POETRY FRIDAY: IN THE GARDEN AGAIN

On October 27th, I posted a review of BUSY IN THE GARDEN, a delightful collection of poems about sowing seeds, growing and harvesting plants, and other activities that take place in a garden or yard. It’s a book perfect for use with preschoolers and kindergarteners. Today I am reviewing another “garden variety” collection of poetry that is written for children in the primary grades.

I HEARD IT FROM ALICE ZUCCHINI: POEMS ABOUT THE GARDEN
Written by Juanita Havill
Illustrated by Christine Davenier
Published by Chronicle Books

By golly, I hate to repeat myself…but I HEARD IT FROM ALICE ZUCCHINI is another delightful collection of poems about seeds sprouting and plants growing—and all manner of garden gossip. Yep, even the seeds and plants do some talking in this collection that includes the mask poem What I Like About July in which corn tells readers what’s so special about that summer month from its perspective.

From What I Like About July:

Breezes combing the wavy tassels
of my hair,
the sparkle of my long green leaves
in the heat of the sun at noon…

But what I like most
about July
is growing
tall,
taller,
tallest,
and how everyone looks up to me.


In When I Grow Up, seeds express their dreams for the future.

From When I Grow Up:

In the still chill of a winter night
Seeds on the gardener’s bench
Rattle their packets
With chattering.

“When I grow up,
I’m going to be…”

“The biggest watermelon.”
“Greenest spinach.”
“Toughest kale.”
“A rutabaga round as the world.”…

There’s Snap Beans, a poem of address, in which the writer speaks to the little green growers.

From Snap Beans:

Snap your fingers, jazzy beans,
tap your toes,
click your heals,
strut your stuff in tight green jeans…

I HEARD IT FROM ALICE ZUCCHINI is a collection with a good variety of poetry. There are poems that rhyme—as well as those that do not rhyme. There are longer narrative poems and shorter pieces. Carrots is written in a question and answer format; Pea Pod Chant is a bouncy, rhyming chant that would be great for choral reading or speaking. And there are many poems in this book that contain a touch of homespun humor. I would add that not all the poems in this collection are of equal excellence. Still, this book has plenty to offer to those of us who like to plant the seeds of poetry with children in their early years and watch how they grow to enjoy and appreciate the genre. Sow…I do not hesitate to recommend this book.

Note: I HEARD IT FROM ALICE ZUCCHINI has been nominated for a Cybil Award. Visit the Cybil Award site to nominate your favorite children's books published in 2006.


Another Poetry Friday Wish






I would like to see THE EARTH IS PAINTED GREEN: A GARDEN OF POEMS ABOUT OUR PLANET back in print. This is a themed anthology of children’s poems edited by Barbara Brenner, illustrated by S. D. Schindler, and published by Scholastic (1994). It is a substantial anthology that contains ninety-one poems, many of which were written by some of America’s most esteemed children’s poets: David McCord, Lilian Moore, Eve Merriam, Mary Ann Hoberman, John Ciardi, Aileen Fisher, Myra Cohn Livingston, and Valerie Worth. It also includes the works of Eleanor Farjeon, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Christina Rossetti, Ted Hughes, Carl Sandburg, Elizabeth Coatsworth, Charlotte Zolotow, Theodore Roethke, Basho, Jack Prelutsky, and Shel Silverstein. The index of authors reads like a Who's Who of poets.

For inclusion in this book, Brenner selected a wide variety of fine poems about nature’s greenery—from the first green of spring to tree green to growing green to harvest green to the last green of the year. Many of Schindler’s illustrations, finely rendered in watercolors, are realistic representations of leaves, flowers, weeds, frogs, birds, and butterflies. To complement the lighter verses, Schindler employs a more cartoon-like style. This book is an excellent combination of poetry and art. It makes a wonderful classroom resource that can be used throughout the school year.

reinforcement

I admit I have certain partiality to multicultural books, which is why I am always interested in reading about other multicultural authors and how they came to their path. So, Cynthia Chin-Lee's recent article on Papertigers.org is especially fascinating to me. An excerpt on the racism she faced in her own life as follows:

The most dramatic incident of my childhood happened when I was eight and my oldest brother was eighteen. Saving to go to college, Bruce got a job at the local McDonalds in Bethesda, MD, where he commuted by borrowing our uncle's sports car. His co-workers, clearly jealous of his car and his future plans, picked on him. One night, unbeknownst to Bruce, some of his co-workers followed him to our home. In the middle of the night, we got a phone call from our neighbors,"Your car is on fire. We've called the fire station." The car was destroyed as well as one of our heritage magnolia trees. Lucky for us, our house stayed intact and none of us were injured. The investigators never identified the arsonists, but the message seemed clear to our family.

To me, the role of multicultural books have never been more important than now and this article just reinforces it to me.

my book needs your help!

VOTE NOW!

Yes, I'm asking for your assistance. I'm looking for either a funny picture or word or sentence for the tee shirt on this person in the park and also for a title for the book she's reading.

Please help! My deadline is now!

why this bothers me

Locally, there has been a recent attempt to ban the book So Far from the Bamboo Grove. One of the reasons is because the "book is one-sided, representing Koreans as the wrongdoers when it was the Japanese who occupied Korea."

Now, I find this argument ridiculous. First of all, fiction books in general show one story and viewpoint--the narrator's. To fault the book for this is completely unjust. And even more so since this book blurs that line of fact and fiction (like I do in Year of the Dog, which is probably why this struck such a chord), as it is based on the author's personal experiences. Is one asking her to change her memories?

So, because the book only portrays one side of the story the book might be banned--therefore erasing that part of history for the students, as if it never existed. Doesn't it make much more sense to have the students read another book as well, one that tells the other side of the story? Or at least have a parent or an adult familiar with that time period to explain the intricacies of the other side?

This is similiar to how I feel about Little House on the Prairie where Ma "hates Indians." Of course that prejudice is repugnant, but to edit those lines out erases the tension that was really there. To ignore or pretend it didn't exist is worse. It's important to let kids read it, and then discuss with them why Ma felt the way she did and how ignorant it was.

In my opinion, instead spending our time banning books, we should use it to encourage responsible reading. What do you think?

Publishing by Committee

Libby normally posts on Wednesdays, but as I am going to Taiwan on Friday night for 11 days, I may be missing two of my Mondays, so you get to hear from me twice this week! Lucky you.

This conversations started during my Things I Hate post, and I thought I'd expand on it here, since it seems some questions have been raised.

We have many committees and meetings in my company to decide what and how our books get published. Editorial Meeting, Acquisitions Committee, Jacket Committee, Print & Bind Meeting (where the print run and price is set for each book, including reprints), Sales & Marketing Meeting, Portfolio Review (where the pub date and season of each book is confirmed/decided), Production Meeting, and prom committee.

Everyone laments about how big publishers are now publishing by committee, how everything is changed, how they long for the old days when editors had the power to decide what got published, and sure--part of me would love that. But part of me would also find that extremely stressful, because then the resulting sales or nonsales would be on my back. And sure, I'm still held somewhat accountable for the books I acquire, but I also know that it wouldn't have been signed up if the committee and/or the publisher did not support the project.

The truth is, publishing is a business, it doesn't happen in a vacuum, and it doesn't make business sense to allow one person to decide what does or does not get published. I rely on our acquisition committee, and even though sometimes I am distraught at the results, I know that it's better for the book to get published elsewhere if our team is not on board. Sure, I think this can possibly result in publishers taking less chances, but on the other hand, it also ensures that the chances that ARE taken (like Sound of Colors, for example) are executed well. And as I said below, it's not like these committees are comprised with cold unfeeling people who hate books. This is a publishing company. No matter what department you work in, it's likely that you came to publishing because you love books. Sales people could make more money working in another industry selling another product, but they didn't want to because they love books. So even if sometimes I blame the committee for things, for not allowing me to work on every project that I want to work on, I also respect the committee and all of the members on it.

And although my company has had an acquisitions committee meeting for as long as I've been there, our former publisher would sometimes just sign up books even if they had been turned down--that was his right as publisher. And he would also joke that each year, the lowest selling books were always his, and oftentimes often those books. Sure, at least those books were given a chance to see the light, but is that really fair to those books and those authors?

In the comments of that Things I Hate post below, I said, "I've seen the whole company get excited about a book, and it makes a huge difference in how it does." And Katherine asked:
"How can we, as authors and illustrators, help you, the editors, to create the excitement needed to push a book forward? Early character studies? Book dummies? Do you ever wish for something special to show around?"
If the manuscript is a picture book, and you are a first-time or relatively unknown author/illustrator, then I'll always ask for a complete book dummy, and may even ask for one finished piece. This is what I had for Hippo! No, Rhino, and I think it helped immensely in the acquisitions meeting to get people excited about it, help them see exactly what the final product would look like. It's my job to know what is best to show at this committee. So, if the editor is asking you to provide something, do it. She wants one finished piece? She wants you to finish the book or at least write 5 more chapters? Do it. She's asking for a reason, and it will only help the book down the line, even if you feel like you shouldn't need to do so much work before getting a contract.

After acquisition, it's in part up to the editor to build advanced interest and excitement for the book, but Sales and Marketing all read the manuscript for novels or see certain stages of the picture book along the way, sees the book at jacket committee. Excitement gathers on its own depending on the project. Also, sometimes we have an "art gallery" showing in-house, where we'll show a few pieces of the original art of picture books to the staff. But much of this happens naturally based on the nature of book itself, and it's not really in the editor's or the author or illustrator's control. I can't control how someone is going to react to a manuscript, if they're going to like it or not.

The best that an author, illustrator, or I can do after acquisition is to make sure that the book is the best that it can be, and hope that everyone, both in-house and out, loves and respects it.

Oh, and yeah, I was kidding about the prom committee. Although, hmmmm...

Also, I'd like to point out the heated (okay, not really heated, but interesting!) discussion going on in the comments section of Meghan's Art Critiques post below. Check it out and let us know your thoughts!

Whirlwind week

I am finally back at my desk after a couple weeks of non-stop traveling around doing school visits, book signings and events. Most of the time I can be found holed up in my studio, painting the day away. But more and more I've been getting off my butt to talk about my work. I have, in the past, dreaded this kind of thing- imagining all kinds of catastrophic situations where I show up to do a visit and forget my name or something. But lately I've started to enjoy it- I actually really like talking about books when it comes down to it. You never know where it will lead and sometimes it helps give you the encouragement you need to persist with your work back at the studio... plus you get to hear kids say really cute things like "I can't believe you're still alive!" Guess there are some misconceptions about the age of your average children's book author floating around out there?!

Last week I was a featured author at the West Virginia Book Fair. It was a good time on the whole, I had a lot of fun connecting with kids and librarians. One wanted to set me up with her son who lives in NY after my presentation (I'll take that as a compliment), while another informed me in a droll tone of voice that my author photo was "very unflattering" (guess looks are important after all.) Hey, maybe I'll hire a fashion photographer and get some glamour shots!

Anyways, why the picture of the dog? That is Faith, the dog who walks on her hind legs! She was a fellow attendee of the book fair, her family wrote a book about her (maybe you caught her on Oprah?). It is hard to believe she actually walks around like a person (I kept thinking of Beatrix Potter books), but she really does. She was born with a birth defect and had to be trained to walk like this so she could survive. Throughout the weekend Faith was walking around the book fair getting all loved up.

You couldn't help but admire her perseverance and sheer determination. Sometimes it feels like getting ahead in publishing is an impossible job. But maybe its not so impossible, you just take it one book fair at a time!

Things I hate

I'm generally very positive about my job and what I do, even when I'm crazy busy and unmotivated, but since it's rainy and gloomy and I'm feeling in a bit of a funk, I thought I'd focus on the negatives for a change. People always ask me what I like about my job, but rarely ask me what I hate. Well, here is what I hate about my job.

1) I hate rejecting manuscripts. This is probably the hardest part about my job. At the SCBWI Oregon retreat, the other editor there talked about an altered decline letter they have hanging up in the office where instead of "your manuscript" it says "you" so instead of "your manuscript is not satisfying enough" or "After careful consideration, we must pass on your manuscript" it says "YOU are not satisfying enough" or "After careful consideration, we must pass on YOU." It's a reminder to them that there is a person on the other end of the letter, and to that person, to that author, we aren't just rejecting their work, but are rejecting them.

I am aware of this each and every time I say no--I know that I'm stomping on someone's dream. And although years of being in the industry has made me a little more desensitized to this, it's still the number one part of my job that I hate doing. And that leads me to number 2:

2) I hate not being able to sign up everything that I want to work on. Oh, I know that in reality, this is a good thing. If I don't have the support of my publisher, it wouldn't be fair to the author or illustrator or book to publish it. But there have been times where I've been so sure of something, or so passionate about a book, and not being able to work on it kills me. I'm envious of the days where editors had the power to just sign something up on their own. I think in many ways, today's system makes more business sense, but still.

3) I hate being the bearer of bad news. This is related to #1. I don't like letting people down. "We aren't going to do any special marketing for your book" "Your book is out of stock in the warehouse right now" "B&N and Borders aren't taking your book" "Your book got a terrible review" "Your book isn't selling" "There was a mistake printed in your book" "I know you aren't happy with the cover, but we're going to publish it anyway" "The deal for this foreign edition of your book fell through" "We can't give you a higher advance" "Your book is out of print" "The acquisition committee wasn't excited about the project." I get to give people good news, too, but sometimes it feels like it's always bad news I have break to the authors, illustrators, and agents.

4) This is a more minor thing, but I hate writing jacket copy and catalog copy and other kinds of marketing copy. It just doesn't come naturally to me, and I feel like I'm constantly pulling teeth doing it. I'd like to think I'm getting better at it with practice, but I still dread it and always put it off as much as possible.

And now I feel all gross for using the "H" word so much. Kinda dirty. Funny how that is--I was so trained not to say "hate" as a kid. But the good news is that I was trying to make this a list of 10, or even 5, and you know what? I can't think of anything else that I hate about my job right now. Sure, I can think of little annoyances or pet peeves, but overall, this post has put me in a better mood already, because I know the loves outweigh the hates.

lost tale

As Elaine said, on Wednesday we were lucky to hear David Mcphail speak. His talk was "off the cuff", very informal but capturing an honesty and candidness that the most prepared speeches can't achieve. I, for one, found myself fascinated.

And,to be honest, a bit saddened and envious. The way he described his life and artistic career seemed so simple and unhindered by the daily rigors that the Blue Rose Girls and I seem to complain about. His picture of the publishing industry when he began so many years ago seems a fairy tale in itself--when one made a book, the publishing company did the rest and the world embraced you with open arms. When the author and illustrator simply authored and illustrated-- without the pressures of marketability and leveled reading and promotional plans. It was the story we all told ourselves when we were in art school.

And listening to him speak made me realize how much that tale has gone astray. David has sketchbooks filled with "daily affirmations"-- 1 to 2 hour drawings that he does everyday just for fun. I haven't drawn "just for fun" in years. I can barely get my paying work done in time, much less a personal affirmation. Somewhere between school and life, form and function and theory and practice I feel as if I've lost my way.

Perhaps it's time to draw a map, just for fun.

A NIGHT OUT WITH DAVID MCPHAIL

Phyllis Allen Smith North Shore Council of Massachusetts :
Speaker Series 2006-2007

Anna, Grace, and I had a grand evening at the Danversport Yacht Club on November 8th. It was the first event of the 2006-2007 Speaker Series sponsored by the Phyllis Allen Smith North Shore Council. Our council is a local affiliate of the Massachusetts Reading Association and the International Reading Association. This is my second year serving as president of the council. And for the past few years, I have had the pleasure of making all the arrangements for our three annual dinner meetings. This means I get to pick the authors and illustrators who address our membership at these events. Lucky me! Sometimes I feel like a kid in a candy store—okay, Grace, a cupcake store, a cupcake store!















Anna & Grace

On Wednesday evening, David McPhail, the popular author and illustrator of more than one hundred picture books, was our guest speaker. McPhail is a most delightful and charming man. He is a very entertaining speaker, too. He even drew on overhead transparencies so we in the audience could see how he does his sketches. He showed us the notebooks in which he draws his daily sketches—or, as he calls them, his “daily affirmations.”















One of David McPhail's "Daily Affirmations"

David McPhail is most definitely a man whose passion is drawing and illustrating books for children. We lovers of quality children's books are thankful for that!















David McPhail & His Groupies

Anna, Grace, and I really aren’t Munchkins! David is VERY tall.










Thanks for a great evening, David!

art critiques

I wrote this as a response about the book Spanky and Rocko but decided to create a new discussion ... if possible!

This is what I said--

"I do have one thing to say upon viewing the SLJ review of this on amazon.(this being the book someone posted a link to) What are those reviewers talking about? He/she said this-- "The illustrations are bland and dully colored" The book clearly looks retro on purpose. That isn't an appropriate criticism for something like that. AAAA! REVIEWERS! They always try to critique art when they don't know art! Stick to what you know folks!

rant over."

Yes, I'm weird, I'm quoting myself....

Anyway, I notice this all the time. Reviewers write very odd critiques of art. They always leave me scratching my head. People who aren't trained in art probably don't know how to properly express themselves when it comes to visuals. I'm not saying ALL people, but a lot. I'm I being snobby?

Artists... non artists...what do you guys think?

meghan

POETRY FRIDAY: Science & Poetry

Last week I wrote about Joyce Sidman, Poet & Scientist. I love her books. I love the way she writes fine poetry and weaves scientific information into it seamlessly. She is not the only poet to have written poems that include scientific information. Other children’s poets, such as Barbara Juster Esbensen, Tony Johnston, Jane Yolen, Marilyn Singer, Kristine O’Connell George, Frank Asch, and others have succeeded at the endeavor, too. Two poets that have done it in humorous verse are Douglas Florian and Judy Sierra. (See Florian’s INSECTLOPEDIA, IN THE SWIM, and LIZARDS FROGS, AND POLLIWOGS and Sierra’s ANTARCTIC ANTICS.)

There are many books of poetry that can be used in the science curriculum. These are poetry collections and anthologies with poems about nature, weather, the seasons, animals, plants, the sea, space, and more.

Here are two of my favorite poetry books that I used to help teach science and to help give my students another perspective to scientific topics that are often taught with a cut-and-dry—the facts, Ma’m, just the facts—kind of approach.


ECHOES FOR THE EYE: POEMS TO CELEBRATE PATTERNS IN NATURE
Written by Barbara Juster Esbensen
Illustrated by Helen K. Davie
Published by HarperCollins

Published in 1996, this book is now out of print. If you can locate a copy sitting on a library shelf or purchase one from a store that sells used books, you will see what an award-winning children’s poet can do to combine science with fine poetry. This book, which is beautifully illustrated by Davie, is divided into five sections: Spirals, Branches, Polygons, Meanders, and Circles. The poems are grouped in this way to help readers see the patterns that are repeated in nature. The Spirals section includes poems about the nautilus shell, galaxies, the cochlea in a human ear, hurricanes, tornadoes, and ferns.


From the Spirals Section:

Uncounted galaxies
send their silver light
unwinding
into
the blackness of space

Above our heads in the night sky
stretches
the Milky Way—
a starry roadway a pinwheel
of stars a
spiral of dusty light…


From the Circles Section:

Circles
set in wood—concentric
a round calendar
Its widening rings grow slowly
out
and out and out
from the old tree’s
earliest day
to the shore of
now


AN OLD SHELL: POEMS OF THE GALAPAGOS
Written by Tony Johnston
Illustrated by Tom Pohrt
Published by Farrar Straus Giroux (1999)

Johnston was inspired to write this collection of poems after her visit to the Galapagos in 1995. The poems tell of an island being born and of the species of plants and animals that the live on this cluster of islands and the waters that surround them—iguanas, the flightless cormorant, Galapagos penguins, long-horned grasshoppers, and the lava cactus. Most of the thirty-four poems in this collection are written in free verse. The book also includes three haikus. There is an Author’s Note at the back with information about the devastation that took place in the Galapagos after the arrival of humans. Johnston also writes briefly about Charles Darwin’s visit there in 1835 and of groups that are trying to preserve this special area of the world. And at the very beginning of the book, there’s a two-page map of the Galapagos Islands.


From the Birth of Fernandina Island

One molten morning
the world
explodes
in sprays of sparks,
plumes of smoke,
gush
of lava,
water,
ash
spitting, spurting,
spewing
from the sea’s crucible
with a great hiss
to make this terrible
barnacle.

Look at Johnston’s use of alliteration in Beetle:

Out of dimness dawns the day.
A beetle creeps over the lava
rubble—
one dark gleam,
one perfect polished pebble
feeling its way along the rim
of morning…

I admire the ways these two poets use language. Their images are fresh; their use of language is inventive. And just think of the enriching vocabulary children are introduced to in these few examples I have provided: concentric, crucible, plumes, spewing. I was able to teach my students so much about language through sharing poetry like this with them. They learned about alliteration, imagery, figurative language, similes and metaphors. They were getting language development right along with science.

As an elementary educator who tried to cover everything I was supposed to teach in every subject every year—I learned that the best way to accomplish this was by integrating different subjects in my units of study. And I know my students benefited from this approach.













Here is a book that nicely integrates science and poetry—and prose and poetry—for very young children.

OUR SEASONS
Written by Grace Lin and Ranida T. McKneally
Illustrated by Grace Lin
Published by Charlesbridge (2006)


In OUR SEASONS, we follow a multicultural group of children named Ki-Ki, Owen, Lily, and Kevin through the year. This book has an attractive layout. Each two-page spread has information about the seasons and weather written by McKneally and a haiku written by Lin. McKneally provides her information in a question and answer format. Her prose is clear and concise. The questions include the following: Why do leaves change color? Why do I see my breath? Why do bees like flowers? Why do fireflies glow?

Lin’s haikus are very child-friendly and would serve as good models for a classroom haiku writing activity. Here are two of her poems:


Ki-Ki sees her breath
She pretends she’s a dragon
Blowing out hot steam.

Lily hears thunder.
“You don’t have to yell!” she calls.
Still the sky grumbles.

I have been an admirer of Grace Lin’s picture book art since I first saw RED IS A DRAGON, since before I met and got to know her. Her illustrations in OUR SEASONS are done in typical Lin style—with a palette of bright colors, with lots of different patterns, and with swirls in the sky. Her exuberant illustrations of children raking leaves, climbing trees, building a snowman, and catching fireflies on a summer night help to unify the poetry and prose. This book is a neat little package that would make a wonderful resource for a kindergarten or primary grade classroom.

HIDDEN THINGS PART 3.1!

Blogger won't let me post photos so I'm putting this thang on my blog (yes, it's hidden!). I couldn't help but make a few comments.

Look at it now because it won't be lasting in cyber space long! I have a reputation to uphold!

Enjoy...

HIDDEN THINGS

meghan

p.s - If you like it, let me know. If you're disgusted, let me know that too!

Cupcake Contest Results!!

Our first Blue Rose Cupcake Contest is over! Thank you all who voted. Our winner is (drum roll please)....

Katherine Tillotson!

Please choose your cupcake flavor from Grace's last post and contact us via your shipping info at bluerosegirls at gmail dot com and then wait anxiously for your 6 delectable cupcakes!

How did Katherine become our lucky winner? Well, Alvina's post "How I edit" won as the most popular post (garnering her the other 6 cupcakes!) and she chose Katherine's name out of a hat.

Bummed you didn't win? Don't worry, there'll be another cupcake contest soon. Just stay tuned!

THE CONTEST THAT WAS OVER AS SOON AS IT BEGAN!

Or...The Blog Contest That Almost Was

Okay! Somebody’s got to alert the publishers of the GUINNESS BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS for me. I have a new entry for their next edition: Shortest Blog Contest in History.

Yep! I really know how to come up with an idea for a blog contest, don’t I? I post my contest question—and within seconds some Googler comes up with the correct answer!

Check out my contest question:
Win a Children's Poetry Book!

So much for my first attempt at a blog contest! Are there any self-help groups or books you know about that could provide some good advice to an inept blog contest runner like me? Please let me know. I can’t go on like this. What will all the other sponsors of blog contests think of me? I will become known as “The Pariah of Blog Contests.” People will begin making snide remarks about me. They’ll start calling my contests “Speed of Light Competitions.” You know—the answers are posted as soon as the question appears. The speed of light’s pretty fast—186,000 miles per second! I can’t keep up with that kind of celerity. Please tell me I’m not doomed to be a failure at this endeavor of blogging contests.

But seriously, folks, I had more than a contest in mind when I posted my “Win a Children’s Poetry Book” contest today. Actually, I was trying to heighten people’s awareness of the National Council of Teachers of English Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. So few people I have met have heard of this award. All elementary school teachers and librarians should know the names of the poets on this list.

Why should they know them? Funny you should ask me. Let me just say that these poets, some of whom have passed away in the last two decades, are the best of the best of children’s poets. Look for their names in the indices of children’s poetry anthologies. Buy their poetry books—at least those that are still in print. Share their poems with children. Encourage kids to read their poetry books.

Go visit this page of the NCTE Poetry Award Site for profiles of these outstanding poets and for a printable list of their names.

P. S. Let me know if any of these award-winning poets wrote a children’s poetry book that happens to be a favorite of yours. I just might have another poetry book to give away!

HIDDEN THINGS PART THREE!

I'm not going to make any comments this time. I'll let you look at the pictures. This is from a book called Rocko and SPANKY go to a Party. They are sock MONKEYS. I must also add that I love Ugly Fish, also by the same author (illustrated by someone else). It's a risky book but I love it.

Okay, once again Blogger won't let me post pictures. Come ON BLOGGER!

Stay tuned. Pehaps later today I can post them.

meghan

long live children's books

WIN A CHILDREN'S POETRY BOOK!

Would you like to win a children's poetry book?
Of course, you would!
This is all you have to do to win a children's poetry book: Be the first person to answer the question printed in red correctly.

Read the list of years and names printed below.

Do you know the significance of this list?

1977—David McCord
1978—Aileen Fisher
1979—Karla Kuskin
1980—Myra Cohn Livingston
1981—Eve Merriam
1982—John Ciardi
1985—Lilian Moore
1988—Arnold Adoff
1991—Valerie Worth
1994—Barbara Juster Esbensen
1997—Eloise Greenfield
2000—X. J. Kennedy
2003—Mary Ann Hoberman
2006—Nikki Grimes

Submit your answer in the comments to this post.

Remember...in order to win a children's poetry book, you have to be the first person to answer the question correctly.

Marathon and drinks

Hey all,

As Libby mentioned, I ran in the NYC marathon yesterday, and I just posted a wrap-up of the experience on my personal blog.

Meghan and I will both be at the Kidlit Drink Night tonight at Sweet and Vicious, so come on out and help me celebrate!

contest ends today!

It's your last chance! Our Cupcake Contest ends today, so VOTE!!!

Right now I am thinking of giving the lucky winner a cupcake choice of:

chocolate with peppermint frosting
carrot cake with cream cheese frosting
coconut with white chocolate buttercream frosting
gingerbread with candied ginger frosting

don't those sound good? If you get your vote in on Monday morning, I won't tell.

back from DC

Well, I was in Washington DC this weekend for the Multicultural Children’s Book Fair at the Kennedy Center. I'm not exactly sure who runs it (I think Target is a sponsor) but kudos to whomever is in charge. Right from the get-go, when the authors sat down at 12, people were bursting at the doors to come in. It was BUSY, even though heavyweight talents like Walter Dean Myers, Nikki Grimes and Karen Katz were there--everyone was signing for 5 hours straight. Even l'il old me! The only bad thing was that I didn't really get to really make too many new acquaintances; and I forgot to take pictures until the last 15 minutes. Sorry! Here's what I got:

This is the author signing room. You can see we are two long rows of authors, which is what makes the constant flow even more amazing. This is the quietest it was the whole time because the festival is about 8 minutes to being over.


The only author I really got to talk to was the beautiful Pooja Makhijani, who's book Mama's Saris is just as lovely as the author. Can I tell you how jealous I am of her author photo? She's offered to pass on the name of her photographer. I'll, of course, take her up on that, but methinks I will not have such nice results. Sure, sure fine feathers and all but it helps when the bird is is not a turkey.

And here's me. I'm not sure why the non-reflection lens of my glasses reflect so much, but I suppose it can't be helped. And I didn't realize my v-neck sweater was so deep a V. Hope I didn't scandalize any little kids out there.

Go Alvina!

Alvina is running and has posted all about it on her personal blog

--and we can and should delete this post tomorrow.....but if anyone wants to watch her today, you can track indivividual runners here (supposedly). It takes the page so long to load that I haven't seen anything yet -- if you see her, tell us!