Poetry Friday -- Be the Change You Wish to See

National Geographic Book of Animal Poetry: 200 Poems with Photographs That Squeak, Soar, and Roar!

edited by J. Patrick Lewis, U.S. Children's Poet Laureate

National Geographic, 2012

review copy provided by the publisher

Today begins the three-day 100 Thousand Poets for Change event: "...a demonstration & celebration of poetry, music & art to promote social, environmental & political change...a global celebration of solidarity for peace & sustainability."

I'm aiming a little lower than the grand goal of 100 TPC, under the assumption that every little bit counts.

The change I want is for poetry to be a natural part of every child's life. My corollary wish, the one that's necessary for the first to happen, is that poetry is a natural part of every parent's and teacher's life as well.

How best to make that happen?

Give J. Patrick Lewis' newest book, the National Geographic Book of Animal Poetry to every new parent, and put a copy in every classroom!

This book is a treasure of poetry (and some pretty spectacular photography). It's as if Pat went through my classroom collection of poetry and plucked a favorite from each book -- Kristine O'Connell George is there with her polliwog commas, and there's Douglas Florian, David Elliott, Julie Larios, Jane Yolen, Arnold Adoff, Janet Wong, Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Mary Ann Hoberman, Lee Bennett Hopkins, Marilyn Singer, Jack Prelutsky, and Joyce Sidman. PLUS some of my favorite poets who are usually for adults have poems here -- Kay Ryan, Ogden Nash, and Hilaire Belloc. AND there are "classic" poets -- Walter De la Mare, Emily Dickinson, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Robert Louis Stevenson.

In his introduction, Pat writes about the possibility that animals "appreciate most of all the simple joys of exploring their worlds." This book is a poetic exploration of the natural world.

He invites us to wander through the pages: "This book is not for reading straight through. Pick it up anytime. Choose a poem and then read it out loud: You want your ears to have as much fun as your mouth is having...Once you have opened it, you are likely to find words that are not so much a description as a revelation."

If you  haven't gotten your hands on a copy of this book, CHANGE that! If you want a few more peeks and reviews, check these out:

Julie Danielson at Kirkus Reviews and Seven Imp


Marjorie has today's Poetry Friday roundup of posts at Paper Tigers.

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Addendum -- What I Learned About the Quote in the Title of This Post

Be the change you wish to see in the world. -- Ghandi

"Gandhi’s words have been tweaked a little too in recent years. Perhaps you’ve noticed a bumper sticker that purports to quote him: “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” When you first come across it, this does sound like something Gandhi would have said. But when you think about it a little, it starts to sound more like ... a bumper sticker. Displayed brightly on the back of a Prius, it suggests that your responsibilities begin and end with your own behavior. It’s apolitical, and a little smug.

Sure enough, it turns out there is no reliable documentary evidence for the quotation. The closest verifiable remark we have from Gandhi is this: “If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. ... We need not wait to see what others do.”

Here, Gandhi is telling us that personal and social transformation go hand in hand, but there is no suggestion in his words that personal transformation is enough. In fact, for Gandhi, the struggle to bring about a better world involved not only stringent self-denial and rigorous adherence to the philosophy of nonviolence; it also involved a steady awareness that one person, alone, can’t change anything, an awareness that unjust authority can be overturned only by great numbers of people working together with discipline and persistence." from Falser Words Were Never Spoken by Brian Morton in the New York Times, August 29, 2011.