MARJORY STONEMAN DOUGLAS ~an activist wow!

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Howdy, Campers and happy Poetry Friday!

The link to PF and my rough draft poems are below, along with a Poetry Challenge to you. I really want to read what you've written!

We TeachingAuthors are doing a round robin, of course, but first: Bobbi Miller has written a timely post about the power of students which you should not miss (it goes without saying, of course, that you shouldn't miss any of our delicious posts!)

Now it's time to leap into our Women's History Month extravaganza. First is Carmela's Women's History Month Sonnet (the first she's ever written!), then Esther offers an explosion of resources on women's history as well as a top ten books list about powerful, creative women.

What woman in history could I write a poem about? My subject was hiding in plain sight.

Marjory Stoneman Douglas was an environmentalist, author, journalist, feminist, civil rights defender for whom the now-famous Parkland, Florida high school was named.

(Note: all quotes are from this Wikipedia article, which is particularly well written.)

Born in 1890, Marjory changed the state of Florida. Her book "The Everglades: River of Grass was published in 1947 and sold out of its first printing in a month. The book's first line, 'There are no other Everglades in the world', has been called the 'most famous passage ever written about the Everglades'...It "galvanized people...[and] has been compared to Rachel Carson's 1962 exposé of the harmful effects of DDT, Silent Spring; both books are 'groundbreaking calls to action that made citizens and politicians take notice' [and]'remains the definitive reference on the plight of the Florida Everglades.'"

"Mrs. Douglas was half the size of her fellow speakers [5'2”, 100 lbs] and she wore huge dark glasses, which along with the huge floppy hat made her look like Scarlett O'Hara as played by Igor Stravinsky"

"At the age of 79...Douglas founded Friends of the Everglades to protest the construction of a jetport in the Big Cypress portion of the Everglades. She justified her involvement saying, 'It is a woman's business to be interested in the environment. It's an extended form of housekeeping.'"

What a tireless, funny, cunning, strong-willed woman!  Of course there should be a high school named after her! 

Here are rough drafts of two poems about her. The first I wrote before I had read very much about her. The second was written after I had read more and was zinging with excitement. But I was also overwhelmed; there was too much wrap my arms around!

I have new respect for those of you who unwrap layers of  history to make it concise, exciting, lyrical and accessible. How do you non-fiction writers DO it?!?! 

I don't have much distance from either poem...which works best for you?

MARJORY STONEMAN DOUGLAS
by April Halprin Wayland

This building

this hallway

we crouched there

in darkness

we fled it

in terror

this woman

before us

was gutsy

courageous

our candles

are lit by

her insight,

her fire.

MARJORY STONEMAN DOUGLAS ~ In Defense Of The Everglades

a found poem
by April Halprin Wayland

5 feet 2

huge dark glasses

huge floppy hat

quirky

independent

with a tongue like a switchblade 

she was not impressed

Can't you boo any louder?

everybody stopped slapping mosquitoes...

nobody can stop me

And

nobody did.

.............................................................................................
poems © 2018 April Halprin Wayland. All rights reserved

Marjory Stoneman Douglas

Don't you just know Marjory would be proud of the students who are stepping up and speaking out?

Here's my challenge to you, dear Readers: read the Wikipedia article (and/or other sources) and write your own poem about her...then share it in our comments. I really want to read what you come up with!

PS: Consider joining KidLit Marches for Kids on March 24th. Here's the Publishers Weekly article about this organization.

And thank you for hosting PF on TeacherDance, Linda!

My Favorite Children’s Books of 2017: Rx for Courage!

          1.n. quality of being brave: the ability to face danger, 
                  difficulty, uncertainty or pain without being
                  overcome by fear or being deflected.

Children’s books do Important Work. They help readers make sense of their world.
These past 338 days, though?  They’ve been working overtime.
L. Frank Baum’s Cowardly Lion is not alone.
The Good News is:  children’s books are gloriously succeeding.

My four favorite children’s books of 2017 are proof.  Each en-couraged me – both as a reader and a writer - to not only take heart, which is the root of the word “encourage,” but to bounce back and keep on keepin’ on so I could tell my stories and help others do the same.

Caldecott medalist Dan Santat’s picture book AFTER THE FALL
(Roaring Brook Press) should be required reading for every human being, no matter his or her age.  We all need to know how Humpty Dumpty (who was “sort of famous” for falling) got back up again, and even better, reached new heights.
As important, Dan Santat’s interview on ALL THE WONDERS should be required listening for storytellers. I laud his honesty in sharing this picture book’s personal inspiration – i.e. his story and his wife’s as well.  It reaffirmed Marian Dane Bauer’s advice that we need to put – our – story into the story we’re telling if our story is to resound in our readers’ hearts.

Erin Entrada Kelly’s middle grade novel HELLO, UNIVERSE (Greenwillow/HarperCollins) gifted me with 4 unforgettable “misfits” – Virgil Salinas, Valencia Somerset and Kaori Tanaka + the bully Chet Bullens – who found each other and themselves.  Each showed me the need to be open to the world’s surprises and thus say “hello” when we want to say “good riddance.”
Click here to see how a fan of this book was prompted to create the hashtag #you will be found.
I’ve been a fan of this author and her beautifully-crafted stories since reading  BLACKBIRD FLY and THE LAND OF FORGOTTEN GIRLS.
The structure of her latest novel was downright bold and had me revisiting storytelling rules: 4 intertwining viewpoints, 3 told in third person, 1 in first person.  Who says we can’t go forth and break rules to tell a good story well?

Hurrah for Tony Abbott for bravely bringing to middle grade literature the
unfortunate but true reality of child sexual abuse in the quietly powerful, beautifully-written friendship story THE SUMMER OF OWEN TODD (Farrar Straus and Giroux).  If 11-year-old Owen reveals what his best friend Sean secretly tells him, he’ll surely lose Sean's friendship. But if he doesn’t, something worse will happen to his friend.
Click here to read Abbott’s Nerdy Book Club post on why he wrote this important book.
His Author’s Note also shares how once he’d heard the true facts of this story, he couldn’t let it be. The story had to be told.  Abbott references the resources of RAINN – Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network – with its phone number, (800) 656-HOPE.

Prinz medalist John Green’s TURTLES ALL THE WAY DOWN (Dutton) is
certain to save lives, too – first by telling the story of 16-year-old Aza who’s trying non-stop to be what family and friends and she want, while struggling with the non-stop spiraling thoughts caused by her Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.  Green does a masterful job of allowing the reader to live inside Aza, to know her pain, to know her heart.
Green is also certain to save lives by sharing his own OCD story while promoting the book.
Click here to listen to him talk about what OCD means to him.
Click here to read his brutally-honest interview with the New York Times.

I sincerely thank the authors of the above four titles – Dan Santat, Erin Entrada Kelly, Tony Abbott and John Green.  Their characters’ brave hearts and their heartful story-telling have given me the courage to keep keepin’ on.
May they do the same for all of our TeachingAuthors readers!

Onward – bravely - in the coming New Year!

Esther Hershenhorn