WHO IS YOUR MUSE?

Howdy, Campers ~ Happy Poetry Friday AND Last Day of Poetry Month! My poem and the link to today's PF host are below.

In honor of TeachingAuthors' 12th year on earth (is the internet technically earth?), we are each choosing one post from the past 12 years (just one?!?!) to share.  Esther shares a poem I wrote (!) and a photo of us surprising Carmela at TeachingAuthors' birthday celebration, Mary Ann shares JoAnn's 2011 inspiring review of Paul Janeczko's Seeing the Blue Between, Advice and Inspiration for Young Poets, and Carmela shares Esther's 2011 post about a specific kind of haiku which Esther called Thankus, while adding her own thanku and a #HaikuFromTwo.

The truth is, I love the writing of every TA, but I knew from the start that I would be rifling through Mary Ann's posts. I love her storytelling, I love her show-us-her-scars honesty. Her authenticity, forces me (maybe inspires me is better) to be more honest, too.

So today, enjoy Mary Ann's 2010 post about Charles Schulz' s PEANUTS gang...aka her muses.

from Apollo Magazine; no copyright infringement is intended 

I wrote about my own muse in 2013:

WHEN I MET MY MUSE
inspired by a poem with the same title by William Stafford
by April Halprin Wayland

 

I was lounging against the back of a napping kangaroo

when this little boy with a large crayon drew near.

Said his name was Harold.

 

I sat up to study the scruffy kid—

a baby, really, in p.j.s that must have been

as suffocating as meat in a sausage skin.

 

His wide eyes disarmed me,

as if he were that butterfly in the antidepressant commercial,

flying around a garden party and leaving everyone feeling better.

 

Harold stepped around the kangaroo to draw a big house

with a wide porch

and shutters on every window.

 

There were a boatload of windows.

He added two rocking chairs and three hanging baskets of geraniums.

When he framed the front doorway, we went in.

 

The floors were oak; the house felt comfortable, like a favorite old sofa.

He drew stairs; we walked up to four bedrooms

and a greenhouse room with walls of glass.

 

"I'll be living up here," he said, pulling down steps from the ceiling.

He climbed into the attic and peeked out.

"I'll hand you down stuff I find here," he said.

 

I supposed I'd be responsible for feeding him. 

I wondered if he ate real grilled cheese sandwiches

or if I had to draw them with his crayon.

 

The kangaroo

was still sleeping in the front yard,

which was probably for the best.

From Wikipedia; no copyright infringement is intended

=======================

Before I say g'bye, I have Poetry Month news! 

My next 3-hour, one day Writing Poetry for Children class through the UCLA Extension Writers' Program will be on July 17, 2021. Registration is now open, but hurry, enrollment is limited to 25 students.

I'm thrilled that three of my poems are on the Poetry Foundation site. 

I'm happy to be among nine poets who are on a fascinating education website in England called TWINKL (no E at the end). The poets are: Jaclyn Desforges, Miriam Sagan, Liz Garton Scanlon, Irina Moga, Lauren Camp, D. S. Martin, Allan Wolf, Charles Ghigna and me.

And I'm honored to have been included in the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators' video of 13 poets, each reading a poem. (Note: the video lasts 17:30 minutes; my poem is at the 11 minute mark).

The poets are: Nikki Grimes, Lesléa Newman, Joseph Bruchac, Jane Yolen, Tami Charles, Lin Oliver, Hope Anita Smith, Sonya Sones, Carole Boston Weatherford, April Halprin Wayland, Margarita Engle, Ellen Hopkins, and Linda Sue Park.

==============================

Who is your  muse? Please tell us in the comments--we want to know...we really do!

Thank you, Matt, for hosting Poetry Friday

this last day of Poetry Month, 2021 

on Radio, Rhythm and Rhyme !

posted by April Halprin Wayland, with the help of Eli, Kitty, and Monkey, who were sure THEY were my muses before I broke the news...

MORE THAN ENOUGH (behind-the-scenes) ~ A Passover Story

Howdy, Campers!

I'd like to present my newest picture book.

Book, say hello to everyone.

More Than Enough ~ A Passover Story
by April Halprin Wayland, illustrated by Katie Kath (Dial 2016)

You can see that it's still a bit shy, so here's the elevator pitch:

it's a story for 3-5 year olds
about being grateful
for having more than enough each moment
as a family prepares to celebrate Passover.

Would you like to hear the crazy, rollercoaster tearing-out-my-hair behind-the-scenes story of how a seed of an idea became this published book?

Thank you for nodding yes.

It all began in 2009, as I was hiking with my family in Kauai, Hawaii. There were a lot of steep hills. But the leaves were glistening from the morning rain, the soil was a rich red, and I was with the ones I love most. I thought of my favorite Passover song, Dayenu.  

Dayenu means "it would have been enough." We sing about being grateful even if we'd only been freed from slavery; grateful even if we'd only been led out of Egypt, etc.

To me, it's what all great religions and philosophies teach: be aware of and grateful for the blessings of the moment.

As I sang the song, I was keenly aware of the blessings of each step of the hike:

If I only hike up this rich, red dirt, that's enough;

if I only see the blue and green ocean from the top of this hill, that's enough;

if I only dive into the warm waves, that's enough...

My husband  hiking Kauai

I flew home and wrote this as a free verse poem, based loosely on the form of the original song, and read it aloud at a friend's Seder (Passover meal).  They liked it!

So I rewrote it as a picture book and submitted it in May of 2009 to my editor at Dial, who I'd loved working with on my last picture book, New Year at the Pier.  

Here are the first four stanzas of the manuscript as first submitted:

If we had driven along the jungley road

And had not found the hiking trail

Dayenu

If we had found the hiking trail

And had not reached the hill overlooking the ocean

Dayenu

If we had reached the hill overlooking the ocean

And had not gone swimming

Dayenu

If we had dived into those deep blue waves

And had not built cairns when we got out of the water

Dayenu

My editor liked it. She liked it!

But...would I change the setting of the story?

Take it out of Hawaii? I harrumphed to myself.  The whole idea was that this concept is universal.  And wasn't Hawaii rich with illustrative possibilities?

But, okay. I took it out of Hawaii.

Great, she said.  And she really liked the farmers market at the end of the hike. So...could I expand on that...and shorten the hike?

Shorten the hike? Argh. I guess...

I did.

Fine, fine, she said, when she got that version.  Now--could you write this for three to five year olds?

Well, I can...but I don't want to.  I did, working closely with my critique partner and friend, poet and author, Sonya Sones, on the rhythm of each stanza. 

Wonderful, she said. And...could the family buy Passover foods at the farmers market?

Passover food? But the whole idea was to take the concept of Dayenu--of gratitude for each moment-- out of the holiday and into a regular day, I thought ferociously, pounding the carpet.

But I did. I deleted the fresh ahi tuna, avocado and mangoes and loaded the family's market bags with apples and walnuts, lilacs and honey. 

Terrific, she said. And...could you have them getting ready to go to a family Seder after the market?

...okay.

Good, good!  And could you cut out the hike altogether?

 *  *  *  *  

April?

 *  *  *  *

April, are you there?

*Sigh.* Yes, I'm here. And yes, I said weakly, climbing down from the proverbial cliff with the support of my agent, Marietta B. Zacker--yes, I can cut out the hike.

Fabulous!, she said. We're nearly done!

Between 2009 and 2014, I worked with experts in Judaism, checking every detail and writing and rewriting the glossary. (You may know the expression, "Whenever there are two Jews in a room, there are three opinions."  It's true--every fact is a matter of interpretation...)

I rewrote this 200-word story more than 34 times.

And finally, the skies cleared!  Now I love this story.  Thank you, Jessica Garrison, clear-eyed editor--Dayenu!

Now first four stanzas read:

We wander the market
surrounded by colors—
Dayenu

We buy apples and walnuts,
lilacs and honey—
Dayenu

We reach through the bars
to lift one purring kitten—
Dayenu

He licks Mama’s nose
so she says we can keep  him—
Dayenu

*  *  *  *

Dayenu!  Passover is April 22nd-April 30th this year.

Here's the 37 second book trailer my son and a friend's daughter made...be sure to watch all the way to the end:



Aren't those illustrations delicious? For more, click the following:

1) Katie Kath talks about illustrating this book 

2) Katie interviews the book's designer, Mina Chung.

3)  Jama Rattigan interviews me (and so much more) at her always scrumptious Alphabet Soup!

 And congratulations to, Irene Latham and Charles Waters for winning the National Book Award!

                                              

                                                  Illustrator Katie Kath, who you will meet
                                                in the next post, holds our newborn book

Unreliable Narrator: Verse Novelist Sonya Sones is Lying! Autographed Book Giveaway AND Poetry Friday!

.
Howdy, Campers! Betsy H. is hosting Poetry Friday today at I Think in Poems. Thank you, Betsy!

At the end of this post are:
1) the details of today's Book Giveaway of an autographed book by verse novelist Sonya Sones;
2) one of Sonya's deliciously enigmatic poems.

However, if you came here to meet Sonya and learn all about her newest YA novel, I'm sorry to say you'll be disappointed.  Sonya just called--she had a dental appointment and couldn't be here today.

 Exclusive photo of Sonya Sones and her dentist.

I lied.  Sonya doesn't need to see the dentist--her teeth are gleaming!  Say hello to my long-time friend, critique buddy, fab author and poet, Sonya Sones:
 

 photo by Ava Tramer

Her novels-in-verse include: Stop Pretending, One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies, (great title!), What My Mother Doesn’t Know (one of the top 100 most challenged books of the decade) and its companion, What My Girlfriend Doesn’t Know.

Sonya has graciously agreed to reveal the very first poem in her book that isn't even out yet and YOU, Campers, will be among the very first readers of this poem!  Her newest book, To Be Perfectly Honest (A Novel Based on an Untrue Story) (Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers), comes out on August 27 and is full of lies. 

Sonya is an original in the best sense of the word. She and I met in poet Myra Cohn Livingston's Master Class.  When Myra died, her students hosted classes at our homes, teaching each other the fine points of poetry.

When it was Sonya's turn to host, she surprised us by hiring a drummer who gave each of us a drum and taught us different rhythms for an hour!  An unforgettable way to instruct and inspire.

She continues to inspire me, always thinking of new ways of telling a story.  I'll never forget the day Sonya said she'd decided to write a novel in verse with an unreliable narrator.  I was lucky to witness the unfolding of what became To Be Perfectly Honest (A Novel Based on an Untrue Story).

Here's a bit of what School Library Journal says about this book:
"Sones captures the ache of first love. Readers may find themselves laughing, crying, and wanting to believe the unreliable, well-developed narrator. Excerpts may make for a stepping stone to William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Like Shakespeare’s play, this title lends itself to discussion about healthy relationships, setting limits, defining oneself, and evaluating what is real. Fast paced and great for reluctant readers.”

Sonya!  Welcome to TeachingAuthors' humble abode!  How did you officially become a TeachingAuthor?

I officially became a teaching author the day I volunteered to teach a poetry writing workshop to my son’s fourth grade class. I gave each student a donut and told them they couldn’t eat it until they gave me a simile to describe it. The rest is history.

Besides bringing donuts, what's one piece of advice you have for teachers?

Make poetry fun! Don’t only expose your students to classic poetry. I teach workshops to middle-schoolers and high-schoolers, and I find that they respond with more enthusiasm to current poetry. There’s a very funny poem by Billy Collins called “Introduction to Poetry,” about tying a poem to a chair and trying to beat a confession out of it, that might be a good place to start. There’s another one called “Pearl” by Dorianne Laux, which is a fabulous portrait of Janice Joplin. Try reading that poem to them and challenging them to write a poem about their own favorite musician. And there’s a great very short love poem by Eve Merriam called “New Love.”

Don’t force students to memorize and analyze. If you choose the right poems, your students will feel the words washing over them like a cool ocean breeze on a broiling hot day. Your goal should be to teach them how to love poetry, not how to “understand” it.

Whoops. Was that more than one piece of advice?

Sonya crossing her eyes with the Book Café Club
at La Salle Academy in Providence, RI

Who's counting?  Please tell us the Cinderella story of how you sold your first book.

I didn’t sell my first book. Or my second book. Or my third. That was when I decided to enroll in a poetry class at UCLA extension taught by the brilliant Myra Cohn Livingston. She set me on the path to writing Stop Pretending. I finished it just before the annual SCBWI conference in Century City and brought my manuscript with me. There, I attended a presentation by a very young  agent  (he was only 24 years old!) named Steven Malk who gave a speech about why you should have an agent if you wrote or illustrated for kids. Then halfway through the speech, he switched over to talking about why that agent should be him. He was so persuasive that after his talk 75 authors ran up to him to ask for his business card. But I hung back, not wanting to crowd him.

Later that day, however, I found myself in the lobby, and there he was, standing all by himself.  Even so, a friend had to convince me to go up and talk to him. But I finally did and I said, “I wrote a book about what happened when my big sister was sent to a mental hospital, it’s written in verse, it’s sort of edgy, and I was wondering if I could send it to you.” He said, “Okay.” And that was it. A twenty second conversation. I mailed it to him on Wednesday. He called me on Friday to tell me how much he liked it. And by the following Wednesday he had a bidding war going. That week remains one of the most astonishing and exhilarating times of my entire life.

I love that story.  And now I've learned that To Be Perfectly Honest (A Novel Based on an Untrue Story) is also available as an audiobook in CDs and MP3, narrated by Kate Rudd, who also narrated John Greene's The Fault in Our Stars.   

I want your life!

What's on the horizon for you?

A lot of traveling! Simon and Schuster is sending me on a book tour: Chicago, D.C., Miami, San Francisco, Menlo Park, Pasadena, Ontario, Raleigh and Phoenix. Then, in October, I’ll be going to Hong Kong where I’ve been invited by Hong Kong Baptist University to participate in an International Writer’s Workshop for a month. I’ve never been to that part of the world, and I’m very much looking forward to this grand adventure. And wherever I go, I will be scanning the horizon for stories…
 
Oh my gosh!  I'm exhausted just reading your itinerary!  I know you'll meet interesting folks on the way!

Sonya, meeting a fan.
photo by Ava Tramer

And finally, since it's Poetry Friday in the Kidlitosphere, please share a poem!

This is the first poem from To Be Perfectly Honest (A Novel Based on an Untrue Story):

They Tell Me There Was an Accident
by Sonya Sones

Though I can’t
remember it happening.
Here’s what I do remember:

I remember climbing into a limo
with my little brother Will to visit our mom
on the set of her latest film.

It smelled
like someone had been
smoking pot in there.

Or maybe drinking champagne.
Or throwing up.
Or all three.

Sort of like
our living room
after one of Mom’s all-night parties.

I remember
rolling down the window
for some breathable air

while Will bounced around,
like he always does
when we’re in a limo,

telling me
one goofy knock-knock joke
after another.

I remember turning onto Sunset Boulevard,
and seeing a massive billboard
of a guy wearing nothing but jeans—

his fly unzipped
just low enough
to make me look twice.

Will saw it too.
He grinned at me and lisped through the gap
where his baby teeth used to be, “Thex thells!”

Sex sells?
How does a seven-year-old even know that?
I was just about to ask him—

but I never got the chance. 
poem © 2013 Sonya Sones. All rights reserved

Newsflash: Sonya's own three-book box set of trade paperbacks, The Sonya Sones Collection, will be released the same day To Be Perfectly Honest (A Novel Based on an Untrue Story) comes out. Sonya's comment: "Wow...a new boxed set...now Calvin Klein and I both have collections."

Visit her at SonyaSones.com, follow her on Twitter, and for goodness sake friend her on FaceBook!                                                           

Thank you for offering our readers a chance to win a copy of your new book (details below) and thanks for stopping by, Sonya!

And now, for the Book Giveaway details:

We use Rafflecopter. If you've never entered a Rafflecopter giveaway, you may want to read their info on how to enter a Rafflecopter giveaway and/or the difference between signing in with Facebook vs. with an email address.

To enter for a chance to win an autographed copy of To Be Perfectly Honest (A Novel Based on an Untrue Story) log into Rafflecopter below (via either Facebook or an email address). You'll see that we've provided three different options for entering the giveaway--you can pick one or up to all three. The more options you choose, the greater your chances of winning. While we haven't made it a requirement for entering, we hope that everyone will WANT to subscribe to the TeachingAuthors blog. We give you several ways of doing so in the sidebar, for example, via email, Facebook Networked Blogs, Jacketflap, Bloglovin', etc.

If you're already a TeachingAuthors subscriber, you need only click on the first option below and tell us how you follow our blog, which will give you THREE entries in the giveaway! (If you received this post via email, you can click on the Rafflecopter giveaway link below to enter.)

As it says in the "Terms and Conditions," this giveaway is open to U.S. residents only. You must be 18 or older to enter. And please note: email addresses will only be used to contact winners. The giveaway will run from now through August 29, 2013.

If you have any questions about the giveaway, feel free to email us at teachingauthors [at] gmail [dot] com. 
 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

merrily posted by April Halprin Wayland and her dog, Eli...who wish you a Happy New Year and shyly remind you about April's award-winning book, New Year at the Pier--a Rosh Hashanah Story

Question Poems for Poetry Friday

Dear Followers of Teaching Authors,

Happy Poetry Friday!

I need your help.

I have been an instructor with UCLA Extension's Writing Program for ten years.  I adore teaching there, love the students, love the challenges.  Following the example of master teacher Myra Cohn Livingston (with whom I studied for twelve years), I am a big believer in homework for adult learners. Lots of it. I've found that the more work they do and the less dancing-on-a-table-top-in-the-front-of the-classroom I do, the better the teacher they think I am.

In Myra's Master Class, we basically shoved the rest of our lives aside for ten weeks to write poetry for children.  Myra taught so many now well-known children's poets, I call her the Johnny Appleseed of children's poetry.  My classmates including Monica Gunning, Janet S.Wong, Alice Schertle, Ann Whitford Paul, Tony Johnston, Joan Bransfield Graham, Madeleine Comora, Ruth Lercher Bornstein, Sonya Sones and many others.

Sometimes, though, critiquing each student's story every week wears me down.  (Can you relate?)  It's a fine line between thoroughly critiquing each story in order to help the author get it into shape...and spending more time critiquing it than the author spent writing it.

I don't know how you teachers with six classes a day, thirty students per class do it.  I think you may be magicians.

I wanted to change my universe.  I wanted the playfulness back in teaching.  So I proposed a new class.  It was accepted and I'll be teaching it this summer (yippee!). Here’s a draft of the course description:

Chockful of short and longer in-class writing exercises, this workshop is designed especially for children's picture book writers.  By focusing on recurring subjects such as Tell the Truth, Less is More, Quote-Unquote, and The Power of Observation, you have the time and creative space to delve into a range of fresh approaches to these universal themes as you engage in stimulating writing exercises and constructive give-and-take with your instructor and peers.  In addition to inspiring new work and points of view on it, this workshop loosens up your tight fists, unwrinkles your worried brow, and reminds you how satisfying and fun writing can be.   All writing and critiquing is performed in class; students are given the opportunity to read their work aloud if they wish.  Enrollment limit:  20 students

NO HOMEWORK for me OR for the students!  Doesn't that sound great?

Each of the six classes is three hours long, so I’m collecting fun, inspiring writing exercises.

Of course there are wonderful books that include all sorts of writing exercises.  Among them: Ann Whitford Paul's terrific WRITING PICTURE BOOKS (see Teaching Author Esther Hershenhorn's review of this book), Natalie Goldberg's WILD MIND--Living the Writer's Life, and my friend Susan Goldsmith Wooldridge's wonderful POEMCRAZY.

Here's where you come in.  Do you have a favorite writing exercise (or book of writing exercises) to recommend that would be particularly useful to picture book writers?  The catch?  I'm especially interested in exercises that make you get up and move…

or go outside…

or use a prop…

or use a book you wouldn’t ordinarily use.  Exercises that use other postures and modalities beside sitting at a desk staring at a blank page.  Ideas employing music or meditation, physical movement, complete silence, blindfolds and squishy things to touch…weird out-of-the-box stuff.

You get the picture.

If you do, I'd love to hear from you.  And I'll be forever in your debt.

                                                                    Cross my heart.

 Writing Workout: Writing a
Question Poem

 Poet and author Sonya Sones sometimes writes poems in which every sentence is a question.  These always inspire me.  They have a brightness; a special energy.

I  know, I know…that isn’t exactly getting students up out of their chairs.  But maybe if they are asked to use a rhyming dictionary as they write this poem or story....maybe that would give this exercise a twist.

I took a stab at it.  I had a blast using my rhyming dictionary.  I was shooting rhymes at it with a machine gun. So here’s my very, very, very rough draft:

JUST ASKING 
very rough draft by April Halprin Wayland

Are you going to make your bed?

     Who said?

Are you going to make your bed so that pillows and sheets aren’t exploding all over our room?

     You mean this fantastic sonic boom?

Are you going to make it before we eat monkey bread and jam?

     Who do you think I am?

Are you going to make it so we can lie down with Cat, flat?

     What made you think of that?

Are you going to make it to show Mick this morning?

     Is that a warning?

Are you going to make your bed instead of galloping goats over those blanket canyons?

     Me and which companions?

Yoooo—hoooooo?  Are you?

     Am I what?

Tut, tut…
     ARE YOU
          GOING TO
               MAKE
                    YOUR
                         BED?

     Who put that idea in your head?

Now try writing your own messy, imperfect rough draft Question Poem (or Question Story)! 

And always--write with joy.

 

all drawings © by April Halprin Wayland