This something I say often in Room 407. I try to tuck some of this into my own artwork and the poetry I create. 'Meta' is"Always look for the 'meta.'"
This something I say often in Room 407. I try to tuck some of this into my own artwork and the poetry I create. 'Meta' is the term I would use to describe Marjorie Maddox's new collection from Kelsay Books, INSIDE OUT: POEMS ON WRITING AND READING POEMS WITH INSIDER EXERCISES. As you can see, the 'meta' here seems to begin with a title that suggests the generative nature of poetry.
There is a sort of reciprocity without an edge like a Mobius loop that leaves the reader to wonder: Does the poetic form dictate the kind of content that must fit inside or does the content begin to seek its own shape on the page? Marjorie Maddox presents a response to a question such as this while inviting possibilities for conversations that would extend beyond the answer we think we might know.
With blurbs by Father Goose, Charles Ghigna, and Dr. Sylvia Vardell of Pomelo Books and the Poetry Friday series, I was already hooked on this book. I knew I would need to see it. Now, having read through the book on a Tuesday morning, I am not only better for the experience, I find myself longing again for the classroom where I would be putting these poems up on the document camera for consideration.
At a slim sixty-one pages, Marjorie Maddox packs this book with invitations to not only consider but to cogitate. As a somewhat experienced poet in the area of wordplay, I am amazed at what Maddox is able to do within the form and the shape to present within that space a comment on the form itself. Much of this book is like walking around in multi-colored stanzas with a combination of what might be the U.S. Poet Laureate meets Willie Wonka. There is a playfulness within the text that does not get in the way of presentation of poetry and poetic forms. The "fun" of, and within, the forms will make Maddox's book a go-to for classroom teachers looking to invite poetry into their classrooms.
And this will be a push. How many times are students taught the rules of the form which are sometimes most rigid to really look at the relaxed posture one might take in entering into a form to consider how the subject fits or could fit. Marjorie Maddox invites us to take our own subjects into the dressing rooms of form to see what fits in a three-way mirror of subject, poet, and form.
In my classroom, we use Sondra Perl's FELT SENSE book to enter into our year-long multigenre/multiform project. The first five poems in Maddox's book are actually "sense" poems asking the reader to consider the senses attached to poetry. We all know how a poem might feel to us upon seeing one on a page, right? Or is this a sort of perception? Have we ever thought about entering into poetry via the individual senses? Maddox invites the reader to do just this. "How to Hear a Poem," the second piece in the collection is a concrete poem that spirals inward and reminded me of a sort of earworm presenting on the page.
As I say, "Look for the 'meta.'"
In "How to Befriend a Poem," Maddox seems to assuage our shared trepidation that we may not understand a poem. Opening lines include, "Best to offer intriguing conversation/that's light on analysis." The last couple of lines of the piece read, "Sometimes he's shy/and just needs a little coaxing./Much of what he has to say/lies between the lines."
Even in this short sample, we could begin to pick apart shape and form and "eye rhymes in 'shy' and 'say.' The internal rhymes of lies and lines. And this is before we get to the real comment of the poem that would serve to bust the lock on poetry for so many. This is the gift that Maddox's book could be the classroom where forms are introduced each year with formality. Here is an informal look at poetry that suggests the genre might be your friend.
Within "Dramatic Monologue," Maddox brings the 'meta' in a manner that would have a public speaking student navigating enough Ps for a thousand pods. All the while building on the idea that poetry invites of itself and one who might write it a multitude of personas and presentations.
And the more technical terms we almost never get to like "Enjambment" and "Caesura?" These are given Maddox's creative treatment as well. Maddox is like the scrapbook artist that shows you a MOMA-worthy look at the family reunion when we are still trying to remember not to touch Instamatic film that is still processing (I hope Maddox likes what I have done here; I'm inspired by this book, I'll tell you).
If iambic pentameter is still giving your students in the room fits, then Maddox's "Getting Ready with Iambic" could become an introductory text allowing for an entry point and toehold into a subject that always began with stressed and unstressed markers that always left me the former and not the later.
Sonnets (English and Italian). Sestinas. Clerihews. Villanelles. They are forms we would love to get to but often the language of the masters gets in the way of how the room is set up for the guest. Maddox invites these forms with accessible language that is figurative without being frustrating.
Maddox completes the book with nine ready-for-the-room invitations for students to consider and create. In no time, they might be composing for Maddox's gentle touch on this genre. A love for poetry and how it is created is not kept from Maddox's reader as she reminds us that this language was never meant to be shibboleth but, rather, shared. Everyone is invited to play here with the ideas and the words they have brought.
A glossary of poetic terms is included as paratext for the reader. Only here does Maddox begin to point the reader to some of the more classic poets and poems we, as ELA teachers, would probably want them to see. The terms are cross-referenced back to the original poems within the collection to help solidify the term to the approach the reader has already seen in poetic form.
I am so glad to have stumbled upon this collection of poems. It is releasing during a time when many a book could get lost. Without fanfare and launch, these are the collections that some of us may know and pull from our sleeves to share at a conference only to watch for you to scribble down the author and the title. Save that conference registration fee.
Marjorie Maddox's book is the one for which you were looking to get your poets cooking. Accessible and full of playful attitude, reading this book made me really think about how much I am missing a classroom full of writers right now. ...more
First of all, a HUGE thank you to the folks who let me see a very early copy of this February 2020 release. To be among the first few classroom teacheFirst of all, a HUGE thank you to the folks who let me see a very early copy of this February 2020 release. To be among the first few classroom teachers here at Goodreads to see the new book by Irene Latham and Charles Waters (this is the creative duo who gave us CAN I TOUCH YOUR HAIR? POEMS OF RACE, MISTAKES, AND FRIENDSHIP) is a privilege in every way that taking an early look at a book many will be buzzing about in a few months can be. I am grateful.
When early looks at the new collection from Carol C. Hinz and Lerner Books crossed my Twitter stream, I knew I had to do whatever I could to see the rest of the book. Right now before I would return to school and lose an opportunity to take a deep look and to give due review to the work.
Classroom teachers looking for a resource wherein young readers could experience and encounter, be engaged with, begin to emulate and become to energized by words familiar and unfamiliar within personal efficacy and social awareness, DICTIONARY FOR A BETTER WORLD: POEMS, QUOTES, AND ANECDOTES FROM A TO Z is that book.
First of all. . .from the start. . .the illustrations and packaging (what I could see in digital) is simply stunning. Mehrdokht Amni (CRESCENT MOONS AND POINTED MINARETS: A MUSLIM BOOK OF SHAPES) creates collage within collage of color blocking and paper cutting and mixed media that is visually arresting. As a collage artist, I am drawn to the visual part of this new book. There is a sort of nod to books like Paul B. Janezcko's FIREFLY SUMMER (with Melissa Sweet) and Kwame Alexander's HOW TO READ A BOOK (also with Melissa Sweet) from the feel of the cover and the title page.
Opening quotes presented in white ink upon a black field brings the reader into the "dictionary" via the ideas of Rumi and Nelson Mandela. In this light, the book becomes a gate fold title for its invitation to invite child, middle grade, and young adult readers to consider further works that have been developed for each age group. These two invitations start to move the reader into a sense of what one is able to do in the effort to create a better world. The suggestion here is that this will be an interactive text wherein the reader will be invited to reflect upon his, her, or their role(s) in creating a "better world."
If we were expecting a thirty-two page ABC book, the authors and the publisher have a surprise for the reader. Over 124 pages making this a substantial text in the presentation of poetry to young readers. We also see within the Table of Contents the peritext that will appear throughout the book guiding the reader through the fifty pieces offered by the poets. Readers note that poems presented in red are those written by Latham with the blue poems assigned to Waters. Poems that are presented in purple are those written in collaboration.
Wait. Hold on. OVER FIFTY PIECES to consider. This is a larger-than-usual poetry collection by today's standard thirty-two pages. And the first thing readers will note is that this book does not present in strict abecedarian order. If the poets needed to spend more time with a letter, they have done this with some letters representing multiple pieces.
Of the subjects presented within the collection (but not limited to) are: dialogue, diversity, gratitude, humility, intention, justice, mindfulness, netiquette, sheroes, tenacity, vulnerable, and xenial.
The first poem, "Words for a Better World," does present as abecedarian and introduces the reader to this word and how it works as a drive for the first poem's form and presentation. Each poem that follows takes its own spread within the book. The formula for the presentation is the poem, the poetic form in smaller font as peritext in verso, with a quote by a well-known figure to many adults (but not to all young readers inviting, further, opportunities to pull supplemental text to introduce the room to the figure being quoted). The presence of allusion here might invite the classroom teacher to poll the room to see if there is "residential expertise" in naming and identifying the figure in the quoted material. The quote is followed by a reflection by one of the authors on recto. The reflection by the author is then followed by an invitation to the reader to think, do, or be something related to the term presented by the word, the poem, the quote, and the poet's reflection material.
The wraparound presentation of the various text types coupled with invitations to actively consider, create, or compose will be familiar to those who have read and shared Amy Ludwig VanDerwater's POEMS ARE TEACHERS (Heinemann)or the resources offered by Dr. Sylvia Vardell and Dr. Janet Wong within their offerings at Pomelo Books.
In this light, DICTIONARY FOR A BETTER WORLD becomes a all-in-one, ready-for-the-classroom opportunity to synthesize multiple texts and point of view (including the reader's own).
The poet's reflections are all at once personal and poignant. . .and presented with a sense of humility and vulnerability. The poets present as most human within these short, one-paragraph prosaic pieces that create a sort of relationship with the reader that harkens back to the opening quotes in the work. Both Irene and Charles share experiences of family, faith, and school. They speak of misunderstandings and reconciliations. They speak of privileges and perceptions. They speak of memory and regret and gratitude. They talk about friendship and the work they have done together. The poets are here to do the work along with the reader and present only as experts in poetic form and composition. In the reflections, they share in earnest and present to the reader their own experiences and work-throughs in the work that is being asked of the audience for this book.
In this light, DICTIONARY FOR A BETTER WORLD is probably not a book that could be "read-through" and shelved. For its depth in both page count and pieces, this is a sustaining resource book that might be shared the way a classroom teacher might share Charles R. Smith Jr.'s 28 DAYS: MOMENTS IN BLACK HISTORY THAT CHANGED THE WORLD (with illustrations by Shane Evans). What's more, like any "dictionary," the classroom teacher could share from the extended work by showcasing a term or a quality as it might present in the outside reading or discussions within the room.
I want to pause in the review to celebrate, once again, Mehrdokht Amni's work in this book. Absolutely striking and the mood of the term and its poetic presentation is brought to living, visual text by the artist. An instance of the "concrete" nature of the illustrator's work is found in "Humility" with spreads across the top of the page with the second I presenting as "i" which invites the reader to consider the illustrator's choice (an extension here in the classroom might be Bob Raczka's WET CONCRETE). Some of the more striking representations within the book, for this responded, are the paper cuts that lift words from the page or present "paper doll"-like figures who stand in place and cast shadows. The artist's due care in matching visual to verse reminds this respondent of J. Ruth Gendler's THE BOOK OF QUALITIES.
The Authors Note from the two authors reveal to the reader how the book came together and the authors speak honestly again about how stretching out in poetic forms pushed them out of their comfort zones. I cannot wait to hold this book in my hands to review all of the forms (which are listed in index at the back of the collection). There were forms here that this respondent could review (I won't list them here for fear of embarrassment of not knowing a particular form that others find common in their practice). But, "The Bop?" "Cherita?" "Skinny?" We all have something to learn from A DICTIONARY FOR A BETTER WORLD.
Classroom teachers looking for a collection that not only taps and challenges thinking toward active participation in making the world better but furthers opportunities for reading will appreciate this: In addition to the allusions within the collection and the invitations to read sprinkled throughout the fifty pieces, the authors have included an index of further reading of titles both in canon and contemporary. Classroom teachers looking for reading lists of this type will not be disappointed with what the authors and publishers provide here.
The poetic reading list made me miss "Dear One" Lee Bennett Hopkins as the two authors share so many names and titles that could have been found in any LBH anthology. There is a nice mix of poets and titles here from which classroom teachers can draw or borrow from their building's library.
I've not talked too much about the pieces within the collection because I want my classroom teacher friends to discover the rich poetry on their own and with their classrooms. This is a gorgeous collection with an early in 2020 release date that might situate the book within proximity of National Poetry Month (offering time for the classroom teacher to review and to plan). Or the book might be an anchor text for the fourth quarter as students are continuing to move into the flow of the year while actively looking forward to the one coming.
I'm a greedy reviewer. I tend to sponge after my own heart. I wanted to see this book. And the people behind it made it happen for me. I see so many friends listed in this book, it warms my heart even when I am not holding the book against that space right now. This collection will be a treasure and situates Latham and Waters as a collaboration to watch.
More important than any of this is that we have a book, accessible to multiple ages, that encourages active reflection even if it means stalling active participation. The book presents an opportunity to read and to consider in the interest of creating new opportunities to serve this world in the interest of making it better. What we have coming in early 2020 is a new poetry collection poised to sit among so many venerable and good collections for children with a goal toward engaging, embracing, and eventually energizing young people to name their own particular role in making this a better world. The poems will do their work in the micro-setting of the classroom. In time, that work will begin to affect the mezzo-setting of a school. One day, the sharing of this collection might mean affecting the macro-setting of a world made better because young people read. Because teachers shared. Because teachers had a resource like DICTIONARY FOR A BETTER WORLD: POEMS, QUOTES, AND ANECDOTES FROM A TO Z.
Thank you again to representatives from Lerner Books who graciously allowed me to have an early look at this title.
"I began as I always do, by closing my eyes and listening to that soft voice that has spoken without fail for more than a half century" (Charles Ghign"I began as I always do, by closing my eyes and listening to that soft voice that has spoken without fail for more than a half century" (Charles Ghigna from the Introduction to the book).
A review should probably not be longer than the book that is being reviewed. But, perhaps a book that serves to related the lessons learned of a writer over a half century set at forty-seven pages serves to demonstrate the mastery of concision as much as confession.
What might we pull back from over fifty years of living let along living out the lines that have brought great joy to many children? As I think about DEAR POET: NOTES TO A YOUNG WRITER, I think about the losses to children's poetry in just this year. In particular to the children's poetry community to have lost both Paul B. Janeczko and Lee Bennett Hopkins.
I want to anchor this review in the idea that Charles Ghigna has given young writers a succinct guide to the writing life that is in keeping with the gifts he has already brought us as our "Father Goose" and is in the best traditions of titles like SEEING THE BLUE BETWEEN and PLEASE PASS THE POETRY.
As I quickly read the PDF version of the book sent as a review copy, I began to sense that what makes Ghigna's newest collection so special is that is seems to be born of Sondra Perl's FELT SENSE. I know that this is not true, but one of the invitations from the Felt Sense exercise suggests, "You already know a lot about this subject. Let the writing now go where it wants to go."
Ghigna wants to reflect. To reflect upon the art. Reflect upon the craft. Reflect upon the work.
And, we, on the other end of this poetic wanting get to receive the art, the craft, the work. And the heart of a poet.
In twenty-four short pieces, Ghigna masters the art of the pithy piece that tempts one to read quickly before the need to ruminate upon the idea sets in. This is the very power of the aphorism. In DEAR POET: NOTES TO A YOUNG WRITER, Ghigna takes on this recognizable form to deliver ideas that would instruct, inform, and inspire all at once.
II. Hang a picture of truth in your heart.
Let the mirror of your eyes fill the page.
VII.
Run. Yell. Spit at the dark.
Curse the moon. Throw rocks at the stars.
Get it all out. Get it all out. Get it all out on paper.
XVI.
A poet's life is paradox. It's more than what it seems.
We write of our reality. The one inside our dreams.
Am I presently clearly the potential impact of the poems within this small collection?
Are we getting a sense of what has been felt here over fifty years of bringing tiny gifts upon pages to readers?
XX.
A poem is a firefly upon the summer wind.
Instead of shining where she goes, she lights up where she's been.
Here's a little room with a little rhyme in it. It will take you now time at all to take in this space and to find your place within it. Ghigna's sparse verse here makes us feel welcome to sit down in a place where we don't have to take our shoes off or worry about whether or not we have laid down a coaster under our drink. These poems are like the tiny house trend and Ghigna's wisdom is a welcome mat that you would walk over again and again as a means of staying within the guest/host relationship for just one more time. Just a little while more.
Seventy. Charles Ghigna is seventy. I want him to be 700. And like the good poets he can be. Now that this little collection is in the world, the rest is up to us.
Where will we continue to look for poetry and advice related to poetry? Do we know the names? Do we know the hearts? Do we know the ideas? Will our readers?
As a fellow educator, I beseech you to grab a copy of DEAR POET: NOTES TO A YOUNG WRITER for you and for your classroom. I am gifting two copies of the book to a local 9th and 10th grade English teacher as they see some of my would-be poets before I do. It is my dearest hope that these students would be revisiting Ghigna's words when they come to me and here them shared in Room 407.
If you are looking for sage ideas regarding the generation and embrace of ideas that eventually become ideas born of new words. . .
. . .here are Charles's:
"Here they are. Little poetic pieces I trust will speak to future generations of readers, writers, artists and dreamers. May you continue to listen. May you continue to speak" (vii)....more
Now, if you have followed me for some time, we can stop right there. Mr. Hankins is adding the latest children's poetry anFirst. Lee Bennett Hopkins.
Now, if you have followed me for some time, we can stop right there. Mr. Hankins is adding the latest children's poetry anthology from the most prolific curator of children's poetry in this contemporary era in appreciation for verse written and designed for young readers.
And you would be right. I have been waiting for I AM SOMEONE ELSE: POEMS ABOUT PRETENDING for a long time. And now it is here. And it will speak to the quiet role-playing that so many of did when we were children.
As a child, one of my favorite cartoons was from Warner Bros. A character, "Ralphie" got himself into trouble for travelling away from the moment into the world of his dreams where he was cast as hero of his own narrative. In Lee Bennett Hopkins's new collection, we see children entering into more of a hope, dream, and goal-oriented state as they imagine who they could be in the moment and in the future.
First, some features that belong not to the poet or the poets in meeting, but to the artist, Chris Hsu. There are a lot of things to see and to process in the early part of the book. Many times the title page is glossed over in the interest of entering into the collection, but I want to take pause here to present some things Hsu has tucked into the title spread: a classroom not where students are already seated, but coming into community. It is the beginning of a day and of possibility with morning sun peering into the room from the left. It is clearly nine o'clock in Hsu's learning community, a better time to begin the school day according to a raft of research. A brown boy carries a pink backpack and a bulletin board in the back of the room has a hand print in the same number as those present in the room which suggests that these are the children we will follow through their day in the presentation of the poems. The hand prints are presented in ROYGBIV but moving upwards (I wonder how many reviewers will pick up on this small detail that seems to allude to other works like this years Hand's Up?).
An extension activity for the title page alone might be to have children identify the imaginations and goals of each of the figures/children depicted on the title page as we encounter them in the pages of the collection. Who imagined what? Who did what? Who hopes or wants for something specific to them?
And this was just the title spread.
In an introduction to the reader, Lee Bennett Hopkins (Dear One) leads from the heart to tell the reader, "There is nothing better than being yourself! You are unique and special in every way." I want to take a moment here to suggest that we often see the special and unique, and most human, traits in our media posthumously. Jim Henson. Bob Keeshan. Fred Rogers. Let's not miss what LBH has brought to us over the course of over four decades by way of loving care of children's poetry and how it presented to its intended readers. What an affirmation. Might I remind the reader here that we have not entered into the collection of poems at this point in the review?
After his introduction, Dear One takes on a quiet role of the guide into the three sections under which the poems will fall in the collection. Under the headings of Wish! (Be a Storybook Character), Support! (Be a Person Who Helps), and Invent! (Be a Person Who's a Maker) come the invitations to consider how each comes into fruition through a series of questions followed by the encouraged charge to imagine!, to serve!, and to create!
Balance is brought to the collection with the presentation of five poems under each category. For the Writing Studio, these poems could be presented in mini lesson style with a feature poem for each day of the week which invite possibility for this collection of poems to become an anchor text for up to three weeks of exploration of hopes, dreams, and goals for the classroom community and its members.
Each of the three categories has poets who will be familiar to those who read children's poetry. I present this observation because one of the gifts of Lee Bennett Hopkins's anthologies is the ability to "ladder" (Professor Teri Lesesne) out to the poets and their own work in children's poetry. On the first opening of the first category is an example of this. Here we see J. Patrick Lewis's "Wild Child" paired with Amy Ludwig VanDerwater's "For a Little While." Both poems here celebrate a girl's ability to be a wizard of magic and to be a queen in the moment all the while recognizing the innate "girl power" that exists within both "pretenders." Both Lewis and VanDerwater have a number of titles that are classroom ready covering a variety of subjects. Showcased within a Lee Bennett Hopkins anthology is an opportunity for the classroom teacher to see what the poet does best: present poems for young readers.
Janet Clare Fagal's "A Mermaid's Tale" presents a surprise within the verse and vision within the opening. I don't want to offer spoilers here, but think Jessica Love award-winning titles here. The designers of the book do a very nice job of letting this poem and imagery live within their own spread of the collection and both shine in the presentation.
Rebecca Kai Dotlich's "A Pirate's Life for Me" gives us a hint at one of the classmate's names within the collection, Ollie. Dotlich is an Indiana treasure for children's poetry and her poem within the collection reads like a pirate's song with its breaks and stops and rhythmic presentation. That Ollie wears eye glasses here might call to mind for readers George Ella Lyon's THE PIRATE OF KINDERGARTEN. Dotlich and Hsu work wonderfully-well together as the reader begins to see how the poet has created a personality where as Hsu begins to present his "play space" in faint beige and blue-gray outlines that present a sense of the imagination that is being built in by the child and the poem.
Between the Wish! and Support! categories, the designer of the collection has built in a transition for the room that moves from everyone bringing in an individual wish to a sense of belonging under a call to work. The children link hands in a kind of ring play as the elements around them change to representative badges and boxes and hydrants and stethoscopes and goggles. In the Writing Studio, a classroom teacher might share the image and ask what kinds of work might be done by the person who carries or uses ___________? In order to gauge where children might be by way of gender role limits and possibilities, an invitation might be to draw lines without judgment between the children and the symbols related to work.
Matt Forrest Esenwine lends "The One" to the collection with the common desire of young boys to be firemen. What the poet presents here is an affirmation to a new awareness and appreciation of the workforce as the reader discovers the mentor for the would-be firefighter. The synthesis of image and verse here works very nicely as the boy depicted has invented as much as he can of the dream with what is available in the room with Hsu filling in the facades and flames.
Michelle Heidenrich Barnes (please look up her Today's Little Ditty resources out there in web and book forms) offers "Bellies, Bones, and Paws" to encourage the budding veterinarian or one who might volunteer in the care of animals. What I really like about this poem from the Writing Studio standpoint is how the poet works the title into the poem, a model for young writers who might try the same approach. Hsu's weighing of a penny bank by our classmate is a playful touch that belongs to the child on the page while the artist fills in elements of an office space and a waiting room.
Heidi Bee Roemer takes on the imagined role as a police officer which presents our classmate as as one whose motivation lies here: "More than anything,/I want to make people's lives better/and neighborhoods safer." This from a comment made by the child's teacher who says, "sometimes police officers/make mistakes." This is the one time within the collection that we see/read the presence of a teacher and it is reserved for a time where a lesson in contemporary social issues has made its way into the play and into the planning. The line break at the end of this poem reveals the child's goal within the dream.
In the visual interlude between Serve! and Invent!, Hsu guides the children into another transition where the ring of serve has become a circular table of making (while she appears earlier within the collection, I want to give a nod to VanDerwater's WITH MY HANDS here so that you might go and look for it as an extension to the poems featured in this review). What I like about this depiction is that the children are in various states of "making" with different materials at the table. It does not appear that a project has been assigned and the illustration suggests the sharing of materials and ideas vs. working alone and in isolation. The inventing here at the table suggests the kind of making that might happen outside of the classroom as we see a construction worker's hat, a chef's hat, a hammer, a giraffe, and books (our friend, Dear One, suggests that there is a most special means of invention of which we can all be a part if we are invited and encouraged).
Prince Redcloud (a regular figure within LBH anthologies) presents the possibilities of making pastries and pies in the traditions of one's father while gender neutralizing what is means to be a "chef" and this is the standout feature of this poem for me as a girl wishes to be a chef like her father. That the room provides enough physical materials for this young child to play reminds me of the older, larger wooden play sets of the 60s and 70s that used to invite kitchen play (tell me these are still a thing because I used to love them as a child).
Ollie, our would be pirate, returns in LBH's "What a Poet Can Do" and we see our classmate working feverishly at a laptop to present new poems in the interest of showing his classmates themselves through the words he is typing. There is a small Hsu detail here not to be missed in a piece of paper by Ollie that has early attempts at listing and rhyming to vet out the words that might eventually come together to be a poem.
Michele Krueger's "Dancing Child" presents the reason for Hsu's giraffe in the interlude as a boy shows us how music makes his body move. Again, the designers of the book have been purposeful in the presentation of pretend having no gender specificity. Krueger's poetic description of dance is mentor text in how we might write about our hopes and dreams in the Writing Studio via description and listing.
Douglas Florian's "Video Game Hall of Fame" takes a classmate into the world of gaming as a real and ever-changing platform for invention in both authoring and and programming. And our classmate? A girl who has already begun to imagine through her virtual reality headset the very real possibilities for a working lifetime.
Play is the prologue to the people we might become and the work we might do as a citizen of a larger community outside of ourselves. Pretend as play and pretend as planning toward purpose are both presented in this new Lee Bennett Hopkins collection.
I have another of Dear One's titles in my own collection and I all the better for it as I have been with each release. I am proud of my distant poetic friend and source of enlightenment and encouragement. I am also proud of each person within the community of children's poetry for their piece within this new book. ...more
What can a picture book really DO in an upper elementary or secondary content area classroom. . .like science?
CATS ARE A LIQUID serves as a nice "laddWhat can a picture book really DO in an upper elementary or secondary content area classroom. . .like science?
CATS ARE A LIQUID serves as a nice "ladder" (Teri Lesesne) to the original paper making the suggestion (a web address for that paper is found in the book).
With a rhythmic, rhyming, listing approach, the author presents the subject and its verbs that make the suggestion and lead to summary statements as the book progresses. Imagine this as a model for the process of comparing and contrasting and vetting to make a hypothesis that "X is like Y" or "X IS Y" which would, in turn, help to solidify how simile and metaphor present in within a world outside of the English classroom.
The back "matter" for this October (just in time for fall) release includes definitions of matter and articles and books related to the subject. In addition, an opportunity to make (and tips for disposal) oobleck are also found in the paratext (epitext) for the book.
Picture books. Fun. Informative. Informing. And, in the right (write) hands the kind of model/mentor text you didn't know you were looking for when you were looking for extensions to lessons presented in the classroom....more
Just in time for National Poetry Month and for spring to turn toward summer, a presentation of the four seasons in a familiar form.
You gasp as I roarJust in time for National Poetry Month and for spring to turn toward summer, a presentation of the four seasons in a familiar form.
You gasp as I roar, my mane EXPLODING, sizzling-- lion of the sky!
It's a perfect riddle in haiku form to share with local readers with Thunder Over Louisville happening today (April 13).
One of Laura Purdie Salas's new poetry collections (she is very busy this year with new releases) has landed in Room 407 and drew high engagement and rave reviews from one group of teens with whom the book was shared on Thursday afternoon.
Evidence that children's poetry is not just for children teens like Kelsey and Delanie and Faith were attempting to guess the answers to Laura's riddles before the others. And, further evidence that children's poetry is not just for children is that some of the riddles got past our older readers leaving them to playful frustration that they could not see the clues that provided the answer. Here is an example of how text and image work together and Mercè López's image bring together the wonder of and whimsy of childhood that serve as a perfect companion to Laura's playful, enigmatic verse. Here is a "riddle-ku" that stumped our students:
colorful flowers-- we sprout on stems of people. bloom only in rain
As we work through multiple genres this year for our T.H.I.S. project, Laura's approach to haiku that presents a subject in riddle was a perfect mentor text for us to contemplate how we might present the complexities of our subject through micro form like haiku. And Laura does not disappoint in her rich tradition of not only being a wonderful poet for young readers but a rich resource in mentoring process of writing poetry as well. The back of this collection sees Laura offering advice to young writers who want to approach this genre for themselves (and some of our students immediately began to think of their subject and what parts are already complex or perplexing).
In the epitext, Laura Purdie Salas shares that the idea for this approach to haiku began to take shape during National Poetry Month almost five years ago (mentor text in returning to ideas, especially those pulled together quickly and in bulk). The poet introduces the young reader to terms like American haiku, mask poems, and narrator. Included, too, are further resources on haiku and riddle poems (and an answer key. . .just in case you get stumped).
I love our mentor poets for readers of all ages. Laura Purdie Salas once offered a SKYPE session for our students and it became a more than a visit. It quickly became a mini workshop in subject selection and poetic expression. Laura Purdie Salas keeps on teaching and she keeps on providing classroom teachers with strong mentor texts in writing poetry. . .for readers and writers of all ages....more
"For every WHAT IF, the imagination creates a possibility, and in that possibility lives a story."
From the creative team that brought us ONE DAY, THE "For every WHAT IF, the imagination creates a possibility, and in that possibility lives a story."
From the creative team that brought us ONE DAY, THE END: SHORT, VERY SHORT, SHORTER-THAN-EVER STORIES comes a new mentor text in possibilities that follow the ubiquitous "What Ifs" of life and the quietly lurking "What Ifs" of our hearts' fears and longings.
Rebecca Kai Dotlich mastered micro-fiction in her companion text with illustrator, Fred Koehler four years ago. Now, she brings it back in its expanded view to create a mentor text for readers young and old.
In the new book, Indiana treasure Dotlich sneaks in internal rhymes into what appears to be micro-prose allowing two characters to do the "heavy lifting" of the "What Ifs" that present to them as they float adrift into adventure.
Koehler pulls out every stop as a seeming imagery-laded allusion to the best picture books of the day. We have sailing. We have ice. We have crayons. We have octopus. And we have rockets.
Our polar bears ship looks remarkably like a shoe fastened to the tip of an iceberg (an illustrative metaphor about stepping out on the ice if I have ever seen one). The "What Ifs" begin getting lost and the clocks that stop tick-tocking. Dotlich is taking us on a journey to see how we might respond to these questions facing both the bears and ourselves.
As the iceberg becomes a small chunk of ice, it is traded off for an origami sailor's hat reminiscent to classic picture book lovers of Sam Reavin's 1971 title, HURRAY FOR CAPTAIN JANE!
Towering crayon skylines greet our travelers who sail with origami birds and fish to come ashore to ask questions of words and language and hopes and dreams. And when words fail our heroes, new languages appear filled with paints and turtles and music and maps and laughter.
This book is about the "Then Wes" of being brave and having no bedtimes and fishing and whistling and holding hands and sharing something amazing in response to the "What Ifs" that will come and the "What Ifs" we conjure.
As a possibility for readers of all ages, think about using WHAT IF. . ." THEN WE. . .as a "Proposed Problem. . .Poetic Possibility" stem to invite writing. The classroom teacher might use this stem to present clear and present problems or conflicts from the text the class is considering and have students write possible solutions both practical and poetic (get that critical thinking going). Point the problem at the group from the text to build lessons and explorations into empathy and opportunity.
Instant classic that I hope all of my friends find to share with readers of all ages.
A young girl on a quest to bring something interesting to her classroom's Show-and-Tell sets off on a journey of imagination (that is purposefully-mapA young girl on a quest to bring something interesting to her classroom's Show-and-Tell sets off on a journey of imagination (that is purposefully-mapped out which sets it apart from what might be deemed simple daydreaming) that takes her to different geographical regions that have the inventiveness of a young person's mind without really setting the book in a sense of defined place. ...more
This book is almost sixteen years old and I don't want you to miss it.
There must have been some kind of giveaway of late because I keep seeing A PockeThis book is almost sixteen years old and I don't want you to miss it.
There must have been some kind of giveaway of late because I keep seeing A Pocketful of Poems popping up everywhere in my social media feed with teacher friends holding up their copy for display. And isn't this how haiku generally arrives to us anyway whether in a book form or in our just being here and what are being is for: pockets full of poems.
A delight of both verse and vision, the juxtaposition of Nikki's haiku and Javaka's artwork come deliciously-close to giving the natural form of haiku the steel framework for a concrete feeling. Nikki's seventeen syllables appear as though a master painter is showing us how to render the landscape of the city on a match head with a toothpick.
In A Pocketful of Poems, city maps become buildings and fireworks become pinwheels in a patriotic heaven. Letters pop up off of the page and become possibilities. And here, in a pocketful of poems, pigeons become city folk and pumpkins take the bus to arrive in time for Thanksgiving.
This collection is an imaginative treasure and could be overlooked for new titles. "Ladder" (Teri Lesesne) with new titles like H IS FOR HAIKU to see more examples of how this deceptively-simply form can be rendered for new verse and vision.
I went out to order a used copy of the book. Mine arrived in pristine condition and was signed--by Nikki--to someone named "Sarah." I'll just gently line through Sarah's name and add my own. It feels right. Old lines and new lines intersect between the covers of a book. ...more
Love this one by Tom Romano. He is a "distant teacher" of mine. Mentor text. I've read this one over and over since its release. I want to put it yourLove this one by Tom Romano. He is a "distant teacher" of mine. Mentor text. I've read this one over and over since its release. I want to put it your reading radar. The shorter elements of the text with a focus on one element of writing makes the book very useful by way of pulling out sections to share with students. Lots of wisdom here like "trust the gush" and "writing is finding faith in the fragments."...more
First, I am a big fan of Paschkis's art work. Her illustrations are always colorful and bring more the eye upon the first glance than the viewer mightFirst, I am a big fan of Paschkis's art work. Her illustrations are always colorful and bring more the eye upon the first glance than the viewer might realize and this is why I think her books always need that second and third look before posting review or comment.
Cover art for VIVID is striking and forecasts what the younger reader will see and experience within the book. What's more. . .for younger readers. . .we've already encountered our first potential vocabulary builder. . ."vivid." What does "vivid" mean if we "undress" the book now slipping the dust jacket from the case to reveal a different presentation of the idea? The designers of the book take us from a vivid cover, to a minimal case cover with a colored dot spectrum again forecasting the reader to the colors that may be experienced within. Looking closer into the book, the end papers are done in black. And leads us to our first comment on the book? Vivid seems to invite the reader to clear the visual palette before entering into the text. A nice move for what the book does after. . .
The first color encountered by the reader is a striking entry of the color yellow. Boom. It's there. And it's yellow. On the facing page of each color entry is a one-paragraph block of text with the facing page offering Paschkis's light verse communicating the color. In the nonfiction offering, the reader learns about animal response to yellow and how egg yolks turn more yellow based upon the chicken's diet (which this adult reader did not know). Paschkis is still visible on the page and the illustrations are in keeping with her boldly-drawn lines that cannot seem to hold the color within (I love this style that reminds me of another favorite artist, Raschka). What I begin to realize early on in this new book is that Paschkis is present on the page, but this work belongs to the colors.
The next spread, dedicated to orange, is another example of color, text, and approach all coming together by way of intentional design. To compliment the nonfiction text suggesting that many languages had no word to communicate a sense of "orange" (and some still do not), the page spread is not washed with orange, but, rather filled with simple suggestions of the fruit, stacked, juggled, or bordering parts of the page including a light, open "wall" around the nonfiction text.
While Paschkis's verse is a little lighter, one of my favorite pieces in the book is "Red" wherein a question from Patrice regarding choice for color includes eleven variations is met by Fred's one word response. Paschkis uses this light verse to present humor along with an appreciation of color's multiple presentations.
Purple's spread is gorgeous with a regal cat working recto to verso with a long train of purple shades. The nonfiction will be familiar to adult readers familiar with color. Younger readers will experience new and novel information regarding this difficult-to-produce color. The poetic language in "Purple" is playful and who can resist a good cat pun?
"Brown" diverges from the exploration of the color and presents information regarding "synesthesia" that invites conversation between older and younger readers of the book.
The wedding of art and poetry and science make VIVID a unique presentation of a familiar subject. The picture book would work very well in art classrooms as a succinct introduction to color and as a vehicle for thoughtful consideration of Paschkis's choices in presentation and representation of the color. In the ELA classroom, VIVID would work very nicely alongside of Mary O'Neill's 1961 work in color and poetry, HAILSTONES AND HALIBUT BONES to invite young writers to work image, color, and words together for effect....more
Each year, I ask my 11th graders to list ten poets. By the time we have exhausted Shel Silverstein and Dr. Seuss and Just in time for back to school.
Each year, I ask my 11th graders to list ten poets. By the time we have exhausted Shel Silverstein and Dr. Seuss and a short list of traditional poets shared in classrooms, we are collectively-stuck. If we gave a score out of ten possible answers, many students would score a six. . .or a D. A D in poetry/poet recognition.
Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong have done so much over the years to make poetry readily-accessible to the classroom teacher and the readers in the room.
With GREAT MORNING, they bring the same gift of daily poetry to the the administrators and thought leaders of the building. Packaged in a way that suggests sharing during the morning annoucements (after all, don't we make time for tater tots). Introductory material in the book make a strong case for building leaders to share poetry with students and to be the figures leading this effort.
Performance tips for reading poetry are most concise and make it possible for even the most wary of reading poetry aloud can do this (think. . .if it is difficult for us, what does it look like for younger readers).
There's so much to celebrate in this new anthology, I wish I could put a copy on the desk of every administrator with whom I have a connection.
Poems listed by Topics specific to the life of a school year. Extensions to Take 5 activities. Introductory Poems. Community Building Poems. Funny Poems. Course-Specific Poems. Poems that follow the arc of the life of a school year.
Resources, resources, resources which include a list of poetry publications, people, blogs, and a glossary of terms that the administrator is bringing to the microphone or the camera each day the poems are shared with the students in the building. This anthology is the quiet answer to the question, "What is one small think we can do to boost literacy in our building this year that would not be cost-prohibitive?"
Each poem in the anthology is anchored by an introduction to the subject and theme of the poem and ties it back to something that might be happening in the building the moment (Did You Know?). In this regard, the early poems are about establishing routines, and returning forms, and introducing key figures in the support services of the school (I really like the personalized introduction to the school nurse which invites insertion of the school nurse's name into the poem).
Each poem also has a follow up that invites the person sharing the poem to have a natural segue back into the announcements for the morning. Vardell and Wong call this "Follow Up."
In order to invite students to dive deeper into poetry, each poem of the day has a "Connect" piece found in the back of the book that students can access themselves or teachers might use as a springboard for shares in the classroom after the announcements.
One of my favorites that appear early on in the book is Janet Wong's "Report Cards" which invites and encourages students to think about what report cards look like and say about us by way of feedback. The "Did You Know?" for this poem is a history and word origin of the word, "grade" which builds in vocabulary to a share that would take no longer than a minute or two. Mary Lee Hahn's "Compliment Chain" is the extension, or "Connect" piece for this poem encouraging student-to-student compliments which could not only buffer the marks received for the period but provide opportunity for community building within the classroom.
Kenn Nesbitt's "New Year is Here" invites an opportunity for students who are coming back from their separate breaks to celebrate together. The bonus of this piece is, again, the "Did You Know?" which features commentary on how other countries observe and celebrate their own "new" year.
Vardell and Wong have brought together a diverse list of poets and poetic voices. Introductions to poets like Joseph Bruchac might be the opportunity to lead young readers to his picture books and works for middle grade and young adult readers. Bruchac's "Your Teacher" is a celebration of the people in the building who are going to spend the day and the year with the students. The nice thing about the position of this poem is that it is not listed in proximity to National Teacher Day (though a coin insert at the top of the page makes this recommendation, administrators).
Each of the day-to-day poems listed have the feature, "Poetry Plus" which makes it easy for administrators to perhaps list a poem and on their desk top calendar.
If you know Vardell and Wong's books; you know you want this book. If you want to boost literacy and poetry appreciation in your building while introducing your young readers to the poets they may read in school, this is your book.
Gwen Frostic's 1957 celebration of her home state. Celebrations of what Michigan has to offer by way of natural, social, educational, and industrial rGwen Frostic's 1957 celebration of her home state. Celebrations of what Michigan has to offer by way of natural, social, educational, and industrial resources. All of these are brought together in Frostic's signature free verse. ...more
While thinking about what to share out of Ibi Zoboi's second book for young adults, I began to think about what makes a good "remix" since this is whaWhile thinking about what to share out of Ibi Zoboi's second book for young adults, I began to think about what makes a good "remix" since this is what the cover art promises for the book: a remix of the Jane Austen classic, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE. A quick Google search turned up a graphic and exploration of five important considerations derived from the SketchNotes of C. Wess Daniels. I liked that he offers five considerations. What follows are Daniels' element of a "good remix" and my parenthetical supports for Zoboi's PRIDE:
1. The original piece of art, sample, text, etc. is recognizable.
(Zoboi is able to retain enough of the plot structure and story arc to bring forth the 19th century classic through the contemporary life of Bushwick and the neighboring communities to which the characters travel and interact. Character names are updated but recognizable with some characters like Collins remaining and the brothers maintaining the last name of Darcy. We don't want to add any spoilers into the review, but fans of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE will not be disappointed in the artistic license Zoboi takes with the classic to remix the work for today's young adult audience).
2. There is genuinely something new about the remix.
(Zoboi not only creates something new, but she creates new awareness of how the problems presented in early classic literature are all at once the same and conflated for the new generation. The gentry that is given a pass in the reading of Austen's classic work is the gentrification that is given due coverage and consideration in the "remix." A divergent character in Zoboi's PRIDE is the matronly and spiritual Madrina who provides not only comic relief but a deeper appreciation for the culture for Zuri and the reader alike).
3. It works. Everything fits together in a new seamless production.
(As an example of current, urban fiction for young adult readers, the "remix" can stand alone. Like much of the popular music that is released today with "samples," "hooks," and "loops," the young adult reader not have read the classic to enjoy the contemporary. The presentation of the moment-in-the-life is presented here in Zuri's summer before senior year which brings the sweeping epic into a summer episode which will work for young adult readers in following the story arc. There is enough of the sample to retain familiarity and there is enough new to be today's reader-friendly).
4. It is participatory: it moves people on the dance floor.
(Classroom teachers are already "buzzing" about this book and recent Twitter interactions with the #ProjectLITBookClub community reveals that Zoboi's book will be one of the selections for the 2018-2019 year).
5. It remains open to more remixes and modifications.
(Zoboi presents a model for how classics might be remixed and "played with" in order to create something new which could be invitation for more middle grade and young adult authors to take up the same approach. I can only sense that this approach, done well as Zoboi's is done, will affirm the readers of the classics, give today's readers something engaging and new, and give librarians and classroom teachers something to suggest by way of reader advisory for those readers who enjoy classics and contemporary together or separately.
In light of Daniels' ideas about what makes a good "remix," Zoboi's PRIDE holds up and will no doubt be the buzz-worthy, back-to-school book for young adult readers. ...more
Hess is failing the 8th grade. She will not move up with her friends at the end of the year. This is where we"You are the director of your story. . ."
Hess is failing the 8th grade. She will not move up with her friends at the end of the year. This is where we meet Hess in Erin Dionne's newest book.
Using a wrap-around technique recognizable to those who enjoy film and film making approaches, Dionne puts us on the day wherein Hess is seemingly in trouble for something that she has done. It's a nice way to open the book by putting the main character we will follow in some presumable peril.
Told in a blend of narrative and script and camera operations, we follow Hess from a five-week flashback and move with her back to the moment presented in the beginning pages.
Hess's life is probably the model for many of our students' lives outside of school. Family concerns. Sibling conflict. The pressures of maintaining a home and the requirements of school. But, in Dionne's book, a father has been recently injured and needs more assistance at home. A brother is pulling away from family routines and not lending a lot of support to Hess's concerns and need for adaptations. Mother is pulled between the need to feed her family and to fix the folders that Hess carries about in an effort to address her Executive Functioning Disorder.
Hess's inner life is one dedicated to the appreciation of film and how film is made.
An event forecast at the beginning of the book is the holy grail of the five-week journey readers take with Hess. Students at her school have to be academically-eligible to participate in a talent showcase called The Hoot. Hess would like to participate in this event as part of the school's tradition and she works with two friends who would be a part of Hess's short film. But, Hess's eligibility is noted even by the friends to be in danger as the permission forms due date approaches.
The focus classroom of the book is Mrs. Walker's English Language Arts. The students are reading The Giver (and Hess is not). Failed quiz after failed quiz puts Hess's eligibility for The Hoot and her advancement into high school are both in jeopardy. School policy which limits the number of summer school courses a student can take limits and alternate plans for Hess's successful navigation of the eighth grade.
Armed and rarely without her camera, Hess has to maintain a balance between an inner sense of art and craft with the daily tasks that feel more like maintenance (a common tension for those with EFD).
A counselor assigned to help Hess, Mr. Sinclair, is a long-suffering, available adult who serves a model for advocacy within Dionne's work. Strategies are in place, but these are confounded with Hess's disorder which manifests itself in the "alternate task" which takes precedence over the assigned work that she must maintain in order to do well in school.
An audio-visual teacher, Mrs. Vogle provides that sense of "supernatural guide" within the book as one who sees Hess's talents and a possible "work around" for the policy that would keep the school from seeing what Hess has to offer.
A new friend, Zada, presents when Hess assists her father in filming an interview with Zada's parents who are the new proprietors of a local bakery. As an ELL student, Zada introduces Hess to a number of her favorite graphic novels (which builds in not only title recommendations for the reader but introduces a viable alternative for readers who struggle with other forms of presented text).
This middle grade novel continues some of the good work being done out there in this demographic. Tones of FISH IN A TREE and FINDING PERFECT make Dionne's book a natural "ladder" within this set of titles featuring characters with learning that is differently-abled.
Celebrations for this book include:
Diverse characters. Supportive family structure. Teachers who see inside and possibility. Characters with a passion and a commitment for their intended art. ...more
One of my favorite Frostic titles. This one with timeless verse reminding the reader "man" of himself and of his relationship to nature, to self, and One of my favorite Frostic titles. This one with timeless verse reminding the reader "man" of himself and of his relationship to nature, to self, and to others in community. A free verse love letter to the notion of coming back to terms with who man is and of what he is capable should he come back to connecting his gifts with the ebb and flow of nature. ...more
Ceoss post from our social media updates and tweets:
As my students hear me say over and over again, "You're not going to find this one at Target, WalmCeoss post from our social media updates and tweets:
As my students hear me say over and over again, "You're not going to find this one at Target, Walmart, or Meijer."
Beautiful subject, writing, and art come together to present a Michigan treasure in the format that is wonderfully and naturally suited for Frostic: the picture book.
A mentor text in overcoming disability, pursuing one's passion, and leaving a literal stamp upon the world that has imprinted upon you....more
Cross posting this review from a series of tweets I shared at Twitter after finishing the book.
Friend, @CarolJago, had recommended A PEOPLE'S HISTORY Cross posting this review from a series of tweets I shared at Twitter after finishing the book.
Friend, @CarolJago, had recommended A PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF CHICAGO (and it's right here beside me. But, I had to read, first, THIS IS MODERN ART by @kevincoval and @idrisgoodwin (with a forward by @Doclisayunlee). Stage play. Three texts in one featuring commentary on graffiti.
The play focuses on events surrounding the 2010 piece found on the Renzo Piano Modern Wing of the Art Institute of Chicago. Each of the three pieces (of text) in the book present a thoughtful commentary on the subject of graffiti. I'm recommending this one to teacher friends.
"An Outlaw Afterword: Cinderella Story" at the end of THIS IS MODERN ART features @kevincoval interacting with original artists from the 2010 "bombing" of the Institute. This builds in a nonfiction element to the stage adaptation of the event itself. Built-in, complimentary text.
What I am pointing to here is the ability of something that looks like a stage play that can serve as three pieces of text (satisfying state standards). Forward commentary by @kevincoval, @idrisgoodwin, and @Doclisayunlee, the play, and the interview. Book gift that keeps giving....more
I'm reviewing the ARC of this title which means that I am not seeing all of the final artwork for this book but what I do see here is a celebration ofI'm reviewing the ARC of this title which means that I am not seeing all of the final artwork for this book but what I do see here is a celebration of culture and of family. Our narrator walks the reader through locations and terms that may be unfamiliar to readers including the pronunciation of her name which provides unique rhyming opportunities for her depending on who is using her name. There is a celebration of extended family and the contribution of each to the whole that is noteworthy here. Reading into the elementary and upper elementary is not where I live professionally.
I might be outside of my lane here, but what I DO like about this book is its sense of inclusion--even to the reader--to clarify what it means to be an immigrant and what it means to be an American (a point Sarai clarifies early in the book to include every way that her mother, her father, and her ARE "American." References to Celia Cruz (Monica Brown also brings us the picture book, MY NAME IS CELIA) reminds me that it was not from a book that I learned about this cultural icon, but through her appearances on Sesame Street when I was a child. It makes me glad to see her get a mention within this book.
References to popular music, food, and family celebrations are all of part of what make this book a succinct look into the life of a person who may be, live, and express hopes and dreams in a way that is altogether different and yet the same. ...more
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