Best Day Ever ... Winning the CABA

So many moments. So many best days ever… I follow after April Halprin Wayland and share in her celebration of the wonderous moments when a class gets going and you realize you have congealed into one living organism learning, playing, supporting, and loving together. 

I also think of those deeply personal moments of best days ever, like when I birthed my daughter at a birth center in Hollywood, CA off of Sunset Blvd. with direct-entry midwives.  Eight strong women, the majority of which were healers held space around a birthing tub.  My daughter was born in the water in a lavender painted room with white curtains blowing and Bach playing in the background.  Candles surrounded the birthing tub and when she came into the world…then there were ten (including me.)  It was truly a sacred birth.

But, that’s not the memory I want to share at this time.

This past October, Hatem Aly and I were awarded the Children’s Africana Book Award (CABA) for Egyptian Lullaby from Howard University. The committee flew me out to Washington D.C to accept the honor.  

Honestly, when Hatem reached out, I had mixed feelings.  Awards set apart one person from the others and creates hierarchy.  Awards more often than not appeal to one’s ego.  I am in favor of an egalitarian society over a hierarchical one.  I’m not in favor of awards for teachers because I see teaching as a collaborative process which spans the years of a student’s academic career.  Progress cannot be measured by a single year with a single teacher.  We all contribute to the final “product.”  Awards for artistic endeavors are a bit less cut and dry for me. How many of us have watched the Academy Awards or Grammy’s and fantasized ourselves on that stage. (OK maybe that’s an LA thing.) Awards given to artists/writers can help awardees obtain more opportunity to create more work.  It’s hard to ignore the reality.  Hard to ignore that the words “award-winning” can change the trajectory of one’s career. While I can be competitive, I prefer to lean into my collaborative self which is actually stronger and more productive and comfortable to exist in. I have spent decades developing and nurturing my skills as a collaborator as an activist, organizer, educator and artist. I felt honored and yet compelled to acknowledge that I was embarrassed by the attention that singled me out… Humbled by all the congratulations I received. I knew I was expected to give a speech.  What would I talk about? My writing process? The intention of Egyptian Lullaby? The importance of normalizing Arab culture? In the end I chose to celebrate the intentions of the award itself.  

Click here to watch video of speech 1

Click here to watch video of speech 2

Click here to watch video of speech 3

Below is a transcript of my acceptance speech:

Thank you to Africa Access and the African Studies Association and the Howard University community on behalf of Hatem Aly and myself.  I am an Egyptian-Filipino American.  Egyptian Lullaby is my love letter to Cairo, the homeland of my father.

 There are literary awards out there that might have served my ego and vanity, and then there is this award that speaks to my heart, my soul, and most importantly…aligns with my purpose. Your mission to encourage the publication of children’s books to contribute to a better understanding of African societies and issues, intersects with my own 35 years of activism and grassroots organizing for social justice.  

I am both a children’s book author as well as a public-school kindergarten teacher in Los Angeles.  I wrote Egyptian Lullaby to normalize Arab culture because Hollywood and the media have done a bang-up job of demonizing Arabs in addition of course to almost all the cultures on the continent of Africa.

I often present at teacher’s conferences on Using Picture Books to Decenter White Culture and Recenter Diversity.  Your mission recenters true global diversity.  I know that my fellow teachers in the US as well as myself, come to our classes with internal biases.  It is impossible to not.  And without resources and support, we pass those on to our students unknowingly.  We choose books that prioritize stories told through a white, Eurocentric lens.  Your mission is so important to widening the span of available books like, Egyptian Lullaby and those of my fellow authors and illustrators here today.  If teachers and librarians can choose from a greater variety of books, we can consciously shift the way we center marginalized cultures and not reinforce the dominant culture.  We can create a lens through which children see a world where many different peoples and cultures live equitably…A world where children in current marginalized communities see themselves as valued…A world where we can address the unequal power dynamics.  We can demonstrate valuing all people and most importantly, bring marginalized people out of the margins.  Sometimes it feels like doing anti-racist work is insurmountable and overwhelming.  Your work makes it easier.  Spotlighting and encouraging the creation and production of more books about many diverse cultures on the continent of Africa facilitates more access for teachers, librarians, and ultimately, readers. It helps motivate the publishing industry to create and value the stories of currently marginalized peoples.  It creates opportunities for writers and artists to tell their stories that may not otherwise get told. And, it influences what bookstores choose to carry and market.  Providing a balanced view of the world for children is imperative to promoting equity.  Afterall, if we keep reinforcing for our young children through the books we share…that Eurocentric cultures have more value…we cannot be surprised when Anglo-Americans grow into adults unable to recognize their privilege.  Your work helps to deconstruct the dominant paradigm and erase marginalization.  This is the reason why I create.  This was the intent of Egyptian Lullaby.

I would be remiss not to thank the people who birthed this book into being…My cousins Nabil and Fatma, adult children of my Aunt Zina who inspired this story, my writing teacher and friend, Deborah Norse Latimore, my dear agent,  Abigail Samoun, the Roaring Brook team…executive editor, Emily Feinberg, assistant editor, Emilia Sowersby, copy editor, Sarah Gommper, art director, Aram Kim, designer, Mercedes Padro, publicist, Sara Elroubi, and school and library marketing assistant, Grace Tyler.  Thank you!  Thank you! Thank you!

                                                            

Truly what made the day, “the best day ever,” was the confluence of people who came together in that room at the luncheon.  Brenda Randolph, Vanessa Oyugi and Harriet McGuire who made it all possible.  The other authors and illustrators with whom I shared this once in a lifetime memorable day.  

Each person honored was given their own table.  Those in attendance sat at the table of their choice. And there it was, a table full of people with points of access representing different parts of my life. Instantaneously, I felt like I was sitting with family.  Each person familiar in their own way and intersecting different parts of me. Seemingly, all roads led to those social justice aspects of my past trajectory referenced in my speech and soon I would find that they would continue into my current journey providing camaraderie and solace along the way…Fellow picture book author of Hands Around the Library – Protecting Egypt’s Treasured Books, Karen Leggert Abouraya and I connected for a couple of reasons.  She wrote the book that I had found a few years ago as a comp for a story I was researching about the Arab Spring Revolution in Egypt.  I remember finding the story and wishing I had been the one to write it.  It’s so beautiful.  She is also married to an Egyptian man.  Cheryl Hamlin Freeman, board member of Africa Access and a member of the CABA planning committee and I connected with the other side of my heritage, my Filipino side as she is married to a Filipino man.  She was accompanied by her daughter.   Heba F. El-Shazli, fellow political activist who shares my Egyptian roots and is a professor at George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government connected with me immediately like sisters. I reconnected almost immediately after I was back in LA to tap into her wealth of knowledge pertaining to Israel and Gaza. Then checked in with her again regarding Syria. My good friend from college, Kathleen West came to experience this best day ever.  We hadn’t seen each other in almost 2 decades and went to school together in the early 80’s.  Lastly, Deborah Menkart, executive director of Teaching for Change, an organization that influenced my teaching in the 90’s as I was developing, sat at my table unknowing of the influence she had had on me as a progressive teacher.  As a result of their work and the work of Rethinking Schools, I have grown to see my role as a teacher as an act of social justice. 

I reached out to many the following Wednesday, the day after the elections, to find community.  These are the words from Deborah that brought tears to my eyes and hope to my heart.  Meeting this amazing group of people was truly the result of “the best day ever!”

I get choked up every time I read this.  My heart is full...

by Zeena M. Pliska

Thank you, Lee Bennett Hopkins

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Howdy, Campers, and Happy Poetry Friday! My poem, the link to our current book giveaway, and the PF link are all below.

Our current Book Giveaway, which ends September 25th, is for a copy of Deanie Yasner's debut middle grade novel, Essie Rose's Revelation. To enter, go to Esther's latest Student Success Story.

We lost a great one in August—"passionate educator and prolific children's poet and anthologist,* Lee Bennett Hopkins.  

Towards the end of August, Amy Ludwig VanDerwater offered her blog, The Poetry Farm, as a space to honor Lee, who died on August 8th. We at TeachingAuthors are celebrating Lee today.

I first met Lee about 35 years ago through my teacher, poet Myra Cohn Livingston, who was one of Lee's good friends. Over the years, Lee's praise, his honest--and at times, blunt--editorial notes, and the hand he held out to me to write my own books and to write poems for his anthologies, changed my life. Thank you, Lee.

Lee Bennett Hopkins ~ photo by Charles J Egita 

One of Lee's suggestions that I hear every time I write a poem or teach poetry, is: consider each time you use "the" and "a;" can you delete them?  It's amazing how intimate a poem can become without them.

Here is the cover of his anthology, SURPRISES (Harper and Row, 1984), which was the first I CAN READ poetry book.

And here is "Last Laugh," from that collection, one of my favorite LBH poems. (Keep in mind that in an I CAN READ book, there could only be 36 characters per line, including punctuation and spaces.)

LAST LAUGH
by Lee Bennett Hopkins

They all laughed when I told them
I wanted to be

A woman in space
Floating so free.

But they won't laugh at me
When they finally see
My feet up on Mars
And my face on TV.

Thank you, Lee.

Fellow TeachingAuthor Esther Herschenhorn writes: "Lee's Pass the Poetry, Please! remains my go-to book on poetry for children - re the poems, the reading, the writing."

"He shared what he called his signature poem, "Good Books, Good Times!" in the Afterword of the 1998 Third Edition of this book. He created this poem in 1985 when he was chosen the Children's Book Council's National Book Week Poet. I love the poem. I also love the book's dedication - "To my Poet-friends who make it all possible.'" Click here for the full poem.

In 2009, when Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong asked me to write a poem to be included in their anthology honoring Lee for winning the 2009 NCTE Excellence in Children's Poetry award, I was scared. 

What could I contribute that others wouldn't?  I thought about Lee--what did I really know about him?  I knew that he loved Sondheim. I knew that his mailing address included the word "cove" in it. I pictured a cabin next to a quiet lake. Then I thought about the art of being an anthologist. What must it entail? Gathering, collecting, arranging.  

Although an early draft was from a poem's point of view, I'm glad that this is the version that was published:
.COLLECTOR 

for LBH 

by April Halprin Wayland

Walking along the shore at sunset in sandals,

you bend to collect the right rock, the best twig,

the perfect poem.

Washing them in a blue enamel bowl,

you turn on Mozart low,

barefoot in your kitchen by the cove.

Sitting on your heels on the wooden porch,

you position, then reposition each piece.

Here?  Here?

Stomping inside, slamming the door,

you turn on Sondheim

LOUD. 

At sunrise in your slippers,

you come out on the porch

to shuffle them again.

Suddenly seeing it:

sequence, order, symmetry—

done.

poem © 2019 April Halprin Wayland. All rights reserved

How I imagine an anthologist works...
collecting, rearranging, creating unity.
photo by April Halprin Wayland

Hark! One more of Lee's anthologies is coming soon!  According to *Publishers Weekly obituary, "His most recently completed work, I Remember: Poems and Pictures of Heritage, features poems from award-winning, diverse authors paired with artwork from illustrators of similar backgrounds, providing portraits of growing up in America. It will be published by Lee & Low in October."

Lee Bennett Hopkins expanded the world of poetry for children. 

Thank you, Lee.

To find out more about him, start with Renee Latulippe's 2013 interview of him at No Water River.

And don’t forget to enter our latest Book Giveaway: win a copy of Deanie Yasner's Essie Rose’s Revelation Summer!  Details here.

Thank you, wonderful Linda B, for hosting at TeacherDance today!

posted with love by April Halprin Wayland with help from Eli, Penny and Gin (Penny and Gin are short-term rentals)

The Poetry of US ~ Grateful for Poetry Anthologies and Anthologists!

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Howdy, Campers and Happy Poetry Friday! (The link to PF and my poem are below)

This month, TeachingAuthors posts have been about the things we're most grateful for in the world of words. (Except for Wednesday's post, which includes a hot picture book writing prompt called "Dialogue is Sriracha Sauce.") Bobbi is grateful that each of us has a voice, Mary Ann is grateful to her family of storytellers,  Carla gives thanks for primary source documents which bring her research to life, and Carmela gives thanks to readers who make a huge difference in the life of a book.

Today I am grateful for poetry anthologies and the anthologists who create them. These works are a gift both to the poets in each collection and to their readers.

I've been honored to work with many of our finest anthologists. Today I'd like to bow deeply to a "well-loved, deeply-respected, and internationally-renown author and poetry anthologist," (and, may I add, a really fun guy),  Paul B. Janeczko who just this month won NCTE's Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children.

This award, established in 1977, honors a living American poet for their aggregate work for children ages 3–13. Take a deep dive into his website and see what a remarkable writer and person Paul is.

photo of Paul B. Janezko courtesy of Candlewick Press

Thank you for all you have given us, Paul--you are deeply loved and you soooo deserve this award!
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And speaking of anthologies: National Geographic just published an anthology by another well-loved, deeply-respected, and internationally-renown author and poetry anthologist, former Children's Poet Laureate, J. Patrick Lewis, THE POETRY OF US: More than 200 poems that celebrate the people, places and passion of the United States (National Geographic)

In 2015, I was thrilled when Pat asked me to write a poem about San Diego Zoo for this book "(perhaps include some of its exotic species)?" So after correspondence with and phone calls to the zoo hoping to get a free behind-the-scenes tour or interview with an animal keeper (wouldn't you think?), I convinced my husband that for our wedding anniversary we needed to go on a two-hour $89/per person behind-the-scenes tour of the zoo. And so we went. (Yes, he's a keeper.)

What a fun day!

It's both exhilarating and terrifying to write for an editor. Many of my attempts are stiff, lifeless. Nonetheless, I sent Pat nine poems. One was about two pandas getting married (we saw part of a wedding at the zoo), one was from the POV of a child lost in the zoo (I was six years old), two were about an elephant getting a manicure (we saw this on the tour--it's an actual thing!), a poem titled GOD DISCOVERS THE SAN DIEGO ZOO (about the S.D. Zoo Corps program for teens), one about a surprise date at the zoo (art reflecting life), a take-off of Robert Frost's The Pasture set in the zoo ("you come, too"), a quick and quirky poem about the first female zoo director, and a more serious poem about the same director.

Pat picked the last poem. Anthologists are editors, parent figures, therapists, task masters, mentors and more. Pat is one of the most patient editors I've worked with, watering and weeding poems I didn't even know were growing inside me...and then showing me how to clean up their meter and meaning.

Over a period of months, we changed phlangers into wombats, we took zebras out of their stalls (they've never lived in stalls in the San Diego Zoo, according to the zoo's historians) and more. Here is my poem as it now appears in this marvelous (and visually delicious) collection:

Belle Benchley
by April Halprin Wayland

I was the bookkeeper, that's all.

At noon I'd watch the zebras loll

I'd study wombats eating lunch

I really did not know that much

about the zoo.

I saw the llama wasn't well—

how did I know? It's hard to tell.

I pointed out a listless gnu

(for I read volumes about zoos.)

Some people swore our chief was rude—

depends upon your point of view.

(Recall he built this cageless place

which opened 1922).

It may be Dr. Wegeforth’s rage

that drove three zoo leaders away.

He marched to my desk, bent down and said:

"You try and run it—go ahead."

And so I did. 

poem (c) 2018 April Halprin Wayland. All rights reserved.

Thank you for hosting PF at Carol's Corner today, Carol!

posted with gratitude by April Halprin Wayland with help from Eli, Monkey and Snot.

My Summer in Pictures

     I'm wrapping up our TeachingAuthors' series on how (and if) the seasons affect our writing. This has been an unusual summer for me. For the first time in years, I didn't teach a summer camp for ages 9-12. I definitely missed working with young writers and hope I'll have the opportunity to get back to it next year.

Instead, I've spent much of this summer either working on a freelance editing project or promoting my published books. We don't talk much about promotion here. Perhaps we should. (If that's a topic you'd like us to address, let us know in the comments.)

I hadn't planned on doing book promotion this summer. But after Playing by Heart was honored with several awards, I realized spreading the news might draw some much-needed attention to the book. If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram, you've probably seen these images:

Playing by Heart won the 2018 Catholic Arts and Letters Award (CALA) for Children's/YA Fiction

Playing by Heart took Third Place in Books for Teens & Young Adults Category of the
2018 Catholic Press Association Book Awards

Playing by Heart is a finalist in the Young Adult Category of the
2018 American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) Carol Awards.
The winner will be announced in September.

In between promotion and editing, I did find time for some fun, including going on a Troll Hunt at the Morton Arboretum (with my husband John, whom you can see in the photo standing beside Joe the Guardian)







and visiting butterflies at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum.

As summer winds down, I hope to finish my freelance editing job and squeeze in some writing time before I start teaching again in October. If you're in the Chicago area, you can find info regarding my College of DuPage class on "Finding Your Writer's Voice" on my website.

This week's Poetry Friday round up is hosted by Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckled Edge.

Don't forget to always Write with Joy!
Carmela

BLOG TOUR: Joan Bransfield Graham's New Book & Poetry Exercise!--Wednesday Writers' Workout

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Howdy, Campers!

We're taking a breaking from HATCHing today--i.e.,celebrating the arrival of Jill Esbaum's newest book, I HATCHED! (here and here so far), but the contest to win this remarkable rhyming picture book by our very own Jill doesn't end until January 31st, so get your tail feathers on and enter here!

Today, I'm excited that TeachingAuthors is one of two mid-week stops on Joan Bransfield Graham's blog tour (the other stop today is at Renee LaTulippe's terrific No Water River) introducing Joan's new poetry book...AND since it's Wednesday, we welcome her as our very own personal trainer for today's Writing Workout.

This is my friend, the effervescent, inventive and truly original author and thinker, Joan Bransfield Graham. 

Joan is an award-winning poet who can't STOP writing poetry. She has files and piles of poems, which have been featured in anthologies, magazines, textbooks, and on CDs. She likes to think "outside the page" because poetry is "everywhere." Her books SPLISH SPLASH and FLICKER FLASH--shape poems about water and light--were both chosen as School Library Journal Best Books of the Year and NCTE Notables, among many other honors, and have been described as "ingenious," "wonderfully evocative," and "stunningly delicious." She loves photography, art, traveling and lives not-too-far from me in Los Angeles, CA.

 Celebrating its 20th Birthday!

Celebrating its 15th Birthday!

Just YESTERDAY, Joan's newest book--The Poem That Will  Not End: Fun with Poetic Forms and Voices--was published! This fabulous book, illustrated by Kyrsten Brooker, was recently featured in an article called "A Year for Poetry" . . . "A picture book which may have language arts teachers doing a happy dance." – Kirkus Reviews

As Joan describes it, this book is the opposite of writer's block--Ryan O'Brian can't STOP writing poetry and does so in many unusual ways.  There is a book-length story poem, 22 poems embedded in the artwork, and a three-page glossary done as Ryan's notebook, describing the 15 poetic forms and five voices used. (Note: The publisher will provide a Teacher's Guide for this book with ties to the Common Core. I'll post the link as soon as I get that information.) 

Joan is truly a TeachingAuthor--her degree in Elementary Education is from Rowan University in NJ.  She taught 2nd Grade in New Jersey, did substitute teaching for grades 1 - 8 in Kentucky, and taught 4th and 5th Grade Gifted classes in California.  She is always teaching during her school visits, doing what she enjoys most--encouraging students to use their imagination and creativity.

And now, without further ado, here's Joan's WWW Olympic Writing Challenge:

JOAN: With the Winter Olympics fast approaching (Feb.7th in Sochi, Russia), April and I are going to turn writing into an Olympic sport--and we want you on our team!  Among the poems in my new book, THE POEM THAT WILL NOT END:  Fun with Poetic Forms and Voices, is a bike poem.  In this mask poem, the bike "speaks" for itself:
BIKE

Step on—
I am wheels
and gears,
I am speed.
I will heed
your slightest
command.

I will take you
anywhere.
I am wind
in your hair,
I am things
unsaid,
I’m the road
ahead . . . .

--© Joan Bransfield Graham

illustration by Kyrsten Brooker

In this Olympic Writing Challenge we ask you to see the Games through the "eyes" of a piece of sporting equipment--give it a voice--and write your own mask poem. 

What will you be--an ice hockey helmet, ski poles, ice skates or...?   

Share your mask poems with a loved one...and with us in the comments section below--we want to hear them!

And to double your pleasure, snowboard over to Renee LaTulippe's No Water River blog and transform your poem into an apostrophe poem (in which the poet addresses a non-living or non-human being)!

And BTW--did you know that Renee lives in Italy?  So, this "doubleheader" poetry prompt is an international event! Work out those mental muscles and Go for the Gold!

Thank you so much for sharing this energizing WWW with us, Joan!

Links to Joan Bransfield Graham's Grand Blog Tour 2014:

Monday, Jan. 27--Poetry for Children--Dr. Sylvia Vardell, Texas Woman's University, Denton, TX, a behind-the-scenes look, http://poetryforchildren.blogspot.com/2014/01/blog-tour-poem-that-will-not-end.html
Tuesday, Jan. 28--Tales from the Rushmore Kid--Tina Nichols Coury, editor interview with Melanie Kroupa, http://www.tinanicholscouryblog.com/
Wednesday, Jan. 29--Double Olympic Poetry Challenge--an international event!
No Water River--Renee LaTulippe (in Italy--using "Soccer Ball" as a prompt, write an apostrophe poem for a piece of Olympic sporting equipment), http://www.nowaterriver.com/
Teaching Authors--Six Authors Who Also Teach--(USA--using "Bike" as a prompt, write a mask poem for the same sports item--skis, skates, etc.) http://www.teachingauthors.com/
Thursday, Jan. 30--The Miss Rumphius Effect--Dr. Tricia Stohr-Hunt, University of Richmond, Richmond, VA, http://missrumphiuseffect.blogspot.com/
Friday, Jan. 31--Jama's Alphabet Soup--Jama Kim Rattigan--review of book, potato recipe, plus write "food couplet" (a la "Couplet for French Fries") to be entered into giveaway http://jamarattigan.com/

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Remember to enter our Book Giveaway of Jill Esbaum's
I HATCHED!--you have until Friday, January 31st!

posted with love by April Halprin Wayland with help from the fairies and the killdeer

The Magnificent Seven Cybil Poetry Book Award Finalists--read all about 'em!

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Howdy, Campers!

Quick quiz: why are the Cybils called the Cybils?  
The word kinda sorta comes from
Children's and Young Adult Bloggers' Literary Awards

I had the great honor to be a first-round judge on the 2013 Cybils Poetry Book Award committee this year.

Our able leader was Jone MacCulloch, who many of you know and love, and whose job it was to herd, help and cajole the judges to read the nominated books and then turn in reviews of the best by the day after Christmas. 

While Santa was delivering presents, Jone was pulling out her eyebrows.

photo from morguefile.com

I was in extraordinary company. Round One Judges were:

Ed deCaria, Think, Kid, Think! http://www.thinkkidthink.com  @edecaria
Kelly Fineman, Writing and Ruminating http://kellyrfineman.livejournal.com @kellyfineman
Jone MacCulloch, Check It Out http://maclibrary.wordpress.com  @JoneMac53
Anastasia Suen, Poet! Poet! http://asuen.com/poetry @asuen1
Sylvia Vardell, Poetry for Children http://poetryforchildren.blogspot.com @SylviaVardell
Bridget Wilson, What is Bridget Reading? http://whatisbridgetreading.blogspot.com @bridgetrwilson
and moi: April Halprin Wayland, Teaching Authors http://teachingauthors.com  @aprilhwayland

We've whittled our pile of nominated poetry books down to seven and sent our list off to the second-round judges.  Winners will be announced on Valentine's Day (awww...)

 

 photo from morguefile.com

And here, Campers, are our seven finalists and our reviews (in no particular order) :

Follow Follow: A Book of Reverso Poems by Marilyn Singer (Dial) Nominated by: Perogyo

 

Marilyn Singer returns to the reverso, a poetic form she created, in Mirror, Mirror.  The reverso is quite clever. First you read the poem from top to bottom. Then you flip it and read it from the bottom up. The reverso proves the old adage "there are two sides to every story." Singer describes the collection best: "Imagine / fairy tales / upended." And now reversed: Upended / fairy tales? / Imagine!"

 

In Follow Follow, Singer takes twelve tales and breathes new life into them. Too often people perceive fairy tales as unchanging. This couldn't be further from the truth. In this collection readers will hear from Thumbelina and the mole, the tortoise and the hare, the twelve princesses and the soldier. At the end of the book Singer offers more information about the tales and the reverso form. Josee Masse's beautifully bright illustrations offer readers a visual of both sides of each tale.

 

Reviewed by Bridget Wilson, What is Bridget Reading?  @bridgetrwilson

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Forest Has a Song: Poems by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater (Clarion Books) Nominated by: Laura Purdie Salas

 

This is a beautifully designed poetry picture book in which the gentle watercolor paintings by Robbin Gourley, the layout of poem and painting on each page, and even the spidery font of the text work together to create a poetry collection that is both inviting and comforting. The natural world has long been the topic of poetry for young people and VanDerwater taps into the child's connection with the simplest details: pinecones and sticks, footprints and flying birds, with poetry that offers many tactile details that invite children to touch, smell, and see the world outside their iPads in tangible ways. She also offers a variety of poetic forms so children (and teachers) can see how poets use the words and space on the page. Her use of rhyme is particularly noteworthy -- making it look so natural -- as if we all spoke in lyrical language when captured by the beauty of the forest.

 

Reviewed by Sylvia Vardell, Poetry for Children
 @SylviaVardell

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Poems to Learn by Heart selected by Caroline Kennedy (Disney Hyperion) Nominated by: bevpdx

 

The ambition of this beautiful collection of more than 100 poems is truly to encourage students to learn poems by heart. Editor Kennedy's preface includes practical tips on memorization, ending with, "I hope that…once they learn them by heart, they won't even need this book."  Classic, contemporary, nonsense poems and poems that challenge readers to think are organized organically within each of ten sections . These sections are about self, family, school, sports and war, with an extra credit section for those who want to memorize even longer poems.  Every section begins with an engaging one-page introduction, often disclosing Kennedy's personal connection with the poems that follow.  Its premise, poetic choices and the editor's enthusiasm throughout as well as the exquisite watercolor paintings by Jon J. Muth which, as Kennedy writes, "add meaning, depth and freshness to the poems" combine to make this an award-winning book.

 

Reviewed by April Halprin Wayland, Teaching Authors
 @aprilhwayland

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Pug: And Other Animal Poems byValerie Worth (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) Nominated by: The Cath in the Hat

 

In this follow-up to 2007's Animal Poems (itself a Cybils finalist that year), Worth again brings her seemingly simple subjects to life in a sophisticated yet accessible way. Readers will meet her "plug-ugly" pug, the bull who "would not melt", a mouse "left as a gift on the step", and sparrows and pigeons who "seem at home where there appears to be no home", plus fourteen other inviting, inspiring, or sometimes intimidating creatures. Jenkins adds color and texture to each poem, from the silver sparkle of a wood thrush's eye to the distressed look on a too-long dachshund's face, making each two-page spread pop. Pug is a masterful book of free-verse poems and illustrations that will challenge readers to view animals from an entirely new perspective, and to admire the subtle behaviors, attitudes, and characteristics that make each one unique.

 

Reviewed by Ed DeCaria, Think, Kid, Think!
   @edecaria

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The Pet Project: Cute and Cuddly Vicious Verses by Lisa Wheeler (Atheneum) Nominated by: Bridget Wilson

 

Any young reader longing for a pet will want to read this riotously funny research romp by a bespectacled young girl on a quest to find the perfect pet. Readers are forewarned that "Animals aren't always charming." Notebook in hand to track observations, she visits a farm, zoo, and the woods as well as performing a "home study." What she concludes from her research may surprise readers.

 

Wheeler's tongue in cheek verses will provide laughs for all while introducing readers to a variety of pet possibilities. Combined with Zachary OHora's use of strong lines yet whimsical acrylic illustrations this book will be read and reread. What stood out in The Pet Project was the author's ability to weave words, poems, and a little bit of science into a fabulous collection.

 

Reviewed by Jone MacCulloch, Check It Out
   @JoneMac53

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What the Heart Knows: Chants, Charms, and Blessings by Joyce Sidman (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

Nominated by: Sylvia Vardell

Truly a miraculous little book, and hard to categorize in some ways. It's divided into  four sections: 1. chants & charms - to bolster courage and guard against evil; 2. spells & invocations - to cause something to happen; 3. laments & remembrances - to remember, regret, or grieve; and 4. praise songs & blessings - to celebrate, thank, or express love. I love the idea of giving children both poems and permission to express and validate their emotional experiences.

Reviewed by Kelly Fineman, Writing and Ruminating
  @kellyfineman
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When Thunder Comes: Poems for Civil Rights Leaders by J. Patrick Lewis (Chronicle Books) Nominated by: Becky L.

 

Written by 2011-2013 Children’s Poet Laureate J. Patrick Lewis, this valuable book of poetry profiles seventeen civil rights leaders, the famous and the not-so-famous. Each poem has a two-page spread with gorgeous artwork by five different artists.The title of the poem explains the person’s role. Mitsuye Endo is "The Captive": “I was a typist, nothing more. / I loved my life, I hated war.” A short biography in the back of the book explains how she fought for her civil rights after being held in a World War II Japanese internment camp. This collection can be used year round to celebrate the heroes of civil rights. For children and teens who want to change the way things are, this smart and intriguing look at key civil rights figures can guide the way.

 

Reviewed by Anastasia Suen, Poet!Poet! @asuen1

 

Good luck to the Round Two judges:

Linda Baie, Teacher Dance http://teacherdance.org @LBaie
Matt Esenwine, Radio, Rhythm, and Rhyme http://mattforrest.wordpress.com   @mattforrestvw
Renee La Tulippe, No Water River http://www.nowaterriver.com  @ReneeMLaTulippe
Julie Larios, The Drift Record http://julielarios.blogspot.com
Irene Latham, Live Your Poem http://irenelatham.blogspot.com  @irene_latham
 

posted by April Halprin Wayland