidman and illustrated by Beth Krommes

Other Awards

In addition to these poetry awards, poetry books often find their way onto the lists for other major awards. There are too many to mention, but here are a few you should be aware of.

• Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards
• Coretta Scott King Book Awards
• John Newbery Medal
• Pura Belpré Award

That's it for L. See you tomorrow with some K inspired poetry ponderings.

Poetry A-Z: M is for Mathematical

My semester is winding down and I will miss my math class. This post is for my wonderful students.

MATHEMATICAL - of or relating to mathematics 

I'm a sucker for math poetry, and believe it or not, there's a lot of great stuff out there.

 

EDGAR ALLAN POE'S PIE: MATH PUZZLERS IN CLASSIC POEMS, written by J. Patrick Lewis and illustrated by Michael Slack, is a collection of cleverly disguised math problems in the form of rib-tickling parodies of classic poems. Can you guess the classic that inspired this poem?

Once upon a midnight rotten,

Cold, and rainy, I'd forgotten

All about the apple pie

Still cooling from the hour before.

I ignored the frightful stranger

Knocking, knocking . . . I, sleepwalking,

Pitter-pattered toward the pantry,

Took a knife from the kitchen drawer,

And screamed aloud, "How many cuts

Give me ten pieces?" through the door,

          The stranger bellowed, "Never four!"

Go ahead, draw a circle and give it a try! The answer can be found upside-down on the opposing page. (Look it up or figure it out because I'm not telling!) Mathematically you could use four cuts, however, the pieces would not be equal in size.

Here's one more to whet your appetite. Yes, it contains fractions, but be brave!

Edward Lear's Elephant with Hot Dog

Inspired by "There Was An Old Man With a Beard" by Edward Lear 

When an elephant sat down to order

A half of a third of a quarter

     Of an eighty-foot bun

     And a frankfurter, son

Was it longer than three feet, or shorter?

 

Arithme-Tickle: An Even Number of Odd-Riddle Rhymes, written by J. Patrick Lewis and illustrated by Frank Remkiewicz - These 18 rhyming riddles present word puzzles to be solved. Answers are written upside-down below each entry.

Mathematickles!, written by Betsy Franco and illustrated by Steven Salerno - This book offers brief poems using forms suggested by mathematical processes, all within a seasonal framework changing from fall to winter to spring to summer. As it says on the cover, "words + math + seasons = Mathematickles!"

 

One Leaf Rides the Wind, written by Celeste Davidson Mannis and illustrated by Susan Kathleen Hartung - This book is set in a Japanese garden where a young girl counts the things she sees, like bonsai, koi, and lotus flowers. The left side of each spread contains an illustration of the objects being counted. On the right side of each spread is the printed numeral, a haiku describing the objects, and a footnote introducing readers to various aspects of traditional Japanese culture.

Ten Times Better, written by Richard Michelson and illustrated by Leonard Baskin - This quirky book of poetry uses the idea of multiplying by 10 to present facts about various common and unusual animals.

 

Einstein, the Girl Who Hated Maths, written by John Agard and illustrated by Satoshi Kitamura - This is a book of fun and funny poems about the world of math. (This is from the UK, hence the word maths.) To get a feel for the poems in this book, listen to Agard read the poem Keeping Fit. One of my favorite poems, Triskaidekaphobia, is illustrated with a variation on Munch's The Scream!

Marvelous Math: A Book of Poems, collected by Lee Bennett Hopkins and illustrated by Karen Barbour - This collection of poems, by a variety of authors, looks at math in interesting ways, and allows students to see how math is useful in everyday life.

Counting Our Way to the 100th Day!, written by Betsy Franco and illustrated by Steven Salerno - In this book Franco offers up 100 poems that include the number 100 in some form.

Riddle-Iculous Math, written by Joan Holub and illustrated by Regan Dunnick - This very funny book contains verbal puns, riddles and rhymes based on math.

Math Talk: Mathematical Ideas in Poems for Two Voices by Theoni Pappas - Theoni Pappas has written a wide range of mathematical books, most of the them for secondary classrooms, but the dialogues in this book are appropriate for elementary kids.

Greg Tang has written a series of books that use rhyme and riddles to get kids thinking about creative problem-solving. Titles include:

• The Grapes of Math
• Math Potatoes: Mind Stretching Brain Food
• Math for All Seasons
• The Best of Times
• Math Appeal: Mind Stretching Math Riddles
• Math-terpieces
• Math Fables

Here is an example from Math-terpieces, a book that uses famous works of art to get kids thinking mathematically.

Peachy Keen
For Paul Cezanne, still lifes would do,
A cloth, a vase and peaches, too.
His planes of color, pure and bright,
So smartly capture form and light.
Can you make 10 with bowls of fruit?
Find all 5 ways if you're astute!

I wouldn't think of teaching basic math concepts without copies of Where The Sidewalk Ends and A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein. Some of my favorite math-related poems are:

• Band-Aids
• Hungry Mungry
• One Inch Tall
• Smart
• Eight Balloons
• Shapes

That's it for M. See you tomorrow with some L inspired poetry ponderings.

Poetry A-Z: N is for Nimble

Surely poetry is and can be nimble (in the right hands, of course), but how about today I serve up some books where the topics are nimble? Stick with me here, I promise it will be worth it!

NIMBLE - quick and light in movement or action; agile 

Do you have nimble fingers? Surely you must in order to create origami figures. That is what this first book is about.

FOLD ME A POEM, written by Kristine O'Connell George and illustrated by Lauren Stringer, is a collection of 32 poems that document a young boy's day as he folds a menagerie of animals and imagines their actions. The artwork that accompanies the poems is vibrant. The origami animals appear life-like, despite the crinkles and folds that form their shapes. One of my favorite poem/illustration pairs is a double page spread with 2 origami rabbits in one corner, separated by a wall of blocks from 4 foxes. The foxes appear to be spying on the rabbits. That poem is below.

Protection
At one end
of the table,
the rabbits.

At the other end,
the foxes.

I don't
want
trouble.

The animals are folded from a variety of plan and patterned papers. In some cases the boy paints, cuts or glues the animals. One double-page spread shows him placing spots on a leopard, while a variety of other animals look on. The leopard is admonished in the poem with the words, "Don't fidget, Leopard./I need to do/your spots." Another poem/illustration set I love is about penguins. On the left side of the page the penguins begin to take shape. On the right, a whole flock is standing while white bits of paper from a hole punch drop down on them.

White Paper

My hole puncher
clicks and clicks.
Snowflakes,
snowdrifts.

Poems ©Kristine O'Connell George. All rights reserved.

This is an imaginative and lyrical book of poetry that kids will love.


Perhaps you're more of the nimble-bodied type. Then yoga might be more your style! Here's a book for folding and bending your body.

TWIST: YOGA POEMS, written by Janet Wong and illustrated by Julie Paschkis, is a collection of 16 free verse poems that are inspired by yoga poses. Each poem is featured on one side of a double-page spread with an illustration of a child performing the pose on the opposite page. The watercolor illustrations are done in a style inspired by Indian miniature paintings. In addition to this gorgeous artwork, each pose and verse are framed by mirror-image decorations of flowers, animals, vines, etc. The verses are brief and get right to the essence of each pose. While I love the variety of poems about animal poses, my favorite poem is about breathing.

Breath
Breath is a broom
sweeping your insides.

Smooth and slow:
You pull scattered bits of dream fluff
And heart dust into neat piles…

Breath is a broom
sweeping you fresh.

Poem ©Janet Wong. All rights reserved.

This is a beautiful book, full of spare, elegant verse and gorgeous illustrations. It is also one kids will enjoy, even if they don't practice yoga (though they may want to try once they've read this book).


That's it for N. See you tomorrow with some M inspired poetry ponderings.

Poetry A-Z: O is for Odious

Before we begin, I must make one thing perfectly clear. The word today does not describe the poems, but the SUBJECT of the poems. (Silly readers! Like I would make you suffer through terrible poetry!)

ODIOUS - extremely unpleasant; repulsive

This is a fabulous word! I'll bet you're wondering just what kind of poems are written about odious things. Well wonder no more!

Spooky ABC, written by Eve Merriam and illustrated by Lane Smith - Originally published in 1987 as Halloween ABC, this book is haunted by bats, nightmares, skeletons and loads of other spooky things. Here's an excerpt from the poem for the letter W, entitled Witchery.

Which, which,
which woeful bane?
Juice of the hemlock
or brimstone with rain?

Which, which,
which plaguey pox?
Soup bowls of toadstools
or mouse broth in crocks?

This poem is accompanied by a bubbling cauldron with clawed feet. *Shiver* The illustrations by Lane Smith are just as terrific as the poems. (Read a short review.)

Grimericks, written by Susan Pearson and illustrated by Gris Grimly - Limericks on all manner of monsters appear in this fun volume of poems. It begins with this poem.

Dear Reader, please lend me your ear.
If ghosts, ghouls, and goblins you fear,
don't open this book.
No--don't even look!
There are spooky things hiding in here.

You'll find incompetent and unlucky witches, mummies, skeletons, banshees, and more. Grimly's illustrations are full of (appropriately!) grim humor. At Google Books you can preview some of the images and poems.

Making Friends With Frankenstein: A Monstrous Book of Poems and Pictures, written and illustrated by Colin McNaughton - How can you not love a book with an opening poem entitled Cockroach Sandwich?

Cockroach sandwich
For my lunch,
Hate the taste
But love the crunch!

There are poems on monster parties, cyclops, bullies, an ooze-zombie, doom merchant, ogre's, a few dinosaurs, and LOTS more. This one is just chock full of fun stuff. Ode to the Invisible Man always makes me chuckle, and Transylvania Dreaming makes me want to sleep with the light on.

The Gargoyle on the Roof, written by Jack Prelutsky and illustrated by Peter Sís - Beautifully illustrated by Sís, this one includes poems that run the gamut from funny to spooky. You'll meet vampires, werewolves, gargoyles, gremlins, a basilisk, the Headless Horseman, a lonely troll, and more. Here's the first stanza from one of the poems.

My Sister is A Werewolf

My sister is a werewolf,
It's disquieting and strange.
One moonlit night I watched her
Undergo a sudden change.
Her arms and face grew hairy,
And her voice became a roar.
In some ways she looked better
Than she'd ever looked before.

Monster Museum, written by Marilyn Singer and illustrated by Gris Grimly - What happens when a group of children follow a docent (an undead one at that!) through a monster museum? Are Frankenstein, Dracula, Bigfoot, Medusa and others wax replicas? Or are they something else? Grimly's illustrations are terrific and reward those who take the time to study them. Here's the beginning of one of my favorite poems.

Frankenstein's Monster
They gave me some bolts,
They gave me some jolts.
They gave me a great deal of fame.

They gave me a bride,
And even some pride.
But they never did give me a name.

You Read to Me, I'll Read to You: Very Short Scary Tales to Read Together, written by Mary Ann Hoberman and illustrated by Michael Emberley - This is the fourth title in the very popular series. I know the title says tales, but they're all written in rhyme and so much fun to read aloud with a friend! Included here are spooky tales of mummies, skeletons, witches, zombies, ghosts, and more.

Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich and Frankenstein Takes the Cake, both written and illustrated by Adam Rex - Kids will love the high jinks and hilarity found when Frankenstein makes a sandwich, Dracula gets spinach stuck in his teeth, the Phantom of the Opera gets an annoying song stuck in his head, Frankenstein gets married, the Headless Horseman writes a blog, and so many other wonderful things! Don't miss either of these gems. There are just as many jokes in the illustrations as the poems, so do take the time to enjoy them. (Read an interview with Adam to learn more about these books.)

The Monsterologist: A Memoir in Rhyme, written by Bobbi Katz and illustrated by Adam McCauley - Meet some of the world's most famous monsters -- Count Dracula, Godzilla, King Kong, Medusa, Grendel, the Loch Ness Monster, the Yeti -- in this collection of poems in the form of letters, notes, interviews and other objects from a lifetime of studying monsters. Here's an excerpt from the poem Meet a Monsterologist.

But ...
if monsters are what interest you,
the how and why of what they do,
I know the facts: What's false, what's true,
since I'm a monsterologist.

I've traveled all around the world
to study and observe.
At times I have been terrified
but I've never lost my nerve.

Check out the Monsterologist web site for a bit of fun. You can also read an interview with Bobbi Katz.

That's it for O. See you tomorrow with some N inspired poetry ponderings.

Poetry A-Z: P is for Penitent

I had a long list of P-inspired words but kept coming back to this one, largely because I kept thinking of Sean Connery in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade uttering (while shot!) "Only the penitent man shall pass." (He did say it earlier in the movie, but this is scene that sticks in my head. It's a great example for vocabulary learning for all you visual learners!

PENITENT - feeling or showing sorrow and regret for having done wrong

Let's start with the poem that the books today build from.

This Is Just To Say
by William Carlos Williams

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

Poem ©William Carlos Williams. All rights reserved.

There are some who call this "the dreaded plum poem." I happen to like "This is Just to Say". Was the speaker truly remorseful? It's hard to say. Would I have forgiven the writer? Eventually, but I would have been really aggravated to find and read that note. I can just imagine it scribbled on a Post-It note stuck to the refrigerator. (See, visual imagery!) 

After sharing this poem there's no way you could skip a reading of Joyce Sidman's incredible book THIS IS JUST TO SAY: POEMS OF APOLOGY AND FORGIVENESS. This book is a direct result of Sidman's work as a writer-in-residence at schools, where she uses the poem as a model. The book is written in the voices of school children and is organized in this fashion.

• Table of Contents
• Introduction written by Anthony K., a "student" in Mrs. Merz's class
• This Is Just to Say, by William Carlos Williams
• Part 1: Apologies
• Part 2: Responses

There is a wealth of material here, with seventeen apology and seventeen response poems. Here's a poem that reminded me a lot of my childhood relationship with my older sister (though I never stabbed her with a pencil!).

The Black Spot

(written by Alyssa for her sister Carrie)

That black spot on your palm.

It never goes away. 

So long ago

I can hardly remember,

I stabbed you with a pencil.

Part of the lead, there,

still inside you.

And inside me, too,

something small and black.

Hidden away.

I don't know what to call it,

the nugget of darkness,

that made me stab you.

It never goes away.

Both marks, still there.
Small black
reminders.

Roses Are Red
(written by Carrie in response to Alyssa)

Roses are red,
violets are blue.
I’m still really
pissed off at you.

Poems ©Joyce Sidman. All rights reserved.

The topics and emotions related in these poems are those that any child today might deal with. There are apologies for making fun of the dress a teacher is wearing, breaking a mother's precious glass deer,   not winning a spelling bee, hitting a friend too hard with a dodge ball, and more. Some of the poems revela the writer to be truly remorseful, while others are only slightly apologetic. 

To learn more you should check out the particularly useful reader's guide at Sidman's web site. You may also want to take a moment to watch and listen to her read from the book.

Forgive me.

This next book

is anything 

but penitent.

Since it borrows

Williams' form,

I had to include it.

Please read on

and chastise me

later.

FORGIVE ME, I MEANT TO DO IT: FALSE APOLOGY POEMS, written by Gail Carson Levine and illustrated by Matthew Cordell, is a collection of poems connected with nursery rhyme or fairy tale themes and characters that borrow Williams' form but include apologies that are conditional or utterly insincere. Some of these poems are dark, but they're all entertaining and some are downright funny. Here's one of my favorites.

This Is Just to Say

I have shortened

my nose

with your saw

because 

honestly

telling lies

is so much fun

Forgive me

I don't care

about becoming 

a real boy

(Pinocchio)

Poem ©Gail Carson Levine. All rights reserved.

You can download an excerpt from the Harper Collins site. Better yet, head over to Matthew Cordell's blog for a view of the art and some of the poems.

That's it for P. See you tomorrow with some O inspired poetry ponderings.

Poetry A-Z: Q is for Quilted

Here we have another letter that often flummoxes alphabet book writers. I, however, cannot be thwarted and have the perfect word in mind.

QUILTED -  (of a garment, bed covering, or sleeping bag) made of two layers of cloth filled with padding held in place by lines of stitching 

The books I'm highlighting today are all gorgeously illustrated in quilts. 

PIECES: A YEAR IN POEMS & QUILTS, written and illustrated by Anna Grossnickle Hines, is a collection of 20 poems that span the seasons. When you open the book you won't know whether to marvel over the poems quilts first, as each is lovely. Together, however, they pack quite a punch.  Here's a  bit of info from the flap copy about Anna.

Anna did not do any serious quilting until she decided to use quilts to illustrate the poems in this book. Inspired by her mother, who has been making prizewinning quilts since her retirement, Anna made her first quilt for the book in 1996. Working between other projects she pieced four more over the next two years, and from April through November 1999 made the fourteen remaining quilts.

Are you amazed? If not, you should be. Before even reading the poems I recommend reading "The Story Behind the Quilts", a two page illustrated description of the process. You'll be surprised to learn that each of the finished quilts is only 12 x 18 inches! Given the detail in the quilts, this must have been painstaking work.

PIECES: A YEAR IN POEMS & QUILTS, isn't just a gorgeously illustrated book, but a beautifully written one. In fact, Pieces was awarded the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award in 2002. This annual award goes to the best book of children's poetry published in the United States in the preceding year. Here are two of my favorite poems from the book.

Good Heavens

Our lawn is astronomical
with dandelion blooms.
A green sky filled
with a thousand suns
and then
a thousand moons
that with a puff
of wind become
a hundred thousand stars.

*****

Pageantry

The trees are wearing
scarlet gowns
and golden crowns
and bits of them
are falling down.

You can learn more about how Pieces was created at Anna's web site.

Anna followed PIECES with the book WINTER LIGHTS: A SEASON IN POEMS & QUILTS. Here's what she says about the quilts in the book's endnotes.

The quilts for this book turned out to be much more complicated than I expected, particularly those done with the tiny twisted triangles. The finished quilts, including the borders, are 31 by 19 inches--about twice as big as this book--so the pieces are very small. It took almost two and a half years and eleven and a half miles of thread to complete all fifteen quilts. This time, even I think I'm crazy . . . but I'm not sorry. (Click on the book cover for a better view.)

WINTER LIGHTS celebrates a variety of winter holidays and traditions, including Yuletide, Santa Lucia, Solstice, Hanukkah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa. The quilts that illustrate the poems move from light to dark and back again, each one a perfect backdrop for its poem. Here are two of my favorite poems.

Star Catcher

Overnight
an icicle grew,
catching the stars
above my window.
Now
in the sunlight
it
     sets
             them
                        free.

*****

Protest

Oh, no!
Not fair!
How can this be?
The sun tires out
so long before me.

You can learn more about how Winter Lights was created at Anna's web site.

Anna's newest book PEACEFUL PIECES: POEMS AND QUILTS ABOUT PEACE, is a collection of 28 poems that explore the meaning of peace in varied forms. Readers will find poems about quiet peace, the peace of nature and home. There are also poems about the peace that comes from prayer and acceptance. Finally, there are poems that look at what happens when we don't know peace. those poems speak of anger and war. The back matter of the book contains short biographies of "The Peacemakers" and includes information on Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King, Jimmy Carter, and others.

Here's one of my favorite poems.

Weapons

I have never fired a gun

but have shouted words

that pierced and stung.

I have hurled cutting remarks,

ignited flames with hateful sparks.

I've shot daggers from my eyes

at those I momentarily despised.

I have never fired a gun

but want to learn

to hold my tongue.

You can learn more about PEACEFUL PIECES at Anna's web site. Check out this book trailer for a glimpse of the gorgeous quilts and the poetry.

All poems ©Anna Grossnickle Hines. All rights reserved.

That's it for Q. See you tomorrow with some P inspired poetry ponderings.

Poetry A-Z: R is for Reversible

Let's get right to it today with the adjective of the day!

REVERSIBLE - able to be reversed, in particular able to be turned the other way around

Today I'm highlighting a poetic form and two books by Marilyn Singer. The coolest thing about the poems is that whether you are reading them forwards or backwards, they work! (Hence the word reversible and Marilyn's name for the form, Reverso.)

Mirror, Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse, written by Marilyn Singer and illustrated by Josee Massee, is a collection of poems based on fairy tales that tell two sides of the same story. But wait, there's a catch! The paired poems are inverses of one another, meaning the second poem is created by reading the first poem in reverse (hence reverso).

Here's what Marilyn had to say about this title.

When I was a kid, my parents read me lots of fairy tales and poems, so I have both in my blood. Therefore, it’s no big surprise that I ended about writing an entire book of poems based on these tales, MIRROR, MIRROR. Now, when I was little, I was not a big doll person, but my uncle gave me something called a “Rags-to-Riches doll.” She was dressed in a peasant costume with a patched dress, shawl, kerchief on her head, and no shoes. You took off the shawl and pushed down her skirt (gathered with a drawstring) and, presto, it was a ball gown! Under the kerchief was a crown. Dancing slippers completed the transformation. I’m convinced that that doll influenced this book because for it, I came up with a new poetry form: the reverso. 

A reverso is two poems in one. Read the first down and it says one thing. Read it back up, with changes just in punctuation and capitalization, and it's a different poem. To create reversos, I spend many hours at the computer (I write most poems with pen and paper, but not these!) playing with words and lines--shifting them around, seeing what makes sense and what doesn't. But first I start with the fairy tale. I have to be able to find two points-of-view in it that will make a good reverso because the hardest aspect of this form is that when you flip it, the second poem MUST say something different, not just the same message in reverse.Another big influence on this book and these poems is my love of word games, as well as old-fashioned board games such as "Clue" and computer adventure games where you solve puzzles. And I love to challenge myself. Writing MIRROR, MIRROR gave me the chance both to create and solve puzzles. And now I've written a second, as yet untitled, book of fairy tale reversos. Told you--I love a challenge!

The author's note Marilyn provides also gives readers some insight into the form and her process. Here's what she says.

We read most poems down the page. But what if we read them up? That's the question I asked myself when I created the reverso. When you read a reverso down, it is one poem. When you read it up, with changes allowed only in punctuation and capitalization it is a different poem.

The first reverso I wrote was inspired by my cat, August:

A cat without a chair: incomplete

Incomplete: a chair without a cat.

The sequel to MIRROR, MIRROR (or should I say follow up?) is the book FOLLOW FOLLOW: A BOOK OF REVERSO POEMS, written by Marilyn Singer and illustrated by Josee Masse. While I continue to be awed and enamored of the form, I find I also enjoy greatly the twist and change of perspective afforded by reading in another direction. Here's one from the new collection.

Houses made of bricks call for a wolf’s tricks. No more huffing and puffing! Cheers to clever Mr. Big and Bad when he comes down this chimney! Who’ll be boiled or roasted, triumphantly toasted? That one little piggy, by the hair of his chinny chin chin.

By the hair of his chinny chin chin, that one little piggy triumphantly toasted: “Who’ll be boiled or roasted, when he comes down this chimney? Cheers to clever Mr. Big and Bad, huffing and puffing no more! A wolf’s tricks call for houses made of bricks.”

Poems ©Marilyn Singer. All rights reserved.

These books are a delight to read and will have you coming back again and again.

That's it for R. See you tomorrow with some Q inspired poetry ponderings.