My Word of the Year for 2024

Happy Poetry Friday! I share a poem by James Stephens at the end of this post along with a link to this week's roundup. 

Today, I kick off our first TeachingAuthors' topic for 2024: our one word (or short phrase) theme for the year. Three weeks into January, I'm still getting used to my word: LIGHTER. 

I've been feeling a bit burdened lately and wanted a word that would help me feel lighter physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I hope that, in turn, I'll bring more light to those I encounter. 

To help remember my word, I write it at the top of my to-do list every morning. Since I'm a visual learner, I like to also draw an image that helps me keep my word in mind throughout the day. Unfortunately, my drawing skills are quite limited, so the image needs to be something simple. I ended up choosing a kite.

Photo by Charlotte Harrison on Unsplash

It's amazing how one little word can shift your perspective. Thanks to my newfound focus on LIGHTER, I recently noticed that it's no longer dark at 5:00 pm. Given the frigid temperatures and the piles of snow all around, if not for my word, I don't think I would have realized that the days here in the Northern Hemisphere are already lengthening. 

One way I'm lightening my mood and outlook is by reading humorous poetry, such as Animals in Pants written by Suzy Levinson and illustrated by Kristin & Kevin Howdeshell (Abrams) and My Head Has a Bellyache and More Nonsense for Mischievous Kids and Immature Grown-Ups written by Chris Harris and illustrated by Andrea Tsurmi (Little Brown).

And this month I'm especially excited about a new Think Poetry class I'll be taking with the amazing team of Janet Wong and Sylvia Vardell--I'll be learning ways to add humor to my own poetry! My heart is flying at the mere thought. 🪁

I'm also reading poetry that isn't necessarily humorous, but still uplifting. For the last few months, I've been savoring the poems in the beautiful anthology Sing a Song of Seasons: A Nature Poem for Each Day of the Year selected by Fiona Waters and illustrated by Frann Preston-Gannon (Candlewick).

When I read the poem for yesterday, January 18, "White Fields," the imagery really hit home—here in northern Illinois the fields are indeed covered in snow. And since the poem is in the public domain, I decided to share it today:

          White Fields
          by James Stephens

     In the winter time we go
     Walking in the fields of snow;

     Where there is no grass at all;
     Where the top of every wall,

     Every fence, and every tree,
     Is as white as white can be.

     Pointing out the way we came—
     Every one of them the same—

     All across the fields there be
     Prints in silver filigree;

     And our mothers always know,
     By the footprints in the snow,

     Where it is the children go. 

There's one more thing helping me feel LIGHTER these days: Two of my math-based poems appear in the STEM edition of Tyger Tyger Magazine. I feel especially honored because the editor created a terrific Teaching Resource to go with my poems. You can see all the poems and Teaching Resources in the issue by following the links on the Tyger Tyger website here. I'd love to know what you think of my poems!

Poetry Friday logo by Linda Mitchell

I hope this post has left you feeling a bit LIGHTER. Don't forget to check out this week's Poetry Friday roundup hosted by Robin Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge.


Carmela 🪁

Celebrating a New Friendship-Themed Poetry Anthology

In honor of Poetry Friday, today I'm celebrating the recent release of What Is a Friend?, an anthology of ekphastic poems edited by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong and published by Pomelo Books.  I'm honored to have one of my poems, which I share below, in the collection. But first, a bit about this marvelous new book for ages 7 and up.

The fun sticker on the cover indicates the anthology is a Children's Book Council "Hot Off the Press" Selection for October 2022!

Here's the description of What Is a Friend? that appears on the Pomelo Books website:

To learn to be a good friend, kids need models of friendship. The 41 poems in this book guide us in reaching out, sharing ourselves, asking for help, giving support, and just having fun. These poems also show us that friends come in many forms; we can find them in our families, at school, on sports teams, through community service, on vacation, in pets, in nature - and even in ourselves.

The website also lists the contributors. I recognize many of their names, whether from Poetry Friday posts or other anthologies I've seen. But some of these poets are knew to me. I look forward to reading all their poems:

Many talented voices are represented in this book: Gail Aldous, Marcie Flinchum Atkins, Robyn Hood Black, Willeena Booker, Sandy Brehl, Carol Bullman, Kelly Conroy, Mary E. Cronin, Linda A. Dryfhout, Janet Clare Fagal, Karen Elise Finch, Nancy Bo Flood, Patricia J. Franz, Marilyn Garcia, Van G. Garrett, Theresa Gaughan, Sara Holbrook, Irene Latham, Rebecca Gardyn Levington, Molly Lorenz, Jone Rush MacCulloch, Carmela A. Martino, Guadalupe García McCall, Rochelle Melander, Heidi Mordhorst, Elisabeth Norton, Joan Riordan, Laura Purdie Salas, René Saldaña, Jr., Michael Salinger, Donna JT Smith, Anastasia Suen, Pamela Taylor, Linda Kulp Trout, Fernanda Valentino, Charles Waters, Vicki Wilke, Matthew Winter, Janet Wong, Helen Kemp Zax, and Sarah Ziman

As with the Pomelo Books "Things We . . ." series (Things We Do; Things We Eat; Things We Feel), 100% of the profits from sales of What Is a Friend? will be donated to the IBBY Children in Crisis Fund (IBBY.org). You may recall that my poem "Amazed" appears in Things We Feel, so I now have two poems in publications from Pomelo Books. I am officially a "Pomelo Poet," and I have the logo to prove it! 😀 

My poem in What Is a Friend? is called "Sidekicks." You can see it below alongside the photo that inspired it. Special thanks to Janet Wong for creating this great graphic!

The students in the above photo are practicing tae kwon do. I have to confess that I knew nothing about this martial art before attempting the poem. My early drafts were based on online research. After sharing some drafts with my critique group, I learned fellow member and poet Eileen Meyer had actually studied tae kwon do herself. Eileen's feedback was especially helpful to my revision process! (If you don't know Eileen, she is one of three poets making up the "Rhyme Doctors" team--read more on their website.)

I hope you'll check out this week's Poetry Friday roundup hosted by Heidi Mordhorst at my juicy little universe for links to more kidlit poetry. 

Happy Writing!
Carmela

Celebrating the THINGS WE FEEL Anthology

I'm excited to finally be able to post today and talk about the latest Pomelo Books anthology Things We Feel, edited by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong. The book just happens to include one of my poems! In honor of Poetry Friday, I share that poem at the end of this post along with a link to the Poetry Friday roundup.

 

Our current TeachingAuthors topic is "One Book I Learned from this Past Year." Things We Feel is especially appropriate to the topic because it was produced as part of a class I took from Sylvia and Janet: Anthologies 201, a four-part course on publishing an anthology for PreK-grade 2. 

My involvement with this book taught me a great deal. I learned not only from Sylvia and Janet's presentations, but also from the process of writing and selecting the poems. Not all the poems in the anthology were written by the students in our class, and we were allowed to participate in the selection of the poems written by outsiders. The project helped me better understand the variety of considerations when putting together a poetry anthology. As a result, I was able to look at my own poems more objectively. One of my biggest takeaways: An anthologist isn't only looking for the best poems, but poems that will be the best fit.

Things We Feel is the third in a series of alphabet anthologies. This book covers a variety of emotions, from A to Z, and is wonderfully illustrated with photographs of children dealing with each emotion. Things We Feel will be of great value to parents and teachers trying to help young children cope with and understand their feelings. Since my poem is "Amazed," it's the very first in the book. 😊  

As part of the Anthologies 201 class, we participated as a team in creating the following short video which could be used as a supplement to the book. (If the video doesn't play for some reason, you can also watch it here.) 

Things We Feel EMOTIONS promo from Pomelo Books on Vimeo.

As I mentioned, Things We Feel is the third in a series from Pomelo Books. Fellow TeachingAuthor April Halprin Wayland and former TeachingAuthor JoAnn Early Macken both contributed poems to Things We Eat, which came out earlier this year. See this blog post to read April's poem. And you can read JoAnn's poem on her website. The first book in the series, Things We Do, was released in 2021. All of the profits from sales of these books will be donated to the IBBY Children in Crisis Fund (IBBY.org). You can find buy links for all the books on the Pomelo Books website.

Now, as promised, I'll share my poem, "Amazed." Sylvia and Janet created a terrific graphic of the 2-page spread with the poem alongside the "amazing" photo that inspired it. However, I had to split the graphic into two for the poem to be legible here. So below you'll first see the photo, which appears on the left page of the spread, and then the poem. (If you'd like to see the whole graphic, check out my Tweet here.)

 

 

I encourage you to visit Marcie Flinchum Atkins's website to read the fun poem she wrote for the letter Z: "Zany."  You can also see Michelle Kogan's poem in the anthology on her blog post here. And Anastasia Suen shares not only her poem but a related downloadable activity on her website.

When you're done checking out the poems from Things We Feel, don't forget to visit the Poetry Friday roundup hosted by Dave on his blog, Leap of Dave. 

 

Happy writing!

Carmela

3 Chances to Win PET CRAZY, a Poetry Friday Power Book

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Howdy, Campers ~ Happy Poetry Friday! Link to PF is below.

Today Eli and I are excited to introduce you to the newest addition in the extraordinary series, Poetry Friday Power Books, PET CRAZY (Pomelo Books), by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong, illustrated by Franzi Paetzold. (At the end of this post you'll have a chance to win one of three autographed copies--lucky you!)

Eli, captivated by Pet Crazy 

As always, creators Janet Wong and Sylvia Vardell turn teaching on its ear. They're a brilliant team unfailingly inventing original and inspiring curriculum for each book. This one's for younger elementary ages and they've nailed it. (Full disclosure: Eli is excited because my poem about his favorite place in the world--the dog park--is included.)

PET CRAZY: A Poetry Friday Power Book is a story in poems and a writing journal with twelve "PowerPacks" filled with activities to get young children thinking, drawing, reading, and writing about all kinds of pets. (Eli believes dogs are the best possible pet, but he says he's willing to keep an open mind.)

It was inspired by poems in The Poetry Friday Anthology® series. Five of these became  “anchor poems” that form the core of PET CRAZY.  Seven new poems were commissioned specifically for this book. Then Janet took these 12 anchor poems and connected them with 24 poems (which she wrote) to create a story featuring three animal-loving kids.

Here’s an example of how this book introduces the concept of free verse in PowerPack 11, near the end of the book, after the the poet's tools of rhyme, questions, repetition, stanzas, emotions, alliteration, acrostics, dialogue, found words and lists have been introduced:

 PowerPack 11 table of contents

"PowerPlay"
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 Anchor and Response poems

Mentor poem and Power2You

Pretty cool, right? (Eli says he's not at all surprised that PET CRAZY was chosen as a Children’s Book Council “Hot Off the Press” selection.)

And here are the contributors to PET CRAZY (and their pets):

Snot, enjoying her very own copy of  PET CRAZY

Kristy Dempsey KristyDempsey.com (Dogs are her favorite pet, but a couple of cats named Rascal and Minnie have curled their way into her heart as well.)

Helen Frost HelenFrost.net (Helen enjoys raising and releasing monarch butterflies.) 

Janice Harrington JaniceHarrington.com (Her favorite pet was a wonderful mutt named Nipper.)

Eric Ode EricOde.com (When Eric was a teacher, classroom pets included painted turtles, red-bellied newts, and a rat named Crockett.)

Laura Shovan LauraShovan.com (Her family lost a beloved cat, Nutmeg, just like in her poem included in this book.)

Elizabeth Steinglass ElizabethSteinglass.com (She has a sleepy cat named Scout.)

Eileen Spinelli EileenSpinelli.com (Eileen and her husband raise monarch butterflies.)

Don Tate DonTate.com (Our sources say us he's a gym-rat. :-)

Padma Venkatraman PadmaVenkatraman.com (Padma's also an oceanographer; she undoubtedly loves ocean animals)

(me) AprilWayland.com (We have a cat named Snot--Eli would just as soon we didn't have her--a tortoise named Sheldon--who Eli likes quite a bit--five red-eared sliders, two box turtles, and last but not least Eli, a noodle-brain and an avid hiker.) [Guess who says he does not appreciate this description?]

Sylvia Vardell (PoetryForChildren.blogspot.com) (Sylvia's favorite pets are dogs; she’s had three of them--Luther, Yenta, and Caesar--as well as Leonardo the tortoise, and a parakeet named Pecky.)

Tamera Will Wissinger TameraWillWissinger.com (Tamera once had a small cat that was a ball retriever.)

Carole Boston Weatherford CBWeatherford.com (Carole has shared her home with beagles Lucky, Snoopy, Hendrix and Gigi.)

Janet Wong  JanetWong.com (Janet's had dozens of pets, including birds, fish, a frog, hamsters, lizards, turtles, a cat, and dogs Bernadette, Coco, Nissa, and Angel.)

Nissa, teaching Janet "speak!"
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Congratulations, Janet and Sylvia for producing another imaginative, satisfying, useful book!

Campers, we have THREE autographed copies of PET CRAZY to give away, thanks to the generosity of Pomelo Books! (Ever the optimist, Eli says if he were a teacher, a parent, or the relative of an aspiring poet, he'd enter right away to win it in time for the holidays.)

To enter, use the Rafflecopter widget below. You may enter via 1, 2, or all 3 options.

If you choose option 2, you MUST leave a comment on TODAY'S blog post below or on our TeachingAuthors Facebook page. If you haven't already "liked" our Facebook page, please do so today. In your comment, tell us what you'd do with this book if you win our giveaway--keep it for yourself or give it to a teacher or a young reader?

(If you prefer, submit your comment via email to: teachingauthors [at] gmail [dot] com.)

Email subscribers: if you received this post via email, click on the Rafflecopter link at the end of this message to access the entry form.

Note: if you submit your comments via email or Facebook, YOU MUST STILL ENTER THE DRAWING VIA THE WIDGET BELOW. The giveaway ends November 8th and is open to U.S. residents only.

P.S. If you've never entered a Rafflecopter giveaway, here's info on how to enter a Rafflecopter giveaway and the difference between signing in with Facebook vs. with an email address.

And don't forget that it's Poetry Friday!
Thank you, Brenda, for hosting PF at Friendly Fairy Tales!

posted poetically by Eli, with help from April Halprin Wayland...and Snot, though Eli refuses to admit it.
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a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations! Hooray!

Yippee! I’m thrilled to be one of 115 poets (and 3 Teaching Authors!) whose poems are featured in the brand-new Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations! Each of the 156 poems appears in both English and Spanish.

Here’s mine! (Click to enlarge if your eyesight is like mine!)

The Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations is the newest in a series of Poetry Friday anthologies compiled by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong. Watch this space for more details and poems by Teaching Authors April Halprin Wayland and Esther Hershenhorn.

Look for more Poetry Celebrations fun at PoetryCelebrations.com. Then you can order your own copy of The Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations from Pomelo Books.

Don’t forget to enter our Book Giveaway for an autographed copy of Paul B. Janeczko’s The Death of the Hat: A Brief History of Poetry in 50 Objects, illustrated by Chris Raschka. You can also read about Paul’s approach to writing poetry with young writers.

For National Poetry Month, I’m posting a haiku each day on Facebook and Twitter (@JoAnnEMacken). As soon as I catch my breath, I’ll gather them all up on my blog.

Our friend Laura Purdie Salas is hosting the Poetry Friday Roundup today at Writing the World for Kids. And Jama Kim Rattigan has a 2015 National Poetry Month Kidlitosphere Events Roundup. Hooray! Celebrate! Enjoy!

JoAnn Early Macken